BUSINESS SUNDAY LIFE INSIDE TODAY! Letthere Outwith belight theold VALUABLE Linemen from Oklahoma Opening Night in help Guatemalan Oklahoma City villagers get electricity. is ready to ring in the new year. COUPONS Page 1C Page 7C
Sunday, December 30, 2018 REACHING MORE THAN 475,000 PEOPLE EACH DAY NEWSOK.COM OKLAHOMAN.COM $3 Regional AndtheTiderolls universities are ladders to success
BY K.S. MCNUTT Staff Writer [email protected]
Oklahoma’s public regional universities are out- performing the national average of upward social mobility by 38 percent, according to two national studies. Researcher Raj Chetty tracked 30 million stu- dents from freshman year to about age 32 to dis- cover how colleges improved the economic for- tunes of students from families at the lowest income level. A perfect mobility rate for those students who rise from the bottom to the top tier of wealth would be 4 percent. The study found the average mobility rate in the U.S. is 1.7 percent. The Regional University System of Oklahoma — made up of six four-year institutions across the state — is well above that at 2.37 percent. “We’ve created opportunities for people to move up they would not have had otherwise,” said Mark Kinders, vice president for public affairs at the University of Central Oklahoma. “Financially, they are exceeding where their parents were at the time those students started school.” What’s the secret, or as Kinders calls it “the spe- cial sauce”? UCO and the other five RUSO institutions emphasize building strong personal relationships with their students to help the learning process, he said. Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray walks off the field Saturday after his helmet came off on a play during the second half of the Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Fla. [AP PHOTO] SEE REGIONAL, 2A
Ouachita Alabama tops OU in Orange Bowl Detail Area National Forest Fort he University of Oklahoma Sooners with their Heisman Trophy-winning quar- Townson terback Kyler Murray had high hopes Saturday entering the Orange Bowl for their Bryan Choctaw County game against the Alabama Crimson Tide. After Alabama rushed to a 28-0 start, County McCurtain T Hugo County the Soonerscontinued tobattle back, but the SEC champs racked up the points for a win, Durant 45-34. Alabama willfacetheir longtime rivals, the Clemson Tigers, in the College Football Frogville Idabel Championship on Jan. 7. See complete game coverage in SPORTS.
Katherine Rutan tells her side of the story
BY JOSH DULANEY Wednesday: Is Logan OK? Staff Writer Thursday: Meet Monty [email protected] Clem Friday: Wildflowers Editor’s Note: This is Part Saturday: Trials and Five of a six-part series. Tribulations
The prisoner sounded Today: Call Me Katie like she was just striking up a conversation at the Monday: Dreams Katherine Rutan, through the years. local watering hole. Katherine’s voice lilted they rode bikes and my broke their brotherly Bassett Correctional Cen- over the phone. She Justin, the younger. Fun. Energetic. Inquisi- dad gave them a little red bond forever on June 23, ter in McLoud. laughed easily, which was “Very quiet,” Kather- tive. Very sweet. He was a wagon. They loved their 2002, in a house at 510 unexpected coming from ine said. “Loving also. He very loving boy.” little red wagon. And they Texas Ave. in Wood- ‘A blessed life’ an inmate serving life was 3, well, 4. I would say Logan and Justin loved playing, well, back ward. without parole. loving. Gentle, I guess is together. then, this sounds so funny Logan was never seen Katherine answers let- Against the clank and the word I’m looking for. “Logan is more of a now, but back then it was alive again. ters promptly. In black, clatter of the prison, and He’s very gentle, or was hands-on and Justin was Nintendo. They loved On Aug. 31, 2007, the hot pink or teal ink, her other inmates chatting gentle as a child.” more ‘let me watch’ type,” playing Nintendo. Mario jury convicted Katherine print tilts leftward on the around her, Katherine, 43, Logan, the older. she said. “They loved each Kart, to be exact.” of first-degree murder. lined page. talked at length about her “Oh my gosh,” Kather- other a lot. A lot. They According to a jury On Oct. 30, 2007, Kath- sons. ine said. “Very intelligent. loved to ride bikes, and of her peers, Katherine erine walked into Mabel SEE LOGAN, 3A
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RUSO schools have a diverse population that includes students who are builds in 2018 first-generation, econom- ically disadvantaged, aca- demically underprepared Legal pot and adults who have been out of school for a long industry time. “We have a lot of stu- celebrates a dents coming from dif- ferent places with a lot of different backgrounds,” banner year Kinders said. “We recog- nize where our students BY GILLIAN FLACCUS are at and we meet them Associated Press there.” Help is available in a he last year was a number of ways includ- 12-month Cham- ing continual counsel- pagne toast for the ing, advising and tutoring legal marijuana Medical marijuana supporters hold signs July 10 outside of an services, as well as faculty Tindustry as the global mar- Oklahoma Board of Health meeting in Oklahoma City that had intervention to encourage Sharla Frost attended Southeastern Oklahoma State ket exploded and cannabis so many attendees there was an overflow room. [AP FILE PHOTO] students to take advantage University in Durant from 1980 to 1984 on a full academic pushed its way further into of that help, he