
By Janelle Stecklein | Editor
“It was always the intention that those three assets would be sold and then that would cover the gap.” - Chuck Hall of plans to sell two other state planes to cover the cost of a new one

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation airplane sits in a hanger at Wiley Post Airport on Aug. 2, 2024. (Photo by Barbara Hoberock/Oklahoma Voice)
By Barbara Hoberock
It will cost millions more than lawmakers budgeted to replace the state plane used to transport the governor and other dignitaries, Oklahoma’s chief operating office said Wednesday.
Lawmakers appropriated $3 million to replace the aging plane, but the purchase is actually expected to cost between $5 million and $5.5 million, said David Ostrowe, Oklahoma’s chief operating officer.
The state plans to use proceeds from the sale of the current state plane and possibly take funds from some other agencies to fill the gap, Ostrowe said.

A nurse provides assistance to a patient undergoing a mammogram in a medical facility. (Photo by Tom Werner/Getty Images)
OPINION
By Rahhul Elangovan
For a patient with a high risk of a cancer diagnosis, the most frightening part of an extra scan should be the result, not the bill that may arrive weeks later.

Since 2018, 17 states have barred marriage before age 18, but most states still allow minors to wed with parental or judicial approval. (Photo by Anna Claire Vollers/Stateline)
By Anna Claire Vollers
After authorities rescued 16 children last month who had been confined to a single room in a home in rural Ohio, attention turned to their mother, who had been 15 and pregnant when she married their father. The child endangerment case has recharged a national conversation around child marriage, which is defined by the United Nations as any marriage involving someone under age 18.

A family waits in line to apply for asylum at the southern border between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, in 2023. The number of refugees admitted to the United States during the first 10 months of the fiscal year is on pace to hit its lowest level on record. (Photo by Corrie Boudreaux for Source NM)
By Shalina Chatlani
The number of refugees admitted to the United States during the first 10 months of the fiscal year is on pace to hit its lowest level on record, according to a new analysis.

A coloring book used as part of The Satanic Temple’s winter festivals. (Photo illustration based on image provided by the ACLU of Iowa.)
By Clark Kauffman
On behalf of The Satanic Temple, the ACLU of Iowa filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging the state has blocked the temple’s rights to free speech, nondiscrimination and religious exercise.
ICYMI
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