Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt voted to award a lucrative investment advisory contract to a firm owned by his former chief of staff and one-time business partner — a company that will help steer more than $2 billion in state pension, endowment and sovereign wealth fund money.

As chairman of the newly created Invest in Oklahoma board, Stitt cast his vote Feb. 17 in favor of 311 Capital Management LLC, a firm launched by Bond Payne. Payne served as Stitt’s chief of staff from 2020 to 2022 and previously partnered with the governor on a major downtown Oklahoma City real estate project.

Stitt and State Treasurer Todd Russ both said the selection followed a competitive bidding process. Yet board discussions made no mention of Payne’s ties to the governor, and the contract positions Payne’s firm to earn fees from any successful in-state investments it brings before the board.

Stitt was also an early investor in JRB Citizen LLC, which owns The Citizen building in downtown Oklahoma City, according to the governor’s 2024 personal financial disclosure documents filed with the state Ethics Commission. Payne started JRB Citizen in 2019, and the 12-story Citizen opened in 2025. 

None of the discussions about the investment advisor bids at the February Invest in Oklahoma board meeting mentioned Payne or his previous business ties to Stitt. Three companies responded to a request for proposal through the state treasurer’s office: 311 Capital, MEMCO and GCM Grosvernor. MEMCO manages investments for the Oklahoma State University Foundation and the Utah state treasurer. 

Responding to questions from Oklahoma Watch, Chief of Staff Donelle Harder said Stitt filed updated financial disclosure statements with the Ethics Commission on April 9, 2026, to reflect that he no longer had a business interest in JRB Citizen. Annual financial disclosures are due May 15 for elected officials and some state officers for the previous calendar year. 

“Kevin Stitt held a passive minority interest in JRB Citizen related to the construction of the Citizens building in Midtown, and his interest was fully divested in June 2024, after construction was complete,” Harder said in a written statement. “Kevin Stitt holds no financial interest today in any entity owned by Bond Payne.” 

Russ’ office initially issued a request for proposal for investment advisors in November. But just one company, 311 Capital, responded to that request. The treasurer’s office scrapped the request and put out a new request for proposal in January. 

In the Feb. 17 meeting, Russ led the board’s discussions over picking an investment advisor, with much of the focus on the fees the state would need to pay the advisor. Russ said the Legislature put the board and program under the treasurer’s office, but they didn’t provide any dedicated funding. 

Russ recommended the board hire 311 Capital Management, largely because the company said it wouldn’t charge any upfront fees and instead negotiate its fees with any entities it brought to the Invest in Oklahoma board. 311 Capital would generate its fees from any successful investments made by the pension systems or trust funds. 

In an interview Thursday, April 9, 2026, Russ said he wasn’t aware of Stitt’s personal investments. But he said most of the discussions about the 311 Capital request for proposal came with Steve McDonnold, the managing partner. Russ said he was disappointed more companies didn’t respond to the request for proposal. 

“We definitely went through the competitive bid process, and as a matter of fact, we went through it twice,” Russ said. “We had every reason to make absolutely certain to make sure this was  above board and we didn’t have any special arrangement for anybody.”  

The fiscal year 2027 budget deal among Stitt and Republican legislative leaders includes the formation of a $200 million Taxpayer Endowment Trust Fund. Modeled after sovereign wealth funds in other states and countries, it would come under the Invest in Oklahoma board. Details of the fund are still being drafted in House Bill 4072. 

Stitt said he hoped the fund would deliver regular earnings to support the state’s general revenue to protect core services and keep the state on a path to eliminate the state income tax. 

“This is a fund to lock up savings for generations,” Stitt said April 1 at a press conference with Republican lawmakers. “Just like sovereign wealth funds in other states like Alaska and Texas and Wyoming, we think it’s really important that we protect this savings account and we invest it for future Oklahomans. The Legislature has agreed to provide dedicated funding sources so that account and that sovereign wealth fund will grow to over a billion dollars.”  

Invest in Oklahoma Plan Progresses Slowly 

For years, Stitt and Republican lawmakers have urged state pension funds and trusts to consider Oklahoma-based asset managers, investment advisers and investment funds. They said there’s been an overreliance of large investment firms outside of Oklahoma.

Lawmakers passed the Invest in Oklahoma Act in 2021. It allows state pensions and endowment trusts to invest up to 5% of their assets in Oklahoma-based private equity, venture capital and growth funds. 

The Invest in Oklahoma program originally came under the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, but was moved to the Oklahoma Center for Advancement in Science and Technology in 2024. Lawmakers moved it again last year, this time under the state treasurer’s office. 

A five-member board oversees the Invest in Oklahoma program. It’s composed of Stitt, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, Russ and legislative appointees Brady Sidwell and Zack Hall. 

State pension funds, as well as boards managing school land and tobacco endowment settlement money, each have governing boards that have been free to make direct investments as part of a diverse portfolio as long as they meet fiduciary requirements to benefit the fund. 

Executives from Oklahoma City-based Humphreys Capital secured funding commitments last year from Oklahoma pension systems and trusts totaling $60 million for its Humphreys Fund V. That real estate investment fund had a $200 million target for investments in multifamily and build-to-rent residential developments, as well as industrial and retail projects.

Paul Monies has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2017 and covers state agencies and public health. Contact him at (571) 319-3289 or pmonies@oklahomawatch.org. Follow him on Twitter @pmonies. 

The post Oklahoma Governor’s Vote Steered $2 Billion Advisory Role to Former Business Partner’s Firm appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Homeowners insurance disputes hit the high court as the Hursh family’s battle with State Farm reaches the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Plus, we look at the human cost of corporate housing through the lens of a recent Edmond eviction, and Paul Monies breaks down the legislative state questions set to shape the August primary runoff. Catch these stories and more on the latest Long Story Short with Shaun Witt.

The post Oklahoma Battles: State Farm Standoff to Corporate Landlords appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Former President Barack Obama dropped a collective 26,172 bombs on seven countries without congressional approval, relying on the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which authorizes the president to use force against al-Qaeda and its affiliates, as legal justification.

