Latest Oklahoma Headlines
All the headlines from our Oklahoma Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Oklahoma High Court Rejects Immediate Delay of Opioid Trial, Sets Hearing Date
Mar 15 2019 // The Oklahoma Supreme Court has rejected a request by drugmakers to immediately postpone the start of what is expected to be the first state trial in lawsuits accusing the companies of fueling an opioid epidemic. The court...
Oklahoma House Passes Bill to Help Small Businesses Grow
Mar 14 2019 // Legislation that would make the Small Employer Quality Jobs Program more accessible to startup companies and small businesses has passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives with a bipartisan vote of 88 to 5. The Small...
Oklahoma House Passes Bill Aimed at Increasing Volunteer Firefighter Numbers
Mar 12 2019 // The Oklahoma House of Representatives has unanimously passed legislation that will allow paid firefighters after retirement to return to service as volunteers without effect to their state pensions. House Bill 2051 passed...
Deadly Alabama Tornado Highlights Human Safety Risk Despite Improved Forecasting
Mar 11 2019 // Sometimes in forecasting tornadoes, you can get everything technically right, and yet it all goes horribly wrong. Three days before the killer Alabama tornado struck, government severe-storm meteorologists cautioned that...
Oklahoma Judge Denies Purdue Pharma Bid to Delay Landmark Opioid Trial
Mar 11 2019 // OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP and two other drugmakers on Friday lost a bid to delay a landmark trial set for May in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit by Oklahoma’s attorney general accusing them of helping fuel an...
Improved Tornado Forecasting Doesn’t Prevent All Deaths
Mar 8 2019 // Sometimes in forecasting tornadoes, you can get everything technically right, and yet it all goes horribly wrong. Three days before the killer Alabama tornado struck, government severe-storm meteorologists cautioned that...
Despite Improved Tornado Forecasting, Deaths Continue
Mar 7 2019 // Sometimes in forecasting tornadoes, you can get everything technically right, and yet it all goes horribly wrong. Three days before the killer Alabama tornado struck, government severe-storm meteorologists cautioned that...
Drug Companies Seek Delay in Oklahoma Opioid Trial
Mar 7 2019 // Pharmaceutical companies have asked for a 100-day postponement of an Oklahoma trial accusing them of fraudulently marketing drugs that have fueled the nation’s opioid crisis. Several states have filed lawsuits...
Ryan Specialty Group Closes Acquisition of Oklahoma’s Westphalen Insurance
Mar 5 2019 // Chicago-based Ryan Specialty Group LLC has acquired the assets and operations of Westphalen Insurance Services Inc. (Westphalen), an independently owned wholesale insurance brokerage with offices in Edmond, Oklahoma. The...
Oklahoma’s Tulsa County Will Pay $350K in 2009 Jail Death Lawsuit
Mar 1 2019 // Tulsa County has reached a $350,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed by the estate of a local jail inmate who hanged himself in his cell a decade ago. The settlement was agreed to last week with Carolyn Cox, the mother of...
State Agency Shifts Focus as Medical Marijuana Demand in Oklahoma Rises
Mar 1 2019 // The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority has temporarily closed its customer service center to free up more staff to respond to the high volume of applications for medical marijuana cards. The number of applications...
Ohio DOT Seeks OK for Conditions-Based Variable Speed Limits
Feb 26 2019 // Ohio’s Department of Transportation is seeking permission to apply changes in speed limits anytime statewide. The department currently is allowed to impose variable speed limits based on road conditions on only a few...
Fire Severely Damages Downtown Businesses in Guthrie, Oklahoma
Feb 24 2019 // Multiple fire crews are responding to a blaze that has badly damaged businesses in Guthrie, north of Oklahoma City. Firefighters battled to contain a structure fire Saturday afternoon after officials say it consumed two...
Winter Weather Advisories in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas
Feb 19 2019 // A storm system could yield snow and ice in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas, according to the National Weather Service. The NWS issued a winter weather advisory for Tuesday through Wednesday morning for parts of western Texas,...
South Central Ratings Roundup
Feb 18 2019 // Credit Ratings of Oklahoma Farm Bureau Mutual Group Upgraded Ratings agency AM Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to B++ (Good) from B+ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings to “bbb” from...
Fire Danger High in Oklahoma, Texas Panhandles
Feb 13 2019 // Forestry officials say conditions in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles are ideal for sparking wildfires. Oklahoma Forestry Service officials say danger levels are high Monday in western Oklahoma and the Oklahoma...
Ryan Specialty Group to Acquire Oklahoma’s Westphalen Insurance Services
Feb 12 2019 // Chicago-based Ryan Specialty Group LLC has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the assets and operations of Westphalen Insurance Services Inc. (Westphalen), an independently owned wholesale insurance brokerage...
Bus Video Shows Oklahoma Principal Used Phone During Texas Crash, Attorney Says
Feb 11 2019 // An attorney said video will show that an Oklahoma elementary school principal was using his cellphone when he crashed a bus filled with students in Texas, injuring 27 passengers — a charge the principal has denied. David...
AM Best Upgrades Credit Ratings of Oklahoma Farm Bureau Mutual Group
Feb 6 2019 // AM Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to B++ (Good) from B+ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings to “bbb” from “bbb-” for the members of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Group:...
Crude Oil Spills in Northern Oklahoma; Cleanup Underway
Feb 5 2019 // Crews are working to contain thousands of gallons of crude oil that leaked into a creek in northern Oklahoma. Oklahoma Corporation Commission spokesman Matt Skinner said oil extends for about five miles in Black Bear Creek...
