Oklahoma schools chief seeks donations to put Bibles in classrooms
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma's top education official said he's teaming with country music singer Lee Greenwood in seeking donations to get $59.99 leather-bound 'God Bless the USA' Bibles into classrooms throughout the state, after a legislative panel rejected his $3 million request to fund the effort.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters said this week that he's partnering with Greenwood to help ensure the Bibles, which have been endorsed by President Donald Trump , get to Oklahoma schools.
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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Oklahoma Senate approves governor's new education board members
Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, left, sits next to Oklahoma State Board of Education member Mike Tinney, right, before supporting Tinney's confirmation during a Senate Education Committee meeting May 20, 2025, at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Senate on Tuesday confirmed Gov. Kevin Stitt's four new appointees to the State Board of Education along with picks for several other state leadership posts. With no discussion, senators approved the appointments of Mike Tinney, of Norman, Christopher K. Van Denhende, of Tulsa, Ryan A. Deatherage, of Kingfisher, and Becky Y. Carson, of Edmond, to serve on the state board tasked with governing the state's public school system. Gov. Kevin Stitt in February removed three prior members from the board and criticized them for creating 'needless political drama' following their vote requiring schools to collect students' immigration status. Stitt then named Deatherage, Tinney and Van Denhende to fill the vacancies, saying the board needed fresh eyes. State Superintendent Ryan Walters accused Stitt of firing the three former board members for political purposes. The three booted members had voted in line with Walters since he took office in January 2023. They approved Walters' budget requests, which included $3 million to spend on Bibles, along with controversial new rules that would require the student citizenship checks and require teachers to pass a naturalization test in order to be licensed. During the session, the Republican-controlled Legislature rejected all three proposals. In April, Stitt appointed Carson, a retired educator, to fill a seat representing Congressional District 5 that has been vacant for two years. Walters and six members appointed by the governor make up the board. During the committee vetting process, some Republican senators objected to Stitt's decision to overhaul the board's membership. Senate Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, carried Tinney's nomination after his hometown senator, Lisa Standridge, R-Norman, declined to do so. Standridge told some media outlets she was friends with Kendra Wesson, who served on the board before being booted. In other business, the Senate confirmed John Budd of Oklahoma City to serve as the Department of Commerce CEO. Richard L. Rose of Oklahoma City was confirmed as Office of Management and Enterprise Services director. Jeffrey Cartmell of Edmond was approved to serve as Department of Human Services director. Timothy N. Tardibono of Oklahoma City was confirmed as Office of Juvenile Affairs executive director. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Opinion - Dinner with Trump: It'll set you back only $1 million
What a great country we live in. You tell me: in whatever other country could you receive a personal email from your president? Yet that's what happened to me this weekend. I couldn't believe it. I was so excited when this message popped up among incoming emails: 'Email from the President.' Of course, I opened it right away. I couldn't wait. Was President Trump asking my advice on ending the war in Ukraine? Or how to get his 'big, beautiful bill' out of the Senate? No, no. Nothing so important. It turned out Trump was just doing what he does best: asking for money. 'I signed collectable golf balls for you,' read the email. 'BUT we'll only have a few of these left in stock, so if you want them, you've got to ORDER BEFORE MIDNIGHT.' There they were, the president emailed, just waiting for me: three 'Trump Signature Golf Balls' (not actually signed by him) for anywhere from $35 to $3,300, depending on how big a check I wanted to write. As much as I hate to disappoint the Don, I decided to pass. Actually, I felt lucky. At least I didn't get an email inviting me to have dinner with Trump last Thursday night at his golf club in Potomac Falls, Va. That would have set me back a bit more than $35. The minimum price for steak and halibut was a cool million — for which you didn't even get a handshake with the Orange Man. But 220 fat cats did show up, specially invited because they were the biggest investors in Trump's latest money-making scheme, which he launched just before his second Inauguration: a $Trump meme coin. Buyers from China, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and around the world flew in for the dinner with the explicit intent, they told reporters, 'of influencing Mr. Trump and U.S. financial regulations.' In addition to dinner with the president, the top donors were given a private tour of the White House the next morning. And, to be clear, this was not a campaign fundraiser. This event was a business venture lining the pockets of Trump and his family — from which, according to the New York Times, they have already collected $320 million in fees. Stop! That rumbling sound you hear? It's the sound of Thomas Jefferson, or Abraham Lincoln, or Jimmy Carter, or any of our other 42 deceased presidents rolling in their grave. It's no stretch of the imagination to conclude that anyone of them would be appalled at the way Trump has turned the presidency from the highest form of public service to the most disgusting display of personal enrichment. He's replaced the revered title 'commander-in-chief' with the disgraced 'grifter-in-chief.' After all, last week's dinner is hardly the first money-making scheme Trump has launched recently. In January, in addition to hawking Bibles, trading cards, sneakers