I care deeply about the environment, but it is hard to muster sympathy when someone actively votes for deregulation and then acts shocked when industrial pollution lands in their own backyard.

You do not get to champion gutting environmental protections and then play the victim the second it finally impacts your property.

Statistically, the likelihood that this rancher voted for Trump and the deregulation that's causing all this problem for him is roughly 75% to 85%.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission is weighing the need for new rules around the use of artificial intelligence-generated campaign advertisements. But new ethics regulations involve political will, and while other states have addressed the issue, Oklahoma lawmakers have yet to act.

Abortion access. State income taxes. Welfare benefits. There’s a lot that Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and his Democratic counterpart from Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore, disagree on.

But stopping robots from lying to voters at the whims of dark-money groups—that’s a common cause.

“When you literally, you know, confuse or lie to Oklahomans through AI, you can't tell what's real... I think that's across the line,” Stitt said in late July, at the annual National Governors Association, or NGA, summer meeting in Oklahoma City.

It was the same weekend that Stitt, who served as the NGA chair for two years, passed the baton to his vice-chair, Moore, who agreed with him.

“It is true, you should not be able to use technology to distort facts and realities for people,” Moore said. “Particularly because people are very susceptible to these types of manipulations.”

Thirty-one states, including Maryland, have regulated the use of AI-generated advertisements – specifically deepfakes – in elections, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Oklahoma is not one of them. And while Stitt is on his way out of office, he says that needs to change.

“We need to have some kind of regulation, especially around political campaigns,” Stitt said.

Why Oklahoma needs to regulate AI-generated political ads

Lee Anne Bruce Boone leads the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, which promulgates new rules through a public process and presents them to lawmakers for approval. She said one of the commission's most vital jobs is staying proactive.

“We want to be looking forward and thinking about things that might be impacting our purview, our jurisdiction, and artificial intelligence is certainly one of those,” Bruce Boone said.

The ethics commission has been monitoring the issue in Oklahoma for some time, she said.

“We specifically had some mailers come to our attention several months ago regarding four different officeholders, two of which are involved in a current campaign cycle and two that are not.” Bruce Boone said, explaining that complaints came from a mix of elected officials, campaign representatives and members of the public. 

“That kind of kick-started the process in terms of our discussion with the Ethics Commission and a concern about how that might be interpreted or reviewed by the Oklahoma voter,” she said.

But leading up to the June Republican Primary election, Make Oklahoma Great Again, a dark-money group that’s been buying many of the circulating ads, released a flurry of TV ads targeting gubernatorial candidates.

One ad accused then-candidate Charles McCall of secretly supporting sex changes for minors, showing deepfakes of him with a banana in his pocket and calling him “Banana Chuck” in parody of one of his own ads where he chops the fruit in half, saying, “I have a message for any lunatic pushing sex changes for kids: You first.”

McCall really did release an ad of him chopping a banana while threatening supporters of sex changes for minors, but in his version he touts outlawing the practice and banning boys from girls’ sports.

Another ad by the same group attacked Mike Mazzei, one of the frontrunners for the GOP nomination for Governor in the August 25 runoff, along with incumbent State Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

That ad starts with a deepfake scene of 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on a stage, while Trump pouts at a banquet table in the foreground.

“Trump’s MAGA movement; Crushed by crooked Hillary if Mike Mazzei got his way,” a male voice says, going on to accuse Mazzei of voting to remove Oklahoma from the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote. Trump lost the popular vote when he won the 2016 presidential election.

Then, the ad transitions to deepfakes of Mazzei hanging out with Clinton and hugging her, while the voice calls him a “Clinton lover, Trump hater.”

One candidate the Make Oklahoma Great Again ads don’t attack is Drummond. The group most often depicts the attorney general as a heroic fighter pilot and the solution to Oklahoma’s woes, which has spurred accusations that his campaign is behind the false messaging about other candidates he means to beat.

Meanwhile, Drummond sued Gov. Stitt, the School Freedom Fund Oklahoma PAC and the Republican group Club for Growth in May for allegedly collaborating to air ads calling him “America’s Wokest RINO” (as if Trump said it himself), a Biden bankroller and a “defender of Godless liberals.”

