Political notebook: Assessments begin for 6,000 Oklahomans on developmental disabilities wait list | Govt-and-politics

The unemployment rate in Tulsa fell from 3.9% to 3.1%, and the number of unemployed fell by about 4,000 to 15,079, compared to 37,552 in July 2020.

However, the number of people in work also fell in both Tulsa and across the state. The number of employees in Tulsa contracted by about 2,200 from June to July and by about 15,000 nationwide.

More birthdays: The Oklahoma Department of Health said the state’s infant mortality rate fell from 8.2 first-year deaths per 1,000 live births to 6.7.

That is still well above the nationwide rate of 5.9 deaths per 1,000 births.

Smoking Ban: Directors of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust urged the legislature to further limit Oklahoma’s exposure to secondhand smoke and new products such as nicotine toothpicks and steam products.

In particular, the TSET board called for local governments to be allowed to introduce stricter public smoking policies than state laws, and to repeal a new law that removes most new nicotine products from taxes and regulations on traditional products like cigarettes and smokeless ones Excludes tobacco.

The TSET board of directors also passed a resolution reiterating its mission, which has been under attack by lawmakers and others seeking to tap into the agency’s $ 1.2 billion trust fund.