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Thursday, October 8, 2026 • Warm and sunny. 87. ☀️
Poll results:
We received 317 votes on the Wednesday poll, “Do you support eliminating property taxes on owner-occupied homes?”
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes (107)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 No (167)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Not sure (43)
New poll question at the bottom of today’s newsletter. (You can also suggest a poll question by emailing me at [email protected].)
State examines arrests for unpaid court fines and fees
Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash
By Keaton Ross, Oklahoma Watch
👉 Click here to support this newsroom
Nonprofit attorney Ed Wunch suspected that Caddo County was regularly jailing people over unpaid court fines and fees, but needed to prove it.
On a Friday afternoon in March, he drove from Oklahoma City to Anadarko to scour records at the county jail. From a public access computer, he printed out more than 140 bookings tied solely to cost arrest warrants from November 2023 through March 2026.
The average time in custody was 33 hours, though a handful of people were jailed for more than 72 hours. One woman spent 95 hours in custody after being booked on a cost arrest warrant the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January 2025.
“There are so many things I’m finding in these records that are just pretty horrendous, to think that this is theoretically the justice system,” Wunch said, adding that the average payment within five days of a booking was about $24.
Oklahoma’s district courts rely heavily on collections to cover basic operations, making blanket fine and fee waivers impractical, advocates and court officials said. But without adequate protections, advocates argue poor defendants can be prematurely presumed able to pay and face jail time when they fall behind.
Researchers have found that even short jail stays for unpaid court costs can have significant consequences, including job loss. Without steady income, making payments becomes even more difficult.
Elon's new company is private. These 3 tickers aren't.
The next Apple may already exist. Insider sources say Elon has spent two years building a secret device inside Tesla's facilities — one he claims will be "10x bigger than the largest product in history."
There's just one problem: the company is private, and unless you know Elon personally, you can't buy a single share. That was true until Guardian's research team found three public ticker symbols sitting in the launch supply chain.
Click here to see all 3 tickers, free of charge.
You won't hear these names on CNBC — Wall Street hasn't published a word on the connection. But when the launch hits September 21, that quiet ends.
Some are already calling this the biggest opportunity since AI. For anyone who missed Apple before the iPhone, this may be a second look at that kind of setup.
The Oklahoma Rundown 📰
Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.
Here’s what’s happening in Oklahoma today:
State audit finds $10 million bookkeeping discrepancy in Oklahoma County finances (News 9)
Regulators say they need a better way to track Oklahoma marijuana grows (The Oklahoman)*
Edmond Public Schools emails document 'fungal bloom' at multiple schools; parents question cleanup oversight (Fox 25)
ACLU expresses concerns over conditions at Watonga immigration detention center (Tulsa World)*
Lawmakers consider introducing recording to Oklahoma courtrooms to assist operations (Oklahoma Voice)
Oklahoma prison restricts outside books in effort to limit contraband (KOSU)
Is land back a feasible reality? A new report asks Indigenous people what they think (KOSU)
Loss of in-state tuition has undocumented Oklahoma students rethinking their American dreams (La Semana)
Former Tulsa executive arrested after being on run since 2012 (Tulsa World)*
One killed after railcar derailment in Durant (KXII)
Thursday Poll
Should Oklahomans be jailed for failing to pay court fines and fees?
Explain this to me!
What’s happening in Oklahoma that doesn’t make sense to you? Send me your question. I may answer it here in Oklahoma Memo or turn it into a video.
Email: [email protected]
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(P.S. Be sure and check out the Oklahoma Memo YouTube channel for long-form conversations and news explainers. You can also listen to this content wherever you get your podcasts!)