By Janelle Stecklein | Editor
“I believe it’s well-deserved.” - John Tunheim of sentencing the man who pleaded guilty to assassinating Minnesota’s former House speaker and her husband, as well as shooting a state senator and his wife
Warner Elementary teacher Pam White directs a student to complete a math problem on the whiteboard in her fourth-grade math classroom on Dec. 10 in Warner. Fewer fully certified teachers, like White, are entering Oklahoma public schools today. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)
By Nuria Martinez-Keel
State leaders say they’re still pursuing solutions to reverse a yearslong decline in traditionally trained teachers entering the classroom, all while emergency certified educators continue to fill essential teaching roles.
The number of graduates completing Oklahoma teacher preparation programs, including college degrees in education, has fallen by about 40% since 2013, state officials told the Oklahoma State Board of Education on Thursday.
Traditionally certified educators who completed these programs have represented less than half of all first-year teachers entering the state’s public schools since 2018.
A Sumatran tiger cub climbs on a log at the Oklahoma City Zoo on May 1, 2026. (Photo by Janelle Stecklein/Oklahoma Voice)
By Courtney Bell
Intense heat is expected to continue around Oklahoma as triple-digit temperatures increase in the next week.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer watches a crowd of protesters at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, on May 25, 2026. (Photo by Ben Ackman/New Jersey Monitor)
By Ariana Figueroa
A supermajority of the U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus has asked Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to deploy body cameras to all federal immigration officers, following deadly shootings of immigrants in Texas and Maine.
In this handout provided by Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, Vance Luther Boelter poses for a booking photo on June 16, 2025 in Green Isle, Minnesota.
By Michelle Griffith
Thursday’s hearing signified the final chapter in a year-long saga that has scarred the state of Minnesota and injected a new level of fear into politics.
The 2026 NCSL Legislative Summit will bring together state lawmakers and legislative staff from the 50 states and U.S. territories from July 27-29 in Chicago. (Photo by Leontura/Getty Images)
OPINION
By Tim Storey and Sue Urahn
Like two sides of a coin imprinted with the nation’s motto, “e pluribus unum” — out of many, one — America’s political factions are cast in opposition, but they are intrinsically bound together as parts of a larger whole.
ICYMI
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