Oklahoma
MAPS 4 Beautification Master Plan Heads To Oklahoma City Council
A nearly $17 million beautification plan will face the Oklahoma City Council on Tuesday. It’s part of MAPS 4, which voters passed in 2019 and provided an allocation of $32.8 million for citywide beautification projects.
Most of the projects focus on improving areas surrounding high-traffic streets and entrances to the city through landscaping and public art. In the words of MAPS program manager David Todd, the city has “company coming” and needs to “spruce things up.”
Tourism booms are expected through the end of the decade, which the city attributes to upcoming international flights at OKC Will Rogers International Airport, what will be the newest NBA arena in the league, two 2028 Olympic events, and a more aggressive strategy recruiting conferences, conventions, trade shows, and concerts.
“It’s to beautify those spaces,” Todd added. “If even if just a little bit. It’s not big streetscapes. It’s not major renovations or landscaping, but it’s some trees here and there. It’s some hardscape here and there. And where we’re concentrating are places like right as you come out of the airport; first impression places, well-traveled areas.”
There are 16 projects included in the master plan, which represent 7 of the 8 wards across Oklahoma City.
One of the proposals is more structural than the rest.
Consultants for the city have proposed creating a plaza and erecting a statue of Ralph Ellison at Northeast 23rd and Martin Luther King, directly across from the Ralph Ellison Library.
Currently, the space is an empty lot.
Ward 7 Councilwoman Nikki Nice said the proposal, as it stands, does not reflect any of her input or that of nearby stakeholders.
“We wanted to acknowledge all of our leaders that came from this part of our community,” Nice said. “That’s what that corner is supposed to do.”
In discussions she has been part of, Nice said the goal had been to erect a Ralph Ellison statue in Deep Deuce, where Ellison was born.
Despite being listed as a potential stakeholder in the project plan, Ralph Ellison Foundation executive director Michael Owens said he was not consulted on the proposal. But as a steward of Ellison’s legacy, he supports the effort to further memorialize his name.
“It’s magnificent to see the city turn their attention to [it],” Owens said. “We have great sports, and we have great entertainers. But also, we have an intellectual capital here in Oklahoma City. And for the city to recognize that with Ralph Ellison and his legacy and how that legacy, not just looking past but looking forward, is something for the future.”
The area has already seen MAPS 4 investment in the form of the Clara Luper Civil Rights Center and city-supported renovation of the Freedom Center which will be the operating partner when the Clara Luper Civil Rights Center opens.
“It shouldn’t just be in this community,” Nice said about the proposed statue. “It should be all of the places of the footprint of Ralph Ellison. And [Deep Deuce] was a core footprint of Ralph Ellison, because that’s where he grew up.”
A monument outside of the Freedom Center commemorates several civil rights figures. Nice hopes that the concept can be expanded when it comes time to develop the NE 23rd and MLK lot.
“There are a lot of unsung heroes in our community that should be lifted up,” she said. “Not to slight anything of Ralph Ellison’s legacy, because we all know who he is and other people should know if they don’t, but how we approach that is where my concern is about this MAPS 4 beautification plan.”
Freedom Center executive director Christina Beatty has worked with Nice to develop a vision for the area’s ties to civil rights history.
“We have so much to be proud of in this city and in this state,” Beatty said. “In terms of our contributions to the civil rights movement here in the city, in the state, and nationally.”
While Beatty said the Freedom Center had received notice from the city consultants about the proposal for the lot, she said the organization was not substantively included in the process.
Her focus is making sure there’s a space for young people to gather and learn wide-ranging lessons about important civil rights leaders.
“That’s the legacy that will continue here at the Freedom Center,” she said. “To teach young people about those who came before them and to teach them how they can contribute to continued efforts moving forward.”
While Nice opposes the current iteration of the proposal near NE 23rd and MLK, she said there are other proposals included in the beautification master plan that she appreciates.
“I am comfortable with how we are able to use and balance and leverage other dollars to have a beautiful street enhancement project for NE 23rd,” she said, referencing the Clara Luper corridor project. “That’s what we want. That’s the intent of street enhancement projects, to get all of the things that we can for this part of our community and for it to look good.”
If the City Council approves the master plan, individual projects are likely to still require further council action in the future as the vision starts to take shape
“The master plan is really just a guide,” Todd said. “As we start to actually design on each of these projects, they could change a little bit. But it’s a guide of what can be done out there.”
A master plan related to MAPS 4 funding for city parks will also be considered during Tuesday’s Council meeting.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma City police investigating early morning shooting
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Oklahoma City police are investigating an early morning shooting that left one man injured in northeast Oklahoma City.
Around 3 a.m. on Thursday, emergency crews were called to a reported shooting near Kelley and Wilshire Blvd.
