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Survey shows teachers will vote no on State Question 801

Tulsa Beacon

A survey conducted by Professional Oklahoma Educators indicates that almost 80 percent of teachers, administrators and support staff do not support SQ 801, which calls for a vote of the people on the November ballot to amend the state constitution. If passed, SQ 801 would allow local school districts to use money from property taxes,…

State voter registration has surged

Tulsa Beacon

Oklahoma’s voter rolls have surged since January, with nearly 2.1 million voters now registered as of the end of September, State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax said. Official statistics from the end of September show total voter registration in the state saw a net increase of 76,256 from January 15 to September 30 this year,…

Council appoints O’Brien and Moore

Tulsa Beacon

The Tulsa  City Council on Wednesday appointed two interim councilors to fill vacated seats in Districts 3 and 7. Karen O’Brien is the District 3 councilor and former Councilor Arianna Moore was chosen for District 7. They both will serve until December 3, when the winners of the November 6 elections take office. Councilors thought…

Higher utility bills in Broken Arrow

Tulsa Beacon

Utility bills are going up in Broken Arrow again. In November, an average residential customer who uses 7,000 gallons of water a month will pay about $2.29 more per month for water, $2.19 for sewer and 57 cents for stormwater fees. That’s about $5 a month more. Residential customers got a similar hike in utility…

Homeless veterans obtain assistance

Tulsa Beacon

To help end veteran homelessness, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded $153,053 to provide a permanent home to an estimated 35 veterans experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma.  The rental assistance is provided through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program, which combines rental assistance…

Omaha newspaper joins a union

Tulsa Beacon

Newsroom employees of The Omaha World-Herald voted overwhelmingly on October 8. to unionize. The 71-5 vote by reporters, copy editors and photographers to affiliate with The NewsGuild, was what they called an effort to ensure a local voice in the direction of the state’s largest newspaper. “Today is a historic day as journalists make the…

Negative campaigning targeted House conservatives

Tulsa Beacon

Out-of-state political action committees have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in “dark money” to defeat conservative candidates in Oklahoma. And it’s having an effect. The dark money PACs succeeded in creating enough negativity to ensure the defeat of some of the most conservative lawmakers in the primary and runoff elections. State Rep. Chuck Strohm,…

September tax revenues set a new record for Oklahoma

Tulsa Beacon

As expected, state tax revenues soared in September in the first full month’s impact of the largest tax increase in Oklahoma history. Revenues jumped by 14 percent compared to September of 2017. The $1,200,000,000.00 collected was the highest total ever in the history of the state for that month. The $12,500,000,000.00 for the past 12…

Oklahoma gets another year to comply with the Real ID Act

Tulsa Beacon

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has granted Oklahoma’s REAL ID extension through October 10, 2019, according to the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety. This means the federal government will continue to recognize Oklahoma driver’s licenses and ID cards until that time. There will be no restrictions for Oklahomans using state licenses to fly commercial…

NY company buys The Oklahoman

Tulsa Beacon

The Oklahoman, the state’s largest newspaper, is part of a sale to New York-based Gatehouse Media. The sale closed October 1. Gatehouse Media publishes 145 daily publications in 37 states. Some of their papers are in Shawnee, Oklahoma; Bartlesville, Oklahoma; North Little Rock, Arkansas; Stockton, California; Daytona Beach, Florida; Jacksonville, Florida; Gainesville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia;…