Lionel Ramos
State Government ReporterLionel Ramos covers state government at KOSU. He joined the station in January 2024 after covering race and equity as a Report For America corps member at Oklahoma Watch, a nonprofit investigative newsroom in Oklahoma City.
Born into the circus, Ramos traveled across the country in an RV with his family for the first half of his life. He eventually landed in San Antonio, Texas, where he attended high school and community college before transferring to Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. He holds a bachelor's degree in English with a focus on Creative Writing from Texas State, where he covered local and student government for the school's newspaper, The University Star.
At Oklahoma Watch, Ramos reported statewide on the rising political capital of Latinos in Oklahoma, the resettlement of Afghan refugees, the stakes for Indigenous Oklahomans in the Supreme Court's 2023 Brackeen v. Haaland decision, unemployment, housing, and veterans issues.
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Rep. Mauree Turner has been censured by colleagues and carried the stress of being in a legislature that passes laws restricting trans rights.
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As a crisis continues on the U.S. Southern Border, Oklahoma lawmakers are among counterparts from about a dozen states taking things into their own hands. Their efforts generated backlash from the Latino immigrant community.
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Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt says he has not decided if he will sign a controversial piece of immigration legislation if it reaches his desk next week. First, he says, he’s seeking advice from a trusted foreign diplomat from Mexico.
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Oklahoma is a step closer to criminalizing people in the state without legal immigration status. Democrats questioned the bill’s legal and moral merits, as well as the consequences of its passage, intentional or not, during a tense House floor discussion Thursday morning.
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The only non-binary member of Oklahoma's legislature looks at a year since they were censured by their colleagues - and the aftermath of the death of an Oklahoma student after a fight at school.
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Nation's first nonbinary state lawmaker reflects on public service, rhetoric in Oklahoma legislatureOklahoma state representative Mauree Turner, D-Oklahoma City, is one of just a few nonbinary lawmakers in the U.S. — a distinction that comes with prominence and pressure.
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House Speaker Charles McCall and Appropriations and Budget Chair Kevin Wallace introduced their chamber’s proposed state budget for Fiscal Year 2025 Tuesday, but the inclusion of an income tax cut and a $1 billion gap between the House and Senate plans, means the fight over how to spend state tax dollars continues.
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House and Senate leadership unveiled details on a proposal punishing people for entering and remaining in the state without legal permission Thursday, and they want to create a new crime to try and combat illegal immigration.
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Oklahoma’s Department of Veterans Affairs is seeing another leadership shake-up after Executive Director Greg Slavonic announced his departure from the agency last week.
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Stitt or Drummond? Oklahoma Supreme Court will decide who represents state in tribal compacting caseA federal judge thinks the Oklahoma Supreme Court should decide whether the Governor or Attorney General has the authority to represent the state’s interests in federal court. One attorney says the court’s choice could affect more than just the case in question.