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StateImpact Oklahoma

305 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 10 hours ago - ★★★★★ - 12 ratings

StateImpact Oklahoma reports on education, health, environment, and the intersection of government and everyday Oklahomans. StateImpact Oklahoma is a collaboration of KGOU, KOSU, KWGS and KCCU.

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Episodes

What education measures are still alive at the 2024 legislative session’s halfway point?

March 28, 2024 10:00 - 4 minutes - 6.61 MB

Lawmakers are at the halfway point in this year’s legislative session, and just a fraction of the education bills filed at the top of the session have survived big legislative deadlines. StateImpact’s Beth Wallis spoke with Oklahoma Voice education reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel about the bills that still remain on the legislature’s radar. Mentioned in this episode: Social Media tags

Oklahoma social workers face barriers in getting licensed, a bill could help them get to work faster

March 27, 2024 13:00 - 4 minutes - 6.4 MB

This legislative session, lawmakers are working with faculty from OU’s School of Social Work and Oklahoma Healthy Minds Policy Initiative, advocating for Oklahoma’s requirements to be reduced to 3,000 hours. Mentioned in this episode: Social Media tags

Oklahoma paraprofessionals provide critical student services — but many are barely making ends meet

March 07, 2024 10:00 - 4 minutes - 6.53 MB

School support staff received a statewide pay raise after the 2018 Oklahoma Teacher Walkout, but while teacher pay remains a major legislative priority, support staff pay hasn’t. StateImpact’s Beth Wallis reports many paraprofessionals, who often provide critical support to students with disabilities, live paycheck to paycheck.

Watchdog agency failed to perform required inspections at elite Oklahoma high school plagued by culture of harassment

February 22, 2024 10:00 - 4 minutes - 6.53 MB

An Oklahoma Watch investigation last year revealed a pervasive culture of harassment at an elite Oklahoma high school. StateImpact’s Beth Wallis spoke with Jennifer Palmer, the reporter behind the story, about a recent update: the agency responsible for addressing those issues failed to perform required inspections for 16 years.

What to expect from Oklahoma lawmakers on healthcare in 2024

February 14, 2024 13:00 - 4 minutes - 5.76 MB

Abortion restrictions, the ongoing opioid crisis and access to mental healthcare are in focus this legislative session. Jillian Taylor is StateImpact Oklahoma’s health reporter, and spoke with managing editor Logan Layden about what to expect from lawmakers in 2024.

What to expect from Oklahoma lawmakers on education in 2024

February 07, 2024 13:00 - 4 minutes - 5.97 MB

The state legislature is back in session, and there’s no hotter topic than education policy. StateImpact education reporter Beth Wallis talked with StateImpact managing editor Logan Layden about what to expect from lawmakers in 2024.

Oklahoma’s Education Department awarded teachers life-changing bonuses — and created a nightmare for some by demanding them back

January 25, 2024 10:00 - 4 minutes - 6.24 MB

The Department of Education overpaid at least $290,000 in teacher bonuses and is working to claw back the money mere months after it was distributed. Nine teachers have been issued demands for repayment, and five additional teachers are under review.

Shawnee enacts no sit, no lie ordinance as future for homeless residents is uncertain

January 18, 2024 03:00 - 4 minutes - 5.93 MB

At least 150 of Shawnee's 30,000 residents are homeless. And because of an ordinance enacted this month, life might be getting a little more difficult for some of the community’s most vulnerable residents.

The road ahead for Tulsa Public Schools: five months into Walters’ mandated improvement plan

January 04, 2024 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.32 MB

No district in Oklahoma is under the State Board of Education’s microscope quite like Tulsa Public Schools. StateImpact’s Beth Wallis and OPMX’s Max Bryan have this update on how TPS’ state-mandated improvement plan is going so far and the work that lies ahead.

