This Week in Oklahoma Politics

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about a move by Epic Virtual Charter School to increase transparency of its funding ahead of a termination hearing, Tulsa Public Schools enters legal action against the State Board of Education in its move to put more money into charter school and the Stat...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about the special election to fill the seat of now-Congresswoman Stephanie Bice along with other elections in central Oklahoma, lawmakers working to undo a resolution by the State Board of Education settling a lawsuit giving charter schools more access to...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and sitting in for Ryan Kiesel is Democratic State Representative Forrest Bennett about the state of Oklahoma moving into phase four of its vaccination plan allowing all residents over the age of 16 to get inoculated against the Coronavirus, Epic Virtual Charter School fails to repay the state...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about the 9,000 correspondences to Governor Stitt from citizens and businesses regarding lockdowns at the beginning of the pandemic and the state's response to a lawsuit over its plan to purse managed Medicaid care without input from the legislature. The t...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about Oklahoma moving into Phase Three of the COVID-19 vaccine meaning most Oklahomans can know get inoculated against the disease, the Pardon And Parole Board votes to hear new evidence in the commutation hearing of death row inmate Julius Jones and Attor...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about reports showing a nearly 2,500 COVID-19 death count discrepancy between the Centers for Disease Control and the State of Oklahoma, Governor Stitt joins other governors in complaints about President Biden's $1.7T Stimulus Package & Lawmakers work...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about state officials calming fears of skyrocketing utility bills after last week's winter weather, President Biden approving a second emergency declaration on clean up from the storms and a bill to give the State Health Department more control of the Okla...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about Governor Stitt coming under fire for leaving the state for a family vacation shortly before a winter storm moved is and state lawmakers learned of an extra $1.2B for the fiscal year 2022 budget. The trio also discusses a pending lawsuit from health o...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about Governor Stitt signing legislation allowing public bodies to hold meetings online rather than in person and new bills currently working through the state legislature. The trio also discusses the race for Senate District 22 which now pits Republican J...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about the Governor's State of the State Address and his push to get schools to open for in-person learning. The trio also talks about the governor's mention of the U.S. Supreme Court's McGirt v. Oklahoma decision and the lack of any mention of criminal jus...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about a move by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to spend $2.2 billion to hand the state's Medicaid program over to a for profit company, MyHealth Access out of Tulsa losing its challenge after getting denied a bid with the OHCA despite coming in $30 mil...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about the Oklahoma Health Care Authority denying the bid of a local company despite the organization coming in $30M less than the bid winner, prominent Oklahoma Republican Mickey Edwards announces he is quitting the Republican Party and Senator James Lankf...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about a new policy from Governor Stitt allowing students exposed to COVID-19 to not be quarantined if they were wearing a mask and social distancing, officials at the State Capitol stepping up security ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration and some Tulsa black...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel talk about President Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Oklahoma health officials are moving into phase two of the Coronavirus vaccine and releasing a mobile phone app to help people get appointments and lawmakers hold Organizational...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about new restrictions by Governor Stitt in the hopes of reducing the spread of COVID-19 and Oklahoma's seven electors cast their vote for President Donald Trump while the governor acknowledges Joe Biden did win the overall election nationwide. The trio al...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter joining a Texas lawsuit to overturn votes in four states won by President-elect Joe Biden and Governor Stitt rescinds the nomination of an anti-mask advocate for the State Board of Education. The trio also discus...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about Oklahoma City ending its enforcement of restaurants and bars staying open after 11:00, Governor Stitt announcing special election dates for the seat held by Congresswoman-elect Stephanie Bice and a law to keep trains from stopping for more than ten m...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel and former House Speaker Kris Steele about Governor Stitt's restrictions on bars and restaurants and mask requirement for state employees nd in state buildings to curb the spread of COVID-19 as well as Stitt's firing the president of the Virtual Charter School Board as he was investigating Epic Virtua...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel and sitting in for Neva Hill is former House Speaker Kris Steele. They discuss an end to an amendment on the Open Meetings Act allowing for public bodies to hold meetings virtually, the Oklahoma County Budget Board voting to take $15M returned by the Jail Trust for businesses and others impacted by th...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about the race in Congressional District Five where Republican challenger Stephanie Bice beat Incumbent Democrat Kendra Horn, and both State Question 805 to end sentence enhancements and 814, to take money from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust for Me...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about the outgoing Republican Oklahoma County Sheriff endorsing the Democratic candidate for the election to replace him, State Question 805 to remove sentence enhancements for nonviolent offenders and State Question 814 to take money from the Tobacco Sett...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about the upcoming General Election and races they are watching, the Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police endorses GOP State Senator Stephanie Bice for Congressional District Five and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abby Broyles outraises her opponent...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about the fallout for Epic Virtual Charter School following a reports from the State Auditor and Inspector and Governor Stitt faces pushback from trying to move forward with the privatization of Medicaid. The trio also discusses more pushback against the g...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and Civil Rights Attorney Ryan Kiesel about a fight between the Oklahoma County Commissioners and the Oklahoma County Jail Trust over immigrations officers in the jail, the State Auditor releases a "deeply concerning" investigation of EPIC Virtual Charter School and the EPA gives Governor Stit...

This Week in Oklahoma Politics, KOSU's Michael Cross talks with Republican Political Consultant Neva Hill and ACLU Oklahoma Executive Director Ryan Kiesel about support from Oklahoma Senators James Lankford and Jim Inhofe to vote for President Trump's nominee to replace the late-Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the U.S. Supreme Court, the Oklahoma County Jail Trust falling one vote shy of removing I...