Articles written by Sean Murphy
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Stitt taps Tulsa man for AG despite 'not qualified' rating
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A Tulsa attorney whom the American Bar Association rated as " not qualified " to serve as a federal judge was tapped Friday by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt to serve as the state's next attorney general. After a two-month search th...
Blue Origin brings space tourism to tiny Texas town
VAN HORN, Texas (AP) — For years, the official letterhead for the small town of Van Horn, tucked neatly among the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains, read simply: "Farming, ranching, mining." And while there is still some farming and ranching in...
Oklahoma board approves rules banning certain race theories
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Public school teachers in Oklahoma could have their teaching licenses suspended for teaching certain concepts about race and racism under new rules approved Monday by the State Board of Education. With just one opposing vote,...
EXPLAINER: How Oklahoma evictions might spike after July
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal freeze on most evictions that was enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31, after the Biden administration extended the date by a month. The moratorium, put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and...
Oklahoma prison inmates to begin receiving computer tablets
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Inmates at an Oklahoma prison began receiving special computer tablets this week, as part of a Department of Corrections plan to provide secure tablets to everyone incarcerated in state prisons. The devices, specially designed...
Stitt cabinet member plans to sue former attorney general
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A member of Gov. Kevin Stitt's cabinet said Wednesday he plans to sue former Attorney General Mike Hunter over a felony bribery charge that Hunter's office filed against him, then later dropped. Stitt's Secretary of Digital...
Oklahoma high court strikes down governor's Medicaid plan
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Gov. Kevin Stitt's plan to privatize much of the state's Medicaid program is unconstitutional. In a 6-3 ruling Tuesday, the court determined the Oklahoma Health Care Authority did not have the...
Century after massacre, Black Tulsans struggle for a voice
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — In the early days of Oklahoma's statehood, an angry white mob fanned by rumors of a Black uprising burned a thriving African American community in the oil boomtown of Tulsa. Although the area was quietly rebuilt and enjoyed a...
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter announces resignation
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter on Wednesday announced his resignation, citing "certain personal matters that are becoming public." In a statement released by his office, the 64-year-old Republican said he plans to step...
Republican lawmakers seeks review of death row conviction
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A Republican lawmaker in Oklahoma who supports the death penalty said Monday he and several of his GOP colleagues are seeking an independent investigation into the conviction of death row inmate Richard Glossip. In a letter sta...
Oklahoma governor announces end to extra unemployment money
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma will end a $300-a-week supplemental unemployment benefit next month, Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Monday. To incentivize unemployed people to return to the work, Stitt said the state will offer a $1,200 stipend for the...
Oklahoma bucks red-state trend, extends early voting
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — On Election Day last year, state Rep. Jon Echols was mortified to see a 3 1/2-hour line to vote in his district, which stretches from the edge of Oklahoma City's urban core into suburban neighborhoods that give way to wide stre...
Race massacre commission leader rips gov for signing bill
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A leader of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Commission sent Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt a scathing letter on Tuesday over Stitt's signing of a bill that prohibits the teaching of certain concepts of race and racism in Oklahoma...
Federal bill to address criminal jurisdiction in Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Two of the most powerful Native American tribes in Oklahoma said Monday they've reached an agreement on federal legislation that would address concerns over criminal jurisdiction in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court...
Oklahoma governor signs ban on teaching critical race theory
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma public school teachers will be prohibited from teaching certain concepts of race and racism under a bill Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law Friday. The GOP-backed bill prohibits teaching of so-called...
Oklahoma AG secures $2.6M refund for malaria drug purchase
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma has secured a $2.6 million refund for the purchase of a malaria drug once touted by President Donald Trump as an effective treatment for COVID-19, a state official said Friday. Attorney General Mike Hunter said the...
Black Freedmen struggle for recognition as tribal citizens
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — As the U.S. faces a reckoning over its history of racism, some Native American tribal nations that once owned slaves also are grappling with their own mistreatment of Black people. When Native American tribes were forced from...
Oklahoma governor signs 3 anti-abortion bills into law
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed three anti-abortion bills into law on Monday, including ones to criminalize the procedure in certain cases and cost providers their medical licenses for performing them. The Republican-controlle...
Oklahoma Senate sends 3 anti-abortion bills to governor
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Senate voted Tuesday in favor of three anti-abortion bills, including ones that would criminalize the procedure in certain cases and cost providers their medical licenses for performing them, sending the measures...
Garland returns to Oklahoma City for bombing memorial
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Although 26 years have passed since a truck bomb ripped through a federal building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, the same domestic extremism that led to the attack still exists today, U.S. Attorney General Merr...
GOP Oklahoma lawmaker criticized for transgender comments
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma lawmaker who helped revive a bill to ban transgender athletes from participating in women's sports is coming under fire for saying transgender people "have a mental illness." Rep. Justin Humphrey, a Republican from...
Oklahoma Legislature OKs bill to crack down on protesters
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A Republican-backed bill aimed at cracking down on protests by increasing penalties for blocking roadways and granting immunity to motorists who kill or injure rioters received final legislative approval on Wednesday. The state...
EXPLAINER: How does an officer use a gun instead of a Taser?
A suburban Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a weekend traffic stop accidentally drew her firearm instead of a stun gun, the city's police chief said Monday. Although rare, a string of similar incidents has happened in...
Oklahoma court tosses 5 more first-degree murder convictions
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s highest criminal appeals court tossed out five more first-degree murder convictions on Thursday based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision about criminal jurisdiction in Indian Country. Two of the rulings by...
Police: Oklahoma jail worker beaten, stabbed by inmates
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma County Detention Center employee who was taken hostage over the weekend was beaten and stabbed by inmates during the ordeal, police said Monday. The Oklahoma City Police Department released additional details about...
