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Monday, October 26, 2026 • Cloudy. 75-77. ☁️
🚨 BREAKING: Thunder star Jalen Williams leaves on stretcher after leg injury vs. Clippers (CBS Sports)
🎙️ Oklahoma Memo Podcast
OKLAHOMA MEMO
OU finally moves the ball, but is it enough? | The Long View
OKLAHOMA MEMO
Oklahoma State crushes Colorado: Is a Big 12 championship within reach?
Poll results:
We received 276 votes on the Saturday poll, “Should Oklahoma schools face penalties when students consistently perform poorly on state tests?”
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes, schools need accountability. (58)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ No, struggling schools need more support, not penalties. (69)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Both accountability and additional support. (147)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Not sure. (2)
New poll question at the bottom of today’s newsletter. (You can also suggest a poll question by emailing me at [email protected].)
Two candidates want to shape Oklahoma’s energy future. They disagree on how to regulate it
Paige Stampatori for ProPublica and The Frontier; Source images: Nick Oxford, September Dawn Bottoms and Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica; Kevin Kiefuik
By Nick Bowlin & Brianna Bailey, The Frontier
👉 Click here to support this newsroom
This article was produced in partnership with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network. Sign up for Dispatches to get ProPublica stories in your inbox every week.
Two very different candidates are running for the open seat on Oklahoma’s commission that oversees utilities and the state’s mighty oil and gas industry.
The Frontier and ProPublica’s reporting has uncovered how Oklahoma regulators have known about widespread oilfield pollution from toxic wastewater for years. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has at times failed to enforce its own rules or make oil and gas companies clean up pollution, our investigation found. Agency leaders in some cases decided not to act despite recommendations by their own staff to create stricter rules or punish polluters. The Frontier has also covered rising electricity costs as utilities build new capacity to keep pace with a boom in data center construction and increased demand from other large power users.
Three elected commissioners oversee the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and have the power to develop and enforce rules for the oil and gas industry, public utilities, railroads and trucking companies, and other key industries in the state. The commissioners, who serve six-year terms, also decide whether to fine companies that violate state pollution laws. For nearly two decades, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission has been run exclusively by Republicans, often heavily supported by donations from the industries they regulate. The last Democrat to hold a seat on the commission left office in 2009.
We asked the candidates how they would address utility costs, the state’s crisis of abandoned wells and the growing number of pollution incidents caused by oilfield wastewater erupting from the ground, known as purges.
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The Oklahoma Rundown 📰
Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.
Here’s what’s happening in Oklahoma today:
How do Oklahoma gubernatorial candidates' time in the legislature match their campaign agenda? (KOSU)
Oklahoma SQ 847 proposes decreasing cap on property tax growth (KOSU)
Voters to choose whether Oklahoma’s top judges keep their jobs Nov. 3 (Tulsa Flyer)
Oklahoma AG opinion prevents extra vote on Jewish charter school (Oklahoma Voice)
Tulsa Public Schools’ special education families seek answers as school closures bring uncertainty (KJRH)
Yukon mayor recall election fueled by data center angst, transparency concerns (NonDoc)
Low turnout sinks Kiowa Tribe special election on enrollment, constitutional amendments (KOSU)
Oklahoma City plans $1.3 million Douglass Park renovation (News 9)
Ponca City man arrested in Osage County on kidnapping charges (Kay News Cow)
Passenger killed, driver hurt after UTV crash in Carter County (KXII)
OU football player Sean Hutton released from hospital after suffering medical event during practice (KOCO)
Rain chances, cloud cover headline the forecast this week (Fox 25)
Monday Poll
How much do you know about the judges on your November ballot?
Explain this to me!
What’s happening in Oklahoma that doesn’t make sense to you? Send me your question. I may answer it here in Oklahoma Memo or turn it into a video.
Email: [email protected]
How to support Oklahoma Memo
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Thank you. Have a wonderful day ‼️
(P.S. Be sure and check out the Oklahoma Memo YouTube channel for long-form conversations and news explainers. You can also listen to this content wherever you get your podcasts!)