OKPOLICY.ORG
In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
A Reuters investigation found that Continental Resources has been rewriting its history on the company website – diminishing the company’s accomplishments and changing the dates of key achievements – in ways that could help CEO Harold Hamm reduce a record divorce settlement owed to his wife. The Oklahoma Parent Teacher Association is joining the chorus of calls for state Superintendent Janet Barresi to resign from office immediately. The Oklahoman editorial board discussed OK Policy’s recent blog post on the state’s faltering democracy. You can see our original post here. Republicans and Democrats have been showcasing candidates and registering voters at the Tulsa State Fair.
In the latest OK PolicyCast, we discuss the growing crisis in Oklahoma’s prisons and signs that state leaders might actually do something about it. The Tulsa World reported that nearly 1,500 inmates have been freed from prison since March under an early-release system restoring “earned credits” lost due to misconduct. Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said the suspect in a gruesome beheading at a Moore food processing plant should have been in prison longer for prior convictions of drug possession and assaulting a highway patrol trooper. The Tulsa World reported on how prescription medications, often coming from a legitimate prescription, have become the biggest cause of drug overdoses in the state. The Arkansas Times wrote that an Oklahoma lawmaker’s suggestion to create a public online list of everyone with meth convictions, similar to the sex offender registry, could create a permanent underclass in the state.
This year’s health insurance enrollment period begins Nov. 15 for Oklahomans wanting to get health insurance from the federal marketplace and for anyone wanting to make a change to the plan they got during open enrollment last year. You can find more resources and information about the health insurance marketplace here. On the OK Policy Blog, Steve Lewis discusses the beginnings of this year’s state budget process. Three Canadian County school districts are scrambling to resolve budget turmoil following the discovery that business personal property taxes paid by several oilfield companies had been allocated to the wrong school districts. KGOU reported on how an Oklahoma City nonprofit is working to provide educational opportunities for undocumented students. Regents Chancellor Glen Johnson authored an op-ed discussing Oklahoma’s successes in increasing the number of college degrees and certificates awarded.
In the midst of a budget crisis following major tax cuts, Kansas is auctioning off numerous sex toys confiscated from an adult entertainment purveyor for nonpayment of taxes. The U.S. Supreme Court is meeting today to discuss whether they’ll review challenges to same-sex marriage bans in Oklahoma and four other states. An environmental researcher speaking at a Water Symposium at the University of Oklahoma said that as demand for water grows and scientists warn of drier years ahead, Oklahoma could learn much from how developing countries address water security issues. A Tulsa trash board plan to burn curbside green waste would take a previous plan to invest in an active composting facility for Tulsa off the table. The Number of the Day is how much suicide deaths in Oklahoma outnumber homicides. In today’s Policy Note, Wonkblog explains why the U.S. is actually doing better at fighting poverty than the poverty rate shows.
In The News
U.S. oil baron rewrites his company’s history; move could stave off record divorce payout
The divorce trial of one of America’s wealthiest men, oil baron Harold Hamm, plays out mostly in secret here at the Oklahoma County Courthouse. For weeks, signs have been taped to the door of Courtroom 121. “CLOSED HEARING,” one reads. The other: “DO NOT ENTER.” But an examination of the website of the company Hamm founded, Continental Resources Inc, reveals part of the billionaire’s legal strategy as he seeks to avoid what could be the largest divorce award in U.S. history. Publicly traded Continental has been revising its corporate annals – in each case diminishing the company’s accomplishments under Hamm’s leadership or changing the dates of key achievements.
Oklahoma PTA calls for State Superintendent Janet Barresi to step down
The Oklahoma Parent Teacher Association is joining the chorus of calls for state Superintendent Janet Barresi to resign from office immediately. Barresi has “continued to erode the relationship between the state Department of Education and the school boards, administrators, teachers and parents of Oklahoma public schools,” Oklahoma PTA President Jeffery Corbett said in a statement Friday.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma voter turnout trends are cause for concern
People often complain about the political system, yet fewer and fewer citizens appear willing to do anything about it by actually voting. This trend is especially acute in Oklahoma. Apathy can be seen in every step of the political process in this state, beginning with voter registration. The Oklahoma Policy Institute notes that 76.9 percent of the total eligible adult population in Oklahoma registered to vote in 2012, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
See also: Oklahoma’s democracy is broken from the OK Policy Blog.
