This is what it looks like when one of the hungriest states in the nation experiences an economic crisis of historic proportions, when more than 154,000 Oklahomans have filed unemployment claims and thousands of jobs seemed to vanish overnight at hotels, restaurants and in the oil fields.
Epic virtual charter school has grown into one of the largest school systems in the state but it has also become one of the largest producers of transfers, sending thousands of students in and out of schools across Oklahoma throughout the academic year.
“It is unclear to me why Speaker McCall would try to censor my communication with my friends and colleagues in the House,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement to The Frontier.
On this week’s episode of COVID-19 in Oklahoma Kassie McClung and Ben Felder discuss the state’s frantic search for PPE and whether the latest data shows a trend in the right direction.
In a review of hires and appointments by Stitt, The Frontier found at least half of his cabinet secretaries continue to manage a private business, while some agency directors have also pursued additional private sector opportunities.
House Bill 3613 is now awaiting action by the governor, but if approved it could result in the state’s electronic campaign reporting system being taken offline, according to Ashley Kemp, executive director of the state Ethics Commission.
This week’s episode of Listen Frontier features an Oklahoma man who used the prison CareerTech program to secure a job upon his release. But last month he found himself unemployed as businesses across the state were hit by the pandemic and economic slowdown.
The confinement of inmates to their cells in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 has also meant the pause of classes for thousands of students in Oklahoma prisons who were working on degrees and vocational certificates.
