Newsworthy news
I posted this fact on Election night. I’m still trying to understand.
How did Mike Mazzei get the win?
The Tulsa World’s Randy Krehbiel and Curtis Killman report the Republican nominee for governor was chosen by Oklahoma’s ‘Little Dixie’ listening to 2nd District Congressman Josh Brecheen. It wasn’t just a Trump bump.
File under ‘No way you could see this happening’: Candidates are quietly paying influencers
The New York Times’ Ken Bensinger examines how political campaigns across the country are increasingly paying social media influencers for support, though the ties are not always clearly disclosed.
What could go wrong?
Young adults between 18 and 21, who are legally barred from most gambling in the US, have traded an estimated $5.4 billion so far this year on the Kalshi prediction market, according to a new CNN analysis.
Notable numbers
$16 million
– The total amount of recent lawsuit settlements and judgments in Oklahoma’s Choctaw County (population 14,000) connected to its jail and school district that will result in raised property taxes to pay off. NonDoc’s Derrick James and Kevin Eagleson have the details.
$17.1 billion
– The amount that Facebook will pay to settle a lawsuit from 47 states, but there is a big but. The company will pay $12 billion and agree to a two-hour daily time limit for children. Meta will reduce it to an hour if YouTube and TikTok also agree to do so. If the other companies also pay $5 billion to the states, Meta will throw in the rest of the $5 billion or so it has promised, according to this unlocked New York Times article.
$50 million
– How much Walmart will pay to settle the latest claims that its pharmacies filled opioid prescriptions while failing to detect or report suspicious orders to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Employees who did flag questionable practices at Walmart were ignored to drive sales, according to the Justice Department. In 37.5 million prescription orders, it tagged only 204, according to this unlocked article by the New York Times. In 2022, Walmart settled for $3.1 billion to end thousands of similar lawsuits.
Quotable quotes
At OSU
“It’s almost a lost art. Kids don’t know how to play old-school games because they’re on their consoles playing.”
– New Oklahoma State University football coach Eric Morris about teaching his players – getting paid a reported $24 million this season – the game of dominoes and spades. It’s just one way he’s worked to bring together the highest number of transfers in college football. That story is told in this unlocked Wall Street Journal article headlined “The 91-Player Overhaul Behind College Football’s Most Audacious Rebuild.”
Meanwhile at OU
“Now I know what that position is going to cost us for the foreseeable future, and so as I think about where I can make other investments in the program, I’m not worried about a rapid increase in that line item this off season. It just allows you to put a big variable to bed as you think about the other places where you want to invest in the system.”
– OU athletic director Roger Denny in a story by the Tulsa World’s Mason Young about giving the Sooners head football coach Brent Venables a new six-year contract that averages $10.5 million a year, making him the 10th highest paid coach in the nation. The team has a reported payroll of more than $30 million.
On dark money
“It’s almost like the people inside the Beltway live in a drug den, and this is just the newest drug that’s circulating.”
– Nick Penniman, the chief executive of Issue One, a group that has sought to reduce the role of money in politics, in this unlocked New York Times story that reports about $1 billion in anonymous money is running through political races in 2026. The number is considered a low estimate, since this money is difficult to trace.
One business strategy
“As long as we leave it to the kids with blue hair, we’ll be fine.”
– Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt about the teenagers working at his stores on the weekend. He revealed that the company’s marketing budget as it opens 60 stores this year (including in Stillwater) in the United States is zero. Instead, he listens to his employees, as he explains in this interview with Inc. magazine.
From Sweet Dolly Parton
“I guess the public didn’t want to see Sylvester Stallone do comedy. Or maybe they didn’t want to see me do Sylvester Stallone.”
– The late Dolly Parton about her 1984 movie “Rhinestone,” a romantic comedy with Sylvester Stallone, which bombed at the box office.
One more from Dolly
“Every day I count my blessings. Then I count my money.”
The best chicken and waffles (for a limited time)
I can’t believe I am about to share my thoughts on food from a drive thru, but here we go.
Hear me out on the Chick-fil-A Chicken and Waffles sandwich.
- Maple-flavored waffles
- The signature filet
- Three strips of applewood smoked bacon
- Honey butter spread
- Served warm
- A side of syrup.
Eating it was my pleasure.
Available until Nov. 14.
There is no cavalry. It’s up to us. All together now. jc
P.S. I have two events coming up that I wanted to invite you to. I mentioned last week I am interviewing OSU president Jim Hess on Sept. 14 in the Tulsa Press Club’s series of chats with higher education leaders.
Get the details and buy your tickets. Limited seating.
I will also present to the Tulsa Chapter of the American Marketing Association meeting. Here are the details:
Indexing (Not Marketing) to the NoLo, Interest Feed, IRL, Shelfie and Local Media Life in the Age of Hobbyamory
How do you communicate with a community when the ways people discover information, form connections and decide what matters are all changing?
Join AMA Tulsa and Jason Collington for a wide-ranging look at the trends reshaping local communities and cultures—and what those changes mean for marketers, communicators and organizational leaders.
Jason will explore the NoLo, interest feeds, IRL experiences, shelfies, local media life and the growing influence of our many interests and hobbies. Together, these shifts offer a possible explanation for how organizations can continue reaching people when so much of the familiar communications playbook is going away.
This isn’t another presentation about chasing algorithms or adding more channels. It’s a conversation about understanding where people are headed, communicating with greater relevance and determining what belongs on the marketer’s to-do list now.
Event Details
Thursday, September 17
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
WeStreet Ice Center
Lunch is provided
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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