Oklahoma Watch

On the heels of reports about questionable spending on COVID-19 supplies and equipment by the Oklahoma State Department of Health, the state attorney general on Tuesday requested an investigative audit of the agency.  

Weeks after mayors and other local officials asked the Oklahoma State Department of Health to release COVID-19 infections and deaths by city, the state began publishing some of that information this week.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit Oklahoma, state officials urged child care centers to stay open.

For the first time, Oklahoma on Thursday released breakdowns of COVID-19 cases and deaths by race, and the data, while incomplete, shows that the disease is killing a disproportionately high number of whites, with blacks the second largest group.

The acting secretary of the Commissioners of the Land Office resigned earlier this month, after just nine months in the job.

With a surge in COVID-19 deaths since last week, Oklahoma now ranks 18th highest in the nation in the rate of coronavirus deaths.

Health inspectors cited Oklahoma City’s Windsor Hills Nursing Center last November after a certified nursing assistant was seen not washing her hands before, during or after treating five residents with incontinence one morning.

Each step taken by public officials to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in Oklahoma raises questions about what is banned and what’s just a recommendation.

Many rural communities across the state have been hesitant to implement restrictions or closures because the fast-spreading coronavirus has not yet reached their edges. Meanwhile, some local health facilities are running short of masks, gloves and gowns.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health on Thursday abruptly replaced its state epidemiologist with a new interim one.

Oklahoma has quietly released details of Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Medicaid expansion plan, with the state’s own report saying the plan “will likely depress enrollment” by thousands of Oklahomans compared to a traditional Medical expansion plan.

Call it test anxiety, but not the kind you might remember from school.

With a shortage of COVID-19 testing kits available at Oklahoma’s state lab, public health officials are prioritizing who can get tested for the virus, but it’s causing high anxiety among some patients. State officials said Wednesday they’re waiting on shipments of the raw materials that go into the testing kits to come from the federal government.

As cities move to shut down public spaces, bars, restaurants and workplaces in response to COVID-19, and schools have been shuttered for at least three weeks, daycare centers are one of the few businesses to receive the opposite message: Please stay open.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is working with district attorneys and others to examine 81 cases for possible wrongful conviction due to use of microscopic hair analysis, a debunked science. The cases include murder and rape and go back decades; some could be reopened.

The state is drawing a hard line: Public education funds that flow to a private company are public.

Founders of the state’s largest online charter school are fighting to shield those funds. Their company has refused to comply with subpoenas from the State Auditor and Inspector.

Home delivery of medical marijuana, a shorter dispensary setback from schools and making the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority its own agency are among the proposals that survived last week’s first legislative deadline.

Securing first place won’t be the only thing on the minds of the five remaining Democratic presidential hopefuls competing in Oklahoma’s Super Tuesday contest. Like the rest of the country, Oklahoma will not use a winner-takes-all format for its Democratic presidential primary.

In a five-month investigation into Epic Charter Schools’ college-going rates, Oklahoma Watch found that fewer than one in five 2019 graduates enrolled in a public Oklahoma college or university last fall. Epic’s rate was lower than rates for all of the state’s 10 largest school districts.

When they step into the voting booth for Super Tuesday, many Oklahoma voters might be surprised at how many choices they have in the presidential primary election. And how many choices they have that won’t count.

Advocates and lawmakers say it’s looking more like a question of how, rather than if, Oklahoma will unlock federal funds to help about 5% of the state’s population pay for health insurance. But a fight is emerging over how to cover the state’s costs.