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In The Know is your daily briefing on Oklahoma policy-related news. OK Policy encourages the support of Oklahoma’s state and local media, which are vital to an informed citizenry. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. Some stories included here are behind paywall or require subscription. Subscribe to In The Know and see past editions.
New from OK Policy
Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Highlights: Four years of federal surplus propping up Oklahoma’s budget is not enough to save the state’s budget. For the budget year beginning July 1, 2025 (Fiscal Year 2026), state agencies will have $12.08 billion to spend. [Aanahita Ervin / OK Policy]
Oklahoma News
Gov. Stitt touts clearing homeless camps in Tulsa, providers say efforts cause ‘traumatic experiences’: At the direction of Gov. Kevin Stitt, state troopers were dispatched to encampments in Tulsa on Friday morning with instructions to clear people inhabiting state land. Providers say their resources are already stretched thin, an issue further exacerbated by recent cuts in funding for mental health care and substance abuse treatment across the state. [KOSU]
- Man mourns his dog shot by trooper clearing encampment near Tulsa Day Center [Tulsa World]
- ‘We can’t incarcerate ourselves out of homelessness’: Officials react to Governor’s “Operation SAFE” [KJRH]
- Troopers target area near Tulsa jail in effort to clear homeless encampments early Friday [Tulsa World]
- Stitt lying about Tulsa operation, Democrats say [Tulsa World]
- As Tulsa seeks housing solutions, governor cracks down on homeless encampments with state police [Public Radio Tulsa]
- Jail or shelter: Tulsa homeless advocates push back on governor’s attempt to clear encampments [The Oklahoma Eagle]
- Gov. Kevin Stitt is targeting Tulsa homeless encampments with new initiative. Is OKC next? [The Oklahoman]
- Gov. Stitt launches Operation SAFE: How many are homeless in Tulsa, OKC? See the data [The Oklahoman]
Opinion: Tulsa is not what Gov. Kevin Stitt says it is while his own house is imploding: Gov. Stitt makes his petty jabs — portraying Tulsa as a crime-ridden, “trash-filled” city where people are “forced to live in fear” — while his own house is imploding. His misrepresentations of Tulsa also attempt to distract from the deep problems in state agencies under Stitt’s control. [Ginnie Graham / Tulsa World]
State Government News
Oklahoma expands reach of Ryan Walters’ controversial ‘woke’ test, despite legal restrictions: The Oklahoma State Department of Education now says all teachers moving to the state must take its so-called “woke” test, even though the agency isn’t allowed under Oklahoma law to administer such a test as a requirement for teacher licensing. [The Oklahoman]
Records show Ryan Walters has a pattern of poor attendance at state boards: Well before he canceled and skipped meetings with the state’s top school board in recent weeks, state Superintendent Ryan Walters has been chronically absent from multiple state boards where he holds a seat, including one he’s supposed to lead. This year, Walters has attended only one meeting of the state Board of Career and Technology Education despite being its chair, Oklahoma Voice found through an analysis of meeting minutes. He skipped the CareerTech board’s six other meetings in 2025, including three that took place in a room adjacent to his office at the Oklahoma State Department of Education. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Opinion: Two things lawmakers can do to prevent another Ryan Walters experience [Ginnie Graham / Tulsa World]
After Stitt’s announcement with RFK Jr., little done to Make Oklahoma Healthy Again: More than two months after Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt launched his campaign pledging to Make Oklahoma Healthy Again, state officials have disclosed little progress on the effort, and the advisory panel overseeing the initiative still has not met. [The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma’s child welfare agency is sued over a kidnapping after fired worker pleads guilty: The Oklahoma Department of Human Services is being blamed in a lawsuit for a child kidnapping after a hotline worker went rogue and took a 1-year-old girl to raise herself. [The Oklahoman]
OSU professor tells lawmaker that revenue sharing could unlock more potential for wind: As the debate over wind energy development continues in Oklahoma, it might make sense for companies and landowners interested in pursuing projects to consider revenue-sharing agreements with neighbors. [Tulsa World]
Opinion, State Rep. Brian Hill: Preparing Oklahoma’s next generation means education working with industry: Aerospace is Oklahoma’s second-largest economic sector, generating billions for our economy and employing tens of thousands of Oklahomans. It’s a sector that not only drives economic growth but also provides high-paying, highly skilled jobs that support Oklahoma families. [Brian Hill / Tulsa World]
