Local & Regional

By Associated Press

Oklahoma City, OK – Report: Okla. economy may not recover until 2014

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A new report shows Oklahoma's battered economy likely will not fully recover until at least 2014.

The Tulsa-based Oklahoma Policy Institute is releasing a report Tuesday that projects state lawmakers will face a $400 million budget hole in the upcoming fiscal year.

By KWGS News

Tulsa, OK – Traffic is flowing on the Broken Arrow Expressway at the I-44 interchange again. That was sure not the case during the morning rush hour. A tractor trailer rig, loaded with chicken manure, overturned and dumped its load on the exit ramp.

The closed ramp snarled morning traffic, at one point backing up traffic on the Broken Arrow Expressway past Garnett.

The road way was reopened just before 9a.m.

By Associated Press

Guthrie, OK – Oklahoma woman killed in house fire

GUTHRIE, Okla. (AP) Authorities say a Guthrie woman was killed when fire swept through her house.

Fire Battalion Chief Shawn Hamil told The Oklahoman that 51-year-old Lisa Gail Gibbs died about 10 p.m. Saturday.

Hamil says discarded smoking materials started the blaze, which had burned from the first floor up to the second floor by the time firefighters arrived.

Crews found Gibbs in the living room. She died at the scene.

By Associated Press

Oklahoma City, OK – Transportation officials want funding extension

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Oklahoma Transportation Secretary Gary Ridley says he's hopeful for a temporary extension of a federal funding bill by year's end and wants the incoming Congress to enact a more permanent solution next year.

By Associated Press

Oklahoma City, OK – Emergency contract awarded on Route 66 bridge

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) State transportation commissioners have awarded an emergency contract on a project being sped up because of deteriorating conditions on a State Highway 66 bridge over Bird Creek in Rogers County.

By KWGS News

Tulsa, OK – The Tulsa Public School District is reviewing its facilities. Tulsa School Superintendent Doctor Keith Ballard calls it "Project School House". It is an effort to possibly consolidate the number of schools in the Tulsa District.

With enrollment around 40,000 students, the district has 90-different schools.
Back in the 1950s, enrollment was the same, but the district has a little over 50-schools.

By KWGS News

Tulsa, OK – The colder weather is leading to house fires. A trailer home burned near 66-hundred East King. It has been ruled accidental. No one was injured.

A home near 46th Street North and Lewis burned. It too was accidental in nature; however, in another room---not a part of the blaze--- fire officials found a working meth lab.

By Associated Press

Oklahoma City, OK – 130 executive state agency employees get raises

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Despite the state's ongoing budget crunch, 130 employees at executive agencies have received raises between October 2009 and October 2010.

The Oklahoman analyzed state payroll records and determined that almost one-third of those raises came inside agencies that have elected heads who will be leaving office next month. The raises range from 3 percent to more than 40 percent.

By Associated Press

Muskogee, OK – Muskogee meeting set over power line proposals

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) Proposals for power-line installation paths in eastern Oklahoma will be the subject of a meeting on Tuesday in Muskogee.

The Muskogee Phoenix reports that Oklahoma Gas and Electric sent out about 3,000 letters to eastern Oklahoma residents who could be affected by the construction of the high-voltage lines along the 125-mile route from a power plant near Konawa in Seminole County to a generating station east of Muskogee.

By Associated Press

Oklahoma City, OK – OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Republicans in the state House of Representatives are set to meet while members of the party's ultra-conservative wing are taking shots at incoming House Speaker Kris Steele who has put the state's struggling economy at the top of his agenda.

The representatives are to meet today and tomorrow in Bartlesville.