Oklahoma News Report

Hundreds of pounds of fresh produce is pouring into the Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma thanks to a problem the Philbrook Museum had last spring.

The downturn in the economy meant the museum didn’t have the funds to put in its usual formal ornamental gardens.

Rather than let the planting beds be an idle eyesore, the garden’s manager, Melinda McMillan planted all kinds of veggies. All the produce harvested from these beautiful and inexpensive veggie gardens is donated to the Food Bank.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Former Oklahoma governor and U.S. Senator Henry Bellmon has died after a
long battle with Parkinson’s disease. His former chief of staff Andrew Tevington said the 88-year-old Bellmon died shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday.
He became the first Republican governor since statehood in 1963 and later won a second term - serving from 1987 to 1991. After his first term ended in 1967 he served as national chairman of the Nixon for President campaign.
He won election to the U.S. Senate in 1968 and 1974. After his second term he was appointed interim director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services by then-Gov. George Nigh. In 1985, he was selected as receiver of the financially troubled National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage in Oklahoma City before again running for and winning the race for governor.

State of the art sod was installed at the new ballpark in downtown Tulsa today.

There is only one company in Oklahoma that is licensed to grow the top-quality bermuda grass. Riverview Sod Ranch in Leonard has been growing the ONEOK Field sod for the past year and half.

The grass for the new stadium is called TifSport and is the same turf currently used at Owen Field at the University of Oklahoma, the soccer field at the University of Tulsa and Southern Hills Country Club.

The new ballpark is expected to be complete and ready for the first Tulsa Drillers game of the season on April 8, 2010.

McAlester High School teacher, Phillip Scott, was asked a few years ago what kind of lab he’d like for the school’s science department. The amateur astronomy said, “An Observatory.”

Now the has one. It was built with funding from the district’s foundation and Indian Education Program.

The observatory features powerful telescopes that can be remotely operated from any classroom in the district and can be used on nights and weekends by the school’s Astronomy Club.

Hey -

Today I’m working on a story about clarification causing confusion. Lots of people are interested in combining state and federal tax credits to get a low speed electric vehicle for little or no cost.

For years the state has offered a 50% tax credit, but when interest in taking advantage of the credit suddenly shot up, the state Tax Commission decided to issue an emergency clarification saying that golf carts and vehicles primarily used for recreational purposes didn’t qualify.

Find out why that is stressing out buyers, dealers and the folks who do taxes tonight at 6:30.

In the meantime, consider the case of Ada Electric Cars.
Roger Gaddis sells a line of low speed electric cars made specifically to be used on public streets with a speed limit of 35mph or below. These are in fact street legal in Oklahoma. They are tagged and insured motor vehicles that come with all the safety equipment of any other car like seat belts, head and tail lights, blinkers and auto safety glass windshields. Do these vehicles qualify for the state electric car credit under the new rules, or are they excluded because they resemble a golf cart?