(KXII) – Foragers from across the country travel to Oklahoma each spring for the chance to find morel mushrooms.

The rare, wild, edible fungi are known for their honeycomb-like caps and a savory, nutty taste.

Steven Landseadel, a Florida resident, said he travels halfway across the country to hunt for the mushrooms. He has found as many as 20 morels near the Red River.

“I was ecstatic, to say the least,” Landseadel said.

The mushrooms are so popular in Oklahoma that Rep. John George, R-Newalla, is giving them a chance to be the state mushroom.

“I decided I’m gonna run a fun bill. It’s OK to have a little fun at the capital because tens of thousands of people hunt morel mushrooms,” George said.

George is the author of House Bill 3263 and said it was inspired by his own love of hunting the fungi.

“I grew up as a hunter and in a good year I find 300 or 400,” George said.

Many foragers are protective of the mushrooms and keep their locations secret, making it harder for others to find them.

“All I’ll tell you is I find them in the woods,” said Jacob Toews, a local morel hunter.

“A lot of people have a spot but they don’t want to tell you it because they left all their mushrooms growing there,” Landseadel said.

When foragers do find the mushrooms, they use them in various meals.

“I bread them and fry them and I also make a soup. It’s delicious,” Toews said.

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — Democrats in the Oklahoma legislature are raising their concerns about what the state budget could look like this year.

Democratic leadership held a press conference on Tuesday to speak on funding concerns they have on everything from healthcare to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to education as power in how the state budget is crafted rests mainly in the hands of Republicans.

“Oklahomans are really drowning and we’re not throwing them a rope right now,” Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt (D-Oklahoma City) said.

As Oklahoma lawmakers enter their second month of the 2026 legislative session, budget negotiations and conversations are intensifying in what is expected to be a tight budget year.

Democrats say transparency is lacking from their Republican colleagues.

“There’s so many major troubles in the public eye around our budget when it comes to affording homes, affording childcare, being able to find the healthcare they need, and we are not seeing transparency from our Republican colleagues,” Kirt said.

Kirt said years of tax cuts have left the state with no flexibility coming into this year.

“We’ve had an estimated 1.6 billion in tax cuts in the last five years limiting our options a lot,” she said. “And so when we see these challenges what are we gonna see in terms of solutions? We have not had that transparency to give you any idea what’s happening but we wanna raise the alarm that it’s gonna be too late for people to chime in if they don’t speak up now about what they think the priorities should be.”

House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson (D-Oklahoma City) echoed the same sentiment.

“We’ve heard rumors about cuts to agencies and that there will be flat budgets, but we know that they will go deeper as years go on if the legislature doesn’t get it together and figure out a way to increase revenue to pay for core functions of government,” Munson said.

About a month and a half ago, Republican State Senators proposed a $254 million funding plan that would redirect funds from the Teacher Retirement System.

“I find myself wondering how we will pay for this massive package we’re talking about, the third grade reading and math initiatives that we have set in play and have been highlighted as cornerstones of what we hope to accomplish this session. And it’s exciting and terrifying at the same time. The final price tag of those things continues to swing from one extreme to the other,” State Rep. Melissa Provenzano (D-Tulsa) said.

Right now, nothing concrete has been announced on what the final budget number will be.

Uncertainty.

For an Oklahoma State program that began the season with one returning starter, there were a lot of questions about how the program would follow up its first NCAA trophy finish since 2021. However, Cowboy coach David Taylor knew one thing: His team was going to get hardened in November. 

“When you start the season, and there’s just a lot of uncertainty in our lineup going from last year having a very veteran team,” Taylor said. “We talked about this all year — just having that uncertainty. I think about each one of those guys, all 10 of those guys are wrestling in the national tournament. They all just had points of difficulty throughout the year and a lot of those guys had a really tough November. We had a tough early season and we knew we needed that as a team. We needed our guys to be kind of hardened and battle-tested. And then I think at the national tournament, our guys wrestled really well. I think that this young group is just really motivated and hungry and they wrestled their best at the national tournament, which that’s the goal.”

