Federal officials confirmed that all consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension.
"This is a relief for the uninsured who could not navigate www.Healthcare.gov in time to meet the Mar 31 deadline for enrollment," said Sean Reed, EA, of Reed's Tax Service, "but users will need to attest to attempting to enroll before the March 31 deadline."
In order to protect oneself from a possible penalty on their 2014 tax return, Reed suggests making an attempt to register before Mar 31 and printing out the pages that shows the personal information and says, "Your account could not be created. Please try again." The printed page should have the date on it as proof of attempting enrollment, in case it is later questioned.
Under the new rules, people will be able to qualify for an extension by checking a blue box on HealthCare.gov to indicate that they tried to enroll before the deadline. This method will rely on an honor system; the government will apparently not try to determine whether the person is telling the truth.
Previously, the site was to be closed on March 31 and was not going to reopen until the next open enrollment period in November. However, the site will remain open for those interested in purchasing health insurance coverage.
Friday Mercy left the hospital; Monday the MWC hospital Authority met in executive session to address the price discrepancy; Tuesday the Authority met with Mercy officials for a meeting lasting over 3 hours; Tuesday night the Hospital Authority reconvened to make a final decision.
Founded 25 years ago the Invention Convention strives to teach young minds how to do more than simply science fair projects. Thursday, February 27, 2014
The Pension reform bill has passed, at least the one that pertains to state employees. The firefighter, police and teacher pension programs are not affected at all by SB 2120 or its sister bill HB 2630. Thursday, February 27, 2014
The Oklahoma Capitol building repair may soon be underway, despite debate on the increased debt the proposed bond issue will bring about. Thursday, February 27, 2014
Midwest City Memorial Hospital Authority’s battle to gain control and find a new lessee of Midwest Regional Medical Center continues to drag on. On Monday, the Authority held an emergency meeting in which they decided to exercise their right of First Refusal in time to meet the Feb. 18 deadline.
Midwest City voters will head to the polls next Tuesday, March 4 to cast their votes in the primary election for three city council seats. Thursday, February 20, 2014
As a former teacher Senator Ron Sharp makes it a point to look out for the best interest of educators and students. Senator Sharp wants to give teachers more authority and a power to enforce rules that he believes is severely lacking. Thursday, February 20, 2014
On May 20, 2013, a tornado killed eight students at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore. The year before, 27 people, including 18 children, died in Newtown, Conn. when an armed shooter entered Sandy Hook Elementary School.
House Representative James Lankford came to OKC Tuesday night for a “Town Hall” style public meeting. Lankford informed the crowd as to the nature of his ongoing work in D.C. and then fielded questions submitted from the audience. Thursday, February 20, 2014
The City of Midwest City’s years of forward thinking is still paying off in a big way for residents and businesses.
On Wednesday, Feb. 12, city leaders proudly announced that the Midwest City Fire Department has once again received an ISO rating class of 1 out of 10.
This designation has only been earned by 57 of the nation’s some 48,000 fire departments.
A delegation of four people, including City Manager Guy Henson and three Mercy representatives, toured Midwest Regional Medical Center Monday, Feb. 10, a Midwest City official reported.
The hospital’s operator, Community Health Services, agreed to the tour after denying the Authority access the week before. Henson was joined by Dianne Smalley, Mercy CEO, and two other hospital representatives in the tour that included a simple walk-through of the facility led by Midwest Regional CEO Damon Brown, CFO Jason Proctor and another representative.
Mercy is who the Authority has chosen to become the hospital’s new lessee to replace CHS.
The February Mid-Del school board meeting published moving dates for the consolidation of elementary schools.
On May 2, the A-1 Freeman moving group will drop of containers to each site, and packing will commence. Starting on May 29 with Soldier Creek Elementary, the Mid-Del school system is moving everything but the furniture to the soon to be completed Midwest Elementary and Eastside Elementary.
