Feature Stories — East Oklahoma In-depth reporting, long-form storytelling, and profiles from across eastern Oklahoma. EastOklahoma.com goes beyond the headlines to explore the people, places, history, and issues shaping communities from Tulsa and Broken Arrow to Tahlequah, Muskogee, and the small towns in between.
Politics
A little-known bill quietly died in committee this spring. What it reveals about who really controls Oklahoma's deer—and the $200 million industry built around them. OKLAHOMA CITY — On a legislative calendar packed with debates over education funding and tax cuts, Senate Bill 1074 slipped through the
Police Corruption
A rare federal prosecution exposes the limits of police accountability in Oklahoma On a cold January evening in eastern Oklahoma, during what should have been a routine traffic stop, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper made a decision that would end his decade-long law enforcement career and land him in
Crimes
An eight-year scheme of fraud, luxury gambling, and broken trust in Indian Country Michael Anthony Houser appeared to be living the American dream. The 36-year-old accountant from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, had climbed the corporate ladder at one of the most successful tribal gaming enterprises in the nation.
Government Corruption
How Oklahoma's Cash Bail System Imprisons the Innocent An Investigation into America's Highest Incarceration Rate On any given morning in Oklahoma, more than 9,000 people wake up behind bars who have never been convicted of a crime. They are legally innocent—presumed so by the
Tulsa
How a shrinking Jewish community in Oklahoma is betting on an unconventional strategy to reverse decades of decline — and what it reveals about American Judaism's demographic future TULSA, Oklahoma — The house tours began on a Saturday morning with prairie views stretching toward the horizon. More than 50 people
Vian
An EastOklahoma.com Investigation: Inside the $1.5 billion marijuana cartel that exploited rural eastern Oklahoma communities and turned local residents into unwitting accomplices The Phone Call That Changed Everything Brenda Kay Morrison was folding laundry in her double-wide trailer outside Sallisaw when her cell phone rang on a
Vian
How One Small Town's Leadership Repeatedly Dismantled Its Own Police Department to Protect the Politically Connected An Investigation into Three Scandals, Two Police Departments That Quit, and One Family That Kept Getting Arrested The Arrest That Revealed the Pattern When Vian Mayor Dennis Fletcher was arrested on March
Vian
A Small-Town Mayor's Confrontation with Oklahoma's Controversial "Halo Law" On a brisk March evening at Ripley High School's baseball field, just west of Stillwater, Oklahoma, a minor parking dispute escalated into a test case for one of the state's
Sallisaw
County assessor remains on the job despite removal charges as school losses mount, compliance failures continue, and a jury trial scheduled over a year ago still has no date It's been exactly one year since Brandy Dobbs (now Brandy Allen) was supposed to face a jury. On May
Tulsa
A comprehensive investigation into Governor Kevin Stitt's controversial midnight veto and the cascade of corruption allegations that defined his tenure On a late spring night in May 2025, as most Oklahomans slept, Governor Kevin Stitt made a decision that would crystallize his administration's troubled relationship with
Muskogee
Matt Muskrat's call to clean up local government raises questions about his own history A candidate with 2008 felony charges positions himself as the answer to corruption MUSKOGEE COUNTY, OK — Matt N Anna Muskrat has a message for Muskogee County voters: "DRAIN THE SWAMP!!!!!" The candidate
Feature Story
PAWHUSKA, OKLAHOMA — In September 2024, local rancher Bud Beaston sent a registered letter detailing allegations of corruption in Osage County to Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, Governor Kevin Stitt, the U.S. Department of Justice, and thirty media outlets across the state. Only one reporter responded. The allegations involve a