The Board of Osage County Commissioners have agreed to move the date for the Osage County Free Dump Day. The Free Dump Day was originally scheduled for April but had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. District three commissioner Darren McKinney weighed in on the changes
The commissioners say they are starting to see areas across Osage County on Highway 20 that there are piles of shingles beginning to accumulate on the side of the road. The County road crews have been working hard during the last month on cleaning up the shingles that were left on both sides of the highway. You may take advantage of this free Dump Day on Saturday, June 13th, from 8:00a.m to 4:00p.m. or until dumpsters are full. Keeping the public safe as they enter the courthouse and all other county-owned buildings is the top priority for the Board of Osage County Commissioners. Matt Clark, a security guard at the Osage County Courthouse worked with department heads in the buildings to develop some guidelines to ensure that those entering the courthouse would be safe.
Clark expects to see two problems if these measures are implemented. Clark says he will have no way of monitoring how far apart those waiting outside are standing and he feels as if people will visit multiple offices, causing them to be in the courthouse for a long time. Court Clerk Shelia Bellamy stressed the importance of keeping the building sanitized. Commissioners Assistant Kandy Jump said they have a good supply of cleaning products. The Pawhuska School Board met via videoconference Monday evening for a brief, but productive meeting.
Superintendent David Cash gave a report saying the school revenue was down from where it was a year ago, but there is nothing to worry about at this time. Personnel matters were also discussed, including the fact that high school principal Lauri Lee and Indian Camp Elementary School Principal Amy Sanders handed in their resignation letters prior to the meeting. The board approved the varsity cheer squad to attend a cheer camp at the University of Central Oklahoma in July and tentatively set Saturday, June 13th as the date for the softball team to have an Indian Taco fundraiser dinner. The next regularly scheduled Pawhuska School Board meeting will be Monday, June 15th at 5:30 in the evening. The Board of Osage County Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at the fairgrounds on Monday and discussed a wide array of items.
Matt Clark, a security guard at the Osage County Courthouse, alerted the commissioners about a plan he and other department heads had developed to help keep the public safe as the courthouse opened to the public. This includes only allowing so many people in at one time, sanitizing the building and traffic flowing in the same direction. The commissioners have finally made the decision to have a company demolish and remove the Bighill Furniture Store in Fairfax. At Monday's meeting, six firms submitted bids for the project and the commissioners opted to wait a week before making the decision on who to choose so that they could get more information from the four lowest bidders. The commissioners announced that the county-wide free dump day will take place on Saturday, June 23rd. The commissioners also opted to postpone the 2020 resale auction and there were no utility permits signed at the meeting. The next regularly scheduled Board of Osage County Commissioners meeting will be next Monday at 10 o' clock in the morning. The Board of Osage County Commissioners will meet for a regularly scheduled meeting at the fairgrounds on Monday to discuss a wide array of issues.
There will be discussion regarding procedures for the public to properly enter the Osage County Courthouse and other county-owned buildings. This includes the proper way to go about cleaning these buildings throughout the day. There will also be discussion regarding the possible canceling or postponement of the 2020 Resale due to the COVID-19 and further discussion regarding county investments and interest rates. There will be possible action taken to award a bid to a company that would remove and dispose of the Bighill Furniture Store in Fairfax. The commissioners will also consider rescheduling the countywide free dump day. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. for those interested in attending. The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety hopes to begin issuing Real ID's to Oklahomans by July 1st at select locations. This date depends on COVID-19 restrictions and how quickly they are able to train employees with the tag agencies. The original target date to begin issuing the ID's had been April 30th of this year.
The Real ID Act sets forth requirements for a drivers license or other ID card to be accepted by the federal government for “official purposes” as defined by the United States Department of Homeland Security. Official purposes are defined as boarding flights, entering federal buildings or nuclear power plants. The Department of Homeland Security's deadline was originally October 1st of this year, but it has since been moved back to October 1st of 2021. Even though the federal deadline was delayed, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety has successfully issued close to 70 Real ID's to test the system. You may go to realid.ok.gov to find a list of documents that will be required when ordering the Real ID. A post from the Ben Johnson Steer Roping Facebook page states that the 67th annual event has been canceled. The post reads as follows:
“We are saddened to announce that we will be canceling the Ben Johnson Steer Roping this year due to the circumstances the world is going through right now. We would be devastated if any of our contestants, audience, or support staff would become sick under our watch.” At a city council meeting in Pawhuska earlier this week, Chamber of Commerce Director Joni Nash said the chamber was busy planning the kickoff dinner for that Thursday. Nash also said she hadn't received word on if the Father's Day Weekend event was going on as scheduled. In part, the Facebook post went on to say that they look forward to seeing everyone next year and appreciate everyone's understanding. Seniors from Wesleyan Christian High School and Pawhuska High School will be sharing their favorite school memories and playing their favorite music on Saturday afternoon for another edition of class days.
Senior salutes will begin airing at 1 p.m. for both schools and streaming live on KWONTV.com. Wesleyan Christian Class Days can be heard on KWON AM 1400 FM 93.3 and Pawhuska Class Days will air on Sportstalk KPGM FM 99.1 AM 1500. You can also listen to the broadcast on our website, bartlesvilleradio.com. If unable to listen live or if you would like to go back and listen again, go to our website where there will be a “Class Days” link under the community tab. The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission reports that more than 68,000 jobless claims were filed for the week ending May 2nd. That is an increase of 15,000 claims from the week before.
On the week ending April 25th, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission was making weekly compensation payments to nearly 155,000 people, this according to the U.S. Department of Labor data released on Thursday evening. Statewide unemployment rates will be released on Tuesday, May 12th. The United States unemployment numbers were released for the month of April and hit a staggering 14.7 percent. This marks the highest rate since the Great Depression in September of 1945. The 14.7 percent rate represents the U.S. economy losing more than 20 million jobs in April alone. In February, the unemployment rate stood at a five-decade low at 3.5 percent. Employers had added jobs for 113 consecutive months. In March, the unemployment rate stood at 4.4 percent. The U.S. Department of Labor’s report stated that many people who lost jobs in April, but didn’t look for another job weren’t counted in the unemployment rate. There is an additional 5.1 million other Americans who have had their hours cut during the last month. A measure of the unemployed plus full-time workers who reduced to part-time has been is at 22.8 percent, a record high as well. State-by-state numbers haven’t yet been released. As of Wednesday evening, just under 58 percent of Americans had responded to the United States Census. In Oklahoma, that number drops to 51.7 percent.
Locally, Washington County leads the way with over 60 percent of households across the county responding to the 2020 census. Nowata County has seen nearly 33 percent of people respond and Osage county trails with only 27 percent of respondents completing the census. Recruiting Assistant with the Census Bureau, Kathy Tippin explains why completing the census is so important. For those needing to respond, you may do so online, through the mail or by phone. All information submitted is private and confidential. |
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