Listen Frontier

As local jails have morphed into some of the largest mental health treatment facilities in the U.S., many counties have outsourced medical care to private companies that promise to contain rising costs. Turn Key is one of the fastest growing in the middle of the country. At least 50 people who were under Turn Key’s care died during the past decade, an investigation by The Marshall Project and The...

Thousands of Chinese immigrant laborers suffer abuse and exploitation in a U.S. marijuana underworld dominated by Chinese mafias. A human rights advocate says: “They have not escaped the darkness of China.” Today we speak with Frontier reporters Garrett Yalch and Clifton Adcock about their reporting series looking at Oklahoma's medical marijuana black market, as well as their new story about the h...

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said at a press conference after the execution that Layla Cumming’s family finally has justice after 40 years. Cummings' family didn’t attend the press conference. But Drummond read a letter on behalf of Layla’s mother, Mindy Cummings. “Today marks the final chapter of justice determined by three separate juries for Richard Rojem’s heinous acts nearly 40...

On this episode of Listen Frontier, Frontier executive editor Dylan Goforth speaks with reporter Ashlynd Huffman about her coverage of the Richard Rojem case. Rojem, Oklahoma's longest-serving death row inmate, was convicted for the 1984 murder of his 7-year-old stepdaughter Layla Cummings. This is  Listen Frontier , a podcast exploring the investigative journalism of the Frontier and fe...

Judge Gary Lumpkin made the remarks during a hearing Tuesday on the state’s request to further delay the time between executions from 60 days to 90 days to reduce strain on staff. 

Placeholder

placeholder

A special legislative session called by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will begin on Monday. Stitt hopes lawmakers will pass a quarter-cent income tax cut, though that appears unlikely.  Leadership in the Oklahoma House of Representatives has indicated they’ll pass the cut, calling it another step toward leading Oklahoma to zero income tax, but the Senate’s leader says Stitt hasn’t shown a detaile...

Firearms have been the leading cause of domestic violence homicides in Oklahoma since 1998. The state’s anti-red flag law bans any efforts to seize weapons by court order.

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services continued to refer clients to a troubled center for people with developmental disabilities for months after reports of systemic abuse first surfaced. A former Greer Center staff member said coworkers retaliated against her after she reported the allegations. Frontier reporter Kayla Branch has been covering the story for months, and on this episode of Liste...

Ebony Johnson replaced former superintendent Deborah Gist in September. It was a chaotic start - TPS, the state's largest school district with more than 30,000 students, was under the threat of takeover by the state board of education, as state Superintendent Ryan Walters targeted Gist and TPS with criticism and ultimatums. Gist eventually stepped down, Johnson was appointed, and tensions cooled s...

Karen Keith worked as a television reporter before moving to the local chamber of commerce and later a post in the mayor's office. She now serves as one of three Tulsa County Commissioners. Next up? Possibly the most powerful position in local city government. On this episode of Listen Frontier, Keith talks with us about her past, why she wants to be mayor, and what she thinks she can accomplish.

Rep. Monroe Nichols, D-Tulsa, is one of the more outspoken members of Oklahoma's Legislature. Now he wants to take his talents to Tulsa's City Hall where he would become Tulsa's first Black mayor. The election isn't for 12 months, but Nichols declared his candidacy early in order to get a head start campaigning, and, he said, to give him the time to dive more deeply into the issues facing Tulsa. O...

Sen. James Lankford, now Oklahoma’s Senior Senator following the retirement of Jim Inhofe, took time this week to speak with The Frontier about immigration, abortion, the McGirt decision and the state of “Trump-ism” in the Republican Party.

When Brandi Garner took over as Interim CEO of the Oklahoma County Detention Center in January, she inherited an aging facility with chronic staffing shortages and a high number of prisoner deaths. Frontier Managing Editor Brianna Bailey spoke with Garner about her plans to turn things around. 

Following his inauguration last month, new Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has wasted no time in making his mark on the state. Drummond was elected in November and sworn in last month, but he truly began preparing for the job last summer after he defeated former AG John O’Connor in the Republican Primary. 

Despite facing an opponent many believed would give him a challenge in his bid for re-election, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt coasted to victory on election night. Now that his second-term is beginning, he spent time with us to go over his priorities for the next four years.

The state is deeply red, but the two most high-profile races this cycle are seemingly up for grabs. Depending on who you believe, incumbent Gov. Kevin Stitt is trailing Democrat challenger Joy Hofmeister, who has served two terms as the state’s Superintendent of schools. And Republican Ryan Walters, who is attempting to replace Hofmeister as Superintendent, is fighting for votes against Jena Nelso...

Gov. Kevin Stitt is traveling to rural Oklahoma, defending his record and hitting up the state's metro areas, stumping with national figures like Ted Cruz and Glenn Youngkin. Challenger Joy Hofmeister is on a "50-stop bus tour" preaching unity, advertising her "aggressively moderate" brand, and vowing to help "all Oklahomans." On this episode of Listen Frontier, I speak about the final days before...

Oklahoma’s primary election day led to a few surprises, a number of runoffs and some big wins that set up a number of fascinating storylines leading into the next few months. Incumbent governor Kevin Stitt won his party’s nomination, as did Democrat Joy Hofmeister, who will face Stitt in November. Stitt’s attorney general, John O’Connor, was defeated by Tulsa lawyer Genter Drummond, a vote that wi...

The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a lower court ruling from 2021, instead deciding that Oklahoma can prosecute non-Native Oklahomans who commit crimes against tribal members on tribal land. The court’s decision overturns a previous ruling by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals that vacated the Tulsa County conviction of Victor Manuel Castro-Huerta. Castro-Huerta, a non-Nativ...

United States Senator Jim Inhofe has been a fixture in Oklahoma politics since the 1960s. But in February the 87-year-old announced he would be resigning less than two years into his most recent term. The timing of his announcement is key. Inhofe said he would stay in office until next year, meaning that Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt can’t nominate an interim replacement. Instead, a special election w...

"Critical Race Theory" has become, for some, a blanket term that can encapsulate any number of things. On this edition of the Listen Frontier podcast, Clifton Adcock talks about his most recent story, where he noted that lawmakers here were moving beyond just outlawing Critical Race Theory, and were linking other school teachings to "leftist indoctrination."

When Joy Hofmeister announced last year she would run for governor in 2022, it wasn’t a surprise. Her name had been tossed around for the last couple years as a potential opponent for incumbent Republican Kevin Stitt. But what did come as a surprise for some was that Hofmeister, a lifelong Republican, was running as a Democrat. Many wondered what that meant … would she govern as a dDemocrat? Was s...

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Monday gave a wide-ranging 45 minute State of the State Address, touching on a number of topics including education, criminal justice, the McGirt decision, medical marijuana but, notably, not the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On today's Listen Frontier, host Dylan Goforth discusses the speech with Frontier State Government reporter Kayla Branch.