River Parks Authority is considering a restaurant built on a pier over the Arkansas River and a “Boat Yard” packed with food trucks, entertainment and a cocktail bar as possible development projects along the west bank of the river.
Jim Orbison is the epitome of a gentleman lawyer if there ever was one, but Wednesday morning he seemed to have had enough.
Nearly an hour into a Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority budget meeting, the tall, white-haired attorney for the authority raised his hand to remind trustees unhappy with the budgeting process – and Tulsa Jail operations in general – that they had another option.
“This authority can totally take control of that (jail) administration, take it from the county, hire staff, do its own financials, do everything … say goodbye to the county,” Orbison said. “I just want that out.”
Citing what they claim to be improper funding practices at the Tulsa Jail, three area mayors – including Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett – want the proposed 2016 jail budget discarded in favor of a temporary funding resolution that would remain in effect until the budgeting process can be overhauled.
A special meeting of the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority will be held at 10 a.m. today in the Tulsa County administration building to discuss the mayors’ requests. The authority — which oversees jail funding — had been scheduled to vote on the jail budget Wednesday afternoon.
A new report from the United States Geological Survey spells out in the clearest way yet what Oklahoma officials have denied and danced around for so long: A huge increase in wastewater injection from oil and gas exploration is triggering a sharp rise in earthquakes in the state.
And while the increase hasn’t included a catastrophic earthquake and fatalities, the risk in areas such as Oklahoma with induced quakes is now comparable to the risk of such events in California. Avoiding this risk requires “a detailed understanding of the physical processes involved in inducing large magnitude events,” the report concludes.
The Jazz Hall of Fame has a new tenant, and its business is not music. It’s oil.
When I woke up early Sunday morning, I was a Tulsa Tough neophyte, a total virgin.
Hours later, I left a veteran.
On this week’s podcast: Host RJ Young and Senior Staff Writer Kevin Canfield talk Tulsa Tough with Executive Director Malcolm McCollam. How did the magic of Cry Baby Hill get started — and could a fall race be in the works?
City officials have consistently said that it is not their place to dictate whether or where a mall is built in Tulsa. At the same time, they have made it clear that they would assist Simon in any way possible to find a suitable locati