Weekend Rewind: May 3, 2010
Happy Monday from OPUBCO HQ, where we take a moment to remember those affected by the deadly May 3, 1999, tornado that tore through central Oklahoma 11 years ago today.
Here’s what you might have missed over the weekend:
–Reporters Ron Jackson and Johnny Johnson had a fascinating look at the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a family of three last year near Wilburton:
The Sans Bois Mountain range holds many secrets, from Prohibition-era stills to Indian Territory legends of cave-dwelling outlaws. A recent mystery centers on the dark and bewildering disappearance of a Eufaula couple, who told their minister they were being haunted by demons and spirits.
Nearly seven months have passed since Bobby and Sherilyn Jamison and their 6-year-old daughter, Madyson, vanished from those mountains. Investigators have encountered a maze of possibilities when studying the family’s history, leaving open every scenario from murder to the staging of their own deaths.
–A mountain of fly ash from coal-fired power plants has been building up near the town of Bokoshe, and the residents aren’t happy about it. Watchdog reporter Michael Baker has more here.
–There’s been a lot of talk about militias in the last month or so, so reporter Bryan Dean took a look at the short history of the Oklahoma State Guard.
–House Republicans from Oklahoma have sworn off federal earmark requests this year, but Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, is picking up the slack in the other chamber. He’s requested more than $600 million in earmarks for the state, reports Chris Casteel from our Washington bureau.
–Eastern Oklahoma is pockmarked with old mines, and it’s a problem for some residents and drivers. Watchdog reporter Ann Kelley has more on the efforts to stabilize the ground near abandoned mines, and the human toll caused by sink holes.
Elsewhere:
–Reporters at the Arizona Republic looked at property-tax exemptions in the previously fast-growing city of Phoenix. Their analysis showed hundreds of landlords claiming the tax credits meant for homeowners.
–The Chicago Tribune writes about the range of punishments for drivers who excessively speed. The paper found punishment for those speeders varies widely, depending on which judge the drivers appear before.
Stefan Entchev needn’t have worried.
The Arlington Heights man had been clocked blasting down Interstate Highway 90 at 100 mph. He feared hundreds or thousands of dollars in fines and community service. A conviction also could have jacked up his insurance rates.
But Entchev had the good fortune to admit his guilt to Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel Jordan, who gave him a special probation in 2008 that allowed Entchev to keep the ticket off his record. No conviction. No community service. A $55 fine.
–Thousands of barrels of oil continue to leak out into the Gulf of Mexico from the deadly fire and sinking of a drilling rig almost two weeks ago. The oil and gas blog Drilling Ahead has a lengthy look at the technical side of what happened:
It’s a good thing that the Deepwater Horizon didn’t settle right on top of the well. At least there’s room for the remotely operated vehicles to maneuver. Also, there’s still a lot of riser still floating in the water column. So there’s some element of integrity going down to the blowout preventer.
It’s absolutely imperative to shut off that oil flow. We just have to hope and pray that the BP and Transocean people can get the blowout preventer shut off. Or that there’s enough integrity to the risers somehow to get in there and control the leaks, perhaps with some sort of plug. One other idea is to lower a large “hood” over the leak and capture the oil so it can be pumped up to a storage tanker ship.
Meanwhile, the relief well has to go down — carefully and safely. This Macondo well is history. Seal it. Mark it. Give it back to the sea. Move on. Don’t tempt fate on this one. And wow… for a relatively modest-sized deep-water discovery, this thing sure has turned into the well from hell.
–The New York Times examines the status of the charter school movement, and finds that some of the latest research on their effectiveness has caused some rifts among education reformers:
What most experts can agree on is that charter school quality varies widely, and that it is often associated with the rigor of authorities that grant charters. New York, where oversight is strong, is known for higher performing schools. Ohio, Arizona and Texas, where accountability is minimal, showed up in Ms. Raymond’s study with many poorly performing schools.
The founder of the one of the charter schools mentioned in the story, the Harlem Children’s Zone, was in Oklahoma last week.
–Paul
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