This is the Tulsa Beacon’s annual year in review.
January
Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed 62 commutations, 93 pardons and 23 paroles, bringing the total signed during his first year to 774 commutations, 290 pardons and 101 paroles.
An otherwise successful 2019 season went sour quickly as No. 4 Oklahoma was overcome by No. 1 LSU, 63-28, in Atlanta in a College Football Playoff semi-final.
Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard and teammate wideout Tylan Wallace announced they will return for another season rather than enter the NFL Draft.
Mayor G.T. Bynum named Maj. Wendell Franklin as the new Tulsa Police Chief, replacing Chief Chuck Jordan who is retiring.
Former Oklahoma basketball player Trae Young was the top vote-getter among Eastern Conference guards and will be in the 69th NBA All Star Game.
February
Efforts by Congressional Democrats – including former U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Oklahoma – to remove President Donald Trump from office were easily defeated February 5 as a majority of U.S. senators voted down both articles of impeachment.
Lee Enterprises, Inc., of Davenport, Iowa, has purchased the Tulsa World along with 29 other daily papers owned by BH Media Group, a Berkshire Hathaway company owned by billionaire Warren Buffett.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) is actively monitoring the outbreak of a 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which originated in Wuhan, China, and has resulted in laboratory-confirmed cases in the United States.
Oklahoma signed two highly regarded defensive players on February 5 to round out a class of 23 recruit that was ranked No. 9 by ESPN.com. Oklahoma State signed quarterback Ethan Bullock.
State officials including Gov. Kevin Stitt, Attorney General Mike Hunter and Department of Corrections (DOC) Director Scott Crow said they have found a reliable supply of drugs to resume executions by lethal injection.
Tulsa Public Schools will eliminate 90 jobs as part of a plan to make up for a looming $20 million budget shortfall.
March
The Oklahoma Senate voted unanimously last week to protect the Second Amendment rights of medical marijuana cardholders.
Health officials said Friday that Tulsa has its first confirmed case of the coronavirus – a 50-year-old man who recently traveled to Italy.
On Super Tuesday, President Trump got 251,499 (93%) of the GOP vote – an increase of 121,348 votes – and won Oklahoma.
For the first time, Tulsa is co-champion of the regular American Athletic conference season with Houston and Cincinnati. It is the first conference championship for Tulsa since 2013-14 when the Hurricane won the Conference USA Championship.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump has declared a national disaster, Gov. Kevin Stitt has declared a state of emergency and Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum is canceling or postponing events with 50 people or more at all city facilities. The Oklahoma State Board of Education mandated school closings until April 6/
The Tulsa Golden Hurricane basketball team ended the year with a share of the regular season title and Coach Frank Haith was selected as The American Coach of the Year for 2019-20.
The NCAA not only canceled the NCAA Basketball Tournament but all spring sports due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
The University of Oklahoma Athletics Department suspended all athletics competitions, as well as all out-of-season practices and workouts.
For the first time in 65 years, Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms Show – the biggest show of its kind in the world – was canceled.
Oklahoma’s spring football game, originally set for April 18, was canceled.
April
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has issued a Safer at Home Order that extends to all 77 counties for vulnerable populations (those 65 and older and those with underlying medical conditions) to stay at home through April 30.
Mayor G.T. Bynum issued a Safer at Home order for all Tulsans that began March 28 through April 16 to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Congress passed and President Trump signed a massive $2 trillion stimulus package that sent $1,200 to adult individuals, $2,400 to couples and $500 for dependents. They also passed a $367 billion loan-to-grant program for businesses to pay for employees out of work.
Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, a staunch conservative and an outspoken Evangelical Christian, passed away Friday in Tulsa. He was 72.
All Oral Roberts University athletic competitions were canceled for the 2019-20 academic year as announced by The Summit League. The Tulsa Golden Hurricane Spring Football Game, scheduled for April 4, was canceled.
U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin thinks Gov. Kevin Stitt has no right to label abortion as elective surgery and
issued a temporary restraining order to lift Stitt’s ban on surgical abortions in Oklahoma. Stitt issued the ban on all elective surgery in order to free medical facilities to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
Former Oklahoma State basketball coach Eddie Sutton – who won 806 games at the collegiate level – has been selected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Gov. Kevin Stitt announced a comprehensive hospital surge plan to ensure Oklahoma is prepared to handle a surge in demand on hospital and health care systems due to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
Oklahoma State’s basketball signing class is ranked in the Top 10 for a second year in a row.
Mayor G.T. Bynum’s total budget proposal is $828.5 million – $25.1 million less than the budget for the last fiscal year. That’s a 3% cut.
Tulsa Fire Chief Ray Driskell retired.
