More than 400 Oklahoma day cares have closed since November
It’s a topic some have covered as a Tulsa city councilor and state representative have tried to sound the alarms.
The New York Times spent the final days at Kids of Faith, a day care run by a church off Interstate 40 in Oklahoma. The story notes that on average, the cost of child care in Oklahoma was higher than in-state tuition at public colleges.
Also making national news: How Oklahoma landed America’s first aluminum smelter in half a century: That was the Wall Street Journal headline that was the latest to detail how Inola, 30 miles east of downtown Tulsa, is going to go from the “Hay Capital of the World,” as the WSJ notes, to “America’s Aluminum Epicenter.”
Why Inola? Oklahoma offered ample natural-gas output as well as hydropower and wind farms that produce a surplus of relatively cheap electricity. Recruiters also touted business friendly regulation, an ice-free port deep inland as well as an aerospace industry and other big aluminum consumers, John Budd, chief executive of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, told WSJ.
When will it open? In about three years.
Some questions are getting answered so far: Elizabeth Caldwell with Oklahoma Watch reports that the heavily subsidized aluminum smelter has people living close by asking questions, which received some answers in person from Ziad Fares, project director for Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Global Aluminum, which is the majority owner of Oklahoma Primary Aluminum. He emphasized the smelter will operate within legal environmental limits.
“The amount of child sexual abuse cases because of the rise in social media and access to it is astonishing — shocking.”
– Rep. Suzanne Schreiber, D-Tulsa, quoted in an Oklahoma Watch story about how child abuse cases have gone from 50 a month to 50 a week.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation reports:
- 12,080 reported incidents of child sexual abuse between 2021 and 2025
- 2,416 a year on average
An important note: “In raw numbers, the state’s most populous counties – Oklahoma, Tulsa, and Cleveland – reported the highest totals,” writes reporter Stephen Martin. “… But when adjusted for population, a different pattern emerges. Smaller counties consistently report higher incident rates per capita than urban areas.”
For example:
- Kay County (around Ponca City) approached 600 cases per 100,000 people.
- Tulsa County reported 391 cases per 100,000 people.
“As we move toward superintelligence, incremental policy updates won’t be enough.”
– OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is trying to get you to think about him and quote him as he raises his profile and money for his AI company, the one behind ChatGPT (who made the illustration above).
So take note but don’t freak out: His recently released blueprint includes what the government should do now to prepare for a workplace in the world of superintelligence and the idea of rogue nations wanting AI-created pathogens to make us sick.
Most interesting ideas:
- A public wealth fund that gives every American a financial stake in the AI boom.
- Taxing robot labor, not human labor, since one is going to go up and one will get to a level not able to sustain funding Social Security and other things paid by payroll taxes.
- Going to four-day work weeks since AI is going to give so much time back to humans.
- The government could contain an AI system that goes rogue.
Read the whole 13-page document yourself: If you dare.
Speaking of AI, it’s running a brick-and-mortar store now
Hat tip to Collington Indexer Adam Andreassen who pointed out that an AI agent named Luna was given a corporate credit card, internet access and a mission to open a physical store in San Francisco.
From there, the Luna handled everything else: Including job postings on Indeed, phone interviews, hiring the employees, and finding contractors to paint the store.
Luna stocked “Andon Market” with books, prints, candles, games and even branded merch. One book available for sale? Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.”
The latest makeup of Oklahoma voters
The State Election Board reported this is what 13,000 Oklahomans did when it came to their party affiliation ahead of the June 16 primary election:
- 2,400 independents are now Republicans
- 3,600 independents are now Democrats
- 1,700 Republicans became independent voters
- 1,100 Republicans switched to Democrats
- 2,300 Democrats changed to Republicans
- 1,400 Democrats became independents
So now this is how we are set:
- 53% of Oklahomans are registered Republicans
- 25% are Democrats
- 20% are independent
- 1% are Libertarians.
You get a grocery store. You get a grocery store.
They are popping up in local food deserts after quite a long drought in some regions.
Grocery Box: Located at the ground level of Phoenix at 36N Apartments, the 100-unit, mixed-income housing complex near 36th Street North and North Peoria. The Tulsa Flyer’s Shaunicy Muhammad reports it will include a deli and espresso bar.
The Bazaar : The Tulsa World’s Kevin Canfield and Stephen Pingry report that the nonprofit grocery store at 5215 E. Pine St., on the city’s northeast side, will sell only food with much of it locally sourced.
Coming this summer: The downtown Oasis Fresh Market at Sixth Street and Cincinnati Avenue.
Parents are way off when it comes to how their kid is doing in school
23%: Percentage of Oklahoma fourth graders who are reading on grade level.
83%: Percentage of Oklahoma parents surveyed who think their child reads on or above grade level.
April Grace notes this in her Tulsa World op-ed with the headline Parents need clear information about how their students are performing
How childhood reading became Oklahoma’s top policy focus: Nuria Martinez-Keel, who covers education for the Oklahoma Voice, helps us understand why literacy became the word of the session at the Legislature.
“We spent decades and lots of money trying to discourage early childbearing, saying, ‘This will ruin your life. This will ruin your kid’s life. Don’t do it.’ ”
– Karen Benjamin Guzzo, director of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in a WSJ story on the general fertility rate reaching a record low in 2025, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
- Since 2007, the birthrate for 15- to 19-year-olds has fallen 72% in the U.S.
- In 2025, birthrates for women in their late 30s exceeded those for women in their early 20s for the first time.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt voted to award a lucrative investment advisory contract to a firm owned by his former chief of staff and one-time business partner
The company has the power to steer more than $2 billion in state pension, endowment and sovereign wealth fund money. Paul Monies of Oklahoma Watch with the details.
More than 1,000 surveys turned in so far: Take the Tulsa city auditor Nathan Pickard’s Evaluate the 918 survey with a chance to win a $100 QuikTrip gift card. The findings go to the city’s departments, city council and mayor.
Old news brought up again: Dishwashers are a top employment concern in restaurants, so much so, that it’s reported that sushi chain Kura Sushi is importing robotic dishwashers from Japan for $15,000 each to help out.
One argument: The blame goes to the Immigration crackdowns and teens working less (Editor’s note: I started as a dishwasher at Smoky Joe’s in Stillwater starting at 14.)
Another argument: “The hospitality industry does not have a staffing shortage. It has a desirability shortage.”
Speaking of restaurants …
Let’s start the first Collington Index list. How about the best Italian restaurants in and around Tulsa? Not talking pizza places, that’s for later.
- Sapori: Great atmosphere.
- Prossimo: Table-side alfredo.
- il Seme: Big city vibe.
- Forno Santo: Fancy and up scale.
- Dalesandro’s: Authentic and old school.
- Malfi Enoteca: Coasty Italy vibe.
Any to add? Let me know at jc@jasoncollington.com.
Continued thanks as we are in week three of this movement toward truth and understanding in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There is no cavalry. It’s up to us.
All together now. jc
P.S. Don’t forget to join me as I chat with Jeff Martin before he leaves for Seattle about being the “Literary King of Tulsa.“
The Collington Index offers a free weekly news summary that explains quickly what’s important and interesting, shared in weekly wraps, popular lists, conversations and cheat sheets. A movement toward truth and understanding in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Subscribe to the free email newsletter.
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