Oklahoma’s infant mortality rate drops, health officials say

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma’s chart-busting infant mortality rate has fallen, dropping to its lowest point since 2007, an official with the Oklahoma State Department of Health said last week.

Oklahoma drought conditions remain unchanged

Rainfall totals in Oklahoma averaged 0.83 of an inch for the week of Aug. 29-Sept. 4, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The Aug.

$5M allocation from ARPA funding would finance repairs to local dams

OKLAHOMA CITY – The $5 million in ARPA funding earmarked for dam maintenance “is intended for publicly owned, non-federal, high hazard-potential dams,” said Zachary Hollandsworth, dam safety engineering manager with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.

LEARNING WHO YOU ARE

One of the greatest journeys I ever embarked on was taking the time to learn who I was. It was not easy. The closer I came to learning who I was, the more those closest to me would stop my progress.

Rentals rising nationally but remain affordable in Oklahoma

A widely known aphorism holds that all things are relative; it depends on one’s perspective. Rent prices, for example. LinkedIn News reported recently that national median rents reached a record high in August, “up 11% compared with a year earlier.

Oklahoma economy ‘Robust’ State Treasurer says

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Sooner State’s economy is robust and tax revenue receipts continue to set new records, a report released last week by the State Treasurer’s Office said. Detailed in the September edition of the treasurer’s Gross Receipts to the Treasury report, data shows the state took in $16.

Ethics investigations drag on and on

OKLAHOMA CITY — If the Oklahoma Ethics Commission monitors municipal elections, you’d never know it by agency records available to the public.

‘There’s a lot of need out there’ for water, wastewater projects

OKLAHOMA CITY — Water and wastewater infrastructure needs across the state between now and 2060 are projected “to be in the $80 billion range,” Joe Freeman, chief of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board’s Financial Assistance Division, told Southwest Ledger.

Elgin company emphasizes community service

ELGIN – After retiring from the U.S. Army, Elgin resident Lawrence MacDonald decided to start his own business. “When I grew up, my dad had a construction company, so I kind of knew that – a little bit of that,” MacDonald said Wednesday. “And so, that’s just kind of what I went with.

AG gives advice on abortion law

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma’s outgoing attorney general, John O’Connor, sent a memo to law enforcement officials across the state last week, calling on them to prosecute “anyone involved” in providing abortion services. O’Connor’s lone exception was abortion for medical emergencies.