The Dallas Cowboys drafted OU receiver CeeDee Lamb in the first round of the NFL, the Los Angeles Chargers took OU linebacker Kenneth Murray in the first round and the Philadelphia Eagles drafted OU quarterback Jalen Hurts in the second round.
May
Gov. Kevin Stitt said he will veto two parts of a budget package by lawmakers because they are a raid on pension funds.
Liberal Democrats and Republican leaders joined forces to override a series of budget bill vetoes by Gov. Kevin Stitt and enact a controversial new budget.
The grim statistics from the coronavirus infection in Oklahoma shows that is overwhelming more dangerous for the elderly that the rest of the population, according an epidemiology report by the Oklahoma State Health Department.
Oklahoma has seen an unprecedented increase in the number of unemployment claims, officials said. Unfortunately, some of those 51,124 claims have proven to be fraudulent.
State tax revenues plunged by more than half a billion dollars in April as the coronavirus pandemic disrupts the economy, State Treasurer Randy McDaniel said.
New Life Ranch, a Christian camp with two locations in Oklahoma, will have summer camp this year. Falls Creek Youth Camp and Cross Timbers Children’s Mission Adventure Camp will not hold any camp sessions during the summer of 2020.
The PGA Championship is coming back to Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa in 2030.
Most of the people in Oklahoma who get the coronavirus – more than 77% – have recovered while about 5% die from the disease.
June
Some people in Tulsa and some outside Tulsa are calling for reparations as a result of the 1921 Race Riot in Tulsa – 99 years ago.
OSU basketball has been slapped with a three-year probation, including a postseason ban that means no Big 12 Tournament or NCAA Tournament next season. OSU also will lost three basketball scholarships for the next two seasons.
Total membership in the Southern Baptist Convention fell almost 2% to 14,525,579 from 2018 to 2019, according to the Annual Church Profile compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources.
Oklahoma State Deputy Athletic Director Chad Weiberg thinks the Cowboys won’t have any restrictions on attendance at home football games this fall. Actually, OSU limited attendance to 25% of normal capacity.
President Donald Trump restarted the public rallies of his 2020 re-election campaign here in Tulsa. Trump dubbed the rally part of “The Great American Comeback Campaign.”
Sports columnist Paul Finebaum said on ESPN that Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy should be fired for wearing a T-shirt with the logo of a conservative news network.
Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley admitted that a few OU football players have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard and wide receiver Tylan Wallace have been named to the 2020 Walter Camp Preseason All-America Team.
July
Two Tulsa police officers – Craig Johnson and Aurash Zarkeshan – were stop during a traffic stop. Officer Johnson died and Officer Zarkeshan survived and later rejoined the force.
OSU signed Cade Cunningham – maybe the best high school basketball play in the nation.
Mayor G.T. Bynum orders all Tulsa bar workers to wear masks and placed restrictions on events with 500 or more attendees.
Due to the coronavirus, OSU football coach Mike Gundy agreed to a $1 million a year pay cut and OU made cuts for coaches for make over $1 million a year. Oklahoma State and Oklahoma are scrambling to piece together a fall football schedule as major conferences are eliminated nonconference games.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down the controversial McGirt v. Oklahoma decision that is having widespread impact on criminal justice in Oklahoma.
OU is picked to win the Big 12 Championship in football and OSU is picked to finish second. Former OU head football coach John Blake passed away.
August
The speed limit has been extended to 80 mph on some stretches of Oklahoma’s turnpike system.
The “Black Lives Matter” street sign illegally painted in yellow letters on historic Greenwood Avenue in Downtown Tulsa will be removed.
The Big 12 voted to play nine conference games plus only one nonconference game. The Tulsa football team will not play a full slate of 12 games after their opening game with Toledo was canceled and Oklahoma’s football team will not play Army.
Amazon’s new 600,0000-square-foot Tulsa fulfillment center opened at 4040 N. 125th E Ave. opened for the first time.
The Tulsa State Fair, the Oklahoma City Fair and the Texas State Fair in Dallas were all canceled due to the pandemic. Oklahoma State has banned tailgating on campus at football games.
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, whose members owned Black slaves and fought on the side of the Confederacy in the Civil War, is now opposing federal efforts to require that descendants of the tribe’s former slaves, called Freedmen, be given promised rights before the tribe can receive federal housing funds. Choctaw leaders say any such requirement infringes upon tribal sovereignty.
September
Sen. Nathan Dahm, Rep. Tom Gann and Rep. Terry O’Donnell are among the most conservative legislators in the state, according to the 2020 Conservative Index from the Oklahoma Constitution newspaper.
Rep. Meloyde Blancett, Rep. Melissa Provenzano and Rep. Monroe Nichols are markedly the most liberal lawmakers from the Tulsa area.
