Listen Frontier

Data centers are coming to Tulsa. Eventually. But that momentum has hit a pause. City leaders have unanimously approved a temporary moratorium on new data center development, stepping back amid growing concerns about what these massive projects could mean for Tulsa’s power grid, water supply and long-term growth. At the same time, data centers promise jobs, investment, infrastructure and a foothol...

Today on the Listen Frontier podcast, we’re talking about one of the more surprising political shakeups in Washington — the firing of Kristi Noem and the appointment of Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her. Noem was abruptly pushed out of her role leading the Department of Homeland Security by President Donald Trump, setting off a scramble over who would take over one of the federal gover...

In our latest investigation, reporter Nick Bowlin digs into a troubling question: What happens when families report salty, oily drinking water that leaves sores in their mouths — and the state declines to determine the cause? In “Salty, oily drinking water left sores in their mouths. Oklahoma refused to find out why,” Nick traces complaints of oilfield contamination, examines how regulators respon...

Frontier: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of listen frontier today. I am joined by Hart Brown, the president of artificial intelligence and transformation at Saxum. He also helped author Governor Stitt's Artificial Intelligence strategy for the state. Thanks for joining us today. I wondered if you would tell us a little bit first about yourself, your background and how you got involved in...

Immigration detention usually happens out of public view — inside private prisons, through sealed court filings, and far from scrutiny. But in Oklahoma, those cases are starting to surface. In recent months, immigrants who’ve lived in the U.S. for years — some for decades — have been jailed for months without bond hearings, even when they have no criminal convictions and deep ties to their communi...

For the past several months, Frontier reporter Clifton Adcock has been digging into one of the fastest-moving — and least transparent — developments in Oklahoma: the rapid rise of data centers. These facilities promise big investment, but they also bring enormous demands for power and water, and much of the planning has happened out of public view. In this week’s Q&A, Clifton walks us through...

Frontier: We spoke back in the spring about the cellphone bill you ran that would remove cell phones from classrooms. Catch our listeners up on where that stands today.  Seifried: It’s been in effect for almost two months in Oklahoma, and the results and the feedback have just been amazing. I heard from schools and administrators early on, talking about the lunchrooms being louder and the hal...

klahoma voters won’t choose their next governor for another year, but the Republican primary is already heating up. Recent polling from former Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall’s campaign suggests the race between McCall and Attorney General Gentner Drummond is closer than you might think. But as other candidates begin to join the fray, the Drummond camp says that’s not true.  The survey,...

This week on Listen Frontier , we’re looking at Operation SAFE, Governor Kevin Stitt’s effort to clear homeless encampments in Tulsa with the help of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. The Frontier sat down with Gov. Stitt, who told me the operation isn’t about solving homelessness, but about enforcing the law. He said Oklahomans are experiencing “compassion fatigue,” and that many of the people removed...

Oklahoma is racing to attract data centers, facilities that store and process the information powering everything from streaming services to artificial intelligence, to the Sooner State. Governor Kevin Stitt has touted them as a cornerstone of economic growth, but as more projects roll into communities, residents and lawmakers are asking questions: How much water and electricity will these centers...

On Wednesday, Tulsa’s City Council is set to vote on an ordinance that would limit what Tulsans can do on sidewalks and medians. The proposed ordinance comes after two incidents, one in 2023, and one in 2024, where two separate people were killed while standing in center medians. Councilor Phil Lakin, who spoke to The Frontier on Monday about the ordinance, said it was about public safety. Many me...

Five years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark McGirt v. Oklahoma decision affirmed much of eastern Oklahoma as Indian Country, some towns are still issuing traffic and municipal tickets to tribal citizens. In this episode, we talk with reporters Clifton Adcock and Allison Herrera about their investigation into why this happens, how it plays out in municipal courts, and what that means for tri...

Chuck Hoskin Jr. has served as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation since 2019, leading the tribe through a period of historic legal shifts, economic investment, and political tension.  At the center of much of it is McGirt v. Oklahoma, the landmark 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed much of eastern Oklahoma remains reservation land. That ruling reshaped how justice is administe...

