Latest Oklahoma Headlines

All the headlines from our Oklahoma Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Bill Requiring Insurance Discounts for Resilient Homes Passes Oklahoma House

Mar 23 2017 // A bill that would require a homeowner’s insurance company to factor into the insurance premium the more resilient construction if the homeowner retrofits or builds a new home to certain specified standards has passed...

9 Homes Destroyed in Oklahoma Wildfire

Mar 22 2017 // Fire officials are suggesting a blaze that has destroyed at least nine homes in eastern Oklahoma and forced the evacuation of more than 100 others may have been intentionally set. Highway 9 Volunteer Fire Department chief...

Supreme Court OK with Delay in Bringing Patent Infringement Suits

Mar 22 2017 // A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday in a lawsuit over adult diapers will make it more difficult for companies accused of patent infringement to shoot down lawsuits because the plaintiffs waited too long to bring them.In...

Insurance Rates to Drop with Oklahoma City Fire Department’s Top Rating

Mar 20 2017 // Thousands of Oklahoma City homeowners will save money on their property insurance after the Oklahoma City Fire Department received the top fire protection rating, the Oklahoma Insurance Department reported.The Class 1/4...

Study Shows GOP Health Care Plan Could Cost Oklahoma Millions

Mar 16 2017 // A Republican plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system shows health care could become unaffordable for many poor Oklahomans and the state could be forced to subsidize health care costs for Native Americans,...

Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas Wildfires Tracked by New Satellite

Mar 16 2017 // When wildfires scorched more than 1 million acres in early March across parts of the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma and Kansas, forecasters used a new weather satellite to see the infernos developing, almost in real time.The...

Forestry Services: Wildfires in Oklahoma, Kansas 42% Contained

Mar 15 2017 // Oklahoma Forestry Services says four wildfires in northwestern Oklahoma and southwestern Kansas are now 42 percent contained, but a high fire danger continues in the region.The agency said that the largest fire is the...

Ranchers in Midwest Assessing Damage After Wildfires

Mar 10 2017 // Kansas rancher Greg Gardiner got into some of his scorched pastures for the first time on March 8 and surveyed what he likened to a battle zone: carcasses of dead cattle everywhere.“It’s pretty much a...

Proposed Oklahoma Bill Would Allow Property Owners to Destroy Drones

Mar 9 2017 // Proposed Oklahoma legislation heading to the Senate would exempt property owners from civil action if they destroy drones not regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration.The proposed bill, authored by Republican Sen....

Evacuations Ordered as Numerous Fires Burn in Oklahoma

Mar 8 2017 // Numerous wildfires are burning in Oklahoma and evacuations have been ordered in the state’s northwest. Woodward County Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer says up to 200 people had to leave their homes late...

Deadly Wildfires Force Thousands from Homes in 4 States

Mar 8 2017 // Emergency crews on March 7 struggled to contain deadly wildfires that have scorched hundreds of square miles of land in four states and forced thousands of people to flee their homes ahead of the wind-whipped flames.The...

Oil Companies Sued by Oklahoma Tribe Over Quake

Mar 6 2017 // An Oklahoma-based Native American tribe filed a lawsuit in its own tribal court system Friday accusing several oil companies of triggering the state’s largest earthquake that caused extensive damage to some...

Oklahoma County Settles Traffic Death Lawsuit for $500K

Mar 1 2017 // Oklahoma County commissioners have agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of a man killed in a traffic crash involving a sheriff’s deputy.The Oklahoman reports a judge approved the settlement...

Oklahoma Senate OKs Bill Changing Oversight of Online Insurance Verification

Feb 28 2017 // The full Senate has approved legislation to transfer oversight of Oklahoma’s Compulsory Insurance Online Verification System (OCIVS) for motor vehicle liability policies from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to...

Ratings of Oklahoma Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance, Subsidiary Upgraded

Feb 28 2017 // A.M. Best has upgraded the Financial Strength Rating to B+ (Good) from B (Fair) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to “bbb-” from “bb+” for the members of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Group:...

Oklahoma Pipeline Company to Reimburse Iowa Entities for Spill

Feb 27 2017 // An Oklahoma pipeline company says it will reimburse north-central Iowa agencies for expenses they incurred while responding to a diesel pipeline spill near Hanlontown last month. The Mason City Globe Gazette reports that...

Jury: Former Oklahoma Legislator Must Pay Insurer $4.3M in Defamation Case

Feb 24 2017 // A Tulsa, Okla., jury has awarded an insurance company and its CEO $4.3 million in a defamation case.The Oklahoman reports former state legislator and former First Trinity director Wayne Pettigrew left First Trinity...

Tulsa Man Who Assaulted Insurance Adjuster Gets Life Sentence

Feb 23 2017 // A Tulsa, Okla., man who filed a bogus insurance claim and assaulted an insurance adjuster has been sentenced to life in prison, the state insurance department announced.Prentice E. Ponds II, 43, was on parole at the time...

Oklahoma Bill Proposes Rules for Medical Marijuana

Feb 22 2017 // Oklahomans won’t vote until next year on whether to legalize medical marijuana, but a state lawmaker has already introduced legislation that would set the framework if sales of the drug are approved.State Rep. Eric...

EPA to Oklahoma Officials: Do More to Curb Earthquakes

Feb 20 2017 // The Environmental Protection Agency told Oklahoma regulators last November to do more to protect the state from a surge in earthquake activity that scientists have linked to the underground disposal of oil and gas...