Thursday, June 11, 2026 • Hot with evening storm chances. Low-to-mid 90s. 🌩️

• Severe weather risk increases Thursday in Oklahoma as cold front moves in (KOCO)

✅ Early voting starts TODAY ahead of the June 16 primary (Oklahoma Voice)

And here’s a primary election guide from KOCO.

**

We received 69 votes on the Wednesday poll, “Should donors be allowed to anonymously fund political campaigns in Oklahoma?”

• 4 said YES
• 65 said NO

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

By Andrea Eger, Oklahoma Watch
👉 Click here to support this newsroom

Supporters of a proposal to build a $4 billion aluminum plant at the Port of Inola aren’t packing town hall meetings.

They aren’t cheering on the attorney general’s lawsuit to try to block the development.

They aren’t booing Gov. Kevin Stitt’s calls to reduce America’s reliance on foreign metal. 

They’re quietly running the local school district and nearby Career Tech center. 

Or they’re retired now and hoping a major new company could increase local tax revenue and maybe even bring in some new restaurants.

They aren’t engaging in public rhetoric, but they do exist.

“This is controversial times 100,” said Jeff Unrau, superintendent of Inola Public Schools. “I’ve seen lifelong friendships severed in the last few months just over the thought of an aluminum smelter being built here, and it hasn’t even happened yet.”

With emotions running high in his community, Unrau said he prefers to deal in facts. And he believes the aluminum smelter is coming to Inola regardless of local opinions.

“There are legitimate concerns that need to be addressed,” Unrau said. “I’m an Inola guy; I want my cake and I want to eat it, too, but I don’t want money at the expense of the environment or people’s well-being. I want it, but I want it to be clean.”

The fact of the matter is, Inola Public Schools stands to benefit the most, eventually, if investors at Emirates Global Aluminum and Century Aluminum go through with their plan to construct the Oklahoma Primary Aluminum plant by 2030. 

Other recipients of local property tax revenue that stand to see their coffers grow to a lesser degree are the Town of Inola, Rogers County and its health department and fairgrounds, and Northeast Technology Center.

👉 Click here to read the full story

Investors face a dilemma. When the S&P 500 finished its worst quarter since 2022 last month, diversifiers like bonds and bitcoin fell too.

Even with the turnaround in mid-April, analysts at Goldman Sachs and Vanguard have projected low-single-digit annualized returns from 2024-2034.

Bloomberg asked where experts would personally invest $100,000 for their March monthly edition.

One answer that surfaced for a second time? Art.

It's what billionaires like Bezos and the Rockefellers have privately used to diversify for decades.

Why?

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

Here’s what’s happening in Oklahoma today:

• Oklahoma governor candidates funnel $22 million in personal money to campaigns (Oklahoma Voice)

• Historic Oklahoma City Dolese Mansion could be yours, if the price is right (KFOR)

• Integris Health to close Pediatric Endocrinology Clinic in October (KFOR)

• Company pulls back from proposed data center property deal in Broken Arrow (News On 6)

• Oklahoma adjusts SNAP benefits after federal law changes eligibility rules (KOCO)

• Two Republicans and a Libertarian aim to be Oklahoma's next state treasurer (KOSU)

• Hamon to step away from City Council at end of term next year (Oklahoma City Free Press)

• Man accused of stealing oilfield pumpjacks also facing fraud lawsuit (The Oklahoman)*

• Wagoner mayor not pleased with county's plan for downtown overpass (Tulsa World)*

• Hall, Duel secure $1.4 Million for Guthrie water, wastewater improvements (Guthrie News Page)

• Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office: Missing man found alive in drain (2 News Oklahoma)

• Oklahoma pop culture museum making progress in designing exhibits, collecting artifacts (Oklahoma Voice)

• Rhema Bible Church senior pastors fire their son as chief operating officer (Tulsa World)*

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