OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A group planning a signature drive to let voters decide whether to increase the oil and gas production tax to fund a $4,000 pay raise for Oklahoma teachers is abandoning their effort. The group Restore Oklahoma Now announced on its website Monday that it was withdrawing its initiative petition. Led by several longtime oil and gas industry leaders, the group was established before the Legislature agreed earlier this year to a pay raise for teachers averaging about $6,100.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Supporters of a proposed Oklahoma City charter school that would serve mostly Native American students plan to take their application to the state after a second rejection by a public school district. The Oklahoman reports that the Oklahoma City Public Schools board denied an application for the Sovereign Community School earlier this year and rejected an appeal this month. The board said the application need more details on its proposed facility and transportation plan, among other things.
VINITA, Okla. (AP) - Authorities in Oklahoma say a 66-year-old man has been charged with the 1999 deaths of a couple and the abduction of two then-teenage girls who remain missing. District Attorney Matt Ballard said Monday that Ronnie Dean Busick is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of first-degree arson.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma's election board has rejected a challenge to Attorney General Mike Hunter's candidacy that was based on the fact that Hunter lived in Virginia for several years over the last decade. The board voted 3-0 on Monday to deny the petition filed by Hunter's Republican opponent, Tulsa attorney Gentner Drummond. Drummond argued Hunter effectively "abandoned" Oklahoma when he and his wife moved to Virginia when Hunter worked for two trade associations in Washington, D.C.
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