Poll

May the 4th be with you. In honor of National Star Wars Day tonight the family and I will be watching all our favorites in honor of Star Wars day and in my house everyone seems to agree that "The Empire Strikes Back" is the best Star Wars movie. It still holds up after all these years! So what is your all time favorite Star Wars movie?

The Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill earlier this week (SB-02) on Monday (04-19-21) that bans transgender girls from participating in women's sports. It passed the House by a (73-19) vote. The bill would prohibit biological male athletes from competing in women's sports in K-12 schools as well as universities.

Now that the City of Lawton owns the Central Mall they're looking to fill empty space and there's a lot of it! Parts of the mall will be used for the FISTA project and the other for retail stores and restaurants. They hope to fill all the remaining empty spaces in the mall with new stores, places to eat and other businesses.

Or do you leave the ringer on?

Over the weekend I had to go to Walmart on the West side at 6301 N.W. Quannah Parker Trail Way for a quick snack and grocery run. I had a few more items than normal so instead of self checkout I went to a regular line with a cashier. As she was ringing up all my items she said "Pretty soon you won't be able to do this." I asked what she was talking about and she told me that by the end of April or beginning of May Walmart on the West side will be 100% self checkout, no more cashiers. I asked if she was going to be able to keep her job and she said yes, that she would be assisting customers at self checkout.

This past Tuesday (03-23-21) the city council met and voted to repeal Lawton's mask mandate. The updated or revised city ordinance (21-07) eliminated the requirements for local businesses to post COVID-19 and face mask signage. The ordinance also ended the mandatory mask mandate as well. Since then the City of Lawton has issued a statement concerning the wearing of face masks in city owned buildings, properties and facilities. The mask mandate may have been repealed but you'll still be required to wear a face mask and/or covering when visiting, or going into any City of Lawton site or facility.

Yesterday afternoon (03-23-21) the Lawton City Council met and voted to repeal Lawton's mask mandate, effective immediately. You will no longer be required to wear a face mask or covering while indoors at commercial properties, businesses and other locations in town. The same goes for outdoors at city parks and other "open to the public" general use areas within city limits. Of course with this being a highly controversial issue and opinions running from one extreme to the other it's caused a lot of friction and concern among citizens. Some say it's too soon, others say it should have never been mandated.

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later, Netflix will be tightening up their security and verification systems when it comes to client accounts and passwords. That means the days of sharing Netflix accounts and passwords are numbered, it was fun while it lasted. They're doing some testing of the new account verification system in several different markets so it may not hit Lawton, Fort Sill until later. How it works is it monitors account activity and log ins, more than likely by device or I.P. addresses. If it suspects that someone's using the account who isn't authorized or the actual account holder it will ask for a verification code.

Last week Governor Greg Abbott announced that Texas would be reopening 100% doing away with their mask mandate and other COVID-19 related restrictions. Yesterday (03-11-22) Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt issued an executive order that would remove any restrictions on live events across the state and he repealed the mask mandate for state buildings. Oklahoma never had a statewide mask mandate, instead it was left up to each individual county and city to decide what they wanted to do. Which Includes Lawton, Fort Sill.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives just passed House Bill 2588 which would allow teachers, administrators and other school personnel to carry firearms on school campuses. The new bill would require that they possess a valid handgun license and met other requirements and criteria set forth by the board of education in their respective districts. HB 2588 passed the house by a (79-19) vote and will now head to the Senate.

There's been a lot of talk and speculation over the past several days about the possibility of more and more states, cities and counties lifting their mask mandates. The conversation started earlier this week when Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that he plans on reopening the state 100% over the next couple of weeks. Texas will be doing away with not only their mask mandate, but other COVID-19 rules and restrictions.

Should it be required that you have a COVID-19 vaccination or negative test in order to travel, go to work or school, attend a concert or sporting event? Take the poll and let us know your opinion.