said. scholarship. As a member of the debate club, she gained the financial and cultural money from investment stance like heroin. Finan- In June, the RUSO Board skills that launched her career as a top trial lawyer. Frost mainstream. firms including Snoop cial institutions are skittish of Regents adopted 27 says many of the scholars pictured here have had success- Liberal California became Dogg’s Casa Verde Capi- about cannabis businesses, benchmarks to track the ful careers. [PHOTO PROVIDED] the largest legal U.S. market- tal. Curren hopes to expand even in U.S. states where effectiveness of its univer- place, conservative Utah and internationally by 2020. they are legal, and inves- sities in areas of access, Oklahoma embraced medical “A lot of the problem is tors until recently have been progress and graduation, RUSO Institutions marijuana, and the U.S. East keeping up with growth,” reluctant to put their money measured across equity, Coast got its first commercial he said. behind pot. efficiency and effective- As the largest four-year pot shops. Canada ushered in Legal marijuana was a Marijuana businesses ness. university system in broad legalization, and Mex- $10.4 billion industry in the can’t deduct their business “In the corporate world the state, the Regional ico’s Supreme Court set the U.S. in 2018 with a quarter- expenses on their federal there are only two mea- University System of stage for that country to fol- million jobs devoted just to taxes and face huge chal- surements — did you turn a Oklahoma governs six low. the handling of marijuana lenges getting insurance profit and are shareholders public universities. U.S. drug regulators plants, said Beau Whitney, and finding real estate for happy with that profit? We These institutions approved the first mari- vice president and senior their brick-and-mortar have 27,” Kinders said. Sharla Frost have enrolled more juana-based pharmaceuti- economist at New Frontier operations. than 40,000 students cal to treat kids with a form Data, a leading cannabis “Until you have complete Case in point books, food. It paid every- this year. of epilepsy, and billions of market research and data federal legalization, you’re thing,” she said. “It took • University of Central investment dollars poured analysis firm. There are going to be living with that Sharla Frost epitomizes away any concern about Oklahoma, Edmond into cannabis companies. many other jobs that don’t structure,” said Marc Press, RUSO’s upward social having to work to pay for • East Central Univer- Even main street brands involve direct work with the a New Jersey attorney who mobility success. school.” sity, Ada like Coca-Cola said they plants, but they are harder advises cannabis busi- Frost, 57, is a litigator That allowed her to be • Southeastern are considering joining the to quantify, Whitney said. nesses. and partner at a national on the debate squad, and Oklahoma State Uni- party. Investors poured $10 bil- At the start of the year, law firm in Houston. She debate is what led to a full versity, Durant “I have been working on lion into cannabis in North the industry was chilled graduated with honors in scholarship to law school • Northeastern State this for decades, and this America in 2018, twice when then-U.S. Attor- 1984 from Southeastern at Baylor University. University, Tahlequah was the year that the move- what was invested in the ney General Jeff Sessions Oklahoma State Univer- “It’s the one thing I use • Northwestern ment crested,” said U.S. last three years combined, rescinded a policy shield- sity, and today serves on every day,” Frost said. Oklahoma State Uni- Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an he said, and the combined ing state-licensed medical the Southeastern Founda- “A regional univer- versity, Alva Oregon Democrat working North American market is marijuana operators from tion Board of Trustees. sity gives you those kind • Southwestern to overturn the federal ban expectedtoreachmorethan federal drug prosecutions. “Sharla Frost is one of of opportunities. They Oklahoma State Uni- on pot. “It’s clear that this is $16 billion in 2019. Ultimately the move had the very top trial lawyers encourage and help people versity, Weatherford all coming to a head.” “Investors are getting minimal impact because in America,” said Joe Mor- explore what those pos- Withbuzzbuildingacross much savvier when it comes federal prosecutors showed ford, managing partner sibilities are,” she said. SOURCE: Regional the globe, the momentum to this space because even little interest in going after at Tucker Ellis LLP. “She “They get overlooked for University System of will continue into 2019. just a couple of years ago, legal operators. Oklahoma wins very difficult cases in the type of graduates they Luxembourg is poised you’d throw money at it and Sessions, a staunch mari- some of the most danger- are turning out. It’s a really to become the first Euro- hope that something would juana opponent, later lost ous jurisdictions.” great group of people.” pean country to legalize stick,” he said. “But now his job while President Giant pharmaceuti- Southeastern has the University didn’t make recreational marijuana, investors are much more Donald Trump said he was cal companies and major highest mobility rate this list because Chetty and South Africa is moving discerning.” inclined to support an effort manufacturers hire her among the RUSO schools only found half the data in that direction. Israel’s Increasingly, U.S. law- by