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From NewsOK:

The manager of a program that targets high-crime areas in Oklahoma City has been suspended pending a personnel investigation, a police spokesman said.

Police took over the administration of Operation Weed and Seed on July 1 and found possible problems with the management of federal grant money, police Capt. Steve McCool said Monday.

Ed Martin, program manager, was suspended with pay during the investigation, McCool said.

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From NewsOK:

Government information-gathering centers intended to thwart domestic terrorist activity could violate individuals’ privacy rights and be used to spy on American citizens, representatives of two groups on both ends of the political spectrum say.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which often takes up causes viewed as liberal, and the OK-SAFE group, which supports mostly conservative activities, both are concerned about the growing number of information fusion centers that share information and intelligence with local agencies, as well as the federal government. [...] Amanda Teegarden, executive director of the Tulsa-based nonprofit group Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise, said she’s worried Oklahoma’s center may be tracking information on people who show up to protest the federal government.

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From NewsOK:

Selling the state agency that provides workers’ compensation insurance could result in a long legal challenge, a former Oklahoma attorney general warned a legislative panel Wednesday.

The sale of CompSource Oklahoma to a private insurance carrier probably would be challenged in court with the ruling eventually appealed to the state Supreme Court, said Larry Derryberry,who served as Oklahoma’s attorney general from 1971-79 and whose practice includes insurance defense.

“We could be in a morass for two or three or five years,” Derryberry said.

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From The Tulsa World:

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Haskell County commissioners must pay the legal fees of the ACLU of Oklahoma in its lawsuit against a Ten Commandments monument in Stigler.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the American Civil Liberties Union is entitled to recover its attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses because it prevailed in its lawsuit.

The Denver-based court decided June 8 that the 8-foot monument on the county courthouse lawn violates the U.S. Constitution because the monument’s primary effect is to endorse religion.

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From NewsOK:

Nearly 80 percent of Oklahoma’s counties do not make online records accessible to the public.

As a result, Oklahoma is ranked toward the bottom in a report that looks at transparency in local government.

The Sunshine Review grades each county by determining whether its Web site has information about budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, zoning and permits, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records and taxes.

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