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Nearly half of Oklahoma legislative races already are decided without a vote – Daily Ardmoreite

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Trevor Brown Oklahoma Watch

Numerous countless Oklahoma won’t have a say in choosing their state legislator or reps this year.

Of the 125 legal seats on the 2022 tally, 44% have actually currently been chosen. Less than one-third will certainly be disputed in November.

In 55 Home or Us senate races, just one individual submitted by the April 15 due date, gaining those prospects a chosen workplace without safeguarding a ballot or making their instance to citizens.

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Amongst those automated champions are 37 Home Republicans, 8 Home Democrats, 5 Us senate Republicans as well as 3 Us senate Democrats.

Along with those 53 incumbents without any resistance there are 2 uncontested novices: Jerry Alvord, a previous Carter Area Commissioner that will certainly stand for Us senate Area 14, as well as Tulsa insurance coverage representative Mark Tedford, that will certainly stand for Home Area 69.

Each Oklahoma Us senate area consists of 81,935 homeowners; each Home area regarding 38,939. Ballot supporters claim affordable races produce an involved body politic as well as assistance to hold prospects answerable.

Nevertheless, areas that highly prefer one event or are stood for by a well-funded incumbent inhibit affordable races. Oklahoma’s battles have actually intensified.

When 50 of 125 legal races went uncontested in 2020, event leaders criticized the COVID-19 pandemic for a less than typical yield of prospects. Also after that, Oklahoma included a lot more uncompetitive legal races than the majority of the nation.

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The state had the fifth-highest portion of races without 2 oppositions from significant events amongst the 44 states with 2020 legal political elections, according to Ballotpedia, a not-for-profit company that tracks political elections.

Just 245 prospects applied for the legislature recently, below 256 in 2020.

Republicans, that regulate 81.2% of the Legislature, created 182 prospects. With at the very least one prospect in 111 of 125 legal races, the GOP remains in placement to get a lot more seats.

By comparison, simply 58 Democrats applied for Home or Us senate races, leaving 61% without an Autonomous prospect. Democrats might win every basic political election race as well as still drop well except a bulk in your home or Us senate, according to an Oklahoma Watch evaluation.

Thinking no prospects take out or are gotten rid of after competitions of candidateship hearings are completed, there will certainly be 45 GOP main races as well as simply 6 for Democrats.

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Republicans are currently guaranteed of managing 35 of the 48 Us senate seats (fifty percent of the Us senate is not up for political election this year) as well as 60 of the 101 Home seats.

Democrats will certainly regulate at the very least 9 Home seats as well as 6 Us senate seats, leaving simply 32 Home seats as well as 7 Us senate seats up for grabs.

Statewide as well as Legislative Races

Oklahoma’s jampacked slate of statewide as well as legislative seats will certainly be a lot more affordable.

Along with the 5 U.S. Home seats, U.S. Sen. James Lankford looks for re-election as well as there will certainly be an unique political election to change U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, that revealed layoff strategies.

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The guv’s race covers the statewide races that consist of lieutenant guv, chief law officer, state treasurer, superintendent of public direction, state auditor as well as examiner, commissioner of labor, insurance coverage commissioner as well as company commissioner.

Of these races, just one has actually currently been chosen: Oklahoma Insurance coverage Commissioner Glen Mulready will certainly be re-elected without an opposition.

No Democrats applied for either state auditor as well as examiner or chief law officer, yet there will certainly be disputed races in the basic for the remainder of the seats.

The GOP main period will certainly consist of oppositions for all races besides lieutenant guv as well as Oklahoma’s first Legislative area, where Matt Pinnell as well as Kevin Hern, specifically, secured their event’s election in the re-election proposals.

A Lot Of the GOP primaries will certainly be really crowded with 14 prospects looking for the open second Congressional Area race as well as 13 prospects looking for the U.S. Us senate seat Inhofe is leaving.

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Democrats, on the other hand, will certainly see primaries for simply 2 races: The match in between Happiness Hofmeister as well as Connie Johnson for the event’s gubernatorial election as well as a five-person area trying the right to stand for the event for Lankford’s U.S. Us senate seat.

Prospects that have actually attracted a main opposition won’t have much time to waste. Oklahoma’s main will certainly be hung on June 28 as well as the drainage will certainly be Aug. 23, if required.



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Oklahoma

Oklahoma City tabbed to host multiple Olympic events in 2028

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Oklahoma City tabbed to host multiple Olympic events in 2028


OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KSWO) – LA28, the plan behind the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles announced an update to the master plan for venues including two events moving to OKC.

According to the Olympics website, Oklahoma City will play host to softball and canoe slalom attributed to what the committee describes as “world-class venues.”

The Olympics website states:

Both the existing canoe slalom and softball stadiums in Oklahoma City are built to international competition standards, and the local community has consistently supported top tournaments for both sports, ensuring a high-quality experience for both athletes and fans, while allowing LA28 to achieve cost savings and revenue gains to support its balanced budget.

Currently, Oklahoma is the only state outside of California to host events in the 2028 games.

