Local & Regional
11:38 am
Fri June 7, 2013

May Storms Damaged at Least 56 Oklahoma School Sites

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's school superintendent says as many as 56 public school sites were damaged by violent storms and floods that ripped through the state last month.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi said Friday that three sites in Moore and the El Reno campus of the Canadian Valley Technology Center were destroyed.

School districts that reported storm-related damage include Moore, El Reno, Mid-Del, Crutcho and Moss.

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Local & Regional
11:21 am
Fri June 7, 2013

Sequestration Reduces Arts Funding in Oklahoma

Arts and cultural programs in Oklahoma may have a harder time securing funding from the state in the coming fiscal year 2014.

That’s because sequester cuts have reduced the National Endowment for the Arts budget, which in turn has meant tightening at the Oklahoma Arts Council.

Director of Marketing Joel Gavin says it will likely impact agencies’ ability to collect private support as well.

“Private funders often ask if they have received an Oklahoma Arts Council grant,” he said, “or if they’ve received any sort of public funding, before they’ll commit.”

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Local & Regional
11:05 am
Fri June 7, 2013

Early In-Person Absentee Voting Underway at Tulsa County Election Board

Credit KWGS News
Former Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor is among the first to cast an in-person absentee ballot for Tuesday's city and county election

In-person absentee voting is underway for the Tulsa Mayor, Auditor, and County Commission District 3 races. Election Board Secretary Patty Bryant says you may vote today and Monday in advance of Tuesday’s election. She says there were 20 people lined up outside Election headquarters when doors opened this morning, and there’s been a steady stream of voters coming in to vote.

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Local & Regional
6:55 am
Fri June 7, 2013

Senator Coburn Supports Move from $1 Bill to $1 Coin

Credit U.S. Senate-File Photo
Senator Tom Coburn

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn has joined four other senators in promoting the replacement of $1 bills with $1 coins.

Coburn joined fellow Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Democrats Tom Harkin of Iowa and Mark Udall of Colorado in introducing legislation to promote the $1 coin as a way to save money and reduce the federal deficit.

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Local & Regional
6:51 am
Fri June 7, 2013

Attorney Files Legal Challenge to Oklahoma Tax Cut

Credit KWGS News File Photo

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma City attorney with a long track record of successfully challenging legislative actions as unconstitutional has filed a lawsuit claiming a bill passed by the Legislature to cut the income tax violates the Oklahoma Constitution.

Attorney Jerry Fent filed the lawsuit Thursday with the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

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Local & Regional
6:48 am
Fri June 7, 2013

Navy Combat Ship to be Named USS Tulsa

Credit File photo/Wikipedia
The USS Tulsa will be similar to this ship, the USS Freedom

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The US Navy will name one of its two new combat ships the USS Tulsa.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Thursday that the ship is being built in Mobile, Alabama. The other ship to be built will be the USS Billings.

The ships known as littoral combat ships — or LCS — are named to recognize cities that are one of the five most-populated communities in a state. The USS Tulsa will become the second ship that has been named for Oklahoma's second largest city.

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Local & Regional
6:43 am
Fri June 7, 2013

Reputed Gang Members Indicted for Drug Running

Credit KWGS News File Photo
The Federal Court House in downtown Tulsa

The Federal Grand Jury in Tulsa goes after reputed gang drug dealers. Four men were indicted on cocaine related chargers. They are reported to be members of the Hoover Crips Gang.

The four are being held without bond. They have been identified as Lorell and Paul Battle,  Gaywone Blades and Thomas Jackson.  Blades and Lorell Battle also face gun related charges.

They are suspected of operating crack apartments in the 61st and South Peoria area.

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Kirk Siegler is a reporter for NPR's National Desk. In this role he covers Southern California and the West from NPR West's studios in Culver City, CA.

Since joining the national desk in December of 2012, Siegler has covered everything from a dock worker strike at the nation's largest port to an unprecedented manhunt for an ex-LAPD officer wanted for a string of vengeance killings. He's also contributed extensively to the network's coverage on the ongoing national conversation about guns; assignments that have taken him from Newtown, CT, to an inner-city Los Angeles hospital's trauma ward, to rural Wyoming.

Siegler has won numerous Edward R. Murrow and Associated Press Awards for his coverage of Environmental, Political and Business issues in Montana and Colorado. Siegler was a 2010 Science Literacy Project fellow at the University of California-Berkeley and most recently he completed the 2012 Knight/MIT "Food Boot Camp" Fellowship.

Prior to joining NPR, Siegler spent seven years reporting from Colorado, where he became a familiar voice to NPR listeners reporting from Denver for NPR Member Station KUNC. He also spent two years as a reporter and news director at Aspen Public Radio. Siegler got his start in reporting in 2003 covering the Montana Legislature for Montana Public Radio.

Siegler has spent much of his adult life living in the West. He grew up in Missoula, MT and received a B.A. in journalism from the University of Colorado in Boulder. He is an avid skier and enjoys traveling and visiting his family scattered across the globe.

Local & Regional
6:34 am
Fri June 7, 2013

Friday Morning Local News from KWGS

Topping the local news:

  • City Councilors take up the Tulsa Jail overcrowding issue.
  • Four reputed Tulsa gang members are indicted by a federal grand jury.
  • Mayor Bartlett makes his appearance on 'Studio Tulsa'.
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StudioTulsa
4:30 pm
Thu June 6, 2013

The Third of a Three-Part Series on Tulsa's 2013 Mayoral Race: A Discussion with Dewey Bartlett

Aired on Thursday, June 6th.

On this installment of ST, we offer the third and final interview in our three-part series of conversations with the leading candidates to be Tulsa's next mayor. As per changes to the City Charter that were enacted in 2011, the current race for mayor will be non-partisan, with a primary scheduled for Tuesday of next week: June 11th.

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