Without congressional declarations of war — nonoccurrences since World War II — the 1973 War Powers Resolution requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of introducing military hostilities, which must end within 60 days barring congressional approval.

Obama continued airstrikes in Libya without approval, arguing that hostilities covered by the resolution require ground troops and other criteria.

Most presidents have used other legal underpinnings, including broad interpretations of Article II powers and AUMFs, to sidestep the resolution, which also requires consulting Congress before hostilities.

Every president since the 2001 AUMF has used it, but Obama was the first two-term president to have been at war for his entire presidency.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Oklahoma Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims.

Sources

• Council on Foreign Relations How Many Bombs Did the United States Drop in 2016?
• Center for Constitutional Rights CCR Refutes Administration Claim of Authority to Continue Attacks on Lybia Without Congressional Authority
• National Constitution Center Does the War Powers Resolution debate take on a new context in the Iran conflict?
• Congress.gov Structure of the War Powers Resolution
• Brown University: Watson Institute International & Public Affairs The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force: A Comprehensive Look at Where and How it Has Been Used
• CATO Institute Repeal, Don’t Replace, the AUMF

The post Did Barack Obama drop more than 26,000 bombs on six different countries without congressional approval, as Secretary Mullin claimed? appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

The idea is simple: a child who has been sexually abused should only have to tell their story once.

At one of Oklahoma’s 21 Child Advocacy Centers, a child is brought into a specially designed, child-focused room instead of a police station. A trained forensic interviewer asks carefully structured questions, allowing the child to describe what happened in their own words.

“The goal is to gather accurate information while minimizing additional trauma,” said Kylie Turner, executive director at Abbott House in Norman, which serves Cleveland, McClain and Garvin counties.

Children are brought to the center only after law enforcement or the Department of Human Services has initiated a case. Best practices limit how much a child is asked before a forensic interview takes place, ensuring that the most critical information is collected in a structured, legally sound way. The interview then becomes a cornerstone of any resulting prosecution.

But providers across Oklahoma say that system is under growing strain. Child Advocacy Centers, often referred to as CACs, are seeing more cases of sexual abuse, driven by both increased reporting and a rise in incidents, particularly those involving online contact, and are struggling to keep pace even as funding has increased in recent years.

State support for CACs and multidisciplinary teams was more than doubled by the Legislature in 2023, rising from about $2.6 million to $5.8 million effective in 2024, according to the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Oklahoma. The increase allowed centers to expand staff and services, but providers said growing caseloads and more complex investigations continue to strain available resources.

Data from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation show 12,080 reported incidents of child sexual abuse between 2021 and 2025, an average of 2,416 cases per year. In raw numbers, the state’s most populous counties – Oklahoma, Tulsa, and Cleveland – reported the highest totals.

But when adjusted for population, a different pattern emerges. Smaller counties consistently report higher incident rates per capita than urban areas. Greer County, for example, recorded a five-year rate of 658 incidents per 100,000 residents. Kay County approached 600 per 100,000, while Garfield County exceeded 500. Grant, Blaine, and Washington counties also rank among the highest.

By comparison, the state’s largest counties report significantly lower per capita incident rates. Oklahoma County recorded 419 incidents per 100,000 residents over the same five-year period, while Tulsa County reported 391 and Cleveland County 82.

The pattern suggests demand for investigation and support services extends far beyond the areas where those services, and the resources for police and prosecutors, are most readily available.

Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, a prosecutor for nearly four decades, said Oklahoma was an early adopter of CACs and multidisciplinary teams for the investigation of child sexual abuse cases. The CAC in his county, he said, was one of the first in Oklahoma and served as a model for others.

“The less the child has to talk initially to a number of people, and the more specially trained you can have people who are going to talk with these victims, the better it is,” he said.

But the system built decades ago is now facing significantly higher demand. His jurisdiction used to see about 50 cases a month. Now it sees about 50 a week.

“So just think about that. From every aspect of the case, the volume is large,” he said.

In Canadian County, Joanne Riley, director at CART House, said her CAC conducted 351 forensic interviews last year. That’s a 30% increase over the year before.

“We are a staff of three, so we are pretty stretched,” she said. 

In Ponca City, Dearing House has also seen a steady rise. Executive Director Mark Bean said his CAC has seen about a 10% rise in caseloads.

Part of the increase reflects a system that is identifying more cases than it once did. Oklahoma’s CACs and its multidisciplinary teams – teams that bring together representatives from police, prosecutors, medical providers, mental health professionals, the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, and the CACs – are designed to coordinate investigations, making it more likely that cases are documented and pursued.

“We’re tracking nationally that child abuse cases just keep increasing year after year,” said Carrie Little, executive director of Child Advocacy Centers of Oklahoma.

Reporting fluctuated during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

“We saw a big jump during COVID, right when kids started going back to schools and disclosures started coming into law enforcement and DHS more steady,” Little said. “They dropped for a while when kids weren’t in spaces where folks could keep an eye on them.”

But better reporting and post-pandemic fluctuations don’t completely account for the rising number of cases and the expanding complexity of those cases.

Researchers pointed to technological and generational shifts as key drivers. The expansion of internet access and social media has given offenders new ways to contact children anonymously and at scale, often across jurisdictional boundaries. At the same time, those who have grown up with smartphones and constant online access report significantly higher exposure to unwanted sexual advances than older generations.

That shift is also changing how cases are investigated, said Assistant District Attorney Debra Vincent, who prosecutes cases in Payne and Logan counties.

“The proliferation of access to digital resources has changed the way investigations are conducted,” Vincent said.

Because many cases now involve long-distance contact over the internet and multiple victims, cases require more time, specialized expertise and more coordination across agencies.

The result is a system experiencing pressure from multiple directions. More cases are entering the pipeline and investigations are more complex, while the capacity remains limited.

Oklahoma law requires a coordinated, multidisciplinary response to cases in every prosecutorial district. Under statute, district attorneys must establish a multidisciplinary team either county-by-county or across a cluster of counties. The teams jointly investigate and review the cases brought before them.

