Catherine Roberts

Tulsa welcomes mental health professionals from across the country for the National Zarrow Mental Health Symposium, Wednesday through Friday at the Tulsa Convention Center. Tulsa’s Mental Heath Association’s Mike Brose says this year, the symposium also serves as Mental Health America’s Annual Conference.

“There’s a lot of really interesting creative ideas coming right out of the heartland, and right out of Tulsa, Oklahoma,” he said. “We thought it was time to show off our city and our state and show what we’re doing, and learn from others."

Vision 2 is now in the hands of City Council—specifically, the second proposition, on quality of life. The Council is seeking input from citizens on the initiatives to which they’d like to see money allocated, should it pass in November. Those discussions should prove contentious.

I-244 eastbound between Memorial and 169 is back down to one open lane, starting Tuesday morning.

"This is another bridge deck that crews will be pouring and then leaving to set," said the Oklahoma Department of Transportation's Kenna Mitchell. "We are hoping that we can get the strength we need on the new bridge deck and have traffic restored by Saturday afternoon."

On Saturday, traffic will return to two lanes.

Tulsans dealing with a serious illness in their family might make a stop at OU-Tulsa today for some information about caring for a loved one who’s seriously sick.

An open house today will showcase a new center that will serve as a resource for people needing help navigating the healthcare system in that situation.

Palliative Care

The University of Oklahoma’s Dr. Jennifer Clarke says the basis for the practice of palliative medicine is simple.

“All of us suffer,” she said, “especially those who have to face illness.”

The unincorporated community of Turley north of Tulsa needs your help earning $50,000 in grant money from the natural personal-care products company Tom’s of Maine.

The grant would go to creating a community teaching kitchen and greenhouse, as part of Turley’s A Third Place Community Foundation’s “Miracle Among the Ruins” project, which is tackling the area’s severe food insecurity problem.

It has already built a community garden and orchard through the help of other grants.

This week, social service agencies are asking you to pay close attention to gloomy friends: it’s National Suicide Prevention Week.

Ann Jenkins with the Family & Children’s Services Community Outreach Psychiatric Emergency Services program says to watch for some common warning signs: “people talking about death or suicide, saying things like, ‘You’ll be better off when I’m gone, you won’t have to worry about me.’ It can also be them actually purchasing a firearm or the means to kill themselves.”

Mayor Bartlett delivered his State of the City earlier today at a Tulsa Metro Chamber luncheon. He spoke about Vision 2, manufacturing in Tulsa, and public safety, among other topics. Listen here to his plan to attract and train skilled employees for Tulsa’s manufacturing sector.

For the Tulsa School of Arts and Science, this is the second first day of school in three weeks, one day after a fire devastated its new building, the former Barnard Elementary.

TSAS Director Eric Doss says they’re letting people know how they can help.

At All Souls Unitarian Church, where the community of the Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences gathered this morning after news that a fire had devastated the school building, cheers went up when principal Liesa Smith announced that students would not have to enroll at other high schools.

“TSAS will not be dismantled,” she told students. “You will not be sent off to other schools.”

That word comes despite the school’s new building, the former Barnard Elementary School at 17th and Lewis, going up in explosive flames early this morning.

Oklahoma’s multicounty grand jury indicts James David Sisney, former Broken Arrow School Superintendent, on two felony charges.

Sisney’s plea is not guilty, both to a count of bribery and to a count of conspiracy against a school district.

A corporation, Windstream Communications, was also named in the indictment, but did not enter a plea in court Thursday.

There have been allegations in the past the Sisney accepted tickets to the Final Four from Windstream while the company was a vendor for Broken Arrow schools.