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Nursing Home COVID Data Renewed Following Public Pressure
Early this month, Oklahoma’s health department decided to stop publishing a weekly report of every nursing home, assisted living facility, veteran center and long-term care facilities that had at least one COVID-19 infection among its residents or staff since the pandemic began.
But Oklahoma Watch’s Whitney Bryen reports that feedback forced the agency to reconsider its decision. [Read More]
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Last week, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law the congressional and legislative redistricting maps approved by the Legislature earlier this month.
That means that sitting lawmakers, like Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, will need to start learning their new districts and new constituents. The maps, barring any legal challenges, will be in effect for the upcoming 2022 elections.
What I’m Reading This Week
- As the holidays approach, experts urge Oklahomans not to delay getting their booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. [The Oklahoman]
- A state lawmaker has introduced a bill to speed up access to treatment for people found incompetent to stand trial. Senate Bill 1113, authored by Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, would allow people with severe mental illness to receive treatment in county jails instead of waiting for a bed to open up at a state hospital. [The Frontier]
- A federal ruled last week against a requested stay of execution for Oklahoma death-row inmate Bigler Stouffer. Stouffer’s attorneys had argued that his execution should be halted because of questions about the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s lethal-injection protocol following the Oct. 28 execution of John Grant. [NonDoc]
- An Oklahoma state senator has filed a bill to end the use of unmarked police cars for routine traffic enforcement. Sen. Cody Rogers, R-Tulsa, announced on Monday that he has filed Senate Bill 1109 calling for municipal police departments to use clearly marked vehicles. [KFOR]
- Oklahoma Health Care Authority Board adopted rules that could again open door to privatized Medicaid. [Public Radio Tulsa]
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