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At the beginning of 2024, KOSU hired statehouse reporter Lionel Ramos with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It was a return to the capitol for the station and Oklahoma public radio.
Throughout 2024, Ramos published more than 100 stories about how policy affects people.
Each story that he brought you is important. However, these five are among the most popular stories this year, and we think they perfectly showcase the rich breadth of what Oklahomans want to stay informed about — and what KOSU has to offer in state government news and accountability.
Gov. Kevin Stitt issues executive order to prepare Oklahoma for possible Indo-Pacific conflict
This story is a genuine example of when a journalist's personal interests align with what their listeners and readers want to know about. In June, Governor Kevin Stitt issued an Executive Order mandating the Office of Enterprise and Management Services, or OMES, to annually audit the state for vulnerabilities to attacks from the Chinese Communist Party and to implement solutions to combat such attacks preemptively. He did so at around 6 p.m. on a Thursday. I, being the geopolitics nerd that I am, quickly typed up a radio script and short article about the order that evening for same-day publication.
This story, despite the sparse details (it can be hard to get a hold of government officials after work hours without their cell numbers), remains one of KOSU's most-read stories and my most-read story ever. I take that as a not-so-subtle hint to keep looking into foreign adversarial influences on Oklahoma’s most vital sectors and to get people the information they want.
Read the story here, and stay tuned for updates on this!
Ethics questions swirl as lawmaker stands to profit from potential solar farm in SE Oklahoma
I quickly learned the topic of foreign adversarial influence in Oklahoma is a complicated and sensitive one. Just how I prefer. I suppose it’s no coincidence, then, that my second biggest hit with KOSU listeners and readers is my story investigating a possible conflict of interest violation by the Republican representative from Lane, Justin “JJ” Humphrey.
This summer, his constituent sent me a recording that was supposed to be “private.” In the tape, Humphrey had summoned more than a dozen landowners to a public location just outside his district to pitch the construction of a 5,000-acre solar farm project on land shared between them, himself and his family.
Such negotiations are ethical - and legal - under most circumstances. There’s nothing wrong with negotiating private land for profit. People do it all the time, whether or not they’re lawmakers. But that’s assuming they don’t allow the project to go ahead in their district and alter the representation of their constituency to make it happen. Negotiating for profit or other personal gain for yourself or your family and allowing it to affect your lawmaking is an ethics violation under the Oklahoma Ethics Commission’s rules for elected officials.
And if you ask many of Humphrey’s constituents, that’s exactly what he’s been doing. You see, Humphrey has mentioned his intent to file legislation banning any foreign ownership of Oklahoma’s energy sector on multiple occasions. Except, when he and his family were contacted by the solar farm company, which is Danish, Humphrey pivoted to targeting only “foreign adversaries.”
He even told me so when I called him, saying he’s seeking Attorney General Gentner Drummond's advice about what language to use.
This is one of those sensitive stories. Further reporting involves the delicate balancing of accusations of racism and dishonesty, multiple renewable energy projects around the state, local government and environmental impacts, legal and ethical considerations, extreme adherence to fairness, impacts on global supply chains and much more — not to mention time and money.
Jump into this deep – deeply important – rabbit hole with me, starting with this story here.
Oklahoma law enforcement leaders wrestle with realities of new immigration law
Immigration was a hot topic during the 2024 legislative session.
Reporting on the potentiality for state and local level immigration enforcement – historically a federal job – consumed most of my time and bandwidth that winter and early spring before culminating with this story in June. It makes sense this is my third most-read story of 2024, because it represents the most realistic and tangible discussion of state-level immigration enforcement in Oklahoma.
Last year, the state legislature passed House Bill 4156, with Governor Stitt’s signature scribbled at the bottom. Criminalizing anyone in the state without a legal immigration status and slapping on the threat of hefty fines, jail time and felony charges for people who don’t leave the state after their first arrest, the law is Oklahoma’s, and possibly the nation’s, most sweeping anti-immigration bill in over a decade. It’s up there with Senate Bill 4 in Texas and other similar laws in Iowa and Florida. And like those other laws, it’s caught up in court.
This story was published days before the U.S. Western District Court of Oklahoma temporarily paused it because of the challenges some argue it poses to the U.S. Constitution. Law enforcement in Oklahoma’s major metros were engaged in a high-stakes juggling act. On one hand, the communities they’ve sworn to serve and protect; on the other, their sworn duty to enforce law and order as legislated. In the air, the ever-shifting line they’re told they can and can’t cross to carry out their work.
Listen and read the story here.
Nation's first nonbinary state lawmaker reflects on public service, rhetoric in Oklahoma legislature
Oklahoma 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.
I feel lucky and honored for the opportunity to report this story. It’s not often that journalists get to sit with lawmakers and national-level newsmakers for more than 15 to 30 minutes, if that. It’s a touch-and-go kind of game, journalism, but that means when we do get the chance to engage in a long conversation with someone interesting, we cherish it. My April conversation with former House District 88’s Rep. Mauree Turner was one of those interviews for me.
In the middle of the last legislative session, when Oklahomans from every corner of the state descended on the state capitol and filed candidacy for their 2024 election races, Turner announced they would not be running for re-election. I took it upon myself to ask them why and to reflect on their time in office. Turner humored me.
This was also around the time the high schooler from Owasso, Nex Benedict, died following a fight in the bathroom at school. Turner, like many LGBTQ Oklahomans, took Benedict's death personally – as an affront from people who choose hate over love, as a failure to protect Benedict and other LGBTQ youth from the position of a lawmaker and as a sign – perhaps – along with personal health complications, to take a step back, survey the playing field and adapt.
Turner didn’t have to get so deep with me, but they did. And for that, I am more grateful than I can express.
Listen and read for yourself here.
Oklahoma auditor's office uncovers 'systemic' misspending of local tax dollars
At least a half dozen small towns across Oklahoma have been rampantly misspending tax dollars over the past decade, according to State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd. She said the problem is systemic, multifaceted and avoidable.
I got the idea for this story upon learning that the state auditor doesn’t have a total number of municipal and county tax dollars they know have been misspent. In other words, tens – if not hundreds – of millions of dollars have just “disappeared” in the last decade, according to Bryd. They have been “redirected away from localities and into the pockets of individual city managers, board members, clerks, and independent contractors without authorization,” as I point out in the story.
Read here. And know there is more coming on this front.