StateImpact Oklahoma on the year that was and what's next

December 21, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 6.4 MB

2023 is coming to a close, and it’s been an eventful year for StateImpact Oklahoma’s reporters. Managing editor Logan Layden talks with the team about highlights of this year and what to expect in 2024.

How Oklahomans are navigating the ‘chaos’ of SoonerCare unwinding

December 13, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 6.55 MB

Over 300-thousand Oklahomans have lost SoonerCare coverage as state agencies remove ineligible people after a pandemic pause. StateImpact’s Jillian Taylor has more on how confusion around the Medicaid unwinding process is affecting members.

Tulsans regrow urban tree canopy after summer’s severe weather

December 07, 2023 13:00 - 3 minutes - 5.28 MB

Severe weather damaged thousands of trees in the Tulsa area earlier this year. A million cubic yards of green waste was collected, and many trees were bent or broken. StateImpact’s Britny Cordera reports on how the community is coming together to regow the city’s uban tree canopy. 

'This is their story': Why a teacher in Osage County wants to teach Killers of the Flower Moon

November 30, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.38 MB

The new Killers of the Flower Moon movie is sparking a conversation about Oklahoma’s difficult history. But those conversations in schools are complicated by Oklahoma’s law limiting lessons that make students feel uncomfortable about their race or sex.

Oklahoma schools turning to the new, old way of teaching students to read

November 16, 2023 10:00 - 4 minutes - 6.13 MB

The science of reading is returning to the limelight, and Oklahoma schools and universities are using those techniques to teach literacy to the next generation.

Oklahoma doesn’t mandate sex ed, some churches are trying to fill the gaps

November 02, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 5.68 MB

Some Oklahoma churches are providing comprehensive sex ed to fill gaps in a state that doesn’t require it in schools.

An Oklahoma non-profit uses Hip-Hop to increase mental health awareness

October 26, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 5.63 MB

A local non-profit is hosting rap battles and other events to advocate for mental health awareness in Oklahoma. The organization called SoulBody Cyphers is working to destigmatize conversations around mental health and cultivate a community of MC’s.

What Oklahomans need to know about student loan repayment

October 19, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.23 MB

This month, millions of Americans will have to make student loan payments after a three-year pandemic era pause. But since 2020, there have been some big changes made to the repayment system, and StateImpact’s Beth Wallis is here to break it down.

How is the first commercial rollout of COVID-19 vaccines going in Oklahoma?

October 12, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 5.64 MB

After its recent FDA approval, the CDC recommended everyone six months and older get an updated COVID vaccine. But getting it hasn’t been easy for some Oklahomans, with appointments canceled day of due to insurance snags and issues finding a place that carries it.

Butterflies are on the move, and Oklahomans are keeping track of them in monarch conservation effort

October 05, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 6.25 MB

Monarch butterflies, like many insects and birds, migrate twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, before the weather gets cold, monarchs travel over two thousand miles from North America to central Mexico to hibernate.

What does it mean for Oklahoma to partner with PragerU?

September 28, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.66 MB

Earlier this month, State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced a partnership with conservative nonprofit media group, PragerU.  Existing PragerU Kids content now populates the state’s social studies website, and Walters says PragerU and the State Department of Education are collaborating on an Oklahoma-specific curriculum. So what is PragerU? StateImpact spoke with parents, teachers, legislators and Walters to find out.

Oklahoma trans youth, providers face uncertainty in gender-affirming care access

September 21, 2023 12:00 - 4 minutes - 6.31 MB

A bill in Oklahoma banning all forms of gender-affirming care for trans youth was paused by Oklahoma’s attorney general amid litigation from the ACLU of Oklahoma. Now, trans youth and providers are coping with all the uncertainty.

OKC community comes together to collect data on impact of urban heat islands

September 13, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 6.44 MB

More than 250 volunteers collected temperature and air quality data around Oklahoma City through a community science project in August to study urban heat islands. StateImpact’s Britny Cordera reports the NOAA funded project could help the city prepare for extreme heat.

Oklahoma schools adapt recreational activities to sweltering summer heat

September 07, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.24 MB

Faced with the dangers of excessive heat, educators around the state are getting creative to keep kids safe and cool while still providing recreational opportunities.

StateImpact Oklahoma welcomes health reporter Jillian Taylor

August 30, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 5.73 MB

StateImpact Oklahoma’s health coverage informed listeners through the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s voter-mandated expansion of Medicaid, and the opioid epidemic. StateImpact managing editor Logan Layden introduces us to Jillian Taylor, the new reporter continuing the work to tell health stories that impact you, your community and the entire state.

'I’m talking about what’s best for the Greenwood area': What the removal of a highway could do for Black Wall Street

August 24, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 6.76 MB

Tulsa’s North Peoria Church of Christ used to call Greenwood home. That was before I-244 displaced it and cut through historic Black Wall Street.  StateImpact’s Britny Cordera talked with State Rep. Regina Goodwin, who represents the area and attends the church, about its legacy and a planning grant to study the removal of the expressway.

What you need to know as Oklahoma’s state board of education weighs Tulsa Public Schools’ accreditation

August 17, 2023 09:00 - 5 minutes - 6.89 MB

Next Thursday, the State Board of Education will consider changing the accreditation status of the state’s largest school district, Tulsa Public Schools. This comes after over a year of remarks from State Superintendent Ryan Walters targeting the district. StateImpact’s Beth Wallis and Public Radio Tulsa's Max Bryan break down what’s behind the battle for TPS.

Private landowners in Oklahoma are stepping up to preserve habitat for prairie chickens

August 10, 2023 13:00 - 5 minutes - 7.02 MB

Rebecca Jim owns a mile and a half acreage just north of Vinita, Oklahoma, at the northern edge of the Cherokee Nation. She inherited this land from her family who used to ranch cattle here. She said her land is longer than it is wide, perfect for bringing back prairie chickens. She is turning two fields on the land into prairies to bring back prairie chickens.

Big Bonuses, Bigger Risks: Oklahoma’s New Teacher Sign-On Bonus Program Raises Concern

June 22, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.57 MB

Signing bonuses of as much as $50,000 are what Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said is needed to attract new and retired teachers to the classroom.That’s also what makes his new bonus plan a risky policy. StateImpact's Beth Wallis teamed up with Oklahoma Watch education reporter Jennifer Palmer for this story.

StateImpact breaks down Oklahoma's 2023 education budget

June 01, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.64 MB

StateImpact’s Logan Layden sat down with education reporter Beth Wallis for a breakdown of what education measures Oklahomans are going to get for their money after a contentious 2023 legislative session.

‘We will strive to survive the Ryan Walters time’: Oklahoma superintendents respond to Walters’ claims, rhetoric

May 25, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.33 MB

Walters repeatedly emphasized his focus on open communication with superintendents around the state. But when StateImpact sent out a survey to those superintendents, a much more complex picture emerged.

The battle for Oklahoma education funding

May 11, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.48 MB

The Oklahoma legislature has been deadlocked for weeks as it hashes out a plan for education funding. StateImpact’s Beth Wallis sat down with Oklahoman newspaper education reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel to talk about the events at the Capitol that led up to this moment.

Health secretary's ouster gives a look into "frustration" between the Senate and Gov. Stitt

May 04, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 6.58 MB

The governor and the Legislature have been at odds over the state’s Medicaid agency, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. That fight came to a head last week, when the Senate booted the agency director from his Secretary of Health position. StateImpact’s Catherine Sweeney talks with Tres Savage, the editor of nonprofit outlet NonDoc, about what led lawmakers to reject Secretary Kevin Corbett's re-instatement.

