State Question 781 is an attempt to fix "stolen" money from 15 years ago. 781 takes the money saved from SQ 780, which adjusts monetary thresholds for nonviolent crimes,in keeping with the inflation rate; and directs that toward completing the inpatient community mental health facilities.
  In the Oklahoma Constitution, there are mandates for 3 psychiatric hospitals (Vinita, Norman, and Ft. Supply). When  Gov. Frank Keating left office, they had just started the transition of Closing & replacing the old 2600 bed psychiatric facility in Vinita, with a network of community-based short term treatment facilities, around the state. Western State Hospital in Fort Supply was also scaled back and converted into a small psychiatric facility. The rest of that campus was switched to a prison facility (as was Eastern State Hospital, in Vinita)
  Only 2 new facilities were funded (Tulsa Center for Behavioral Health & the Carl Albert Mental Health Center in McAlester). In both new facilities, there were vacant facilities available, so the cost to set up operations was far less than expected.
  But then the legislature stopped the process.  The Oklahoma Dept. of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) had to find private contractors to fill in the void. Private contractors can handle clients who voluntarily seek psychiatric help; but state mental health courts were in a huge pinch because if they cannot "commit" a  person to a private facility. So we have this perpetual waiting list and cops end up arresting people on whatever charges they can justify, just to get them incarcerated.
781 takes the money saved from SQ 780, adjusting thresholds for nonviolent crimes (in keeping with the inflation rate), and directs that toward completing the inpatient community mental health facilities.
Our state needs about 20 more facilities to increase capacity to about 1000 more beds.
Jails cost way more (per bed) than psychiatric facilities. The reform actually saves money to operate, but the initial infrastructure expense needs the kind of money that led to this reform idea.

  Rush Limbaugh just chimed in on the fate of 3rd party candidates; "They always fizzle out in the final weeks." Perhaps it's the impact of massive campaign spending by the two major parties? Ross Perot was the only recent candidate to challenge the billion+ dollars in media spending by the giants in the arena.
  But Donald Trump is also connecting with Oklahoma if for no other reason than the Sooner State deplores the idea of an east coast liberal telling Oklahoma how to live.
  Even the Oklahoma Democrats largely reject Clinton. Little Dixie (the southeastern counties where Republicans still are a speckled minority) will not embrace Clinton. They still remember the early days of Hillary Clinton's senate agenda and her efforts to end cockfighting through federal law.
  FiveThirtyEight.com is giving Trump a 99.8% chance of winning the Oklahoma contest.

  But the majority of Oklahomans have become Yellow Dog Republicans in the presidential race. Oklahoma has not elected the Democrat since 1964. Even with Trump's baggage (and the national media has made an effort to magnify that narrative), Oklahoma loves his populist appeal and the anti-globalist vision he espouses.

  Trump now approaches 60% and Clinton is more than 20 points behind. Gary Johnson's supporters in the Oklahoma Libertarian Party just hope their standard bearer can give them more than 2.5% of the election returns. That's essential to saving their party's official status with the Secretary of State's office. They spent over $100k to get on the ballot, and they don't want to start over yet again.

 A widow is suing Kentucky Fried Chicken because her bucket doesn't appear as overflowing as the advertisement appears to.
  Anna Wurtzburger, of Hopewell Junction, says she bought a $20 bucket of chicken from KFC over the summer and was disappointed to find it looked much different than what’s in the chain’s ads.

  “I came home and said, ‘Where’s the chicken?’ I thought I was going to have a couple of meals,” she told The Post.


  “They say it feeds the whole family … They’re showing a bucket that’s overflowing with chicken,” the 64-year-old widow griped. “You get half a bucket! That’s false advertising, and it doesn’t feed the whole family. They’re small pieces!”

  “If you want the public to look at your chicken, put it in a dish,” she fumed. “It’s a lot of BS. … I expect to get what you’re telling me.”

  Putting her money where her hungry mouth is, Wurtzburger hired a lawyer and filed a lawsuit, demanding KFC change its advertising.
  She also returned two gift certificates the company sent her as a mea culpa.

“You know what commercial they should put on? You remember the movie, ‘Oliver’?” she said. “It was about the little boy growing up in the orphanages and he was hungry and he goes to the man, ‘Can I have some more?’ ”

  Retired from the Fishkill Correction Facility, Wurtzburger lives off her Social Security check and said the KFC meal was supposed to be a rare treat.
   KFC called the lawsuit “meritless.”