Oklahoma News Report

Boone Pickens is hoping alumni join him to help OSU raise a billion dollars to fund scholarships, endowments to entice and retain professors and researchers, and build new facilities.

The fundraising campaign called, “Branding Success” was revealed with a splashy announcement in the Atrium of the Student Union on Friday, February 26th. However, efforts have been quietly underway to raise cash and pledges for the program for past two years. It was originally supposed to be unveiled in the fall of ‘08, but OSU President Burns Hargis said the economic conditions at that time were not appropriate.

Tonight on the Oklahoma News Report see how much Pickens is pledging and why OSU is one of just 34 colleges and universities in the United States to ever attempt so large a fundraising goal.

State Auditor Steve Burrage is warning school districts to get their houses in order, and school board members to ask questions when they don’t understand how money is being spent.

Suspicion of fraud, waste and abuse have triggered state audits in at least half a dozen districts including Skiatook where a state auditors turned found evidence of a middle man used to purchase janitorial supplies and security equipment inflating the prices for goods and services by as much as 100 to 500% above retail.

Tonight on the Oklahoma News Report I speak with four other districts to find out what triggered investigations at their schools.

Districts under investigation by the State Auditor’s office include Skiatook, Broken Arrow, Butner, Wagoner, Boynton and Seminole.

Rehabilitation of the historic Wells Building in downtown Sapulpa is underway. The former office building is being turned into commecial space downstairs and low cost senior housing upstairs. When the project is complete sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas the Wells will have 32 one and two bedroom apartments.

Work is already underway inside to replace old, worn out plumbing and electric lines. 40% of the financing for the project comes from state and federal tax credits for the renovation and preservation of historic buildings. INCOG is providing additional funding through its allocation of HUD monies.

The Wells Building was originally built in 1917 and several orginial features still exist such as the mosaic tile floors. Efforts are being made to retain as many period details as possible to set the newly refurbished apartments apart from ordinary rentals.

The project at the Wells Building is designed to provide affordable downtown housing for seniors within walking distance of shops and restaurants.

Rural Oklahomans now have access to simple, painless, non-invasive low cost heart screening tests that can detect heart disease long before symptoms appear or a person has a heart attack or stroke.

The tests have been available in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Those living outside the metros have had to drive into the cities. For Andrea Dawson that would have required taking a day off from work to get heart screenings that don’t even require a physician’s referral or insurance.

The Oklahoma Heart Institute held a screening clinic Monday, February 22nd in Henryetta offering four different tests at a cost of $40 each with a $20 discount for those taking the full battery of tests. The tests check carotid artery function. Detecting carotid artery blockages early can help prevent strokes.

Other tests screen for abdominal aneurysms, peripheral artery disease and how well the heart pumps. Cardiologist, Dr. John Tulloch says he’s learned that patients prefer to get their medical attention where they live and when they have access close to home they are more likely to get preventative screening tests, and know their risk factors for heart disease.

For more information about screenings and screening sites contact the Oklahoma Heart Institute at 918-592-0999.

Just back from a trip to Pryor where the Gatorade Plant at the Mid America Industial Park is getting ready to close. 100 plus jobs will be lost, but employees will be getting a severance package that includes help finding new jobs.

The more than a million square foot facility was built in the summer of 2006. At the time, Governor Henry hailed it as a way to bring jobs to an area that had suffered layoffs in the manufacturing sector.

The community was excited by the thought of hundreds of new jobs but the global recession changed everything. The plant never achieved its potential of operating up to eight production lines. Sanders Mitchell, the Administator of the Mid America Industrial Park tells me at most the plant only had two lines in production. As the global economy worsened, production was curtailed to just one line and about two thirds of the plants employees were let go in a series of layoffs.

Now, Pepsico, the parent company of Gatorade, says it can no longer keep the plant open.

See the story tonight on ONR.