Every high school student reading David Thoreau’s Walden has probably fantasized about leaving society behind and living off the land. What if you wanted to consume public utilities and drive on streets paved with taxpayer dollars but don’t want to contribute to the greater good and also be above the law? Well that, dear readers, […]
Chicken-Fried News
Chicken-Fried News
Chicken-Fried News: Gambling problem
Last year, the tribal nations operating Oklahoma’s more than 100 casinos paid $139 million to the state in “exclusivity fees,” according to Associated Press, but Gov. Kevin “Never Count Your Money When You’re Sitting at the Table” Stitt wants to raise the stakes. The fees — currently 4-10 percent of the casinos’ net revenue paid […]
Chicken-Fried News: Shell shocked
Believe it or not, plastic straws aren’t the only things harming and killing turtles. Along with a host of other plastic products and lax regulations on huge corporations, a massive illegal turtle trade network — yes, a black market for turtles — is also a major threat. In fact, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation is […]
Chicken-Fried News: Broken justice
Remember in 2016 when Oklahoma overwhelmingly voted in favor of State Question 780, which allows the more than 60,000 Oklahomans convicted of simple drug possession to seek parole and expunge felony drug possession? It wasn’t until 2019 that Gov. Kevin Stitt retroactively signed the state question into law. The state district attorney’s association and local […]
Chicken-Fried News: Red erring
Who knew picking the color of a car could be such a big deal. Megan Simpson, former Oklahoma Department of Public Safety assistant commissioner, was tasked with just that earlier this year, so she picked bright Victory Red for her new state-provided Chevy Tahoe. “Yes, I know it’s not the typical color,” she wrote in […]
Chicken-Fried News: What would you say you do here?
In the 1999 cult classic film Office Space, a pair of business consultants both named Bob are brought in to help a software company downsize. It leads to the invariable question, “What would you say you do here?” If the same question was posed to members of the Oklahoma Legislature, we’d probably get a lot […]
Chicken-Fried News: Who’s watching?
The 1.5 million viewers who watched Watchmen premiere on HBO earlier this month saw a recreation of a defining moment in Tulsa’s history and heard songs from the 1943 Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!, but we’re guessing the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department was less than thrilled about it. “HBO’s Watchmen opens in 1921 […]
Chicken-Fried News: Psycho-lactic drugs
The infamous Oklahoma County jail, as most people know, is badly designed, overcrowded and much less appealing than sleeping on the streets. That’s no joke; the jail is so indescribably awful that even people without a home don’t want to spend their nights there. At least that was the case for Cody Gregg, who despite […]
Chicken-Fried News: Talkin’ trash
The historically heated rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma football teams began fuming early at this year’s Red River Showdown, requiring officials to intervene and call unsportstmanlike conduct penalties on both sides a half hour before kickoff. Associated Press (AP) reporter Schuyler Dixon wrote that a few players “got too close and started jawing at each […]
Chicken-Fried News: Party crashers
The GOP controls every statewide elected position and body of government with level of domination that the state hasn’t seen since conservatives still voted Democrat (before civil rights got in the way) and Oklahoma was part of the Solid South. Despite the success at the voting booth, the Oklahoma Republican Party is about $25,000 in […]