and watches, he unveiled a new crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, with a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi. Since the inauguration, sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have been bouncing around the world, signing a breathtaking bounty of new business deals for the family. That includes a $1 billion, 80-story luxury hotel in Dubai; a second high-end residential tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; a new golf course and villa complex in Qatar; a Trump skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City; and a $1.5 billion golf complex outside Hanoi. They've also opened a private club in Washington, the 'Executive Branch,' where for a $500,000 entrance fee, members can rub elbows with members of the Trump administration. Again, all of these projects have one purpose only: to exploit the office of president in order to funnel money to Trump and his family. Eric Lipton, investigative reporter for the New York Times, concludes: 'Mr. Trump is estimated to have added billions to his personal fortune, at least on paper, since the start of his new term, much of it through crypto.' How times have changed. There's hardly a peep of protest this time about Trump's money-grubbing. Yet not that long ago, Hillary Clinton was roasted for having made $100,000 from a $1,000 investment in cattle futures — 12 years before her husband was elected president. Looking back, it's hard to believe we made such a big deal about so little. But at least we had some standards of decency then. We have none today. Bill Press is host of 'The Bill Press Pod.' He is the author of 'From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
3 days ago
- The Hill
Dinner with Trump: It'll set you back only $1 million
What a great country we live in. You tell me: in whatever other country could you receive a personal email from your president? Yet that's what happened to me this weekend. I couldn't believe it. I was so excited when this message popped up among incoming emails: 'Email from the President.' Of course, I opened it right away. I couldn't wait. Was President Trump asking my advice on ending the war in Ukraine? Or how to get his 'big, beautiful bill' out of the Senate? No, no. Nothing so important. It turned out Trump was just doing what he does best: asking for money. 'I signed collectable golf balls for you,' read the email. 'BUT we'll only have a few of these left in stock, so if you want them, you've got to ORDER BEFORE MIDNIGHT.' There they were, the president emailed, just waiting for me: three 'Trump Signature Golf Balls' (not actually signed by him) for anywhere from $35 to $3,300, depending on how big a check I wanted to write. As much as I hate to disappoint the Don, I decided to pass. Actually, I felt lucky. At least I didn't get an email inviting me to have dinner with Trump last Thursday night at his golf club in Potomac Falls, Va. That would have set me back a bit more than $35. The minimum price for steak and halibut was a cool million — for which you didn't even get a handshake with the Orange Man. But 220 fat cats did show up, specially invited because they were the biggest investors in Trump's latest money-making scheme, which he launched just before his second Inauguration: a $Trump meme coin. Buyers from China, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and around the world flew in for the dinner with the explicit intent, they told reporters, 'of influencing Mr. Trump and U.S. financial regulations.' In addition to dinner with the president, the top donors were given a private tour of the White House the next morning. And, to be clear, this was not a campaign fundraiser. This event was a business venture lining the pockets of Trump and his family — from which, according to the New York Times, they have already collected $320 million in fees. Stop! That rumbling sound you hear? It's the sound of Thomas Jefferson, or Abraham Lincoln, or Jimmy Carter, or any of our other 42 deceased presidents rolling in their grave. It's no stretch of the imagination to conclude that anyone of them would be appalled at the way Trump has turned the presidency from the highest form of public service to the most disgusting display of personal enrichment. He's replaced the revered title 'commander-in-chief' with the disgraced 'grifter-in-chief.' After all, last week's dinner is hardly the first money-making scheme Trump has launched recently. In January, in addition to hawking Bibles, trading cards, sneakers and watches, he unveiled a new crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, with a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi. Since the inauguration, sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have been bouncing around the world, signing a breathtaking bounty of new business deals for the family. That includes a $1 billion, 80-story luxury hotel in Dubai; a second high-end residential tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; a new golf course and villa complex in Qatar; a Trump skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City; and a $1.5 billion golf complex outside Hanoi. They've also opened a private club in Washington, the 'Executive Branch,' where for a $500,000 entrance fee, members can rub elbows with members of the Trump administration. Again, all of these projects have one purpose only: to exploit the office of president in order to funnel money to Trump and his family. Eric Lipton, investigative reporter for the New York Times, concludes: 'Mr. Trump is estimated to have added billions to his personal fortune, at least on paper, since the start of his new term, much of it through crypto.' How times have changed. There's hardly a peep of protest this time about Trump's money-grubbing. Yet not that long ago, Hillary Clinton was roasted for having made $100,000 from a $1,000 investment in cattle futures — 12 years before her husband was elected president. Looking back, it's hard to believe we made such a big deal about so little. But at least we had some standards of decency then. We have none today. Bill Press is host of 'The Bill Press Pod.' He is the author of 'From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.'
