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SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Small earthquakes shaking Oklahoma and southern Kansas daily and linked to energy drilling are dramatically increasing the chance of bigger and dangerous quakes, federal research indicates. This once stable region is now just as likely to see serious damaging and potentially harmful earthquakes as the highest risk places east of the Rockies such as New Madrid, Missouri, and Charleston, South Carolina, which had major quakes in the past two centuries. Still it's a low risk, about a 1 in 2,500 years' chance of happening, according to geophysicist William Ellsworth of the U.S. Geological Survey.

In Glenpool, Oklahoma, a mother is upset after her son’s teacher confiscated his Valentine’s Day cards. During the second grader’s class party, he participated in handing out candy and valentines to his classmates. The card he distributed said “Happy Valentine’s Day” on one side, but on the other side, there was information about church services at LifeChurch. After seeing that, the teacher snatched up each card and got rid of them. Shelley Sweeden, the student’s mother said, “It feels he’s been denied the right to express his love for his church and his faith.” FOX23 downloaded the school’s handbook and it...

State legislators around the country have introduced more than 200 bills aiming to nullify regulations and laws coming out of Washington, D.C., as they look to rein in the federal government. The legislative onslaught, which includes bills targeting federal restrictions on firearms, experimental treatments and hemp, reflects growing discord between the states and Washington, state officials say. “You have a choice,” said Kentucky state Rep. Diane St. Onge (R). “To sit back and not do anything or say anything and let overregulation continue — or you have the alternative choice to speak up about it and say, ‘We know what...

Gasoline prices are moving back closer to the $2 a gallon mark across Oklahoma, according to the gasoline website Gas Buddy. The site says Oklahoma’s average has jumped 14 cents a gallon in the past week to a new level of $1.98 a gallon. A month ago, the statewide average was $1.82 a gallon. Nationally, GasBuddy.com reports an average of $2.17 a gallon, which is a 12 cent jump in the past week and only a penny more than a month ago. The cheapest gasoline found in Oklahoma is $1.67 a gallon in Tulsa. Prices of $1.77 a gallon are...

A national activist group – which used Tom Steyer’s Colorado political firm to lobby the state’s oil and gas task force – cancelled an anti-fracking rally today after just one person RSVPed. The decision to abandon the rally followed very low turnout at a protest yesterday outside the Colorado Convention Center, where the task force has been meeting the past two days. At yesterday’s demonstration, there were more protest signs than there were protestors to hold them. Clean Water Action Colorado’s Facebook page for the rally mentions how the group “has turned out impacted and frustrated Coloradans for rallies at...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Muslim Day at the Capitol will be held at the end of the month for members of the religion to learn more about state government and become more familiar with their lawmakers. The Oklahoma chapter for the Council on American-Islamic Relations organized the event for the first time this year. News of the event did encounter backlash on social media, however. “It’s kind of depressing to see such hatred and negativity, especially about practicing a right that’s fundamentally American,” said CAIR Executive Director Adam Soltani. Comments were made on social media such as “I’m sick of...

LOCUST GROVE, Okla. -- Three young girls were brutally murdered nearly 38 years ago in a wooded area that was once full of frolic and fun. Before that horrific day in 1977, it was a magic place for girls of the "Magic Empire" created for Girls Scouts to camp in and enjoy the wonders of the outdoors. Camp Scott, located in Locust Grove, had been a retreat for Girl Scouts and Brownies since 1928. Its 410 wooded acres could accommodate 140 campers and 30 staff. The Cookie Trail road led to ten camping units scattered throughout the green beauty. Two...

A bill to further restrict abortion in Oklahoma and another to make embryonic stem cell research illegal both cleared a House committee on Wednesday, despite concerns from a doctor on the panel. While activists gathered at the Capitol for the annual anti-abortion Rose Day rally, the House Public Health Committee voted mostly along party lines to approve both bills. An exception was Rep. Doug Cox, a Grove Republican and an emergency room physician who opposed both measures. One bill would increase from 24 to 72 hours the amount of time a woman must wait before receiving an abortion after receiving...

Union leaders called strikes on Sunday at nine U.S. refineries in a bid to pressure oil companies to agree to a new national contract covering workers at 63 plants. The walkouts, the first held in support of a nationwide pact since 1980, target plants that together account for more than 10 percent of U.S. refining capacity. The discord comes as plunging crude prices force oil companies to slash spending. Royal Dutch Shell, the lead industry negotiator, indicated talks had broken down. ... Shell activated a strike contingency plan at its sprawling joint venture refinery in Deer Park, Texas, to keep...

