Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025 • Cloudy and mid-50s. ☁️

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In today’s Memo:

Families, friends, and the entire Deer Creek High School community are in mourning after a Monday night crash took the lives of two teenage girls, authorities confirmed.

Another teenage girl was critically injured in the wreck, while another sustained non-severe injuries, per news reports. The crash happened in Logan County near South May Avenue and Charter Oak Road.

Because the victims are underage, authorities will not be releasing names. However, News 9 talked to the mother of 15-year-old Jazlynn “Jazzy” Jacobs, who died in the crash.

• 2 Deer Creek High School students killed, 2 hospitalized in Logan County (News 9)

• Victim’s family speaks out after crash leaves 2 Deer Creek HS students dead, 2 injured (News 9)

• Community mourning deaths of Deer Creek High School students killed in crash (KFOR)

• 'Worst-case scenario': Troopers work to determine cause of Deer Creek crash that killed 2 teens (KOCO)

• Support for Deer Creek community floods social media following crash that killed 2 teenage girls (KOCO)

• ‘It’s not fair:’ Community members pay respect to young lives lost in crash (Fox 25)

By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Controversial academic standards for social studies are unenforceable because Oklahoma’s top school board violated state open meeting laws when approving them, the state Supreme Court decided Tuesday.

Five of the Court’s nine justices decided to permanently nullify the social studies standards, which had sought to require public schools to teach Bible stories and highly questioned claims about the 2020 presidential election and COVID-19. The standards were already on hold because of a temporary stay from the Court in September.

Members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education and the public didn’t receive adequate notice from a meeting agenda that the board’s Feb. 27 vote would involve standards that were “fundamentally different” from an earlier draft, according to the opinion written by Justice James E. Edmondson. This violated the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act, the Court decided.

Click here to read the full story.

By Kimberly Marsh, The Oklahoma Eagle
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When Black Broadway Tulsa puts on “A Christmas Story: The Play” in December, it’ll be a historic performance. The production is the first version of the play to have an all-Black cast, according to founder Obum Ukabam.  

The iconic Christmas movie tells the story of a boy named Ralphie, a Red Ryder BB gun and his quirky family. And while the cast will look different than the film, Ukabam says he’ll keep some key elements intact. 

“I always want to have our own spin on things,” he said. “It’s not going to be reimagined, but of course, we bring the culture in. We bring the diaspora … all the familiar things that come with it.”

The hilarious pieces remain, like Flick sticking his tongue on an icy cold flagpole on a “triple dog dare.” The Parker family lightheartedly replaces its disastrous turkey meal with a Chinese duck dinner at the only open restaurant. But the scenes will be shaped by the cast’s shared experience.

Black Broadway Tulsa cast mostly Central Middle and High School students for its production. The company is also working with Solid Foundation Preparatory Academy in north Tulsa.

Click here to read the full story.

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A hand-curated list of the best journalism from across the state:

• TPS board sets April election for $609M bond package (Tulsa World)*

• Stitt: 'I am going to stand with our chicken producers over those big trial attorneys' (2 News Oklahoma)

• Oklahoma County Jail officials working with DOC to whittle down transfer backlog (NonDoc)

• What Oklahomans need to know about the federal fight over health care subsidies (KGOU)

• Unpaid $33K water bill could lead to 350 Tulsa seniors losing water (The Oklahoma Eagle)

• ‘It was triggering’: Reiner murders reopen old wounds for widow of slain Oklahoma labor commissioner (KOCO)

• In rare move, Rep. Bice condemns Trump's remarks after Rob Reiner death (The Oklahoman)*

• Oklahoma’s only way to apply for medical marijuana licenses is glitching out (Tulsa Flyer)

• Oklahoma bondsmen urge regulation after activist's indictment highlights bail system loophole (KOCO)

• Oklahoma's unique position in the death penalty abolition movement (KGOU)

• Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma partners with Rosetta Stone to preserve tribe’s language (Oklahoma Voice)

• El Reno gets $725,000 to create Route 66 'Hub' in heart of downtown (KOSU)

• Columbo wood statue in south Tulsa: Just one more thing to see on holiday-season drives (Tulsa World)*

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