On Friday, a federal judge ordered poultry companies to pay cleanup costs for the Illinois River Watershed in the latest ruling in the State of Oklahoma’s decades-long poultry lawsuit. The order also tells the companies to pay penalties to the state and immediately limits the amount of poultry litter used as fertilizer in the area.

The city of Tulsa is challenging an Arkansas agency’s modification of a Northwest Arkansas treatment plant’s permit that discharges into the watershed that supplies the Oklahoma city’s drinking water.

Tyson Foods officials say the company cannot offer new contracts to growers in the Illinois River Watershed unless the State of Oklahoma makes more amicable demands for a solution. Farm groups are urging for reasonable settlement.

This episode of Focus: Black Oklahoma features stories on the ripple effects felt by the federal government shutdown, the end of UCO's student newspaper, The Vista, and the human costs of mental health cuts in Oklahoma.

Developers are eyeing several Oklahoma communities as sites for huge, hyperscale data centers. These massive facilities can bring an influx of cash to local schools and governments, but they also demand lots of resources.

Data centers have exploded into public consciousness recently. A building specifically to house computer servers is not a new concept, but the spread of artificial intelligence has tech companies wanting to build huge facilities that can use the same water and power as a small city. KOSU’s Graycen Wheeler has more on why Oklahoma cities are considering them, and why some residents are worried.

A complaint filed by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) alleges an oil and gas disposal well company is behind a saltwater purge that contaminated a nearby creek.

Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, is spewing from old wells. Experts warn of a pollution crisis spreading underground and threatening Oklahoma’s drinking water.

Gov. Kevin Stitt wants to spur negotiations in Oklahoma’s decades-old poultry lawsuit. The parties have been at an impasse since a federal judge ruled on the case more than two years ago.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is using emergency funds to help remediate the site at Five Mile Creek. A trench and pit were dug to collect the fluid and divert it away from water bodies.