By Janelle Stecklein | Editor
“People have forgotten that government can do really big things. Things like a commuter rail could give people job opportunities between communities that they can’t currently access.” - Ethan Mazzio of a plan to create a new tax to pay for expanded commuter rail service in the Oklahoma City metro area
An Embark bus drives past the Downtown Transit Center on July 9, 2026 in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Courtney Bell/Oklahoma Voice)
By Benjamin Ferrari
A transportation network plans to propose a new sales tax next year to pay for a expanded commuter rail service in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
The sales tax plan, which would also pay for the expansion of existing light rail and bus transit services, is expected to cost a penny per taxable transaction and would fund a commuter rail service connecting Oklahoma City to Edmond and Norman, among other projects, said John Sharp, deputy director over the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments.
If approved by voters, the sales tax is expected to generate a similar amount of revenue to previous penny sales tax measures, which have generated over $130 million a year.
Dr. William “Chip” Richardson examines the front of the sole remaining building of the Choctaw Academy, a school for Native Americans, located on a farm he owns in Scott County, Kentucky. (Photo by Deborah Yetter for Kentucky Lantern)
By Deborah Yetter
Shopping for a farm in Scott County, Dr. William “Chip” Richardson, a Georgetown ophthalmologist, found one with a feature that grabbed his attention.
A roll of money is pictured. (Photo by Getty Images)
OPINION
Rich politicians loaning money to their own campaigns puts the average Oklahoman’s interests at risk
By Janelle Stecklein
“Be afraid. Be very afraid” seems like a fitting slogan for Oklahoma elections this year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on July 17, 2026, it has linked an outbreak of cyclosporiasis in five states to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants. (Photo courtesy Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
By Jennifer Shutt
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that public health officials have linked the ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis in five states to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants.
People gather near the scene of 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti on Jan. 24, 2026, the third shooting in as many weeks. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
By Ariana Figueroa
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on July 13 killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national with legal work authorization, in Maine, making him the 22nd person shot at by federal immigration officers during President Donald Trump’s second term.
ICYMI
Trump cites potential hack of US elections in speech slammed for stoking voter fears | Jacob Fischler and Sam Gauntt
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