KGOU • 2nd February 2024

OKC City Council denies that a medical waste transfer station is safe near Diggs Park

Community members in the Forest Park neighborhood called for the council to deny a permitting statement form the engineering consultant company Terracon that a medical waste transfer facility would be safe to operate in the area.

KGOU • 25th January 2024

USDA reappoints Oklahoma farmer to the Advisory Committee for Minority Farmers

Arnetta Cotton has been farming and raising cattle in Wagoner for over 40 years. During her first appointment in 2020, she held meetings where local farmers could express their concerns and developed programs that help farmers in her community grow food sustainably and make money.

KGOU • 16th January 2024

Jones Academy students await return of Choctaw Nation heirloom seeds from space

Seeds of Sweet potato squash (isito), Smith peas (tobi), flour corn (tanchi tohbi), lambsquarter greens (tvnishi), and Choctaw peas (chukfi), traveled with Choctaw families to Oklahoma from their ancestral homelands on the Trail of Tears.

Now, the Choctaw Nation’s Growing Hope seed bank has sent seeds from these traditional plants for a science experiment on the International Space Station. With the help of Boeing and Oklahoma State University, they were sent out last November on SpaceX’s 29th

KGOU • 9th December 2023

Climate scientists need collaboration with tribal communities for solutions, OU study shows

The study, published by the American Meteorological Society, says tribal nations like the Otoe-Missouria are nearly 70% more susceptible to flooding than the general population in Oklahoma.

OU’s School of Meteorology and the Department of Native American Studies collaborated on the research, using regional climate models and flash flood models to help make climate-related risk assessments and recommendations for Native lands.

Zhi Li is the study's lead author and a recent meteorology school gr

KGOU • 9th November 2023

Choctaw Nation receives $2 million in federal grants for climate pollution reduction

The Choctaw Nation received $2 million in federal grants from the EPA. The grants will be used to assess the cleanup of abandoned properties, greenhouse gas emissions, and viable climate solutions on tribal lands.

According to Tye Baker, the Choctaw Nation’s Senior Director of Environmental Protection Services, projects will start soon that will focus on reducing GHG and cleaning up the Talihina Indian Hospital Campus in Latimer County.

KGOU • 7th November 2023

Oklahoma City Zoo provides update on baby giraffe

“She was born three weeks ago now and is already growing really fast,” said Brain Frank, the Oklahoma City Zoo’s assistant curator of hoofstock. “First one that we're looking for is that she's able to walk. We hit that milestone within 10 minutes of being born.”

Frank said this birth is monumental for the zoo’s giraffe cons

KGOU • 25th August 2023

Nation’s first cobalt and nickel refinery breaks ground in Lawton, Oklahoma

The metals refinery startup, Westwin Elements, is building the nation’s first cobalt and nickel refinery in Lawton. The Bartlesville-based company is set to start building no later than October.

Gov. Kevin Stitt, and principal investor of Westwin Elements Dennis Muelinburg, broke ground on the refinery on Tuesday, calling it a matter of national security.

This comes at a time when, according to the International Energy Agency, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and China are responsible for

Black Wall Street Times • 11th November 2024

Is there a link between climate change and Oklahoma’s fall tornadoes?

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — In Fall, 2023, residents of southeast Oklahoma City sustained an outbreak of an EF-3 tornado, leading to concerns that climate change is impacting the strength of tornadoes in the state.

NPR • 1st February 2024

How mapping 'heat islands' can help cities prepare for extreme heat

Climate change, driven primarily by burning fossil fuels, pushed temperatures so high last year that scientists were astounded when 2023 became the hottest year on record. Communities like Oklahoma City are now preparing for a future with extreme temperatures by understanding which areas are the hottest.

KGOU • 7th December 2023

Tulsans regrow urban tree canopy after summer’s severe weather

When 100 mph winds and storms ripped through Tulsa over Father’s Day weekend this year, at least 50 trees fell at Oxley Nature Center. Driving to the center through Mohawk Park, I noticed several piles of chopped-up branches and tree trunks left over from red and white oaks that towered over the golf course here.

KOSU • 26th October 2023

How Oklahoma rap battles are helping to advocate for mental health awareness

Marshall Moses leads the organization Soulbody Cyphers. He has an extensive background in basketball and music. Moses played for OSU from 2007 to 2011, then professionally for international teams for 10 years.

