Oklahoma
Edmond Public Schools challenges Oklahoma State Department of Education's attempted book ban
Edmond Public Schools is asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to intervene in an attempt by state officials to ban two books from school library shelves.
Edmond Superintendent Angela Grunewald said the Oklahoma State Department of Education ordered her district to remove “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini and “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls from high school libraries.
The agency threatened a potential downgrade to Edmond’s accreditation status if it doesn’t comply, Grunewald said.
The agency’s Library Media Review Committee decided both books are “pornographic” and contain “sexualized content,” according to the district’s legal complaint.
The same library review committee made national news last month when Chaya Raichik, who runs the controversial social media account Libs of TikTok, was appointed as a member.
Grunewald said none of Edmond’s school libraries contain pornography, but the books’ material isn’t the central issue of the district’s legal challenge.
“It’s not about the books,” she said in a news conference Tuesday. “It’s about who has the right to decide what books should be in a library and who can say what books should be removed.”
In ordering the removal, the state agency relied on new administrative rules passed last year that prohibit books from containing pornographic or sexualized content, Grunewald said.
The Edmond Board of Education voted Tuesday in favor of asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to deem the state agency’s administrative rules an unconstitutional overreach of executive authority.
Edmond’s attorney, F. Andrew Fugitt, said he expects the Court to respond within 30 days.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters, who heads the agency, called the district’s legal filing an “ongoing subversion of accountability.”
“Edmond Public Schools not only allows kids to access porn in schools they are doubling down to keep pornography on the bookshelves,” Walters said in a statement. “Parents and kids should have the confidence of going to schools to learn. Instead of focusing on education, EPS has chosen to peddle porn and is leading the charge to undermine parents in Oklahoma.”
The state Education Department received five complaints about the books being part of the curriculum at Edmond high schools, Grunewald said. Parents already have a choice in which books their children read for high school classes, she said.
Although the complaints pertained to school lesson plans, Grunewald said the state’s Library Media Review Committee advised the books be removed from high school libraries, as well.
In a Jan. 19 letter, the state agency gave Edmond administrators 14 days to take the books off library shelves, according to Edmond’s legal filing. If they don’t comply, they will have to appear at Thursday’s state Board of Education meeting and risk an accreditation penalty.
The district has had a policy since 1997 for parents to request a book be reviewed and possibly removed. The decision of whether to keep the book is made at the local school level, Grunewald said.
Both award-winning bestsellers, The Kite Runner and The Glass Castle include references to child sexual abuse and violence.
The Kite Runner highlights the friendship between two boys amid a tumultuous period in Afghanistan. The Glass Castle tells the story of the author’s dysfunctional upbringing.
Scrutiny of school library books has heightened under state Superintendent Ryan Walters. He called for a content review of 190 books focused on LGBTQ+ perspectives and said some books are too explicit to belong in schools.
Walters’ administration created the new library content rules and brought them to the state Board of Education for a vote, despite the state Legislature not instructing him to do so.
For that reason, Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued an opinion in April stating the rules are invalid and cannot be enforced.
“It is well settled that an agency may only exercise the powers expressly given by statute,” Drummond said. “An agency cannot expand those powers by its own authority.”
Oklahoma
How to watch LA Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder: TV, live stream info for tonight’s NBA playoff game
Coverage of the 2026 NBA playoffs continues tonight on NBC and Peacock with a star-studded doubleheader. The action tips off at 7:00 PM ET, when Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers take on Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons. Then, at 8:30 PM ET, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers go head-to-head with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Peacock. Live coverage begins at 6:00 PM with NBA Showtime. See below for additional information on how to watch the 2026 NBA Playoffs on NBC and Peacock.
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LA Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder Game Preview:
The No. 4 Lakers defeated the No. 5 Rockets in six games to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals. Los Angeles opened the series with a 3-0 lead, dropped Games 4 and 5, then bounced back with a 98-78 road win in Game 6. The win marked JJ Redick’s first playoff series victory since he took over as head coach ahead of last season.
Meanwhile, the top-seeded Thunder defeated the No. 8 Phoenix Suns 4-0, completing a First Round sweep for the third straight season. The Thunder look to become the first team to win consecutive NBA titles since the Golden State Warriors (2016-2017, 2017-18).
The Lakers and Thunder will both be without key players tonight. Luka Doncic has missed the last 11 games due to a grade 2 hamstring strain sustained on April 2 against Oklahoma City, while Jalen Williams missed the last two games for the Thunder with a grade 1 hamstring strain. Both players are considered week-to-week.
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How to watch LA Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder:
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When: Tonight, Tuesday, May 5
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Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
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How to watch the NBA on NBC and Peacock:
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Which playoff rounds will be available on Peacock?
Peacock’s NBA Playoffs coverage spans multiple rounds, including Round 1, the Conference Semifinals, and the Western Conference Finals, with coverage evolving as the postseason progresses.
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Yes. During earlier rounds such as Round 1 and the Conference Semifinals, Peacock will carry a mix of Eastern and Western Conference playoff games.
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OKLAHOMA CITY (KSWO) – African American educator F.D. Moon was born 130 years ago on May 4, 1896, in what is now Lincoln County.
He began teaching in 1921 and in 1940 moved to Oklahoma City, where he became principal of Douglass High School.
Widely known as the “Dean” of African American education, Moon was elected to the Oklahoma City Board of Education in 1972, then became its first African American president in 1974.
He served during federally mandated desegregation in Oklahoma City Public Schools and died in 1975.
Copyright 2026 KSWO. All rights reserved.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is pressing federal regulators to make clear that states — not the federal government — have authority over sports-related prediction markets, arguing the platforms function like sportsbooks without state oversight.
Drummond and 40 other state attorneys general filed a formal comment Thursday with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, urging the agency to reaffirm that it does not have jurisdiction over sports-related contracts offered through prediction markets. The coalition said prediction markets have effectively become unregulated sportsbooks.
Prediction markets, including Kalshi and Polymarket, allow users to trade contracts tied to the outcome of future events. Drummond said sports-related contracts on those platforms amount to gambling and should be regulated by states.
“This is unequivocally gambling, which means it belongs under State authority,” Drummond said. “States have long had the right and responsibility to protect their own citizens from the dangers of gambling, and that should continue to hold true whether bets take place on a prediction market or inside a traditional casino.”
In their letter, the attorneys general said users can make the same types of wagers on prediction markets as they can at traditional sportsbooks. “Any distinction between sportsbook bets and prediction-market bets is illusory,” they wrote.
The coalition said prediction market users can wager on game winners, point spreads and player statistics, while bypassing consumer protections and tax requirements mandated by state gambling laws. The attorneys general argued the contracts are entertainment-based gambling rather than tools for financial risk management, placing them outside the CFTC’s jurisdiction.
The attorneys general also warned that sports gambling poses risks to public health and financial security.
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They said states are best positioned to protect residents from those harms and asked the CFTC to confirm through rulemaking that it lacks jurisdiction over sports-related contracts, leaving states with the power to regulate or prohibit sports gambling.
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