OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. (KOKH) — An investigative audit into the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority; it’s something the Oklahoma County Board of Commissioners is considering.

Fox 25 has been covering issues with the Oklahoma County Detention Center for years, from failed inspections to staffing issues and missed paychecks.

The issues had members of the Jail Trust recommending last June they undergo a performance review. Now, in a letter recently issued, county commissioners are asking State Auditor Cindy Byrd to look into the county Criminal Justice Authority, also known as the jail trust. But whether it’s tied to those ongoing issues remains unclear.

“I really wouldn’t know. I wouldn’t know where to begin with that. I just wouldn’t even want to speculate, honestly,” said Commissioner Myles Davidson.

Commissioner Davidson told FOX 25 if the audit were to happen, it wouldn’t be cheap.

“To go into a budget that we’re extremely tight on, and start adding hundreds of thousands of dollars, and time, these audits don’t happen overnight. I don’t know that we would have an answer to any question we could possibly ask before the budgetary cycle is over,” said Davidson.

Davidson said that cycle ends June 1. Instead, he’s suggesting they look into existing audits to see if there’s any useful information there first.

“I would simply say that we need to look at the audits that have been submitted already to the state auditor that the jail trust has already paid for, and then if we have questions about those, we need to bring in that auditing agency and question them. We do have the authority to do that,” Davidsons said.

However, Davidson isn’t sure they have the authority to request this audit.

“When it comes to statute, we have to have it lined out, expressly in statute that we have this authority, and every county commissioner across the state has to abide by that,” he said.

Davidson said they’ll be meeting Monday to find out whether or not they do have the authority to request this audit. He told FOX 25 the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office reached out to folks with Cindy Byrd’s office and was told the audit would cost $100,000, adding that she’s so swamped that she can’t do it this calendar year.

FOX 25 also reached out to Jason Lowe’s office but they said they have no comment.

OKLAHOMA CITY (KSWO) — Oklahoma lawmakers have voted to honor country music artist and Oklahoma native Toby Keith.

House Concurrent Resolution 1019 recognizes Keith’s lasting impact on music and proposes renaming a planned turnpike in his memory.

The concurrent resolution was authored by Rep. Jason Blair, R-Morgan, and Sen. Lisa Standridge, R-Norman.

The planned route will extend from Interstate 44 east to Interstate 35, then continue east and north to I-40 at the Kickapoo Turnpike.

Copyright 2026 KSWO. All rights reserved.

Governor Kevin Stitt has said he wants the State Superintendent of Education to be a governor-elected position instead of an elected one. Political analyst Scott Mitchell examines what this would mean for the state.

Is the State Superintendent an elected role?

Yes, the State Superintendent of Education is still an elected role. Elections are scheduled for Nov. 3, 2026.

Cons of making the superintendent an appointed position

Mitchell said making this position appointed could cause distrust among some Oklahomans

“Over the years, we’ve seen that capture of regulatory sort of is easy to do when you have term limits, then lobbies become more powerful, and they have all the history. It’s very complicated.

He also said if the position were to be elected, they would likely have the same agenda as the governor.

“Yes, and I think the governor would be absolutely saying, ‘Yes, they’re going to do what I want them to do.’”

Changing how the superintendent is chosen changes what the founding fathers set.

“Voters are going to have to say yay or nay if it gets to them, is whether or not we want to change the way that the founding fathers set up the way that we make sure that power is not concentrated in Oklahoma,” he said.

Is Ryan Walters’ term the reason Stitt wants to make this position appointed?

Mitchell said he believes the former State Superintendent played a role in the government wanting to appoint this position.

During his time as superintendent, Walters was known to have multiple controversies. He resigned in 2025, allowing Stitt to appoint Lindel Fields.

“His impact on this, even though he’s gone, is certainly evident,” said Mitchell. “Walters left midstream, right? And so the governor had a chance to appoint someone. Well, it wasn’t just an appointment; it was chaos before and relative calm and competency after. And that has given the governor an opening for people to see with their own eyes. Yeah, you can put somebody in, we’re talking about Lindel Fields, that appears to get up every day, not trying to find some, get a click on social media, but rather to do his job. And across the board, for the most part, this guy’s getting thumbs up.

Stitt said electing Fields has already given him some leverage since he has been well perceived so far.

“That allows a governor to say, Look, I’ve got some standing, some leverage to go to the voters and say, let’s put expertise as the main reason that a person’s there, not because they were able to win an election because they had some sort of populist or dramatic ideas.”

Who is running for Oklahoma State Superintendent?

Republican Ballot

• Sen. Adam Pugh
• John Cox
• Rep. Toni Hasenbeck
• Ana Landsaw

Democrat Ballot

• Craig Mcvay
• Jennettie Marshall

Independent

To learn more about each candidate, click here.

A full breakdown of candidates in the 2026 Oklahoma State Superintendent race, including party affiliation, background and key education priorities.

February 26, 2026 06:37 PM

2 min read

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