Sept. 11-15 Weekly Wrap

Wreckin' Ball Ryan tops 11 lawsuits, climate change catastrophe in Libya, and more...

In the very adult, “they did it, so we will, too” world of D.C. politics, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy said he would support impeachment of President Joe Biden all while the federal government creeps towards a shutdown with no budget bill from the House in sight.

I’m writing this before midnight Thursday night, but it looks like workers at the Big 3 automakers will strike together for the first time in history after management at the car makers failed to reach an agreement with the UAW. To keep bosses from preparing ahead of time, the UAW will stage a standing strike, announcing at the last minute which locals will walk out. More locals will be added the longer it takes to reach agreement. Estimates place the number of workers going on strike at midnight around 13,000.

Note: the Writers’ Guild of America and Screen Actors’ Guild remain on strike, too, despite stars like Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher crossing the picket lines and returning to production, without writers and in violation of WGA rules.

Parents and a pediatrician are suing to challenge North Dakota’s ban on gender-affirming care that was signed into law this spring by the Republican governor, who also happens to be running for president.

In Oklahoma, a woman is filing a lawsuit against Children’s Hospital after it hesitated to give her the treatment she needed after a life-threatening pregnancy complication.

Norman representatives learned like the general public—by press release— that Griffin Memorial Hospital was officially being relocated from NE Norman, where it’s stood for over a century, to near the OSU-OKC campus.

Leadership in the Oklahoma House and Senate are at odds after Gov. Kevin Stitt called for a special session to limit the personal state income tax. House Speaker Charles McCall favors a graduated elimination the personal income tax, Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat does not.

Finally, the defense rested in the hearings to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Don’t miss the latest from Nick Singer, Paul Shinn, Gary Edmondson, and Oklahoma Observer Editor Arnold Hamilton.

We have a slate of thought-provoking Observercast episodes coming, too: on Oklahoma House Dems’ call to impeach Wreckin’ Ball Ryan Walters, one of the latest lawsuits against Walters, and the whole Prager U situation at the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

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