Tag: Oklahoma

13 States Sue Biden Administration, Demand Ability to Cut Taxes

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West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey

Thirteen states sued President Joe Biden’s administration over an American Rescue Plan provision prohibiting states from cutting taxes after accepting coronavirus relief funds.

The 13-state coalition argued that the provision included in the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package preventing states from cutting taxes if they accept relief from the federal government is unconstitutional. The coalition, led by Republican West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday evening in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

“Never before has the federal government attempted such a complete takeover of state finances,” Morrisey said in a Wednesday statement. “We cannot stand for such overreach.”

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21 States Sue Biden Admin for Revoking Keystone XL Permit

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A group of red states sued President Biden and members of his administration on Wednesday over his decision to revoke a key permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, The Hill reported.

The lawsuit is led by Montana and Texas, and backed by 19 other states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

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Oklahoma Passes Bill to Grant Immunity to Drivers Who Hit Rioters Engaging in Violence

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The Oklahoma House passed a bill Wednesday that extends punishments for rioters and grants immunity to drivers who injure or kill someone while fleeing a riot, USA Today reported.

House Bill 1674, introduced by Republican state Rep. Kevin West, would allow prosecutors to charge rioters with a misdemeanor for interfering with traffic and endangering drivers. If passed, motor vehicle operators would not face criminal or civil charges for hitting a rioter if they were fleeing for safety or exercised “due care” at the time of the injury or death.

The bill defines a rioter as anyone committing violence or robbery during the protest, according to the Courthouse News Service. Rioters can face a criminal charge and imprisonment.

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Trump Mocks ‘Stone-Cold Crazy’ Minneapolis Officials, Predicts ‘Big Victory’ in Minnesota: ‘They’ve Had It’

Anthony Gockowski

President Donald Trump described Minneapolis officials as “stone-cold crazy” during his return to the campaign trail Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The lawlessness of the “radical left” was a recurring theme of the president’s speech, and Minneapolis was a prime target.

“Our incredible success in rebuilding America stands in stark contrast to the extremism and destruction and violence of the radical left,” the president said early in his 90-minute address.

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Oklahoma’s Supreme Court Rules Saturday’s Trump Rally in Tulsa May Proceed as Planned

The Associated Press

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request to require everyone attending President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa this weekend to wear a face mask and maintain social distancing inside the arena to guard against the spread of the coronavirus.

The court ruled that the two local residents who asked that the thousands expected at Saturday night’s rally be required to take the precautions couldn’t establish that they had a clear legal right to the relief they sought. Oklahoma has had a recent spike in coronavirus cases, but in a concurring opinion, two justices noted that the state’s plan to reopen its economy is “permissive, suggestive and discretionary.”

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Senior Tennessee Star Reporter Laura Baigert Gives First Hand Account in Tulsa, Oklahoma Ahead of Trump Rally

Julie Carr

Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed Tennessee Star Senior Reporter Laura Baigert to the newsmakers line.

During the second hour, Baigert described the scene in Tulsa, Oklahoma where President Trump plans to hold his first post-coronavirus rally at the BOK. She noted that there was an air of camaraderie among the people waiting in line hanging their Trump and American flags.

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Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt Seeks Larger Event for Trump’s Tulsa Rally

The Associated Press

So many people have expressed an interest in attending President Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that the governor said he’s asked the campaign to consider a larger, outdoor venue to accommodate them.

Gov. Kevin Stitt said Monday after talking with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that nearly one million people have requested tickets to the event. Some Trump supporters have already started waiting in line outside the 19,000-seat BOK Center in downtown Tulsa.

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Trump Honors Request from Black Supporters, Reschedules Tulsa Campaign Rally to June 20

The Associated Press

President Donald Trump said Friday that he is rescheduling his first campaign rally in months to a day later so it won’t conflict with the Juneteenth observance of the end of slavery in the United States.

Trump had scheduled the rally — his first since early March — for June 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Black leaders said it was offensive for Trump to pick that day and that place, a city that in 1921 was the site of a fiery and orchestrated white-on-black attack.

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Commentary: Remembering Senator Tom Coburn – He Stood Tall for Taxpayers

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Former Sen. Tom Coburn was a hero among fiscal conservatives and endless source of inspiration and courage. The Oklahoma Republican embodied financial stewardship, always showing great respect for the hard-earned tax dollars of working Americans.

Coburn, who died late Friday at 72, helped the American people better understand the size and scope of Washington’s spending problem by highlighting government waste.

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Commentary: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 Was a Mindless Rage of Collectivist Groupthink

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On June 1 of next year, the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, will mark the centennial of a catastrophe—an entirely man-made one. More specifically, an entirely thought-made one. It will be very painful to acknowledge. In its immediate aftermath, in fact, Tulsans of a few generations ago tried hard to ignore and forget it. But you can’t learn from history if you choose to pretend it never happened. So the story must and shall be told.

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‘Rogue’ Oklahoma Judge Upholds Law Banning Abortion Method

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by Mary Margaret Olohan   An Oklahoma judge upheld a law Friday banning a common abortion method for second-trimester abortions. Oklahoma County District Judge Cindy Truong upheld a 2015 Oklahoma law banning the dilation and evacuation method, CBS News reported. The law will go into effect as soon as courts issue a final order. The Center for Reproductive Rights challenged the law, according to the outlet. The dilation and evacuation method is considered the “standard of care,” according to Center for Reproductive Rights Litigation Director Julie Rikelman. Rikelman said the organization plans to immediately appeal the ruling to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. “There really is no other standard method of care for women at that point in their pregnancy,” Rikelman told CBS News Friday. “It really puts doctors and women in an impossible situation.” The dilation and evacuation procedure is used for second-trimester abortions when women are between 13 and 24 weeks pregnant. Dilation and evacuation involve pulling apart the limbs of an unborn baby in order to allow the limbs to be extracted from the womb. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, a Republican, weighed in on the matter Friday. “It is unconscionable to think that we would allow this…

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Maker of OxyContin Agrees to $270M Settlement in Oklahoma

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The maker of OxyContin and the company’s controlling family agreed Tuesday to pay a groundbreaking $270 million to Oklahoma to settle allegations they helped create the nation’s deadly opioid crisis with their aggressive marketing of the powerful painkiller. It is the first settlement to come out of the recent coast-to-coast wave of nearly 2,000 lawsuits against Purdue Pharma that threaten to push the company into bankruptcy and have stained the name of the Sackler family, whose members rank among the world’s foremost philanthropists. “The addiction crisis facing our state and nation is a clear and present danger, but we’re doing something about it today,” Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said. Nearly $200 million will go toward establishing a National Center for Addiction Studies and Treatment at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa, while local governments will get $12.5 million. The Sacklers are responsible for $75 million of the settlement. In settling, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company denied any wrongdoing in connection with what Hunter called “this nightmarish epidemic” and “the worst public health crisis in our state and nation we’ve ever seen.” The deal comes two months before Oklahoma’s 2017 lawsuit against Purdue Pharma and other drug companies was set to become…

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Oklahoma City Votes Unanimously To Rename Three Schools Named After Confederates At Cost of $40,000

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An Oklahoma school board voted unanimously Monday to rename three Confederate schools, an action which will cost the district $40,000. The Oklahoma City, Okla. school board voted 7-0 to rename schools named after Gens. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Isaac Stand Watie, reported Fox25 News. “As the district begins the input process to determine…

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