Friday, July 11, 2025 at 10:44 PM

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Opinion

Get your hands dirty

Get your hands dirty

Jesus was the most intentional person who ever lived. Everything He did was with purpose and on purpose. He ministered to many different people, met each person where they were, and each one who trusted in Him left changed by His power and grace. Truly, there is no one like Jesus. 08/03/2023 05:00 AM

Democrats care about rural needs

Democrats care about rural needs

Oklahoma Democrats care about the quality of life in rural Oklahoma. During 2019-20 Democrats pounded the streets to get signatures on petitions to expand Medicaid for working people who could not afford health insurance. Now more than 200,000 people have Soonercare who were living without health insurance. Plus, we brought $1 billion back to Oklahoma. 07/27/2023 05:00 AM

Interns would help with policy

Interns would help with policy

We had a great time in South Carolina at the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC). I gained some great insight and new perspective on many important policies we’ll be tackling in the upcoming session. I’m looking forward to visiting further with my Senate colleagues about these to decide how best to move forward. 07/27/2023 05:00 AM

Foreign ownership of farmland a detriment to security

Foreign ownership of farmland a detriment to security

Everyone in Oklahoma is keenly aware that food security is national security. A nation that cannot feed itself cannot hope to defend itself. 07/27/2023 05:00 AM

Trigger law needed

Trigger law needed

The fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma continues today. A recent federal court decision declaring Indians to be exempt from city police enforcement of municipal laws in local courts in Tulsa is just the latest example. 07/20/2023 05:00 AM

The Constitution will always prevail

The Constitution will always prevail

Last month, the United States Supreme Court released three landmark decisions that strengthened Constitutional protections for all Americans. The Court struck down racism with affirmative action, upheld the freedom of speech over government mandate, and put a stop to Joe Biden’s illegal student loan scheme – all significant victories for the rule of law. 07/20/2023 05:00 AM

Ryan Walters — he’s keeping the public out of public records

Ryan Walters — he’s keeping the public out of public records

When KFOR reporter Kaylee Olivas called out state Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters for dragging out a public records request for more than 100 days, education journalists around the state could no doubt relate. 07/20/2023 05:00 AM

Requesting 5 interim studies

Requesting 5 interim studies

Last week, I was in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina, for the annual Council of State Governments (CSG) Southern Legislative Conference (SLC), which includes 15 member states that come together to study and discuss the issues of greatest importance to our region of the country. 07/20/2023 05:00 AM

Keeping officials accountable

Keeping officials accountable

We spend a lot of time talking about public records in our office. If that’s a new topic to you, you’ll find it worth your time to become familiar. State law enacted in 1985 requires that most publicly funded entities make their records available to the public for inspection or copying. That’s an important piece of government transparency; those records belong to the public and they help keep our elected officials accountable. Although news organizations request documents regularly in the course of their research and reporting, there are no special privileges. Anything available to a journalist is also available to you. There are some problems with the law. At nearly 40 years old, there is no provision for emailing records, but there are stipulations about faxing them. The only deadline an agency has is to respond to be prompt and reasonable, which is undefined. And the only remedy for noncompliance is to file a lawsuit or persuade your local district attorney to file a misdemeanor charge against his fellow government employee who works across the hall. Some agencies are very, very good about keeping the public’s business public. Others are not. In the past year, Oklahoma Watch has filed three lawsuits to force agencies to comply with the Open Records Act. Two were successful and one, against the Tulsa Police Department, remains open. 07/13/2023 05:00 AM

Commitments kept

Commitments kept

One-party Democratic rule in Washington notably led to several unprecedented crises in our country and around the globe. However, despite the challenges of working with a Democrat Senate and president, House Republicans have kept our commitments to the American people these past six months upon taking back the House majority. 07/13/2023 05:00 AM

The fight for life is far from over

The fight for life is far from over

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling of Dobbs v. 07/06/2023 05:00 AM

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