Vincent said that, after charges are filed, team members remain involved as witnesses and advocates for child witnesses during the court process.

The goal is to reduce duplication and improve communication, as well as limit the number of times a child must recount traumatic experiences. Investigations are supposed to be guided by formal protocols designed to ensure that interviews are legally sound and developmentally appropriate.

Those teams are also expected to identify gaps in services, share data, and continuously improve how cases are handled. In theory, the multidisciplinary team model creates a seamless system with one investigation, one coordinated response, and a network of professionals working from the same playbook.

Funding for both the teams and the CACs flows through a dedicated state account, with dollars distributed across counties, hospitals, and advocacy centers according to a formula that heavily weights urban areas. Larger, accredited centers receive disproportionately greater funding, reflecting both higher caseloads and the cost of maintaining national standards.

In most of Oklahoma, that work is anchored by an accredited CAC, but they don’t exist in every corner of the state.

“In many of these cases, the child’s statement is the case,” said Angela Marsee, district attorney for Beckham, Custer, Ellis, Roger Mills and Washita counties. “So how that statement is obtained – carefully, professionally, and in a way that will stand up in court – matters tremendously.”

Marsee’s district doesn’t have a nationally accredited CAC, but has what is called a developing CAC in Weatherford. The district has two multidisciplinary teams, one based in Custer and Washita counties and the other serving Beckham and Roger Mills counties.

The team near Weatherford uses the new CAC there, and the team where there is no CAC has what Marsee called a soft room for interviews.

Ellis County isn’t directly covered by either team, but Marsee said it could be staffed by the team from Beckham and Roger Mills counties.

As for a forensic interviewer, there’s a way to arrange for that, too.

“They’ve got a mobile unit that will travel and do forensic interviews,” Marsee said.

But the law also includes a critical qualifier; those expectations apply “to the extent that resources are available.”

In some parts of the state, that qualifier has real consequences.

Ellis County Sheriff Shane Booth said the nearest CAC is nearly two hours away.

“Transportation barriers, staffing shortages and long travel times can slow investigations,” Booth said.

When access to a CAC is limited, the system adapts.

Even in areas with established centers, geography still matters.

“There are counties that operate ‘freestanding’ multidisciplinary teams without a local Child Advocacy Center,” said District Attorney Tommy Humphries, who handles cases in Blaine, Canadian, Garfield, Grant and Kingfisher counties, noting that victims in those areas may need to travel to another county for interviews.

As cases move into the legal system, a different set of challenges emerges. Unlike many other crimes, child sexual abuse cases often rely heavily on a child’s disclosure and physical evidence can be limited.

“Just making sure that we can meet our burden of proof with the evidence provided,” Humphries said. “We know we’ve got to go try those and prove them beyond a reasonable doubt.”

That can be a difficult burden to meet, Kunzweiler said.

“Do I even have a live witness who’s willing and capable of testifying?” he said.

Even when cases can proceed, delays can create additional harm.

“There’s a bit of re-traumatization with delay,” Humphries said.

For families, the most difficult part of the process often comes after a case is identified.

In Norman, Detective Megan Kieft said delays in accessing trauma-specific therapy are common, with families sometimes waiting weeks or months for therapy.

“Not all families can outsource and pay for therapy,” Kieft said. “This delay in therapy is often extremely hard on the families, and they don’t know what to do or how to help their child while waiting for help and guidance from the professionals.”

While the system brings together people from different agencies, each depends on a different funding source. The multidisciplinary teams are not funded as a single system, instead relying on a mix of state appropriations, federal grants and, in some cases, private funding.

“It’s not one clean funding stream,” said Rep. Tim Turner, R-Kinta, vice chair of the House Public Safety Appropriations Subcommittee. “Some federal funds, some state funds, some private — it just depends on where those funds are coming from at that time.” 

That complexity can make it difficult to assess whether resources are keeping pace with demand or where additional funding should be directed.

“It’s kind of hodgepodge together across different agencies,” said Rep. Ross Ford, R-Tulsa, who chairs the House Public Safety Appropriations Subcommittee. 

Even within the Legislature, lawmakers say the system’s structure is not always clear.

“I assume there’s potentially money from the attorney general’s office, maybe from the Department of Human Services, probably federal grants,” said Rep. Suzanne Schreiber, D-Tulsa. “It’s probably multi-agency participation.” 

At the same time, demand for services appears to be increasing.

“The amount of child sexual abuse cases because of the rise in social media and access to it is astonishing — shocking,” Schreiber said. 

Additional funding may be limited in the near term.

“With the budget agreement that was announced, most of the funding is kept at the same level,” said Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, who chairs the House Human Services appropriations subcommittee. 

Some lawmakers say the issue has yet to fully register within the state’s budget process.

“The issue around forensic investigatory teams has not risen to the legislative level,” Schreiber said. 

Others say the problem may be deeper than funding alone.

“I’m not at all surprised to hear that the funding is not keeping up with the need,” said Rep. Michelle McCane, D-Tulsa. “I think it’s something that probably has been underfunded for quite a while.” 

One proposal moving through the Legislature would restructure the system itself. Legislation by Sen. Paul Rosino, R-Oklahoma City, would consolidate multiple child welfare agencies into a new Department of Child Safety and Well-being to improve coordination.

But the measure is not expected to increase overall funding, instead reorganizing existing resources, leaving open questions about whether structural changes alone can address growing demand.

For now, the system continues to rely on a model built for coordination, not scale. As more cases are identified and investigated, the same network of forensic interviewers, advocates, prosecutors and therapists is being asked to handle a growing and increasingly complex workload. In some parts of the state, that pressure is visible in delays and travel distances. In others, it appears in staffing shortages and limited access to services.

The result is a system that remains functional, but increasingly strained — one that can respond to cases as they arise, but may struggle to keep pace with the reality it is being asked to confront.

Stephen Martin is an Oklahoma City-based journalist and contributor to Oklahoma Watch. Contact him at smartin0170@gmail.com.

