Great Plains – Latina Lista: News from the Latinx perspective

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In All Cases, Oklahoma Police Find No Proof of Racial Profiling

Dec 15, 2015, 12:05 PM 0

By Clifton Adcock and Nate Robson Oklahoma Watch Over a four-year period, Oklahoma’s two largest police departments and two state agencies received about 60 complaints alleging illegal racial profiling by officers. Investigators substantiated none of the allegations, according to…

Community Stories, Great Plains, zNew Headline

Kicked from School: Minorities in Special Ed

Nov 2, 2015, 11:53 AM 0

By Nate Robson Oklahoma Watch Oklahoma’s special education students who are minorities are being expelled, suspended or referred to police at rates of up to four times that of their white counterparts, according to an Oklahoma Watch analysis…

Community Stories, Great Plains, zNew Headline

Most Oklahoma police seizures of cash come from blacks, Hispanics

Oct 13, 2015, 12:09 PM 0

By Clifton Adcock, Ben Fenwick and Joey Stipek Oklahoma Watch Nearly two thirds of seizures of cash by Oklahoma law enforcement agencies come from blacks, Hispanics and other racial or ethnic minorities, an Oklahoma Watch analysis of high-dollar forfeiture…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

With many uninsured, Oklahoma pushes program for working poor

Sep 8, 2015, 12:24 PM 0

By Warren Vieth Oklahoma Watch The social media blitz started in late July. The radio and TV spots showed up in mid-August, along with six billboards placed along key interstate highways. A sleeker website will be unveiled soon. The…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Oklahoma Graduation Rates Drop in All Student Groups

Jul 29, 2015, 11:58 AM 0

By Nate Robson Oklahoma Watch Oklahoma’s high school graduation rate has dropped, with low-income students seeing the largest decline, according to the latest data available from the state Department of Education. The state’s overall graduation rate was 82.7 percent…

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In Oklahoma Schools, Record Numbers of Homeless Children

Jun 3, 2015, 10:58 AM 0

By Nate Robson Oklahoma Watch A resilient economy and low unemployment have done little to stem the tide of students who are finding themselves homeless in Oklahoma. Despite a five-year oil and gas boom and falling jobless rates, growing…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Audit Details Racial Discrepancy in OKC Schools Suspensions

Apr 29, 2015, 9:35 AM 0

By Nate Robson Oklahoma Watch With two months still left in the school year, administrators at Taft Middle School in Oklahoma City have already suspended more than half of their black students. At Capitol Hill High School, the average…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Oklahoma legislator proposes ban on AP History

Feb 19, 2015, 11:51 AM 0

By Nate Robson Oklahoma Watch Oklahoma’s schools chief wants to meet with a lawmaker about his bill to keep Advanced Placement History courses out of high school classrooms. Meanwhile, a student’s petition protesting the move, started Tuesday afternoon, garnered…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Once released, former inmates find themselves prisoners of debt

Feb 2, 2015, 2:10 PM 0

By M. Scott Carter and Clifton Adcock Oklahoma Watch Darlene Lorenz was released from prison seven years ago. The Tulsa woman had spent a decade in the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud on various drug and firearms charges….

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

At Oklahoma State Capitol, Barely a Murmur of Hispanic Voices

Oct 13, 2014, 8:51 AM 0

By M. Scott Carter Oklahoma Watch Mary Sosa’s campaign is over. The yard signs have been taken down. The volunteers have gone home. The retired 65-year-old city employee has returned to her work as a community volunteer. But for…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Oklahoma Tribes Pushing Minimum Wage Higher

Sep 15, 2014, 11:58 AM 0

By M. Scott Carter Oklahoma Watch Though the minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour for most Oklahomans, several tribal nations pay more or have boosted their entry-level wage above the federal level, a move that could cause the…

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With Measles Close, Oklahoma Schools See Rise in Unvaccinated Students

Aug 18, 2014, 11:54 AM 0

By Nate Robson Oklahoma Watch As measles cases rise in nearby states, Oklahoma schools are seeing increasing percentages of kindergarteners walk into their classrooms without required immunization shots, according to survey data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health….