The movement will include all classrooms offices and the media center for each school. The current East Side Elementary will move May 30, and Traub Elementary is set to move on June 2 and Sooner Rose Elementary on June 3.
Despite frigid weather the Parent Legislative Action Committee (PLAC) had a fairly large turnout for their day at the capitol.
PLAC had a team of parent volunteers set up an information booth, directed parents to their specific legislatures, provided agenda packets and encouraged parents to sit in on committee meetings and express their opinions to the decision makers at the capitol.
"Our goals were to help parents get acquainted with the capitol, help them identify who their legislatures were in the event that they did not know. we gave them a packet [of information on bills pertaining to education] and we had a letter where they could write out their concerns," Meredith Exline a leader in the PLAC said.
Political agendas were outlined at the Midwest City Chamber breakfast.
Cliff Aldridge, Charlie Joyner and Gary Banz appeared alongside representatives from Scott Inhofe, Tom Coburn, Tom Cole and James Lankford spoke on the issues facing our state and especially the Mid-Del area.
Aldridge and Coburn both spoke on the fact that they this is their final session. Aldridge has reached his term limit and plans to move back into the private sector. Coburn is stepping down in order to spend more time with his grandchildren and family. Coburn denies that his current bout of cancer is the primary reason he is leaving office.
Senator Constance Johnson has issues with the private prison system, and criminal punishments that she believes are unfair.
Most of the bills she has introduced this session fall under the category of changes to criminal law. Perhaps the most talked about bill she has issued is of course the Marihuana bill.
"The only thing Marihuana is a gateway to is prison in Oklahoma," Senator Johnson said.
On Tuesday, Mid-Del voters approved two bond propositions that seek to make sure every student in the district is safe, smart and secure.
The two propositions, which totaled $10.4 million, passed by an average 78.5 percent approval, although only 60 percent was needed. They will raise property taxes less than $4 per month and be paid off in five years.
The district will now be able to build new state-of-the-art security vestibules entrances, as well as install security cameras, card access readers, more lighting and fencing at every school and site.
Currently, Epperly Heights Elementary in Del City is the only school to have all of these safety features. Officials, students and the surrounding community have welcomed the school’s improvements with open arms this past year, said Principal Kevin Hill.
The Midwest City Memorial Hospital Authority took legal action against Community Health Systems Tuesday, Feb. 4 when they filed three legal documents in Oklahoma County District Court. Thursday, February 06, 2014
Kevin Hill could not be more invested in the Mid-Del school district. He attended only Mid-Del Public Schools, and after college, he came back to teach students then later became a school principal at Epperly Heights Elementary in Del City. Thursday, February 06, 2014
Mid-Del Schools’ Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Fair at first glance may seem like a traditional science fair project, but in reality it is much more. Thursday, February 06, 2014
Rose State College will host its annual recognition dinner to celebrate exceptional friends of the institution and distinguished alumni Thursday, Feb. 13. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. in the Rose State College Student Center Main Dining Room. Thursday, February 06, 2014
There are several accusations floating, statistics quoted and tempers flaring when it comes to Oklahoma’s attempt at pension reform. However many of the facts from both sides of the issue are skewed to an individual bias and generate a deceptive picture of the situation. Thursday, February 06, 2014
Governor Mary Fallin delivered the State of the State address Monday, Feb. 3, first giving credit to the Oklahoma Legislature and that they should be proud of how they made it through the tough financial times the past few years. Thursday, February 06, 2014
State Superintendent Janet Barresi spoke at a press conference Monday urging parents and educators to get informed on the third grade reading law taking full effect this year.
"Reading is not a measure of intelligence. Reading is a skill and these children acquire this skill in many different ways," Barresi said. "If you can’t read you can’t do anything else. It’s the most fundamental important thing we can provide for our children."
The reading law is a part of the Reading Sufficiency Act aimed at curbing Oklahoma’s nearly 30 percent illiteracy rate. This law or similar measures are already active in 10 other states and the District of Colombia.
