Oklahoma State’s Tallen Edwards finished the weekend batting 5-for-9 with two RBIs.
Oklahoma State’s Tallen Edwards finished the weekend batting 5-for-9 with two RBIs.
Oklahoma State’s Tallen Edwards finished the weekend batting 5-for-9 with two RBIs.
Oklahoma State’s Tallen Edwards finished the weekend batting 5-for-9 with two RBIs.
Enel, a manufacturer based in Italy, is planning to build a solar cell and panel manufacturing plant at the Tulsa Port of Inola.
OKLAHOMA CITY — An international green energy company will build a solar panel manufacturing facility at the Tulsa Port of Inola in what is being called the largest economic development project in state history.
Enel North America picked Oklahoma to be the home of one of the largest solar cell and panel manufacturing plants in the nation, the company and its affiliate, 3Sun USA LLC, announced in a Monday news release.
The Italian company expects to invest more than $1 billion in the new factory and create 1,000 new, permanent jobs by 2025. Enel says it may create another 900 jobs in a second phase of development.
In a statement, Giovanni Bertolino, head of 3Sun USA, said the company is proud to partner with a state that’s already a leader in the energy industry.
“Our selection of Oklahoma is a testament to the strength of the Tulsa Port of Inola site, the state’s commitment to workforce development and an attractive investment climate,” he said. “With this announcement, we are taking a major step forward in developing a state-of-the-art (solar cell) factory, bringing hundreds of jobs and millions in long-term tax revenue, while moving Oklahoma to the forefront of renewables manufacturing.”
Construction on the more than 2 million-square-foot factory will begin in the fall. The company expects to begin manufacturing solar panels by the end of 2024. The building project is anticipated to create more than 1,800 construction jobs.
Enel’s announcement comes mere days after Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law a $218.6 million incentive package to seal the deal. Stitt and Oklahoma Department of Commerce officials have said Enel’s factory will be the biggest economic development project in the state.
“Enel’s expansion is a huge win for Oklahoma, and I’m thrilled by their record investment in our state’s economy and workforce, that will have a lasting legacy and continue to impact Oklahomans for generations,” Stitt said in a statement.
May 19, 2023 video. The new manufacturing plant is expected to result in at least 1,500 new jobs.
Under the newly created Perform Act, Enel will be eligible to recover up to 10% of its capital expenditures and/or payroll costs with a minimum required investment of $1 billion. To qualify for the full $180 million in state incentives, Enel will have to invest $1.8 billion in Oklahoma over 10 years.
Lawmakers also earmarked $38.6 million for water and sewer improvements at the Tulsa Port of Inola as part of the deal.
Noting Commerce Department officials are still prohibited from discussing some details of the deal because they’re bound by nondisclosure agreements, Stitt spokeswoman Kate Vesper declined to say whether Enel will receive incentives from the governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund.
President Joe Biden said clean-energy and business-friendly policies from his administration helped pave the way for Enel’s expansion in the U.S.
The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which includes billions of dollars in subsidies to increase green energy development and encourage companies to build solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries in the U.S., spurred Enel officials to look at sites for a new factory, according to a company news release.
“Today’s announcement from Enel is just the latest proof that my Investing in America agenda is working, and American manufacturing is back,” Biden said in a statement. “Good-paying jobs that Americans can raise a family on are being created in towns and communities in every corner of the country.”
Enel already has a presence in Oklahoma. The company has a regional office in Oklahoma City and operates 13 wind farms across the state.
Discussions about the new factory have been in the works since last May when Tulsa Regional Chamber and Commerce Department officials met with Enel executives during the PGA Championship in Tulsa, said Arthur Jackson, a senior vice president at the chamber.
“Enel North America has a global reputation for blazing new trails with clean energy, and this long-term commitment to Oklahoma as a solar panel supplier will shine a light on the Port of Inola and its ability to accommodate large-scale development,” Jackson said.
Italy-based tissue maker Sofidel has called the Tulsa Port of Inola home since 2020. The 2,500-acre industrial park is located about 20 miles east of Tulsa.
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A classic car drives north on Boulder Avenue in front of First Christian Church on Monday. Holy Family Cathedral has agreed to purchase First Christian Church of Tulsa’s campus in downtown Tulsa.
