Tuesday, February 24, 2026 • Windy and low-70s. ☁️

🚨There’s an elevated fire risk across parts of Oklahoma today.

By Clifton Adcock, The Frontier
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Google’s massive data center in Pryor is the company’s second-largest in the world and an important part of the company’s cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. But it takes a lot of water to keep the data servers cool. The Pryor center used more than 1.1 billion gallons of water in one year, enough to fill about 1,666 Olympic-size swimming pools, water utility records show.  

Google gets its water from the Neosho River through the state-owned MidAmerica Industrial Park. 

The Frontier obtained Google’s water usage from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, through an open records request. The company discharged about 253 million gallons of wastewater back into the Neosho River during that same time period. The rest of the water is lost through evaporation during and after it cools servers.

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By Em Luetkemeyer, Oklahoma Watch (NOTUS)
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In a hyperpartisan House, one bipartisan friendship stands out.

You can see it in action within the dozen funding bills that the House passed this fiscal year, and sometimes in speeches on the House floor.

“Once, our mutual friend and former colleague Ambassador Rahm Emanuel called us ‘the odd couple.’ That may be true,” Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, and chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said on the floor in early February.

The other half of that odd couple was sitting on the opposite side of the chamber with a smile on her face: House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro.

Later that day, both members would celebrate the House passing the last of the 12 appropriations bills for this fiscal year, a rarity in an often gridlocked Congress. That achievement, at least in part, is thanks to the common ground Cole and DeLauro have found.

“Rosa DeLauro knows how to throw a punch without punching below the belt,” Cole said. “It’s a fair shot, and I like to think we do the same thing in return.”

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

• El Mencho death sparks unrest in Mexico, with cartel ties reaching Oklahoma (KOCO)

• Committee rejects proposal to stop legislators from quickly becoming lobbyists (Oklahoma Watch)

• Drummond praises EPA proposal to roll back Biden-era rule on industrial chemical accident prevention (StateImpact Oklahoma)

• $5.4M budget hole could force OK County jail to cut staff in half (The Oklahoman)*

• The ‘Southern Surge’ suggests Oklahoma’s education system can bounce back (NonDoc)

• Oklahoma lawmaker criticizes state executive pay, salary hikes (Oklahoma Voice)

• Senate Republicans fight over milk money (Tulsa World)*

• Hundreds without hot water, Stillwater takes Vesta to court (2 News Oklahoma)

• House lawmaker files to run for Oklahoma attorney general (Oklahoma Voice)

• Here are five takeaways from this year’s ‘State of Black Tulsa’ (Tulsa Flyer)

• Mexican restaurant Uncle Julio's to open at waterfront property left vacant for nearly 20 years (OU Daily)

• Woman dies, driver arrested after car plunges into Oklahoma City neighborhood pond (KFOR)

• Former Owasso FFA Alumni Association treasurer accused of embezzling $101k from organization (News On 6)

Oklahoma columnist Clay Horning laid out the case for why Anthony Kim’s return to pro golf is one of the most remarkable comebacks in the sport — a former OU standout who disappeared from competition for more than a decade, then resurfaced and won on a global stage.

Also in the mix:

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