Tres Savage

Oklahoma, Oklahoma City

Editor in Chief at NONDOC

Editor in chief @NonDocMedia, fighting #DeadInternet theory. @MHFirstAidUSA instructor. Mind how you go. https://t.co/d7RLWnOVwF

Articles

OU hikes tuition while touting scholarships, OSU keeps costs flat again

1 week ago | nondoc.com | Tres Savage |Sasha Ndisabiye

ARDMORE — As University of Oklahoma President Joe Harroz asked the OU Board of Regents to raise tuition for the fifth year in a row, he repeatedly and preemptively pushed back on “headlines” he feared would be written.
Stitt video leads lawmakers to override extra vetoes to end session

4 weeks ago | nondoc.com | Tres Savage

At his weekly Wednesday press conference, Gov. Kevin Stitt summoned a slate of officials and Firehawk Aerospace executives behind his podium for the company’s announcement of a $22 million revolutionary rocket fuel plant slated for the Lawton area.
Roundup: Corp Comm hears PSO proposal, judge pauses immigration law, former officer charged

1 month ago | nondoc.com | Madeline Hoffmann |Tres Savage

With any luck, you were able to have a long holiday weekend free from the sort of news coverage that can add stress to your daily life. Of course, now that you’ve returned to your normal routine, it’s worth knowing that one of the state’s major investor-owned utilities has a natural gas plant purchase proposal pending before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. It’s also worth knowing that a bill in the Legislature about wind farm setback requirements has stalled out — for now.
Legislative workaround stalls, Muscogee compact dispute lingers with Stitt

1 month ago | nondoc.com | Tres Savage

After months of conversations and attempted diplomacy, Rep. Scott Fetgatter said Wednesday that the Oklahoma Legislature will not be proposing a new tobacco taxation compact with the Muscogee Nation despite growing frustration about Gov. Kevin Stitt’s insistence it accompany agreements with the tribe on motor vehicle tags and turnpike tolls. “I spent all session trying to bridge the gap on these issues,” said Fetgatter (R-Okmulgee). “We negotiated.
Tort reform, workers' compensation bills tied to budget deal

1 month ago | nondoc.com | Tres Savage |Matt Patterson

Behind the scenes of their budgeting process this spring, leaders of the Oklahoma Legislature empowered a pair of influential attorneys to negotiate a grand deal on policy topics that have pitted business groups against trial lawyers for decades.
Budget bills: Senate recycles vote, advances $255 million aluminum plant incentive on second try

1 month ago | nondoc.com | Tres Savage

With the sun setting on the Oklahoma State Capitol, the Senate Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget prepared to end Monday’s five-hour meeting by reconsidering its biggest vote of the day: whether to create a new $255 million annuity incentive for Emirates Global Aluminum’s $4 billion aluminum smelter plant proposed for the Port of Inola. Just before 6 p.m., senators had separated the oxygen from Room 535 by failing to advance HB 2781 on a 12-12 tie vote.
White smoke: FY 26 budget deal contains tax cut, #oklaed bump, prison purchase, OU/OSU projects

1 month ago | nondoc.com | Tres Savage

After setting low expectations for months owing to slumping revenues and a slew of errors at the state mental health agency, House and Senate budget leaders stepped to the plate Tuesday and connected on a grand deal that funds major health care projects, increases common education funding and cuts the state income tax rate 0.25 percent. Pushed by Gov.
Amid budget meetings, legislators told latest ODMHSAS shortfall figure is $30.6 million

1 month ago | nondoc.com | Andrea Hancock |Tres Savage

(Update: One day after the investigative committee received an estimate that the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services would need $27.4 million in supplemental funding to get the agency to the end of the fiscal year, the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency revised the estimate to around $30.6 million.
Vetoes and failures: Where the #okleg stands after its latest deadline

1 month ago | nondoc.com | Tres Savage

When Rep. Melissa Provenzano saw her House Bill 1389 pass the House unanimously and receive 34 votes of support in the Senate, she thought the bill’s stronger requirements for health insurance companies to cover breast cancer screening procedures would help the roughly one in six Oklahomans who are diagnosed with such malignancies in their lifetimes. But when Gov. Kevin Stitt announced his veto of the bill Tuesday with a statement and a video, it shocked her.
DOC asking Legislature to buy private Lawton prison

1 month ago | nondoc.com | Tres Savage

After last year’s contentious contract negotiations narrowly avoided a public safety problem, Oklahoma appears poised to allocate $312 million of cash reserves to purchase a Lawton prison owned by the GEO Group, which currently receives a per diem rate to house about 2,300 state inmates.