Oklahoma Watch

Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit organization recognized as a 501(c)(3) that focuses on thorough and investigative journalism related to public policy and quality-of-life challenges in Oklahoma. Our aim is to explore important issues in depth, offering thoughtful analysis while uncovering significant trends, facts, and underlying causes, along with potential solutions. As a non-partisan entity, we are committed to being fair, accurate, and comprehensive in our reporting. We seek to encourage and enrich public and private discussions that can positively impact the lives of those in Oklahoma. We produce original content that is shared with various media partners across the state and made available on our website and social media platforms. Our emphasis is on data-driven journalism and innovative reporting that adds to the coverage provided by other local and regional news sources. We work in partnership with other news organizations on various topics, particularly focusing on issues like poverty, education at all levels, healthcare, children's welfare, mental health, financial accountability, and support for the elderly and disadvantaged. We advocate strongly for First Amendment rights and government transparency while upholding the crucial watchdog role of the news media.

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First Watch: Stuff You Should Know

1 week ago | oklahomawatch.org | Ted Streuli

Oklahoma’s lone female Democratic voice at the DNC, national committeewoman Kalyn Free, is running again for vice chair as new elections unfold following a gender-parity challenge. Free, a Choctaw Nation citizen and rural Oklahoma lawyer, highlighted in February that male candidates had double voting power by appearing on both male and all-gender ballots, prompting the DNC’s Credentials Committee to void those results.
First Watch: Stuff You Should Know

1 week ago | oklahomawatch.org | Ted Streuli

Vance Boelter, the man accused of shooting two Minnesota state legislators and their spouses early Saturday, lived in Oklahoma for at least five years. Vance Boelter and his wife, Jenny Boelter, owned a house in Muldrow from 2002-2007, according to Sequoyah County real estate records. Arkansas television station KFSM-TV reported that Vance Boelter worked as a supervisor at a Gerber plant in Springdale. According to birth announcements in the Feb.
First Watch: Stuff You Should Know

1 week ago | oklahomawatch.org | Ted Streuli

Take five minutes to read Clifton Adcock’s latest story in The Frontier, in which he reports on a Tulsa campaign scandal. Adcock reported that Gail Harjo, a 77-year-old McLoud woman, said she had no idea her name was attached to secretive political action committees that helped influence multiple Oklahoma races in 2024.
First Watch: Stuff You Should Know

2 weeks ago | oklahomawatch.org | Ted Streuli

Federal lawmakers in Oklahoma are deliberately avoiding endorsements in the crowded 2026 GOP gubernatorial primary, a field that already includes at least five candidates. With an open seat—Gov. Kevin Stitt is term-limited—attention has turned to those who can self-fund early campaigns. Rep. Tom Cole declined to back anyone, citing his focus on his own re-election race. Rep.
First Watch: Stuff You Should Know

2 weeks ago | oklahomawatch.org | Ted Streuli

Why is today’s newsletter so late, you ask? Well, the AM and PM buttons are deceptively close to one another on the scheduling tab and, heck — it’s 5 o’clock somewhere. Here you go:Poverty in Oklahoma is neither new nor fleeting. It’s a generational burden shaped by economic volatility, political friction and natural disaster. Today, about 16% of Oklahomans live below the poverty line, nearly a quarter of them children.
First Watch: Stuff You Should Know

2 weeks ago | oklahomawatch.org | Ted Streuli

There isn’t a single five-star Yelp review for a prison chow hall. But food plays a big part in prison morale and, consequently, prisoner behavior. Studies from Brown University, Boston University, the International Journal of Prison Health, Australian researchers and others have concluded that Vitamin D, magnesium, and omega-3s are lacking in most prison diets. Those nutrients contribute to mental and physical health, particularly ADHD and bipolar disorder.
First Watch: Stuff You Should Know

2 weeks ago | oklahomawatch.org | Ted Streuli

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are raising alarms about President Trump’s proposed budget, warning it could imperil health care access for millions of Native Americans in the event of a government shutdown. Though the plan allocates $7.9 billion to the Indian Health Service, it notably omits advance appropriations — a critical safeguard that keeps the agency funded even during shutdowns. Rep.
Oklahoma Inks $74 Million Deal to Privatize Prison Food Service

2 weeks ago | oklahomawatch.org | Keaton Ross

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections will spend about $74 million over two years to outsource its food service operations to the Trinity Services Group, a Florida-based company that feeds more than 300,000 prisoners and pretrial detainees daily. The contract, which includes an initial two-year term and three one-year options to renew, allots Trinity just over $5 per prisoner, per day to cover food costs, staff wages and administrative support from a field office in Oklahoma City.
First Watch: Stuff You Should Know

2 weeks ago | oklahomawatch.org | Ted Streuli

Reporter J.C. Hallman explored how justice in the panhandle isn’t quite like other places. He told the story through the eyes of a colorful mother and son, Linda Brown and Billy Green, who had very different experiences with the criminal justice system a quarter of a century apart. Green, short on influential connections, was bullied into a blind plea deal that netted him a stretch in state prison for minor offenses.
First Watch: Stuff You Should Know

3 weeks ago | oklahomawatch.org | Ted Streuli

Legislation to designate the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre as a national monument sailed through the Senate last month, backed by an unlikely bipartisan duo: Republican Sen. James Lankford and Democratic Sen. Cory Booker. Their bill would create an advisory commission partly composed of descendants of massacre victims, a nod to the legacy of Greenwood’s destruction and the community’s enduring push for recognition. But in the House, the path is less smooth. Rep.