Opinion: Oklahoma GOP officials keep protecting their own, even when they plead guilty to heinous crimes: It’s become clear two systems of justice exist in Oklahoma : one that caters to the good ol’ boys, and another for everyone else. The good ol’ boy network features Republican officials shielding each other from the types of scrutiny that would get an everyday person skewered in the court of public opinion, fired from their job or thrown in jail. [Janelle Stecklein / Oklahoma Voice]
Federal Government News
‘No one wants’ a government shutdown, Lankford says, but no one is preventing it: U.S. Sen. James Lankford said Friday he doubts a federal government shutdown is imminent, but he isn’t sure how it will be prevented. Spending for fiscal year 2025 expires at the end of the month, meaning federal government operations without FY 2026 appropriations will cease. [Tulsa World]
Blue states hold on to public health dollars. Oklahoma, other red states among the biggest losers: After the Trump administration slashed billions in state and local public health funding from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this year, the eventual impact on states split sharply along political lines. Democratic-led states that sued to block the cuts kept much of their funding, while Republican-led states lost the bulk of theirs, according to a new report. Oklahoma lost all 16 of its CDC grants intended for termination before injunctions began. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Blue States That Sued Kept Most CDC Grants, While Red States Feel Brunt of Trump Clawbacks [KFF]
Trump’s new law will limit payments to hospitals that treat low-income patients: President Donald Trump’s new tax and spending law will likely force more than half the states to reduce payments to doctors and hospitals that treat Medicaid patients, a change critics warn will be particularly harmful to rural hospitals struggling to stay afloat. [Oklahoma Voice]
FEMA would be a Cabinet-level agency under bipartisan bill approved by US House panel: A broadly bipartisan bill to overhaul and elevate the Federal Emergency Management Agency is heading toward the U.S. House floor after a key committee approved the legislation. [Oklahoma Voice]
Governors split over mobilizing National Guard as Trump seeks more troops: Inside a bustling Union Station, commuters and tourists breeze past armed military personnel patrolling in groups of three or four as part of President Donald Trump’s surge of National Guard troops and federal agents into the nation’s capital. [Oklahoma Voice]
Editorial: 7 things Rep. Kevin Hern could do rather than bother the Tulsa City Council: Congressman Kevin Hern cautioned Tulsa city councilors recently against approving an ordinance expanding human rights protections in the city. Because Hern seems to have time on his hands to bother councilors on a city matter, we wanted to offer up some suggestions on what he could do related to his own job. [Tulsa World Editorial Board]
Tribal Nations News
Seminole Nation women leaders show what’s possible for future generations: The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma has hit a historic milestone: two women are leading the tribal nation for the first time in history. [KOSU]
Voting and Election News
In Republican race for Oklahoma governor, could Stitt’s endorsement make a difference?: When U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited a Warr Acres school in August, Gov. Kevin Stitt was there to greet her. So, too, was former House Speaker Charles McCall, even though he left office months ago. McCall’s appearance fueled speculation he is Stitt’s pick to succeed him in 2026. [The Oklahoman]
Oklahoma Election preview: Schools put up bonds to begin the new year: With the school year up and running across Oklahoma, many districts are starting the fall election season with a healthy dose of school bond proposals. These bonds allow schools to take on bigger construction and renovation projects by using taxpayer dollars to pay back bondholders. In Oklahoma, bonds must earn 60% approval from voters in their respective districts to pass. [KOSU]
- Owasso voters to consider revised school bond package Tuesday [Tulsa World]
Capitol Insider: Oklahoma election climate as 2026 campaign season nears shows uncertainty: Labor Day is generally the time when fall political campaigns accelerate. And in just under a year, the next statewide election in Oklahoma and the national midterms will be in full swing. What’s the state’s political climate one year out? [KGOU]
Education News
Education notebook: Public comment deadline, homework help and award nominations: Monday is the deadline to submit public comments on a proposed request from the Oklahoma State Department of Education to waive statewide testing requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act for five years. [Tulsa World]
Health News
New law allows Oklahoma PAs to practice individually, expands prescription authority: A new law is changing the way physician assistants can practice in Oklahoma. HB 2584, which removes the requirement for a PA-physician practice agreement for PAs with more than 6,240 hours, was vetoed by Oklahoma Governor Stitt earlier this year. [KFOR]
