Police say ‘Please, please, please talk to your children’ after fatal shootings among groups of young people

Catching you up on what’s happening after midnight in Tulsa, the best baker in all the land, just how great paying people to move to Tulsa is going, and just how high can higher education cost?

Welcome to the Collington Index, a free news summary for busy people.

A shell casing lies on Greenwood Avenue at the scene of a shooting at a Juneteenth celebration Saturday night. Photo by Mike Simons, Tulsa World

Tulsa Police say ‘Please, please, please talk to your children’ after fatal shootings among groups of young people

The scoop: Tulsa Police keep having to show up to disperse young people in recent shootings in Tulsa.

  • One on Saturday night ended in the death of a 22 year old with seven others injured.
  • Last Thursday, police said a late-night gathering of young people near Cry Baby Hill left four injured after a shooting.
  • Afterward there was a disturbance that broke out at nearby OSU Medical Center where people injured in the shooting were being treated.
  • “Please, please, please talk to your children and try to keep them from getting caught up in situations like this,” police say.
  • Anna Codutti has all the details.
  • The incidents made Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols says this: “These events are showing a pattern of brazen lawlessness by individuals who don’t respect the lives of others or the authority of those tasked to keep people safe.” Read the latest on this shooting.
Cat Cox of Country Bird Bakery preps food on the line before a collaborative dinner with other James Beard award finalists at FarmBar on June 4. Photo by Daniel Shular, Tulsa World

Tulsa is home to the best baker in the country

The scoop: Cat Cox opened Tulsa’s Country Bird Bakery in 2022. Less than three years later, she is the first Tulsan to win a James Beard Award when she was named the country’s Outstanding Baker or Pastry Chef.

  • The James Beard Awards are considered the most prestigious culinary awards in the United States.
  • Cox has a degree in textiles but said she “had always been a home baker.”
  • Tulsa chef Lisa Becklund was a finalist for the Outstanding Chef award for her work at FarmBar, and Oklahoma City’s Nonesuch was a finalist for Outstanding Restaurant.
  • Andrew Black in Oklahoma City was the first Oklahoman to win a James Beard Award when he was named Best Chef-Southwest at the 2023 awards.
  • James D. Watts Jr. with this report.
Customers line up early on Saturday mornings, regardless of the weather, for a chance to stock up on the 30 or so varieties of baked goods that owner and head baker Cat Cox creates. Photo by Cambry Shields, Tulsa World Archive

What’s it like to wait in line?

The scoop: Mr. Watts spent some time in line when Cat Cox’s bakery opens one or two days a week.

This is what he discovered.

Conor Godfrey, co-founder of Dockware, moved to Tulsa through the Tulsa Remote program, which pays people $10,000 to move here. His company received $2 million in investor funding recently. Photo by Annie Davenport, Tulsa World

Paying people $10,000 to move to Tulsa is working

The scoop: Actually, a study finds that the payment is worth four times the investment.

  • More than 3,600 participants and their families have moved here as part of Tulsa Remote, which is funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation.
  • “Remote worker attraction is a relatively cheap way of bringing jobs to your city because remote workers are more footloose than the average business,” the study’s author told Bloomberg.
  • Since 2019, when Tulsa Remote was launched
    • 96% of participants stayed for the year duration of the program
    • 70% still remain today
    • Many also bring spouses, partners, kids and even their parents with them. Some have started businesses and nonprofits after deciding to stay.
  • Business reporter Michael Dekker offers all the numbers and also introduces you to a new business started in Tulsa thanks to Remoters getting together.
University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz Jr. just received a $75,000 pay raise, bringing his total annual compensation to $575,000 a year, plus a $200,000 “exemplary performance bonus.” It happened at the same regents meeting when tuition was increased. Photo by Mike Simons, Tulsa World Archive

The higher cost of higher education in Oklahoma

Columnist Ginnie Graham writes: “After a year of going through the college and financial aid application processes, I’m more confused than ever about where higher education money is going.”

  • “It wasn’t a good look recently for the University of Oklahoma to raise tuition by 3% at the same meeting that its president was given a $75,000 raise and $200,000 bonus.”
  • “But Oklahoma State University can’t brag about keeping tuition steady when the Legislature had to bail out its veterinary college with $250 million, and questionable spending led to a president change.”
  • Her question: “Why does it cost $9,900 a year for housing and meal plan at a private school in upstate New York, but the equivalent at OSU is $11,000, and at OU it’s about $14,000?”
  • What’s changed a lot: In the 1980s, OU and OSU received about 40% of their budget from state taxpayer funds. It’s at less than 10% now.
  • Ginnie Graham gets into this debate.
Tulsa actor and artist Gailard Sartain, a longtime “Hee Haw” cast member whose entertainment career was sparked by a late-night show on local television, died Thursday in Tulsa. He was 81. Tulsa World Archive

The most popular stories on tulsaworld.com in the past week you may have missed

  1. Tulsa actor and longtime ‘Hee Haw’ cast member Gailard Sartain dies | By Jimmie Tramel
  2. Berryhill wrestling coach Jonce Blaylock fighting rare form of cancer | By Michael Peters and Annie Davenport
  3. 27-year-old woman from Tahlequah drowns on Illinois River | By Anna Codutti
  4. Discoveryland’s new owners plan to bring back ‘Oklahoma!’ production | |By James D. Watts Jr. and Stephen Pingry
  5. Tulsa police lieutenant sues city, claiming retaliation after he called out racism | By Curtis Killman
  6. Thousands attend Bernie Sanders’ ‘Fight Oligarchy’ tour Saturday in Tulsa | By Ismael Lele, Daniel Shular, Annie Davenport and Cassidy Martin
  7. Zink Lake closed until further notice due to unsafe water conditions | By Anna Codutti and Mike Simons
  8. Tulsa-area travelers stranded in Israel during Iran conflict have returned home | By Randy Krehbiel and Mike Simons
  9. Cat Cox of Tulsa’s Country Bird Bakery wins James Beard Award | By James D. Watts Jr.
  10. Another superbolt recorded in Tulsa area during overnight storms | By Anna Codutti Mike Simons

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Contact me at jason.collington@tulsaworld.comView draft history