The post From 50 Cases Per Month to 50 Per Week: Oklahoma’s System for Child Sex Abuse Is Being Overwhelmed appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

For months, lawsuits against Vesta Realty CEO Marc Kulick have piled up.

At least 13 Oklahoma lawsuits have been filed since December, many by contractors alleging they were not paid for work performed. But one filed in Kansas stands out.

Business partner Josef Loeffler recently sued Kulick, claiming he used the business for personal enrichment while hiding its true financial condition from investors.

Multiple former Vesta Realty employees have confirmed Loeffler’s claims. As tenants across the state spoke to the media about conditions at Vesta-owned properties, experts said the situation illustrates why Oklahoma needs stronger tenant protections.

The 199-page lawsuit details allegations that Kulick curated a public image of philanthropy and professional achievement while presiding over a collapsing portfolio, concealing financial distress from investors and diverting company funds for personal use.

Marc Kulick

In a previous investigation, Oklahoma Watch highlighted the lavish lifestyle Kulick lived while his tenants were left in squalor.

That lifestyle included high-stakes gambling. Kulick debuted in a high-stakes poker game in January 2025, building net winnings of $459,900 by Jan. 27. By Feb. 10, 2025, that had fallen to $20,600, according to High Roll Poker tracker, which followed his live-streamed matches.

The Tulsa County Assessor valued Kulick’s 9,060-square-foot home on 2.53 acres at $1.7 million in 2025.

Kulick appeared in the Faces of Oklahoma advertising section of Oklahoma Magazine, citing his leadership at Vesta Realty in asset management, operations and acquisitions, as well as his support of The University of Tulsa, Ronald McDonald House Charities, The Friendship Circle of Kansas City, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Juvenile Diabetes research. The snippet boasts of a $1 billion real estate portfolio made up of 39 multifamily properties with 9,975 units.

According to Vesta’s website, 13 of those properties are in the Tulsa metro area and 17 are in metro Oklahoma City.

“I’m so proud of our progress towards creating an environment where people are happy coming to work and feel valued, which in turn leads to the highest quality of life for our residents,” Kulick said in the ad.

Oklahoma Watch called and emailed Kulick for this story. He did not respond, and his voicemail box was full.

Fired and Evicted

Hannah Remick worked in Vesta Realty’s corporate office and lived at one of its properties as part of her compensation. Then Kulick fired and evicted her in a single text message.

Remick described Vesta as hectic and high-pressure, but said life in the inner circle was good. She recalled Las Vegas trips with the company, meaningful projects and career development opportunities in design.

“Everything was great, until something just snapped,” Remick said.

Vesta started charging her for utilities — something that had never happened before. When she tried to resolve it as a tenant, the property manager sent her to the corporate office.

In an email obtained by Oklahoma Watch, Joey Dunlap, director of facilities and capital improvements, said fully paid utilities were not part of her compensation or lease and had been paid in error. “That issue has been corrected,” he wrote, suddenly saddling her with those bills.

Kulick then texted her saying they needed to talk. Remick replied that she preferred formal conversations in writing.

“Lol okay Hannah,” Kulick said via text message. “Best of luck in the future, you are officially being terminated effective as of today. Also a reminder per your employee lease agreement please vacate your apartment within five days. Thanks!”

The text left Remick hurt and confused, she said — she had lost her job and her home in one message. Outside Kulick’s inner circle, she said, she realized how corrosive the gossip culture at Vesta had been.

“They treat employees like shit,” she said.

Cultish Conditions

Oklahoma Watch spoke with eight current or former Vesta Realty employees. Many declined to go on the record, fearing retaliation, but all confirmed Remick’s account and shared their own stories. All described Vesta Realty as cult-like, describing how inner-circle loyalty was rewarded, those who questioned company practices were ostracized and Kulick was viewed as a savior.

Shawn Rendleman maintained properties at several Vesta locations in Oklahoma City. He said he rarely had the equipment he needed and often bought it himself, seeking reimbursement later — something he said never happened at any other company he’d worked for.

Jacob Dyer worked as a technician on Vesta’s special response team in Tulsa. He recalled removing mold without proper equipment and being told to paint over it. He also remembered finding a pregnant woman living in a mold-infested Vesta apartment and said the company showed no concern for her or any other tenant.

“This is really how we treat people?” he asked rhetorically. “They didn’t give a fuck about the tenants.”

Rendleman said he cared deeply about tenants but that the corporate office ignored his concerns, repeating the view that the culture was cultish.

Loeffler’s Lawsuit

Loeffler alleges in his lawsuit that Kulick diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in company funds for personal use.

Oklahoma Watch contacted Loeffler for comment and had not heard back at publication.

The lawsuit also alleges Kulick deceived investors while seeking more money for Vesta Realty, which Loeffler claimed Kulick used as a personal piggy bank.

“Essentially, Kulick utilized the various legal entities through which the venture conducts business as his personal piggy bank, diverting funds to finance his lifestyle,” the lawsuit reads. “For years, Kulick successfully concealed his misconduct by moving cash from entity to entity in a practice akin to check kiting, by ignoring required accounting practices and controls, and by meeting investor information requests (including many by Loeffler) with blandishments, bluster and bullying. One disaffected investor described Kulick’s management as a rat’s nest of fraud and deceit.”

Remick recalled being sent on an unannounced unit walk, knocking on doors and checking for water damage. A maintenance crew would then follow, covering up mold before investors toured the property.

Other employees confirmed the practice.

Contractors and business partners aren’t the only ones clamoring for money. A lawsuit filed by American Express in December further confirmed Kulick’s financial problems.

The filing includes a November 2025 platinum card statement showing a balance of $333,379.94 with $324,228.92 past due. The bank record also showed $323,711.35 in October payments rejected by Kulick’s bank, all against a $50,000 spending limit.

The lawsuit remains pending, with an answer due from Kulick by April 20.

Tenants Left In Squalor

As Vesta’s legal battle unfolds, tenants remain in properties many have called uninhabitable.

Oklahoma Watch spoke with more than 20 tenants at Vesta locations statewide, and many shared the same story.