A season that began with uncertainty quickly morphed into one filled with excitement, thanks to a few transfers, a high school phenom enrolling mid-season, and multiple freshmen entering the postseason undefeated. 

The Cowboys peaked at the right time, finishing second at the NCAA Championships, and made history with three true freshmen national champions in Jax Forrest (133), Sergio Vega (141) and Landon Robideau (157). Oklahoma State also had five more All-Americans in Troy Spratley (fifth at 125), Casey Swiderski (eighth at 149), Zack Ryder (eighth at 184), Cody Merrill (second at 197) and Konner Doucet (fourth at 285). 

Forrest, said the historic milestone of the freshmen is a reflection of the team and its lofty goals.     “I think it just shows how we’ve got some really good coaches, we’ve got some really good guys in the room, and we’re just going to continue to keep getting better,” Forrest said. “But like what coach was saying, yeah, we won nationals, that’s awesome. But now we want to win a team title. We want to beat Penn State. We have a great foundation, but then just keep going forward, keep getting better and just trusting the coaches and win it next year.”

Underdog Now Undeniable

Sergio Vega might have been one of the biggest underdogs on the NCAA finals stage, despite going into the match undefeated on the season. That was a reflection of his opponent — two-time NCAA champion Jesse Mendez, a senior from Ohio State who spent most of the season as a Hodge Trophy contender. 

Vega kicked off the trio of Cowboy champs by defeating Mendez 4-1 in sudden victory. After securing the winning takedown, Vega raised his fist, smiled and went to embrace his family, sitting matside. 

“It means everything,” Vega said. “I remember telling my brother at the beginning of the year, like it’s going to be awesome when I win the nationals and run up to my family and stuff. It’s been my favorite part of watching the national tournament since I was a little kid. I just always thought it was so cool that their families were always right next to them, and then being able to experience that, there’s nothing like it I’ve experienced in my life. So, it was awesome.”

Robideau’s Redemption

Landon Robideau went into the NCAA Championships with two losses — one against Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor and another versus Arizona State’s Kaleb Larkin. To make the finals against Taylor, Robideau had to avenge a handful of losses. He had to beat Larkin, who defeated him in the Big 12 finals, and he had to beat Penn State’s PJ Duke in the semifinals, who defeated Robideau in the 2025 U.S. Open. 

“I was just excited,” Robideau said. “I know a lot of people thought my spot in the bracket was tough or was going to be hard. But I said it all year — I want to wrestle the best guys and I think to prove you’re the best at the weight, you have to wrestle them. I lost to Larkin. I had to wrestle him in the quarters, and I was excited for the match. A lot of people, I think, were writing me off for (PJ) Duke, saying he’s the best guy at the weight. I get to wrestle Duke and I was excited for it. And then Antrell (Taylor), same thing — I lost to him. I knew I was going to win. But I think just having that excitement to go into the tournament, wanting to wrestle hard and just showcase my skills was the most important.”

Konner’s Curtain Call

Konner Doucet represented Oklahoma State at the NCAA Championships twice before two-time All-American Wyatt Hendrickson transferred from Air Force and took over at heavyweight for the Cowboys. 

In the current state of college athletics — with the transfer portal and NIL — it would’ve been easy for Doucet to leave Oklahoma State for opportunities elsewhere. Instead, Doucet elected to stick with the Cowboys and spent a year training with Hendrickson before getting a final shot as a senior. 

Doucet registered the highest bonus-point rate of his career and capped his senior season by placing fourth at the NCAA Championships. 

Taylor recalled embracing Doucet after the senior earned All-America status by pinning Pitt’s Dayton Pitzer in the blood round. 

“It was so awesome,” Taylor said. “You could just see that round is a very emotional round. I think from the stands, it’s emotional. When you’re watching it as a fan, it’s emotional. But being down there on the floor, last year, for the first time? I mean, the emotion of that round is like nothing else that you really kind of prepare for, probably. For him to be there and All-American, obviously, at that time, I felt like our team race was pretty competitive, for second, third place. Felt like that was a big moment for him to not only get the win, but to pin him and be an All-American, and just continuing to move forward.”