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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.
With 567 earthquakes magnitude 3.0 or greater, Oklahoma experienced more earthquakes in 2014 than the last 30 years combined. The Oklahoma House and Senate re-elected Rep. Jeff Hickman of Fairview and Sen. Brian Bingman of Sapulpa as their respective leaders for the new legislative session. The Tulsa World editorial board argued that changes to Oklahoma’s third grade reading law have worked well and should be made permanent.
On the OK Policy Blog, research fellow Cassidy Hamilton examined Oklahoma’s high infant mortality rate. Oklahoma had the 11th-highest rate of alcohol poisoning deaths from 2010-12, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis. You can read the full report here. An Oklahoma legislator who authored a bill that is being described nationally as an attempt to ban hoodies said his intention had been distorted by the press. In a NewsOK op-ed, Scott Meacham wrote that Oklahoma ranks near the bottom in having a culture of innovation.
In the last week, four inmates have walked out of a Boley correctional facility in Okfuskee County. Harold Hamm’s ex-wife has rejected a check for nearly $1 billion as she continues to pursue a larger share of the couple’s assets. The Tulsa World profiled a Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma program that is providing culinary training to at-risk young people. The Number of the Day is the average Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) claimed in Oklahoma County in 2012. In today’s Policy Note, the New York Times reported on how increasing volatility of income due to more jobs paying on commission or irregular schedules are keeping millions of families behind on bills.
In The News
Oklahoma registers more earthquakes in 2014 than in last 30 years
After years of steadily increasing earthquake numbers in the state, 2014 will be forever remembered as the year Mother Nature grabbed Oklahoma by the panhandle and shook. And shook and shook and shook. With 567 temblors magnitude 3.0 or greater, Oklahoma officially became the most seismically active state in the lower 48, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma House And Senate Convene To Elect Leaders
Members of the Oklahoma House and Senate have elected Rep. Jeff Hickman of Fairview and Sen. Brian Bingman of Sapulpa as their respective leaders for the new legislative session. Both chambers convened at noon Tuesday for an organizational day that the Oklahoma Constitution requires before the start of each new two-year session.
Protecting Oklahoma’s most vulnerable infants
Infant mortality is the death of a child under one year of age, and the infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of those deaths per every 1,000 births (see chart below). According to the CDC, the IMR is an important measure because the mortality of a population’s infants can be indicative of broader factors affecting the health and well-being of the population at large.
Read more from the OK Policy Blog.
Changes to reading mandate worked well
A plan to fine-tune Oklahoma’s third-grade reading mandate worked well last year. As originally worded, the Oklahoma Reading Sufficiency Act would have required schools to hold back third-graders who didn’t pass the state reading test unless they met one of six exemptions based on factors such as disability, English language learner status or previous retention.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma ranks No. 11 in alcohol poisoning deaths
Oklahoma had the 11th-highest rate of alcohol poisoning deaths from 2010-12, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis released Tuesday. The state saw an average of 37 residents die from alcohol poisoning per year from 2010-12, the study shows. That left the state with a rate of 12.6 alcohol poisoning deaths per million people age 15 and older.
‘Hoodie bill’ distorted by press, its author says
A bill that is being described nationally as an attempt to ban hooded sweatshirts has been misrepresented in the press, state Sen. Don Barrington, R-Lawton, said Monday. “The bill is not designed to ban hoodies, but to prevent the wearing of masks or disguises in the commission of a crime,” Barrington said in a statement released through his Senate office.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma ranks poorly in one evaluation of innovation
In the world of entrepreneurship, there is no one word that carries more weight than innovation. Innovation can be hard to pin down. It’s a feeling. It’s a culture. When it really takes hold in a region, it almost becomes a way of life.
Four Inmates Escape Boley Correctional Facility In The Last Week
In the last week, four inmates have walked out of a Boley correctional facility in Okfuskee County. That has people in that area fearful for their safety. One inmate was still on the loose Monday night, and considered armed and dangerous.
Harold Hamm’s ex-wife rejects check for nearly $1 billion
Harold Hamm’s ex-wife has rejected a check for nearly $1 billion as she continues to pursue a larger share of the couple’s assets, the attorney for the Continental Resources Inc. CEO’s said Tuesday. Hamm wrote his ex-wife, Sue Ann Arnall, a check for more than $974 million — the amount he was ordered to pay her in a November divorce ruling — but she refused to accept it as she appeals the ruling in search of a higher award.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Hungry to learn: Food Bank graduates first culinary trade students
Sixteen weeks ago Michael Boyle was a young man struggling to grow into an adult. The 20-year-old didn’t have a high school diploma and admits that he often lacked the motivation and drive to see things through. On Tuesday Boyle was one of the first graduates from the Culinary Trade Program, an initiative from the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma designed to provide kitchen skills and experience to at-risk individuals.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
“(We) still only reach about one-third of Oklahomans who need help, and when you look at the gap — when you separate it between adults and children, and mental health and addiction — the single biggest gap is substance abuse treatment for our youth. So if you’re a mom or dad in Oklahoma whose teenager is struggling, it is heartbreakingly hard to find help.”
– State mental health and substance abuse commissioner Terri White, discussing difficulties connecting people in need of help to treatment. A new report from the CDC ranks Oklahoma 11th in deaths from alcohol poisoning. (Source: bit.ly/1xCYfuC)
Number of the Day
$2,402
Average Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) claimed in Oklahoma County in 2012. The EITC was claimed by 1 in 5 residents
Source: Brookings.
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Unsteady Incomes Keep Millions of Workers Behind on Bills
The bills arrive as regularly as a heartbeat at the Vories’s cozy bi-level brick house just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. It’s the paychecks that are irregular. These days, Alex Vories, 37, is delivering pizzas for LaRosa’s, though he has to use his parents’ car since he wrecked his own 1997 Nissan van on a rainy day last month. In the spring and autumn, he had managed to snag several weeks of seasonal work with the Internal Revenue Service, sorting tax returns for $14 an hour. But otherwise the family had to make do with the $350 a week his wife, Erica, brought home from her job as a mail clerk for the I.R.S.
Read more from The New York Times.
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