Articles written by Sean Murphy


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  • Oklahoma parents and teachers sue to stop top education official's classroom Bible mandate

    SEAN MURPHY|Oct 18, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A group of Oklahoma parents of public school students, teachers and ministers filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to stop the state's top education official from forcing schools to incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for students in grades 5 through 12. The lawsuit filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court also asks the court to stop Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters from spending $3 million to purchase Bibles in support of his mandate. The suit alleges that the mandate violates the Oklahoma Constitution because it...

  • Ted Cruz and Colin Allred wage another big US Senate fight in Texas

    SEAN MURPHY and JUAN A. LOZANO|Oct 11, 2024

    FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Attack ads on every TV break. Campaign money pouring in. And on a sunny Saturday, a crowd stretching out the door for a campaign rally at Tulip's, a popular Fort Worth nightclub — this time for Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker trying to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Texas is having one of those Octobers again. With Democrats defending twice as many Senate seats as Republicans, Allred's bid could be their best chance to flip a seat next month and preserve their thin Senate majority. Cruz is...

  • Oklahoma death row inmate had three 'last meals.' He's back at Supreme Court in new bid for freedom

    SEAN MURPHY and MARK SHERMAN|Oct 4, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma has set execution dates nine times for death row inmate Richard Glossip. The state has fed him three "last meals." Glossip has even been married twice while awaiting execution. Somehow, he's still here, even after the Supreme Court rejected his challenge to Oklahoma's lethal injection process nine years ago. Now, in another twist, Oklahoma's Republican attorney general has joined with Glossip in seeking to overturn his murder conviction and death sentence in a 1997 murder-for-hire scheme. This unlikely turn has p...

  • Justice Department will launch civil rights review into 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

    SEAN MURPHY|Oct 2, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Justice Department announced Monday it plans to launch a review of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, an attack by a white mob on a thriving Black district that is considered one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history. The review was launched under a federal cold-case initiative that has led to prosecutions of some Civil Rights Era cases, although Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke said they have "no expectation" there is anyone living who could be prosecuted as a result of t...

  • 5 executions have happened over a week's span in the US. That's the most in decades

    SEAN MURPHY|Sep 27, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Death row inmates in five states have been put to death in the span of one week, an unusually high number of executions that defies a yearslong trend of decline in both the use and support of the death penalty in the U.S. The first execution was carried out on Friday in South Carolina. Two more death row inmates, in Missouri and Texas, were pronounced dead Tuesday evening following executions, and an Oklahoma inmate was executed Thursday. When Alabama used nitrogen gas later Thursday to execute a man, it marked the first ti...

  • Oklahoma executes a man for a 1992 killing despite board recommending his life be spared

    SEAN MURPHY|Sep 27, 2024

    McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma executed a man Thursday for his role in the 1992 fatal shooting of a convenience store owner after the governor again rejected a recommendation from the state's parole board to spare a death row inmate's life. Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and was declared dead at 10:17 a.m. "A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death," Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement explaining why he declined to commute Littlejohn's sentence to life in prison w...

  • There are 5 executions set over a week's span in the US. That's the most in decades

    SEAN MURPHY|Sep 25, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Death row inmates in five states are scheduled to be put to death in the span of one week, an unusually high number of executions that defies a yearslong trend of decline in both the use and support of the death penalty in the U.S. The first execution was carried out on Friday in South Carolina. Another death row inmate in Missouri was put to death Tuesday evening. If the three remaining scheduled executions in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas are carried out this week, it will mark the first time in more than 20 years — sin...

  • Oklahoma governor delays vote on minimum wage hike until 2026

    SEAN MURPHY|Sep 13, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahomans will vote on gradually increasing the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour but not until 2026, angering supporters who are questioning the timing set by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. Stitt signed an executive order this week setting the vote for June 2026, which is the next scheduled statewide general election after November. The governor said in a statement he waited until then, rather than calling a special statewide election, in order to save taxpayers the roughly $1.8 million it would cost for a standalone e...

  • Oklahoma teachers were told to use the Bible. There's resistance from schools as students return

    SEAN MURPHY|Aug 23, 2024

    BIXBY, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma's Bixby school district has lots to show off for a fast-growing Tulsa suburb: a state-of-the-art new high school set to open by 2025, a new ninth grade gymnasium and plans for a $12 million upgrade to a football complex that already rivals that of many small colleges. But, what the district does not have as students returned this week is a Bible in every classroom — despite a statewide mandate from Oklahoma's education chief to incorporate Bible lessons and promises of repercussions for those that don't comply. Oth...

  • Ruling that bounced Kennedy from New York ballot could challenge him in other states

    MICHAEL HILL and SEAN MURPHY|Aug 14, 2024

    ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s independent presidential campaign suffered a blow this week when a judge in New York invalidated his petition to put his name on the state ballot, a ruling that could potentially create problems for the candidate as he faces challenges elsewhere. Kennedy's attorneys filed an appeal Wednesday to a ruling this week from Justice Christina Ryba, who said the residence listed on his nominating petitions was a "sham" address he used to maintain his voter registration and to further his political a...

  • Oklahoma parole board recommends governor spare the life of man on death row

    SEAN MURPHY|Aug 7, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 on Wednesday to recommend the governor spare the life of a man on death row for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery. The board's narrow decision means the fate of Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, now rests with Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who could commute his sentence to life in prison without parole. Stitt has granted clemency only once, in 2021, to death row inmate Julius Jones, commuting his sentence to life without parole just hours b...

  • Last known survivors of Tulsa Race Massacre challenge Oklahoma high court decision

    SEAN MURPHY|Jul 3, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Attorneys for the last two remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday to reconsider the case they dismissed last month and called on the Biden administration to help the two women seek justice. Viola Fletcher, 110, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109, are the last known survivors of one of the single worst acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history. As many as 300 Black people were killed; more than 1,200 homes, businesses, schools and churches were d...

  • Oklahoma state superintendent orders schools to teach the Bible in grades 5 through 12

    SEAN MURPHY|Jun 28, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's top education official ordered public schools Thursday to incorporate the Bible into lessons for grades 5 through 12, the latest effort by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms. The directive drew immediate condemnation from civil rights groups and supporters of the separation of church and state, with some calling it an abuse of power and a violation of the U.S. Constitution. The order sent to districts across the state by Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters says adherence to the m...

  • Oklahoma executes man convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing 7-year-old girl in 1984

    SEAN MURPHY|Jun 28, 2024

    McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma executed a man Thursday who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing his 7-year-old former stepdaughter in 1984. Richard Rojem, 66, received a three-drug lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and was declared dead at 10:16 a.m., prison officials said. Rojem, who had been in prison since 1985, was the longest-serving inmate on Oklahoma's death row. When asked if he had any last words, Rojem, who was strapped to a gurney and had an IV in his tattooed left arm, said: "I don't. I...

  • What to know about Oklahoma's top education official ordering Bible instruction in schools

    SEAN MURPHY|Jun 28, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's top education official outraged civil rights groups and others when he ordered public schools to immediately begin incorporating the Bible into lesson plans for students in grades 5 through 12. Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a memo Thursday to school leaders across the state that the Bible is a cornerstone of Western civilization and that its use in classrooms is mandatory. "It is essential that our kids have an understanding of the Bible and its historical context," Walters said. Here a...

  • Public funds for religious charter school would be unconstitutional, Oklahoma high court says

    SEAN MURPHY|Jun 26, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday stopped what would have been the first publicly funded religious charter school in the U.S., turning back conservatives and the state's GOP governor who have welcomed religious groups into public education. The high court determined the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board's 3-2 vote last year to approve an application by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma for the St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government from m...

  • US Rep Tom Cole wins Oklahoma GOP primary outright against well-funded challenger, 3 others

    SEAN MURPHY|Jun 19, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Eleven-term Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Tom Cole won a five-way Republican primary outright on Tuesday and avoided an August runoff. Cole faced a well-funded political newcomer in businessman Paul Bondar, who loaned more than $5 million of his own money to his campaign. The infusion of cash allowed Bondar to blanket television airwaves and social media with advertising touting his candidacy. Cole, the chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, is seeking a 12th term as representative of Oklahoma's 4th Congressional Dis...

