Tuesday, September 15, 2026 • It’s still summer, ya’ know. 97-98. Windy. ⛅

We received 273 votes on the Saturday poll, “What kind of Oklahoma winter would you rather have?”

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🥶 Cold and snowy (90)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🌧️ Mild and rainy (140)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ☀️ Warm and dry (17)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤷 Just make it predictable (26)

New poll question at the bottom of today’s newsletter. (You can also suggest a poll question by emailing me at [email protected].)

By Graycen Wheeler, KOSU
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Inola residents will decide the fate of a massive aluminum smelter in a town-wide vote next spring. Until then, city officials have paused heavy industrial development — including the aluminum smelting facility, which would be the largest in the country.

Inola’s town council voted unanimously in favor of extending the moratorium through April 7, 2027. They originally enacted the pause on development in late June, and it expired at the end of August.

The five-member council also voted unanimously to put an initiative petition that would ban primary aluminum smelting within town limits on the April 7 ballot.

“I’m going to stand with my community,” said Mayor Darlene Shear. “I am against the smelter plant… I don’t feel that I’ve been given the information that I need to know in my heart that everything is safe.”

The smelter issue has become a lightning rod, garnering strong opposition from local residents who fear its impact on the community and support from President Donald Trump for its potential national security benefits.

Dozens signed up to share their thoughts on the smelter before the town council considered its agenda items. Many asked for the council to extend the moratorium and send the smelter ban measure to a vote of the people.

Chris Thomas was among them. They’re from nearby Verdigris and currently attend Rogers State University in Claremore.

“Word around the school is if this smelter goes in we're going to get our diplomas and we're going to head out,” Thomas said. “Most of us, we don't have kids, we don't have property. And we're just graduating. So if we're going to build a life somewhere, we want it to be somewhere that's not toxic.”

Angela Jungbluth also spoke to the council ahead of their votes, asking for them to extend the moratorium and advance the initiative petition to a vote.

“We poured our entire lives into this little farm that we have,” Jungbluth said. “We hope to pass it down to our kids. And the smelter threatens that completely, the peaceful agrarian lifestyle that we had hoped for.”

At the June meeting where the moratorium was originally implemented, federal and state officials attended to voice support for the smelter. None offered public comment at Monday’s meeting.

When the council voted to extend the moratorium, the crowd of nearly 300 erupted into a standing ovation. Thomas said it had reinstated their faith in the governing system. Jungbluth agreed.

“I think I was the loudest one screaming up there in positivity,” Jungbluth said. “It was the best outcome I could have ever hoped for.”

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