Former tenant Macie Baldwin lived at a Vesta property for nearly five years and described the experience as one of the worst periods of her life. She said she dealt with water leaks and roaches, and that Vesta dismissed every complaint she raised.

Remick said such experiences were common.

“From leadership there was no care at all (for tenants), it was all business,” Remick said. “There was a complete separation of empathy versus making money. They never really talked about tenants’ experience; it was all numbers.”

A Tulsa tenant shared a Ring Doorbell video with Oklahoma Watch showing a Vesta employee removing water cut-off notices from tenants’ doors.

The tenant who shared the video asked to be identified only by her first name, fearing retaliation.

“I find it ironic that I pay my water bill on time and they can’t pay on time,” Bria said.

As of March 13, Vesta Realty owed the city of Tulsa $421,534 in unpaid water bills, according to the Tulsa Flyer.

Rendleman said the tenants’ conditions ultimately trace back to Kulick.

“The success lies on the people under you, the failures lie on you,” Rendleman said. “That’s the point of a good leader. It may not be your fault, but it’s still your responsibility. In any business, I don’t care if it’s real estate, I don’t care if it’s a restaurant or even if you own a putt-putt golf place. You don’t base a company off of how they are when things are going great, you base them off of what they do when something goes wrong.”

More Landlord Accountability

When Vesta fired and evicted Remick, she planned to fight the eviction in court to keep her home. She described the experience as David versus Goliath and said she was shocked by how little protection Oklahoma tenants have.

Katie Dilks, executive director of the Oklahoma Access to Justice Foundation, called the Vesta situation an extreme case but said it illustrates why Oklahoma needs stronger tenant protections.

She said a starting point would be passing House Bill 2015, authored by Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, which would amend the Landlord Tenant Act to give tenants the right to sue landlords who fail to make repairs or maintain habitable properties.

“At the end of the day, a real concern as a society and a community is we want these properties to be meaningfully maintained,” Dilks said. “There’s not a lot within the power of the law that can be done. Which is why I think you have people who recognize that and are willing to take advantage of it because they know it is unlikely that they will be held accountable.”

Dilks said Oklahomans largely don’t understand how common problems like Vesta’s are.

“We’ve built a legal framework around landlord-tenant law that has supported a culture of complacency around housing conditions and housing habitability that isn’t necessarily the case in some other states because they have a different framework around it,” Dilks said. “I think what’s missing is the conversation of just how commonplace all of these protections and mechanisms are in other states. We’re not setting out to make Oklahoma some outlier that is above and beyond in tenant protections; we’re literally just setting out to catch Oklahoma up to the vast majority of the country in terms of these basic tenant protections that have been in place for 50 years.”

Jake Ramsey covers evictions, housing and homelessness. Contact him at (405) 370-3798 or jramsey@oklahomawatch.org.

The post “A Rat’s Nest of Fraud and Deceit”: New Lawsuit Adds to Vesta Realty CEO’s Legal Troubles appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

According to the 2023-2024 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 41.6% of Oklahoma women and 25.5% of Oklahoma men, the eighth- and second-highest percentages nationwide, experience contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

This is a decrease from the 2010-2012 iteration of the survey in which Oklahoma’s statistics were 49.1% of women and 40.7% of men, reflecting trends in corresponding nationwide numbers, which became 9%t smaller for women and 45%t smaller for men.  

The recent survey also reported that 37% of women and 33.9% of men living in Oklahoma experience domestic psychological aggression, including public insults or humiliation and coercive control–ranking Oklahoma at No.10 and No.1, respectively.

An analysis of 2023 male-on-female homicide data by the Violence Policy Center found that more than half of victims were wives or intimate partners with their killers. 

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Oklahoma Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims.

Sources

• The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 2023/2024 Intimate Partner Violence Data Brief
• CDC Stacks: Public Health Publications The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010–2012 State Report
• Violence Policy Center Nine out of 10 Women Murdered by Men are Killed by Someone They Know and Nearly Two Thirds Die by Gunfire, New Violence Policy Center Study Finds

The post Is Oklahoma ranked among the states with the highest rates of domestic violence? appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Here is the audio of Oklahoma Watch’s published stories for the week of March 30, 2026.

– Full Week Playlist: Listen to all the stories back-to-back, without interruption.
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The post Audio Stories: March 30, 2026 appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

The day before her home in Stillwater burned to ashes, Lisa Jones broke her leg moving plants into the greenhouse. 

Forecasters predicted a high chance for wildfires the next day and her family was trying to prepare. When her husband, Roger Jones, saw smoke filling the air in the Nottingham neighborhood on March 14, 2025, he acted fast. Lisa said she only had time to grab her grandmother’s ring out of the jewelry box before Roger had her loaded in the car. 

“I grabbed her, and then I got the dogs, and worked on the cats and told my son, ‘Just get it in the car. We’re leaving,’” Roger said.  

The Joneses fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a few heirlooms. Looking back, Lisa said there was no question her family would rebuild, though federal funding to prevent future disasters is now facing unprecedented delays.  

Across the state, the March 2025 wildfire outbreak killed four Oklahomans, damaged more than 600 homes and burned more than 170,000 acres, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. 

In the aftermath, U.S. President Donald Trump declared the event a major disaster — a trigger allowing state, local and tribal governments to apply for mitigation funding to pay for projects that fortify communities from future disasters. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved individual assistance for Oklahomans impacted by the fires, but a request for mitigation funding remains under review. The holdup is hindering long-term recovery and driving Oklahoma officials to consider solutions at the state-level. 

More than a year later, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management officials have not received any communication from FEMA regarding the lack of approval for mitigation funding from the wildfires, Public Affairs Director Keli Cain said. 

“This specific delay has been something I don’t believe anyone in the profession has seen,” said Annie Vest, the agency’s director. “It’s been very interesting to try to navigate and understand what’s going on.” 

Federal mitigation funding differs from other aid as it is only available after a disaster to improve infrastructure and implement preventative strategies up to 75% of eligible costs. Mitigation funding for wildfire disasters can include controlled burns, fuel reduction projects and strategic infrastructure projects. Federal mitigation grants save the country $6 for every $1 invested, according to the National Institute of Building Sciences. 

Before the March 2025 wildfires, FEMA authorized mitigation funding for Oklahoma after every federally-declared disaster, including floods and tornadoes. The last major disaster eligible for mitigation funding was a tornado outbreak in 2024. 

One family in Harrah had no warning before an EF3 tornado destroyed their home and vehicles. Jessica Cunningham said the tornado sirens near their rural home didn’t sound. 

“We were asleep in the bed, and the news station wasn’t even necessarily watching the tornado that hit us,” Cunningham said. “There was no warning and we were dead asleep … We woke up to being sprayed with glass. It sounded like a bomb, and I just kind of panicked.” 

The Cunningham home was one of 386 properties destroyed during the overnight storms, according to the Oklahoma County Assessor. FEMA allocated up to $571,987 for mitigation projects related to the storms.

The long-term mitigation plan for Oklahoma County from 2024 identified the Cunninghams and others who are living in areas with ineffective warning systems as an at-risk population. It stated the county has plans to upgrade infrastructure and enhance early warning systems upon receiving mitigation funding. 

The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management is still reviewing any applications from Oklahoma County and other local governments relating to the mitigation funding for the November 2024 outbreak. Once applications are submitted and approved, FEMA can obligate the funding accordingly. 

An upgraded warning system is long overdue for families like the Cunninghams. An advanced warning could have given the family more time to reach shelter and gather belongings before the tornado struck.

Cunningham recovered what she could sprinkled throughout the rubble. 

“I have seven kids, so I remember picking up stuff from their baby box,” Cunningham said. “Their first shoes, and their little umbilical cord stump, and just being sad all that was kind of ruined and lost.”

The Cunninghams decided not to return to their rural home, but with approved mitigation funding, future disasters in the area may not have as extreme consequences. Survivors of other disasters in Oklahoma cannot say the same as previously-approved mitigation grants are also delayed. 

U.S. Senator James Lankford announced in late January that Oklahoma will soon receive more than $12 million in mitigation funding for flooding in Tulsa County. FEMA approved those grants before the March 2025 wildfires, according to Oklahoma emergency department officials.

Fire Management Assistance Grants, which are grants that cover firefighting costs through equipment, supplies and personnel, were also delayed. Jason Dobson, chief of the Olive Volunteer Fire Department, received a grant to pay for three new gas detectors and a heart monitor. The department’s current equipment is outdated and it’s hard to find replaceable parts, Dobson said. 

Dobson agreed to purchase the equipment in fall 2025 during the federal government shutdown, and expected to receive the funds once the government reopened Nov. 12. 

“It usually takes about a week for FEMA to approve your reimbursement, and in the next couple days after that, your money is deposited in your account, and then you make your payment for the equipment you purchased,” Dobson said. 

When more than a month went by, Dobson contacted FEMA, who told him all of the funds were under manual review. FEMA is supposed to cover 95% of the cost. Without the reimbursement, Dobson has $54,000 worth of new equipment sitting in boxes his department can’t use. 

“I’m getting return labels to send back to the vendors, because I can’t make payments right now on it and so it is very frustrating,” Dobson said. “My biggest fear is we’re using this (old equipment) and it fails during the call, and it does result in somebody’s life being lost.” 

Dobson fought wildfires in 2012 and 2025. FEMA made mitigation funding available in 2012, even though that outbreak was slightly smaller.

Wildfires destroyed Gov. Stitt’s own ranch near Luther in the 2025 outbreak. He vowed to build back stronger, and launched a working group to improve the state’s readiness for future disasters. 

One of the group’s main findings was a need to expand mitigation efforts. But, since Oklahoma didn’t receive mitigation funding after the 2025 wildfires, the group noted the future of federal assistance is uncertain and emphasized the need for state-level solutions, according to the report. 

The group made 15 recommendations for shifting responsibility to the state, including strengthening local and state coordination, establishing a formal state response plan and investing in first responders. To make up for federal funding shortfalls, the report recommends the state consider setting aside dedicated funding to offset new costs for local governments. 

Legislators this year proposed HB 2989 to create a new mitigation program in the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and establish a dedicated revolving fund for wildfire mitigation efforts that would receive funding from appropriations, grants and private donations. But it failed to reach the House floor.

Stitt, who fired Oklahoma Forestry Services Director Mark Goeller in the wildfire’s aftermath, said in a press conference Feb. 24, that he felt agency coordination has already improved. He said he would argue that a new director of Oklahoma Forestry Services may not even be needed as the current team of 20 agencies are working together nicely. 

FEMA delays leave communities waiting

FEMA’s funding lapsed several times, including during a government shutdown regarding legislative funding for fiscal year 2026. The most recent is an ongoing, partial shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security while lawmakers fight over funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement after its temporary funding expired Feb. 13. 

Funding lapses can delay and complicate grant management. But certain delays can be traced back to a FEMA review President Trump ordered in January 2025. 

The agency review was originally slated to last one year, but Trump extended it to May 29. During that time frame, any grant or contract award over $100,000 required personal approval from the Department of Homeland Security secretary and the directive “supersedes all previous guidance on spending.” 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin replaced Kristi Noem as secretary last month. Mullin ended Noem’s policy requiring secretary approval for amounts more than $100,000 on April 1. He will continue to sign off on spending above $25 million, according to CBS News. 

The policy caused delays averaging three weeks in two instances in Oklahoma, according to a report by U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Andy Kim. 

After the March 2025 wildfires, it took FEMA six days to approve disaster unemployment assistance. Grant funding to provide crisis counseling was also delayed for a month, according to the report. 

Vest, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management director, said projects seemed to get stuck following the directive. 

“There’s no real understanding of where that stuck is,” Vest said. “Is it somewhere at the regional level? Is it FEMA? There’s just no real clarity, and we don’t have any insight of what that process really is.” 

