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August 19, 2022 0
As feds delay, advocates work to protect rare bird
Champions of the lesser prairie-chicken are awaiting word whether the rare dancing grouse will be relisted under the Endangered Species Act two months after a final decision was expected. The Center for Biological Diversity notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Aug. 11 that it would sue the agency for failing to protect the birds under the ESA if it did not do so within 60 days. The delay is not good because it creates uncertainty, said Wayne Walker, CEO of LPC Conservation, the only private conservation bank for the lesser prairie-chicken in the bird’s range, which includes western Oklahoma.
Bankruptcies on rise in Oklahoma, across US
There were more bankruptcies filed per capita in Oklahoma in 2021 than there were across the rest of the nation. That finding was reported recently by researchers at Smartest Dollar, who calculated numbers of bankruptcies per million residents in each state based on data gathered from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, U.S. Census Bureau, and Experian. Oklahoma reported 1,502 bankruptcies per million residents during the time frame analyzed. That compared to 1,267 per million residents nationally, the consumer advocacy website reported.
Report: Foreclosures on the rise in OKC
Oklahoma City is among the top 10 metropolitan areas where foreclosure filings are on the rise, according to the latest report from real estate data provider Attom. The report shows 1 in every 854 housing units nationwide had a foreclosure filing in the first half of 2022. In Oklahoma City 1,003 filings were reported from January through June, an increase of 394% from 203 filings from the same period last year.
New energy secretary is Stitt’s latest Cabinet change
As of Sept. 3, Ken Wagner will no longer be Oklahoma’s secretary of energy and environment, having been replaced with Ken McQueen in the latest personnel change in Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Cabinet. McQueen, like Wagner, served in the regional office of the federal Environmental Protection Agency immediately prior to being chosen as Stitt’s energy secretary. Both McQueen and Wagner also have extensive experience in the oil and gas industry, and both received degrees from the University of Tulsa.
GOP lawmaker: State may have misspent relief funds
After months of receiving no answer from Gov. Kevin Stitt or Secretary of Education Ryan Walters regarding how federal pandemic funds were spent on education, a Republican lawmaker has sued the state of Oklahoma for the information. State Rep. Logan Phillips, R-Mounds, announced during a press conference held at the state Capitol on Tuesday that he had filed a lawsuit in district court against the state, seeking access to documentation on how Oklahoma’s Governor’s Emergency Education Relief, or GEER, funds were spent.
OKC Council votes to seek bids for Fairgrounds arena
A request for bids to construct a coliseum at the OKC Fairgrounds will go out immediately, following Tuesday’s authorization by the Oklahoma City Council. The council approved the final plans and specification for the $102 million project, which will be funded with $55.5 million from MAPS 4 tax collections, $21.8 million from hotel tax revenue and other sources. The new facility will replace the Jim Norick Arena, which was named for the late mayor and is affectionately known as “The Big House.” It opened in 1965 and today hosts events more than 250 days a year.
Pending sales fall through as real estate markets begin to cool
More potential homebuyers have tapped the brakes on sales or backed out altogether nationwide recently, including in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, as mortgage rates have risen and home inventory shortages have begun to ease. Nationwide, roughly 63,000 home-purchase agreements fell through in July, equal to 16.1% of homes that went under contract that month, according to data provided by Redfin. In Oklahoma City, the online brokerage said 22.7% of its pending sales contracts fell through that month, and in Tulsa 17.9% did.
Boutique hotel to open in Norman just in time for kickoff
Tulsa businessman Scott Lambert may not be Sooner born or Sooner bred, but he’s about as Sooner red as they come and he has the hotel to prove it. When he opens his 92-room boutique hotel just north of the University of Oklahoma on Aug. 25, OU football fans will feel right at home. From the full-size Sooner Schooner out front to the pair of long horns hanging upside-down from a dining-room wall, tributes, large and small, are everywhere. The hotel’s name, NOUN, stands for North Of University, Norman. Its 3,400-square-foot meeting space is called the “Boomer Sooner Room,” and Lambert named the hotel’s second-floor open-air lounge “One,” to remind fans that there is only one University of Oklahoma.
Arkansas, Oklahoma team up in AM sector
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday announced they had agreed to collaborate to boost the advanced mobility, or AM, industry, which focuses on new technologies driving transportation methods into the future. At a press conference, the Republican governors said their states could work toward creating a national AM hub capable of generating 55,000 new jobs. The memorandum of understanding is intended to support AM companies developing and manufacturing drones, electric and autonomous vehicles, batteries and other products and services in the area. It claims to foster collaboration with local research and testing facilities, support new AM startups, and attract new companies to the region.
Orangutan artist Elok makes history at OKC Zoo
He won’t be celebrated as the next Picasso, but Elok, an orangutan at the Oklahoma City Zoo, has made history nonetheless in the world of art. On Friday – fittingly International Orangutan Day – artwork created by the 21-year-old relative of great apes native to rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia was set to be the focus of much attention at a worldwide auction.
According to OKC Zoo officials, Elok’s artwork inspired the design of a non-fungible token that, with luck, will draw strong bidding on the online NFT auction site OpenSea.io. All proceeds raised are to be used to help protect and conserve orangutans and other endangered species in the wild.
For Norman, OU’s SEC move is a game-changer
Everybody likes to see the big dogs play. And when it comes to college athletics, there aren’t any dogs bigger than the University of Oklahoma. So, when the OU Sooners finally join the Southeastern Conference in 2025, the masses will descend on Norman. Football, softball, baseball, gymnastics: It won’t matter. The people will come with money in their pockets and fire in their eyes. The SEC has a kennel full of big dogs, and all those dogs have fans who like to travel because national championships are usually on the line. OU’s decision to move to the SEC will have an enormous economic impact on Norman for years to come and is likely to extend to Oklahoma City, experts say.
OKC offers two companies incentives for job creation, moves
The City Council has approved economic development allocations for two companies – one a newcomer to Oklahoma City and another that has been here for three decades. An Austin, Texas-based aerospace industrial services company will receive up to $500,000 in job creation incentives to open operations in Oklahoma City and create 150 new jobs in the next four years. “We primarily make robots that build airplanes,” said Erica Pocs, director of operations at Wilder Systems Inc. “We see Oklahoma City as the epicenter for aircraft manufacturing.”
Tagged with: Week in Review
August 19, 2022
August 19, 2022
August 19, 2022
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