Gov. Kevin Stitt’s recent expansion of his inaptly named Operation SAFE is proof yet again that he is more show pony than workhorse. All his roundup of unhoused folks from public byways first in Tulsa and now in Oklahoma City does is temporarily conceal a long festering problem: thousands of the least among us do […]

What triggered state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ abrupt resignation? What does it mean for an already reeling Oklahoma public school system, ranked dead last nationally? Sandra Valentine and Sean Cummings, two “Resisters” who showed up at every State Board of Education meeting to challenge Walters’ bloviating and lying, join us for this week’s Observercast — A […]

It’s one of those surely-it-can’t-happen-here worries that awakens many of us in the dead of night: Fearing the 2026 midterms won’t go his way, Donald Trump imposes martial law and calls off the elections “in the interest of national security.” Alarmist? Preposterous? This is the U.S. of A. after all! Maybe it’s not so far-fetched […]

Oklahoma Democrats overwhelmingly elected a new state leadership team at their recent state convention, installing Tulsa Rep. John Waldron as chair and public ed advocate Erin Brewer as vice chair in the first steps toward rebuilding the party’s infrastructure in all 77 counties. For the latest Observercast — Blueprint For Revival — Waldron, Senate Democratic […]

Naked women? Porn? On a television in state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ office during a State Board of Education executive session? The same Walters demanding a Bible in every classroom? The same Walters who broad-brushes Oklahoma educators as anti-American, WOKE propagandists intent on indoctrinating the state’s 700,000 public school students? That’s the alleged misconduct threatening to […]

Who’s afraid of state Superintendent Ryan Walters? Legislative leadership clearly is. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say they’re afraid of Walters’ voters, who wield outsize influence in low-turnout Republican primaries. That became abundantly clear last week when the Legislature’s GOP supermajority let stand Walters’ demagogic social studies standards without even a full airing or […]

The quest to obliterate Oklahoma’s strict constitutional prohibition against spending public tax dollars for religious purposes goes to the U.S. Supreme Court this week. State courts ruled the proposed St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would violate the Oklahoma Constitution’s strict church-state separation that was enshrined at statehood and reaffirmed by a 2016 statewide […]

There are good bills. Bad bills. And bills best described as, well, Grade A cow patties, flies buzzing all around them, the stench wafting across the state. On today’s Observercast, Oklahoma City Rep. Mickey Dollens helps unpack one of the 2025 legislative session’s worst – SB 1027 – in which a power-hungry Republican supermajority seeks […]

The 2025 Legislature’s final eight weeks begin today with a daunting list of constitutionally mandated tasks and oft-inane or diabolical public policy proposals still on the agenda. Will there be an income tax in these troubled economic times? Will lawmakers advance efforts to undermine The People’s initiative petition powers? Will the Culture Wars further target […]

Across the land, Democrats are engaged in soul-searching. On a national level, it’s the fallout from Donald Trump reclaiming the White House. In Oklahoma, it’s the party’s superminority status in the Legislature and the fact not a single Democrat holds statewide office. What can – indeed, what must – Democrats do to get back in […]