Oklahoma Memo

Ryan and Jeremy talk about the upcoming Oklahoma-Alabama game on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 2:30 p.m. The Crimson Tide are a 6.5-point favorite, but the guys like OU's chances — especially if R. Mason Thomas returns.

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Oklahoma Memo's Ryan Welton sits down with Audra Plummer, Head of Schools at the Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy (OVCA), to unpack how this tuition-free, fully accredited K-12 program has grown to serve thousands of students across Oklahoma.

Plummer explains how OVCA blends virtual learning with in-person activities, partners with career-tech centers, and supports athletes, military families, and students seeking flexible, individualized education.

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Ryan Welton (Oklahoma Memo) and Grant Hermes (Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes) break down the court order to fully fund SNAP during the shutdown, what it means for Oklahoma families, and how enforcement could work. They talk about the White House’s air-traffic reduction at 40 major airports, the election-week signals for both parties, and whether congressional Republicans will reassert their Article I standing in a post-Trump landscape.

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In this episode, Oklahoma Memo founder and curator Ryan Welton talks with Choctaw Nation Assistant Chief Jack Austin Jr. about the tribe’s recognition as one of the top employers in Oklahoma on the 2025 Forbes Best-In-State list.

With more than 13,000 employees, the Choctaw Nation has nearly doubled its workforce over the past decade while maintaining a culture rooted in mission, service, and employee feedback. Austin explains how the tribe approaches workplace satisfaction, growth, leadership development, and the balance between tribal identity and modern workforce expectations.

Key Topics

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Check out Choctaw Nation's careers site.

In this episode, Oklahoma Memo founder and curator Ryan Welton talks with engineer and entrepreneur Colby DeWeese about Tobe Energy, a hydrogen-tech startup with a prototype system designed to make green hydrogen cost-competitive with hydrogen made from fossil fuels.

The company has raised $1.8 million, built its own manufacturing and testing facility in Oklahoma City, and is partnering with Tulsa-based Zeeco to speed up commercial deployment.

Key topics discussed:

• Why hydrogen production hasn’t changed in over a century

• How current systems waste energy as heat — and how Tobe’s design fixes it

• Why hydrogen is already essential to agriculture, food and petrochemical industries

• How hydrogen solves the “solar and wind don’t run 24/7” problem

• The emerging market for synthetic fuels made from captured CO₂

• Why Oklahoma’s infrastructure, workforce and industrial land give it an edge

• The founder’s engineering background and the influence of his father’s work at TV Guide

In this episode, Ryan Welton talks with Caitlin Beasley, Policy Engagement Manager at Metriarch, and Amanda Gaddy, director of Women in Recovery’s parent-child reunification services at Family and Children’s Services, about the new “Paths to Recovery” report — a statewide look at maternal substance use, incarceration, and treatment-first solutions.

The report centers on interviews with Oklahoma women who have navigated substance use disorder and the professionals who serve them. One key finding: “We’re moving kind of in the wrong direction,” due to increasing felony child-neglect prosecutions against pregnant women — a trend that discourages them from seeking help.

Beasley and Gaddy stressed that treatment works, prison doesn’t, and meaningful reform requires funding, legislative change, and public understanding of addiction as a health issue, not a moral failure.

Resources Mentioned

🟢 Click or tap here for the 'Paths to Recovery' report

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From Bedlam heartbreak to baseball brilliance, Ryan (Boomer Sooner!) and Jeremy (Go Pokes!) tackle it all. They break down Oklahoma State’s dismal season and coaching search, Oklahoma’s identity crisis under Brent Venables, the national coaching carousel, the World Series, Thunder basketball, and even the CFL playoffs — complete with a proper poutine and Canadian football trivia.

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Call to Action:

Subscribe to Bedlam Buds wherever you get your podcasts, and sign up for Ryan’s daily newsletter at OklahomaMemo.com for morning sports recaps and Oklahoma insights.

This week’s Oklahoma Memo connects the dots between Shutdown Day 24, a Nov. 1 subsidy deadline, and the knock-on effects for families, farmers, and food prices. We talk through takeaways from a conversation with Sen. James Lankford, signals from Rep. Tom Cole, and a letter from at-risk House Republicans pressing Speaker Mike Johnson for action.

We also dive into the East Wing demolition: how the First Lady’s offices became central to American memory, why a new ballroom raises questions about private money on public grounds, and the unanswered maintenance and governance issues that follow. We close with USDA payments, SNAP realities in Oklahoma, and Barack Obama’s push on state redistricting.

Hashtags: #OklahomaMemo #Shutdown #EastWing #SNAP #USDA #HealthPolicy #Redistricting

In this special edition of Oklahoma Memo, host Ryan Welton sits down with Sen. James Lankford on Day 23 of the federal shutdown. The senator explains why talks broke down, what’s at stake for Oklahoma families, and how his Prevent Government Shutdowns Act could keep Washington working.

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Hosts: Ryan Welton (Sooners) and Jeremy Cook (Cowboys)

Length: 40 minutes

Summary:

This week on Bedlam Buds, Ryan and Jeremy unpack a full sports weekend for Oklahoma fans: the Sooners’ dominant defense and revived ground game in a 26–7 win, the Cowboys’ “what-if” loss that turned on two devastating fourth-quarter plays, and a look ahead to OU’s game against Ole Miss and OSU’s test in Lubbock.

Plus: why the Thunder’s chemistry feels championship-caliber, how Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers are breaking baseball in a good way, and what the cloud outage that delayed the episode says about modern life (and grading finals).

In this episode: