Oklahoma
Oklahoma seeing decrease in STD cases through 2024: See the data

Oklahoma legislator asks for definition of STD in sex ed bill committee
Rep. Danny Williams made the comments after statistics around higher rates of STIs in rural Oklahoma, notably around older residents.
In 2022, Oklahoma saw some of the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections in the nation, specifically in syphilis and chlamydia. Now in 2024, the state has made great strides and Oklahoma is seeing improvement in trends.
According to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States saw a decrease in cases for a majority of notifiable STIs between 2023 and 2024.
Sexually transmitted infections, such as syphilis and gonorrhea, are notifiable diseases, which means health providers are required by law to report positive tests to state or local public health officials. This data is then used by officials to track and prevent outbreaks. However, some STIs can remain asymptomatic, and those not regularly getting tested can unknowingly pass on an infection to a partner.
Here’s a look at how Oklahoma has progressed in STI rates through 2024:
Chlamydia
Oklahoma saw 18,729 cases of chlamydia, the state’s most prevalent STI, from the start of 2023 to mid-December. This places the state near the top 10 states in the nation for highest Chlamydia rates at No. 11.
According to CDC data, the number of cases in Oklahoma decreased 44% in 2024 to 10,461 statewide. This moves Oklahoma to the middle of the nation’s positivity rates and the lowest in the region, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.
The drop is not singular to Oklahoma, either. All states, except South Carolina, saw a decrease in new cases, with over a quarter of a million fewer cases in 2024.
Syphilis
Oklahoma was previously a leader in syphilis cases across the nation in 2022. But new Oklahoma cases have been cut in half compared to just last year.
The CDC reports that in 2023 there were 1,112 primary and secondary cases of the infection and 78 for the congenital variant. However, by the end of 2024, both numbers had dropped substantially. Congenital syphilis cases dropped to 50 cases throughout the year, while the primary and secondary cases dropped over 50% to 517 total cases.
The nation’s year-end data also reflects this as well. Only four states weren’t a part of the national decrease. There were almost 20,000 fewer cases in 2024 than in 2023 for primary and secondary syphilis and roughly 1,200 fewer cases for the genital variant.
Gonorrhea
Similarly, the nation’s gonorrhea cases have decreased by over 100,000, with all states reporting lower numbers than in 2023. Oklahoma reported 6,774 new infections to the CDC in 2023 and will report 3,842 new cases in 2024.
Similar decreases were seen around the nation, with the total number of cases dropping from almost 600,000 in 2023 to 484,453 in 2024.
Hepatitis B
The CDC tracks three different forms of Hepatitis B: acute, chronic, and perinatal.
Acute Hepatitis B is the only CDC-reported STD that saw an increase nationwide, increasing about 150 cases. Oklahoma, however, did not contribute to the rise as the state fell from 19 cases to 4 throughout 2024.
The CDC has not published the nation’s chronic Hepatitis B cases for 2023. In Oklahoma, there were 213 reported positive cases in 2023. For comparison, the country reported 263 new cases just in the week ending Dec. 21, 2024. The Sooner state sits in the lower half of the country for total cases, while the country reaches 17,864.
Oklahoma did not contribute to any of the nation’s 7 Perinatal cases.

Oklahoma
2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder didn’t exactly coast through the 2025 playoffs, having had to pull out a pair of Game 7 victories (over Denver and Indiana) in order to win their first NBA championship since the franchise moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City.
Still, the history books will show that this year’s Thunder were one of the NBA’s most dominant teams ever. Only four clubs have compiled more wins in a single regular season than the 68 victories Oklahoma City racked up in 2024/25, and the Thunder’s +12.7 regular season net rating ranked second all-time, behind only the 1995/96 Bulls.
OKC’s remarkable season is a testament to a rebuild that was executed nearly perfectly. Of course, Sam Presti and the Thunder got a nice head-start on that rebuilding process in 2019 when they were able to acquire future MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, five first-round picks (four unprotected), and two pick swaps from a Clippers team willing to overpay for Paul George in order to secure Kawhi Leonard‘s free agency commitment.
Even though that move was the catalyst for this year’s championship run, many of the decisions Presti has made in the years since then have paid major dividends as well. That was especially true on draft day in 2022, when the team used its own first-round pick and one from the Clippers in order to select Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, who have since become franchise pillars and were the team’s second- and third-leading scorers behind Gilgeous-Alexander this year.
After bottoming out with a 22-60 record in 2020/21 and a 24-58 mark in ’21/22, the Thunder hit the fast-forward button on their rebuild when they added Holmgren and Williams to their roster, increasing their win total by double-digits in each of the next three seasons. They went from 24 victories to 40 to 57 to 68, earning the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference in both 2024 and 2025.
We’ve heard repeatedly over the last year or two that the NBA has entered its parity era. The league has had seven different champions over the last seven seasons, with no team repeating as champs since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018.
A 2016 salary-cap spike allowed Golden State to sign Kevin Durant away from Oklahoma City, adding him to a team coming off a 73-win season. But a move like that would be virtually impossible to pull off under the current system, which has eliminated the possibility of a huge single-year cap jump (annual increases are capped at 10%) and has implemented more punitive roster-building and financial penalties for teams with top-heavy rosters.
Given those new restrictions, it has become more difficult than ever for an NBA front office to build and maintain a dynasty, but if any recent champion has the makings of a dynasty, it’s these Thunder. Oklahoma City is the second-youngest team in league history to win a title, shouldn’t face any serious salary-cap or financial obstacles anytime soon, and is armed with enough future draft picks to continue adding affordable talent to its roster for years to come.
It’s a good time to be a Thunder fan.
The Thunder’s Offseason Plan
No NBA team enters the 2025 offseason with fewer short-term question marks than the Thunder, who have 13 players from their championship roster on guaranteed contracts for next season and hold team-friendly options on the other two. If they want to, they could bring back literally the exact same roster in 2025/26 while remaining well below the luxury tax line.

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Oklahoma
4-year-old boy hospitalized after explosion at Oklahoma children’s museum

A 4-year-old boy was hospitalized on Saturday after an explosion at a children’s museum outside of Oklahoma City, according to NBC affiliate KFOR.
The boy was rushed to an Oklahoma City hospital after being injured at the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum in Seminole, Oklahoma, KFOR reported.
The museum confirmed the “unfortunate incident” in a statement on Saturday, writing that “during a hands-on activity,” the boy suffered from a “burn injury.”
It added that a guardian accompanied Corona, and that first aid was administered immediately before emergency services arrived.
“The safety and well-being of every child and family who visits our museum is our highest priority,” the museum said. “We are conducting a thorough review of the incident, and the activity in question has been suspended while we evaluate and revise safety protocols to prevent any future occurrences.”
The museum added that it is “committed to learning from this situation and continuing to provide a safe, fun, and enriching environment for all children.”
Local officials did not immediately return a request for comment on the incident.
Oklahoma
Texas, Oklahoma and Nevada make changes to lure business amid Delaware’s ‘Dexit’ concern

Consumer advocates worry the changes endanger shareholder and investor protections by giving owners and directors more protection against lawsuits that could hold them accountable if they violate their fiduciary duty.
For businesses, the changes mean potentially saving millions of dollars in shareholder lawsuit settlements and legal fees by mitigating the likelihood of those costly cases reaching court. For the states, attracting the companies means millions in business activity and revenue from regulatory filing and court case fees and taxes.
Eyeing a piece of that, Oklahoma is on pace to establish its recently approved business courts in 2026.
”I’m trying to take down Delaware,” said Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican. “We want to be the most business-friendly state.”
Nevada wants to compete, too. It has run business dockets in Washoe and Clark counties since 2001, and it’s in the state’s interest to expand operations considering its fast-growing economy and population, said Benjamin Edwards, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas law professor who studies business and securities law.
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