Let's Pod This

We are just days away from the beginning of the 2022 legislative session and boy-oh-boy what a wild week it’s been. In this episode we’re going to be talking about the state budget, how it’s looking, what we expect the Governor and the legislature will prioritize when it comes to spending your money, and what issues we hope they’ll consider. We are joined by special guest Emma Morris, who is a pol...

Senator Julia Kirt and Representative Cyndi Munson join the show to discuss the recent article published by Oklahoma Watch which aggregates legislators' conflict of interest disclosure forms, the nature of legislative conflicts of interest in general, and the bills they filed to address the state's disability services waiting list.

This week the battle between Governor Stitt and Oklahoma’s public education escalated further, the State Election Board released the annual voter registration tally, and the bill filing deadline has officially passed. Let’s start with the numbers. According to the State Election Board , as of January 15th, 2022 Oklahoma had 2,218,374 registered voters, which is actually 54,000 fewer voters than we...

The omicron variant of Covid continues to ravage our state, with more than 11,000 new cases reported today and many businesses and schools forced to close. Bill filing continues, and, true to form, many of the proposed laws are simply undemocratic, unconstitutional, and generally bad policy. We talk about all that plus McGirt, Mayoral races, and more!

With less than a month before the legislative session begins, we're already seeing bills being filed, budgets being discussed, and elected officials indicted by grand juries. Wait...what? All that and more in this episode as we discuss what we expect to happen over the next five months.

Andy & Scott discuss the latest on the Epic Charter School debacle (including breaking news that occurred while we were recording), the latest in Covid, and our current television viewing interests.

Alyssa Fisher joins the pod to chat about the weather, local elections, and, most importantly, to tell us about the new Ambassador Program at Sally's List . Things mentioned: Oklahoma Watch: They Don’t Vote, But They Do Count: How the Incarcerated Skew Political Representation in Oklahoma The Oklahoman: Stitt administration suing Dept of Defense over vaccine requirement NonDoc: The unearthed Joe E...

It's been a difficult week. As redistricting draws to its disappointing end, Governor Stitt tries to score political points by blocking vaccines for our National Guard and offering a last-minute merciful reduction in Julius Jones' death sentence.

Wanda Felty (OUHSC Center for Learning and Excellence) and RoseAnn Duplan (OK Disability Law Center) join the show to discuss Oklahoma's disability services waiting list, why it's *still* moving so slowly despite the rhetoric from the Governor & legislature. We also discuss Oklahoma redistricting, the firing of Maj. Gen. Mike Thompson, and Julius Jones. Public Radio Tulsa story on Mike Thompso...

Governor Stitt travels to Mexico where he travels in style, opposes vaccine mandates, and remains aloof on the subject of Julius Jones' life (which *still* hangs in the balance). Also, the legislature is trying to gerrymander Oklahoma County.

There's so much going on, we have to do a lightning round. Some good, a lot of bad. Don't give up the fight.

We discuss the quarterly polling data from Amber Integrated (mentioned last episode), the state threatening to sue the feds, and how the contract signing event with Canoo was a bit of a publicity stunt. Links discussed: Polling from last week that we said we’d cover Can the Governor spell Constitution? Governor Stitt’s AG tells business to ignore the federal vaccine mandate Oklahoma Tea Party is a...

Joy Hofmeister enters the the race for Governor...as a Democrat! Also some other stuff happened, but that's most of what we discuss. Links discussed in episode: First, the public affairs software company Quorum recently released a report summarizing information about state legislatures during 2021. Some interesting takeaways: In general, the larger a state's population, the more bills their legisl...

Bailey's back! Also, US Senator James Lankford now has three opponents - two conservative Republicans and a newcomer Democrat. We discuss the dynamics of that race, down-ballot races, and the racial disparity in police shooting (a data point for which Oklahoma ranks #1 in the nation). Links mentioned: Oklahoma has highest rate of people killed by police

More than six weeks since the 2020 Census data was released, but the Oklahoma legislature has yet to release any maps. What's up with that? Also—a breaking news announcement happened during recording! Outline & Links State Fair is underway! And tonight: Ginuwine! Oklahoma passes 10,000 Covid deaths Stitt’s removal of two OHCA board members over the Labor Day weekend has ruffled the feathers of...

There's been considerable trouble in the Western Heights school district over the last couple of years...and "trouble" doesn't begin to describe it. Thanks to strong journalism by the folks at NonDoc and others, we were able to put together a pretty comprehensive timeline for you, which we'll detail in this episode (it is included below with links to all the stories). Remember: local elections mat...

We discuss the far-reaching implications of Texas' new abortion law with attorney Melanie Rughani and then catch up on the latest developments from the OK Dept of Labor with Commissioner Leslie Osborn.

We accidentally took last week off and getting back into the swing of things amidst a pandemic means we wax poetic about where we're been and where we're headed next. Everything is terrible; please keep going.

Oklahoma schools started their year without the ability to mandate masks, and as Covid predictably spreads through staff and students, some districts are finding ways around the law so that they can mitigate the pandemic's spread. Also, Sara Jane Rose and Alyssa Fisher from Sally's List join the pod to discuss how they're preparing progressive female candidates for the 2022 election cycle.

Despite mounting pressure from voters, especially parents, Governor Stitt continues to refuse to issue a "state of emergency" declaration, a decision that has negative consequences for Oklahoma's ability to respond to the pandemic far beyond mask mandates in school. We're joined by state Senator Julia Kirt (D-SD30) to discuss that and more. Newly appointed attorney General John O’Connor has filed...

As we prepare to enter the third school year affected by Covid, we're joined by OEA's Amanda Ewing to discuss what's on the mind of teachers and how the government could (or should) respond.

This week: A bogus witch hunt in public education. The Governor ended his McGirt panel due to protesters. Power struggle in Western Heights school district. A former Cherokee chief will be featured on the quarter. Episode outline: The State Board of Education adopted rules following passage of HB1775 .  Western Heights school district fired superintendent, appointed a new one, then SBE said n...

Update on the prison closure, Congressional redistricting, and the one year anniversary of the McGirt ruling. Full description with links: Last week we discussed the closure of the prison in Ft. Supply, and this week Senator Casey Murdock has asked Governor Stitt to delay closing the prison . Senator Murdock has raised concerns that closing the prison would cost the state money...which seems to be...

The Oklahoma Dept of Corrections is closing a prison in Ft. Supply and, well, it's a complicated matter. We break down how it may affect the town and the state. Plus, Effie Rorke joins Scott and Andy to discuss her experience of variations in voting from state to state. A few notes: Prison being closed in NW Oklahoma has several implications...but it’s a mixed bag. Fewer incarcerated people saves...

Covid is up, tuition is up, TSET effectiveness is in question, Canoo incentives are secret, and we still don't have an Attorney General. Let's talk about it. COVID cases are increasing in Oklahoma and around the country. OK has roughly doubled the number of new diagnoses since the beginning of June. Likely due to Delta variant (as there is an outbreak in Missouri), but we can’t know for sure becau...