Republicans, Democrats Work To Register Voters At Tulsa State Fair
The Tulsa State Fair is an important stop for any statewide candidate on the campaign trail. Both Republicans and Democrats have signs up and booths ready to draw in voters. We’re less than 60 days from Election Day and candidates will soon be making their rounds during the “11 Days of Awesome” at the Tulsa State Fair. It’s one of the last chances for candidates to meet with people.
OK PolicyCast: Episode 9
This week we discuss the growing crisis in Oklahoma’s prisons and signs that state leaders might actually do something about it; yet another controversy around state Superintendent Barresi; how the Oklahoma governor’s race is heating up on the airwaves; & more.
Nearly 1,500 inmates with ‘restored credits’ released by state
Nearly 1,500 inmates have been freed from prison since March under an early-release system restoring “earned credits” lost due to misconduct, data show. The Department of Corrections data was provided in response to a Tulsa World request under the Open Records Act. The World requested the information in July after discovering that one of the inmates released was Desmond La’don Campbell, the suspect in a series of sexual assaults across Tulsa in June. Campbell died as a result of a car crash as authorities were planning to charge him with 23 felony counts for sexual assaults across the city.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma beheading: Suspect should have been in prison longer, prosecutors say
The suspect in the gruesome beheading at a Moore food processing plant should have been in prison longer, prosecutors say. Alton Alexander Nolen, 30, served less than two years of a six-year prison sentence for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, prosecutors say. “Our intent was to incarcerate him much longer than a year and 11 months,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said Friday.
Oklahoma’s pill problem: Street drugs aren’t the biggest monkey on Oklahoma’s back
Those who’ve watched prescription drug addiction become epidemic over the past decade know full well that street drugs aren’t the biggest monkey on Oklahoma’s back. The drugs propelling Oklahoma to a fifth-place mortality rate among states for drug overdoses, aren’t heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine, illegally sold in the shadows. They’re prescription medications, usually painkillers, which often come from a legitimate source — physicians.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Opportunity Missed: the Prescription Monitoring Program in Oklahoma from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahoma’s Meth Registry: creating a permanent underclass in the Sooner State?
The Men With Bad Haircuts in the Oklahoma legislature, taking a break from their almost constant effort to protect the Second Amendment from all enemies foreign and domestic, may soon create a public online registry of those who have been convicted of making meth. State Representative Sean Roberts asked an official of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Control why folks convicted of such offenses weren’t on a public online list, so neighbors could find out about them.
Read more from the Arkansas Times.
Next health insurance enrollment period begins Nov. 15
This year’s health insurance enrollment period begins Nov. 15 for people wanting to get health insurance from the federal marketplace and for anyone wanting to make a change to the plan they got during open enrollment last year. It is the second year Oklahomans can sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Oklahoma did not create a marketplace of its own, but residents can sign up on the federal exchange.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Health Insurance Marketplace and the Affordable Care Act: Resources and Information from OK Policy.
Oklahoma’s budget process begins
This is the time of year when state agency boards and directors are approving their budget requests for FY 2016. Most agencies had a set of internal deadlines to prepare their budget request for consideration at their September board meetings. The requests are due to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) on October 1st.
See more from the OK Policy Blog.
Oklahoma higher ed chancellor: No better investment for state
Oklahoma’s Complete College America (CCA) goal is to increase the number of degrees and certificates earned in this state by an average of 1,700 per year, resulting in a 67 percent increase by 2023. Gov. Mary Fallin recently announced that in year two of the CCA degree completion initiative, Oklahoma’s public and private institutions and career technology centers surpassed the annual goal, conferring 3,577 additional degrees and certificates.
Property tax foul ups create funding crises for 3 Canadian County schools
Three Canadian County school districts are scrambling to resolve budget turmoil following the discovery that business personal property taxes paid by several oilfield companies had been improperly allocated to the wrong school districts. Blame for the multi-million dollar foul-ups is unclear, but the mistaken allocations have been going on for years and may take a series of lawsuits to straighten out, said Canadian County Assessor Matt Wehmuller.
