A North Texas teenager says she's thankful for the life she has after surviving a more than 3,000-foot fall last year in an Oklahoma skydiving accident.

Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of 17-year-old Makenzie Wethington's skydiving mishap in which her parachute became tangled and she said she blacked out during the descent.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services heard from four agencies during budget hearings Monday, three of which asked for budget increases.

Subcommittee Chair Sen. Kimberly David said the decrease in the state’s budget would impact the appropriated funds to the agencies.

“The ongoing conversation that we’re going to have is the fact that we have a budget deficit this year. I would be surprised if there were any increases and wouldn’t be surprised if there were any decreases,” she said.

Oklahoma House and Senate leaders have introduced legislation that would require thorough reviews every four years of several dozen business incentives that are costing the state as much as $300 million annually.

Companion bills authored by House Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, would create a seven-member Incentive Evaluation Commission to conduct the quadrennial reviews.

Oklahoma's newly elected Superintendent of Public Instruction is unveiling a new five-year plan to give Oklahoma teachers a $5,000 pay raise over the next five years, along with an additional five days of instruction to the school year, also added over five years.

Republican Joy Hofmeister announced the plan on Monday, saying increased teacher pay is critically important in addressing a significant teacher shortage in Oklahoma. The first year of the proposal would cost the state about $150 million.

Two of Oklahoma’s most prominent lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy groups announced Monday they are merging to form a united voice to fight what they called a number of “hate-filled” measures pre-filed for the 2015 session.

“The LGBT community of Oklahoma is under attack and we’re here to tell you we plan on fighting back, Troy Stevenson, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, said during a Capitol press conference Monday.

Freedom Oklahoma brings together The Equality Network, a Tulsa-based LGBT political advocacy organization, and the Cimarron Alliance Foundation, the Oklahoma City-based LGBT public education organization.

Stevenson said the group will hold town hall meetings across the state and deploy citizen lobbyists to address issues of concern. “We will be here. We will be present. We will make sure legislators that know: If you’re going to legislative against our rights, you are going to have to do it while you look us in the eye,” Stevenson said.

“A handful of vitriolic Oklahoma legislators, which do not represent the entire Legislature and they do not represent the state of Oklahoma, have put 10 hate-filled bills before this body,” said Stevenson.

The executive director of the Oklahoma Democratic Party has stepped down from the post he'd held for more than three years.

Party officials announced Monday that Trav Robertson has taken a "leave of absence to explore another opportunity."

The party's Central Committee voted unanimously to promote David Scott of Ada to the position of interim executive director. Scott has worked for the last few years as the party's director of information technology.

The U.S. Drought Monitor says more than 1.8 million Oklahomans are being affected by an ongoing, deepening drought.

The Oklahoma Water Resources Board says that in the past month, the percentage of Oklahoma classified as being in exceptional drought has decreased slightly, but more than 60% of the state still remains classified in moderate drought or worse.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded more than $7.8 million in grants to 72 homeless housing and service programs in Oklahoma.

The funding announced Monday is an increase of $356,155 over the previous year. HUD's Continuum of Care grants help agencies provide housing and support services to people and families experiencing homelessness.

Local programs receiving the grants offer a variety of services including street outreach, client assessment, and direct housing assistance. Nationally, HUD awarded $1.8 billion.