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Transforming a youth prison into a place of dignity and hope: The Tulsa World’s Staff Writer Kevin Canfield and Mike Simons gave an update on The Harbor, Tulsa’s first low-barrier shelter for the homeless. The Anne & Henry Zarrow Foundation has been the lead organization behind the design and development of the facility, which is being built in a renovation of the former Tulsa County Juvenile Center. Gina Stilp, executive director of the Ruth Nelson Family Foundation, announced that the foundation has agreed to provide $8 million of the funding. Oklahoma Eagle Reporter Ismael Lele, also covering the announcement, added that 70 people have been rehoused and five encampments have been closed since the mayor launched “Safe Move Tulsa” last year.
Why do we need a low-barrier shelter? Canfield reports that often all of the city’s permanent shelter beds are occupied, leaving approximately 500 people a day unsheltered.
At least seven people have died over the past three years in the Tulsa Municipal Jail, an investigation by The Frontier reporter Garrett Yalch revealed. “The death toll is unusually high for a jail of its size: National data suggests a facility like it would be expected to see roughly one death every 10 to 15 years.” After seeing the story, Mayor Monroe Nichols launched a review of the jail’s operations. Five takeaways
$60 million: How much the top 5 Oklahoma state agencies paid in overtime payments in 2025.
“It is not unusual for some corrections officers to work 10-hour days, seven days a week,” reports Tulsa World Staff Writer Curtis Killman in a story with the headline Department of Corrections spent record amount on employee overtime in 2024, 2025
How Markwayne Mullin became the most influential business owner in Trump’s Washington
Photo by Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, via Wikimedia Commons
“Mullin’s transformation from fed-up business owner to Washington operator underscores the fundamental limitations of what he set out to achieve. He is now part of a long line of frustrated political outsiders who came to Congress believing that a business-minded approach could fix what ails the country, only to find that what Washington really prizes—arguably now more than ever—is not bipartisan solutions but loyalty. Mullin wanted to spend a few years helping to unclog Washington’s great proverbial blockage before returning to his businesses. Now, he’s part of the plumbing.” – Last paragraph of an in-depth profile published right before he was named secretary of Homeland Security in Inc. magazine.
Why Devon went DevGONE: Oklahoma is bleeding oil and gas headquarters again. This time, they left a Dear John letter to the Oklahoma Legislature on their way to sweat it out in Houston.
The news:
- Devon Energy, which built the tallest skyscraper in Oklahoma in downtown OKC, is moving as it merges with Houston-based Coterra Energy.
- Expand Energy, previously known as Chesapeake, is heading that way as well.
- Oil & gas producers asked a question to the Oklahoma Legislature in a six-page letter full of charts and graphs: “What ‘advanced industry’ company wants to be headquartered in a state that ranks 50th in education?”
Before the letter offers up five reasons why they are fed up, they dropped this line: “Lawmakers promised improved educational outcomes in 2018 upon passage of the largest tax increase in Oklahoma history with its more than doubling of the gross production tax. This has not proven true. We got the opposite.”
Read Tulsa World Capitol Bureau Reporter Steve Metzer’s story, which has reactions from Legislative leaders: Leaders in Legislature get ‘gut punch’ from oil and gas trade association.
In case you missed it the first time
Instead of offshoring customer service jobs to the Philippines, how about moving them to Tahlequah? Provalus likes small towns, mostly in the South, looking for places where the average individual income hovers around $30,000. It picked Tahlequah, where the Cherokee Nation purchased a building for Provalus to lease, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.
Selling Stillwater: The college town has two homes, one priced at $12 million and the second at $8 million, that are owned by former OSU coaches Matt Holliday and Mike Gundy who want out, writes Isa Almeida, a trending and sports reporter, at The Oklahoman.
“With the district facing a projected multimillion-dollar budget deficit, Tulsa Public Schools’ board of education approved a recommendation to eliminate almost 90 positions at the end of the school year,” reports Tulsa World Staff Writer Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton.
Read these stats and sit with them for a second: “Americans with a bachelor’s degree account for a quarter of the unemployed, a record. High-school graduates are finding jobs quicker than college graduates, an unprecedented trend,” according to a story in The Atlantic headlined The worst-case future for white-collar workers
“When he wants to know what’s going on in the world, he is more likely to check the odds on Kalshi than watch CNN,” according to a Vanity Fair story with this subtitle: Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket entice enterprising nerds to make (and lose) fortunes by wagering on everything from politics to the weather.
The ‘best places to eat alone’ list is a thing: Yelp searches over the past year in the United States for “best places to eat alone” are up 150%. Comparably, “cheap eats” is up 21 percent.
Did you know that Amelia’s Wood Fire Cuisine is ranked No. 1 in best places to eat alone in Tulsa? Followed by The Vault. Check out the list.
Recommendations
Que Gusto in its new downtown location: Owners and husband and wife team Fernando and Carla Meneses moved their family to Tulsa from Ecuador in 2012. Carla Meneses found guidance through participating in Kitchen 66, Tulsa’s first food incubator and kickstarter kitchen, in 2016, according to a recent article by Angelica Perez with La Semana. Try the Yucca Fries. We liked the grass-fed ground beef and olives empanada, the empanada Saltena and the deep fried Yucca & Beef. Check the menu. Follow on Instagram.
The Pitt on HBO: Some call it the most patriotic show on television. I say it’s the most sobering show about what’s messed up in our country, but also is a great reminder of the kind of people who show up to work every day and make the best of horrible situations. Thank you to the doctors and nurses. As someone whose life was saved in an emergency room, I thank you.
The Daily but about Oklahoma: If you like a podcast with a quick roundup of news in Oklahoma in about 10 minutes, I think the best one is The KOSU Daily.
What is this all about?
After 30 years in local journalism, the last five as the executive editor of the Tulsa World, I’m launching this movement toward truth and understanding and a consulting practice at jasoncollington.com. I’m here to keep you informed while helping the leaders, nonprofits and businesses around us.
Thank you to those who signed up for this first issue. I hope you will share this with those around you.
If you see a story you think is worth mentioning, send it to me at jc@jasoncollington.
All together now. jc
P.S. Subscribe or donate to the local news sources cited in this week’s issue. Without support, they can’t continue to serve this community: The Oklahoma Eagle, Tulsa World, The Frontier, The Oklahoman, La Semana, KOSU
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