News

Oklahoma's ACT scores are continuing to decline. Recently released numbers from the tester show the state’s average score fell for the second straight year.

The Norman City Clerk announced in September Unite Norman had submitted the number of valid signatures needed to initiate recall proceedings for Ward 3 Councilmember Alison Petrone, but that the group fell short of the signatures required for Mayor Breea Clark. But matters related to the recall effort seem to be far from over. 

Already sporting a 270,000 registered voter lead over Democrats in Oklahoma at the beginning of 2020, the state GOP has seen a big surge in registrations heading into the November 3rd General Election. KGOU's Dick Pryor and Shawn Ashley discuss that and more from the GOP perspective with Oklahoma Republican Party Chair David McLain. 

Each Monday in October from 1 p.m. 2 p.m. KGOU features Oklahoma Engaged LIVE: Voice of the Voter hosted by KGOU General Manager Dick Pryor and Managing Editor Logan Layden. The program focuses on what’s motivating voters to get to the polls this fall. Episode 2 from October 12th includes a discussion with StateImpact Oklahoma reporters Catherine Sweeney and Quinton Chandler on State Question 814 and State Question 805. 

Oklahoma’s standards for punishing people convicted of crimes are shifting. In 2016, voters chose to reduce punishments for drug possession and some property crimes often associated with addiction.

Health experts have repeatedly recommended the use of face coverings, to go along with social distancing and other guidelines meant to stunt the spread of COVID-19. But those measures have become politicized. Kateleigh Mills with Oklahoma Engaged talked with two Oklahoma voters about how masking and voting in the age of the coronavirus have impacted them.

Candidates have appealed to voters’ fears by using negative political advertisements throughout the nation’s history, but in modern politics, fear ads have become a crucial part of campaigns. They can be made quickly and come from a variety of sources, but there’s a science to candidates’ use of fear as a political tool.

This is the Manager’s Minute.  

Public broadcasting stations across the country have seen listening habits change in 2020 – largely because fewer people have been commuting to work and listening while they drive. We’ve been concerned about how the coronavirus might change the amount of private giving we receive, so it’s been gratifying to see the results of our fall fundraiser. 

Oklahoma’s Statewide Virtual Charter School Board started the process to end its contract and support for Epic Virtual Charter Schools Tuesday afternoon.

Monday was not a good day for Epic Virtual Charter Schools.

The virtual charter behemoth is facing fresh scrutiny from Oklahoma leaders in the wake of an investigative audit report that says they owe millions of dollars to the state.

On Friday, October 9, the State Department of Health reported the largest one-day total for number of new coronavirus cases in Oklahoma - 1,524. The new number pushed the seven-day rolling average for new cases in Oklahoma to 1,075. And, statewide hospitalizations reached a record high for the second time in a week.

Over the past six months, we’ve gotten pretty familiar with terms we hadn’t heard regularly before, like contact tracers and infectious disease intervention specialists. But they’re not new. Before the coronavirus, many of Oklahoma’s workers in that sector had their eye on another disease: syphilis.

Oklahoma is finally getting a new public health lab, but it won’t be in Oklahoma City.

Outrage and unrest following the killings of unarmed Black men and women at the hands of law enforcement has pushed the conversation about police brutality to the forefront as the 2020 election looms. The killing of George Floyd, the 2017 acquittal of a Tulsa officer in the shooting of Terence Crutcher and the police budget reduction in Norman this year are all shaping the way Oklahomans vote. Kateleigh Mills talked with two voters about these issues for Oklahoma Engaged.