It's about time
A century-old time capsule is opened in an OKC church.
Live. Local. Leaving.
Longtime KOCO chief meteorologist Rick Mitchell heading to severe skies of Dallas TV.
Fade out
A Senate bill phases out incentives that lure filmmakers to the state.
Challengers in Oklahoma City Council races discuss online photos
Photos in revealing poses, of Confederate flags
Picture of horror
A century later, the photograph of an Oklahoma lynching still resonates.
Romney and religion
Will Mitt Romney’s Mormonism be a factor for Oklahoma voters in next Tuesday’s presidential primary?
Fame, Sweet fame
Does this OKC woman have time to be a worldwide Internet sensation?
To the letter
The OKC school district begins investigating charges of grade-tampering by a high school principal.
Creative dissent
Opposition came in various forms at last week’s rally against the Personhood Act.
Spirited reformation
Two grassroots organizations seek changes to Oklahoma’s liquor laws.
Saturday 18 May
OKG Newsletter
News
Let them eat cake, eventually
CFN
Gazette staff
Famed statistician (yes, that’s a real thing) Nate Silver, who correctly predicted the winner in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in last year’s presidential election, is at it again. In a March 26 post on his blog, FiveThirtyEight: Nate Silver’s Political Calculus, he posited that support for same-sex marriage is increasing steadily and that a majority of U.S. states will vote in favor of it as soon as 2016.
CFN Quote of the Week
CFN
Gazette staff
“Blake Shelton isn’t really a small-town Oklahoma boy anymore. Now he just plays one on TV.”.
Gunning for freedom
CFN
Gazette staff
House Bill 1062 — you know, the one that pushed to arm teachers in Oklahoma public schools — will not be heard by the state Senate Education Committee this legislative session, despite the measure having been approved by House members.
New faces
Two political novices topple incumbent to win seats on Oklahoma City Council.
News
Tim Farley
The Oklahoma City Council endured a shakeup last week when incumbents Gary Marrs and Ronald “Skip” Kelly were defeated by two 30-something political newcomers during the April 2 runoff elections.
Party time
News
Alyssa Grimley
Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Matt Pinnell soon will take on a prominent role with the national GOP. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus announced that Pinnell will be the RNC’s new state party director.
Dog the lobbyist
CFN
Gazette staff
The Oklahoma Legislature has been lobbied by some pretty tough customers over the decades, but perhaps none tougher than Duane Lee Chapman, better known as Dog the Bounty Hunter.
A fine idea
OKC officials plan to increase fines that violate water rationing.
News
Tim Farley
Oklahoma City residents who violate a mandatory water-restriction plan could soon find themselves paying a big fine.
Threatening email
A Sooner Tea Party leader is charged with blackmail.
News
Tim Farley
Oklahoma County prosecutors today charged Sooner Tea Party co-founder Al Gerhart with blackmailing a state senator over legislation that Gerhart supported.
Not-so-modest proposal
CFN
Gazette staff
Popping the question can be a daunting task for any would-be spouse, especially in the wake of unreasonably high expectations set by romantic comedies and those goofballs who propose on the Jumbotron at sporting events. But David Tester, a 28-year-old OKC videographer, was up to the challenge, and even went a tad further than your run-of-the-mill proposal via flash mob.
Tweet heat
A sharply worded message on social media from Oklahoma's House speaker to a college dean raises some eyebrows.
News
Greg Horton
A Twitter message by state House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton, raised some hackles last month for suggesting cuts to higher education while also seeming to threaten the job of a college dean.
Tots entertainment
CFN
Gazette staff
If Terrence Malick’s movies are anything, they’re an absolute pleasure to look at. In such films as Badlands, The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life, the acclaimed director, who was raised in northern Oklahoma, has demonstrated a gift for extracting beauty from the most unexpected places (i.e. cornfields, combat zones, um ... dinosaurs).
Hitting ‘send’
CFN
Gazette staff
It took nearly five months, scads of editorials and a fair amount of prodding from journalists (and if you’ve ever been prodded by a journalist, you know how painful that can be), but on March 29, Gov. Mary Fallin's office finally released those pesky emails involving her April 2011 about-face decision to forgo a $54 million federal grant for an Oklahoma health insurance exchange.
Advocacy or extortion?
A Tea Party leader is investigated for a threatening email to a state senator.
News
Tim Farley
UPDATE: Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater has charged Gerhart with one count of blackmail and two counts of violation of the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act.
A Sooner Tea Party co-founder is under investigation in connection with intimidating political tactics directed toward a state senator.
Quake questions
CFN
Gazette staff
If there’s one area in which Oklahoma excels at inclusiveness, it’s natural disaster. Tornadoes, blizzards, drought — hell, why not earthquakes, too? Bill Haley and His Comets didn’t have Oklahoma in mind when they recorded “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” but that ’50s hit certainly has applied to the Sooner State in recent years.
That’s some green bean!
CFN
Gazette staff
“Wow, what a deal!” wisecracked Jay Leno during a March 25 “Small Town News” segment on The Tonight Show. The object of The Chin’s snark? None other than a coupon from Oklahoma City’s Paseo Grill advertising “a fried green bean” with the purchase of two entrees.
