Category Archives: State

Ascension violated restraining order

By David Arnett

Updated: Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor has learned through numerous contacts from employees and public news reports that Ascension has violated the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) granted on November 12, 2021 by the Tulsa County District Court. 

Monday, Attorney General O’Connor issued a cease and desist letter to Ascension demanding that Ascension: 1) immediately cease and desist its defiance of the Court’s TRO and allow the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office time to investigate the allegations of religious discrimination currently pending with the Office of Civil Rights Enforcement; 2) immediately reinstate all suspended or terminated employees who filed for a religious exemption; and 3) immediately put these employees back to work by placing them on their normal work schedule. 

Tuesday, AG O’Connor joined 11 other state attorneys general in a new lawsuit to stop the Biden administration’s “job or jab.”

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Sen. Dahm files bill for forensic audits

By David Arnett

At the least, elections in America are no longer beyond any appearance of impropriety. Many believe it time to prove validity.

In response to what he described as unaddressed concerns with election irregularities across the country regarding the 2020 election, Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, announced Monday he had filed Senate Bill 7X calling for a forensic audit.

“I’ve heard from people across Oklahoma who have concerns about the loss of trust in our elections,” Dahm said. “With so many irregularities and violations of the Constitution happening across the country, the people are rightfully concerned about election integrity.”

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OK Gross Receipts hit record high

Today in a press release, State Treasurer Randy McDaniel announced Oklahoma’s expanding economy pushed Gross Receipts to the Treasury to an all-time high as collections from the past 12 months topped $14.5 billion.

Gross receipts for the month also set a record, reaching $1.38 billion and exceeded results from September of last year by 20 percent.

“Gross receipts show improvement across the board with every revenue source producing strong results,” Treasurer McDaniel said. “The revenue report, coupled with low unemployment, reflect the healthy status of the state economy.”

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What Arizona Audit really shows

By Hans von Spakovsky

Critics of the forensic audit of Maricopa County, Arizona—including local election officials and many reporters—who are crowing that the audit confirms that President Joe Biden won the election in Arizona, either don’t understand the purpose of an audit or are trying to deliberately obscure the most worrying findings in the audit.

In fact, by concentrating on only one finding—that the hand recount essentially matched the machine count from last November—they are missing the forest for the trees. That is shown by misleading headlines such as that in The Washington Post: “Ariz. Ballot Report Affirms Biden Win and Lack of Fraud.”

No one doubts that the vote tabulation shows that Biden won the state. The fact, however, that the hand recount essentially matched the machine count from last November comes as no surprise to anyone with experience in election administration.

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Civics Education focus of House Study

By Staff Report

Legislators took a deeper look at the standards and quality of Oklahoma’s civics education during an interim study on Thursday.

IS21-052, heard before the House Higher Education and Career Tech Committee, was requested and led by Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton.

“It’s important that Americans understand the fundamental concepts of our government, whether it’s the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, separation of powers, federalism, voting procedures, or contacting one’s representative,” Pae said in an opening statement.

Brenda Beymer-Chapman, director of social studies education and personal financial literacy at SDE, started the study by outlining the current standards and legislative requirements for civics education.

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