Oklahoma City Non-Profit Works To Connect Undocumented Students To Education
While Akash Patel was still a senior at the University of Oklahoma he embarked on a research project for class credit that turned into a career. “We found that there were a lot of immigrant students who were going through the public education system who were falling through the cracks,” Patel says. “They weren’t going to college and some of them weren’t finishing high school.”
Kansas to host a massive sex toy auction in the face of ongoing budget crisis
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has been criticized in recent months for the apparent failure of his red-state “experiment,” a series of massive tax and spending cuts that has resulted in an estimated $300 million revenue shortfall. As the state attempts to cope with economic decline — and as Brownback fights to win reelection — Kansas officials have authorized a creative (and poorly timed) event to raise money: a sex toy auction.
Same-sex marriage in Oklahoma: Really soon, next summer or never?
Same-sex marriages could begin in Oklahoma in the next several days. Or never. For now, that’s up to U.S. Supreme Court justices, who will meet Monday to discuss whether they’ll review same-sex marriage bans in Oklahoma or four other states. Oklahoma’s ban — passed overwhelmingly by state voters nearly 10 years ago — was struck down in January by a U.S. district judge in Tulsa and by a federal appeals court in July.
Oklahomans could learn from water practices in developing world, researcher says
As demand for water grows and scientists warn of drier years ahead, Oklahoma could learn much from how developing countries address water security issues, an environmental researcher said Friday. Jim Chamberlain, staff researcher at the University of Oklahoma’s WaTER Center, spoke Friday at the center’s annual Water Symposium at OU. Chamberlain told an audience of international researchers, activists and others that the water situation in Oklahoma has more in common with that in the developing world than might be obvious.
Plan to burn Tulsa’s green waste would delay composting option for years
A trash board plan to burn curbside green waste would take a previous plan to invest in an active composting facility for Tulsa off the table. The trash board’s proposed contract to burn green waste would run through at least 2022 with options to continue to 2026. The move makes a compost facility for Tulsa unlikely during the contract period because it couldn’t rely on curbside green waste.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
“We’ve got an entire trial being conducted in secret. Mr. Hamm is saying his divorce is a strictly personal matter, but apparently it’s not, because Continental says it will harm the company if the doors are opened. Meanwhile, on the website, Continental appears to be changing significant facts about itself.”
– Dr. Joey Senat, communications law specialist and associate professor at Oklahoma State University’s School of Media and Strategic Communication, on the divorce trial of Continental Resources oil baron Harold Hamm. A Reuters investigation found that company is changing history on its website to downplay Mr. Hamm’s role in the company’s success, thereby reducing what he would owe his wife in a divorce settlement (Source: http://reut.rs/1wQcysR).
Number of the Day
3 to 1
How much suicide deaths in Oklahoma outnumber homicides.
Source: State of the State’s Health 2014.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
We’re actually doing better at fighting poverty than the poverty rate shows
The latest Census data released on Tuesday seem to reinforce the discouraging conclusion, over the long view of history, that we haven’t put much of a dent in poverty in America despite our best efforts and big expenditures on anti-poverty programs. The official poverty rate ticked down in 2013, but with 14.5 percent of the population still living below the poverty line, that share is still about what it was in 1993, and 1982, and 1966. The total number of Americans living in poverty has grown as the U.S. population has, too. But our poverty rate seems, at best, to have fluctuated, prompting commentary with the new data Tuesday that the poverty rate “has been going nowhere for decades,” or that the War on Poverty “has failed.” But the real picture is actually somewhat better than the one shown above.
You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
Do you think it will ever be possible that Mr. Prater, the sole semi-enlightened DA in Oklahoma, would ever consider that maybe, just maybe the beheader was in prison TOO LONG and that Mr. Prater and his colleagues’ insistence on longer than necessary sentences in what are essentially the best schools we have available for teaching more criminality and violence might maybe, just maybe be driving the turn of less serious offenders into more serious ones? No need to answer. Simply rhetorical.