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Oklahoma Younger, More Hispanic

Jul 3, 2014, 1:23 PM 0

By Warren Vieth Oklahoma Watch Oklahoma is one of only seven states that grew younger last year, thanks in part to an influx of 20-something oilfield workers, newly-released Census Bureau data shows. The Sooner State also became slightly more…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Message Goes Out to Low-Income Parents: Talk to Teach

Apr 8, 2014, 1:25 PM 0

By Nate Robson Oklahoma Watch Tulsa is ground zero for a new early-childhood education campaign that seeks to get more parents reading or talking with their children, even if they are too young to understand. Nearly $1.5 million will…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Top 10 states dependent on federal aid are Republican-led

Feb 13, 2014, 8:59 AM 0

By Warren Vieth Oklahoma Watch Oklahoma ranks seventh in the nation in its reliance on federal funding to supplement state revenue, according to calculations by State Treasurer Ken Miller. Of each dollar spent by Oklahoma government during the 2011…

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Prison Meds Reveal Disorders Severe for Mentally Ill Inmates

Feb 3, 2014, 2:16 PM 0

By Clifton Adcock and Shaun Hittle Oklahoma Watch LEXINGTON, Oklahoma — Two times a day, seven days a week, hundreds of prisoners at Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington break into four lines to receive medications from prison staff….

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Oklahoma Weighs Moving More Inmates to Private Prisons, Or Buying a Private Prison

Jan 10, 2014, 2:26 PM 0

By Clifton Adcock Oklahoma Watch The Oklahoma Board of Corrections is looking at three options to deal with overcrowding at the state’s prison facilities: expanding public prisons, contracting for more private-prison beds, and buying or leasing one of the…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Oklahoma Hospitals Spend Small Fractions of Revenue on Charity Care

Nov 4, 2013, 10:47 AM 0

By Clifton Adcock Oklahoma Watch Despite a congressman’s recent assurance that many hospitals “do the work for free,” Oklahoma’s hospitals spend less than 3 percent of their net patient revenues on charity care on average, records show. During a…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Sex Crimes Are Most Common Reason Oklahoma Police Lose Certification

Oct 14, 2013, 9:19 AM 0

By Shaun Hittle Oklahoma Watch More than a quarter of Oklahoma peace officers who were disciplined by the state’s certification agency or surrendered their certifications over three years were convicted of or pleaded guilty to sex crimes, according to…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Unlike Nation, Oklahoma Is Failing to Reduce Drunken-Driving Deaths

Sep 16, 2013, 9:13 AM 0

By Shaun Hittle Oklahoma Watch During most of the past two decades, the annual number of alcohol-related traffic deaths across the country has fallen by about 20 percent, to more than 11,500. More stringent drunken driving laws, widespread public…

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Justice Reforms: A Tale of Two States

Aug 29, 2013, 10:13 AM 0

By Shaun Hittle Oklahoma Watch Several years ago, legislators in both Oklahoma and North Carolina began taking steps to address rising incarceration rates. The number of incarcerated offenders in Oklahoma had increased by a few thousand inmates in the…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Study Identifies Jobs With Largest Number of Uninsured in Oklahoma

Jul 22, 2013, 10:38 AM 0

By Warren Vieth and Darren Jaworkski Oklahoma Watch When the government starts helping low-wage workers pay for health insurance next year, 6,704 Oklahoma cooks will be left empty-handed. So will 6,154 cashiers, 4,572 waiters, 4,207 housekeepers and 3,870 retail…

Great Plains, Local News, zNew Headline

Prospects Are Few for Undocumented Immigrants in Failing Health in Oklahoma

Jun 13, 2013, 9:18 AM 0

By Chase Cook Oklahoma Watch When they’re ill, they borrow medicine from relatives or get discounted prescriptions from a community health center. If they’re hurting from an ear infection, back sprain or other painful injury, they may go to…

Great Plains, Local News

Immigration Bill: No Federal Health Benefits for Up to a Decade

Apr 19, 2013, 10:40 AM 0

By Chase Cook Oklahoma Watch Undocumented immigrants given temporary legal status under a new immigration bill would be denied access to Medicaid and other subsidized insurance offered by the federal health-reform law. That would mean thousands of immigrants, while…

General, Great Plains, Local News

Many Low-Income Oklahoma Students May Fail Because of Reading Law

Apr 2, 2013, 12:00 AM 0

By Chase Cook Oklahoma Watch Among thousands of Oklahoma students who could be held back in third grade for failing a state reading test next year, a disproportionate share will likely be low-income children, an Oklahoma Watch analysis of…

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