Rep. Tom Cole (OK-04), Vice Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered remarks on the House floor in support of the Republican motion to recommit (MTR) on H.R. 4502, which the House will vote on this this week. The motion would restore the longstanding and traditionally bipartisan Hyde and Weldon Amendments to annual appropriations.…Read More
Gov. Kevin Stitt has joined 11 other governors to file an amicus brief that argues the U.S. Supreme Court should overturn prior rulings and leave regulation of abortion up to state governments. The brief has been submitted in a Mississippi case that involves one of the most direct challenges in decades to prior U.S. Supreme…Read More
Not much is popularly known about Blessed Stanley Rother, the small town Oklahoma native who was declared blessed in September 2017 by the Catholic Church. One of the newest blesseds, he became a priest and missionary at a parish in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala. He served the local Tz’utujil people at the time of the Guatemalan…Read More
Gov. Kevin Stitt on Monday chose a Tulsa woman to fill an Oklahoma Supreme Court vacancy, marking for the first time in decades that most of the nine court members were Republican appointees. In a statement, Stitt said Judge Dana Kuehn of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals would fill the Supreme Court vacancy left…Read More
Oklahoma K-12 educators could have their teaching licenses suspended and schools could have their accreditation docked for teaching banned concepts about race and racism under administrative rules approved by the State Board of Education. Amid pressure from Republican state lawmakers, the board on Monday approved on a 5-1 vote emergency rules to implement a new law that prohibits the teaching…Read More
Three female judges made the final cut Thursday for the Oklahoma Supreme Court vacancy, as the state Judicial Nominating Commission set up Gov. Kevin Stitt to pick his third justice for the nine-person court. The finalists announced by the commission are: Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Dana Kuehn; Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals Judge…Read More
The state Health Care Authority picked four companies to run the program that affects about a quarter of the state. The Oklahoma Supreme Court says that decision is not constitutional. The Oklahoma Supreme Court voted 6-3 against the state, saying it did not have the authority to outsource the program. “The idea was that the…Read More
A Republican lawmaker in Oklahoma who supports the death penalty is seeking an independent investigation into the conviction of a death row inmate. State Rep. Kevin McDugle says he believes new evidence suggests the now 58-year-old Richard Glossip may be innocent. McDugle says several of his GOP colleagues have agreed to sign on to the…Read More
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review a Mississippi case that represents a major challenge to abortion rights and could allow Oklahoma and other states more latitude in restricting access to abortion. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, who joined 17 other states last year in urging justices to take the case, applauded the…Read More
A significant school-choice measure has won overwhelming approval from the Oklahoma Senate and is now one vote away from Gov. Kevin Stitt’s desk. Senate Bill 1080 increases the size of the Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act, which provides tax credits to those who donate to organizations that provide private-school scholarships. “Other than affirming life,…Read More