Since the start of the year, stagnant projects have begun to see funding approved, Vest said. FEMA released some mitigation and public assistance funding after a long delay, including the grants Lankford announced in January. Although things are moving at FEMA, Vest said it has been slower than usual and answers about projects have been harder to receive due to turnover. 

Five days after Noem’s dismissal, a FEMA spokesperson, in a statement to Oklahoma Watch, blamed the shutdown for delays and disrupted assistance. 

“Since Secretary Noem took office, FEMA has obligated over $67 million to Oklahoma,” the statement read. “Now, the reckless Democrat shutdown of DHS, FEMA faces delayed reimbursements, disrupted recovery efforts, furloughs of key personnel, and a halt to critical preparedness activities such as first responder training and hurricane season planning.” 

Mullin, in his Senate confirmation hearing March 18, said he supports FEMA’s mission and wants to be more effective, direct and quick.

“Taking years to get reimbursed is not acceptable,” Mullin said. “Taking honestly months to get reimbursed is not acceptable. See, small municipalities, they can’t afford it.” 

Mullin also said in his confirmation hearing that FEMA should be working with states, but states should have its own emergency response. Oklahoma’s working group had the same conclusion. 

“FEMA was never designed to be the first responder,” Mullin said. “That’s the states. FEMA was designed to be the assistance to the states when the disaster reaches certain levels … FEMA is simply helping write checks and assuring that they have the capability and the manpower if need be.” 

A federal judge ordered FEMA in March to restore a grant program that funds mitigation projects before disaster strikes. 

The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program was created in 2018 to improve pre-disaster planning and mitigation. FEMA canceled the program in April 2025, halting more than $3 million in projects. The restoration will open up $1 billion dollars for states, territories, tribes and local governments. 

“The BRIC was the biggest mitigation program for pre-disaster that ever existed,” Vest said. “The biggest and the best program. That program was really intended to kind of flip the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program on its head.”

Another way communities can start mitigation projects is with the help of an Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management revolving fund created in 2024. 

Communities can apply for funds to begin a project that will eventually be reimbursed by FEMA. The revolving fund can only be used if a FEMA grant is already approved to reimburse the community for the project. 

“We take on that burden,” Vest said. “It does impact communities, because if a community is waiting on their disaster money and they get hit again and again, then the revenue that they were trying to get back from what they had lost from that event is going to hurt them much more significantly. We have a lot of really poor areas of the state, and some very rural communities that really need those funds.” 

Raynee Howell is a Stillwater-based journalist and contributor to Oklahoma Watch. Contact her at raynee.howell@okstate.edu.

The post Rising from the ashes: Oklahoma families start over despite struggles with obtaining FEMA grants appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

Call it a Legismander. Or a Referendamander. 

Either way, Republicans in the Legislature are trying to force state questions onto a likely GOP-heavy August primary runoff ballot. Some of them are pet projects of outgoing Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is in his second and final term. 

Not since the right-to-work battles over union membership at the turn of the century has a legislatively sponsored state question appeared on a non-general election ballot in Oklahoma. 

Among the state questions that could appear on an August primary runoff ballot are those that could curtail state matching funds for Medicaid expansion, a state question narrowly approved by voters in 2020. One would slow the rate of growth in property tax assessments. Another would turn a voter identification law into a constitutional amendment. 

Unlike a gerrymander, in which lawmakers effectively pick their constituents based on past voting behavior, these state questions would appear on a runoff election ballot dominated by Republican candidates, helping to drive that bloc of voters to the polls. With at least six GOP gubernatorial candidates, it’s widely expected the primary on June 16 will lead to a runoff on Aug. 25. (Candidate filing ends at 5 p.m. Friday.) 

Any special election state question ballot would be open to all registered voters. But only voters who declared a party by March 31 can vote in that party’s primary or runoff election in Oklahoma. Voters can’t switch parties from April 1 to Aug. 31 during general election years. 

Andy Moore, chief executive officer of civics group Let’s Fix This, said it’s unlikely many Democratic primary races will head to an August runoff. That means fewer voters will be paying attention to an August election. Turnout in runoff elections has hovered between 10% and 12% in recent years. 

“Politicians for years have eroded the public’s trust in systems and through gerrymandering, closed primaries and attacks on the initiative petition,” Moore said. “They know they’ve got us on the ropes, and they’re going to cram some stuff down our throats in an election most people aren’t paying attention to. The things they’re running are things voters have already voiced their opinion on, and they’re trying to undo it.” 

The Legislature advanced the state questions for the August primary runoff on deadline last week to get bills off the floor and to the opposite chamber. Just a few days later, Stitt and Republican leaders announced a budget deal. 

House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said the governor had strong feelings about state questions. Stitt called for re-votes on several successful state questions, including Medicaid expansion and medical marijuana, during his State of the State address in February. 

“We want to work collaboratively with the governor with the opportunity he has to advocate for measures,” Hilbert said on March 26. “It’s a really fun project for him in his last interim. The legislative session will come to an end in the coming months, but he’ll be able to go out and champion some of these great reforms on the ballot in August and November.” 

Streamlined Election Ballot 

The drive to cram state questions into a primary runoff election stands in contrast to recent bipartisan efforts to streamline the state’s election calendar and add early voting days. It also comes after successful Republican-led proposals making it harder for citizens to gather signatures to put state questions on the ballot. 

State Question 836 for open primaries failed to qualify for the ballot this year after falling short of the required number of signatures. It was the first major state question to come under a new law requiring four out of five data points to verify written signatures. Senate Bill 518, passed in 2024, increased it from three out of five data checks. The bill also extended the time to protest proposals to 20 days, up from 10 days. 

House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson, D-Oklahoma City, said the messaging on ending Medicaid expansion plays to a certain segment of Republican voters. She said Stitt’s top advisors have said publicly they want the most conservative turnout in August’s primary runoff election. 

“I do believe there’s a strategy to roll back these programs that Oklahomans voted to put in place,” Munson said. “They are strategically working really hard to undo the will of the people.” 

