The monument is the result of a measure introduced by state Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, and passed by the Legislature in 2009 allowing for a privately paid-for monument to be placed on public property outside the Capitol. Little fanfare accompanied the installation on the north side of the building, with about a dozen non-workers […]
politics
Posted inNews
Kicking the crap out of Democrats
Credit: Brad Gregg Let the postmortems commence. Despite little actual change in the national political landscape, with President Barack Obama holding on to the White House, Democrats retaining Senate control and Republicans holding the House, inquiring minds want to know: How “red” did Oklahoma — already known as one of the reddest states in the […]
Posted inNews
A new hope
When it finally opens, the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum, located at Interstate 40 and Eastern Avenue, is expected to become an international tourism destination. Securing additional funds, however, continues to be the last major hurdle to completing construction that began six years ago. NACEA Executive Director Blake Wade said he’s counting on $40 […]
Posted inNews
Solutions for progressives
President Barack Obama was reelected in an Electoral College rout; Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin were elected to the U.S. Senate, Tammy Duckworth won a U.S. House seat, three states approved same-sex marriage and two states passed legalized marijuana. The country’s demographics are changing and so are cultural and social attitudes. By the 2016 presidential […]
Posted inNews
Looking for laws
The items on the legislative program, which the council passed unanimously, are first recommended by city department heads to the city manager, who then passes the recommendations on to the council’s legislative committee. Last year’s agenda items that were eventually passed into law included restoring December city elections in odd years, requiring counties to notify […]
Posted inNews
Whither a Kardashians court?
No, that’s not the name of next season’s Kardashian family spinoff, but rather the possible future of Oklahoma judicial retention elections as scripted by the State Chamber of Oklahoma. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce became a shrewd and dominant legal player at the turn of the millennium, transforming formerly quiescent, low-dollar state Supreme Court elections […]
Posted inNews
An allergy sufferer gives thanks
As a lifelong allergy sufferer, I was not surprised to learn that Oklahoma City and Tulsa ranked high on the list. According to AAFA, Oklahoma City is the seventh-toughest American city for residents with fall allergy symptoms, while Tulsa is the 19th. These rankings illustrate how important it is for Oklahoma allergy sufferers to have […]
Posted inNews
Rice returns
Andrew Rice Credit: Mark Hancock Rice resigned from his legislative seat when his wife, Apple, a physician, accepted a position in Nashville. The family headed east. Now the Rice family is back in Oklahoma City. “The job opportunity for my wife that took us there was not an ideal situation for her or for us, […]
Posted inNews
Gun crazy
Credit: Brad Gregg Got to run by the grocery store for eggs and toilet paper? Bring that .45! Ordering a no-fat mocha frappuccino? Do it with a .44! After enduring an obscenely long period of anti-Second Amendment fascism in our fair state, the estimated 141,000 Oklahomans with a concealed-carry permit can now breathe easy and […]
Posted inNews
Medicaid expansion is the new SQ 744
Public- and private-sector leaders joined the campaign to publicize its unsustainable structure and potential harm to core services. Voters overwhelmingly rejected it. Oklahoma lawmakers now face a similar scenario. The Affordable Care Act provides for a massive expansion of Medicaid, allowing states to expand Medicaid to include many individuals below 133 percent of the federal […]