Oklahoma

Mayor David Holt installed as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors

Published

6 months ago

July 12, 2025

Press Room

Mayor David Holt installed as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt began his term as president of the United States Conference of Mayors.
Holt is believed to be the first Native American to serve in this role.
The Conference of Mayors allows city leaders to share ideas and learn from each other’s successes and failures.

In addition to serving as mayor of Oklahoma City and as the dean of Oklahoma City University School of Law, David Holt added another hat to his wardrobe, now serving as the president of the United States Conference of Mayors.

His tenure as the organization’s 83^rd president began the same day the Oklahoma City Thunder won its first NBA championship. He’s the second OKC mayor to serve in that capacity.

Holt’s term runs until June 2026, and he is believed to be the first Native American to serve in the role, according to a city news release. Former Mayor Mick Cornett served as the organization’s president in 2016-17 and hosted the annual meeting in Oklahoma City in 2010 when Holt served as Cornett’s chief of staff.

Beyond the logistics of running a nearly century old organization, it’s an opportunity to learn from other cities and have other cities learn from OKC, Holt told The Oklahoman. He said he has found a lot of value in the organization. Another benefit is friendship and camaraderie with other mayors.

“I think part of our story in the last 30 years has been mayors who are willing to market the city and represent the city and that ultimately is just part of the strategy,” he told The Oklahoman. “I often say that people don’t visit, live in or invest in cities they’ve never heard of, so there’s a lot of ways that we as a community get our name out there.”

MAPS projects have been an inspiration for other cities

Holt said cities are able to learn from each other and cited Oklahoma City’s MAPS projects. It’s now one of the most well-known initiatives in urban circles, Holt said.

He said cities have been inspired by different aspects of MAPS — Little Rock, Arkansas, and Louisville, Kentucky, have attempted to implement the program or something similar, but both efforts have failed. Holt said they didn’t really have the opportunity to try to implement it.

“The best ideas that work around the country are certainly those that we will try to emulate in Oklahoma City and it’s a perfect example of the old phrase that the cities and states are the laboratories of democracy,” Holt said. “Sometimes we’ll let others do the experimentation first, and then we’ll pick it up.”

Holt said an example of that is watching Indianapolis’ sports strategy. The city carved out a space for themselves as the amateur sports capital of the world and eventually they became home to the NCAA, Holt said.

“Just that idea that you could sort of define yourself around a certain category of sports and that that would elevate your whole city, I think was intriguing,” he said. “Obviously as it’s turned out with us, we’re sort of all over the place. We have used the NBA and used softball and now use paddle sports to elevate ourselves in so many different ways.”

Another benefit of watching other cities try something for the first time is not making the same mistakes as they did, Holt added. Between Cornett’s involvement with the Conference of Mayors and now Holt, that’s almost a quarter of a century of high-level engagement.

As president, Holt is responsible for several duties including weighing in on timely topics, such as releasing a statement about the floods in Texas. Other duties include convening and presiding over meetings, weighing in on local issues, attending meetings on a variety of topics such as housing and homelessness and other administrative responsibilities.

Formed in 1932, the conference is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more, according to a city news release.

Tom Cochran, CEO and executive director, said the conference is fortunate to lean on Holt’s leadership in a time of opportunity and need for America’s cities.

“He champions the value of local leadership, and he embraces the power this conference has to unite so many voices to improve the lives of the people of America’s cities. I know his colleagues are grateful to have him steering the ship,” Cochran said.

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Oklahoma

Oklahoma City takes on Charlotte, looks for 4th straight home win

Published

10 hours ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Oklahoma City takes on Charlotte, looks for 4th straight home win

Charlotte Hornets (12-23, 12th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (30-6, first in the Western Conference)

Oklahoma City; Monday, 8 p.m. EST

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Thunder -15.5; over/under is 232.5

BOTTOM LINE: Oklahoma City hosts Charlotte looking to continue its three-game home winning streak.

The Thunder have gone 17-2 at home. Oklahoma City scores 121.9 points while outscoring opponents by 14.7 points per game.

The Hornets have gone 5-13 away from home. Charlotte ranks fourth in the league averaging 15.1 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 36.7% from downtown. Kon Knueppel leads the team averaging 3.6 makes while shooting 42.8% from 3-point range.

The Thunder’s 13.6 made 3-pointers per game this season are the same per game average that the Hornets allow. The Hornets are shooting 45.6% from the field, 2.5% higher than the 43.1% the Thunder’s opponents have shot this season.

The teams square off for the second time this season. The Thunder won 109-96 in the last meeting on Nov. 16. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 33 points, and Miles Bridges led the Hornets with 15 points.

TOP PERFORMERS: Chet Holmgren is averaging 18.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks for the Thunder. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 25.0 points over the last 10 games.

