Oklahoma
Governor Stitt joins Bible Reading Marathon at state Capitol
Organizers of a Bible Reading Marathon at the Capitol wanted elected leaders to take a turn reading the holy book, and their hopes were realized on Wednesday.
Gov. Kevin Stitt joined the marathon before it reached its conclusion, reading several chapters of Ecclesiastes while a crowd of about 40 people gathered on the Capitol’s south plaza.
The event began on March 9 as part of the Capitol Bible Reading Marathon ministry, an initiative of Seedline International, a Brazil, Indiana-based organization. The group has held the faith-themed effort in several states and Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, Coalgate preachers David and Carol Unsell, the marathon’s Oklahoma hosts and organizers, said they viewed the inaugural event as a success. They said the readers did not encounter any problems as they read the Bible, with no commentary added.
“People were coming through word-of-mouth — they just kept coming by ― from times like midnight to 2 in the morning, and everybody was so pleasant,” David Unsell said.
He said the goal of the event was to simply read the Bible at the Capitol, “let it go out and let him bless this place, this state, and everybody seemed to be really touched by it.”
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has participated in several Christian-themed events as governor
That Stitt decided to participate is not a departure from the norm. The governor has made public avowals of his Christian faith since he began his first term as governor. He has participated in the Christian-themed National Day of Prayer service at the state Capitol at least once. In the last year or so, however, Stitt has come under fire for his statements of faith, most notably in 2022 when he was captured on video claiming “every square inch” of Oklahoma for Jesus.
Wednesday, the governor took to the podium set up on the south plaza with little ceremony and began reading. He gave a simple farewell to those gathered before leaving the event.
“Thanks everybody for being out here. God bless y’all,” Stitt told the crowd.
About 150 people signed up to read the Bible in 15-minute segments before the marathon began. The Unsells predicted it would take roughly 360 people to read the sacred text from Genesis to Revelation if it were read in the 15-minute increments.
David Unsell said people read from the Book of Psalms and other parts of the Bible on Wednesday morning because the Bible had been read from cover to cover, night and day, by then. The closing ceremony featured a brief sermon by Joe Bavor, the marathon ministry’s national director, and the crowd was asked to read the last chapter of Revelation — which concludes the Bible ― together.
More: With the words ‘In the beginning …’ a group kicks off Bible Reading Marathon at state Capitol
The Rev Tim Morlan and his wife, Lori, said they heard about the marathon on a radio broadcast and ended up taking several reading stints on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, sometimes very early in the mornings.
“We kind of heard through the grapevine about this because we didn’t know much about it,” Tim Morlan said. “But then we were just intrigued and thought the Scripture tells us that we’re to devote ourselves to the public reading of Holy Scriptures. So, we thought, what a great time to do that in a public setting in front of the Capitol.”
Lori Morlan said she felt that she was “right there in Scripture” as she was reading the text.
“I’m super emotional over it,” she said. “It just was the most exciting, wonderful thing. What a privilege to be able to speak God’s Word in public, and so it was just an expression of my faith.”
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.
At least 10 people were hospitalized following a shooting at a party at Arcadia Lake in Edmond, Oklahoma, the Edmond Police Department confirmed late Sunday night in a post to its social media.
The department noted that it had responded to the scene alongside officers from Oklahoma City Police and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Ten victims were evacuated by ambulance to various hospitals in the Oklahoma metro area, police said, noting that the “total number of victims is expected to change as additional individuals transported themselves to area hospitals. There is no update on victim conditions at this time.”
Initial reports citing law enforcement scanners claimed that at least 15 people had been injured.
Edmond Police have set up a reunification center for families at a local Walmart, CBS Oklahoma City affiliate KWTV reported.
Police added there are no suspects in custody at this time, urging the public to reach out with any information.
According to KOCO-TV, KOCO-TV, an ABC-affiliate station in Oklahoma City, police said that there “was no known threat to the public” as of 11:15 p.m..
“We will release more information when it becomes available,” police said.
Despite being from down the road in Oklahoma and his brother already being a Sooner, Blake Griffin recently admitted that playing at OU wasn’t always part of his plans.
Now retired after a 13-year NBA career, Griffin was recently on “New Heights” podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce when he was asked if he always knew he was going to end up at Oklahoma during his recruitment process out of Oklahoma Christian School in nearby Edmond, where his dad was the head coach.
Blake Griffin tells Kelce Brothers he eyed other programs over OU
“It actually wasn’t,” Griffin said. “So my brother (Taylor) committed and played there his freshman year, and then they got a new coach. Kelvin Sampson left, there were some recruiting violations, they got this new coach. Honestly, I loved Kansas, I loved Florida. …
“And then I had like Duke and North Carolina on my list, but it was kind of just like a — it felt like it was a lifelong dream of Duke and North Carolina.”
Obviously Griffin ultimately did end up staying home in Oklahoma and the rest is history. He committed to the Sooners as a McDonald’s All-American and one of the greatest recruits OU has ever landed in men’s basketball at the start of Lon Kruger’s tenure.
As a freshman in 2007, Griffin immediately cracked the starting lineup and averaged 14.7 points and 9.1 rebounds a game while becoming First-Team All-Big 12. Despite being a potential lottery pick, Griffin chose to return to OU and helped lead the Sooners to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and swept national individual awards. He was then the first overall pick the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2009 NBA Draft, where his brother, Taylor, was also drafted at No. 48.
“I wanted to go to a place where, A, my brother was there, it was close to home, my parents could come watch us play, and then also just that I wanted to go to a place where you felt like they really believed in you and you were gonna be the guy and you were gonna get the opportunity,” Griffin said. “And I’m so glad I did.”
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