Monday, Dec. 22, 2025 • Warm, windy week ahead! Upper 60s today. ☀️

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In today’s Memo:

By Barbara Hoberock, Oklahoma Voice
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OKLAHOMA CITY – The state will have about $692 million less to spend in crafting a budget for the next fiscal year, a state panel was told Friday.

The state will have about $12 billion to spend, or a drop of about 5.6%, according to figures released during the Board of Equalization meeting. 

The Board meets in December to approve figures which Gov. Kevin Stitt will use to craft his executive budget. That budget is a starting point for lawmakers, who will then craft one the state will use for the upcoming fiscal year. 

Stitt, who chairs the board, said the reduction was attributable to a smaller amount in available cash to spend.

With recent tax cuts and the creation of additional tax credits, revenue is still going up, Stitt said.

Stitt said he was “very, very pleased where we are at.”

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By Maddy Keyes, The Frontier
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n the first Monday after Dec. 1 rent payments were due, the phone lines at the Oklahoma City nonprofit Neighborhood Services Organization started ringing off the hook. Hundreds of people called within a two-hour period for rental assistance that day alone. And thousands called in November. 

Landlords started filing evictions against tenants as early as Dec. 8. The nonprofit’s single call operator switched from call to call, offering assistance where she could, as employees in other departments assisted. The influx of calls was expected. About a month ago, hundreds of thousands of Oklahoma families temporarily lost federal food benefits, leaving many with gaps in their monthly budgets.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides low-income families with stipends to buy produce and other food. But those benefits stopped rolling out on Nov. 1 because of the 43-day government shutdown, leaving nearly 700,000 Oklahomans without federal food assistance. 

While SNAP benefits were eventually restored, many families initially received only partial payments in November. A spokesperson for the Department of Human Services said she believes all November payments have since been made in full to SNAP recipients.

Jessica Earley, director of Stay Housed, a program of Neighborhood Services Organization that provides one-time rental assistance to people in need, said lost SNAP benefits likely contributed to tenants falling behind on their budgets in November, which could set them back for future rent payments.

“Last month, we were like, ‘This is going to absolutely kill us in December,'” Earley said.

She expects calls for rental assistance to flood the lines in the coming weeks as more and more people receive eviction notices. The nonprofit offers limited financial assistance to people with a verified emergency that prevents them from paying rent and puts them at risk of eviction, like a flat tire or unexpected job loss. For many, Earley said losing SNAP could be that emergency that tips them over the edge.
“Those clients are already living on very tight margins,” she said. “So the loss of those benefits will definitely contribute to people falling behind.”

Click here to read the full story.

By Ryan Welton, Oklahoma Memo
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For the first time since Grant and I have been recording this end-of-week video, we got the chance to record it in person. That was awesome.

That it took me until Sunday to get it uploaded and Monday to get it into the Oklahoma Memo is not awesome, the result of poor file management on both my Macbook and my iPhone. It was a lengthy conversation, and I wasn’t able to export it until I dealt with my file-size issues elsewhere.

Oh, the inside baseball of content creation.

This conversation was super timely, but not timely enough to acknowledge anything more than the possibility that the Epstein files would be released. It turns out, we only got a partial release, which is in defiance of what Congress ordered. Let’s let the conversation begin there.

That news capped a revealing week in national politics. A Vanity Fair profile based on nearly a year of interviews with Trump adviser Susie Wiles offered rare insight into how the former president governs and views power. Meanwhile, Trump’s mid-week address stood out less for its substance than its tone — subdued, restrained, and seemingly reluctant.

The week also included a flurry of presidential actions, including renaming the Kennedy Center and moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, alongside renewed debate over birthright citizenship and its constitutional roots.

Check out Grant’s work on YouTube and Substack — and his new newsletter called ‘Things You Forgot from Civics Class.”

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:

• These Tulsa restaurants are open on Christmas and Christmas Eve (Tulsa Flyer)

• Defense bill passes Congress, increases military pay and protects Oklahoma bases (News On 6)

• Trump's new immigration restrictions hit Tulsa hard, expert says: 'It's terrifying' (Tulsa World)*

• How this small Oklahoma school district became one the state’s top performers (Oklahoma Voice)

• Judge recused from former Peckham School Superintendent case (Kay News Cow)

• Early Oklahoma bills focus on protecting taxpayers, investing in schools and excluding immigrants (KOSU)

• Oklahoma AG's opinion orders wildlife officials to stop ticketing tribal citizens on reservations (KOSU)

• Fact Check: Sorting truth from spin in Stitt and Drummond’s fight over tribal hunting rights (The Frontier)

• Oklahoma ethics watchdog to implement original election reporting system (Oklahoma Voice)

• Oklahoma’s campaign finance database is back online (Oklahoma Watch)

• PUBLIC COMMENT: SB 1252 would mandate public comment sessions across the state (KJRH)

• 'I couldn't breathe': Family mourns death of man killed in northwest Oklahoma City workplace accident (KOCO)

• Teen dead after crash in Pittsburg County (KFOR)

• Ripe for development: Edmond's former city hall, court, downtown land (The Oklahoman)*

• After decades, federal judge issues cleanup plan in Oklahoma poultry pollution lawsuit (KOSU)

• How proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act could impact Oklahoma wildlife (KGOU)

• How did OU get 50 Cent to perform at its College Football Playoff game? Joe C explains (Tulsa World)

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