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Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025 • Sunny and much warmer. Mid-to-upper 60s.
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Today’s Memo:
Oklahoma’s Democratic primaries closed to independents after what party leaders call a “miscommunication,” putting nearly 488,000 voters on the sidelines unless the decision is reversed.
Federal benefit cuts fuel Oklahoma’s eviction surge, with families losing child-care subsidies and falling behind on rent as fees stack up.
Oklahoma’s AI moment arrives, as Saxum’s Hart Brown says the state is well-positioned — but only if leaders move quickly to build an AI-ready economy.
TOP STORY:
Oklahoma Democratic Party primaries closed to independents following ‘miscommunication’
Paul Ziriax, election board secretary, speaks about candidate filing during a media briefing on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (PHOTO by Janelle Stecklein/Oklahoma Voice)
By Barbara Hoberock, Oklahoma Voice
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OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Democratic Party is challenging what it says is a decision by the Oklahoma Election Board to close the party’s primaries.
The Oklahoma Election Board on Wednesday issued a press release saying no party notified the agency by deadline that it wanted to open its primaries.
As a result, all party primary elections will be closed to the over 487,900 registered independent voters in the upcoming elections.
The Oklahoma Democratic Party for a decade had opened its primaries to independents.
It voted in June to continue the practice and notified the Oklahoma Election Board in August by sending the agency its minutes from the meeting, said Lauren Craig, Oklahoma Democratic Party executive director.
“In our mind, we had done all the appropriate steps,” Craig said.
The party said it did not learn of the decision to close its primaries until the press release, the party said.
Federal benefit cuts push Oklahoma families into eviction crisis
Oklahoma County eviction court bustles with dealmaking on a day with 200 cases on the docket. (PHOTO by Ben Fenwick/Oklahoma Watch)
By Ben Fenwick, Oklahoma Watch
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It was the cuts to federal child care subsidies that landed Eboney Mitchell in eviction court.
Mitchell said having daycare for her two children allowed her to work and keep up with her monthly rent. Her rent was $1,300 a month, she said.
“Then they cut day care off,” she said.
Mitchell had to take time off to care for her two children while she scrambled to make other arrangements. She lost her job. She got behind on her rent. Eventually, she found two part-time jobs to replace the one she lost. She got the money, but the property company told her it was too late.
Sitting outside the Oklahoma County’s eviction courtroom, she paged through the fees stacked on by her landlord. Quickly, her $1,300 rent ballooned up to more than $3,000 as her landlord tacked on charge after charge, including late fees, attorney’s fees, and $200 for an unapproved pet charge for her son’s service animal.
“My son is autistic,” she said. “I have the paperwork for that dog.”
Mitchell isn’t alone. The recent government shutdown, which included would-be cuts to the federal child care subsidies, Head Start and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, along with furloughs, has created such crises throughout Oklahoma among low and middle-income families.
The AI economy is taking shape. Can Oklahoma keep up? Conversation with Hart Brown
By Ryan Welton, Oklahoma Memo
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Oklahoma is well-positioned to benefit from the next wave of artificial intelligence growth — but the window to act is narrow.
That’s the central takeaway from a new Oklahoma Memo podcast with Hart Brown, president of AI and transformation at Saxum, who says AI investment is still in early innings nationally, even after more than $1 trillion in infrastructure spending in the U.S. this year alone.
Brown argues AI is not a single tool or app moment, but a full business transformation that will involve hundreds or thousands of AI systems embedded across organizations, fundamentally reshaping how work gets done.
Watch the full conversation below from the Oklahoma Memo YouTube channel. This conversation is also an audio-only podcast available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. If you watch on YouTube, please like and subscribe — and if you listen to the podcast, please leave Oklahoma Memo a 5-star review to help get our work discovered by more people.
Quick national links:
Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.
U.S. seizes oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, escalating tensions (CBS News)
Tourists from 42 countries will have to submit 5 years of social media history to enter U.S. under Trump plan (CBS News)
A divided Fed cuts interest rates again, as concerns about the job market outweigh fears of tariff-fueled inflation (NBC News)
Who in Trump’s cabinet is getting fired? (Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes)
Michigan fires head football coach, accusing him of 'inappropriate relationship' with staff member (NBC News)
The Oklahoma Rundown 📰
Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.
A hand-curated list of the best journalism from across the state:
• OHP: 1 person dead after head-on crash in Sand Springs (News On 6)
• Muscogee Nation officials offer next steps in complying with Freedmen citizenship ruling (KOSU)
• Oklahoma’s ban on Chinese-owned farmland made an exception for Smithfield Foods (Investigate Midwest)
• 300K Oklahomans face major spike in health insurance premiums. What does it mean for you? (Tulsa Flyer)
• As psychiatric crisis team faces funding shortfall, woman credits COPES with recovery: ‘You kept me alive’ (Public Radio Tulsa)
• ‘Life-changing health care’: After contentious lease decision, renovated McAlester cancer center reopens (NonDoc)
• 'I believe he's innocent': Daniel Holtzclaw's family fights for his freedom 10 years post-conviction (KOCO)
• City councilors approve $26.25 million payment to man wrongfully imprisoned for 24 years (Tulsa World)*
• More murals are planned for Route 66. Here’s where they could be headed. (Tulsa Flyer)
• Blackburn tapped to lead Oklahoma tourism agency (Oklahoma Voice)
• Travis, Waters advance to Republican runoff for northern Oklahoma House seat (KOSU)
• Oklahoma takes new steps to host multi-million dollar spaceplane at Burns Flat (KGOU)
• Mill Creek school board votes to annex Ravia Public Schools (KXII)
• Former Guthrie superintendent Max Townsend remembered for decades of service (Guthrie News Page)
• NBA Cup 2025: Thunder post NBA's biggest blowout of the season with 49-point win over Suns (Yahoo! Sports)
• McIntosh County law enforcement officers take kids shopping for free Christmas presents (News On 6)
Start learning AI in 2025
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