Investigations
Every investigation we run across Oklahoma, from the first tip to the courtroom. Each file collects the stories, videos, filings and records behind it.
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Piedmont Data Centers
1.7 gigawatts of proposed hyperscale data centers on Canadian County wheat fields.
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Coweta: City Hall and the Schools
A secret data center deal at City Hall and alleged cover-ups of student abuse in the schools.
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The Surveillance State
License plate cameras, police databases and the companies selling surveillance to Oklahoma.
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The Attorney General's Office
Conflict-of-interest questions inside the Oklahoma Attorney General's office.
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GRDA
Oklahoma's public power agency, closed-door decisions and a fight over recording public meetings.
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Spavinaw City Hall
A gun pulled at a city council meeting and the officials who went after the reporters.
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Pawhuska City Hall
Felons and accused embezzlers running City Hall, and the officials who protected them.
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Watonga
An autistic child assaulted by an officer, and the city leaders who resigned after.
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Gore
Locked doors, a police extortion video and a city attorney who tried to outlaw recording.
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Lexington, Mississippi Police
A police department under a Justice Department civil rights investigation.
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Stillwater: The Jesse Butler Case
How a convicted rapist got his deal, and a back-door trip through the Stillwater courthouse.
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Library Arrests
Journalists arrested for filming in public libraries across the Tulsa area.
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Meeker Town Hall
A mayor who hired himself, contracts for his wife, and the citizens who fought back.
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Sallisaw
School safety, a removed city manager and a resigned officer.
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Arkoma
A mayor takes control of the police department after a judge warns against it.
In court
Project Mustang: Claremore
Secret NDAs, private briefings and a lawsuit over the Claremore data center deal.
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Rogers County Courthouse
Deputies, prosecutors and commissioners confront citizens and reporters at public meetings.
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Inola Aluminum Smelter
A foreign-owned aluminum smelter, emergency moratoriums and a citizen ballot fight at the Port of Inola.
Voters told Oklahoma to send SQ 780 prison savings to county treatment. A 2025 report puts savings at $202.3 million and county investment at $37.5 million. Three words in the statute let lawmakers wait six years.
Oklahoma City police found Danny Ellerd too sick to jail. He left OSU-OKC with a 4.0 and two degrees. What carried him was a ministry, private foundations and an $850,000 federal earmark, not the state fund voters created for people like him.
ICE signed a $220 million contract for Tasers at $12,359 per unit. The President bought Axon stock two weeks before it was announced. The same investors funded both Flock and the company replacing it.
Axon paid $625 million for Carbyne — an Israeli-founded 911 platform built by former special forces and intelligence operatives, funded through a vehicle that included Jeffrey Epstein. It now runs inside 911 systems across 23 states. Development remains in Tel Aviv.
While every activist in America was focused on tearing down Flock cameras, a 40-year-old company was quietly installing surveillance devices inside existing street lights. Denver canceled its Flock contract. Then it signed a deal with Axon for something far more capable — and far harder to see.
Cloverleaf says it can build in the unincorporated county. Canadian and Kingfisher counties have no zoning, no building codes, and no way to stop it. Here is what Cloverleaf actually said, in its own documents.
In Hollywood, Florida, a Houston developer told a room of city officials what its Piedmont data center would really be worth, and what kind of city council it needs to get it built. It has never told Piedmont either one.
The firm is called Drummond Law. Oklahoma's ethics rules say a firm can't use a public official's name unless he's actively practicing there. If he is, he's violating his public mandate. If he isn't, the name is doing something else.
He wants foreign governments out of Oklahoma. Two weeks after his June check cleared, the company he pays registered as a paid agent of a Mexican state government. Mazzei has now sent this company $82,500.
A foreclosure filed by Oklahoma's Solicitor General through his boss's private law firm listed the Oklahoma Tax Commission as a defendant. The state had to assign its own lawyer to fight back.
Oklahoma pays its Solicitor General $205,485 a year to argue the state's biggest cases. Court records show he filed a private lawsuit for a bank his boss, the Attorney General, owns and chairs.
Denver called Flock a 'bad actor.' Evanston covered the cameras with plastic. Oshkosh reversed a contract in 24 hours. Then a Washington citizen won the right to see his data, and the legislature passed a law to make sure nobody could ever do it again.
