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WEBSupport Oklahoma Watch Oklahoma needs high-quality investigative journalism. That is our mission at Oklahoma Watch. We produce stories that hold government and public officials accountable and make transparent what some prefer to keep secret. We depend on financial support from readers like you to sustain our …
Oklahoma Inches Closer to Eliminating Private Prisons
WEBAug 31, 2023 · On July 31, 2022, Davis prisoner Gregory Thompson fatally stabbed 61-year-old corrections officer Alan Jay Hershberger. An Oklahoma Watch investigation published weeks after Hershberger’s death found that stabbings at the facility more than tripled from 2021 to 2022. In late February, a prisoner fatally attacked another man housed at …
How Oklahoma Lawmakers Have Loosened Gun Regulations the …
WEBJun 3, 2022 · As lawmakers moved to loosen gun regulations, Oklahoma’s firearms mortality rate increased 31.8% between 2014 and 2020, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Gun deaths from homicides, suicides and accidental discharges are included in the firearms mortality rate. At 20.7 deaths per 100,000 residents, Oklahoma ...
What To Know About SQ 820 and Legalizing Recreational …
WEBFeb 28, 2023 · The state question initially limits recreational business licenses to current medical marijuana business license holders in operation for at least a year before the effective date of SQ 820. That prohibition on new businesses would last for two years. Commercial license and renewal fees for the adult-use market could not exceed $2,500.
Why Are You Running? Oklahoma Candidates Say Why They’re in …
WEBApr 19, 2022 · Nick Archer. Running for: State House District 55 (Elk City, Sayre, Cheyenne) . Party: Republican. Why they’re running: “I’ve been the mayor of Elk City for the last two terms and District 55 has an open seat this year, so it felt like the right time to take that step.I think rural health care is important, especially to our smaller communities in western Oklahoma.
After Setting Record, Should Oklahoma End Straight-Ticket Voting?
WEBJan 26, 2021 · Sen. J.J. Dossett, D-Tulsa, introduced legislation ahead of this year’s upcoming legislative session to ban end straight-ticket voting in the state. He told the Southwest Ledger after filing the bill last month that the voting method is outdated and disincentivizes voters from researching and evaluating individual candidates. “When Oklahoma was founded more than a century ago, many voters ...
Tracking Key Legislation as Oklahoma's 2022 Legislative Session …
WEBFeb 7, 2022 · Tracking Key Legislation as Oklahoma’s 2022 Legislative Session Kicks Off. by Trevor Brown February 7, 2022 Updated February 9, 2022. Individuals gathered outside of the House Chamber to watch a live stream of Gov. Kevin Stitt's State of the State address on Feb. 1, 2021. Fewer people were allowed into the …
A Lawsuit Challenging Oklahoma’s Lethal Injection Protocol is …
WEBFeb 18, 2022 · The outcome of an upcoming federal trial will have long-lasting implications for the death penalty in Oklahoma. A nearly eight-year-old lawsuit, filed by a group of Oklahoma death row prisoners who claim the state’s lethal injection protocol causes unconstitutional pain and suffering, will proceed to trial on Feb. 28 at the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City. U.S. District Judge Stephen ...
Many Seeking Emergency Rental Assistance Left Waiting
WEBSep 7, 2021 · Two separate Emergency Rental Assistance programs have been established within the last year, providing $46.5 billion in federal relief. The first program was passed under the Consolidated Appropriations Act in December 2020 and provided Oklahoma with $264 million. The second one passed in March 2021 under the …
Oklahoma’s Legislature Fast-Tracks Multi-Billion Budget Bill, Again
WEBMay 21, 2021 · A week and three hours after Gov. Kevin Stitt and Republican leaders announced the framework of the state’s $8.8 billion spending plan, the annual budget bill passed the Legislature Thursday on its way to the governor’s desk. The budget, along with companion bills that include hundreds of million in tax cuts, passed largely along party-line ...