OU’s swatting event was a hoax, but the trauma it caused was real

April 27, 2023 10:00 - 4 minutes - 6.62 MB

Run. Hide. Fight. Those were the words that ended the first of several text updates from OU’s emergency alert system on the night of April 7.  The Norman Police Department had received calls that appeared to be coming from OU’s campus. The caller told police there was a shooting at the Bizzell Memorial Library and that one of the caller’s friends had been shot. And in secondary calls to Norman dispatch, gunshots can be heard.  But as it turns out, it was a swatting incident — that is, a b...

Oklahoma nursing schools ramp up admissions amid worker shortage

April 19, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 5.94 MB

The state ranks 46th in the nation for nurses per capita, and of course, the pandemic has only made that worse.  But all along, one of the major contributing factors to that shortage has been nursing school. There are a finite number of slots offered, and Oklahoma hasn’t had enough. Why? It’s complicated.

Five years after the Oklahoma Teacher Walkout, the stakes are higher than ever

April 06, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.68 MB

Even though funding measures advocated for by 2018 Oklahoma Teacher Walkout participants were stymied largely by Republican lawmakers, Oklahoma’s GOP is now authoring record-level education funding measures that include teacher raises, along with a slew of labor rights bills for educators. But the funding bills are far from a done deal — in fact, due to a disagreement in how those bills should operate, there could be no deal at all.

StateImpact Oklahoma discusses the state's newly extended postpartum Medicaid benefits

March 30, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 5.73 MB

Oklahoma offers pregnant residents special Medicaid coverage. That coverage used to last only 60 days after delivery, but under a new policy, that coverage will run for a full year instead. StateImpact’s Logan Layden and Catherine Sweeney discuss how the policy will affect thousands of new parents in Oklahoma.

A proposed ban on gender-affirming care for minors would affect Oklahoma adults too

March 23, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 5.71 MB

House Bill 2177 is making its way through the statehouse. It purports to ban gender-affirming care for children and teens in Oklahoma. Supporters say children and teens aren’t equipped to make life-altering health decisions for themselves. One provision says no health facility receiving state funds can administer gender-affirming care to anyone of any age. Another provision would ban insurance companies from covering gender-affirming care, again, for all Oklahomans, no matter how old they are.

Trans Oklahomans find community through music amid heightened anti-queer rhetoric in legislature

March 16, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.08 MB

Recent pushes from the Oklahoma legislature to target queer issues in schools and medicine have mobilized some Oklahomans to fight back. The Transgender Action Choir is one group lifting their voices to speak up.

Oklahoma legislation would require insurance companies to cover high-tech medical screenings called biomarker tests

March 08, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 6.08 MB

Biomarker testing is a tool that doctors use to get a clearer picture of a medical problem — often cancer. Providers and patients say it can be difficult to get insurance companies to cover it. Oklahoma lawmakers are working to change that. 

Will Oklahomans vote to be the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana?

March 02, 2023 10:00 - 4 minutes - 6.41 MB

Voters are just days away from deciding whether Oklahoma will legalize recreational marijuana. But results of similar ballot initiatives in Arkansas and Missouri could help predict the fate of State Question 820. KOSU's Xcaret Nuñez reports for StateImpact Oklahoma.

How Oklahoma's mismanagement of federal education funds could leave $18 million on the table

February 23, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.44 MB

At the end of January, Oklahoma's new Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, announced he would change course on a high profile debacle involving Secretary of Education and now State Superintendent Ryan Walters — and lots of federal money.  Due to the state’s handling of its previous round of funding, Oklahoma now has nearly $18 million of federal education funding sitting untouched — and time is running out to spend it. StateImpact’s Beth Wallis sat down with Oklahoma Watch education reporter...

Another pandemic relief policy is ending, making groceries even more expensive for low-income Oklahomans

February 16, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 5.88 MB

During the pandemic, the federal government started giving extra help to families who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — often called SNAP or food stamps. Officials were trying to make sure families could still put food on the table during the sudden economic downturn. But when Congress passed its big omnibus bill in December, they nixed the extra help, putting a sudden expiration date on three years of emergency payments. The roughly 700,000 Oklahomans who have benefitted f...

