StateImpact Reporters Reflect On Eventful 2020

By Logan Layden,

Quinton Chandler, Robby Korth, Catherine Sweeney

Published January 7, 2021 at 5:28 PM CST

Mega Wat said she joined a protest in June because Black Lives Matter.

The coronavirus. Black Lives Matter activism. A presidential election.

The events of 2020 will continue to ripple into 2021.

Last year, the reporters of StateImpact Oklahoma had to adapt to constantly changing situations and remained focused on telling stories that matter at the intersection of people and policy.

The year began with nary a thought of COVID-19. The virus hadn’t been detected in Oklahoma and seemed a world away to policymakers and the people of the state.

Prisoners at Oklahoma’s largest prison for women attend a ceremony celebrating a dog training program designed to teach them skills for life outside prison.

At the beginning of 2020 Oklahoma was trying to help hundreds of prisoners released in the nation’s largest commutation.

Further in criminal justice, covered by StateImpact’s Quinton Chandler, the state was still grappling with a high prison population, limited resources for prisons and how to make new rules for lethal injections.

In education, a number of persistent issues continued. StateImpact’s Robby Korth covered things like the state’s lagging higher education funding, to Gov. Kevin Stitt’sfight with the tribes over gaming money to guns in Oklahoma schools.

But all these issues faded into the background on March 11.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister address the media during a press conference March 12 about COVID-19 and the potential for school closures.

As the Utah Jazz prepped to tip off against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Chesapeake Energy Arena. There was a sudden delay.

Shortly after that NBA game was delayed, StateImpact sprang into action producing numerous stories on the coronavirus and how Oklahomans were responding.

In the spring and summer, StateImpact added new managing editorLogan Layden and health reporter Catherine Sweeney.

As the pandemic raged at the end of 2020, it became more and more difficult to find a hospital bed in Oklahoma.

Since starting, Sweeney has reported on the difficulty to find a hospital bed in Oklahoma City during the pandemic, inconsistent public health messaging and how Oklahoma has begun distributing COVID-19 vaccines.

Although the coronavirus has only taken a stronger hold in Oklahoma, the end of 2020 brought a light at the end of the tunnel: a vaccine. State officials administered Oklahoma’s first coronavirus shot on December 14.

What 2021 has in store isn’t written yet. All we do know is that StateImpact will be here to tell you those stories as they unfold.

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