Fresh off her speech at the Republican National Convention, Oklahoma’s Gov. Mary Fallin returned home last week to offer her suggestions on the state’s newest problem: $140 million in unappropriated funds.
Yes, you read that correctly. After deep cuts to Oklahoma’s public schools, mental health agencies and colleges, it turns out the state may have miscalculated its fiscal crisis just a tad. Oklahoma’s legislature is now tasked with doling out the newly discovered cash.
Rather than bribing UCLA to join the Big 12 or giving Pistol Pete a makeover, Fallin wants to call a special session and use the money to give teachers a $5,000 dollar raise. Perhaps not coincidentally, the passing of State Question 779 would do this as well. The ballot initiative, championed by OU president David Boren, would increase the state’s sales tax rate to 9.5 percent.
Fallin’s push suggests she’d like to preempt SQ 779 and address its major grievance without a tax increase, but her solution would use one-time money for an ongoing expense.
Although many Oklahomans would prefer to give their teachers a much-needed pay raise, the method behind any potential action remains undecided.
Things we saw (and heard)
Sorry, government bureaucrats; Oklahomans may make their own copies of government records — FOI Oklahoma
Cherokee Nation chief tells ‘racist’ Trump to stop calling Elizabeth Warren ‘Pocahontas’ — Raw Story
Oklahoma ranks 11th in corruption — Watchdog.org
GOP chairman: Kids are ‘brainwashed’ on climate change — The Hill
Joint police team defends civil asset forfeiture in OK — News9.com
Gary Johnson: I’d consider pardoning Snowden, Manning — Vocativ
Donald Trump has turned the Republicans into the party of Russia — The Atlantic
Seeking clarity: The key questions in the Big 12 expansion movement — Sports Illustrated
Michael Jordan finally breaks his silence on police brutality — The Huffington Post
Quotes to note
“In america, when people feel like a person is below them … they will kind of talk you up. but then when you get up to the same level or maybe even higher, they get in attack mode.”
— Baseball superstar Ichiro Suzuki responds to comments by Pete Rose about his all-time hits record, 7/29/16
“readers are entitled to trust you less if they think you’re in the tank.”
— BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith reminds his team to remain nonpartisan in their coverage of the presidential election in an internal memo, 7/28/16
“she’s this person who’s like, ‘sisterhood!’ and then she does nothing but tear down the women who were once her friends.”
— Actress Troian Bellisario on Taylor Swift’s “false feminism,” 7/29/16
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