Newsworthy news
The candidates competing at the top of the Republican ticket in this run-off election for governor and superintendent could not be more different
The usual “they are all the same” doesn’t apply here.
- You can vote from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today at your respective polling place.
- Make sure you check the OK Voter Portal if you forgot or want to check out your ballot before you go.
- Here is the latest fact-check on election ads in the governor’s race, from Oklahoma Watch’s Keaton Ross.
- Here is a fact-check by Oklahoma Watch on the last Republican debate by candidates for state superintendent. Watch highlights in this video.
- Here is the fact-check on the NonDoc superintendent debate in Lawton, done by The Frontier.
- Last fact-check on the labor commissioner run-off race Republicans will vote on, from The Frontier
Tulsa’s new police chief is Deputy Chief Jonathan Brooks
Mayor Monroe Nichols said “This was not a process led by opinion or social media. It was designed not to be about drama,” in Kevin Canfield’s Tulsa World story.
Social media without infinite scrolling, autoplaying videos, disappearing content and beauty filters
Meta says it could be forced to remove these staples of its platforms along with $1.2 trillion in damages in a trial happening in California.
- Side note: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg bought a 200-year-old Irish castle for about $30 million to add to his long list of properties around the world, according to this unlocked New York Times story.
- $400 million was the amount of the final settlement between TikTok and the Justice Department, which accused the social media giant of illegally gathering children’s information who were younger than 13 without parental permission. The lawsuit also said the company failed to delete children’s accounts even after getting requests from parents.
This & That
Tulsa County has a new agreement with ICE that goes beyond the jailhouse to special task forces, reports the Tulsa Flyer’s Joe Tomlinson.
Magic City Books is expanding its “Share the Magic” program at Tulsa Public Schools, giving elementary teachers and librarians access to new class sets and books for students to take home at no cost to the district, reports the Tulsa Flyer’s Anna Colletto.
Quotable quotes
On Oklahoma’s hunger problem
“We could bankrupt George Kaiser in a matter of years if we expect to get philanthropy to cover SNAP.”
– Chris Bernard, president and CEO of Hunger Free Oklahoma, during an event sponsored by the Center for Studies in Democracy and Culture about hunger and food insecurity in Tulsa. Bernard was joined by Carrie Henderson, CEO of Iron Gate, and Wes Mitchell of the Tulsa Area United Way. Bernard’s comment was in response to a recent interview by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt who said churches, food banks and other organizations can keep Oklahomans fed and that no one is going hungry in his state. SNAP provides food assistance to more than 500,000 Oklahomans each month.
On college football’s revolution
“Getting Brent Venables, his head into the right place on this, was by itself not an easy chore. It literally had to be a battle of testosterone and will.”
– A high-ranking OU insider to the Tulsa World’s Berry Tramel in a story about the new organizational chart for OU football, which now includes a general manager. Venables, the OU coach, was just handed a new six-year contract that averages $10.5 million a year, according to ESPN. That makes him the 10th highest-paid head coach in the nation.
On college football’s revolution (but this time with profanity from a former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator)
“Man, isn’t this s— crazy? I don’t even know what to say. I wondered why Lane Kiffin reached out to me a week ago; now I know. I didn’t call him back. I guess I should have.”
– Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken about a player the team waived who is now going to go back to college at LSU and join its football team. Dae’Quan Wright is the first to return to college after signing with an NFL team, thanks to a lawsuit paving the path.
On lying, rogue AI
“I actually thought it was a human because it was clearly lying to me. I didn’t think that an AI could be capable of lying to real developers.”
– University of Texas at Dallas computer science student Sinan Can Demir in a Reuters interview about a hack he came across on the popular developer site GitHub. He thought it was humans trying to sabotage. But then Britain’s AI Security Institute got in touch to tell him he had actually been tangling with an autonomous artificial-intelligence agent that had run amok.
On what Meta allows
“I think Facebook is the worst of the worst. Every single week, I get emails from little old men and ladies saying, ‘Will my cure for diabetes work?’ Or ‘I just ordered your cure for diabetes for $294.’ I already know the answer now, which is they’re using an AI version of me, and Meta allows it. … when you read the fine print all the way at the bottom, ‘this is just an AI representation of Mark Cuban. It’s not real.’ This is for entertainment purposes, always. And to Facebook, that’s good enough. Facebook knows that it’s bullsh**.”
– Mark Cuban on the Pivot podcast in an interview with Kara Swisher.
On a book worth reading
“Well, these idiots in Oklahoma obviously want us to think that’s what it is.”
– From the first page of the first chapter of Kurt Andersen’s new novel “The Breakup,” which details a United States of America in 2045 reduced down to 39 states after a disputed civil war started after bombs exploded in Oklahoma City, killing 300.
Notable numbers
$40 trillion
– The amount of U.S. debt, the most ever. The gross debt owed by the federal government is also nearly equal to what is owed by all U.S. households and businesses combined, according to this unlocked Wall Street Journal article.
The WSJ’s Editorial Board added this note: “While the liberal press blames the GOP’s 2017 tax cuts, and their extension in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill, revenue has increased 68% since 2018.”
$126 million
– The amount of debt at the University of Tulsa. The Tulsa World’s Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton reported that was a reason why one the world’s largest credit rating agencies downgraded the university’s credit rating to a negative outlook. TU recently said it’s lowering its undergraduate tuition by $29,000.
$20,000
– About how much the City of Tulsa owes on storing the $250,000 Cry Baby Cry statue, which still doesn’t have an installation date, reports the Tulsa Flyer’s Joe Tomlinson.
89
– The number of tornadoes in Indiana this year through July. The annual average is usually 28, according to the National Weather Service. About 30,000 customers in northern Indiana are still without electricity nearly two weeks after the latest batch of storms.
13%
– The forecasted drop in college enrollment by 2041, after the largest number of Americans born in a single year arrived on campus in the autumn of 2025, according to this unlocked Wall Street Journal story.
Help shape local news coverage
The Tulsa Flyer is asking readers to take a survey. Two respondents will win a $50 Visa gift card. The nonprofit newsroom wants to know what they’re not covering, what issues matter most to your neighborhood and whether you see yourself in their reporting.
There are three kinds of people in our world. Which one are you?
Every week I end the index with this: There is no cavalry. It’s up to us.
There are three kinds of people in our world. People who make things happen. People who watch things happen. And those who ask “what happened?”
Make things happen. Vote today. And text your friends and family to remind them to do the same.
All together now. jc
P.S. I will interview OSU President Jim Hess on Monday, Sept. 14, as the Tulsa Press Club starts a series where we talk with leaders of higher education in Tulsa.
Get the details and buy your tickets. Limited seating.
The Collington Index is a free weekly news summary written by Jason Collington that explains quickly what’s important and interesting, shared in weekly wraps, popular lists, conversations and cheat sheets. Skim or go deep. A movement toward truth and understanding in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Subscribe for free on Substack to get an email newsletter each Tuesday morning. See the archive at collingtonindex.com.
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