Saturday, February 21, 2026 • Cool day, sunny. Upper 40s. ☀️

Virtually identical weather for Sunday.

Weekend events:
5 ways to spend your weekend in Tulsa Feb. 20-22 (Tulsa Flyer)
Things to do in Oklahoma City (Visit OKC)

By Samuel Larreal, NOTUS (Oklahoma Watch)
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Republican state legislators in several states want to pause new data center construction, a break with President Donald Trump and most congressional Republicans.

Republicans in Washington have broadly backed the explosion of the tech industry in the U.S. But in their home states, the rapid expansion of massive data centers has sparked backlash from constituents with a range of complaints about the developments.

And now some Republican state lawmakers want to, at minimum, slow the spread of those developments by crafting new energy usage agreements. In other states, they want more, going so far as to propose a pause in the construction of new data centers altogether.

👉 Click here for the full story.

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

• Human remains found in search for missing Oklahoma teens Molly Miller and Colt Haynes (KXII)

• Supreme Court hears Hawaii gun case that could affect Oklahoma open carry law (Gaylord News)

• Tulsa business owners react to SCOTUS decision on Trump tariffs (2 News Oklahoma)

• Lawmakers race through committee work to address thousands of bills (KGOU)

• Bill limiting AI access for minors advances from Senate tech committee (KOSU)

• Lawsuit reveals shocking utility bill for a crypto-mining data center (The Oklahoman)*

• Cooler weather brings some relief to Oklahoma firefighters (KOSU)

• Wildfire burns 1,400 acres in Ochelata area; burn ban issued in Tulsa County (Tulsa World)*

• Human remains found at OU construction site for new laboratory building (OU Daily)

• What are health care sharing ministries, why do lawmakers want to give their members tax deductions? (KGOU)

• Oklahoma lawmakers want to make dewormer drug ivermectin available over the counter (KOSU)

• Sweet Caroline! Neil Diamond musical delivers on sing-along promise at Tulsa PAC (Tulsa Flyer)

In this week’s Oklahoma Memo podcast, I’m joined by Grant Hermes (Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes) to connect three stories that look unrelated until you zoom out: Mustang Public Schools suspending 122 students after a Feb. 5 walkout, international pressure building around the Epstein files, and signals that the U.S. could be escalating toward a conflict with Iran.

Grant breaks down why the Mustang situation is almost certainly headed to court — and why “discovery” could reveal a lot more than the public has seen so far. We also talk about how protest movements can spill over fast once institutions clamp down, and why this weekend could be one to keep your breaking news alerts on.

A bill aimed at strengthening safety standards for children in state-funded services cleared its first major hurdle this week.

Senate Bill 1421 passed unanimously out of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and now heads to the Senate floor. The bill would codify existing policy requiring nonviolent, trauma-informed interaction training for professionals who work directly with children in state-funded settings.

Brandy Torres-DeMark, founder of the Our Kids Deserve Better Coalition, says the measure doesn’t create new programs or criminal penalties. Instead, it places existing standards into statute so they cannot be changed administratively from one agency head to the next.

A daily briefing connecting Oklahomans to the state’s best journalism — and original content from Oklahoma Memo.

What story should I be watching next week? Hit reply — I read (and reply to) every message. 📧 [email protected]