Criminal Justice News
Surge in Oklahoma fentanyl overdose deaths include children: Authorities have seized enough illicit fentanyl in recent years to wipe out Oklahoma’s entire population multiple times over, and the state’s chief drug law enforcement officer said he can see no immediate reversal of an alarming increase in overdose deaths related to fentanyl. [Tulsa World]
Opinion, Former U.S. Attorney: Why is Oklahoma’s attorney general seeking a new trial for Richard Glossip?: The conscience of Oklahomans values fairness. We expect our criminal justice system to be so. However, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that Oklahoma County prosecutors acted so unfairly that the 2004 conviction and death sentence of Richard Glossip had to be undone. [Patrick Ryan / The Oklahoman]
- From OK Policy: Oklahoma Death Penalty Tracker
Opinion, Former Oklahoma House Speaker: Smart justice is safer justice—Now it’s time to follow through: In 2016, Oklahomans made a powerful choice. By passing State Questions 780 and 781, we chose a path that prioritized treatment over incarceration and community accountability over punishment. It was a significant shift in our state’s approach to criminal justice and sent a clear message: we can do better. This wasn’t just a change in policy. It was a change in philosophy. And nearly a decade later, the numbers validate what we believed from the beginning: justice reform works. [Kris Steele / The Journal Record]
Housing & Economic Opportunity News
Oklahoma bill aiming to make eviction cases more efficient: House Bill 2792, signed into law 2023, is now taking effect, impacting all landlords and tenants in Oklahoma. The new law requires eviction court forms to be rewritten in plain language, so it’s easier to understand and print. [KJRH]
Economy & Business News
New jobs report shows worst August job gains since 2010: The United States added only 22,000 jobs in August, and previously reported gains in June were revised down to a loss of 13,000 jobs in a Bureau of Labor Statistics report issued Friday morning. The August jobs increase was the lowest for that month since 2010 in the aftermath of the Great Recession. June’s decrease was the first jobs loss since a December 2020 COVID-19 surge shuttered restaurants and hotels. [Oklahoma Voice]
Community News
A local church’s ‘Stand Up Sunday’ anti-hate initiative is spreading around the country: The national Foundation to Combat Antisemitism working to inspire Americans to stand up to Jewish hate and all hate was so moved by an Oklahoma church’s 2024 initiative that it is spreading the idea as an interfaith movement across the U.S. [The Oklahoman]
Local Headlines
- Woman seeks protective order against Oklahoma County Commissioner Myles Davidson, wife [The Oklahoman]
- Roundup: McAlester bond on ballots, Stillwater HOA sues Google, Phil Koons’ civil case continues [NonDoc]
- A slight tiff over TIFs: What an Edmond City Council member wants from aided developers [The Oklahoman]
- Edmond city manager search winds down [The Journal Record]
- Fixing dam flow issues will require Tulsa’s Zink Lake to be drained, officials say [Tulsa World]
Quote of the Day
“I think we’re missing the point in all of this. We can’t incarcerate ourselves out of homelessness… Yes, you can arrest them and get them off the streets, but they’re going to come right back out.”
-Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado, speaking about Gov. Stitt’s order to have the Oklahoma Highway Patrol clear encampments for people experiencing homelessness in Tulsa. In these sweeps, troopers are giving people two options: get a ride to a treatment or housing facility, or a ride to jail. Advocates have called on the governor and state officials to direct resources to increasing affordable housing, treatment, and supportive services in Tulsa, rather than ineffective sweeps that fail to address the underlying conditions that cause homelessness. [KJRH]
Number of the Day
16%
The share of households served in U.S. shelters in 2022 who could be placed into permanent housing through homeless response systems. Expanding this capacity to house everyone experiencing sheltered homelessness in a given year would be a major step toward ending homelessness; however, it would require an estimated $9.6 billion in additional funding to achieve. [National Alliance to End Homelessness]
Policy Note
The National Guard Won’t End Homelessness. Housing Resources Can: Criminalizing homelessness through forced encampment clearings, policing, or National Guard deployment fails to resolve the underlying issue and often disrupts essential connections to housing, services, and documentation. By contrast, evidence shows that investments in housing — like vouchers and permanent supportive housing — help individuals exit homelessness more effectively and sustainably. Communities that prioritize housing and shelter with wrap‑around support also free up police resources for other public safety responsibilities. [Urban Institute]
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