Opinion

Editorial: Have a happy sales tax holiday!

August 1, 2019

It’s nice to have a holiday in August. Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday is this weekend. In their collective wisdom, the Oklahoma Legislature passed Senate Bill 861 during the 2007 Legislative Session. Conservative lawmakers were tired of reports of Oklahoma shoppers driving to Dallas during the Texas sales tax holiday. Everyone is a winner with this…

Editorial: Democrat desperation grows

August 1, 2019

In July, a handful of radical Democrat representatives tried to impeach President Trump. The vote failed, 95-332. It failed because most Democrats understand that Trump is innocent of any impeachable offenses. The calls for impeachment started the day Trump took office. Democrats are upset because Hillary Clinton – one of the worst presidential candidate in…

Editorial: Wrong-headed tax resolution

August 1, 2019

Doubling the minimum wage to $15 an hour sounds like a good idea but it’s not. In July, Democrats in the U.S. House voted that increase as a meaningless gesture to prove that they are trying to accomplish something. The action was part of their presidential strategy to make people hate the rich and give…

Letter: Police oversight board is a mess

August 1, 2019 Duane Collins

You are digging yourself a pit that could eventually cave in on you and the City of Tulsa. I am referring specifically to the police oversight board and the search for the alleged “mass graves” resulting from the 1921 Tulsa race riot. The Police Oversight Board The police oversight board will not result in a…

Letter: Why the search for mass graves?

August 1, 2019 Joseph G. Glenn

Perhaps Mayor G.T. Bynum knows little about the work for integration in the 1950s. The goal was to offer equal rights. You know, “separate but equal” didn’t work too well. To me, it is puzzling – or are there other motives at work here? Will we see groups formed and paid funds by Tulsa citizens?…

Editorial: Homelessness increases in Tulsa

July 25, 2019

Homelessness is up in Tulsa by 10 percent this year. It went up 8 percent last year, according to the Rev. Steve Whitaker, senior pastor and CEO of John 3:16 Mission. Oklahoma has about 4,000 verifiable homeless people. And that number is growing. Why? Unemployment is down. The national economy is the best in decades….

Editorial: Ratcheting up racial tensions

July 25, 2019

Some Americans – mostly liberal Democrat leaders – are doing their best to rachet up racial tensions in our nation. Every policy decision made by President Donald Trump results in him being called a “racist” on CNN, MSNBC, in the New York Times, in the Washington Post and in the House of Representatives. Similarly, if…

Editorial: Get out of the casino business

July 25, 2019

The gambling pact between the State of Oklahoma and the tribes is about to expire. First, it’s gambling, not “gaming.” Gaming makes it sound like a harmless pastime while gambling is a more correct term. You walk into a casino, you most likely will lose money. That’s gambling. When former Gov. Brad Henry and state…

Editorial: Farmers are facing challenges

July 18, 2019

Rain has probably hurt farmers more than the threat of tariffs by President Trump. The President is well aware that when he threatens China or others with tariffs, that could retaliate with their own tariffs and that could have an adverse effect on farmers in America. Trump got a special appropriation to ease that situation…

Editorial: Jury is out on tax hike impacts

July 18, 2019

State officials claim the new cigarette tax increase is working because tax revenues are up and the sale of cigarettes is down. State smokers bought almost 60 million fewer packs of cigarettes during the 2018-2019 fiscal year (July through June) – about a 25 percent drop from the previous fiscal year. And the new $1…