The state parole board denied clemency to a death row inmate Wednesday. 61-year-old Scott Eizember addressed the board himself, apologizing for a 2003 spree that left two people in Creek County injured and two dead.
Kathryn Smith asked the board to deny clemency for the shooting of her son, who ultimately survived his injuries after a long recovery.
Smith, Eizember’s ex-girlfriend, was the ultimate target of the rampage, prosecutors say. He killed two of Smith’s neighbors, A.J. and Patsy Cantrell, before attacking Smith’s son and mother.
The parole board voted 3-2 for Eizember’s Jan. 12th lethal injection to proceed.
Sen. Jim Inhofe's official papers will be getting a new home soon. Inhofe will be be donating them to Oklahoma State University.
Upon retirement on Jan. 3, Inhofe's official papers of his career in public service will move from Washington, D.C. to Stillwater.
Inhofe says his working papers from his time as a state representative, state senator, mayor of Tulsa, congressman and U.S. Senator will all be donated to OSU, where they'll be kept in perpetuity.
Inhofe's papers will range in date from 1967 to 2023. They'll include schedules, awards memorabilia and more from the Republican's long career in public service.
A study into health coverage rates for kids ranked Oklahoma first in the nation for its gains over the past few years. Much of those gains will likely be lost when the federal government stops its COVID health emergency policies.
Georgetown Center for Children and Families reports Oklahoma’s uninsured rate for children dropped at a higher rate from 2019 to 2021 than any other state, with about 11,000 gaining coverage in that time.
About half of Oklahoma children are enrolled in SoonerCare. As of October, the Medicaid program covered more than 600,000 kids.
Researchers, including analysts who worked on the Georgetown report and those who work for the Oklahoma Policy Institute, say some of the gains were likely due to Medicaid expansion, which raised awareness about the program.
But one in six of those kids could soon lose their coverage. When the pandemic started, Congress passed legislation that allowed states to get more Medicaid funding if they loosened some eligibility requirements during the federally designated public health emergency. The agreement allows people to keep their coverage if they fail to, for example, get paperwork in on time, or if they get a pay bump that puts them a little over the income requirement.
The emergency is scheduled to end in January if the federal government decides against extending it again.
Schools in western Oklahoma are battling an uptick in flu cases, which has forced at least two to go virtual.
Nearly 16% of Clinton Public Schools' student body was gone Tuesday out sick with the flu or other illness. According to the district’s superintendent, that's about 330 students.
Just down the road in Weatherford, school officials say they have around 200 kids recovering at home.
While both districts are still holding classes in-person, that’s not the case for the Thomas-Fay-Custer school district which moved to virtual learning Tuesday and Wednesday. Its superintendent says 35%, or about 160 students, are out sick.
Late Wednesday, Woodward Middle School announced it's holding classes virtually Thursday and Friday due to the rising number of illnesses with students and staff.
As flu continues to uptick across the state and nation, health officials urge parents to keep sick kids home from school and to wait at least 24 hours after their child's fever is gone before returning them to the classroom.
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