Articles
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Budget & Tax, Health Care
TSET: Don't smoke, get drunk!
Why does a state agency award grants for “alcohol use prevention” while promoting bars and nightclubs?Trent England | September 26, 2017
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Budget & Tax
AP reports state funds 'slashed,' 'depleted'
In June 2017, Gallup reported that 27 percent of Americans—and only 13 percent of Republicans—say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers.Curtis Shelton | September 26, 2017
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Budget & Tax
Economic effects on Oklahoma tax revenues
As the data shows, the challenge in Oklahoma over the last few years is that Oklahomans have had to make due with less.Curtis Shelton | September 26, 2017
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Budget & Tax, Culture & the Family
'Dragalicious' for kids, 'Ru Paul’s Drag Race,' get Oklahoma government support
Smoking and second-hand smoke are health risks. So are many other behaviors.Staff Reports | September 26, 2017
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Budget & Tax, Health Care
Cost Avoidance #1: Less fraud in Medicaid
Federal reform is necessary to save Medicaid, both from compromising care for the most vulnerable and from bankrupting states and the country.Trent England | September 25, 2017
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Education
Relationship between OSSBA, schools risk management trust examined
Insurance is easy to forget about until you need it, like when a building is damaged in a storm or a customer slips and sues.Jay Chilton | September 25, 2017
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Budget & Tax
“Cost avoidance” for special session
Now the Oklahoma legislature is coming back for a special session, at a cost of around $30,000 per day. Lawmakers should focus on ending the session as quickly as possible without raising taxes.Trent England | September 22, 2017
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Budget & Tax
Focusing the special session
There's a readily achievable solution to the budget shortfall that prompts the special session. It’s called cost avoidance, as in spending only on critical needs.Jonathan Small | September 22, 2017
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Education
Oklahoma public school revenues are higher than ever
Despite sky-is-falling rhetoric from labor union leaders and well-compensated school administrators, total annual public school revenues in Oklahoma have consistently climbed upward for more than a decade.Curtis Shelton & Dave Bond | September 19, 2017
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Budget & Tax
Budget background for special session
Entering the special session, state spending is at an all-time high, appropriations make up only one third of the budget, and Oklahoma's tax burden is already higher than historical benchmarks.Curtis Shelton | September 19, 2017