Dist. 96 Representative Lewis Moore wants to protect Oklahoma, first and singularly.
With his militia bill, several Federalism Acts, repellants to several aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and bills questioning federal spending, the Republican is attempting to strengthen the sovereignty of the State of Oklahoma.
"The position that I’m in is to defend, in every area that I can defend it, our state sovereignty."
Moore believes that the national governments’ enumerated rights are greatly out stridden with the ACA and other principal policies of this administration.
The Del City Chamber was pleased to see such a large turnout last Thursday when they hosted local and federal legislators to sit down with members during a luncheon.
Present were State Sen. Cliff Aldridge and State Rep. Scott Inman. Field Rep. Craig Smith attended on behalf of Sen. Tom Coburn and another field representative was on hand for Sen. James Inholfe (name not available as of presstime). Mona Taylor, the district director for US Rep. James Lankford, also attended.
Members of Mid-Del Public Schools and Rose State College administration attended the luncheon that offered an up close discussion in a round robin environment.
Technology representatives visited Highland Park with Mid-Del Public Schools Jan. 22 to participate in a site visit to see the 2013 Oklahoma Educational Technology Trust grant in action.
The $65,000 grant provided technology and professional development to Highland Park’s students and teachers. The OETT grant provided the means to two iPad carts to increase achievement in reading and math.
Students will showcase their learning to adults during Technology Nights and will be hosted by the school with invitations extended to the entire community.
On Feb. 11, 2014, Mid-Del Public Schools is asking voters to stand behind a bond issue to fund various projects, including one to build the district’s fourth safe room.
The $10.405 million bond includes two propositions, one for safety, security and technology projects.
Anyone wishing to vote by absentee ballot in the election has until Wednesday, Feb. 5 to make application to the Oklahoma County Election Board. After receiving a ballot by mail, voters must return their ballot to the election board by 7 p.m. on election day in order to be counted.
For more information, contact the board at (405) 713-1515.
The Del City Chamber of Commerce will host it’s Annual Awards Banquet and Hall of Fame Ceremony at 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 6 at the Del City Community Center, 4501 SE 15th Street, in Del City.
Donald Vick, professional engineer and land surveyor, will be inducted into the Chamber Hall of Fame.
Vick has been a resident of Del City since 1959 and has had a distinguished career as a professional civil engineer and land surveyor.
He and his wife Betty made Del City their home shortly after their marriage in 1958. Vick pursued his career in land surveying and then later civil engineering. Most notably, he has been with JGVE, Inc. since 1974 and served as its president for many years and is now chairman.
Vick has been a member of the Del City Chamber since the early 1970s and served on the Del City Planning Commission.
State Senators Clark Jolly and Susan Paddack, along with State Representatives Scott Martin and Scott Inman addressed questions posed to them by the Parent Legislative Action Committee in a panel Tuesday in Edmond.
PLAC organizers, including parents and educators, synthesized all their complaints into a simple two part problem and then formulated four questions to the legislators most involved in education appropriations.
"We were able to wrap our hands around two major issues that we are seeing in our classroom and it boiled down to there’s too little funding and too much testing in our classrooms," said Meredith Exline, PLAC organizer. "Our goal at the PLAC is to educate parents and patrons in a nonpartisan way on what is happening at a legislative level."
Hospital Authority members delivered their highly anticipated decision Tuesday on who they are going to pursue as their No. 1 choice as Midwest Regional Medical Center’s next lessee.
By a vote of 7-0, members named Mercy as their top choice and elected to pass on OU Health and Sciences Center and Community Health Systems, both of which had also responded to the Authority’s Request for Proposal notice to lease the hospital.
The Authority’s decision came after an hour long executive session. First up was the vote on whether or not the Authority was going to exercise their "Right of First Refusal." If passed, this would allow the Authority to terminate the hospital’s lease and reacquire possession of all the leased assets, the lease agreement between the Authority and Health Management Associates states.
