The Oklahoman
BALANCE OF POWER
The effort to find the right balance between the oil and gas industry – which has propped up Oklahoma’s economy for more than a century – and renewable energy – a relative newcomer – is in the midst of a decisive moment with the potential for shifting...
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Protests spread after fatal shooting by ICE
The city of Minneapolis is reeling in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration agent, as federal and local authorities clash over the latest violence in President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown. Minnesota...
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STRETCH FORTH
After a decade of planning, a longawaited streetscape project to improve pedestrian safety for the NW 23rd corridor is finally moving forward. The $9.3 million improvement project in the Uptown 23rd District is set to begin construction on Jan. 12 and...
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RUBIO HAS MAJOR VENEZUELA ROLE
WASHINGTON – The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife was a personal victory for a key member of Trump’s administration: Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has for years been advocating for the...
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ACTIVE VOICE
Eleno Ornelas rejected Sam Presti’s phone call five times. • If not for fellow NBA broadcaster Matt Pinto, Ornelas would’ve never known who was calling from the unknown number. • For the past 30 years, Ornelas has had the same phone number. Pinto,...
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Seeking help
At 20, Tyler Ross was diagnosed with schizophrenia, depression and bipolar II disorder. For the next decade, he tried to get help through avenues available to Oklahomans without insurance. h He was in and out of crisis stabilization units and attempted...
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ON THE LIST
More than 400 decades-old buildings in downtown’s central business district were torn down in the Urban Renewal era of the 1960s and 1970s, but that is not stopping Oklahoma City from seeking to place what’s left on the National Register of Historic...
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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026
There is no print edition of the paper today, but you can find today’s puzzles, comics, national news and sports here in the eNewspaper.
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POSITIVE OUTLOOK
Construction continues in Oklahoma City on Dec. 19. Several highly promoted downtown developments that were supposed to start construction are either stuck or scrapped, but the skyline at the end of 2025 is evolving with five projects that include...
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Jail garden is thriving
NORMAN – People held in the Cleveland County jail have grown hundreds of pounds of vegetables since its first garden took root in August. Six women work the garden every day. The program has been so successful that the county is planning to build...
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‘THEY’RE JUST THRIVING’
Watching a woman cultivate plants in a greenhouse not far from his office, Shawn Dillon envisioned other people learning new skills and thriving with newfound confidence in a similar fashion. His vision is closer to becoming reality as the Center of...
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‘I CAN DO SOMETHING’
NORMAN – For University of Oklahoma defensive lineman Danny Okoye, his current spot – as the face of a social media campaign seeking to spread awareness of a life-saving drug for those who have overdosed on opioids – was a case of fortuitous...
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See inside this Oklahoma high school class project tackling homelessness
Years ago, Reese Hundley learned firsthand what it felt like to be homeless. After finding black mold in his rental property, Hundley packed up and left the property with his wife and their child. During that time Hundley and his family stayed with...
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CHECK THIS OUT
Though the structure is nearly 100 years old, the Bizzell Memorial Library on the University of Oklahoma campus is sporting a very modern take on holiday decoration. Every night, a carefully curated series of videos projects onto the library in a...
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‘A LITTLE BIT OF JOY’
Lorena Rivas is the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants. When she founded her immigration law firm, Rivas & Associates, she did so with her family in mind. It was with this same mindset that Rivas planned Posada Comunitaria. Styled after a Latin...
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BAD TIDINGS?
NORMAN — R Mason Thomas stood behind the microphone, his eye black smeared, his white headband smudged. He looked worse for wear. So did the Sooners. A massive turnaround of an OU football season ended with a 34-24 loss to Alabama on Friday night,...
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CRIMSON CLASH
It was a matchup between the Crimson Tide and the crimson and cream Friday night in Norman, with a chance to advance in the College Football Playoff on the line. The two storied football programs, now SEC foes, met up earlier in the season in...
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Old team, new tricks on Friday
NORMAN — The emerald green of the Owen Field turf popped like a Technicolor dream against a cloudy December sky earlier this week. On the field, something else stood out, too — the chalked outline of the College Football Playoff logo. Many notable...
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ARMS’ REACH
NORMAN – OU quarterback John Mateer was the Heisman Trophy favorite through the first month of the season. A month later, Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson had surged to the top of the Heisman race. Neither came close to making it to New York for last...