The roof of First Christian Church at 913 S. Boulder Ave. is seen in the foreground with Holy Family Cathedral in the background. Holy Family has agreed to purchase First Christian Church of Tulsa’s campus to expand its school.
The purchase will permit Holy Family to expand its school, which currently has over 200 students.
Holy Family Cathedral has agreed to purchase property owned by its neighbor, First Christian Church of Tulsa’s campus in downtown Tulsa.
The purchase will permit Holy Family to expand its school, officials said.
“Holy Family Classical School is dedicated to a pursuit of truth, goodness, beauty and unity within liberal arts tradition, and this new campus will allow our students to flourish in the truth of Jesus Christ for years to come,” said Dr. Marcel Brown, head of school for the new classical school.
The school currently has over 200 students, according to a release announcing the sale. The purchase price was not divulged.
“We are excited to explore a new home for our thriving school family — a home that could provide us greater green space, additional security and a beautiful environment to pursue Jesus Christ,” said Father Gary Kastl, rector of Holy Family Cathedral, a part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa.
Plans are now underway to see how much money can be raised to do the necessary renovations for Holy Family Classical School to move its operations into the new space and to renovate the current school building into parish offices with meeting spaces for parish ministries and events.
Plans also call for the central administrative office of the Diocese of Tulsa to relocate from Broken Arrow back into the current school building once the move to the First Christian property is complete, according to diocese officials.
School tuition will not be impacted by the property purchase, officials said.
Asked what impact, if any, recently passed legislation that would grant tax credits to families with children attending private school had on the decision to purchase the property, church officials said the conversation between officials with the two churches began prior to passage of the legislation and did not influence the decision to buy the property.
Built of modified Greek design between 1917 and 1920 at the southeast corner of Ninth Street and Boulder Avenue, First Christian Church features a Byzantine-styled stained-glass dome that still has a functional crank system to open a hole in the roof for ventilation, according to the congregation’s website.
The First Christian property, which is bordered by Ninth, 10th, Main and Boulder streets and is catty corner to Holy Family, has over 85,000 square feet of facilities on over three acres of land. The property is valued by the Tulsa County Assessor’s Office to be worth nearly $2.8 million.
A press release from the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma said both congregations would work together over the next several months on finalizing the transaction.
“On behalf of our Cathedral, I want to thank the people of First Christian Church of Tulsa for their patience, courage and dedication to Jesus Christ — we are thankful for their historic witness,” said Bishop David Konderla of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa.
Officials with First Christian Church could not be reached for comment.
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Visitors to the Tulsa International Airport can meet their friends and family at the gate and pass through security without purchasing an airline ticket through a new program announced last Monday.
Visitors to the Tulsa International Airport can meet their friends and family at the gate and pass through security without purchasing an airline ticket through a new program announced Monday.
The airport’s TUL Visitor Pass Program is free and allows people to enter the airport after registering, according to a press release. TIA Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Pierini said the program is meant to offer more options to people visiting the airport.
“Really since pre-911 people were able to go back and either greet someone that was flying in or take their loved one back to a gate,” Pierini said. “There really hasn’t been that ability to do that outside of if you were escorting a minor to their gate and you had to get a gate pass from the airline.”
Visitors are subject to the same security regulations as people boarding planes, according to the press release. The airport has been in discussions with TSA to prepare for the program, Pierini said.
“They’ve been ramping up their staffing in general and they’re able to see the number of projected throughput on a daily basis and that’s what they plan their staffing around,” Pierini said.
The TSA line is not expected to have longer wait times due to the program, Pierini said.
Visitors to the Tulsa airport must apply for the visitor passes, which are provided on a first-come, first-serve basis, and can remain in the airport from a selected start time until 9 p.m., according to the press release. Visitors can apply up to seven days in advance on the airport website.
Similar airport visitor programs in Seattle, Detroit and New Orleans restrict the number of visitors each day. The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, SEA, created their post-security visitor program in 2018 and limits visitors to 200 people a day, according to the airport’s website. Aviation Communications and Marketing Program Manager at SEA Chris Guizlo said the cap is something the airport continues to evaluate.
“This is in place to make sure that we balance the interest in SEA Visitor Pass with ensuring an efficient screening experience for our traveling guests,” Guizlo said in an email.
Tulsa International Airport is not capping visitors, Pierini said.