The Authority voted 7-0 in favor of the "Right of First Refusal.”
The body of a 55-year-old man was found on a walking trail in Tom Poore Park, which runs between Hazewood Drive and NE 10th Street.
The man was identified by Midwest City Police as Dallas Saunders. His body was discovered at 8:03 a.m. Police do not believe any foul play was involved and say Saunders, who was a Nicoma Park residence, died of an unidentified medical issue.
Rose State College is pleased to announce that it is proceeding with plans to develop residential housing.
The college’s board of regents recently approved the project, which is now moving into the planning and evaluating stages. A target date of August 2015 has been set for the housing to become available for students.
"Rose State College is excited about taking this bold step as we continue to put in place a series of innovative programs and facilities that will elevate the college to a whole new level," said Jeanie Webb, president of Rose State College.
Pushed back a day to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, Del City council members had little to discuss in their second meeting of the year.
The council voted to approve the purchase of a crane for the fleet maintenance service truck, and took a brief recess to view the fire department’s new brush pumper fire trucks.
The only real discussion of the night came with public input. Two men involved with an Assembly of God church building, located on the corner of SE 15 Street and Bryant, came forward to ask about a recent condemnation notice.
The Del City Fire Department recently received two new four-wheel drive brush pumpers, used for the purpose of fighting grass and wild-land fires.
The new brush pumpers, built on a 2014 Ford F550 chassis, were purchased with funds from a 2011 bond issue approved by Del City citizens.
The new vehicles were designed by a committee comprised of firefighters and fire administrators and manufactured by Cooper Creek Manufacturing of Loyal, Okla. Some of the features of the new brush pumpers include: a front bumper-mounted turret nozzle, a beefed-up tire and suspension system, LED off-road lighting, a portable foam application system, heavy-duty wild-land tools, a 12,500lb winch, two mid-ship fire attack lines and a caring capacity of 300 gallons of water.
"We had a committee design the trucks," Major Brandon Pursell said. "We looked at what has worked well for us and what hasn’t."
The 2014 legislative session has begun and Representatives and Senators from the Mid-Del area have submitted bills concerned with marijuana, militia, teachers and whistleblowers.
Marijuana
Among the several bills introduced by Sen. Constance Johnson is Senate Bill 2116 relating to the legalization and taxation of marijuana and its products.
Sen. Johnson, a Democrat representing District 48, said this bill, if voted and signed into law, would legalize marijuana for all citizens 21 or older to cultivate, sell and for use under specific rules.
The plant may not be grown in an area that is accessible to anyone under the age of 21, all sales must take place in an establishment that is licensed, taxed and regulated by the FDA, and all usage must be in compliance with all laws governing driving under the influence.
Close calls and house fires aren’t a very good combination.
But one week before the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service held on Jan. 18, one Midwest City family luckily found theirselves unscathed after a fire broke out in their home on Kittyhawk Drive.
Fire Marshall Tim Snyder said he doesn’t like to talk about fire incidents, but he just couldn’t shake the irony of this family’s situation in relation to the canvas event that would take place one week later.
He explained that no one was asleep when the fire occurred early in the evening, and thankfully only minor damage was sustained to the home.
After the flames were put out and the water hoses put up, Snyder said firefighters tested the smoke alarm in a room untouched by the fire. That is when they discovered that the often life saving device was not working.
The next meeting of the Oklahoma Central Parent Legislative Action Committee will be 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28 at the Edmond Public Schools Administration Building, 1001 W. Danforth Rd.
The nonpartisan group has the goal of increasing parent and community awareness about legislative issues impacting public education in Oklahoma. They encourage all parents and patrons from the metro area school districts to attend its fourth meeting of the 2013-2014 school year.
The Midwest City Fire Department will participate in the 5th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service this Saturday, Jan. 18.
