Tulsa
A committee overseeing the search for mass graves realated to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has delayed until next month a decision on how to reinter the remains of possible victims found last year, the Associated Press reported.
The State of Oklahoma requires a reinternment plan before the graves are exhumed, and a plan is needed by the end of March to ensure the academic experts needed to study the remains are available this year. The 1921 Race Massacre Graves Public Oversight Committee Tuesday agreed to delay a decision until its next meeting in March, according to AP.
“If we put this off, we literally may lose a whole year,” forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield, a descendant of a massacre survivor, said. “It won’t be winter or October. It will be this time next year, in 2022.”
The remains of at least 12 humans were found last October in an area of Oaklawn Cemetery where funeral homes records indicate 18 black men killed in the massacre had been buried. The remains all appear to have been in coffins and were covered back up until a legally authorized exhumation could be arranged, AP reported.
Statewide
The positivity rate on Oklahomans’ COVID-19 tests has fallen below 10 percent according to data from Johns Hopkins University showed Wednesday, although state health officials have noted testing slowed during the past week because of the recent winter storm, the Associated Press reported.
The 7-day rolling average of the positivity rate in the state has dropped from 14.7 percent to 9.4 percent, according to the data from Wednesday. The 7-day rolling averages of new cases and COVID-19-realted deaths also have declined from 1,985.7 new cases per day to 776 and from 38.3 daily deaths to 23.7, according to AP.
Wednesday, the State Department of Health reported 647 people hospitalized with the virus down from a record high of 1,994 in early January. The state also had a total of 421,010 total COVID-19 cases and 4,264 death since the pandemic began, AP reported.
Oklahoma City
Gov. Kevin Stitt has nominated two women to serve in his cabinet, the Associated Press reported.
Stitt this week announced he selected former state Rep. Susan Winchester as his secretary of licensing and regulation and Jennifer Grigsby and his secretary of economic administration, according to AP.
Winchester represented the Chickasha area in the House from 1998-2008 and served as the state’s first female speaker pro tempore. She will oversee about 80 state agencies in her new role, AP reported.
Grigsby is a former executive with Chesapeake Energy Corp. who spent the last 5 years as chief financial officer of Ascent Resources, LLC. Grigsby will oversee more than 20 state agencies, including the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission, the Office of the State Treasurer, the Oklahoma Tax Commission and the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office, according to AP.
Chickasha
An Oklahoma man who had been released early from prison in January as part of a mass commutation effort is now accused of three killings, including the death of a neighbor whose heart he cut out, the Associated Press reported.
A judge denied bail Tuesday for Lawrence Paul Anderson, who faces three counts of first-degree murder, one count of assault and one count of maiming for the attack this month in Chickasha, according to AP.
Anderson is accused of killing Andrea Lynn Blankenship, 41, and cutting out her heart. Authorities said Anderson brought the heart to his aunt and uncle’s house, cooked it with potatoes and tried to serve it for them before killing Leon Pyre, 67, wounding the aunt and killing Kaeos Yates, the pair’s 4-yearold granddaughter, AP reported.
Anderson’s attorney, Al Hoch, indicated he will seek a mental evaluation to determine whether Anderson is competent to stand trial. Jason Nelson, Oklahoma’s interim secretary for public safety, said the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended commutation for Anderson on a 3-1 vote, according to AP.