Sen. Jeff Rabon and Rep. R.C. Pruett on Thursday applauded Gov. Brad Henry on selecting longtime Antlers banker Certified Public Accountant Steve Burrage to serve as the state’s new auditor and inspector.

Burrage has served as president and chief executive officer of FirstBank in Antlers since 1982. The former chairman of the board of the Oklahoma Bankers Association has more than 30 years of experience in accounting and banking.

State Senate Co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, commented on Gov. Brad Henry’s appointment of Antlers banker Steve Burrage as the new State Auditor and Inspector.

State Senators Debbe Leftwich and Harry Coates called on the Construction Industries Board (CIB) to remove Jerry Regier as the agency's Interim Director. Regier was hired last week - a move the two legislators believe to be pointless.

Oklahoma Republican House members today rolled out laughable media statements saying the Oklahoma Education Association is trying to force rural school consolidation.

Senate Business and Labor Committee co-chairs, Senators Debbe Leftwich and Harry Coates, are furious with the actions taken by the Construction Industries Board (CIB) Thursday during its July meeting and are considering requesting an audit of the agency. The legislators, while pleased to see a permanent administrator hired, were disappointed by the boards decision to retain Jerry Regier as the boards Interim Administrator.

(State Capitol, Oklahoma City) – The leaders of the Oklahoma State Senate announced their approval today of 33 requests for legislative studies.

The study requests were approved by Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, and Co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City.

The Senate leaders said the studies are assigned to the Senate committee with jurisdiction over the subject matter contained in the request.

Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan and Co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee have been named recipients of the Lifetime Achievement award by the Higher Education Alumni Council of Oklahoma (HEACO). The leaders and other members of the Senate will be formally honored next week during HEACO’s annual meeting. The ceremony will be held at noon on Thursday, July 24, at the Nigh University Center of the University of Central Oklahoma.

Morgan, who is leaving office this year due to term limits, said he was extremely honored by the HEACO award.

State Senator Don Barrington, the author of the law that created Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday, is excited about this weekend’s tax-free event after seeing how successful it was in 2007.

“Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday helps families save money on purchases of clothing and shoes, and it provides a boost to Oklahoma’s economy, too,” said Barrington, R-Lawton.

Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday for 2008 runs from 12:01 a.m. this Friday, August 1 through midnight on Sunday, August 3.

With six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, people might think Ladell Maxwell Brown would be enjoying a leisurely retirement—they’d be wrong. The energetic Ada woman continues to work at the real estate company she founded 40 years ago and has done volunteer work for numerous civic organizations ranging from the Ada Arts and Humanities Council to the Salvation Army.
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Oklahoma's second "Back-to-School" sales tax holiday will be this weekend, and the law's chief proponent says the holiday will boost the economy and benefit families struggling with high energy prices.

"Last year, the sales tax holiday performed exactly as many of us predicted: it boosted retail sales by a whopping $100 million for the month of August," said Senator Jay Paul Gumm, who fought for years to pass the measure. "The holiday will do the same this year."