Articles
-
Education, Culture & the Family
Some Oklahoma officials echo Biden on statewide mask mandate
Following the lead of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, some state officials are demanding that Oklahoma institute a statewide mask mandate—including for school children.Ray Carter | November 10, 2020
-
Education
‘Action civics’ teaches Oklahoma students to protest
Here in Oklahoma, action civics is promoted by an organization called Generation Citizen and by the Oklahoma State Department of Education.Mike Brake | November 10, 2020
-
Budget & Tax
State pensions lose ground after unfunded mandate
Legislators’ decision to pass an unfunded cost-of-living adjustment that boosted payments to retired state government workers has left state pension systems paying out money faster than it comes in.Ray Carter | November 10, 2020
-
Health Care
Officials: Plenty of hospital beds for COVID patients
Reports of limited hospital capacity for Oklahoma’s COVID-19 patients are largely a product of flawed measurement, not a true shortage of beds, state officials told lawmakers on Monday.Ray Carter | November 9, 2020
-
Education, Culture & the Family
Broken Arrow High School closes despite few COVID-19 cases
The Broken Arrow school district is shutting down in-person learning at its high school and transitioning to a fully online platform due to COVID-19 concerns. But the district’s own data shows very little COVID-19 infection exists at its schools.Ray Carter | November 6, 2020
-
Higher Education
Conservative OU student group faces free-speech obstacles
“When you’re a conservative group on campus, sometimes you’ve just got to jump through a couple hoops, which is sad but that’s our reality.”Ray Carter | November 5, 2020
-
Economy, Energy
Oil prices impacting state finances
A new report from the state treasurer shows that the ongoing crash in oil-and-gas prices continues to hammer Oklahoma government finances and indicates lawmakers could face a shortfall in the 2021 session.Ray Carter | November 5, 2020
-
Education
GOP and school-choice supporters gain legislative seats
According to one group, this year’s results have also boosted the number of lawmakers who support school-choice policies.Ray Carter | November 4, 2020
-
Culture & the Family
Moore schools' COVID-19 numbers defy doomsday predictions
Starting the 2020-2021 school year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, many of Oklahoma’s largest districts decided to shutter all in-person learning and go fully online.Ray Carter | November 3, 2020
-
Higher Education
Are Oklahoma universities violating Trump’s executive order?
Leading Oklahoma institutions of higher education are grappling with a recent presidential executive order that could suspend much or all of their federal grant funding if they engage in diversity and anti-bias training that crosses the line into what the order called “race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating.”Mike Brake | November 2, 2020