TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalChickasaw Nation boasts 'highest ever' profits with nearly $1.5 billion in gaming revenue
While the state of Oklahoma has been muddling through a revenue failure, revenues have been booming for another governmental entity headquartered in this state.
The Chickasaw Nation, headquartered in Ada, took in more than $1.44 billion in revenue net of gaming prizes in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.
That was an 11 percent increase over the $1.3 billion in revenue the tribe reported the previous fiscal year.
"Net profits from our businesses are the highest ever in Chickasaw Nation history," said Tony Choate, spokesman for the Chickasaw Nation. "Our casinos continue to do very well. We continue to reinvest in our existing businesses as we diversify our business portfolio."
Read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/chickasaw-nation-boasts-highest-ever-profits-with-nearly-billion-in/article_45dd53bb-ef75-504a-b6a8-72d723ea3bca.html
$901 million requested to get Oklahoma higher ed back where it was two years ago
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education voted Thursday to request $901.9 million in state appropriations for the next fiscal year, an increase of $128.3 million from the current funding level.
The request includes money to restore faculty and scholarships lost to recent budget cuts and to fully fund concurrent enrollment of high school students.
“It’s expensive to run an educational system, but we can’t look at it just as an expense,” said Chairman Ronald White of Oklahoma City. “We have to look at it as an investment, because it is the real economic engine of the state.”
The request outlines the budget needs of Oklahoma’s 25 public colleges and universities. The increase amounts to 16.6 percent, the same percentage cut from the higher education budget two years ago.
Read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/million-requested-to-get-oklahoma-higher-ed-back-where-it/article_81062f58-32df-51ec-8640-a4c269ceef8d.html
Gov. Mary Fallin sets Dec. 18 as second special session start date
OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Mary Fallin on Thursday set a second special session for Dec. 18.
“Budget plan estimates are being developed on various revenue proposals,” Fallin said. “Instead of waiting for final details, I wanted to give legislators enough notice as possible about when they should return to the Capitol.”
The governor did not file an executive order for the special session. She will do that at a later date.
Fallin said the date of the session will give state officials time to get the latest revenue estimates for the upcoming 2019 fiscal year. A preliminary estimate of available funds for legislative appropriation will be available that week for the Dec. 20 meeting of the Board of Equalization, she said.
Fallin said she hopes the estimate will show revenue growth for the 2019 fiscal year.
Read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/gov-mary-fallin-sets-dec-as-second-special-session-start/article_8ca0354d-b575-5467-921a-2fccaa93128f.html
Oklahoma Department of Health begins laying off 198 employees
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma State Department of Health laid off 37 people on Friday and announced 161 others likely will lose their jobs in March.
Those laid off Friday were unclassified employees, meaning they didn’t have state civil service protections. Some worked at county health departments as advanced practice registered nurses, local emergency response coordinators and partnership consultants. Others worked in the central offices in records, minority health, performance management and the Center for Health Innovation and Effectiveness.
The department faces a budget gap, allegedly due to misuse of federal funds, which Interim Health Commissioner Preston Doerflinger said officials tried to cover with “accounting tricks.”
Former Health Commissioner Terry Cline left the agency as its financial troubles boiled over, as did his top deputy, Julie Cox-Kain; the department’s business planning director, Felesha Scanlan; and general counsel Don Maisch.
Read more: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/state/oklahoma-department-of-health-begins-laying-off-employees/article_f268b24e-5e6e-542b-a0f8-b4d79c26b8ed.html
Gov. Fallin issues executive order to crack down on sexual harassment
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday issued an executive order instructing state officials and state agency directors to "build an environment free from sexual harassment and unlawful discrimination."
“Sexual harassment is wrong and cannot be tolerated,” Fallin stated in a news release. “We have seen a growing number of sexual harassment incidents reported in Oklahoma and across the nation. Our state employees, like all Oklahomans, have a right to work in an environment free from any form of sexual harassment and other forms of harassment and unlawful discrimination."
The executive order instructs state officials and agency directors to be proactive in training their employees about inappropriate behavior and prohibiting employees from engaging in such behavior. It also directs them to notify employees of their agency's policy pertaining to sexual harassment and unlawful discrimination and to inform employees about the procedure for filing and processing a complaint with the attorney general's Office of Civil Rights Enforcement or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
http://newsok.com/gov.-fallin-issues-executive-order-to-crack-down-on-sexual-harassment/article/5575312
U.S. Rep. Farenthold acknowledges gender discrimination complaints by two more women
WASHINGTON –Embattled Texas Republican Blake Farenthold, under fire in an ongoing sexual harassment probe, said Friday that he and his entire congressional staff underwent sensitivity and sexual harassment training last year after two female staffers complained of gender discrimination and "sexualized commentary" in his Capitol Hill office.