KGOU • 5th October 2023

Butterflies are on the move, and Oklahomans are keeping track of them in monarch conservation effort

Monarch butterflies, like many insects and birds, migrate twice a year, in the spring and in the fall.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, before the weather gets cold, monarchs travel over two thousand miles from North America to central Mexico to hibernate.

KOSU • 14th September 2023

Volunteers collect data on urban heat islands in Oklahoma City

More than 250 volunteers collected temperature and air quality data around Oklahoma City through a community science project in August to study the urban heat island effect.

KOSU • 24th August 2023

What the removal of a highway could mean for Black Wall Street in Tulsa

Tulsa’s North Peoria Church of Christ used to call Greenwood home. That was before I-244 displaced it and cut through historic Black Wall Street.

KGOU • 10th August 2023

Private landowners in Oklahoma are stepping up to preserve habitat for prairie chickens

Rebecca Jim owns a mile and a half acreage just north of Vinita, Oklahoma, at the northern edge of the Cherokee Nation. She inherited this land from her family who used to ranch cattle here. She said her land is longer than it is wide, perfect for bringing back prairie chickens. She is turning two fields on the land into prairies to bring back prairie chickens.

KOSU • 26th July 2023

How Oklahoma farmers and landscapers adapt to extreme heat and severe weather

Micha Anderson has 11 acres of pecan trees and a half acre of fruits and vegetables on his farm in Piedmont, Oklahoma. Anderson has farmed his whole life in the state.

He grew up on a farm in Haskell, Oklahoma, where his grandmother taught him how to raise cattle, pigs and chickens, and how to grow sweet potatoes, watermelons and other crops.

Anderson also works as an extension agent for Langston University, where he teaches the next generation of Black farmers how to grow their own food and h

Imagine5 • 1st July 2023

Fans of The Little Mermaid are fighting to protect Ariel's real-life home

For Disney fans of a certain generation, the release of the new Little Mermaid movie is a huge moment. A tightknit community of mermaid lovers are ready to watch, rewatch and cosplay the movie. But they’re also harnessing their energy to make a difference in the real world, and protect the world’s oceans.

STLPR • 5th May 2023

Florissant music teacher makes sure students have new djembes to learn African rhythms

On the floor of Antonio Griffin’s classroom at Commons Lane Elementary School are tambourines, maracas, frog-shaped guiros and djembe drums.

Griffin, a music teacher, uses the instruments to help his students prepare for their spring recital — and to expose them to rhythms rooted in Black American music.

STLPR • 30th March 2023

How Black roller skaters put St. Louis skate style on the map

St. Louis' skate style is known across the country. Young skaters and OGs — a term of endearment for someone who’s been rolling for more than 20 years — agree that St. Louis’ style is smooth.

“Every city has their own flavor and their own style, but St. Louis has this style that out of everybody, you stick out like a sore thumb because we're more intricate in our moves and more on a laid back-pace,” said Chris Sims, an OG skater, on a recent Saturday at Coachlite Skate Center in Bridgeton.

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STLPR • 10th March 2023

Homeless encampment at Laclede’s Landing is cleared

An encampment under the Laclede’s Landing Pavilion that had been where more than 15 people who are experiencing homelessness lived was disbanded Friday.

STLPR • 8th March 2023

Warmer winters in Missouri could change bird migration

Robins, tree and barn swallows, and other birds chirping in the morning is usually a welcoming first sign of spring in the St. Louis region. But bird-watchers are hearing birdsongs earlier than usual.

STLPR • 1st March 2023

St. Louis was once Mound City. Its Native American residents still feel erased

A member of the Cherokee Nation, Galen Gritts is proud to be an elder in St. Louis. He was born and raised in the area and graduated from University of Missouri-St. Louis with a history degree.

STLPR • 24th February 2023

Ben the bear escapes from his St. Louis Zoo habitat for the second time this month

An Andean bear named Ben escaped from his outdoor habitat at around 1 p.m. on Thursday. It marked the second time this month Ben had gotten out.

STLPR • 13th February 2023

St. Charles pushes Ameren to pay for cleanup of toxins found in groundwater

After the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed Ameren as the source for two toxic chemicals found in St. Charles groundwater wells, the city is demanding the power company bear the cost for cleanup.