Oklahoma has officially adopted new social studies standards that require public school students to be taught about "discrepancies" in the 2020 presidential election — language critics say mirrors debunked conspiracy theories .  Despite the lack of evidence supporting claims of widespread voter fraud, the state’s new standards embed references that educators and parents fear could mislead stu...

In this episode of Listen Frontier, we sit down with Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt just days after the Thunder captured their first NBA championship — a moment that’s left the city buzzing. Holt reflects on what this unforgettable Finals series meant not just for basketball fans, but for the city itself. We talk about the energy in the arena, the grit of the team, and how the Thunder's run became...

Gentner Drummond. Ryan Walters. Matt Pinnell.  A year out from the 2026 primary elections, those three names have emerged as leaders to be Oklahoma’s next Republican candidate for governor. The catch? Only one of them has officially declared their candidacy. Drummond, Oklahoma’s Attorney General, has a large -— though not insurmountable lead — according to polling released Wednesday by Sooner...

House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson has entered a growing contest to replace Kevin Stitt as Oklahoma’s next governor. The odds are stacked against Munson - when election day rolls around next year, it will have been 20 years since Oklahoma last elected a Democrat as Governor. But that’s not slowing down Munson, who said she hopes to provide an alternative to the conservative candidates currently du...

Sen. Ally Seifried, R-Claremore, told The Frontier she hopes her bill will help Oklahoma schools limit cellphone use and increase learning outcomes. This is  Listen Frontier , a podcast exploring the investigative journalism of the Frontier and featuring conversations with those on the frontlines of Oklahoma’s most important stories. Listen to us  Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify ,&nb...

Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton is “100 percent on board” with Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s proposed half-percent income tax cut – but it’s a cautious 100 percent.  Paxton told The Frontier that recent Board of Equalization figures, which show Oklahoma’s budget to be short of expectations following last year’s grocery tax cut, make him wary of the possibility of a return to the stat...

The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday  directed Oklahoma to vacate  the murder conviction of Richard Glossip, the state’s most famous death row inmate, finding that prosecutors violated Glossip’s civil rights during his trial more than 20 years ago.  “Glossip is entitled to a new trial,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the majority opinion for five justices. She was joined by...

Federal courts have found a man’s videotaped confession in the 1984 death of an Ada convenience store clerk to be almost entirely false but the state of Oklahoma is still fighting in court over whether it can be used against him in a new trial.  The confession is one of the few remaining pieces of evidence the state has against Karl Fontenot in the abduction and killing of Donna Denise Harawa...

During his penultimate State of the State address earlier this month, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt called for "half and a path" - his term for a half-percent income tax cut that would put us on a "path to zero" income tax. Joining us on the podcast today is Aanahita Ervin, fiscal policy analyst for the Oklahoma Policy Institute. Ervin said the state cannot afford even a half-percent income tax cu...

The race is on.  Oklahoma Attorney General Genter Drummond has thrown his hat into the ring, seeking to replace term-limited Kevin Stitt as Oklahoma's Governor in 2026. Drummond is the first candidate to announce, and has been considered a strong contender to replace Stitt since being elected to his AG post in 2022. On this episode of Listen Frontier, we talk with Republican political strateg...

A group is seeking to boost voter participation in Oklahoma by opening primary elections to all voters, regardless of political party.   State-level races are often decided in Republican primaries in Oklahoma, because there are no Independent or Democratic candidates on the ballot, leaving many voters locked out.  “Voters are showing up with nothing to vote for and all the meaningfu...

Tulsa voters this week effectively locked Republicans out of the city’s mayoral election in November. Two Democrats - state representative Monroe Nichols and Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith - advanced to the runoff on Nov. 5 by narrowly defeating Republican Brent Van Norman by the slimmest of margins. The result guarantees Tulsa will have a Democrat mayor for the first time since Kathy Taylo...