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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.
Today you should know that Moore Fire Chief Gary Bird has been invited to sit with first lady Michelle Obama for Tuesday’s State of the Union speech. The surge of growth in Oklahoma City’s Hispanic population appears to be slowing. Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Keith Ballard said that to address its worsening teacher shortage, Oklahoma has to do more to compete with higher teacher salaries in surrounding states.
Black Oklahomans make up only 7.4 percent of the state’s population but accounted for about 34 percent of homicides in the state in 2011, making the state fifth in the nation for black homicide victimization. A list by 24/7 Wall Street finds Oklahoma provides the fourth least government benefits in the nation, including pensions, education funding, and Medicaid payments. House members are lining up votes to become the next Speaker, anticipating that current Speaker T.W. Shannon will step down to run for the U.S. Senate.
Non-profits offering free dental care are helping some of the 1.4 million Oklahomans who are without dental benefits. OK Policy Research Fellow Breanca Thomas discussed how we can combat the obesity epidemic in Oklahoma. Tulsa mental health worker Ann Jackman writes that we need to address the reasons behind jail overcrowding before building more cells.
The Number of the Day is the increase in Oklahoma’s diabetes rate from 1995-2010, the largest relative increase in the nation. In today’s Policy Note, economist Nancy Folbre discusses why paid family leave is good for business and workers.
In The News
Moore fire chief invited to State of the Union address
Moore Fire Chief Gary Bird, whose department helped lead the recovery efforts after the devastating tornado in May, has been invited to sit with first lady Michelle Obama for Tuesday’s State of the Union speech by President Barack Obama, the White House announced Monday. Bird was chosen, the White House said, to represent “all of those who rallied together to help the community of Moore, Oklahoma — firefighters, police officers, teachers, neighbors — in its greatest time of need: the immediate aftermath of the EF5 tornado that hit Moore, killing 25 men, women and children and devastating a community of more than 1,000 homes and businesses.”
Hispanic growth slows in Oklahoma City
A line forms every morning at the counter inside of La Oaxaquena Bakery where the fresh baked conchas, chilindrina and empanadas smell way too good to pass up. Ramiro Vasquez opened the bakery in the heart of the busy SW 29 business corridor about five years ago and the majority of his regulars are Hispanics. But while the explosive growth of Hispanics living in Oklahoma might have helped fuel Vasquez business success, the surge appears to be slowing.
Tulsa Superintendent Ballard says teacher pay raise needed
Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Keith Ballard told local lawmakers Friday that to address its worsening teacher shortage, Oklahoma has to do more to compete with higher teacher salaries in surrounding states. “We are in competition with northwest Arkansas. We are in competition with the Dallas-Fort Worth area. There has been no state-mandated pay raise in Oklahoma since 2006,” he said at a special meeting the Tulsa school board hosts for legislators each year.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma ranks fifth highest for black homicide victimization
Black Oklahomans make up only 7.4 percent of the state’s population but accounted for about 34 percent of homicides in the state in 2011, making the state fifth in the nation for black homicide victimization, according to a national study. Of 219 homicide victims in the state in 2011, 74 were black, according to data cited in the study, “Black Homicide Victimization in the United States.”
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma pays out fourth least in government benefits
Politicians Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan recently introduced a plan to transfer more responsibility for fighting poverty to the states. Right now, the states already bear a substantial burden. They pay for public pension plans, unemployment insurance, education, Medicaid, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF), among other benefits. However, while most states fund many of these social programs, the amounts and levels they spend vary widely.
Read more from the Huffington Post.
Oklahoma House members eyes Speaker post
Enid Rep. Mike Jackson is one of two key members of the Oklahoma House lining up votes to be the chamber’s next leader, anticipating that Speaker T.W. Shannon will launch a bid for the U.S. Senate and give up the House’s top post days before the 2014 session opens. Several House Republicans told The Associated Press on Thursday that Jackson, R-Enid, and Jason Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, are working to secure votes in case of a potential speaker’s race.
Read more from the Enid News & Eagle.
Free care events help Oklahomans in need of dental work
Many Oklahomans aren’t going to the dentist, unless in some cases when dentists come to them. About 1.4 million Oklahomans are without dental care benefits, according to the Oklahoma Dental Association. An estimated 58 percent of adult Oklahomans did not have their teeth cleaned in the past year, according to the state Health Department. Additionally, 27 percent of Oklahomans older than 64 years of age have complete tooth loss. In an attempt to get more Oklahomans access to dental care, nonprofit organizations are working together to organize free events where residents can get care, free of charge.
Tackling the diabetes epidemic in Oklahoma
Diabetes is one of Oklahoma’s most serious health epidemics. Oklahoma has the seventh highest Type 2 diabetes rate in the country, and between 1995 and 2010, rates of diabetes rose by 226 percent. Diabetes develops when one’s body becomes insulin resistant, and cannot effectively regulate its blood sugar. If diabetes is not managed properly, it can lead to serious medical complications with poor circulation, vision, and kidney function. Oklahoma has a diabetes rate of about 11 percent, and the state has the fourth highest death rate from diabetes in the U.S. In 2011, $185 million was spent on diabetes-related hospital admissions in Oklahoma.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Address real issues behind jail overcrowding
The voters of Tulsa County are being asked to support a 0.067 percent sales tax to address the very real problems faced as a result of overcrowding of the Tulsa Jail and juvenile justice system. Anyone who has ever been to the juvenile facility can attest to its woeful inadequacy. While the overcrowding of the Tulsa Jail is no less urgent, it strikes me that building more pods is the wrong approach. There are three groups of inmates in our jails that should not be there.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
The sad thing is I think people have become so … desensitized to hearing that kind of thing that it doesn’t bother them as much as I think it should. I think if it bothered people more we’d have more done about it.
-Former Tulsa police officer Marvin Blades Sr., on a report that Oklahoma ranks fifth highest in the nation for the rate of black homicide victims (Source: http://bit.ly/1i3yqtX)
Number of the Day
226.7 percent
Increase in Oklahoma’s diabetes rate from 1995-2010, the largest relative increase in the nation.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
The business of paid family leave
“Never in the history of the world has any measure been brought in here so insidiously designed so as to prevent business recovery, to enslave workers, and to prevent any possibility of the employers providing work for the people.” Thus did Representative John Taber, Republican of New York, condemn the Social Security Act of 1935. Rhetorical attacks on paid family leave proposals have been less grandiloquent. But in 2007, Randel Johnson, a vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, proclaimed that the business community would wage “all-out war” against it.
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