Tulsa World Opinion
Tulsa World Editorials editor Ginnie Graham talks with newsmakers and op-ed contributors about the biggest issues in Tulsa and Oklahoma. Ginnie Graham: Email | Twitter | Facebook | Follow her stories
Episodes
In this week's episode, Ginnie Graham and Barry Friedman close the curtain on 2023, discussing the achievements and failures of the state and federal governments. How will this lead into the 2024 presidential election? What will be the focus for Oklahoma's legislature and other leaders next session?
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Chris Bernard, the president and chief executive officer of Hunger Free Oklahoma, joins Ginnie Graham this week to discuss a local and national issue that she calls "so solvable." Bernard says that food insecurity is a problem that shouldn't exist in America. So why is it such a big problem? Bernard and Graham dig into the issue and Bernard lays out some of the ways we can address the root issue.
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Jim Gray served as the Osage Nation chief from 2002 to 2010 and is the principal consultant at D.B.A. Gray Consultants. "I can’t escape from this history," Gray wrote in a guest column. "As an Osage, my great-grandfather, Henry Roan, is murdered in this film. As a former Chief of the Osage Nation, I had to deal with many unresolved issues that are associated with this period."
He speaks with Editorials Editor Ginnie Graham about h...
Anna Johnson is a professor and researcher at Georgetown University who has been studying education in Tulsa since 2016. She talks with Ginnie Graham about comparing third grade Oklahoma State Testing Program (OSTP) scores — the state’s standardized test — to researcher-administered developmental tests of children’s academic skills. Why might these tests not tell the full story of student skills? Would scaling back testing frequenc...
One of the most common predictors of resisting mental health treatment is anosognosia, which is a lack of awareness of being mentally ill. Mike Brose is the former executive director of the Mental Health Association Oklahoma, adjunct university instructor and practicing licensed clinical social worker. He is a member of the Tulsa World Community Advisory Board. He speaks with Ginnie Graham about how Tulsa can help the homeless popu...
"What separates an F school from an A school? What separates the schools at the top from those at the bottom? Affluence," writes Rep. John Waldron in his latest column. He represents Tulsa’s District 77 in the Oklahoma House. Previously, he worked as a social studies and history teacher at Booker T. Washington High School. He joins Ginnie Graham to talk about why A-F grades are problematic for the state's schools and districts. The...
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" to "Reservation Dogs," the TV and movie industry ties to Oklahoma are growing stronger lately. Justin Rawlins, Ph.D., is a professor of media studies and film studies at the University of Tulsa and the author of the forthcoming book “Imagining the Method” (University of Texas Press, 2024). He speaks with Ginnie Graham about why the WGA and SAG-AFTRA labor stoppages matter to Oklahoma, even if the L...
With oddball schedules and unruly passengers, air travel is not the glamorous industry some may think it is. Strikes are already impacting Hollywood and the U.S. auto industry. Is the flight industry next? Tulsa Hale and OU graduate Ron Todd is 35-year American Airlines flight attendant, flying out of Chicago, New York and currently Miami. He speaks with Ginnie Graham about a conflict getting less attention involves 27,000 flight a...
Kimberlee Wilson is a senior at Oologah-Talala High School. She recent wrote a guest column entitled "I'm a 17-year-old Oklahoma student and my peers don't see the point in voting." She speaks with Ginnie Graham about why her peers "accept that their votes don’t make a difference," why voter turnout statewide is low, and how things can change.
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Opinion: I'm a 17-year-old Oklahoma student and my peers don't see the po...
Lisa Kelly is CEO at The Arc of Oklahoma (formerly Centers for Disabilities). She speaks with Ginnie Graham about the challenges for people (and their families) with disabilities, including more than 5,100 Oklahomans. They are forced to wait years — 13 years on average in Oklahoma — for home and community-based services (HCBS), barriers to critical safety-net programs are too often a part of everyday life.
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State Rep. Regina Goodwin of Tulsa's District 73 joins Ginnie Graham to discuss the most recent state board of education meeting, where she was allowed to speak during the public comment portion. How can the relationship between state legislators and State Superintendent Ryan Walters improve? "Allowing them access into the board room for a state board meeting would be a start. Returning phone calls would be a start to really havin...
Ginnie Graham and Stacey Woolley talk about a variety of public school topics ranging from Deb Gist's departure, who might be next, the fight between TPS and Ryan Walters and more.
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Opinion: State Superintendent Ryan Walters failed his reading homework on Tulsa Public Schools
Rep. John Waldron represents Tulsa’s District 77 in the Oklahoma House. Previously, he worked as a social studies and history teacher at Booker T. Washington High School. He joins Ginnie Graham to reflect on Tulsa Public Schools under Superintendent Deborah Gist, and if the Oklahoma State Board of Education's criticism of TPS under her leadership is warranted. How can Oklahomans and the state legislature proceed after the most rece...
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, Opill, a progestin-only, estrogen-free method of contraception. Laura Bellis, Take Control Initiative executive director and Tulsa City Council District 4 councilor, talks about what this means for access to birth control and supporting women in having healthy births on their own terms.
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Dr. Chris McNeil joins the podcast this week to explain that, in his opinion, because of a poor medical recruiting system, we are losing lives, talent and time. McNeil is the only Black male resident emergency physician in Tulsa, and starting July 1, he'll be the only one in the state. He has ideas on how and why that needs to change.
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Dr. Chris McNeil: Oklahoma must recruit Black physicians like it does Black athle...
Ginnie Graham talks with Michael Lapolla about the hymn "Mansions of the Lord" ahead of Memorial Day. He is a graduate of West Point, veteran of the Ia Drang Valley campaigns of the Vietnam War, member of the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame and Tulsa resident. The hymn's first verse lyrics are as follows:
To fallen soldiers let us sing
Where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the mansions of the ...
Ginnie Graham talks with David Blatt, OU-Tulsa professor of public policy and Oklahoma Policy Institute founder. What are highlights and problems with the Oklahoma legislature's historic education funding plan?
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Historic education plan advances through Oklahoma House, Senate
$625 million 'monumental education package': Oklahoma officials celebrate long-awaited agreement
The Supreme Court on Friday blocked Oklahoma from executing death row inmate Richard Glossip for his role in a 1997 murder-for-hire after the state’s attorney general agreed Glossip’s life should be spared. Rep. Kevin McDugle, R-Broken Arrow, said that he is for the death penalty, but "if they kill Richard Glossip, you will see me running every bit of legislation to kill the death penalty in Oklahoma, because if we can't trust the ...
Rep. Monroe Nichols, D-Tulsa of House District 72, is chairman of the Oklahoma Black Legislative Caucus. He speaks with Ginnie Graham about HB 1397, which would direct the Oklahoma State Department of Education to develop or make available a curriculum that reflects upon the civil rights movement between 1954 and 1968 and includes the principles Martin Luther King Jr. taught concerning nonviolence, bigotry and Jim Crow laws. Rep. N...
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month — a time to recognize the importance of our community working together to prevent child abuse. Ginnie Graham talks with Maura Guten, president and CEO of the Child Abuse Network in Tulsa, about how Oklahomans can protect our most valuable and vulnerable population.
People with a reason to believe that a child under 18 is a victim of abuse or neglect are required per the Oklahoma Statu...
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