McAlester - East Oklahoma News | Investigative Journalism

Crimes

The Rise and Fall of Coal County Sheriff Jason Smith

He ran for sheriff on a promise to restore law and order to Coal County. Less than a year into office, Jason Smith stood accused of being the county's most prominent lawbreaker — drunk on duty, violent toward his own wife, sexually harassing female deputies, and allegedly aided in

Tulsa

Washington D.C. Is Telling Eastern Oklahoma's DAs to Let Child Predators Go — They're Refusing

Who Has the Right to Put You in Prison? Inside the Legal War Tearing Eastern Oklahoma Apart There is a child pornographer sitting in a federal prison cell serving 50 years. There is also a drug trafficker whose case may be thrown out because the wrong court filed the charges.

Webbers Falls

Innvictis Seed to Host Agronomic Field Day in Webbers Falls This August

The Future of Farming is Growing in Webbers Falls—And You're Invited to See It Why hundreds of Oklahoma growers are marking August 5th on their calendars for an event that could transform their harvest WEBBERS FALLS, OK – There's a moment every farmer knows—standing in

Politics

An Oklahoma Bill That Died in Committee That Would Make Wildlife Shift from a Public Trust to Private Profit

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

Government Corruption

Oklahoma: Most Incarcerations of Any State and 75% Have Not Been Convicted

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

The Veto That Speaks Volumes: How Oklahoma's Governor Rejected Anti-Corruption Reforms While Scandal Consumed His Administration

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

Tulsa

The Sheriffs, The Association, and The Collection Agency: Inside Oklahoma's Multi-Million Dollar Court Debt Machine

An eight-year federal lawsuit alleges a statewide extortion scheme that jails the poor while generating profits for law enforcement By EastOklahoma.com Investigative Team Kendy Killman became a prisoner in her own home, though she'd never been convicted of a violent crime. The Cleveland County mother of

McAlester

First in the Nation: How a Traffic Stop in Tiny Savanna, Oklahoma Became a Landmark Moment in American Civil Rights Law

On the night of November 2, 2022, a woman named K.H. was riding in a car on a rural road in Pittsburg County when a Savanna Police Department cruiser lit up behind her. She had no reason to believe the stop would be anything more than routine. Her boyfriend

McAlester

McCurtain County: The Reckoning of a Hidden Recorder is Happening by U.S. Attorney's Office

Deep in the piney timber country of Oklahoma's southeastern corner, where the land borders both Arkansas and Texas and the nearest big city is four hours away, McCurtain County has always operated by its own rules. With a population hovering around 31,000, it is one of the

Tulsa

DOC's Million Dollar AI Contract, a Man on the Inside, and the Job He Got After

How Oklahoma's prison chief handed a million-dollar AI contract to a private company, then walked straight through the door to work for them — leaving the state's most dangerous prison in chaos and no one held accountable. On April 3, 2025, Steven Harpe sat behind the