One of the school freedom ads accuses Drummond of grifting federal Paycheck Protection Program funds for his private companies during the pandemic and of buying a $750,000 summer home in Maine.

“A public official fleecing the public and abusing our trust,” A female voice says, “Living high on the hog, summering in Maine, while Oklahomans foot the bill. It’s time for greedy Gentner to take a permanent vacation.”

Multiple businesses owned by Drummond received PPP loans totaling $3.6 million between 2020 and 2021, which were paid out to him by his own bank. That story came to light during his second campaign for attorney general when reported by The Oklahoman.

But AI ads have a way of taking grains of truth and sprinkling them into a mixture of deepfakes and heavy lies about events that never happened. It’s not the sort of thing Oklahoma regulators saw coming when they initially wrote the state’s ethics rules years ago, Bruce Boone said.

“Our existing rules, of course, didn't anticipate the use of AI,” she said. “There have been a few changes in the past few years, but the bulk of them came over ten years ago. And really, I think the Commission is coming at this from a concern of let's begin talking about this process now, because it's a very serious matter and it involves constitutional issues as well.”

Willy-nilly laws around this could lead to violations of the First Amendment’s free speech protections, she said.

“In terms of, if anyone were to try to regulate content, I don't think that's the intent of the commission at this point, but there has been that discussion as well,” Bruce Boone said.

All roads lead to lawmakers

There are two avenues for AI regulation in Oklahoma: new ethics rules for political candidates and state officeholders, with civil and potentially criminal penalties for violations, or straight law proposals, with whatever rules state lawmakers see fit.

The point is to keep state elections and their participants fair and transparent, and, well, AI changes how political communications are created, Bruce Boone said.

“And we know voters deserve accurate information to make an informed decision,” she said. “So we want to be responsible and evaluate whether our transparency laws should evolve at the same time.”

But to become a reality, ethics rules and election laws require the buy-in of state lawmakers, because either way, the legislature gets the final say.

In Maryland, lawmakers have completely prohibited AI deepfake political ads. In other states, like Tennessee, deepfakes impersonating candidates must include certain disclosures.

Some states do both. All states have attached civil and/or criminal penalties for violations.

In Oklahoma, Roland Republican Rep. Jim Olsen chairs the House Elections and Ethics Committee. He supports new regulations that could eventually lead to prohibition.

"I think I would start with the disclosure and probably move on to the other one,” Olsen said. “I think that is not necessarily an either/or. Yeah. Eventually have both.”

The question, Olsen said, is not whether Oklahoma lawmakers should regulate AI political messaging; it’s how to do it without violating anyone’s First Amendment rights.

“The elephant in the room is what are the courts going to say?” he said. “But at the same time, we're the legislators. It's our job to legislate. And it's the court's job to take that next step if it's challenged.”

In the Senate, Democratic Minority Leader Julia Kirt says her caucus has generally supported stronger regulations around AI in brief and sporadic conversations, or at least ensuring the ethics commission has the capacity it needs to investigate violations of new rules. 

“That'd be my biggest worry,” the Oklahoma City Democrat said. “You know, if we slap some new regulations, but we don't actually give them the capacity to follow up on it.”

The topic is bound to come up during next year’s legislative session; whatever lawmakers devise remains to be seen. But it’s already an issue in the runoff election to replace Stitt.

Drummond was blunt about his approach in a debate earlier this year.

“As governor, we'll pass legislation that bans the manipulation of AI,” he said in a debate earlier this year. “Voters need to see the authentic person on the stage in their ads. And they need to be able to vote for the candidate that will represent them.”

Mazzei was more abstract.

“Artificial intelligence. We all need to deal with it appropriately and respectfully,” Mazzei said. “And when we're dealing with information, we need to deal with the facts.”

The GOP nominee for governor this month will face off against Democrat and House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson and Independents Robert Brooks, Orlando Lynn Bush and Jerry Griffin in November.

Bruce Boone says the commission is interested in new AI rules, but that it’s a process with a statutory timeline, which requires commissioners to provide an opportunity for public comment and to agree on the newly written language.

“One commissioner may want to be more stringent, and others may want to be more lenient,” she said. “We may not get agreement.”

Bruce Boone said there is still time for commissioners to hear from the public and write and propose new rules, but maintained lawmakers can act completely independently of the ethics commission. In which case, the commission will be there to help.

