One story to read to the end
When you see Eli Saslow’s name on top of a story, you read it. That’s been my experience. The story? What life was like for people paying daily on their high electric bills in Oklahoma while the furnace was turned up this summer, as Saslow writes, hotter than the Dust Bowl summer of 1936 and the heat dome of 2021. Like a good visual feature story, with photos by Erin Schaff, it’s a story about people affected by an issue. . A mother in Muskogee. A daughter in Tulsa. And PSO, which “cut off power 58 times for every 100 residential customers in 2024, the most recent year with federal data. It was the highest rate of any investor-owned utility in the country.” The NYT headline in this unlocked story: This Is What America’s Utility Bill Crisis Looks Like.
How’s drone delivery in Tulsa after two months?
Angelica Perez and Joe Tomlinson from the Tulsa Flyer check in with those who signed their restaurants up.
Got thoughts on Flock cameras?
An Oklahoma lawmaker wants your input. Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman, said the input will help her to prepare for a legislative study she has planned for Oct. 21 at the Capitol. Just email Mary.Boren@oksenate.gov. Read the Tulsa World’s Steve Metzer story on the details.
In other Flock news, Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado announced last week that he wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case centering on automated license plate reader technology and render a decision that designates its use to be constitutional, according to the Tulsa World’s Corey Jones.
Quotable quotes
On school shootings
“It’s just something that we live with here in America. It’s exhausting.”
– Leah Schwartz, who heard the gun shots at the elementary school shooting in Bend, Ore., that killed three children and one adult. She was walking her dog nearby.
On getting punched in the face
“Sterlin can’t stop assaulting me. I’m like, ‘Dude, can we maybe go just one episode with my face fully intact?’”
– Actor Ethan Hawke about the creator of “The Lowdown,” the FX series shot and about Tulsa now in its second season. I am a crime-noir kind of guy, so I am enjoying the series and all the easter eggs Harjo places in scenes for Tulsans to find. The NYT offers insight in this unlocked article.
Notable numbers
90%
– Percentage of the whole of Mike Mazzei’s governor campaign account, after he loaned $3 million in 2025 and another $8 million through August, according to state campaign filings. Mazzei and his wife, Noel, provided those loans interest-free. Rep. Jared Deck, D-Norman, and Rep. Jonathan Wilk, R-Goldsby, want the state Ethics Commission to review gaps in state law on how much information candidates must provide when they loan money to their campaign committees, reports Oklahoma Watch’s Paul Monies.
$8.95 million
MLB All-Star Matt Holliday’s price of his home in Stillwater, which is still for sale. It includes a baseball field, batting cages and a $2 million pool.
There is no cavalry. It’s up to us. All together now. jc
P.S. After my chat with OSU President Jim Hess made news, I hope OU Tulsa’s leader will do the same.
I will sit down with University of Oklahoma Tulsa Vice President Susan Carlson Bynum on Friday, Nov. 13, at a Tulsa Press Club event.
This series of Page One conversations is designed to give the public an opportunity to hear directly from the leaders shaping higher education in Tulsa. This is a fundraiser for the Tulsa Press Club, which is focused on building an engaged community through the pursuit and support of ethical journalism.
Doors open at 11 a.m. Lunch starts at 11:30 a.m.
The discussion with Bynum will begin at noon and end at 1 p.m.
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.
