KGOU

The state is investing in a declining ecosystem to benefit landowners and wildlife.

Gentner Drummond's push to pressure his opponent into taking a drug test taps into voter concerns over candidates' health and could tip the outcome of the contentious runoff election for Oklahoma's Republican nominee for governor, some political observers said.

Oklahomans are reporting sticker shock at the mailbox when opening their electric bills this summer. While artificial intelligence and the data centers needed to support them have become major subjects of public discourse, state lawmakers and regulators say they are only one part of a much larger explanation.

To help meet growing electricity demand, Oklahoma's largest utilities are investing in battery energy storage systems. The facilities store extra energy and discharge it when the grid needs it.

Oklahoma passed a law last year allowing energy-hungry facilities to build their own power. But as data center announcements sprout up across Oklahoma, most include plans to work with local utilities.

Oklahoma Native American students ranked first in the nation in reading, math and combined achievement in 2024, a result researchers link to aggressive student identification practices and robust Johnson-O'Malley program support. But flat federal funding despite a growing number of eligible students is threatening the programs that helped drive that success.

There is no statewide standard for non-traffic offenses, leaving the price of pretrial freedom to depend largely on geography, individual judges and local politics.

While a new state law partly limits data center groundwater use, in reality, data centers avoid water permits entirely by buying water from utilities. Residents are demanding answers in communities like Luther and Yukon.

Despite efforts to increase immunization rates by providing free and more accessible vaccinations, experts say Oklahoma's overall child vaccination rates are down amid skepticism about the efficacy of vaccines.

The investigation comes after the state Medicaid agency announced it recently uncovered an international crime ring believed to have fraudulently enrolled thousands of Oklahomans in Medicaid.