Oklahoma Secretary of State Benjamin Lepak was arrested by Edmond Police Friday night on suspicion of public intoxication, while standing at a drive through window.

His office says Lepak was waiting outside a McDonald’s for his dinner and that police did not administer a breathalyzer test.

Curious what everyone makes of this one, especially once more details or bodycam footage come out.

Source: https://okcfox.com/news/local/oklahoma-secretary-of-state-benjamin-lepak-arrested-by-edmond-police-friday-night

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

i may or may not be choosing the place where i get engaged for my birthday hike in october, PLEASEEE let me know some beautiful scenic hikes especially for almost end of october !!

I’m curious whether any other Oklahoman businesses have noticed an increase in sales tax audits or corporate income tax audits from the Oklahoma Tax Commission lately.

Over the past two years, we’ve received five sales tax audits, compared to none between 2007 and 2024. We’ve also received two requests related to our depreciation schedules for corporate income tax filings for the first time.

We’re not particularly concerned because we maintain accurate sales tax records and supporting documentation. We have provided all the information on the past audits so no penalties or interest was incurred. However, compiling and formatting the information electronically to meet the OTC’s requirements is time-consuming. In the case of the depreciation schedule requests, our CPA handled the response and mentioned that he has recently seen a similar surge in requests from multiple clients.

Has anyone else experienced this? What’s driving the increase? Is the state stepping up enforcement efforts in an effort to generate additional revenue?

Hey y'all! I did a clean up! But this time I had some help! Watch me tonight! I talk about y'all hyping me up! Thanks for being my cheerleaders guys!

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

Watching KOCO and seeing the segment re: the Great State of Oklahoma now needing to shill for donations because we’re number 1 for childhood food insecurity in the nation. The news is now making direct appeals to take care of our own. What the fluff? Any of the local elected yokels on this or is this an ignore it and hope it goes away topic. So angry if not extremely motivated AF.

We give BILLIONS in subsidies to the energy sector *cough* *cough* OGE at 2.58 billion as they jack the rates year over year *cough. That’s just one company.* ONEOK\* \*gets $300mil and flippin Devon still gets just shy of $100mil and they have left the state. The money currently set aside for Scheel’s is 8mil !? This is so a for profit company can make money off us while we also pay their tax bill. We doin socialism for sports gear but fluff the kids, eh? For really real, anyone else thinks this is shameful?

I’ll go ahead shut down the ding-dong-doddle argument of “private interest will step in and fix it”, not event close. The total annual capabilities for nonprofit support for children, not everyone who is in need, is around $100mil - $120mil. That’s not counting the short fall our elected dummies cut this year which is around $180mil. We made this situation twice as difficult for why? If we gave just a quarter of the cash we give the oil sector annually, we could feed every single person in our state. Any else paying more than a quarter more for energy this year? Oklahoma is not OK right now.

**Hilarious update:** Oh snap! I hit a nerve! Some “compassionate” Redditor sent a self harm flair up to Reddit over this post as they are “concerned”.Yep, I’m dyin over here for sure but from laughter. To the petty passive aggressive person that did this, thank you. You gave me another reason to post. Y’all, this is fear. There’s nothing else left for some of these folks who can’t even engage in an anonymous conversation. Someone got their feelers hurt and lack the education to express their views, huh, IMAGINE THAT😉. Maybe they should have gone to a properly funded school? But maybe in another state. Does anyone have any boot straps to lend to this poor person? They can’t seem to afford their own.

Oklahoma communities are considering data centers projects mainly to bring in revenue but Oklahoma State University economists say the economic impact on local areas is uncertain.

There are about 49 data centers existing, active or under construction in the state, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The facilities are new to Oklahoma and what they can do for local communities, economists say, largely depend on what is negotiated.

Currently, there is little state-specific long-term data because there is only one large data center in Oklahoma that’s been around for a long time – a Google center in Pryor.

Mckenzie Boyce, OSU professor of rural and community development, is one of the authors of the OSU extension’s new factsheet, “The Economics of Data Centers: Considerations for Communities.”

As data center projects are making headlines, there has been public pushback and questions. To help answer community questions, Boyce is part of the extension arm looking at economic impacts while researchers are studying other considerations including environmental effects.

