Oklahoma News
Stitt called Polston family hours before early release approved, new report reveals: Oklahoma's multicounty grand jury found Gov. Kevin Stitt called his friend and donor Rod Polston on Feb. 11 just two hours before Polston's wife was approved for early release from prison on an ankle monitor. In a new report, grand jurors said the call was one of 16 that Stitt made to Rod Polston after Sara Polston pleaded guilty on Oct. 1, 2025, to a drunken driving offense. Grand jurors characterized the phone calls as new evidence that "deepens our concerns" about the political favoritism surrounding Sara Polston's release just 73 days into her eight-year prison sentence. [The Oklahoman]
- New report outlines 16 calls between Stitt, husband of political donor charged with drunk driving [KOSU]
- What has Stitt said about his interactions with the Polstons? [The Oklahoman]
A Transmission Line Built to Fix Grid Congestion Has Become Oklahoma’s Hottest Data Center Address: Amid the farm fields of northwest Oklahoma City, a place where high-voltage power lines converge has attracted interest from two data center developers, each seeking to build at the western terminus of a new $72 million transmission project. The Mathewson Substation, a nondescript complex of power lines and equipment on NW 248th Street near Piedmont in southeastern Kingfisher County, has become a highly sought-after location to tap into Oklahoma’s power grid. [Oklahoma Watch]
- Does Oklahoma produce nearly three times more energy than it consumes? [Oklahoma Watch]
- Norman City Council enacts data center moratorium [KGOU]
- Norman approves one-year data center moratorium [The Journal Record]
Report: Abortion restrictions cost Oklahoma economy more than $1.8 billion annually: Abortion bans and restrictions are costing the U.S. economy billions of dollars annually in lost earnings among women ages 15 through 44, according to a new analysis from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Oklahoma’s policies account for more than $1.8 billion of those losses. [KGOU]
State Government News
Gov. Stitt accuses AG Drummond of brokering shady deal: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has accused Attorney General Gentner Drummond of removing opiate settlement dollars from state oversight. [The Oklahoman]
No Oklahoma National Guard troops deployed to D.C., Stitt’s office says: Oklahoma no longer has any National Guard troops serving in Washington, the Governor’s Office said. About 160 members of Oklahoma’s National Guard had been deployed to Washington, D.C. in December as part of President Donald Trump’s D.C. Safe and Beautiful mission. These were voluntary deployments approved by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. [Oklahoma Voice]
Oklahoma invests $100M in 2028 Olympic venue preparations: The Oklahoma Department of Commerce announced Wednesday that it has partnered with in-state LA28 Olympic venues through the Business Expansion Incentive Program to invest more than $100 million in preparations for the 2028 Summer Olympics. [The Journal Record]
Opinion, This Week in Oklahoma Politics: State Farm lawsuit, Drummond donation momentum, low voter turnout and more (podcast): The panelists talk about Attorney General Gentner Drummond filing a lawsuit against State Farm over fraudulently denied claims, Drummond announcing his campaign for governor raised more than $1 million in the first 48 hours after the primary election and Oklahoma's dismal voter turnout on June 16. The trio also discusses Tulsa pastor Jackson Lahmeyer officially dropping out of the race for Congressional District 1 and Cleveland County naming State Senator Darrell Weaver as its interim sheriff. [KOSU]
Federal Government News
Supreme Court sides with Trump administration’s efforts to curb asylum claims at southern border: The U.S. Supreme Court sided Thursday with the Trump administration’s request to turn away asylum seekers who present themselves at ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. [Oklahoma Voice]
US Supreme Court rules Trump administration can end legal protections for 350,000 Haitians: The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to strip temporary legal status from 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, a move that opens them up to deportation. [Oklahoma Voice]
Oklahoma reviewing impact of SNAP ruling as sugar, candy ban remains in place: People who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to buy food in Oklahoma are still prohibited from using the benefits to purchase candy or soda, despite a federal judge’s ruling this week striking down such restrictions. [Tulsa World]