Investigators say the shooting occurred between a couple inside the home, adding that the woman shot the man.
However, police say they are trying to determine if the shooting was accidental.
The victim was rushed to the hospital for treatment.
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The woman has been taken into custody for questioning, but it is unknown if she will face charges just yet.
Oklahoma
North Carolina, Oklahoma advance to the Men’s College World Series finals
Oklahoma is just three outs away from steamrolling through the right side of the bracket and knocking out Georgia to reach the championship finals.
To prepare, let’s take a look at what arms we should expect for the Sooners just like we did for the North Carolina earlier.
The Sooners have leaned heavily on their freshmen pitching trio in Cord Rager, Xander Mercurius and Nick Wesloski throughout Omaha. The first two went at least seven innings, while Wesloski tossed 5.2 innings on Wednesday. Even though they used relievers LJ Mercurius and Jackson Cleveland in the first two games, neither pitched more than two innings nor allowed a run.
If LJ, who entered for Wesloski on Wednesday, finishes the game, he will have gone 3.1 innings.
That sets up Oklahoma very well to matchup with UNC, which went 3-0 and also hasn’t used many arms up to this point.
If OU does win, expect Rager, Xander Mercurius and Cleveland to be ready to go. Rager, who hasn’t pitched since their first round game against Alabama on Saturday, June 13, would have a full week of rest.
Oklahoma
Rep. Kevin Hern wins Oklahoma GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, governor’s race heads to runoff
U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern easily won Oklahoma’s GOP nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, and the race for a new governor in the deeply conservative state began with Republicans Gentner Drummond and Mark Mazzei advancing to a runoff.
In a primary that again tested President Donald Trump’s status as Republican Party kingmaker, both Hern and Mazzei carried his endorsement in their bids to win open races for two of Oklahoma’s biggest offices. With nearly all the votes counted, Drummond, the state’s attorney general, was narrowly ahead of Mazzei, a former state senator.
The primary had Republicans picking their preferred successor to outgoing Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and a nominee for the Senate seat once held by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Democrats haven’t won a Senate seat in Oklahoma since 1990.
Hern’s most serious potential GOP rivals stayed out of the Senate race after Trump endorsed him even before Mullin was confirmed as a replacement for fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Hern received more than 50% of the primary vote to avoid a runoff.
He struck a somewhat bipartisan tone in speaking with reporters after winning big, touting his experience as a House member working on issues such as trade and energy. He promised to represent conservative principles and “Oklahoma ideologies” in the Senate and noted he already has relationships with senators.
“We have a lot of friends in a lot of different states, including blue states,” Hern said.
READ MORE: Live Results: Oklahoma midterm primaries
Trump endorsed Mazzei last month in a hotly contested race that also had other major candidates, including former Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall and Chip Keating, a former state public safety director who is the son of a two-term governor.
Drummond told reporters at his watch party that he had expected a runoff after Trump endorsed Mazzei and suggested that Trump could reconsider his endorsement of Mazzei, saying, “who knows?”
“Mr. Mazzei got a bump, but now he’s got to earn the rest,” Drummond said.
Trump repeated his endorsement of Mazzei on his Truth Social platform on Monday. Mazzei told supporters Tuesday night, “All I can say is, ‘Wow.’
“Eighteen months ago when we started this adventure, no one thought this was possible,” he said. “The political insiders said we had no chance. We started at zero, but who in here actually had faith we could get the job done and get in the runoff? You did.”
Mazzei also boosted his campaign with personal funds — nearly $10.9 million, or almost 95% of the $11.5 million he raised, according to campaign finance reports. Drummond put $2.5 million from his own pocket in raising about $7.2 million. Together, Drummond, Mazzei, Keating and McCall contributed $22.5 million of their own funds to their campaigns, or 72% of their combined fundraising of more than $31 million.
READ MORE: Oklahoma begins choosing a new U.S. senator and governor in crowded primary
The winner of the GOP runoff will face Oklahoma House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, who won the Democratic nomination Tuesday by a wide margin.
In a solidly Republican state, the races for two of Oklahoma’s biggest offices set off a political scramble. To replace Mullin in the Senate through this year, Stitt appointed Republican Alan Armstrong, an energy executive, but state law prohibited him from seeking a full term.
In November, Hern will face the winner of a Democratic runoff between N’Kiyla Thomas, a nurse and community activist, and Jim Priest, an attorney and minister.
The governor’s race is open because Stitt is finishing his second four-year term and cannot serve a third under the state constitution. Trump has seemed eager for him to go.
As head of the National Governors Association, Stitt drew Trump’s ire earlier this year over a dispute over invitations to White House events at the group’s annual meeting. The fallout led to Trump attacking Stitt on social media as a “RINO,” meaning Republican in Name Only.
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