Oklahoma lawmakers study fallout of high incarceration rate, Associated Press, September 14, 2010, The Oklahoman: “Oklahoma’s strict criminal sentences, especially for women, create hardships for the children of inmates and perpetuate a cycle that often results in the children behind bars themselves, experts warned lawmakers Tuesday. Several child advocates and a criminal justice expert testified before the House Human Services Committee that Oklahoma’s children are paying the price for the state’s tough-on-crime sentencing policies…”
Tag: Oklahoma
Tulsa World Series on Section 8 Housing
- THA shakeup in late ’80s brought reforms, By Ginnie Graham and Curtis Killman, June 6, 2010, Tulsa World: “THA has had a rocky history with Section 8, reaching a boiling point in the late 1980s with reports of mismanagement and discriminatory selection. In 1988, the nonprofit group Neighbor for Neighbor led the criticism against THA. After several months in a court battle, the group was successful in a lawsuit seeking Section 8 addresses and payments made to landlords. A Tulsa district judge ruled those were public records…”
- ‘Never had a problem’, By Ginnie Graham and Curtis Killman, June 6, 2010, Tulsa World: “Taking a look down the street from her porch, Zandrell Macon said she never planned to live in this neighborhood. The Section 8 tenant, who lives in the 800 block of East 52nd Street North, said she had to transfer her voucher from an earlier Section 8 rental home after problems with roach infestation, conflicts with the owner over making home repairs and being burglarized…”
- Unchecked, By Ginnie Graham and Curtis Killman, June 6, 2010, Tulsa World: “For 79-year-old Juanita Austin, having a Section 8 voucher means she can still afford to live in her home independently. From her manicured and fenced lawn on the 800 block of East 52nd Street North, she points to homes surrounding her property with plywood over windows, tarps over roofs and cars parked in front yards. ‘You see some of those boarded up across the street, and this one next door doesn’t mow the yard,’ Austin said. That house next door, with ‘Blood’ as graffiti on the side fence and weeds growing to mid-calf, did have a Section 8 tenant in December. By April, it was vacant and overgrown.’If you’re Section 8, you have to fix it up a little,’ she said. Regulations set by the U.S. Housing and Development Agency address the condition of the home, which taxpayers subsidize a portion of the rent for low-income families and individuals. However, nothing requires the Tulsa Housing Authority, which administers the program, to do background checks on code violations, taxes owed on the property or the criminal backgrounds of the owners…”
- Annual check-ups, By Ginnie Graham and Curtis Killman, June 7, 2010, Tulsa World: “Bruce Thompson starts the routine with a smile, handshake and a few questions: ‘Who owns the range and fridge?’ ‘Do you pay all your utilities?’ The tenant, Arlene, said she owns a couple of appliances and pays for the utilities. She didn’t want to give her last name in order to protect her family from ridicule, she said. ‘This is a wonderful thing, but people put you in a category when they find out you’re on Section 8,’ she said. ‘You’re stigmatized, and some people are flat-out rude.’ After introductions and initial questions, Thompson starts opening windows, closing and locking doors, flipping switches and eyeballing walls and corners. As the head of inspections for the Tulsa Housing Authority, Thompson goes down the checklist for the annual inspection of a home in the 1500 block of North Oswego Avenue. ‘Ours is more of a visual inspection,’ he said. ‘We don’t climb in attics or pull off (circuit) breaker panels.’ The Tulsa Housing Authority performs move-in and annual inspections on all of its nearly 4,400 Section 8 properties based on standards set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development…”
- Sneaking in, By Ginnie Graham and Curtis Killman, June 7, 2010, Tulsa World: “A murder suspect, two unregistered sex offenders and an armed robber are among people who either were approved as Section 8 tenants or lived with a voucher holder without authorization, a Tulsa World investigation has revealed. The four are among 62 people found by the World who had been arrested since January 2009 in Tulsa County on felony complaints or warrants. The home addresses that all gave to law enforcement officers match those of Section 8 units. Also, five parolees with felony convictions that included drug trafficking and robbery gave addresses that matched Section 8 homes within the past four years, the World’s analysis shows. Tulsa has nearly 4,400 Section 8 voucher holders…”
State Medicaid Programs
- House may take Medicaid funds to help with budget, By Deborah Yetter, February 9, 2010, Louisville Courier-Journal: “House leaders are proposing a daring budget maneuver that would strip $227 million in General Fund money from the state’s Medicaid program for the next budget year in hopes that the federal government will approve additional stimulus funds for the program starting in 2011. The federal stimulus money, which has helped keep Kentucky’s $5.4 billion plan in the black, expires Dec. 31, the midpoint of the budget year. Advocates Tuesday were stunned to learn that the House is considering taking state money from Medicaid – with no guarantee Congress will provide extra money for the health plan, which covers the poor and disabled…”
- Medicaid fees may be trimmed to help balance Texas budget, By Robert T. Garrett, February 10, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Doctors, dentists and hospitals would have their Medicaid fees trimmed by at least 1 percent under possible budget reductions offered today by state Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs. When treating adults, the caregivers would take a 2 percent hit, as would nursing homes, group homes for the mentally disabled and NorthSTAR, which provides mental-health services to some 400,000 low-income residents of Dallas and six nearby counties…”
- Medicaid cuts may affect care in Oklahoma, By Julie Bisbee, February 12, 2010, The Oklahoman: “Budget cuts at the agency that administers the state’s Medicaid program could make it more difficult for patients to get the medical care they need, members of the state’s medical association said Thursday.Cuts to Medicaid reimbursements approved by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority on Thursday will mean doctors get paid less for providing care to people enrolled in SoonerCare. Doctors that provide care to SoonerCare patients will see their reimbursement rates cut by 6.75 percent beginning April 1. Nearly 700,000 people are enrolled in the SoonerCare health care program each month. More than half of those enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program are children…”
- Prenatal care restored for some women in Nebraska, By Mark Andersen, February 10, 2010, Lincoln Journal Star: “Some pregnant legal residents should ignore a recent notice saying Nebraska Medicaid will not cover their prenatal care. New letters going out soon will say that, in fact, Medicaid will cover their care, state Medicaid Director Vivianne Chaumont said Wednesday. Not all pregnant women who got the first notice will get the second one restoring coverage. Notably, no second notices will be delivered to undocumented women, whose coverage of prenatal care will be ending. The issue relates to state efforts to comply with federal guidelines about when an unborn child can be counted in determining Medicaid eligibility…”