The airport began considering the program after working with musicians to get passes for the Tunes at TUL through a manual process, Pierini said. Tunes at TUL is a program that brings musicians into the airport to perform past security, according to a 2019 press release. The Tunes at TUL program could expand its hours because musicians no longer have to be checked in manually, Perini said.
The airport is using Airline Choice software to expand the previous manual process into an automated process for visitors, Pierini said.
“We really were searching for a way to enhance the airport experience not only for our passengers, but those that are coming to meet and greet them as well,” Pierini said. “So this is something that we were really excited to roll out.”
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Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed a bill that would diminish his control over the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority by reducing his appointments to the agency’s six-person governing board.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Kevin Stitt on Friday vetoed a bill that would diminish his control over the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.
Stitt said the bill from Rep. Danny Sterling, R-Tecumseh, would violate the government’s separation of powers by giving legislative leaders the majority of the appointments on the six-person Turnpike Authority governing board.
May 19, 2023 video. 'I will not allow transgender surgeries to happen to minors in the state of Oklahoma,' Oklahoma Gov. Stitt said.
Sterling said he’s optimistic the Legislature will override the veto, which it can do with two-thirds majorities in both chambers.
Currently, the governor gets to appoint all the members of the Turnpike Authority board, but House Bill 2263 would reduce the number of Stitt’s appointments to just two members. The other four appointments would be evenly divided between the House speaker and the Senate president pro tem.
Giving legislative leaders a majority of the board appointments would codify the Legislature’s control over an executive branch agency, Stitt wrote in his veto message.
“If House Bill 2263 were to become law, it would be unconstitutional, thereby causing the Authority’s makeup and decisions to be subject to legitimate legal challenges,” Stitt wrote. “Any argument or advice to the contrary should be seen for what it is — a well paved road to a legal dead end.”
Sterling disputed Stitt’s assertion that HB 2263 is unconstitutional. The governor’s veto didn’t come as a shock, Sterling said.
“You’re asking him to give up part of his control, his authority in appointing those people, so I wasn’t surprised,” he said.
Sterling said his bill is intended to bring greater transparency to the Turnpike Authority board and allow a broader group of Oklahomans to be represented on the panel.
Sterling has been critical of the Turnpike Authority’s $5 billion, 15-year ACCESS Oklahoma toll road expansion plan that proposes building a new turnpike through his Norman-area district. The Turnpike Authority paused the expansion plan after Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced an investigative audit of the agency.
Earlier this year, Sterling said Stitt’s appointees may feel as though they have to cater to the governor’s wishes if he has the sole authority to name all the members of a board or commission. Allowing legislative leaders to make Turnpike Authority board appointments implements governmental checks and balances at the agency, Sterling said.
HB 2263 was just one of several bills filed this year to limit the governor’s appointment power on various state boards and commissions. The bill also would have reduced the length of board members’ terms and explicitly prohibited them from voting on issues in which they have a direct financial interest.
Stitt on Monday also vetoed a bill that would make a one-word change to the Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act, which is intended to prevent the use of lawsuits or threats of lawsuits to intimidate or silence critics exercising their First Amendment rights. House Bill 1236 sought to make it harder for a person who is sued for defamation and successfully proves their First Amendment right to speech to collect attorney fees from the party who brought the lawsuit.
Oklahoma Press Association Executive Vice President Mark Thomas said the bill would have had a chilling effect on Oklahomans’ willingness to express themselves and speak the truth for fear of facing a costly lawsuit.
Epic Charter Schools in 2020 was ordered to pay former state Sen. Ron Sharp’s $36,000 in legal fees after a judge determined the school district filed a frivolous lawsuit against the lawmaker after he publicly questioned administrative decisions at the charter school system. Epic was also ordered to pay Sharp $500,000 in sanctions.
The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs urged Stitt to veto HB 1236. OCPA invoked the Citizens Protection Act after being sued by Oklahoma City-based Paycom over an article the conservative think tank published about the company’s CEO.
The governor also vetoed an omnibus bill that would create six new special state licenses plates. Stitt took issue with a license plate demonstrating support for the University of Kansas, saying the state doesn’t need to be in the public relations business for the out-of-state college.
Stitt has vetoed at least 46 bills so far this legislative session. The Legislature is expected to attempt some veto overrides this week, but it’s not clear which bills they will bring back up.
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