‘Never took a sick day in seven years’: Oklahoma teacher moms and the realities of no paid maternity leave

February 09, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.16 MB

Karli Myers is a first-time parent and an English teacher at Sapulpa High School. And without any sick leave left to take, Myers had to return to her classroom the previous day, cutting short her time at home with Luke.  That’s because public schools in Oklahoma aren’t mandated by the state to offer paid maternity leave to school faculty and staff — even though three out of four teachers in Oklahoma are women. In a push to combat the state’s record teacher shortage by attracting and retain...

StateImpact talks with Secretary of Health Kevin Corbett about Oklahoma's pivot to managed Medicaid

February 02, 2023 13:00 - 4 minutes - 6.32 MB

Oklahoma’s Medicaid program, SoonerCare, is on its way to profound change. StateImpact’s Catherine Sweeney talked with its director, Secretary of Health Kevin Corbett, this week about the transition to managed care.

A decade of scandal at Epic Charter Schools

January 26, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.32 MB

As more news emerges about embezzlement schemes at Epic Charter Schools, it might be difficult to keep up with the saga. That’s why StateImpact’s Beth Wallis asked Oklahoman newspaper reporter Nuria Martinez-Keel to get us up-to-speed on the last decade of Epic’s scandals. Martinez-Keel covers education at The Oklahoman and has been with the publication for four years.

Methamphetamine is killing more Oklahomans than any illicit drug. A collaborative in Tulsa models how the communities can fight the epidemic.

January 19, 2023 05:00 - 4 minutes - 5.72 MB

In 2013, Tulsans accounted for only about 13 percent of the state’s methamphetamine treatment admissions. In 2020, that figure climbed to one-third of the state’s admissions. That year, local nonprofits, treatment centers, law enforcement and government officials announced a collaborative, community-based initiative to help Tulsans find access to recovery services.

'A learner of learners': Staving off the "deprofessionalization' of Oklahoma's teachers

January 12, 2023 09:00 - 4 minutes - 6.52 MB

Oklahoma’s teacher shortage led to a record-breaking 3,780 emergency teaching certifications issued in 2022. From 2001-2018, Oklahoma’s enrollment in university education programs dropped by 80%. As the state's schools struggle to fill classrooms with teachers holding standard teaching certificates, provisionally certified teachers have had to step in to fill the gap. But do students lose out when hiring traditionally certified teachers becomes a luxury this teacher-strapped state can’t af...

State data paints a dire picture of Oklahoma teenagers' mental health

December 22, 2022 21:22 - 4 minutes - 5.65 MB

State data released this year showed half of the teens who participated in an annual survey checked yes on the traditional depression symptom of feeling so sad or hopeless for two weeks in a row that they lost interest in usual activities. It found that in 2021, nearly one in four respondents had contemplated suicide in the past year. Among girls, that rate was closer to one in three.

Methamphetamine may not be the center of attention, but it's killing more Oklahomans than any other drug.

December 15, 2022 16:09 - 4 minutes - 5.99 MB

Billion-dollar lawsuits and prestige television shows have made the opioid epidemic impossible to overlook. But it is far from the only drug epidemic the country — and Oklahoma — are facing. Overdose deaths from opioids, including prescription drugs as well as illicit forms of fentanyl, have increased over the past few years, likely because of struggles amid the pandemic. But one drug in particular is killing Oklahomans at an even higher rate: methamphetamine.

Pt. 2: ‘Disasters that define us’: Examining Northeast Oklahoma’s patchwork of flood protections

December 09, 2022 10:00 - 4 minutes - 6.41 MB

Heavy rains in May 2019 revealed major disparities in flood protections across Oklahoma. While residents in Tulsa benefitted from decades of flood preparations, smaller communities lack the infrastructure and resources to keep the waters at bay. In the second of a two-part series with OPMX’s Graycen Wheeler, StateImpact’s Beth Wallis reports on how one riverside community came together to take care of each other.