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum was re-elected to a second four-year term August 25 but he was just less than 2 percentage points away from advancing the November 3 general election. Tulsa voters approved five propositions that are changes to the City Charter.
The Oklahoma Sooners are ranked at No. 5 and the Oklahoma State Cowboys are No 15 in the preseason AP Top 25 football poll. University of Oklahoma center Creed Humphrey and Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard were named to the Associated Press preseason All-America first team.
Tulsa’s season opener against Oklahoma State was postponed one week and will now be played on Sept. 19 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater.
Governor Kevin Stitt congratulated 2018 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year and 2019 National Teacher of the Year Finalist Donna Gradel for her selection to The National Teachers Hall of Fame.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation said work on the first phase of the reconstruction of the interchange of I-44 and US-75 in West Tulsa will begin in 2021.
Mayor G.T. Bynum and the City Council expanded homosexual rights by passing a “hate crimes ordinance” that adds penalties to any crime in which a criminal expresses disdain for homosexuality.The vote was unanimous.
October
The Tulsa World has laid off 10 journalists and Executive Editor Susan Ellerbach retired at the end of September, according to a story by the Poynter Institute.
Oklahoma had four turnovers and Kansas State had none as the Wildcats upset formerly No. 3 Oklahoma 38-35 in Norman Saturday in front of only 22,000 fans. OU was upset by Iowa State, 30-27, Saturday in Ames. The Sooners have dropped out of the national rankings and are long shots to make the Big 12 Championship because of two conference losses.
Tulsa city councilors and Mayor G.T. Bynum are ordering everyone age 10 and older to wear a mask in public in the city limits to fight the Chinese coronavirus epidemic.
The Big 12 has one undefeated team left and that is No. 10 Oklahoma State. TU beat No. 11 Central Florida, 34-26, in Orlando. Tulsa was supposed to host No. 8 Cincinnati Saturday but that game was postponed because of coronavirus problems with the Bearcats.
Governor Kevin Stitt said Oklahoma has received an initial allocation of roughly 77,000 Abbott Laboratories BinaxNOW rapid point-of-care COVID-19 tests.
Oklahoma’s young football team got a 53-45 win over rival Texas in a four-overtime game that lasted about four hours and 45 minutes.
The Tulsa School Board voted to keep secondary students in distance learning until January in a reaction to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
November
As expected, Oklahomans elected U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe to another term in the Senate by an easy margin. President Trumps, as expected, beat Democrat Joe Biden in Oklahoma.
Trump won all 77 counties. Trump got 65% of the vote while Democrat Joe Biden only got 32% in Oklahoma.
In Tulsa County, Trump got 150,266 votes (56%) while Biden bot 108,813 (41%).
OSU President Burns Hargis announced his retirement as of July 1, 2021.
The City of Tulsa is raised utility rates again.
Wanenmacher’s Gun Show was canceled due to the coronarvirus pandemic.
No. 13 Oklahoma State took a big step toward a spot in the Big 12 Championship Saturday with a hard-fought win over Kansas State, 20-18, in Manhattan.
Mayor G.T. Bynum wants everyone in the Tulsa metro area to wear a mask while in public. Broken Arrow will not mandate masks.
No. 25 Tulsa erased a 21-point deficit to come away with a 28-24 victory over the 19th-ranked SMU Mustangs.
When the Republican-led Legislature convenes in February, lawmakers will have two choices in how to deal with declining revenues – cut the budget or raise taxes.
Oklahoma’s hopes for a spot in the Big 12 Championship took a big step as the Sooners beat Oklahoma State 41-13 in Norman.
No. 24 Tulsa came back from a 14-point deficit to score 21 points in the fourth quarter, and ultimately beat Tulane, 30-24, in double overtime.
December
Mayor G.T. Bynum and the Tulsa City Council added more rule and regulations concerning the Chinese coronavirus outbreak and gave more teeth to enforcement of the new rules.
The Oklahoma at West Virginia game scheduled for Nov. 28 was postponed until December 12 but then it was canceled.
Tulsa County District Court has suspended all in-person hearings because of a spike in cases of the Chinese coronavirus in metro area.
No. 11 Oklahoma (7-2, 6-2 in the Big 12) took a big step toward their goal of a record-setting sixth straight Big 12 Championship with a 27-14 win over Baylor in Norman.
The Tulsa game versus Cincinnati scheduled here for Saturday has been canceled due to the coronavirus impact at Cincinnati.
Oklahoma beat Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship in Dallas on December 20.
No. 20 Tulsa will play No. 6 Cincinnati Saturday in the American Athletic Conference Championship.
State Sen. Warren Hamilton, R-McCurtain, said he file the Abolition of Abortion in Oklahoma Act/Equal Protection and Equal Justice Act, which would criminalize and end all abortions in Oklahoma.