Oklahoma
America’s tallest building gets approval from Oklahoma City officials
New York City will no longer be home to the tallest building in North America if a plan freshly approved by Oklahoma City officials stays on course.
However, some residents near the site of the proposed Legends Tower have expressed concerns over the 1,907-foot structure — a number representing the year Oklahoma officially became a state.
Three months after announcing plans to build the tallest skyscraper in the country, the Oklahoma City Planning Commission approved zoning for a building that will stand 131 feet taller than lower Manhattan’s One World Trade Center. Once completed, Legends Tower will be a football field bigger than 1,550-foot Central Park Tower, North America’s second-tallest building.
According to the AO architecture firm behind the design, Legends Tower will be part of a mixed-use project called The Boardwalk at Bricktown, featuring nearly 2,000 apartment units, a Hyatt hotel, a sports arena, and 110,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment.
But while the planning commission gave its blessing on the height of the estimated $1.6 billion project, officials held off on approving bright signage that isn’t sitting well will locals, according to The Oklahoman.
“We’re not Las Vegas,” Oklahoma City resident Cynthia Ciancarelli told officials. “We’re not Manhattan.”
Ciancarelli and other Oklahomans worry proposed ad space on the building could cause sensory issues as well as appearing “a bit tacky.”
She also expressed concern that Oklahoma City is already a “one-stop shop for disasters,” including earthquakes, tornadoes and terror attacks.
More than 160 people were killed when a domestic terrorist detonated a truck full of explosives outside a federal building in 1995 — but tornadoes are a far more regular occurrence. The National Weather Service reports the Oklahoma City area has been hit by more than one twister on the same day at least 30 times.
But a well-designed skyscraper could structurally survive in the area known as “Tornado Alley,” the architecture firm said. At a planning meeting last week, the team offered reassurance that engineers will build a concrete core surrounding the skyscraper’s elevator shaft, and that the windows will be capable of withstanding a tornado without damage.
Experts told The Oklahoman that once completed, Legends Tower and The Boardwalk at Bricktown could be a boon to continuing growth in Oklahoma City, which the U.S. Census Bureau says is the sixth-fastest growing city in the nation.
Construction is set to begin later this year on parts of the project, with Legends Tower coming later.
If all goes according to the city’s plans, Legends Tower will become the sixth-tallest building in the world, behind China’s Ping An International Finance Centre.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Oklahoma Christian University is honoring victims of the Oklahoma City bombing with a special display on campus.
They installed 168 Oklahoma flags at the campus entrance.
Organizers say it is to mark the 31st anniversary of the 1995 attack on the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City and to remember each life lost.
The annual ‘Field of Flags’ tradition transforms the campus.
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The display remains up through April 19, 2026.
OU fans hoping to make it to either diamond on Friday will need to get there earlier than expected.
Oklahoma announced on Thursday that its baseball and softball series openers will each begin at 5:30 p.m on Friday.
Game 1 of the No. 14 Sooners’ baseball series against Missouri was scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., while the No. 1 softball team’s series opener against No. 8 Arkansas was slated for 7 p.m.
In a pair of releases on OU’s athletic website, the reason given for both time changes was “forecasted inclement weather.” According to the National Weather Service, severe weather is supposed to arrive in Norman and its surrounding areas around 8 p.m.
OU’s other baseball games against the Tigers on Saturday and Sunday will remain at their scheduled times (4 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively). The softball games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday will remain at 7 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
The baseball team’s three-game duel with Mizzou will be OU’s third home series of SEC play. Oklahoma opened conference play by taking two games of three against Texas A&M before dropping two of three to Alabama a few weeks later.
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OU has already played three SEC road series. The Sooners won two games of three at LSU in March before getting swept at Texas a week later. Most recently — last week — Oklahoma won two games against Vanderbilt in Nashville.
Oklahoma (24-12 overall, 7-8 SEC) sits in a five-way tie for ninth place in the SEC standings alongside Mississippi State, Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Missouri, on the other hand, has played its way out of contention.
The Tigers come to Norman 20-17 and 3-12. They earned a road series win against Kentucky two weeks ago, but they followed that up with three losses in a row to fellow conference bottom feeder South Carolina last week. Mizzou has been swept three times — by Auburn, Texas A&M and the Gamecocks — since the start of SEC play.
On the softball side, Oklahoma is ranked No. 1 after taking two games of three against former top-ranked squad Texas. The Sooners, though, dropped their third game in Austin before falling to unranked Oklahoma State at Devon Park in Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
The Sooners are 40-5 overall and 13-2 in conference play. OU currently sits atop the SEC standings, one game ahead of second-place Alabama.
Arkansas comes into the series at Love’s Field on a heater. The Razorbacks (35-6, 10-5) have won six of their last seven contests. Their only series loss of conference play this year came against Alabama, which is ranked No. 3.
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TULSA, Okla. (KOKH) — One person has been arrested after allegedly trying to sell stolen property on Facebook.
On April 10, an officer with the Tulsa Police Department saw a post on Facebook Marketplace for a projector lens that was stolen from the condemned Promenade Mall.
The lens, which is worth $20,000, was listed for just $500.
The officer used a fake Facebook account to message the seller and arranged a trade for the lens in exchange for a minibike.
Earlier this week, 19-year-old Zachery Scrivner met with the officer and was arrested.
According to the police department, Scrivner said he knew the lens was stolen but decided to try to sell it anyway.
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He was arrested on a complaint of knowingly concealing stolen property.
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