Opinion: 250 years later, American women still have to work for equality: I am approaching America’s 250th birthday with a desire to exercise my First Amendment right. From this woman’s perspective, I am struck by the fact perhaps there is little for female Americans to celebrate. [Jo Hogan / The Oklahoman]
Tribal Nations News
‘An absolute mess:’ Prediction markets create new gamble for Oklahoma Tribes: Prediction markets, apps where users trade with each other to predict outcomes, are legally trading on tribal land with zero gambling oversight. State regulators and tribes alike are fighting for regulation across the country. [The Journal Record]
Voting and Election News
Oklahoma Council on Judicial Complaints concedes ‘party affiliation rule’ likely unconstitutional: For the first time in decades, state judicial candidates may be able to identify publicly with a political party after attorneys for the Oklahoma Council on Judicial Complaints conceded that the state’s “party affiliation rule” is likely unconstitutional. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy DeGiusti has yet to set a hearing or issue a ruling in the case, so judicial candidates may want to wait before updating campaign materials. [NonDoc]
Trump order limiting voting by mail halted by federal court: A federal judge on Thursday blocked major portions of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting voting by mail, finding he had exceeded his constitutional authority. [Oklahoma Voice]
Education News
Oklahoma State Regents approves tuition increases at 16 universities, including OSU and OU: Oklahoma’s higher education governing board Thursday unanimously approved tuition and fee increases at 16 of the state’s public universities. [Oklahoma Voice]
Oklahoma employing fewer emergency-certified teachers, but more progress needed, board members say: School districts in Oklahoma are employing more than 1,000 fewer emergency-certified teachers this year than they were two years ago, but members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education said Thursday that additional progress needs to be made in getting more traditionally certified educators in classrooms. [Tulsa World]
Health News
Oklahoma issues updated guidance for eating fish caught in lakes: Planning a fish fry this summer? The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality has updated its guidelines on safely eating fish from Oklahoma’s lakes. The guidance is to minimize harmful mercury exposure. [KOSU]
Gas station drug kratom increasingly linked to Oklahoma deaths: Although many people are drawn to kratom for its purported health benefits, it has not been approved for medical use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Kratom interacts with the brain’s opioid receptors in ways that can lead to dependence and serious health consequences. [KOSU]
Justice System News
Legal roundup: Appellate rulings involve AG power, tax deadline, eminent domain: Oklahoma’s appellate courts have had a busy week, with a unanimous Oklahoma Supreme Court reigning in the attorney general’s intervention authority and the Court of Civil Appeals ruling on cases about tax refund filing deadlines and the removal of a highway exit near a Tulsa hotel. A new filing on behalf of April Wilkins lambasts one of her prior attorneys as “dishonest” and “grossly incompetent” for how a psychiatrist’s expert analysis was handled in her Survivors Act hearing last year. [NonDoc]
No outside aid for sheriff, only for county in fight over court duty: Oklahoma County commissioners have hired outside lawyers for a court fight with Sheriff Tommie Johnson III partly over their refusal to let him hire outside lawyers to sue them. [The Oklahoman]
Economy & Business News
Amid lingering disparities, Tulsa business leaders explore how to increase diversity: How do Tulsa business leaders increase diversity throughout their employee ranks? That was the question at the center of the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s annual state of inclusion event Thursday. [The Oklahoma Eagle]
Community News
'Focus: Black Oklahoma': Freedmen exclusion, Tulsa Food Not Bombs protest & more (podcast): This episode of Focus: Black Oklahoma features stories on the exclusion of Freedmen descendants from hunting and fishing on tribal lands, Tulsa Food Not Bombs protest that ended in arrests and more. [KOSU & Tri-City Collective]
Local Headlines
- Tulsa's latest proposed use for Cry Baby Hill? A housing-focused development [Tulsa World]
