New bangs and a new term
Wagoner County Sheriff Bob Colbert
EMSA CEO Steve Williamson gets $905 in spa treatments
A few weeks ago, I got a call from someone suggesting to “take a look at the child abuse problem in this state.”
I suggested she read the more than 65 stories written by our newspaper in the past year on that very subject.
But, I was more than happy to listen to her personal situation.
Once in awhile, reporters get these kinds of calls.
Not everyone can read every word everyday and may miss a few things.
So, to help people out, I’ve collected some of the most interesting, weird, important or notable items from this past week.
With any luck and some planning, these will appear in my blog at a week’s end.
From the national front:President Obama officially got four more years.
He did so with an
inaugural speech calling on bolstering equality and prosperity on the home front, promoting democracy worldwide and combating global warming.
The real news - His wife now has bangs, his daughters wore purple and Beyonce pretended to sing.
Quote of the week: Wagoner County Sheriff Bob Colbert
sidestepped direct questions on whether he planned to enforce the recent federal executive orders on gun safety.
But he was clear on one thing.
"I think gun shows are terrible. You walk in any gun show, and you can watch illegal aliens walk around with bags full of pistols. I have a problem with that."
Let the Hunger Games begin: The Tulsa mayoral race just got interesting with former Mayor Kathy Taylor’s
announcement she wants the job.
Also, this will be the first nonpartisan election in recent years.
Spas and Pens: EMSA, which was already in hot water for the way it bills patients, got eviscerated in an
audit .
The audit recommends the ambulance service seek legal advice for $7 million in purchases made by its contractor, Paramedics Plus, and donations it made to charities and association, which may not be allowed under the Constitution.
Of all the questionable expenditures, two were for spa treatments for the CEO Steve Williamson, totaling $905.
I’m assuming the massage oil had flakes of gold.
And Mont Blanc pen gift sets, ranging between $385 and $410, for retirement gifts?
Because the trend of letter writing is so in right now.
Mo' Money: With the legislative session getting ready to take off, state agencies are arguing their cases for bigger budgets.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections needs $66.7 million on top of its $463.7 million to deal with overcrowding.
The state's prisons are at a record 26,267 inmates, putting the system at 99 percent capacity
The state education department added $37.7 million to its $289 million additional request.
It'll cover things like mandated health insurance for teachers and remedial programs for students.
Considering 20 percent has been cut from the state education budget in the past two years, this would just bring it back up to the 2011 level.
Field workers in the
the Department of Human Services may be getting a bump in pay as lawmakers seek to stay in compliance with a federal lawsuit settlement made last year.
The agency receives more than $500 million in state appropriations.
But, the state must increase that to implement the child welfare improvement plan used to settle lawsuit alleging abuses in the foster-care system.
That plan is expected to cost $153 million over the next five years.
And that's just a few of the requests.
Carrying the torch: Thank you to the
Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police , which gave $15,000 to pay the competition cost for 75 Special Olympians.
It’s one of the largest donations the organization has made in recent years.
The membership voted to ramp up its community involvement by raising money for events with Special Olympics as its No. 1 fundraiser.
