Oklahoma News: Trump Inaugurated, MLK Jr. Honored & Carrie Underwood Shines

👋 Welcome to the ‘Oklahoma Memo.’ 🗞️

As a longtime digital journalist in the great state of Oklahoma, I have long wondered why there hadn’t ever been a one-stop shop for the headlines of the day. Why hasn’t somebody created a ‘Drudge Report’ for the Sooner State?

This is not that exactly.

However, I am not opposed to the ‘Oklahoma Memo’ becoming a one-stop website for Oklahomans to re-engage with journalism. This site will be daily during the week—a place for the most important links, stories with context, and an eye for news whose impact goes beyond Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

And then there’s the weather, always the biggest story in Oklahoma.

Snow, Bitter Cold Impact NW, Northern Oklahoma

KOCO Chief Meteorologist Damon Lane said “clusters of light snow” impacted parts of the state early Monday evening. However, the snow combined with bitter cold and wind chill is keeping some schools across the state closed on Tuesday. Schools were not in session on Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

News 9 Chief Meteorologist David Payne says the state may get close to freezing on Tuesday:

Weather Links:
⛐ Road conditions 
🏠 OKC-area warming shelters
🏠 Tulsa-area warming shelters

Donald Trump Inaugurated As 47th President

News 9’s Washington bureau chief Alex Cameron reviewed some key moments from President Trump’s inauguration on Monday. In his first day back on the job, the president:

• Pardoned Jan. 6 rioters (Tulsa World, paywall)

• Signed numerous executive orders (KOCO)

• Renamed Denali ‘Mount McKinley’ (KFOR)

• Changed the Gulf Of Mexico to the Gulf Of America (News 9)

Kevin Eagleson with Gaylord News covered the Oklahomans who made the trip to Washington D.C. for the historic inaugural. News 9 kept tabs on Oklahoma lawmakers’ reaction to President Trump’s big day.

✨ Don’t Miss This!

But the moment of the day happened when Checotah native and country music superstar Carrie Underwood chose to sing “America The Beautiful” a capella in the face of technical issues that prevented a background track from playing.

In this video, you can see her mouthing, “I can just sing it.” Chills.

Martin Luther King Jr. Honored

Dr. King’s annual holiday coincidentally fell this year on the same day as the inauguration. That has happened only one time before, in 1997, for the start of Bill Clinton’s second term.

Tulsa’s KJRH streamed and posted the full MLK Jr. Day parade. Tulsa’s new Mayor Monroe Nichols was there greeting those who braved the cold to honor Dr. King.

KJRH had this report on Muskogee’s MLK Jr. Day parade, too.

In Oklahoma City, the decision was made to postpone the holiday parade until Saturday, Feb. 1.

KOCO’s Kolby Terrell talked with state Sen. Nikki Nice about educating young people on the life and legacy of Dr. King.

Oklahoma Ethics Commission Is Busy

Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett (1) and State Superintendent Ryan Walters (2) are the subject of three ethics violations investigations, NonDoc reported Monday. Michael McNutt writes that Hiett is being investigated on “complaints he violated conflict-of-interest ethics rules by giving his approval to issues involving Oklahoma Gas & Electric, including an interim order in November approving the utility’s proposed $126.6 million rate hike.”

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Imagine what your public relations and communications efforts could be if your teams truly activated like a newsroom.

• Going direct-to-audience with your messages

• Owning the narrative

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It’s what I do in my new post-newsroom life: work with businesses, brands and entrepreneurs to show them how to ‘activate like a newsroom’ to level up the attention they need to succeed at scale!

Visit my website at doabledigitalmedia.com, or message me anytime at [email protected].

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Today’s Photo:

David Erickson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Who Wrote This?

My name is Ryan Welton, and I’ve been an Oklahoma journalist for three decades having worked at News 9, News On 6 (Griffin Media), KOCO, and long before that the El Campo (TX) Leader-News, Hugo Daily News, Henryetta Daily Free Lance, and The Oklahoma Daily (now OU Daily).

I live in Oklahoma City with my family, and I’m currently watching inauguration coverage on YouTube TV.