Donate to The Frontier today to support local investigative journalism.

Archives: Stories

Mayors want budget scrapped due to “improper” jail spending

Ziva Branstetter June 17, 2015

Smaligo, John

Citing what they claim to be improper funding practices at the Tulsa Jail, three area mayors – including Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett – want the proposed 2016 jail budget discarded in favor of a temporary funding resolution that would remain in effect until the budgeting process can be overhauled.

A special meeting of the Tulsa County Criminal Justice Authority will be held at 10 a.m. today in the Tulsa County administration building to discuss the mayors’ requests. The authority — which oversees jail funding — had been scheduled to vote on the jail budget Wednesday afternoon.

New earthquake report puts state’s risk in plain language

Ziva Branstetter June 17, 2015

TFStaffPortraits91

A new report from the United States Geological Survey spells out in the clearest way yet what Oklahoma officials have denied and danced around for so long: A huge increase in wastewater injection from oil and gas exploration is triggering a sharp rise in earthquakes in the state.

And while the increase hasn’t included a catastrophic earthquake and fatalities, the risk in areas such as Oklahoma with induced quakes is now comparable to the risk of such events in California. Avoiding this risk requires “a detailed understanding of the physical processes involved in inducing large magnitude events,” the report concludes.

Listen Frontier: Tulsa Tough edition

For the Frontier June 11, 2015

On this week’s podcast: Host RJ Young and Senior Staff Writer Kevin Canfield talk Tulsa Tough with Executive Director Malcolm McCollam. How did the magic of Cry Baby Hill get started — and could a fall race be in the works?

Group says it has 6,000 signatures on Glanz ouster petition

Dylan Goforth June 10, 2015

We The People Oklahoma says it has gathered more than 6,000 signatures on its grand jury petition drive to investigate the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.

When group founder Marq Lewis made his announcement to cheers from the dozen-or-so volunteers behind him, he couldn’t help but get in a little dig.

“Terry Simonson made a bet,” Lewis said, referring to the sheriff’s office spokesman who told the Tulsa World it was a longshot that the group could come up with 5,000 signatures. “And he lost that bet.”