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STEADY FORCE
NORMAN – Unwavering. University of Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle spammed the word like an unstoppable play call when asked Monday, Dec. 15, what he’s learned this season about his boss, Brent Venables. “His unwavering leadership, his...
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BUILDING CONNECTIONS
A reunion of sorts took place Monday at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum as past and present board members, survivors of the 1995 bombing and those who designed the landmark gathered to celebrate the start of a $15.8 million expansion. A...
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LEGACY OF JOY
With Christmas just weeks away, a group of local high school students paid tribute to an educator and coach who became famous throughout the community and beyond for his special portrayal of Santa Claus. Douglass High School hosted the inaugural Blair...
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ULTIMATE WARRIOR
WASHINGTON – Jake Steele always stands behind the red, white and black inflatable tunnel. Sporting his No. 21 replica jersey, he jumps, hoots and hollers as each Washington High School football player passes by. Some give a fist bump. Some give a head...
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RENEWED VISION
From the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, Clara Luper and the NAACP Youth Council gathered at Calvary Baptist Church and other churches before setting out on their nonviolent sit-ins to integrate restaurants and other establishments. Luper and the...
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BRACING FOR WORST
Eighteen crumbling exterior columns – parts of them looking like giant gravel or granola – have upped the cost of renovating the Investors Capital Building downtown for the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office. The unbudgeted expense of...
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RIGHT AT HOME
STILLWATER – Eric Morris climbed the stairs to the stage where he’d say hello to Oklahoma State fans looking like a city slicker. Gray fitted suit and crisp white shirt. Black leather loafers. Orange tie and socks. But then the Cowboys’ new football...
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BUILDING SUPPORT
Acampus is emerging west of downtown where services aimed at helping people going through the justice system are set to be located next to new supportive housing and a Restoration Center providing mental health and addiction treatment. ● For the past...
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Building bridges
Aproud young mom took out her smartphone and began taking several photos of her daughter as the infant recovered from heart surgery in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital. h One of the people that Jeneliz sent the baby’s photo to was...
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ON EDGE
In his rush to escape Afghanistan in 2021, the Afghan man didn’t have time to pack all of the commendation letters he received for the aid he gave to U.S. troops stationed in his homeland. • Omid, who has resettled in Oklahoma, lamented the loss of...
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GRADE POINTS
Samantha Fulnecky’s failing marks on her controversial essay will not count toward her final course grade, the University of Oklahoma student told The Oklahoman. The junior majoring in psychology said on Wednesday, Dec. 3, that the decision came after...
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RETAIL RIVALRY?
A battle fought behind the scenes between Penn Square Mall, Oklahoma City’s longtime top retail destination, and upstart OAK, a new, upscale mixed-use development, is going public with a lawsuit that alleges the mall’s owner is engaging in...
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RISING INTEREST
Oklahoma City's beloved Quincy Bake Shop is changing ownership after being acquired by another local favorite. Accept-ional House of Brands — the overhead behind Not Your Average Joe and Stella Nova Coffee, as well as ABE's —completed the acquisition...
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Spending time
Music echoes through the building as volunteers of all ages form an assembly line to sort and package food for their neighbors in need at the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Meanwhile, across town at the Homeless Alliance, the unhoused are fed warm...
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Claus & effect
The girl adored Santa, always wanted to see Santa, wrote Santa letters and watched videos of him reading them on her mom’s smartphone with childlike innocence and wide-eyed glee. h But she wasn’t a child, and it wasn’t very merry. The little girl was...
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WHAT’S IN STORE?
Oklahoma retailers hope for a boost this holiday season to what has been the most challenging year since 2020. The 2025 State of Retail report by the Oklahoma Independent Shopkeepers Association found retailers began the year with their slowest Q1...
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Wounded Knee love story relevant today
Like many star-crossed lovers, Elaine Goodale and Charles Alexander Eastman came from different worlds. Goodale, born in 1863 to a family claiming Puritan roots, grew up on a farm in a remote part of western Massachusetts. In 1858, a baby first named...
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KING’S ‘PALACE’
NORMAN – Barry Switzer leans over to tidy up a bed. “I don’t know who messed up this duvet or whatever the hell you call them,” a slightly irked Switzer said on a recent fall afternoon. “Old football coaches aren’t supposed to know that...
