A key part of the newly-uncovered evidence is a statement by the victim’s husband to Tommy Ward’s attorneys, who say it shows police elicited a false confession from Ward.
“The Court concludes that irreparable environmental harm is likely to result through the OWRB permitting the use of water without the agency undertaking any review of the potential adverse consequences of such use,” wrote Delaware County District Judge Barry Denney.
Oklahoma Public Employees Association representatives have been in talks with legislators and the governor’s office to hammer out a deal that would allow the state to move away from a mostly classified system of employment to a mostly unclassified employment system, he said.
However, the full details of the deal approved by the committee, such as the maximum amount of public funds Gateway First Bank could receive under the contract, were not made public on Thursday.
The Jenks-based company founded by Stitt, now known as Gateway First Bank, has thus far received more than three-quarters of a million dollars in state taxpayer subsidies and began receiving payments from the state starting in late 2017, months after Stitt announced his candidacy for governor.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. Senate sent a bill to the President to sign that contains a controversial provision that would remove Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authority over flood control issues caused by GRDA’s Pensacola Dam.
A review of property records by The Frontier found mansions and luxury homes, cattle ranches, airplane hangars, radio broadcast towers and hundreds of acres of land were fully or partially exempted from property taxes under religious exemptions.
The lawsuit comes after a significant increase in poultry operations in eastern Oklahoma — especially in Delaware County — beginning in late 2017 after Simmons Foods announced its plans to build a new poultry processing facility in Gentry, Ark.