U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, because “with her charm at 3.24 percent. needed, Kinders said. “But Parliament approved a law makers see that success and a Colorado Republican, to and work ethic she can go it’s just as good as others, allowing exports of medical want it for their states. relax the federal prohibi- anywhere and win people Ladders, labs, laggards also a ladder,” he said. marijuana. Thailand legal- Nearly two-thirds of tion. In November, Demo- over,” Morford said. The data show 13.4 per- ized medicinal use of mari- U.S. states now have legal- cratswoncontroloftheU.S. “Juries trust and respect The Brookings Institu- cent of RUSO enrollment juana,andotherSoutheast- ized some form of medi- House and want to use it her, judges have faith in tion took Chetty’s data and comes from the lowest ern Asian countries may cal marijuana. Voters in next year to pass legislation her.” looked at 342 four-year quintile of income, which follow South Korea’s lead November made Michigan that eases federal restric- Frost grew up in public universities to see means more than 5,000 in legalizing cannabidiol, the 10th state — and first tions on the legal marijuana Frogville, an unincor- how well they were doing students start at the bot- or CBD. It’s a non-psycho- in the Midwest — to legal- industry without removing porated community just at providing upward social tom of the ladder. active compound found in ize recreational marijuana. it from the controlled sub- north of the Red River in mobility. Cameron University marijuana and hemp plants Governors in New York and stances list. Choctaw County, and The study, Ladders, and Oklahoma Panhan- and used for treatment of New Jersey are pushing for Gardner and Massa- went to school in Fort labs, or laggards? Which dle State University also certain medical problems. a similar law in their states chusetts Democratic Sen. Towson. Of the 80 stu- universities contribute made the Brookings’ list “It’s not just the U.S. next year, and momen- Elizabeth Warren have pro- dents in her eighth-grade most, notes: “Universities of ladders, while the Uni- now. It’s spreading,” said tum for broad legalization posed legislation allowing class, 37 graduated from act as ladders for social versity of Oklahoma and Ben Curren, CEO of Green is building in Pennsylvania state-approved commer- high school. About half of mobility, which makes for Oklahoma State Univer- Bits, a San Jose, Califor- and Illinois. cial cannabis activity under those graduates got a col- a more dynamic and fairer sity were listed as labs. No nia, company that devel- “Let’s legalize the adult federal law. The bill also lege degree. society. They are also state institutions were on ops software for marijuana use of recreational mari- would let states and Indian “A lot of kids started laboratories for research, the laggards list. retailers and businesses. juana once and for all,” New tribes determine how best school. They just didn’t expanding our knowl- Brookings argues public Curren’s firm is one of York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to regulate marijuana com- make it. There are so many edge in directions that can money should go to school many that blossomed as the said last week. merce within their bound- roadblocks,” Frost said. improve the welfare of the that are succeeding as lad- industry grew. He started The East Coast’s first rec- aries without fear of federal Her parents worked broader population.” ders and labs, but suggests the company in 2014 with reational pot shops opened intervention. hard for a living. Neither Institutions that are laggards don’t deserve it. two friends. Now, he has 85 in November in Massa- If those provisions had the chance to go to neither mobility-boosters “Institutions like ours employees, and the com- chusetts. State lawmakers become law, they could college, but they insisted or knowledge-creators, (RUSO) are a pretty good pany’s software processes in Nebraska just formed open up banking for the their two daughters go. Brookings labeled “lag- investment and should $2.5 billion in sales transac- a campaign committee to marijuana industry nation- Frost went to South- gards.” have resources coming tions a year for more than put a medical cannabis ini- wide and make it easier eastern as an honor stu- The study found five of to them because we’re 1,000 U.S. retail stores and tiative to voters in 2020. for cannabis companies to dent on a Parsons Scholar- the RUSO schools are lad- successful at what we’re dispensaries. Nebraska shares a border secure capital. Blumenau- ship. ders to success for their doing,” Kinders said. Green Bits raised $17 with Colorado, one of the er’s “blueprint” to legal- “It paid for tuition, fees, students. East Central “We know why we come million in April, pulling in first two states to legal- ize marijuana also calls for ize recreational marijuana, the federal government to and Iowa, which recently provide medical marijuana THE OKLAHOMAN started a limited medical for veterans, more equi- marijuana program. table taxation for marijuana The Oklahoman®, The Daily Oklahoman®, Oklahoma City Times® and The Sunday Oklahoman® are registered trademarks of GateHouse Media. “Attitudes have been businesses and rolling back rapidly evolving and chang- federal prohibitions on ing. I know that my attitude marijuana research, among CUSTOMER SERVICE, 405-478-7171 To buy a classified ad, call 475-3000. toward it has also changed,” other things. 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