  • What we know about the lawsuit filed by the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

    SEAN MURPHY|Jun 14, 2024

    Attorneys for the two remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre said Thursday they will petition the Oklahoma Supreme Court for a rehearing in the case seeking reparations for one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history. In an 8-1 decision on Wednesday, the state's highest court upheld a decision made by a district court judge in Tulsa last year to dismiss the case. Although the court wrote that the plaintiff's grievances about the destruction of the Greenwood district, also known as "Black Wall...

  • Oklahoma panel denies clemency for man convicted in 1984 killing of 7-year-old girl

    SEAN MURPHY|Jun 14, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma's Pardon and Parole Board on Monday unanimously denied clemency for a death row inmate convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a 7-year-old girl in 1984, clearing the way for him to be executed later this month. Richard Rojem, 66, denied responsibility for killing his former stepdaughter, Layla Cummings. The child's mutilated and partially clothed body was discovered in a field in rural Washita County near the town of Burns Flat. She had been stabbed to death. Rojem has exhausted his appeals and is scheduled t...

  • Oklahoma Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit of last Tulsa Race Massacre survivors seeking reparations

    SEAN MURPHY|Jun 12, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dampening the hope of advocates for racial justice that the city would make financial amends for one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history that left as many as 300 people dead and a once-thriving district in smoldering ruins. The nine-member court upheld the decision made by a district court judge in Tulsa last year, ruling that the plaintiff's grievances about the destruction of t...

  • In a north Texas county, dazed residents sift through homes mangled by a tornado

    SEAN MURPHY and JULIO CORTEZ|May 24, 2024

    VALLEY VIEW, Texas (AP) — The dazed residents of a north Texas county sifted through their mangled homes on Sunday after seven people there were killed when a tornado ripped through the remote region near the tiny community of Valley View. Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington said there's "just a trail of debris left" in the area bordering Oklahoma where the dead included two children, ages 2 and 5, in Valley View, a town where barely 800 people live. The bodies of three family members were found in one residence, the sheriff said. The county b...

  • In a north Texas county, dazed residents sift through homes mangled by a tornado

    SEAN MURPHY and JULIO CORTEZ|May 24, 2024

    VALLEY VIEW, Texas (AP) — The dazed residents of a north Texas county sifted through their mangled homes on Sunday after seven people there were killed when a tornado ripped through the remote region near the tiny community of Valley View. Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington said there's "just a trail of debris left" in the area bordering Oklahoma where the dead included two children, ages 2 and 5, in Valley View, a town where barely 800 people live. The bodies of three family members were found in one residence, the sheriff said. The county b...

  • DOJ adds Oklahoma to the list of states it's suing to block their immigration laws

    SEAN MURPHY|May 22, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice sued Oklahoma on Tuesday seeking to block a law that seeks to impose criminal penalties on those living in the state illegally. The lawsuit in federal court in Oklahoma City challenges a law that makes it a state crime — punishable by up to two years in prison — to live in Oklahoma without legal immigration status. Similar laws passed in Texas and Iowa already are facing challenges from the Justice Department. Oklahoma is among several GOP states jockeying to push deeper into immig...

  • Second tornado in 5 weeks damages Oklahoma town and causes 1 death as powerful storms hit central US

    ALEXA ST. JOHN and SEAN MURPHY|May 8, 2024

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A tornado destroyed homes, forced the evacuation of a nursing home and toppled trees and power lines when it roared through a small Oklahoma town, one of several twisters that erupted in the central United States amid a series of powerful storms that stretched into Tuesday. At least one death was reported. The tornado ripped through the 1,000-person town of Barnsdall, about a 40-minute drive north of Tulsa, on Monday night. It was the second tornado to hit the town in five weeks — a twister on April 1 with maximum wind spe...

  • Democratic US Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife are indicted over ties to Azerbaijan

    ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and SEAN MURPHY|May 3, 2024

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife were indicted on conspiracy and bribery charges and taken into custody Friday in connection with a U.S. Department of Justice probe into the couple's ties to the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. From 2014 to 2021, Cuellar, 68, and his wife accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico, and in exchange, Cuellar agreed to advance the interests of the country and the bank in the U.S., according to the i...

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