From The Associated Press:

Two years ago, Orval “Hoppy” Ray vowed it would take someone meaner than him to make him leave the town where he was born.But now the crusty, 84-year-old former miner is moving out, leaving behind a blighted, ghostly landscape, its soil, water and air poisoned by generations of lead-ore extraction that produced bullets for both world wars.

After two heart attacks and a tornado that badly damaged his house, Ray lost whatever fight he had left and decided to accept a government buyout, as nearly all his neighbors in Picher have already done.

Read the rest.

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From The Norman Transcript:

The Norman Transcript has learned the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the City of Norman for allegedly violating the Open Meeting Act.

“We’re in the initial stages of the investigation, and I really can’t comment on it,” said OSBI Inspector Steve Neuman.

Asked if council members and/or staff have been interviewed by OSBI investigators, Neuman replied: “We haven’t got that far. We just got the request from the (Cleveland County) district attorney (Greg Mashburn) to look into the matter.

From The Norman Transcript:

Norman Regional Health System relies on volunteers for daily tasks such as staffing the information desk and escorting visitors at its Porter Avenue campus.

Wendy Feierch, Norman Regional Health System manager of volunteer services, said NRHS is in need of more adult volunteers for both its Porter Campus and the HealthPlex that is scheduled to open to patients in September.

“We have 90 volunteer openings at the HealthPlex and we have openings at this campus as well,” she said.

From The Associated Press:

Very few of Oklahoma’s nearly 7,000 obsolete or structurally deficient bridges are slated for replacement or renovation using federal stimulus money, partly because of a requirement that stimulus projects start quickly, an Associated Press analysis has found.

Of the 6,773 bridges statewide, 63 are slated to be replaced using some of the $465 million Oklahoma received in federal stimulus funds for transportation infrastructure repairs. Only 53 other bridges, only some considered structurally deficient — will be rehabilitated using stimulus funds.

From The Associated Press:

Gay marriage and gays in the military may dominate the headlines, but activists in many states say their fight is much more fundamental: basic rights and protections against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation.

[...]

In Oklahoma, a group formed recently to fight what Oklahoma State University professor Laura Belmonte called “an intensely hostile environment” where only one small municipality has an anti-discrimination law.

“People ask me why I stay, but I say, ‘It doesn’t have to be this way,’” she said. “You can put your head in the oven and blow out the pilot light, or you can fight back.”