Oklahoma’s political elite are fond of crowing that we’re an oil and gas state. But the truth is, we should be prouder – and more thankful – that we’re a state with abundant, clean water. After all, there is no substitute for water, our one irreplaceable, sustainer of life – a resource the world-renowned geostrategist […]

Why were Oklahoma’s legislative leaders gung-ho to slip two proposed constitutional amendments onto the Aug. 25 runoff ballot – traditionally the campaign year’s lowest turnout election? As Observercast returns for its fall season, Del City Rep. Andy Fugate joins us to help answer that question in an episode we’re calling Everyone Should Care, a deep-dive […]

With all the pomp and circumstance they could muster, Gov. Kevin Stitt, House Speaker Kyle Hilbert and other statehouse luminaries gathered recently with students at an OKC charter school celebrate Stitt’s signing of SB 1778 – the state’s greatest education reform package since … what? … the invention of the alphabet? OK … so it […]

Remember when Republicans vowed to run government like a business if they ever got in charge at NE 23rd and Lincoln Blvd. The implication was: Unlike free-spending Democrats, GOPers would squeeze every penny, ensuring taxpayers got way more bang for their bucks. In the two decades since they seized the statehouse levers of power, Republicans […]

Remember when Republicans vowed to run government like a business if they ever got in charge at NE 23rd and Lincoln Blvd? The implication was: Unlike free-spending Democrats, GOPers would squeeze every penny, ensuring taxpayers got way more bang for their bucks. In the two decades since they seized statehouse power, Republicans have run government […]

It’s a good bet not very many had Markwayne Mullin leaving a safe U.S. Senate seat to become Donald Trump’s Homeland Security guru on their Bingo cards. But here we are. Markwayne Mullin officially on Team Trump. So many questions … Who knew Trump would go all Richard Nixon on us and appoint his own […]

Across Oklahoma, in urban areas and rural, students alarmed by the Trump administration’s sometimes deadly anti-immigrant crackdown are walking out of Sooner classrooms to make clear their opposition. Unsurprisingly, the fact students are exercising their First Amendment right to free speech and assembly alarms the Oklahoma Legislature’s Freedom Caucus. Those hard-right ideologues are not only […]

Masked federal immigration officers assaulting people in the streets. Two American citizens murdered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis. An internal ICE memo authorizing armed agents to forcibly enter homes with only an administrative search warrant – a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. President Trump’s immigration crackdown hasn’t been as visible in […]

In the wake of nearly a decade of sketchy leadership and fiscal mismanagement, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services recently one-upped itself, suddenly announcing it may seek to privatize four of the state’s behavioral health facilities. More disconcerting, its request for proposals gave interested suitors all of one month [deadline is […]

As the nights get colder … and as the growing number of unhoused Oklahomans becomes evident on sidewalks, in alleyways and in shanty towns … business at county courthouses across Oklahoma is booming. At least when it comes to evictions. The recent federal shutdown forced some Oklahoma families to choose between food and rent. A […]