Oklahoman
A road project to remedy choke points on State Highway 9 near I-35 and the Riverwind Casino has become embroiled in tensions between Gov. Kevin Stitt and Native American tribes and may be delayed, despite years of planning and an apparent agreement between the transportation department and the Chickasaw Nation.
Tim Gatz, executive director of the Oklahoma Transportation Department, said Monday that the project will be reevaluated and a broader solution sought for the congested area in fast-growing McClain County.
Gatz, who was appointed by Stitt and serves as the governor’s transportation secretary, told the transportation commission that he was also instituting a new protocol for road projects undertaken with tribal partners. He said it was “prudent under the current uncertain conditions” to seek advice from Stitt’s office when considering agreements with tribes.
The State of Oklahoma, joined by the U.S. Trotting Association, Hanover Shoe Farms, the State of West Virginia and others, filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern Division of Kentucky U.S. District Court challenging the constitutionality of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act on Monday (April 26).
Other plaintiffs in the complaint filed for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief are the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission, West Virginia Racing Commission, Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association and three Oklahoma racetracks – Remington Park, Will Rogers Downs and Fair Meadows.
“The U.S. Trotting Association has been pressing these unconstitutionality objections for more than four years and we have been ignored,” said USTA President and Hanover Shoe Farms President & CEO Russell Williams. “Instead, Senator McConnell sneaked HISA through at the last minute, without any hearing or debate, in the middle of a 5,500-page, must-pass omnibus funding measure.
Second Civil Suit From Oklahoma, West Virginia Racing Authorities Questions Constitutionality Of HISA Sponsored by:
The Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act (HISA) is facing a second legal challenge after Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter announced this week he is filing a federal lawsuit calling into question the act s constitutionality. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Kentucky, includes a number of plaintiffs, including the states of Oklahoma and West Virginia and their racing commissions, the U.S. Trotting Association and Pennsylvania-based Hanover Shoe Farm, as well as the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association and a number of track ownership entities in Oklahoma. Defendants include the United States, the Federal Trade Commission, and a number of individuals working for the FTC and the HISA nominating committee.
Hunter challenges federal horse racing legislation journalrecord.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from journalrecord.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
AG Mike Hunter to seek state custody
The Jones case is one of hundreds affecting state prison inmates and criminal defendants since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last July that the Muscogee (Creek) reservation was never disestablished and that Oklahoma wrongly tried convicted child rapist Jimcy McGirt because he is a Native American and his crimes were committed on the reservation.
Under federal law, crimes involving Indians on reservations or land held in trust for tribes must be prosecuted by the federal government or tribes.
The attorney general’s office has identified about 20 cases involving state inmates who, like Jones, are not American Indians but whose crimes involved American Indian victims and were committed on reservations.