The service day is a fire canvassing event in partnership with the American Red Cross and HOPE Worldwide. Firefighters and volunteers will be out in force to share fire safety and prevention information with households in the Original Square Mile area, which is bordered by SE 29th, S.E. 15th, Air Depot and Midwest Boulevard.
Smoke alarms also may also be installed in homes that are in need of them.
Midwest City residents will have an opportunity to purchase rain barrels online between now and March 14.
Rain barrels provide water storage to use on flower gardens or lawn. They offer a more cost effective option instead of using tap water or an outside spigot. This is even more important during those months with reduced rainfall so having more than one barrel to store water is a great idea.
Midwest City’s State Rep. Gary Banz doesn’t know what’s exactly in store for the upcoming legislative session but he is sure another tough round of budget cuts is in the state’s future again this year.
As the filing deadline was the week of Jan. 13, Banz said no one can predict what bills will be voted on or what will surface as the most controversial bills until session has begun.
Rep. Banz of District 101, though, talks about the things he’s been hearing so far this year.
"The tax issue that was tossed out by the Supreme Court as a violation of the single-subject rule, will probably be a topic of conversation. The Speaker is pretty much on record as favoring it and the Governor has backed off of it," Banz said.
Reduce pension debt is listed as the No. 4 item on Oklahoma State Treasurer Ken Miller’s policy goals for 2014.
Oklahoma Educators Association and Keep Oklahoma’s Promises (a coalition of present and future pension beneficiaries) are expressing extreme misgivings about the stated plan.
This week is the filing deadline for all state legislation. Despite not knowing the full text of any bill pertaining to pension reform, activist groups and unions such as the OEA are fighting the concepts for change being discussed.
"First of all our pension system works," OEA President Linda Hampton said. "It is definitely not broken and the Teacher Retirement System has outperformed 99 percent of other systems in the United States and it’s in the best shape it’s been in 20 years."
In his Economic Report published Dec. 31, Miller outlined the problems he sees with the current structure of the pension program.
In the first meeting of 2014, Mid-Del school board members made changes to graduation requirements and discussed how to deal with a budget deficit.
"In July, we were at $39.8 million and at midterm now, we are at $38.8 million for a loss of $1 million from July until now," Supt. Pam Deering said during the Jan. 13 meeting. "However as we look at our chargeable income and how much that changed, it comes out that the amount that we are really down is about $500,000."
This news did not come as a shock to the board who had budgeted based on the possibility of loss.
"I want you to be proud. We have budgeted $38.7 million so we were on top of it before it happened," Deering said.
Next month, Midwest City will be the final stopping point for passenger trains part of a test to see if travel by rail from Tulsa to Oklahoma City will make a comeback or not.
Three trips on the Eastern Flyer were scheduled by Iowa Pacific Holdings and quickly sold out after only three weeks of being on sale. Each train trip included 300 tickets for 900 tickets total.
Tickets ranged in price from $64 for a standard’s child ticket up to $259 for the more glamorous ride in a glass-dome dining car.
"The demand for rail travel continues to grow and ticket sales crushed our revenue goal of 300 tickets," said Angela Arias, vice president of marketing for Iowa Pacific Premier Rail Collection.
Before the May 3, 1999 tornado, equestrian barns occupied the far northwest corner of Tinker Air Force Base.
After the tornado, a state of the art softball complex was built, and now, some 14 years later, base leadership is turning to Midwest City for help during a time they are seeing funding cuts.
On Tuesday, Jan. 14, Midwest City councilmembers voted to allow city staff to move forward with negotiations with TAFB to eventually take over the operations and maintenance of the complex, located at SE 29th Street and Sooner Road. The city will not buy the complex but instead enter into a long-term lease, possibly 25 years, with the base, according to a memo by Assistant City Manager Tim Lyon.
Community Health Systems, Inc. has some competition in the race to become the next lessee of Midwest Regional Medical Center.
