(The Center Square) – Oklahoma will begin requiring teachers who move to the state from California or New York to pass certification exams proving their values align with Oklahoma’s.

The test reportedly contains 50 questions on American citizenship, religion, gender and makeup of the U.S. government.

Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma superintendent of public instruction, said teaching standards in New York and California are “antithetical” to Oklahoma’s standards. He said an example of this is California requiring teachers to assert there are no biological differences between sexes.

“We want to make sure, as we are recruiting the best and the brightest in the country, that they align with our values,” Walters said.

Walters said the state is working with the nonprofit organization Prager University, which produces educational materials, to conduct the exam. Ten other states, including Florida, Idaho and South Carolina, use educational materials provided by PragerU.

Some of the questions on the exam reportedly include:

What are the first three words of the Constitution?

Why is freedom of religion important to American identity?

What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?

How many U.S. Senators are there?

Why do some states have more Representatives than others?

Randi Weingarten, president of the union American Federation of Teachers, criticized Walters’ decision in a statement.

“His priority should be educating students,” Weingarten said of Walters. “But instead, it’s getting Donald Trump and other MAGA politicians to notice him.”

Cari Elledge, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, agreed. She told USA Today the decision by the Oklahoma Department of Education was made as a “political stunt.”

(The Center Square) – Hearing immigration cases near Miami as directed by the Trump administration this past weekend has led to the dismissal of part of a lawsuit involving Alligator Alcatraz.

Judge Rodolfo Ruiz, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, issued a 47-page ruling on Monday evening. He wrote that the immigration hearings designated for the Krome North Processing Center takes care of a Fifth Amendment claim.

Remaining First Amendment claims are being moved to the Middle District courtroom. There, arguments on meetings between detainees and their lawyers will be heard.

Eunice Cho, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer for the detainees, said litigation should not have been necessary. Ruiz wrote that “nearly every aspect of the plaintiffs’ civil action” has changed with each filing since initiation on July 16.

In another case involving Alligator Alcatraz, or the South Detention Facility as it is more formally known, a 14-day stoppage on additional construction was made Aug. 7. In that case, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami is expected to rule this week.

(The Center Square) – Category 2 Hurricane Erin moved northwest at 7 mph about 720 miles to the southeast of Cape Hatteras on Tuesday morning.

Still forecast to be turning away from the shoreline of North Carolina on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said a storm surge watch is in effect from Cape Lookout to Duck; and a tropical storm watch is in effect from the Beaufort Inlet to Duck inclusive of the Pamlico Sound.

Closer to its 8 a.m. position, a tropical storm warning was in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands and Southeast Bahamas, and a tropical storm watch was in effect for the Central Bahamas.

The forecast of the Hurricane Center said, “A turn toward the north-northwest with an increase in forward speed is expected today, followed by a northward motion on Wednesday and then a northeastward motion on Thursday. On the forecast track, the center of Erin will pass to the east of the Bahamas today and tonight and then move over the western Atlantic between the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda on Wednesday and Thursday.”

Hurricane force winds, meaning sustained 74 mph or greater, extend up to 80 miles from the center. Tropical storm force winds, meaning sustained 39 mph or greater, extend up to 205 miles out.

Mandatory evacuations have been issued for Ocracoke Island in Hyde County and Hatteras Island in Dare County. Each county has declared an emergency.

Multiple published reports put the number of swimmers rescued between 60 and 70 at Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington on Monday. This was due to rip currents. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune planned to close Onslow Beach on Tuesday.

N.C. 12, the famed 148-mile roadway linking peninsulas and islands of the Outer Banks, is likely to go under water and parts could wash away – as often happens with hurricanes.

NC12 begins at U.S. 70 at the community of Sea Level and runs to a point just north of Corolla and south of the Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve. Two ferries, Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island and Cedar Island to Ocracoke Island, are part of the route.

The storm’s miss of the state is particularly welcome in light of Hurricane Helene. Recovery from that storm is in its 47th week. Helene killed 107 in the state, 236 across seven states in the South, and caused an estimated $60 billion in damage to North Carolina.