Category Archives: Oklahoma

First Thing: Jeffrey Epstein advised Steve Bannon during 2018 pro-Trump media campaign

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Text messages released by US House show convicted sex offender coaching Maga influencer on political messaging. Plus, readers’ favourite photo booth moments 100 years after its invention

Good morning.

The convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein apparently served as a behind-the-scenes adviser to the former Trump official and Maga influencer Steve Bannon during an August 2018 media campaign to defend Trump and his agenda, and to promote Bannon’s media ventures.

What else has been released in the flood of recent Epstein emails? Among many, many other things, one email shows an exchange between him and an associate in which they discuss “girls” and travel. The justice department continues to downplay the possibility that other men were involved in Epstein’s abuse of teen girls.

What’s happening with rest of the Epstein files? Trump is facing the prospect of a politically damaging congressional vote to release the files, after attempts to press two members of Congress to withdraw their backing for it appeared to have failed.

What exactly is climate finance? Who pays it? And who gets it? Sixteen years ago, at the climate summit in Copenhagen, rich and polluting countries pledged to provide $100bn (£76bn) each year by 2020 so that poorer countries could cut their emissions and adapt to a hotter world. Last year, they set a new target of $300bn (£227bn) a year by 2035.

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Turning Point chapters at Oklahoma high schools will counter ‘woke indoctrination’, official says

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Superintendent says all high schools in state will have chapters of the conservative youth group following Charlie Kirk’s killing

The state superintendent in Oklahoma announced plans to put Turning Point USA chapters in every high school in the state, saying it would counter “radical leftist teachers’ unions” and their “woke indoctrination”.

After far-right activist Charlie Kirk was killed on a college campus earlier this month, requests to start chapters of his conservative youth group, Turning Point, at colleges and high schools have surged, the organization has said.

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Oklahoma man charged after 11-year-old girl gives birth at home

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DNA test tied man to newborn in case prosecutor calls among most serious, as girl’s mother also accused

An Oklahoma man is facing charges of child sexual molestation after an 11-year-old girl in his orbit gave birth in her home, and her mother is accused of enabling abuse in a case that a local assistant district attorney called possibly “the most serious … I have ever prosecuted”.

The charges that the Muskogee county district attorney’s office filed against Dustin Walker, 34, on Monday came after a DNA test confirmed he was the father of the newborn at the center of the case, the Oklahoma news outlet KWTV reported, citing officials.

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As Texas’s measles outbreak slows, officials warn of rise in other states

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Cases in New Mexico and Kansas give experts reason to be ‘concerned’ in second-worst US measles year since 2000

The measles outbreak in Texas is showing signs of slowing, though other states are seeing more cases and health officials are warning against complacency as the US continues to experience high rates of measles amid falling vaccination rates.

It has been a handful of days since anyone in Lubbock, Texas, has tested positive, and there are no known measles hospitalizations at the children’s hospital in the city, which has also cared for children from nearby Gaines county.

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As Texas’s measles outbreak slows, officials warn of rise in other states

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Cases in New Mexico and Kansas give experts reason to be ‘concerned’ in second-worst US measles year since 2000

The measles outbreak in Texas is showing signs of slowing, though other states are seeing more cases and health officials are warning against complacency as the US continues to experience high rates of measles amid falling vaccination rates.

It has been a handful of days since anyone in Lubbock, Texas, has tested positive, and there are no known measles hospitalizations at the children’s hospital in the city, which has also cared for children from nearby Gaines county.

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US supreme court seems open to religious public charter schools

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Oklahoma case is part of a broader push to erode separation of church and state, and a test of role of religion in schools

The US supreme court’s conservative majority seemed open to establishing the country’s first public religious charter school as they weighed a case Wednesday that could have significant ramifications on the separation of church and state.

The Oklahoma state charter school board approved the application for St Isidore, a Catholic virtual charter school. The ACLU and other groups filed suit, as did Republican attorney general Gentner Drummond. The state supreme court sided with Drummond, ruling that the US and Oklahoma constitutions “prohibit the state from using public money for the establishment of a religious institution”.

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Bill Clinton urges Americans to put aside ‘resentments’ 30 years after Oklahoma City bombing

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Former president spoke at commemoration for the 168 people who died in the 1995 attack by far-right extremist

Bill Clinton called on Americans to put aside “whose resentments matter most” and issued a defense of government employees as he returned to Oklahoma City on Saturday for a remembrance service for the 30th anniversary of the deadliest homegrown terrorist attack in US history.

“If our lives are going to be dominated by efforts to dominate people we disagree with, we’re going to put the 250-year-old march toward a more perfect union at risk,” he said. “None of us would ever get much done. Believe me, we’ve all got something to be mad about.”

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Oklahoma executes man by lethal injection amid spate of judicial killings

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Wendell Grissom, executed for fatally shooting a woman, will be one of four people put to death in US this week

Oklahoma executed a man on Thursday for fatally shooting a woman during a home invasion and robbery 20 years ago.

Wendell Grissom, 56, was declared dead by lethal injection at the Oklahoma state penitentiary in McAlester at 10.13am, a prison official told the Associated Press. It was Oklahoma’s first execution of 2025.

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Monster storm system in US south kills at least 35 people

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Several people killed in Kansas dust storm while scattered tornadoes cause fatalities in Missouri

Violent tornadoes ripped through parts of the US, wiping out schools and toppling semitractor-trailers in several states, part of a monster storm that killed at least 35 people as more severe weather was expected.

In western Kansas, a dust storm was reported to have killed eight people as high winds produced blowing dust over the interstate, causing collisions of more than 71 vehicles on the I-70.

