Broken Arrow

The City of Broken Arrow is now the official owner of a 90-acre field between Aspen and Olive avenues south of Florence Street.

Mayor Debra Wimpee says they have big plans for the $5 million purchase.

"This will be the future site of our Innovation District, which will be a mixed-use featuring residential, commercial and educational components while focusing on high-paying career opportunities. Keep in mind, this is an investment into the future of Broken Arrow. So, we don't have plans to break ground just yet," Wimpee said in a video posted by the city.

Broken Arrow Public Schools violated the United States Constitution by allowing a local church to perform baptisms on student athletes and coaches following a football practice, a national advocacy group alleges.

Broken Arrow has revealed a new brand for the area of Elm Place and New Orleans Street.

A new logo features a segmented square and "New Orleans Square" in blue, with the font giving a subtle nod to the style of the Louisiana city. The word "square" is set off from the rest by a horizontal gold bar, giving the logo a tie-in to Broken Arrow's municipal logo.

Broken Arrow City Councilors Debra Wimpee and Christi Gillespie were elected mayor and vice mayor, respectively, at the council's Tuesday meeting, the first time in city history the positions will both be held by women.

Wimpee, an incumbent who held off multiple challengers to retain her council seat earlier this month, was nominated for the position by Gillespie. (In Broken Arrow's council-manager form of government, mayor and vice mayor are chosen by a vote of the council from among the five elected city councilors.) 

Each vote was unanimous.

Municipal and school board elections were held Tuesday across much of Oklahoma, with several Green Country contests decided.

Incumbent Broken Arrow Mayor Craig Thurmond lost his reelection bid for his seat on the Broken Arrow City Council. Challenger Lisa Ford, an employee of the Broken Arrow Police Department, won the Ward 2 seat with 4,811 votes to Thurmond's 3,335.

Broken Arrow Councilor Debra Wimpee held off two challengers to retain her Ward 1 seat. She finished with 3,278 votes, ahead of Jonathan Kelly (2,510) and Cathy Smythe (2,363). 

At a meeting repeatedly disrupted by anti-mask hecklers, the Broken Arrow City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday evening to adopt a non-binding resolution simply encouraging residents to wear masks in public to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Mayor Craig Thurmond, long opposed to a mandatory mask ordinance as well as to a similar non-binding resolution brought previously, cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the measure.

A study of Tulsa Transit services in Broken Arrow makes several recommendations to ramp up public transportation in the coming years for a growing community.

The city of Broken Arrow is declining to condemn a video presentation given during public comment at their Tuesday council meeting which linked the wearing of masks to prevent COVID-19 with the Holocaust. 

It was a familiar scene at Tuesday's Broken Arrow City Council meeting: Councilor Johnnie Parks expressed interest in exploring a mask mandate to address rising rates of COVID-19, but the suggestion did not garner enthusiasm from the majority of either his colleagues or public commenters. 

Broken Arrow’s Rose District will be the home of a satellite office for the Tulsa County Court Clerk.

The office will process civil filings and should be up and running by February.

City of Broken Arrow Economic Development Manager Norm Stephens said the idea stemmed from a plan to market the Rose District as a one-stop wedding destination in order to help businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The sixth time was the charm for the Muskogee City Council to pass a mandatory mask ordinance to combat the dramatic rise in COVID-19 infections. After five failed votes in recent weeks, the measure passed Monday night 5-3. 

The vote came the same day that Muskogee County declared a state of emergency due to a sharp increase in coronavirus infections and the possibility of overwhelming the already strained hospital system even further.

The Broken Arrow City Council on Monday voted against passage of a resolution that would have strongly encouraged the use of masks and other measures to lower community transmission of COVID-19.

The vote failed 1-4, with only Councilor Johnnie Parks voting in favor.

Despite worsening COVID-19 numbers as the pandemic heightens to its direst point ever in Oklahoma and nationwide, the Broken Arrow City Council Tuesday showed little interest in pursuing the sort of mandatory mask ordinance passed by Tulsa, Jenks and Sapulpa, spending more time at their meeting asserting false claims about masks and the pandemic, and calling for more civility on "both sides" of the issue.

The city of Broken Arrow is unlikely to adopt a mandatory mask policy recommended by the county health department, according to Mayor Craig Thurmond.

"I do not see this council passing a mask ordinance at this time," Thurmond said in a video posted to Facebook on Friday.

In the video update, the only additional action shared by the mayor, beyond recommendations and encouragement, was the posting of signage by the city encouraging social distancing in parks and athletic facilities. 

The city of Broken Arrow's share of COVID-19 cases relative to the Tulsa County total is increasing, a trend possibly related to its lack of a mask mandate, according to the Tulsa Health Department.

At a Thursday press conference at Tulsa Police headquarters, Dr. Bruce Dart, the health department's director, described the trend.

The start date for Broken Arrow Public Schools has been pushed back from Aug. 19 to Sept. 3 as district officials keep an eye on local coronavirus infection rates and other data.

Pre-K's start has been delayed from Aug. 21 to Sept. 8.

In a 5-0 vote, the Broken Arrow Public Schools Board of Education voted on Wednesday to accept the district administration's plan to move forward with a return to in-person learning for the upcoming fall semester beginning Aug. 19th.

Work is underway at one of the last sites available for commercial development in north Broken Arrow’s retail core.

Tiger Hill Plaza is 30,000-square foot restaurant and retail project going up on 5.5 acres on the southwest corner of Lynn Lane and Kenosha.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma court is expected to rule Thursday on an appeal by a man who was convicted in the fatal stabbings of five family members when he was 16. 

Michael Bever, 21, is asking the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to change his sentence to allow him to eventually become eligible for parole. 

Hundreds of people came to a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Broken Arrow on Saturday.

The crowd gathered at Central Park before marching down Main Street, the Tulsa World reported.

Broken Arrow Mayor Craig Thurmond canceled on Thursday some emergency proclamations that instituted restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19.

They will expire at midnight. Thurmond's action coincides with Gov. Kevin Stitt’s plan to begin reopening some nonessential businesses and clears the way for places like barber shops, salons, tattoo parlors and pet groomers in the city to start taking clients by appointment only Friday after being closed more than a month.

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — The Oklahoma Department of Corrections says a man who escaped from a minimum security state prison in McAlester has been captured.

The department says 40-year-old Jeremiah Hobbs was arrested Monday following a traffic stop 75 miles away from McAlester in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow.

Hobbs disappeared Thursday from the unfenced Jackie Brannon Correctional Center. The corrections department says a woman identified as Hobbs' girlfriend was also arrested during the traffic stop on a warrant for harboring a fugitive.