More Oklahomans need heating bill help
Nearly 130,000 Oklahomans are expected to receive help in paying their energy bills this year, up 9 percent from last year, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association.
The group expects 129,558 Oklahomans to receive LIHEAP aid this year. That’s up from 117,780 last year and 83,503 in fiscal 2008.
Still, that increase is small compared to some other states. Ten states will have increases this year of 25 percent or above. Mississippi’s need is up 68 percent. …
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Inhofe to EPA Administrator: I really do like you
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, Congress’ leading skeptic of man-made global warming, kicked off his statement today about the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by telling EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, “I really do like you.”
He also praised her for focusing attention on the huge pollution site in northeastern Oklahoma called Tar Creek.
Then, however, he proceeded to criticize the science of global warming, saying it had been cooked and shouldn’t have been used by the EPA to formulate a rule on …
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More on Oklahoma’s OpenBooks 2.0
A House committee today moved forward a bill to expand the financial information on the state’s Open Books Web site.
Here’s the relevant language in the measure, House Bill 3422, by Rep. Ken Miller, R-Edmond:
Effective January 1, 2011, the Office of State Finance shall update the website with “Open Books 2.0,” an expanded online database through [...]
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OK lawmakers scored very low by environmental group
The League of Conservation Voters released its scorecard today of lawmakers’ votes on environmental issues. Oklahoma was the only state to get a score of 0 in the U.S. Senate, where neither Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, or Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, voted the LCV position a single time. In the U.S. House, only Rep. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, broke 50 percent, and the state’s House delegation was among the lowest scoring in the nation.…
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Obama releases new health care proposal
The White House this morning released President Barack Obama’s compromise proposal for health care reform. The president is scheduled to meet this week with a bipartisan group of lawmakers as he tries to move an issue that has been stalled since early this year, when the Senate lost its supermajority.…
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Boren’s district benefits from USDA grants
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced more stimulus grants today, these for community projects in rural areas.
And, like many such announcements, the Oklahoma beneficiaries are all in the district of Rep. Dan Boren, of Muskogee, the only Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation and the only one who voted for the stimulus bill.
According to a USDA news release, these are the Oklahoma projects awarded money from $14 million pot announced today for 40 communities in 12 states.
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How many state employees are sex offenders?
That might be an overly dramatic headline to this post, but it could be a question that never gets answered if a bill to close off the birth dates of public employees becomes law.
Senate Bill 1753, by Sen. Debbe Leftwich, D-Oklahoma City, passed out of the Senate yesterday with no debate by a vote of [...]
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Edmond Ranks Below National Average
Edmond’s 2009 average cost of living index ranks 11.1 percent below the national average, according to the latest Cost of Living Index by ACCRA, the association of community and economic development research professsionals.
Edmond’s 2009 average index was 88.9. The cost of living increased .2 percent from the 2008 annual average.
Janet Yowell, Edmond Economic Development Authority executive director, said, “By participating in the ACCRA Cost of Living Index, we can offer customized cost of living comparison data to assist …
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Budget agreement announced
Gov. Brad Henry and legislative leaders tonight announced an agreement on how the state’s reserve funds should be used to fill the state’s budget hole for this fiscal year.
The agreement calls for using $223.5 million of the state’s savings account, the Rainy Day Fund, for this fiscal year and $223.5 million to be available for the upcoming 2011 fiscal year, which starts July 1. That would leave about $149 million in the Rainy Day Fund.
House and Senate budget …
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Yukon to upgrade base map
The city of Yukon is upgrading its base map.
The city will pay Pinnacle Mapping Technologies Inc to $28,648 to provide mapping services and digital surveying.
The services are part of a project initiated by the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments to create an aerial photography base map for central Oklahoma.
Other governments participating are Oklahoma City, Norman, Midwest City, Edmond and Oklahoma County.
Pinnacle Mapping Technologies Inc is based in Indianapolis.
Tim Henley…
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