Tumult continues for agency
NOT long ago, we wrote an editorial about the state Health Department turning things around after the upheaval caused by its former commissioner and other top staffers resigning amid a sudden $30 million budget shortfall. The upheaval, unfortunately, continues.
The shortfall prompted investigations by a special state House committee, the state auditor’s office, Oklahoma’s multicounty grand jury and the FBI. Preston Doerflinger, head of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, was named the Health Department’s interim commissioner
In late January, chief financial officer Mike Romero, who in 2017 brought to light many concerns about the agency’s operations and spoke to us — along with Doerflinger — about improved morale and operations within the agency, resigned and accused Doerflinger of improperly monitoring employees’ statements to investigators.
Then on Tuesday, Doerflinger himself resigned, soon after a Tulsa online media outlet wrote of a domestic violence report involving Doerflinger and his then-wife in 2012.
Left to pick up the pieces is Brian Downs, head of the agency’s state and federal policy, who was named acting commissioner until the state Board of Health can name an interim commissioner. “Our entire organization remains focused on protecting the health of all Oklahomans and restoring confidence in this agency,” Downs said. A little stability, and a little less tumult, would help.
End in sight?
The past several years have been marked by state budget shortfalls due to a state recession primarily created by the decline in oil prices from 2014 to 2016. But, mostly behind the scenes, some officials have suggested Oklahoma is turning a corner. January’s General Revenue Fund collections provide evidence to support that claim. Income tax collections were 21.7 percent higher than in January the prior year, and sales tax collections jumped 16 percent compared with January 2017 collections. State finance officials cautioned that total collections for the fiscal yearto-date have increased only 12.7 percent over the year-to-date for 2017, urging people to temper their enthusiasm. That’s not bad advice, but collections are clearly on an upswing. If that trend continues, it bodes well for state government finances, and people have valid reason to think the end may be in sight for the state’s most serious budget challenges.
Clueless
Some commentary in NBC’s coverage of the winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, has ranged from embarrassing to truly bizarre. Criticism has been rightly heaped on the network for its whitewashing of neighboring North Korea’s human rights record, which is littered with atrocities. Less noted was the fact NBC had to cut ties with commentator Joshua Cooper Ramo, a business consultant, after he praised Japan’s occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. “Every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural, technological and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation,” Ramo declared. Japan’s occupation included practices such as forcing Koreans to work in Japanese factories, pressuring Koreans to change their names to Japanese names, and forcing Korean women into sex slavery as “comfort women” for Japanese soldiers. One wonders what NBC officials would say if they were actively trying to offend people.
Why vaccinations matter
Oklahoma health officials are dealing with a case of the measles in Cleveland County. Measles has largely been eradicated in the United States thanks to childhood vaccinations, but cases crop up occasionally when parents eschew shots for their kids. That was the case in Norman — the patient who came down with the measles hadn’t been vaccinated. Because measles is spread when the infected person coughs or sneezes, officials are now urging anyone who visited three locations in Norman earlier this month to call the Cleveland County Health Department or the state Health Department if they aren’t feeling well. Those locations are Norman Pediatrics, 808 Wall St., on the morning of Feb. 2 or the afternoon of Feb. 6; Chuck E Cheese pizza, 2201 Interestate Drive, the afternoon of Feb. 3; or Norman Regional HealthPlex, 3300 HelathPlex Parkway, the afternoon of Feb. 6. This avoidable hassle is a reminder of why childhood vaccinations matter.
This seems familiar
There’s nothing new under the sun, and many “new” trends are only updated versions of past fads. Generally this is harmless, but there are some instances that deserve more scrutiny. Take a recent report from Vice News that “followed a group of women to the Women of Color Healing Retreat in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, a travel experience that emphasized yoga, vegan food, and political education seminars — and specifically banned white people.” While private citizens are generally free to do what they want so long as they don’t harm others, these retreats suggest a certain lack of self-awareness. Not so long ago, integration of the races was proclaimed an important societal goal. Now it appears some people think racial segregation is a good thing, in certain contexts. Are people really certain a “white only” and “black only” mentality is fine so long as there’s no government coercion involved?
Painting over women
From the “you can’t make this stuff up” department, cleveland.com, website of The Plain Dealer newspaper in Ohio, reports, “Case Western Reserve University will paint over a mural depicting female engineers this summer because some students objected to how it represented women.” The mural, by Cleveland artist Rachel Latina, was completed only a year ago and was meant to “combat stereotypes in math and science by representing the female faces of the fields.” In a statement, the university said the mural had drawn objections from some viewers, but declined to specify what those objections might be. Latina’s work is pop-art-inspired, so one wonders if the objections were about aesthetics as much as anything. But one also wonders if the “snowflake” culture of college campuses has hit the point even projects with a strong element of political correctness are still considered an affront to the politically “woke” crowd.
Dogs and politics
Kansas does not have an age requirement for its gubernatorial candidates, which has led to a rash of teenage candidates filing for that office — six in all. (And that alone is prompting state lawmakers to consider enacting an age requirement for future elections.) But while teenagers have been allowed on the ballot, election officials drew a line in the sand when Terran Woolley of Hutchinson filed paperwork to put his three-year-old pooch, Angus, before voters as a gubernatorial candidate. In a joke tweet announcing the candidacy, Angus was touted as someone who would “promise soft couches, tempurpedic beds, free for life universal chuck it ball supplies, and a completely anti-squirrel agenda.” There’s no word yet on how that agenda might have polled with the Kansas electorate but, if we’re being honest, it’s probably a better platform than that offered by some non-canine candidates in past election cycles.