Articles
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Economy
Mass transit burns energy, attracts few riders
As 2019 rolled over into a new decade, Oklahoma City celebrated the first anniversary of its sometimes-maligned streetcar system. Unfortunately, many of those gleaming streetcars were running virtually empty.Mike Brake | January 27, 2020
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Budget & Tax
Governor responds to tribes’ casino lawsuit
The state’s filing notes gaming compacts say auto-renewal occurs only if racetracks are allowed to conduct electronic gaming “pursuant to any governmental action of the state or court order following the effective date of this Compact.”Ray Carter | January 24, 2020
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Health Care
Is Saint Francis shortchanging Muskogee?
Muskogee officials claim Saint Francis has failed to pay necessary in-kind payments to the city, hurting public school funding.Kaitlyn Finley | January 23, 2020
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Law & Principles, Good Government
Court arguments highlight redistricting plan’s potential impact
Arguments before the Oklahoma Supreme Court highlighted how an initiative-petition proposal, which would strip the Oklahoma Legislature of redistricting power and place that authority with an outside commission, could play out in practice.Ray Carter | January 22, 2020
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Education
OEA membership slide continues
The Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) has long claimed to speak for state teachers. But it now represents considerably fewer than half of them, according to new filings with the Internal Revenue Service as reported by labor analyst Mike Antonucci.Mike Brake | January 22, 2020
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Health Care
Indiana Medicaid expansion tied to budget challenges
The rising cost of Indiana’s Medicaid program is creating budget challenges for that state that have prevented lawmakers from addressing other needs, including schools.Ray Carter | January 21, 2020
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Budget & Tax
Fallin administration, Legislature may have violated tribal compacts
A recent lawsuit filed by three tribal governments raises a major question: Did a law passed by the Legislature and signed by former Gov. Mary Fallin in 2017 violate state-tribal gaming compacts, opening the door for tribes to now seek damages?Ray Carter | January 20, 2020
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Health Care
A glide path to more government control
In Oklahoma, there are targeted efforts to expand welfare to hundreds of thousands of able-bodied adults through Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.Kaitlyn Finley | January 16, 2020
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Health Care
Indiana’s ‘conservative’ Medicaid expansion proves costly, ineffective
Many Oklahoma Republicans suggest Indiana's expansion of Medicaid, enacted when Vice President Mike Pence was governor of that state, provides a “conservative” alternative to traditional Medicaid expansion. But Indiana’s expansion has been expensive and failed to rein in health costs, end hospital closures, or improve health outcomes.Ray Carter | January 15, 2020
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Education
Tax-credit scholarship program could shape north Tulsa’s future
Crossover Preparatory Academy is a private school serving all-male, primarily black and low-income students. Ensuring there’s a way to pay for local youth to attend the private school is a challenge— that’s where the Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act comes in.Ray Carter | January 15, 2020