Friday, Jan. 30, 2026 • Sunny and a dab cooler. 30s. ☀️

Saturday will be even colder before we climb to the low 50s on Sunday. It will feel downright balmy! (And the car wash line will be LONG.)

View from your phone: Keep the Oklahoma photos coming! Message them as attachments to [email protected], and include location and photo credit.

By Brett Fieldcamp, Oklahoma City Free Press
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OKLAHOMA CITY – In a Facebook post late Thursday morning, Mayor David Holt said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is no longer in talks to acquire a southwest OKC warehouse for use as an immigration detention and processing center.

Following more than a week of resident outcry, City government requests, and a heavily attended City Council meeting Tuesday, Holt said in his post that he had met with the property owners of 2800 S. Council Rd., who confirmed that “they are no longer engaged with the Department of Homeland Security about a potential acquisition or lease.”

The building had been eyed by DHS for use as a planned “processing center” for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, with the City only receiving notice of the plans in a late-December email ensuring that no historic property would be harmed in the area.

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By Zach Boblitt, Public Radio Tulsa
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A proposed Google data center near Sand Springs moved one step closer to approval Tuesday night after a city commission voted 6-1 to recommend rezoning more than 800 acres in Osage County.

The lone vote against the rezoning came from commissioner Harold Neal, who said the land should remain agricultural.

“People want to keep their farmland agricultural and we have other areas,” Neal said after the meeting. “We got commercial areas, we can put it and nobody would hesitate about it being there.”

The vote followed more than three hours of discussion at Charles Page High School, where residents packed the meeting to weigh in on the initiative, known as Project Spring. The proposal would change the land’s zoning from agricultural to industrial, a designation that allows manufacturing, processing and packaging uses.

Google and the land’s developer, White Rose Partners, are seeking the zoning change to build the data center. Opponents raised concerns about the city’s 2030 land use master plan, which lists agricultural land as “inappropriate” for industrial rezoning. At a recent public meeting, Sand Springs Mayor Jim Spoon described the master plan as “a living document” that evolves over time — a comment that drew audible laughter from some residents in attendance.

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Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.

Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.

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

• Lawmakers eye bringing a literacy ‘miracle’ to Oklahoma (KGOU)

• Appeals court allows defamation case to proceed against former state superintendent (Tulsa World)*

• OK County settles jail civil rights lawsuit, agrees to pay $350,000 (The Oklahoman)*

• Oil well blowout in Blanchard leads to evacuations and shelter setup (KOCO)

• Oklahoma Human Services asks state legislature for nearly $70 million to fund child care (KGOU)

• OU-Tulsa School of Community Medicine ends contracts, shutters clinic (Tulsa Flyer)

• Saint Francis unveils $357M hospital expansion (2 News Oklahoma)

• Schools relying on virtual instruction days lose option next year (Tulsa Flyer)

• Sooner State Party hosts signature drive today at state Capitol (Facebook)

• Republican Colleen McCarty announces run for Tulsa County district attorney (The Oklahoma Eagle)

• Attorneys give tribal citizens guidance on navigating ICE encounters (KOSU)

• Tulsa hopes to keep more child care centers open with removal of sprinkler mandate (Tulsa Flyer)

• Bills seek to license, increase minimum age of Oklahoma strippers (Oklahoma Voice)

• 'Incredibly sad story': Logan County community in shock after woman found dead in trash can (KOCO)

• Pontotoc contractor arrested days after confrontation (KFOR)

• FBI: Suspects sought in string of overnight break-ins and thefts at Tulsa-area banks (Tulsa World)*

• Oklahoma linemen head to Mississippi to help restore power after ice storm (News On 6)

The ‘Oklahoma Memo’ mission is simple: Reignite the daily local news habit by connecting Oklahomans and those who love Oklahoma to quality sources of news and vetted information.

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