Bridges is averaging 20.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists for the Hornets. Brandon Miller is averaging 4.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Thunder: 6-4, averaging 118.9 points, 42.5 rebounds, 24.7 assists, 9.9 steals and 5.7 blocks per game while shooting 48.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 109.3 points per game.

Hornets: 5-5, averaging 118.7 points, 45.6 rebounds, 28.8 assists, 7.6 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 117.8 points.

INJURIES: Thunder: Nikola Topic: out (groin), Thomas Sorber: out for season (knee), Ousmane Dieng: out (calf), Jaylin Williams: out (heel), Isaiah Hartenstein: out (calf).

Hornets: Mason Plumlee: out (groin), Grant Williams: out (acl), Ryan Kalkbrenner: day to day (elbow), Tidjane Salaun: day to day (ankle), Moussa Diabate: day to day (wrist).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Oklahoma

Three Big 12 Transfers Oklahoma State Is Reportedly Interested In

Published

22 hours ago

January 4, 2026

Press Room

Three Big 12 Transfers Oklahoma State Is Reportedly Interested In

PORTAL TRACKER

Oklahoma State’s newly constructed staff got on the board Saturday, picking up portal commitments on offense and special special teams, so how about some defense?

Three Big 12 defenders have been linked with Oklahoma State via the transfer portal over the past few days, including a pair of former OK Preps standouts. Here’s a look.

Kanijal Thomas, CB, Kansas State

Thomas is an Oklahoman, playing his high school ball at Del City. He visited Stillwater on Saturday, according to On3.

He was a redshirt sophomore for the Wildcats in 2025, playing in seven games as a true freshman in 2023 before an injury saw his sophomore season end two games in.

Thomas played in eight games at K-State in 2025, finishing the year with five tackles, a PBU and a forced fumble. According to PFF, he gave up four catches for 21 yards this season on seven targets.

Now listed at 5-foot-11, 186 pounds, Thomas was a three-star prospect coming out of Del City in the 2023 class. He picked K-State over offers from OSU, Texas Tech, Iowa State and others.

Maurion Horn, CB, Texas Tech

Another Oklahoma kid, Maurion Horn has spent the past four seasons in Lubbock, where he has played in 30 games during that time. According to 247Sports, Horn will visit Stillwater on Monday.

He started all of Tech’s games in 2024, finishing that season with 56 tackles, three tackles for loss and five pass breakups. He played in seven games and dealt with some sort of injury, appearing on Tech’s availability report in Weeks 4, 14 and 15.

Horn has been targeted 88 times in his career, per PFF, where he has allowed just 47 catches.

He was a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class out of Broken Arrow. He ended up picking Tech over offers from OSU, OU, Texas, Baylor, Arkansas and others.

Braylon Rigsby, Edge, Texas Tech

Listed at 6-foot-2, 275 pounds, Braylon Rigsby will join his Texas Tech teammate in Stillwater on Monday, according to 247Sports.

He’s played in 26 games across the past two seasons in Lubbock, accumulating 25 tackles and three tackles for loss during that time.

Per PFF, Rigsby has 21 QB pressures in his career to go with two QB hits.

He hails from Woodsville, Texas, which is near the Louisiana border. Rigsby was a three-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, coming in as the No. 861 player in the 247Sports Composite ranking.

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Oklahoma

Capture of Nicolas Maduro: What it could mean for Oklahoma

Published

1 day ago

January 4, 2026

Press Room

Capture of Nicolas Maduro: What it could mean for Oklahoma

Elite Delta Force captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife about 2 a.m. Saturday morning.

It happened in the Caracas, the capitol of Venezuela.

Social media posts how strikes ordered by President Trump into Venezuela and its military bases.

News 9 political analyst Scott Mitchell said the relationship between the U.S. and Latin America has not always been smooth and adds so many dominos will fall as a result.

“Venezuela is the beachhead for our adversaries that’s Cuba and Russia and China and Iran and it looks as if this latest situation where that they were assembling Iran swift attack boats that was sort of the last straw,” said Mitchell.

Retired war correspondent Mike Boettcher said the planning on capturing Maduro began in mid-December.

He adds Venezuela is a massive oil supplier whose oil has been taken off the market for years because of sanctions.

He has concerns about what comes next.

“That disrupts a lot of things.It even has an effect on the war in Ukraine, as Russia, you know, has used higher oil revenue because Venezuela’s oil was off the market.Oil prices went up.It helps fund the war in Ukraine,” said Boettcher.

The ramifications could even reach Oklahoma.

“China gets a 30 percent discount on the oil.If Venezuela goes for a more legitimate government and the sanctions are lifting, then they’re flooding the oil markets and that means bad news for the Oklahoma economy,” added Mitchell.

Following the capture of Maduro, President Trump said the U.S. will take control of the oil reserves in Venezuela.

Sources also say there are plans from the current administration to recruit American companies to invest billions of dollars in their oil industry.

A verified video shows the current state of Venezuela after the military operation.

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