The Oklahoma Observercast
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When lawmakers adjourned sine die late last month, it wasn’t just the end of the 59th Oklahoma Legislature. It was the end of a leadership era, too. Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat and House Speaker Charles McCall are two of the longest ser
If the 59th Oklahoma Legislature is remembered for anything, it will be its preoccupation with 2SLGBTQ+ folks, especially transgender Oklahomans. This session, more than 50 bills were introduced that the American Civil Liberties Union identifie
The Oklahoma Legislature’s 2024 session has had plenty of headline-grabbing moments: thwarting an attack on judicial independence, undermining The People’s initiative powers, embracing a show-me-your-papers expansion of police powers that could
With the recent death of Owasso High School student Nex Benedict, The Observer is re-posting the August 2023 Observercast in which therapist/counselor Paula Sophia and Freedom Oklahoma’s Nicole McAfee call out bigotry and hatred aimed at our 2S
Oklahoma legislators have 16 weeks to get it right during the legislative session — to concentrate on the concerns and issues that our state honestly, truly faces — but, if history is any indication, there’s a next to zero chance they will. For
Higher education in Oklahoma took it personally in December when Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order to “review” all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the state’s public sector. Never mind DEI programs attract business and pos
What will be remembered about 2023? Way too many lows and too few highs politically? Former Senate President-turned-Observer columnist Cal Hobson joins us for this week’s Observercast – ’23 In A Rearview Mirror – to unpack the good, bad and ugl
Michelin’s recent announcement it is closing its manufacturing plant in Ardmore sent shockwaves through southern Oklahoma and the statehouse. The Senate quickly assembled a “select committee” to consider where Oklahoma’s gone wrong in its effor
When it comes to workforce development, Oklahoma has huge opportunity: finding ways to get more of the 614,000 Sooners with disabilities employed. During this interim study season at the state Capitol, OKC Rep. Ellyn Hefner explored why only ab
Earlier this month, for the first time, survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre brought their case for reparations to the state Capitol – thanks to an interim study pursued by state Rep. Regina Goodwin, whose family survived the carnage. Good
In their quest to create a Top 10 state, statehouse leaders seem to think it’s a better bet to throw hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars at corporations that promise a few thousand jobs than to invest in building Oklahoma from the grass ro
The rightwing Republican love affair with trickle-down economics endures. Though the state Senate turned its back this week on a new round of tax cuts, there’s little doubt tax-cutters will try, try, try again. For this week’s Observercast – Cu
Wrecking Ball Ryan Walters is at it again. He’s cut a deal to slip rightwing propaganda from the so-called PragerU into Oklahoma public school classrooms. Prager’s videos and lesson plans are full of revisionist history, extolling America’s vir
Top 10? Heck, state Superintendent Ryan Walters may be the No. 1 litigation target ever among statewide elected officials. At last count, in less than eight full months on the job, Walters has been named a defendant or respondent in seven lawsu
If legislatures were to compete on Dancing With The Stars, Oklahoma’s would have an excellent shot at winning, given lawmakers’ exquisite tap dancing when it comes to oversight of state Superintendent Ryan Walters. Privately, supermajority Repu
Three gun incidents – one resulting in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old Midwest City High School student – marred the opening week of Oklahoma’s high school football season. For the latest Observercast –Frightful Night Lights – four-term Tul
Tulsa Public Schools kept its accreditation, but don’t think for a minute that state Superintendent Ryan Walters is done wreaking havoc at the state’s largest school district – or sowing chaos in Oklahoma public education. For this week’s Obser
Oklahoma’s students returned to class this month amidst arguably the most toxic environment ever, courtesy of state Superintendent Ryan Walters. For this week’s Back-To-School Observercast, teacher-turned-Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, veteran teacher
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 anti-abortion ruling, Republicans pivoted quickly to new front in the Culture Wars: launching an all-out assault on the rights of transgender Americans. Oklahoma’s GOP supermajority played its part, following
The state of Oklahoma talks a big game about being “pro-life.” But at the end of the day, we’re all hat, no cattle when it comes to actually walking the walk to take care of our kids. And once again, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNTS
An acute teacher shortage. Schools that still haven’t recovered from a decade-plus of the nation’s deepest budget cuts. Private school vouchers projected to divert hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that could have gone to underfunded pub
Who and what are behind the unprecedented attacks on Oklahoma’s K-12 schools? What’s at stake for the 700,000-plus students and families that rely on public ed? And what does it portend for Oklahoma’s future? In GOP Hypocrisy In 2023, former Se
In this era of acronyms in Oklahoma politics— DEI, CRT, and now, ESG— the cost of our Republican supermajority’s hyperpartisan culture wars comes with a cost to the State of Oklahoma. Because government entities are no longer allowed to contr
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