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COURSE OF ACTION
For a psychology course at the University of Oklahoma, Samantha Fulnecky was asked to write a 650-word essay reacting to an article about how people are perceived based on societal expectations of gender. In her essay, Fulnecky argued that traditional...
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City grapples with issues as ICE comes
In the hilly countryside of northwest Oklahoma, workers have been installing razor wire fencing and air-conditioning units to prepare the long-shuttered Diamondback Correctional Facility to house immigrants awaiting deportation proceedings. A few...
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SALUTE TO SERVICE
On Tuesday, U.S. Armed Forces veterans were honored for their service in protecting the country. Nov. 11, 1918 marked the end of World War I, and the anniversary is celebrated as a federal holiday every year. The City of Midwest City and the Midwest...
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SHUTDOWN APPEARS CLOSER TO ENDING
WASHINGTON – The longest-ever government shutdown is on the verge of ending, as food aid benefits are in limbo and flight cancellations and delays disrupt travelers. ● The U.S. Senate on Nov. 9 took the first big step toward voting on a bipartisan deal...
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WATER WOES?
Worries over water quality hang like fog over what otherwise might be seen as mundane county government bureaucracy: rewriting Oklahoma County’s master plan for land development. The master plan rewrite is the first since 2007 and just the third since...
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RAISING YOUR VOICES
A Greek philosopher said it more than 2,000 years ago, but it’s still true today: “If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools.” – Plato’s “Republic,” Book I. The Oklahoman’s...
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‘EVERYONE HAS A ROLE’
With four children depending on her to bring groceries home, Marisha Ligons didn’t mind waiting in a lengthy line so she could shop for food. Like Ligons, Brian Sherfield also waited patiently outside the Market at Eastpoint, where Restore OKC gave...
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Flight cuts coming due to shutdown
Americans are bracing for flight cancellations at dozens of major airports across the country due to the ongoing government shutdown. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that there would be a 10% reduction in flights at 40 airports. Federal...
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‘BEGINNING OF CHANGE’?
STILLWATER – Loud and persistent chants of “No means No!” and “No justice, no peace!” erupted in front of the Payne County Courthouse as upward of 150 people gathered to protest a ruling that allowed a teen who faced years of incarceration on charges...
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‘Much more than vice president’
WASHINGTON – Richard Bruce Cheney was the most powerful and the most controversial vice president in American history. Cheney, 84, died surrounded by family members on the evening of Nov. 3, of complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular...
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NOT FORGOTTEN
T ears trickled down the woman’s face as she thought of the man whose cremated remains she carried in a box on a sunny Sunday morning at a local cemetery. ● Though the deceased was a stranger to her, Patricia Bubenik refused to forget his name as she...
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LEGACY OF PEACE
Oklahoma City added a new landmark of courage and hope with the dedication of the Clara Luper National Sit-In Memorial Plaza on Nov. 1, located less than a mile south of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. John Kennedy, co-chair of the board...
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CRITICAL CONDITION
BLACKWELL – A handful of patients sit in the waiting room of a small rural hospital about 100 miles north of Oklahoma City. h This is the hospital where community members have sought care for generations. Several employees have worked here for at least...
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‘PERFECT STORM’
The couple hadn’t been to the local food pantry since January, but they decided it was time to return as realization sunk in that the food assistance they relied on would cease due to the federal government shutdown. Wesley Bratcher, 33, who works at...
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SETTING THE TONE
The 60th anniversary of the start of the Oklahoma City sit-in-movement occurred about four months after David Holt started his first term as Oklahoma City mayor. Holt remembers the occasion vividly because he had realized that the “vast majority” of...
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‘COME TOGETHER’
Gov. Kevin Stitt says state agencies are “working on it” as Oklahomans who rely on government food assistance brace for the potential of weeks without aid. Stitt said at a news conference on Wednesday, Oct. 29, that federal and state lawmakers, state...
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CLEAR PATH?
State troopers cleared 11 homeless encampments in Oklahoma City in a surprise round of sweeps Monday, Oct. 27, and say more could be on the way. The operation marked the expansion of Gov. Kevin Stitt’s campaign to remove unhoused people and their...
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INVESTING IN KIDS
“I’m just looking so forward to getting the doors open and having kids and families come in and see all of the magnificent opportunities that are going to be provided and doing this in partnership.” Teena Belcik Boys and Girls Club of Oklahoma County...
