StateImpact Oklahoma

Earlier this year a teacher shortage in Oklahoma forced hundreds of school districts to close their doors because of a lack of substitutes to fill in for educators out with the coronavirus. But StateImpact’s Robby Korth reports even though it’s no longer in the headlines, the substitute teacher shortage persists.

On February 22, Governor Kevin Stitt announced plans for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority to embark on a $5 billion, 15-year project to expand Oklahoma’s turnpike network. Two families facing displacement from the turnpike project told their stories to StateImpact’s Beth Wallis. In Part 2, you’ll hear the story of Darla and Cedric LeBlanc, a Norman family whose home and horticulture business sits i...

On February 22, Governor Kevin Stitt announced plans for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority to embark on a $5 billion, 15-year project to expand Oklahoma’s turnpike network. The effort to expand the turnpike loop around Oklahoma City south and west, through the Moore and Norman areas is raising concerns about water quality, the preservation of wildlife, property rights and even the rare rose rock. Bu...

The newest round of CDC numbers sound bad. No. 11 for chlamydia. No. 5 for gonorrhea. No. 4 for syphilis. these high rates — revealed in the CDC’s STI data for 2020 — aren’t new for Oklahoma. But local experts believe the pandemic worsened STI rates in much the same way that it worsened other health outcomes.

A joint investigation by nonprofit news outlets Oklahoma Watch and The Frontier found that Governor Kevin Stitt and his now-Secretary of Education Ryan Walters pushed $18 million to a Florida company called Class Wallet to distribute CARES Act funds. StateImpact’s Robby Korth spoke with one of the authors of that article, Clifton Adcock, about his work on the story. Read the full story here: https...

In Oklahoma, culture wars can feel exhausting to marginalized youth. So StateImpact’s Robby Korth and KOSU’s Kateleigh Mills are embarking on a listening tour and they’re bringing microphones. Now, they need your help.

StateImpact is on a listening tour with Oklahoma’s youth. And we’ve brought along our microphones. In the first session, two transgender high school juniors from Tulsa share how they feel about their education and their place in the state. Their names are MJ and Dominik, and they sat with StateImpact’s Robby Korth earlier this month. StateImpact’s Robby Korth and KOSU’s Kateleigh Mills produced th...

The economic impact of Oklahoma’s blossoming industry reaches far beyond cannabis business owners — from packaging and banking partners to storefront landlords and thousands of employees. But as for state and local revenue from cannabis taxes, officials hesitate to characterize the industry as a silver bullet to the state’s economic woes. Hear the story of one entrepreneur who struck gold in Oklah...

Oklahoma schools have an $80 million problem. That’s how much money county assessors say local governments are owed in taxes but are currently held in escrow amid protests. StateImpact’s Robby Korth reports on a property tax fight that’s hurting schools.

Oklahoma lawmakers are in a mad dash to eradicate abortion in Oklahoma, passing a slew of bills to restrict — and in some cases, even criminalize — the procedure. These laws now stand a better chance of going into effect, and that if they do, will have a major impact on the region, not just Oklahoma.

Even though cases are down, thousands of Oklahomans are still dealing with COVID symptoms. As many as one in three who are infected with the virus will continue to have symptoms for weeks — or even months — after recovery. StateImpact talked with more than a dozen Oklahomans about their experiences with long-term COVID symptoms. What did those symptoms look like? To be honest, the experiences were...

The rare American Burying Beetle could hold the key to new medical treatments and novel meat preservation methods. But these beetles are facing threats that could wipe them out of Oklahoma — and perhaps most of the country. And some conservationists say the government hasn’t done enough to protect the dwindling population of ABBs.

Oklahoma Republicans are split on Senate Bill 1647. The measure would give private school families vouchers to pay for tuition. But many rural state lawmakers say school choice in their towns is different. So, StateImpact’s Robby Korth went to one small town to see. What does school choice look like in rural Oklahoma?

Research into how psychedelic mushrooms could help patients with mental health conditions is gaining momentum, even in Oklahoma. Some state lawmakers are interested in the idea — if it helps veterans.

This new frontier of electric vehicles in Oklahoma isn’t without its challenges — accessibility, range anxiety, infrastructure and competing in a state with a historic reliance on oil and gas production. But Oklahoma is paving the road ahead by building out its charging network and rethinking its motor fuel tax structure.

Oklahoma secrecy laws allow the state to obscure where it gets lethal injection drugs. Given the state's track record, the critics say, that shouldn't be the case. StateImpact Editor Logan Layden talks with health reporter Catherine Sweeney about the state's controversial protocol, the drugs it uses to execute Oklahomans, and the secrecy laws that obscure where officials buy them.

For the last year Oklahoma Republicans have derided Critical Race Theory as a racist way of teaching that discriminates against white students. StateImpact’s Robby Korth reports it’s been a difficult debate to watch for at least one Black father and scholar of the subject.

Residents have been missing out on cancer screenings, diabetes management and other services that prevent and detect disease.

For the last two decades, the grasshoppers of the Konza Prairie Biological Station in Manhattan, Kansas, have been declining significantly — even as their main food source, grass, has nearly doubled in abundance. Researchers analyzed decades of grass samples and found that increased CO2 and climate change have caused these plants to become less nutritious. And this process — nutrient dilution — is...

The books in Oklahoma school libraries don’t end up on the shelves by accident. A few parent groups and legislators are trying to limit what appears in school libraries. StateImpact's Robby Korth reports on how librarians decide which books are available to kids.

The Oklahoma Legislature is back in session on February 7th. Managing editor Logan Layden led a discussion with the StateImpact Oklahoma reporters on what they'll be covering, including how to deal with Medicaid expansion, new regulations on the marijuana industry, and the influence of state government on what's taught and read in schools.

When Gov. Kevin Stitt announced in October 2020 that his administration would soon move the state’s Public Health Laboratory from Oklahoma City to Stillwater, opposition came quickly. The Frontier’s Kassie McClung and Kayla Brand partnered with StateImpact and spent more than a year requesting emails, invoices and other documents related to the public health lab and the state’s newly Pandemic Cent...

Oklahoma recorded some of its highest daily case counts of the pandemic in the past week. You wouldn’t think so, just looking around. Virtually no mask mandates in businesses or cities. Many employers requiring in-person work. Schools and universities welcoming all of their students back to the physical classroom. But health officials say new issues have cropped up this time: more dire work s...

Drug treatment courts help those charged with drug and alcohol offenses straighten out their lives, with documented success, such as with former Oklahoma Sen. Cal Hobson. But efforts to reform the state’s criminal justice system are causing unintended consequences for the program. 

Fewer Oklahoma schools are requiring masks in their classrooms than at any point during the pandemic. In a conversation with StateImpact Managing Editor Logan Layden, education reporter Robby Korth says going into the spring 2022 semester that already dwindling number could get even smaller.