10. Oklahoma is set to execute its longest-serving death row prisoner
Publication date: June 20
Richard Norman Rojem Jr., 66, was put to death after spending nearly four decades on death row. Rojem was sentenced to death for the 1984 kidnapping, rape, and murder of his former stepdaughter Layla Dawn Cummings, age 7.
Update: Oklahoma carried out four executions in 2024, making the state tied for third overall nationwide, behind Texas with five and Alabama with six, according to the most recent report released by the Death Penalty Information Center.
The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office has asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeal to schedule the next execution for March 20. If the court approves the date, Wendell Grissom would be Oklahoma’s first execution of 2025. Blaine County jurors convicted Grissom for the 2005 murder of of Amber Matthews and sentenced him to death.
-Ashlynd Huffman
9. Oklahoma court rules that moms who use medical marijuana while pregnant aren’t breaking the law
Publication date: July 18
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that women who use medical marijuana during pregnancy can’t be prosecuted for child neglect. The case involved Amanda Aguilar: a mom in Kay County who used medical marijuana during for severe morning sickness and later gave birth to a healthy baby. The ruling set a new legal precedent in Oklahoma, where more than 340,000 people can used use marijuana legally with a state medical license. The court recommended state lawmakers change the law to clearly outlaw medical marijuana usage during pregnancy.
Update: The Frontier found child neglect cases against women with medical marijuana licenses in Alfalfa, Comanche and Kay counties that were dismissed after the court ruling. The Court of Criminal Appeals in October ruled in favor of another Kay County woman who was also charged with child neglect after using medical marijuana during her pregnancy. The court again urged the Oklahoma Legislature to change state law.
-Brianna Bailey
8. Oklahoma Senator wants taxpayers to pay for land buys from Grand Lake flooding
Publication date: May 16
U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin said in a letter that the federal government should pay to buy flooded Oklahoma lands along the main tributaries of Grand Lake. He also wanted to scrap a plan to study whether toxic sediment is building up. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled in January that the Grand River Dam Authority is responsible for buying out landowners around Miami, Okla., where it floods frequently.
Update: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission denied the Grand River Dam Authority’s request to overturn the order to buyout landowners. The Grand River Dam Authority on Nov. 13 submitted an analysis to federal regulators of properties impacted by flooding. About 880 acres outside of the Grand River Dam Authority’s owned property and easements flood regularly. But the study found that the Grand River Dam’s current land and easement holdings are sufficient. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is in the process of evaluating the study and materials used to create it before making a decision.
-Clifton Adcock
7. After Oklahoma banned some state-funded DEI initiatives, schools renamed offices and shuffled jobs
Publication date: June 19
The University of Oklahoma closed all of its diversity, equity and inclusion offices, but most public institutions made no changes after Gov. Kevin Stitt banned state funds from supporting certain DEI efforts.
Update: Stitt has continued to be critical of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at state institutions. The governor shared a post on X in November from a conservative think tank that claimed the University of Oklahoma was requiring students to take a “DEI class centered around ‘white privilege’ and the needs of minority students over white students.”
“It’s time to clean this up,” Stitt said in the post.
An OU spokesperson said in a statement to KOCO that the education studies class is for professional educator and teacher candidates. The class was created to prepare educators for work in both rural and urban areas, and it gives an overview of the history of American education, including court cases and educational theories.
-Ari Fife
Publication date: March 14
Chinese organized crime has taken advantage of Oklahoma’s lax marijuana laws to dominate much of the nation’s illicit marijuana trade, an investigation by ProPublica and The Frontier found.
Update: Our reporting on Oklahoma’s marijuana industry has been cited in U.S. congressional committee reports, federal law enforcement memos, and debates over marijuana legalization in Kansas. It has prompted heightened focus from state and federal law enforcement on prosecuting these issues, especially the trafficking of immigrant workers to Oklahoma marijuana farms, according to interviews with four law enforcement officials and court records.
Following our coverage of a farm where a worker died from pneumonia, a federal regulator fined the operator $21,202 for electrical and fall hazard violations and failing to inform workers about chemical and safety risks. The worker’s death remains under investigation, according to a spokesperson for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Yunda Chen, a leader of an organization tied to the Chinese Communist Party, who was charged in Oklahoma with marijuana trafficking, cultivation, fraud, and witness intimidation, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in August. Tina He, who spoke to us about anti-Asian bias after police seized $1 million and raided her home, was charged with fraud and drug crimes in August.
She pleaded not guilty in state court and awaits a jury trial in March alongside two alleged co-conspirators.
-Garrett Yalch and Clifton Adcock