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Suspect in multiple Oklahoma, Alabama killings arrested in Arkansas

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Suspect in multiple Oklahoma, Alabama killings arrested in Arkansas


OKLAHOMA CITY — A man who was linked to multiple homicides in Oklahoma and Alabama was arrested Thursday after a nearly two-day manhunt, authorities said.

Stacy Lee Drake, 50, was taken into custody without incident at about 10 a.m. in a wooded area south of an intersection in Morrilton, Arkansas, according to the Arkansas Department of Public Safety. He was wanted in connection with the slayings of three people in Oklahoma and a fourth in Alabama, authorities said.

“Drake is wanted in connection with homicides and carjackings in Oklahoma and is wanted on other felony warrants from multiple jurisdictions, with charges including aggravated robbery, carjacking, and murder,” the Arkansas Department of Public Safety said in a news release.

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The Arkansas Department of Public Safety had warned residents in the area of Morrilton, about 50 miles northwest of Little Rock, to be on alert after he was spotted outside a motel in the city. Prior to his arrest, authorities said Wednesday that Drake was known to have purchased camping gear that indicated that he was still in the area.

Drake, who has an extensive criminal history, was described by law enforcement as armed and dangerous.

“If you look at his criminal history, he was continuously escalating his violent behavior,” Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Capt. Jack Kennedy said at a news conference Thursday. “He is now at least responsible for three, possibly four homicides that we know about in the last two months. So, I would not be surprised if there’s other homicides out there that are unsolved in other jurisdictions.”

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Suspect tied to at least 3 killings in Oklahoma, 1 in Alabama

On Tuesday, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation was asked for assistance in a homicide investigation in Gans, a town in Sequoyah County near the Oklahoma-Arkansas state line. The agency said Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office deputies had responded to a report regarding two deceased individuals around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

When deputies arrived at the scene, they found an adult male and female dead inside a propane business, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

The man and woman, identified as Taylor Sharp and Tara Underwood, had been shot to death, the agency said in a court affidavit. Sharp and Underwood were employees of LaFerry’s Propane.

Authorities identified Drake as a person of interest after reviewing the surveillance video. The video showed him driving away in Underwood’s 2016 GMC Acadia after exiting the business, according to the affidavit. The vehicle was later located in Morrilton late Tuesday night.

Drake is also suspected of killing a man in El Reno, a city just west of Oklahoma City. Shortly after his arrest on Thursday, the El Reno Police Department confirmed to local television station KOCO 5 that Drake was identified as a suspect in a June 14 murder.

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The man, identified as 56-year-old Phillip Emerson, was found dead in a home and his vehicle was presumed stolen by the suspect, according to KOCO 5.

In Alabama, Kennedy said Drake is suspected of killing Alcoholics Anonymous counselor Russell Andrews, 62, on or about May 14. Police had responded to the Alcoholics Anonymous Club in downtown Tuscaloosa after Andrews was discovered dead inside the building.

Surveillance video showed Andrew’s vehicle missing from the scene and presumed stolen by the suspect, according to Kennedy. The vehicle was then located several hours later near the Oklahoma-Arkansas state line.

Who is Stacy Lee Drake?

Authorities previously said Drake was from Birmingham, Alabama, but Kennedy noted Thursday that the suspect was not from the state.

“(Drake), at one time, was arrested in Alabama 15 years ago… for multiple, numerous violent felony crimes,” Kennedy said, adding that Drake was linked to a Birmingham address that “may have been involved with him being in a homeless shelter there.”

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Drake had only been in Tuscaloosa for about a week or two, Kennedy said. He described Drake as a “transient” who had no fixed address and an extensive criminal history in multiple states.

Based on background investigations, Kennedy said investigators believe Drake spent a lot of time in Oklahoma and Arizona. Drake was also a federal inmate at “different points in his career” and there were outstanding pending federal charges on him for violating his parole, according to Kennedy.

“He was utilizing a false name, and possibly dressing himself differently, including hats and glasses, at the time that he was in Tuscaloosa,” Kennedy said. “It appears that he was traveling the country in this lifestyle, utilizing false names, in an attempt to keep from being incarcerated.”



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Federal officials are investigating a Southwest Airlines low flight over Oklahoma City suburbs

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Federal officials are investigating a Southwest Airlines low flight over Oklahoma City suburbs


DALLAS (AP) — Federal officials are investigating a Southwest Airlines jet that triggered a low-altitude alert as it prepared to land in Oklahoma City but was still nine miles from the airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that an air traffic controller notified the Southwest pilots after an automated warning sounded around 12:05 a.m. Wednesday morning.

According to data from Flightradar24, the plane descended to about 525 feet above the ground as it passed over Oklahoma City suburbs on the way to Will Rogers World Airport.

“Southwest 4069, low altitude alert. You doing OK?” an air traffic controller asked the Southwest pilots.

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“Yeah, we’re going around, 4069,” one of the pilots responded, as captured by LiveATC.net. The air traffic controller told him to maintain 3000 feet.

The Dallas-based airline said the plane, a Boeing 737, landed safely just after midnight.

“Southwest is following its robust safety management system and is in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration to understand and address any irregularities with the aircraft’s approach to the airport,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees.”



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