The women's complaints in 2016 followed that of former spokeswoman Lauren Greene, who had recently settled a federal lawsuit that accused Farenthold of sexual harassment and of firing her in retaliation for her complaint.
The new revelations, which Farenthold acknowledged to the Chronicle on Friday, bring to at least three the number of women who have complained of either sexual harassment, gender discrimination, or a hostile work environment in his office.
Farenthold, a four-term congressman from Corpus Christi, has denied any wrongdoing in any of the cases, which come at a time when concerns about the treatment of women have exploded in Congress.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Farenthold-acknowledges-gender-complaints-by-two-12417066.php
Wendy Davis talks about her movie, sexual harassment and another run for governor
AUSTIN -- It’s been more than two years since Wendy Davis lived in Fort Worth, but her office on Austin’s east side offers prominent reminders of the city where she rose from a struggling single mother to a defiant state senator who gained national stardom with a 13-hour Senate filibuster.
Her diploma from TCU adorns one wall, not far from her Harvard law degree. A photograph behind her desk shows Davis in the Horned Frog-purple football helmet she sported on the Senate floor in 2009 as part of the light-hearted hazing ritual bestowed on freshman senators during the passage of their first bill.
Davis spent 42 years in Fort Worth — from pre-adolescence into her early 50s — before moving to Austin in 2015 after a disastrous 20-point defeat as the Democratic nominee in the 2014 governor’s race. Now, as that low point fades further into the past, she looks buoyantly to the days ahead, including a forthcoming biopic starring Sandra Bullock as Davis and — quite possibly — a re-entry into statewide politics.
State Democratic Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa told the Star-Telegram recently that state party leaders tried to encourage Davis to run for a statewide office in 2018 — he declined to say which one — but Davis said she didn’t feel the time was right. However, the former two-term senator said she is not ruling out a statewide bid four years later in the 2022 election cycle.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article188628904.html
Alaska House leaders urge Westlake to resign
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Latest on allegations of inappropriate behavior by an Alaska lawmaker (all times local):
4:50 p.m.
Leaders of the Alaska House majority coalition are calling for Democratic Rep. Dean Westlake to resign amid allegations of inappropriate behavior.
The statement, released by the House speaker, cites recent reports of inappropriate behavior by Westlake related to his position as a lawmaker. Westlake is a coalition member.
Messages left at Westlake's office and with an aide were not immediately returned Friday.
On Thursday, Westlake said he apologized if an encounter with him had "made anyone uncomfortable." The statement came after a former legislative aide made public her complaints of inappropriate behavior by Westlake.
Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/The-Latest-Alaska-House-majority-urges-Westlake-12417683.php
Annise Parker to Become CEO of Victory Fund
Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker is set to become president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Victory Institute, which work to elect and train openly LGBTQ candidates nationwide.
The announcement was made Friday morning, Dec. 8, during the organization’s International LGBTQ Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C., where current CEO Aisha Moodie-Mills said she is stepping down and that Parker will replace her.
Speaking by phone from the conference, Parker told OutSmart that the move “happened quickly,” after she received a phone call last week.
“I have a passion for this work, and the stars aligned,” she said.
Parker said when she received the call, she had already announced her resignation from BakerRipley, the Houston-based community development nonprofit where she serves as senior vice president and chief strategy officer. She will assume her new role effective Monday, Dec. 11.
Read more: http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2017/12/annise-parker-to-become-ceo-of-victory-fund/
Anti-LGBTQ Hate Group Leader Jared Woodfill Named in Child Molestation Lawsuit
Jared Woodfill, the leader of a Houston-based anti-LGBTQ hate group, is named as a defendant in a sexual assault lawsuit against former Republican Texas state Rep. Paul Pressler.
The lawsuit alleges that Pressler, who is Woodfill’s law partner, sexually assaulted a man over the course of 35 years, beginning when the victim was 14.
In addition to Woodfill and Pressler, the suit names as defendants Pressler’s wife, Nancy, First Baptist Church of Houston, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and its president, the Rev. Paige Patterson.
Woodfill serves as president of the Conservative Republicans of Texas, which was founded by Steve Hotze and is considered an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Read more: http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2017/12/anti-lgbtq-hate-group-leader-jared-woodfill-named-in-child-molestation-lawsuit/
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
Home country: United States
Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
Number of posts: 112,515
