Oklahoma City Starbucks union workers went on strike over the weekend in response to Pride Month displays being banned at more than 100 locations in the region.
Oklahoma City Starbucks partners and other community supporters formed a picket line outside the Starbucks store on 36th and May on Sunday morning.
The strike was in response to the company’s decision to ban Pride Month decorations at over 100 stores in the region, including Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri.
While the workers say the company originally denied banning Pride Month decorations, barista Niko Melton says the company has reversed their decision and allowed the stores to decorate for the final week of the month following media backlash.
"We’re not just going to have them up for one week. We’re queer every single month of the year and we want to show that," said Melton.
This follows the Starbucks union filing an unfair labor practice complaint earlier this month.
Anthony Sanchez continues to claim his innocence in the rape and murder of an University of Oklahoma student in 1996, but doesn’t feel Oklahoma’s clemency process is fair. Here he is reading from a letter he wrote to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.
“The state always seems to come out on top. Even when it doesn’t, Gov. Stitt is more than willing to make sure that death wins in the end. Why would someone like me participate in such a process?," said Sanchez.
Those sentenced to death in Oklahoma rarely have their sentence reduced or pardoned. Between 1977 and 2022, Oklahoma executed more than 100 people. During that same period, four people were granted clemency, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Sanchez is scheduled to be executed in September.
A report ordered by the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority reveals marijuana farmers are producing 32 times as much pot as is necessary for medical patients in Oklahoma.
Researchers interviewed more than 1,300 cannabis consumers across Oklahoma.
Based on what they said, producers are vastly oversupplying the market. They say there is 32 times more regulated marijuana produced compared to what is needed for people with medical cards.
The report also found that the oversupply of products is likely adding to the illicit market both at the point of cultivation and the point of retail sale - and that the illicit market may “be hiding in plain sight.”
Voters approved Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program in 2018 and rejected legalizing recreational use in March. Nearly 10% of Oklahomans have a medical marijuana card.
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality has released updated guidelines for safely consuming fish from Oklahoma’s lakes.
Of Oklahoma’s more than 200 lakes, 71 have specific advisories about mercury in fish. Mercury is a metal that gets into the atmosphere from mining, manufacturing, and sometimes volcanoes. Then it dissolves into water, where fish absorb more and more over their lifetimes.
The Department of Environmental Quality monitors mercury levels in many species in lakes across the state and releases yearly guidelines about how often people can safely eat those fish.
We certainly encourage Oklahomans to go fish, to eat the fish they catch, but to be mindful," said DEQ spokesperson Erin Hatfield.
This year, the lake at Fort Supply in Northwestern Oklahoma is the only new addition to that list, but the guidelines at other lakes have changed.
To learn about the specific guidelines for your favorite fishing spot, you can visit the Mercury in Fish Guide at DEQ.ok.gov.
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