On Friday, the deadline passed for Request for Proposals to be submitted and at the end of the day, the City of Midwest City received two.
Mercy and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center both turned in proposals, which means they are interested in leasing MRMC. The two proposals were submitted to Healthcare Strategy Group, the consultant firm out of Louisville, Ken. the city has hired to handle the hospital’s lease situation for legal, appraisal and consultant services.
St. Anthony’s and Integris Baptist did not submit proposals, although they were the two other metro hospital corporations invited by the city to do so.
The Mid-Del Public School Foundation was one of two statewide selected as selected as recipients of the 2012 Outstanding Program Awards for Local Education Foundations sponsored by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.
The awards, which recognize innovative programs sponsored or administered by public school foundations in Oklahoma, will be presented at the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence Fall Forum for Local Education Foundations and Youth Mentoring Programs on Oct. 23 in Norman. Receiving plaques and monetary awards of $1,000 each will be the 2011 Technology Initiative sponsored by the Claremore Public Schools Foundation and the Homeless Student Education Fund sponsored by the Mid-Del Public Schools Foundation.
If you are looking for a place to escape the heat and have some fun while you're at it, check out what's going on at your local library.
In July, the Summer Reading Program comes to an end on July 31 and this year's theme is Dream Big - Read! But the program is not the only thing going on at local libraries because there are also movie times, story times and book clubs, too.
The following is a list of events scheduled at Eastern Oklahoma County libraries this month:
These are all signs of construction, and currently in the Mid-Del school district, they are showing up everywhere as work progresses on numerous bond projects approved by voters in September.
The biggest projects included in the $90 million bond are two new elementary schools - one at Soldier Creek on SE 15th Street and Douglas, and another on Key Boulevard at East Side Elementary - both in Midwest City.
A judge sentenced a Del City father to 18 years in prison Tuesday after he was convicted of child neglect in connection with the deaths of his three children who were killed in a 2011 motor home fire. Monday, July 02, 2012
A group of Del City residents intend to protest a proposed halfway house for convicted felons during tonight's planning commission meeting.
The public meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at city hall, 3701 SE 15th Street.
The commission will hear the proposed rezoning request that would allow up to 100 felons seeking rehabilitation to live in the vacant Howard Memorial Baptist Church, which is situated at the southeast corner of Reno Avenue and Sunnylane Road.
The California-based organization known as Center Point Inc. is seeking the rezoning to house the inmates. If the rezoning is approved, the church would issue a long-term lease to Center Point for 20 years for $1 each year.
As Oklahomans stock up on fans and other essentials to survive another sweltering summer, Mid-Del emergency crews are expecting the worst.
No heat-related calls have been reported to the Del City or Midwest City fire departments, but it's just a matter of time, said Midwest City fire department spokesman.
"While we haven't received anything yet, we do expect the calls to start ramping up this week," he said.
In order to prevent people from requiring the assistance of emergency crews, Richardson offered a couple of tips for handling hot weather.
"Do outdoor activities before 10 a.m.," Richardson said, "The heat peaks around 3 p.m. most days. Also, just use common sense. Drink plenty of fluids."
Del City fire department spokesman Brandon Pursell said medical calls have increased, but none of them can be attributed to the 100-degree heat.
Oklahoma Natural Gas' base rate may soon be going up, but even if it does, the company says most of its customers will pay less money in 2012 than they did in 2010 for service. Monday, July 02, 2012
Three Mid-Del schools were locked down for about an hour Wednesday while local law enforcement searched for a wanted man in the nearby area.
Around 12 p.m. Jesse Dean Hisaw, 50, led local law enforcement on a pursuit after an Oklahoma County Sheriff warrant team attempted to serve a warrant for his arrest.
Hisaw originally fled from authorities in his vehicle but then fled on foot after abandoning his car in a field north of Interstate 40, east of Post Road.
While police searched, all connecting roads in the area are blocked off and a helicopter is circling the area.
