Oklahoma -- sadly, and perhaps unsurprisingly -- is number two in the United States when it comes to teen pregnancy. On this edition of ST Medical Monday, we learn about an organization working to address our state's high teen-birth rate. Our guest is the Executive Director of the nonprofit Take Control Initiative (or TCI). Per its website , the TCI "is a program aimed at reducing the high rate of unplanned and teen pregnancies in the Tulsa area. This program empowers women and families with the

On this installment of ST, our guest is Cameron Walker, the Executive Director of Tulsa Habitat for Humanity (or THFH). This crucial nonprofit recently received a $6.7 million grant from the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation, and therefore, as we learn on today's program, THFH is transitioning from building 25 to 30 houses per year (which is what it does in the Tulsa area currently) to building 150 houses per year (which is what it aims to be doing four years from now). This grant has also led

The author and journalist Mark Whitaker is our guest on StudioTulsa. A former managing editor of CNN Worldwide, and a previous Washington bureau chief for NBC News, Whitaker has a new book out, which he tells us about. It's an "expansive, prodigiously researched, and masterfully told history" (Kirkus Reviews) called "Smoketown: The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance." As was noted in an appreciation of this book in USA Today: "Pittsburgh was one of the country's citadels of black

On this edition of our show, we listen back to a fine interview that originally aired in May of last year. At that time, our guest was Dr. Rachel Pearson, who told us about her memoir, "No Apparent Distress: A Doctor's Coming-of-Age on the Front Lines of American Medicine." As was noted of this reflective and well-written book by Kirkus Reviews: "[In this book] a sensitive doctor describes her beginnings navigating the unpredictable, woolly world of modern American health care. Pearson’s

Women are the fastest-growing prison population group in the United States today -- and the State of Oklahoma, tragically, puts women in prison at twice the national rate. On this edition of ST, we check in with the non-profit organization known as Still She Rises , a public defender office based here in our community that's dedicated to representing North Tulsa mothers within the criminal justice system. Still She Rises, which began operations in Tulsa about a year ago, grew out of a similar

On this edition of StudioTulsa, we learn about "NEW/NOW: Works by the Tulsa Artist Fellowship," the first-ever museum exhibit dedicated to artworks by fellows in the Tulsa Artist Fellowship program. This show, on view at the Philbrook Downtown space through March 3rd, presents various media and styles in newly created pieces by 20+ artists working here in the Tulsa community. Our guests today are Scott Stulen, the President and Director of Philbrook Museum of Art, and Julia White, the Program

On this edition of ST Medical Monday, we learn about "Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race," an exhibition that will be on view at The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art here in Tulsa through March 4th. As noted at the Sherwin Miller website , this traveling exhibit, presented by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, "traces this history from the early 20th-century international eugenics movement to the Nazi regime's 'science of race.' It also challenges viewers to reflect on the present-day

On this edition of ST Medical Mondauy, we speak with Jackie Fortier, the newly appointed Health Reporter for StateImpact Oklahoma, which is an ongoing collaboration between this state's public-radio stations: KGOU, KOSU, KWGS and KCCU. It's an initiative that aims to cover energy and the environment, education, health, and criminal justice -- as well as the intersection of government and everyday life in Oklahoma. Fortier, who relocated to our state from Colorado on taking her new post, tells us

On this edition of StudioTulsa, our guest is Gareth Valentine, the well-regarded British composer, arranger, conductor, and musical director. He's currently in town to conduct "Strictly Gershwin," a Derek Deane-choreographed piece that Tulsa Ballet will stage from February 9th through the 11th. (To learn more about this production, which is having its North American premiere here in Tulsa, please visit this link .) As we learn on today's show, Valentine has worked on many of London's notable

On this installment of StudioTulsa, with the Oklahoma State Legislature set to begin its new session on Monday of next week, we check in with David Blatt, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute. This non-profit public-policy think tank recently posted a detailed list of legislative priorities for the new year at its website. Blatt reviews several of these goals with us today: from Budget and Taxes to Economic Opportunity and Security, and from Education and Criminal Justice to