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Firing squad could become Idaho’s main execution method if governor signs bill

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State senate passes bill as its sponsor suggests shooting someone is more effective and humane than other methods

Firing squads could become Idaho’s primary execution method under a bill headed to the governor’s desk this week.

The Idaho senate passed the bill on Wednesday, and if signed by governor Brad Little, it will take effect next year.

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Oklahoma schools plan to require proof of students’ immigration status

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Proposal from state board of education condemned by teachers and rights groups, as parents and students protest

Parents enrolling children in Oklahoma public schools will be required to provide proof of their child’s US citizenship or legal immigration status under a proposed rule approved Tuesday by the state board of education.

The board voted unanimously to approve the rule aimed at helping Donald Trump’s immigration policies. It still needs to be approved by the legislature and the governor.

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Anita Bryant, singer and anti-gay rights crusader, dies aged 84

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Bryant was Miss Oklahoma and Florida Citrus spokesperson before leading anti-LGBTQ+ ‘Save Our Children’ campaign

Anita Bryant, a multi-Grammy nominated singer and former Miss Oklahoma who later became a high-profile campaigner against gay rights in America, has died at the age of 84.

In an announcement on Thursday, Bryant’s family announced that Bryant died at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, on 16 December 2024. “May Anita’s memory and her faith in eternal life through Christ comfort all who embraced her,” her family said.

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Oldest living survivor of Tulsa race massacre casts vote for Kamala Harris

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Viola Ford Fletcher, 110, voted for the vice-president in Oklahoma, CNN reporter says

Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa race massacre, cast her ballot in Oklahoma on Tuesday at 110 years old for Kamala Harris.

In a photo shared on social media, Fletcher is wearing an “I voted” sticker, and according to CNN journalist Abby Phillip, Fletcher voted for the vice-president, as she had previously said she would.

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‘You are next’: online posts show Islamic State interest in attacks on US ahead of election

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Internet chatter and Oklahoma arrest of alleged would-be IS attacker indicate terror group’s planning

After the FBI arrested an Afghan man in Oklahoma planning an election day shooting on behalf of the Islamic State, the terrorist organization re-entered what has become one of the most chaotic news cycles leading up to a November vote.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City admitted to investigators he and a co-conspirator expected to die as IS martyrs as they opened fire on crowds on election day, according to charging documents.

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Oklahoma man set to be executed despite conflicting evidence

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Emmanuel Littlejohn will be executed for role in 1992 shooting, which would be state’s third execution this year

A man in Oklahoma is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday morning, despite conflicting evidence regarding his guilt.

Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, will be executed for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery in Oklahoma City. If executed, Littlejohn will be the third inmate put to death by the state this year.

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James Inhofe, former Republican senator who called climate change a ‘hoax’, dies aged 89

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The Oklahoman brought a snowball to the Senate floor in 2015 to prove humans couldn’t change the climate

Republican former senator James Inhofe, a climate denier who once brought a snowball to the chamber floor in a stunt attempting to disprove global warming, died on Tuesday at the age of 89.

Inhofe resigned as senator for Oklahoma in January 2023, suffering long-term effects of Covid-19. Elected in 1994, his time as the state’s longest-serving senator was notable for his ultra-conservative positions on numerous issues, including calling the climate emergency “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”.

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At least 21 people dead as storms leave path of destruction across central US

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Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas saw hundreds injured and homes obliterated as storms move into Georgia and South Carolina

Powerful storms were moving into the eastern half of the US on Monday, after killing at least 21 people, injuring hundreds, obliterating homes, and leaving a path of destruction that spread across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas over the Memorial weekend.

As the weather system moved into Georgia, the Storm Prediction Center issued a severe thunderstorm watch for more than 7 million people in the state and South Carolina. Heavy rain is expected to drench parts of the East Coast, where damage from strong winds is also possible. Intense heat will also hit parts of the south.

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Five dead after powerful storms tear through rural Texan community

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Storms began on Saturday night as tornado overturned vehicles and shut down an interstate north of Dallas

A Texas sheriff has said at least five people died after powerful storms tore through a rural community, obliterating homes and leaving thousands of people without power.

The Cooke County sheriff, Ray Sappington, told the Associated Press the victims included three family members who were found in one home near Valley View, a rural community near the border with Oklahoma.

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BTK serial killer investigation: new clue unlocks missing 16-year-old girl’s name

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After receiving a word puzzle, Oklahoma police say they’re closer to identifying another victim of murderer Dennis Rader

A newly re-examined word puzzle sent to a Kansas City TV station in 2004 could strengthen leads in a cold-case investigation into the disappearance of a 16-year-old girl in Oklahoma and link it to the convicted serial killer Dennis Rader, nicknamed BTK for “bind, torture, kill”.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Osage county sheriff Eddie Virden said he had received a package from a woman in April containing a crossword puzzle Rader allegedly used to taunt investigators.

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Oklahoma tornadoes kill at least four people and leave dozens injured

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Governor issues state of emergency for 12 counties as authorities confirm a four-month-old baby was among the dead in Holdenville

At least four people, including a baby, were killed after a series of tornadoes struck Oklahoma on Saturday, amid a weekend of extreme weather that left dozens injured and a trail of destruction across the midwest.

Local authorities confirmed that a four-month-old infant was among the two people dead in Holdenville – one of the hardest hit towns in Oklahoma, located 80 miles south-east of Oklahoma City – where about 20 tornadoes hit late Saturday, leveling buildings and ripping off roofs. The victims have not been named, but at least four others were injured as the tornado left a path of devastation through the town of around 6,000 people.

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