Humanity’s First Mission To A Star

By David Arnett

While most were celebrating the holidays, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe survived the latest endeavor in its mission to “touch” the sun – flying just 3.8 million miles above the star’s surface – in its closest-ever approach on Christmas Eve. Operations teams have confirmed NASA’s mission to “touch” the Sun survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024.

Breaking its previous record by flying just 3.8 million miles above the surface of the Sun, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe hurtled through the solar atmosphere at a blazing 430,000 miles per hour — faster than any human-made object has ever moved. A beacon tone received late on Dec. 26 confirmed the spacecraft had made it through the encounter safely and is operating normally.

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OKLAHOMA: No. 11 U-Haul Growth State

By David Arnett

The Sooner State in 2024 rose 30 spots from its 2023 ranking, according to U-Haul® Growth Index data analyzing one-way customer transactions during the past year. It was the most gained by any state. Prior to 2024, the last time Oklahoma was a net-gain state (with more arrivals than departures) was 2020.

In a release today, the data shows U-Haul customers coming to Oklahoma accounted for 50.4% of all one-way traffic in and out of the state (49.6% departures) last year. Looking at year-over-year changes, U-Haul arrivals into Oklahoma rose 2% while departures fell 2% in 2024.

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Bad Instruction Prompts Lawsuit

By Jonathan Small

One of the lower-key victories of the 2024 Oklahoma legislative session was passage of Senate Bill 362, which stated that Oklahoma public-school teachers “shall be prohibited from using the three-cueing system model of teaching students to read” starting in the 2025-2026 school year.

Under the three-cueing method, students are encouraged to guess words based on associated pictures and context, and to memorize entire words, rather than learn to sound them out phonetically.

APMreports has noted “that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked” three-cueing, while ExcelinEd in Action noted the three-cueing system “can be boiled down to this: Teachers using this method instruct students to guess.”

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Commissioner-Elect Picks Deputy

By David Arnett

Tulsa County Commissioner-elect Lonnie Sims has appointed State Representative Mark Vancuren as Deputy Commissioner, a key leadership role as Sims prepares to take office on January 1, 2025.

Sims and Vancuren, both elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 2018, served during a very transformative six-year period for the state, addressing revenue shortfalls, eliminating budget deficits, and building a record $4 billion in savings. During their tenure, legislative outcomes also included historic education reforms, tax cuts to combat inflation for everyday Oklahomans, and the establishment of the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) to ensure greater accountability and transparency in state government.

Mark Vancuren
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Legacy of Senator Jim Inhofe Honored

By David Arnett

The Senate and House passed a bill introduced by Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), and Representative Kevin Hern (R-OK) to name the new Veterans Health Administration (VA) 75,000-square-foot, 58-bed medical-surgical hospital in Tulsa the James Mountain Inhofe VA Medical Center in honor of the life and legacy of the late-Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, who tirelessly served our military, veterans, and their families for his entire public service career. The release issued today by Lankford’s office, detailed help to ensure the hospital received funding to commence construction in 2020 and to ensure the skyrocketing Biden/Harris inflation of the last three years did not interrupt the construction schedule with additional unforeseen costs. This legislation was supported by the entire Oklahoma congressional delegation and now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law. 

James Mountain Inhofe
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