Munson, who is running for governor, said it took almost two years to get a citizen-led state question to raise the state’s minimum wage on the ballot. Voters will determine the fate of SQ 832 on the June 16 primary ballot. The initiative was certified in September 2024, but Stitt chose the June 2026 primary date to put it before voters. 

“There seems to be a delay when the initiative petition process is being used by the people, but they expedite it when the Legislature wants to put questions on the ballot,” Munson said.  

Oklahoma lawmakers sent more than 50 state questions to a vote of the people in the last 25 years. All but one appeared on a November general election ballot, according to an analysis of records since statehood from the secretary of state’s office. Legislative-sponsored state questions are typically approved in those November elections, with almost 40 of the proposals succeeding. 

Voters approved State Question 695 on right-to-work with 54% of the vote on Sept. 25, 2001. Although lawmakers initially approved the legislative referendum in the 2001 session, it didn’t receive the required two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to call for a special election. That would have put it on the November 2002 general election ballot. Democratic lawmakers, fearing the issue could cloud the 2002 gubernatorial contest, hastily approved follow-up legislation to instead put SQ 695 on a September 2001 special election. 

Hilbert said Oklahoma’s constitution is too long, meaning something always needs to be changed or updated. That usually means several state questions appear on the ballot every two-year election cycle. 

“In order to make sure we have a well-educated populace as they’re going to the voting booths, I think it’s better to split some of those and have some state questions in August, and some in November, instead of having an incredibly lengthy November ballot with everything on the same ballot, ” Hilbert said Thursday. 

Health Care, Taxes and Voting 

This year’s state questions expected on the August primary runoff ballot deal with Medicaid, property taxes and voting, all issues that animate many Republican primary voters.  

House Joint Resolution 1067 and House Bill 4440 await action in the Senate after passing in an evening floor session on March 25. If passed by voters, HJR 1067 would allow the Legislature to decline to fund the state’s share of Medicaid expansion if the federal match goes below 90%. That trigger law would only apply if voters fail to pass HB 4440.  

HB 4440 would take Medicaid expansion out of the state constitution but preserve it as a statutory requirement. That could make it easier for lawmakers to change or eliminate. 

Oklahoma voters narrowly approved Medicaid expansion under State Question 802 in June 2020. It expanded Medicaid eligibility for adults aged 18 to 64 in Oklahoma who make less than 138% of the federal poverty level, now pegged at $21,756 per year. 

HJR 1087 would ask voters to change the way the state reimburses local governments for the five-year ad valorem exemption incentive program for manufacturing. 

The Senate’s property tax change, under SJR 39, would cap homestead property tax growth at 1% per year, down from the current 3% limit for annual growth in assessments. It would cap annual growth for other real property to 3%, down from 5%. 

The Senate also sent SJR 47 to the House. It would put an August state question on the ballot for voter identification. It would turn an existing statutory requirement for voter ID into a constitutional amendment. 

Voters already approved the voter ID requirement under SQ 746 in November 2010, although it was a statutory change, not a constitutional amendment. The House Rules committee approved SJR 47 on Thursday, and it now heads to the House floor. The proposal still leaves it up to the Legislature to define what a voter ID might include. 

Senate Democratic Leader Julia Kirt called the August primary runoff state questions a legislative power grab. 

“They’re trying to take power out of the constitution and bring it to the Legislature,” Kirt said Thursday. “It’s interesting that you would put these on the least voter-turnout date. It’s pretty clear that is to take power away from voters.” 

A handful of legislative state questions could still appear on the November general election ballot. They include the so-called TSET reset bill that would change which programs benefit from annual interest payments from the state’s tobacco settlement endowment trust. 

HJR 1077 would change a portion of future TSET fund earnings earmarked for health care to instead pay for college tuition under an expanded Oklahoma Promise program. 

TSET’s $2 billion trust fund had earnings of $140.6 million in fiscal year 2025. That compares to earnings the previous year of $86.8 million. The additional earnings allowed TSET to make one-time legacy grants for health care research and workforce development. 

There’s been constant friction between TSET and lawmakers since the fund’s inception in 2000. But voters are leery of making changes; in 2020, they voted down SQ 814. That would have sent 75% of annual earnings toward Medicaid expansion. 

Also on November’s ballot could be a state question, HJR 1089, asking voters if they want to convene a state constitutional convention. The House passed it last week and it awaits consideration in the Senate. 

Under the state constitution, lawmakers are supposed to ask voters every 20 years if they want to convene a constitutional convention. But the last vote took place in 1970, when voters rejected a convention. They also declined to call conventions under state question votes in 1926 and 1950. Voters in 1994 rejected SQ 660, which would have removed the constitutional convention requirement from the constitution.

Paul Monies has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2017 and covers state agencies and public health. Contact him at (571) 319-3289 or pmonies@oklahomawatch.org. Follow him on Twitter @pmonies. 

The post Choose Your Own Voters: Republican Lawmakers Send High-Stakes Ballot Initiatives To Low-Turnout Election appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.

While prices for Oklahoma households have increased in the months since Trump enacted his Liberation Day tariffs, the rise has been less than $1,000 as of November 2025.

The tariffs cost the average Oklahoma household $269 between February and September 2025–less than 40% of the respective nationwide average during that period, according to a report published in November by Congressional Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee. 

In February, JEC published an updated report examining price increases between February 2025 and January 2026. Though lacking state-specific data, it suggests the tariffs cost average households $1,745 through January.

According to the Yale Budget Lab, if expiring as scheduled, Trump’s Section 122 tariffs will cost the average household between $600 and $800 annually, increasing to $1,000 and $1,300 if made permanent. 

A tariff is a tax typically placed on foreign goods, which a domestic buyer must pay to import.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Oklahoma Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims.

Sources

• Joint Economic Committee State-by-State Inflation Data: Families Spending $700 More Due to Inflation Under Trump
• Joint Economic Committee American Families Have Paid More Than $1,700 Each in Tariff Costs Since Trump Entered Office
• The Budget Lab (Yale) State of Tariffs: February 21, 2026

The post Did tariffs cost Oklahoma families more than $1,000 in 2025? appeared first on Oklahoma Watch.