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CRASH RECOURSE?
A busy and often dangerous stretch of Western Avenue in northwest Oklahoma City is set to undergo a $12.6 million reconstruction that likely will include a traffic roundabout and a diverging diamond interchange design. Oklahoma City is seeking public...
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THE KNIGHT SHIFT
The first time I met Matthew Nothstine was at the Guthrie Renaissance Festival. Nothstine, acting the showman, wearing a full set of medieval armor and a cowboy hat, explained the rules of a melee to a bustling crowd of onlookers. He then gave the...
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FILLING A VOID
Tahnee Francis of Naija Wife Kitchen was set to post about the restock of SNAP eligible ready-made meals she sells at Oklahoma City’s The Market at Eastpoint when she heard the news that SNAP benefits are likely to expire on Nov. 1 due to the ongoing...
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OUTCRY IN STILLWATER
(Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault and domestic abuse that some readers may find disturbing.) STILLWATER – Outrage has erupted in this college community an hour north of Oklahoma City after a high school student who...
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ROLE CALL
EDMOND — Dressed in an ankle-length skirt, long-sleeved blouse and corset, Trevor Pratt is moving gracefully across the stage, practicing the choreography of their opening dance number while his co-stars are getting outfitted in similar costumes. As...
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‘DISASTROUS’ DELAY
Nearly 700,000 Oklahomans could lose food assistance starting Nov. 1, after state officials said federal funding for the program will be suspended as the government shutdown persists. Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program will...
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WILL THUNDER KEEP ITS BIG 3 TOGETHER?
Wearing a just-out-of-the-box championship shirt with a one-of-one pair of shiny gold signature shoes slung over his shoulder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had the basketball world at his feet. But during one of the shows after that magical Game 7, the...
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‘FIGHTING FOR UNITY’
Despite persistent light rain falling overhead, hundreds of protesters packed City Hall Park for an open-air rally against President Donald Trump, joining thousands of other “No Kings” demonstrations across the United States. The Oklahoma City “No...
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REIGN GAUGE
With his elbows propped on his knees and his hands folded just below his chin, Jalen Williams put the NBA on notice. He didn’t do it with fire and brimstone. He did it matter-of-factly. “We’re not playing for the TV games or the contracts,” the...
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STAYING ON POINT
NORMAN – Young conservatives can change the trajectory of the United States, Gov. Kevin Stitt told the thousands of people gathered at a Turning Point USA event where slain influencer Charlie Kirk had been set to speak. Kirk was killed a little more...
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BRACING FOR IMPACT
The federal government shutdown, now heading toward a fourth week after negotiations stalled again, is taking a toll on Oklahoma, as effects on employment, food banks and federal operations in the state continue to increase. Gridlock between...
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SAVED BY GRACE
ALTUS – Khamden Lane will always remember the fateful May afternoon. Skipping his first football practice. The flat tire. The police cars. The black Chevy Silverado that would save him — not only from a potential arrest but also from the life he...
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BUILDING BLOCKS
Four developments in Midtown collectively totaling more than $64 million are set to proceed in the next few months pending final approval of tax increment financing by the Oklahoma City Council. A committee consisting of representatives of the city,...
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ISRAEL’S DAY OF JOY
Israel celebrated the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas militants in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks as the first phase in the U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan was met with joy around the world on Oct. 13. Twenty Israeli hostages in Gaza were...
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FOCUS ON ‘HEARTBEAT’
Sandra Valentine, of Shawnee, made the decision to leave her public school classroom in 2023, after then-state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters called teachers’ unions “a terrorist organization.” Now, only a little more than a week after Walters’...
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Living limits
David Bentley is a husband, a father of two small children and a survivor of an ongoing housing crisis in which rent jumped from $1,200 to $2,150 a month and prospects were dim for coming up with a down payment and being able to find an affordable...
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‘SHOWING UP TO SERVE’
Some of those most directly affected by the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Building are keeping the story alive for visitors at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, as they step in to give tours as park rangers are furloughed during the government...
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STANDARD FAIR
Dennis Clowers watched from his Cotton Bowl seat a few years ago as a fellow fan was introduced on the field and celebrated for being at his 75th Red River Rivalry game. The man was 95. “OK,” Clowers remembers thinking, “I got a head start on this...
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