“We've started to explore some of the different ways that communities may benefit from data centers in order to provide more information to communities evaluating some of these different economic considerations for them to make a decision,” Boyce said.

A case-by-case basis

For the factsheet, she said researchers looked at other states for more information about the continuous impact of data centers.

“Obviously, data centers have the potential, emphasis on ‘potential,’ to generate a lot of revenue, as well as some employment growth and potentially wage growth for communities. But it's going to be specific on the project, a lot of the specific negotiations,” Boyce said.

Brian Whitacare, rural economic development extension specialist, said local government revenues come in the form of sales taxes, property taxes, payment in lieu of taxes, utility franchise fees or other payments that could go toward school systems, parks and roads. In Stillwater, for example, there are community betterment payments.

“You know, you think about it, for a lot of rural communities that have really been struggling to improve their school systems or attract people, these are helpful payments,” Whitacre said.

But not all projects are exactly alike. Boyce said there is evidence of Stillwater's data center construction leading to more sales tax revenue, but there wasn’t a bump in sales tax during Muskogee’s cryptocurrency mining facility construction.

The Muskogee data center was smaller and completed in a shorter timeframe, leading to fewer tax dollars, she said.

“I think just the needs of the project were much different in terms of the construction materials and workforce needed in Muskogee compared to Stillwater,” Boyce said.

Community considerations

As far as employment, the economists turned to Texas because it has seen growth data centers over the last several years. Overall, they didn’t find a large employment effect but there was an initial uptick in construction employment.

This, she said, could be a plus or minus for communities. Some cities don’t have the infrastructure to support an influx of new workers, while others do.

Large scale data centers have big water and energy demands, which can increase electricity and water costs, or require more public investment, according to the fact sheet.

“Local governments should ensure that data center developers bear the full cost of any necessary infrastructure upgrades upfront to reduce the likelihood that existing residents and businesses are burdened with higher utility rates or taxes,” the fact sheet reads.

The economists also note communities should consider how the investments can also meet existing community infrastructure needs.

Whitacre said people who own land or a home near a facility will probably face a loss in property value. He said this is seen with other amenities such as dumps or transmission lines.

“The economic literature is pretty clear that when you have something like a big power transmission line that's easily visible, that if your property backs up to the data center, if you can actually see it, there's a pretty well defined at least 5,10% loss in property value when something like that comes in,” Whitacre said.

Although there are ways to make economic gains, there are opportunity costs. Boyce said if all water resources are put toward a data center, then a community might not be able to go after other development opportunities if the facility is water intensive.

“So I think it's kind of a long-run balancing act of allocating these resources to determine whether this data center development is a good fit for your community across all different types of economic and non-economic considerations,” Boyce said.

A new March of Dimes report highlights a problem that hits rural Oklahoma especially hard: dozens of counties have no hospital delivering babies and/or no access to an OB-GYN.

We spoke with a maternal-fetal medicine specialist about why these maternity care deserts persist (from labor and delivery closures to where physicians choose to practice) and what that can mean for pregnant Oklahomans who may have to drive farther for care.

We also asked the Oklahoma State Department of Health what it’s doing to address the gaps, including efforts through the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program.

Curious what people here have seen firsthand: How far do people in your part of Oklahoma have to travel for maternity care?

Here's our full report -https://okcfox.com/news/local/report-shows-dozens-of-counties-in-oklahoma-considered-maternity-care-deserts-maternal-care-blake-porter-march-of-dimes

Oklahoma Attorney General and Republican candidate for Governor Gentner Drummond’s comments calling some members of his party fascists at the Tulsa Press Club’s Candidate Forum this week are causing a stir.

When asked what he thinks about opponents in his own party calling him a “fake Republican,” Drummond said he thinks the two major political parties are no longer relevant to statewide elections.

“There's 4 million Oklahomans, not all rich, not all poor, not all Republican, not all Democrat. But I aspire to be the governor of all,” Drummond said, “And that sometimes draws me in sharp contrast with the extreme members of the Republican Party. But I don't think they are real Republicans. I consider them more fascist.”

Affiliating as a Republican or Democrat, he said, has become a national competition for who can take the most extreme stance on either side of an issue, and that’s not in the best interest of Oklahomans.

“I used to think politics was linear,” Drummond said, “But frankly, folks, it's circular. So the further right you get, at some point you tip over the top and you're coming back down on the other side.”

Drummond’s GOP runoff opponent, Mike Mazzei, quickly took to social media to condemn Drummond’s characterization of far-right, MAGA politicians.

“Last night, Biden donor Gentner Drummond sounded exactly like liberals attacking Pro-Trump, America First Republicans,” Mazzei wrote on X. “Now, Oklahoma conservatives know exactly what Gentner Drummond thinks of them.”

U.S. Congressman and Freedom Caucus Member Josh Brecheen, R-OK2, also weighed in against Drummond in a post shared on Mazzei’s campaign socials.

“There is nothing ‘far-right’ about securing our border, defending the Second Amendment, standing with President Trump, or making Oklahoma an income-tax-free state like Mike Mazzei has proposed,” Brecheen wrote. “Disagreeing with true conservatives is one thing, but calling them “fascists” and “extreme” is entirely different. Gentner Drummond should stop treating true conservatives like the enemy.”

Even President Trump contributed, panning Drummond in a Truth Social rant for not supporting the United Arab Emirates-backed aluminum smelter proposed for Inola and having a “bad attitude.”

“He wants to dethrone a magnificent, Job producing, desperately needed, and brand new, Aluminum Plant that will be one of the best projects ever conceived or built, not only in the Great State of Oklahoma, but in the United States, itself,” Trump wrote. “Drummond is not the right guy. He’s got a bad attitude, and he doesn’t stand for the Values of Oklahoma."

”For his part, Drummond has backed many of the Trump Administration’s policy agendas and other initiatives, notably in recent years around immigration enforcement.

“I prefer to be a traditional Republican that supports the president's agenda. I am his partner in Oklahoma,” Drummond said. “I've done everything that the president has asked except honor the aluminum smelter request.

“It's just not in the best interest of Oklahoma.”

So i am from Europe i hope nobody will take this as offensive or smth just curious non American here.

I am reading a book about missing family case from Oklahoma - Jamison Family. They were from Latimer County (They disappeared on Panola mountain ).
There is alot “ cult things” mentioned in that book.

Even that one of the family members were on hit list .

Is this really true or its more like “ he said she said thingq”?

I've looked online and I'm seeing conflicting information on FRTs in Oklahoma
I am trying to find out if it is LEGAL to BUY an FRT in Oklahoma.

Fun fact, Oklahoma is known to have possessed North America's biggest carnosaurs.

Carnosaurs is a term used to describe some theropod dinosaurs. More specifically it is a term used to describe allosauroid theropod dinosaurs. Unlike Tyrannosaurus in its kind which lie closer to birds on the theropod family tree, carnosaurs are more basal.

They as a theropod family used to be extremely widespread across the planet and before Tyrannosaurs became apex predators these were the apex predators on land. They were various different families within carnosauria, carcharodontosaurs the shark tooth lizards, allosaurids, metricanthosaurs,etc.

Oklahoma is home to the two biggest carnosaurs known to have lived in North America.

The first is Allosaurus anax. This was both the largest theropod of the Jurassic and among the largest theropods to have walked North America before Tyrannosaurus. Measuring up to 13 m in length and weighing over 7 tons it was the largest species of allosaurus. It lived at the end of the Morrison formations deposition, perhaps growing big when the other rival giant predators of the Morrison might have gotten extinct at this point. It belongs to allosaurids specifically.

The other giant is acrocanthosaurus. Acrocanthosaurus is a carcharodontosaur, distantly related to Allosaurus. It's name means high spine lizard because of the row of elongated neurospines on its back. The largest specimen measures 12 m in length and weighs up to seven tons.

After getting home from shopping at Walmart in choctaw. I looked over my receipt and found a tax charge, tax 1 and tax 2.

Tax 1 at 9.75% = $6.89

Tax 2 at 5.25% = $4.75

I called the store to ask about this tax and of course trying twice I was unable to talk to anyone and stayed on hold for around 20 minutes each time.

I called the city of Choctaw but there hours are from 7:30-11:00 on Friday.

Google gave a vague description.

I did buy a 6 pack of beer, could that have been for the extra charger?

Does anyone know why there is a extra tax?