In what has been described as a new front in the battle over same-sex marriage, legislators in several states under judicial orders to confer marital status on same-sex couples have introduced bills to forbid state or local officials from issuing marriage licenses to couples of the same gender. The bills would also strip the salaries of employees who issued the licenses, the New York Times reported Thursday.The bills have been introduced in the legislatures of Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, with South Carolina also considering a bill that would allow officials to opt out of issuing such licenses if it...

Tulsa-based drilling rig maker and operator Helmerich & Payne Inc. expects to lay off 2,000 employees companywide, it announced Thursday during a conference call. The cuts, which are already beginning, are spurred by a reduction in rig use due to falling crude oil prices, CEO John Lindsay said during the earning call with analysts. Helmerich & Payne employs about 500 in Tulsa and nearly 12,000 companywide. The overall reduction is about 17 percent of the company’s total workforce. “This is without question the worst part of the downturn,” Lindsay said. Lindsay revealed the layoffs shortly after a company earnings report...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that both Nevada and Tennessee have joined the Lone Star state's challenge of President Obama's executive amnesty, bringing the total number of states fighting Obama's unilateral immigration policies to 26. “Texas is proud to lead a coalition that now includes a majority of the United States standing up against the President’s rogue actions,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. “The momentum against the President's lawlessness continues to build with Tennessee and Nevada joining the effort to protect our states from the economic and public safety implications of illegal amnesty. As President...

Reacting to the news that the Supreme Court will take up a case concerning Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol, the state Attorney General on Monday said he will ask the Justices to temporarily postpone the scheduled execution of three death row inmates involved in the challenge. Attorney General Scott Pruitt said that he thought the Supreme Court will ultimately uphold the constitutionality of the protocol, but that while the case is under consideration, he would ask the justices to grant a stay of the executions. "The families of the victims in these three cases have waited a combined 48 years for...

While the battle over same-sex marriage in Alabama is heating up, it has already reached a boiling point in Oklahoma. And the fight there could very well signal what's ahead here. Oklahoma legislator Rep. Todd Russ - an Assemblies of God minister- has filed a bill requiring that only "an ordained or authorized preacher or minister of the Gospel, priest or other ecclesiastical dignitary of any denomination" be allowed to sign marriage certificates. County judges would be prohibited from performing weddings and no clerks could issue marriage licenses. No religious officiant? You're out of luck, though you can file an...

A Tulsa World analysis of voting behavior and other factors ranks Oklahoma the second-most conservative state in the nation after Utah. The Legislature convening Feb. 2 will be among the most Republican in the nation. The rise of the Republican Party has brought a shift to more business-oriented policies: workers comp and lawsuit reform, reductions in income-tax rates, right to work, weakened regulatory agencies and a push for privatization of everything from education to elevator inspections. “A lot of people think it’s Democrat versus Republican,” said former Democratic Gov. George Nigh, who was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives...

The husband of a woman who was beheaded last year at an Oklahoma food-processing plant has been awarded $100,000 in death benefits plus $418 a week for the rest of his life.

An Oklahoma inmate executed amid a legal challenge over lethal injection began complaining about the effects on his body before the drugs were administered, prompting some to question whether he may have exaggerated his symptoms to help his fellow death row inmates' case. Charles Warner, who was executed Thursday for the killing of an 11-month-old girl in 1997, said during his last words: 'It feels like acid.' The comment came before any of the lethal drugs were administered and while he was only receiving a saline drip through an intravenous line.

Oklahoma executed a death row inmate Thursday for killing a baby in 1997 in the state’s first lethal injection since a botched one last spring. Prison officials declared Charles Frederick Warner dead at 7:28 p.m. CST Thursday. The execution lasted 18 minutes. “Before I give my final statement, I’ll tell you they poked me five times. It hurt. It feels like acid,” Warner said before the execution began. He added, “I’m not a monster. I didn’t do everything they said I did.” […] It was the second time Oklahoma used the sedative midazolam as part of a three-drug method, which...

Alam says within minutes, he watched as the spout of water grew and the canopy over his gas pumps was no match for it. "It was like a tsunami like a tornado." The pressure from the water collapsed the metal structure. The force even blew a hole in the rear window of Alam's car - which was parked just a few feet away. No one was hurt, but Alam's insurance company says it's going to take $65,000 to fix the canopy. "My insurance said the city should take care of that." But, at this point, a city attorney says Tulsa...

The rapid decline in oil prices could have a significant negative impact on the Oklahoma economy. Taxes associated with production, sales taxes, corporate taxes, income taxes, employment, and housing markets can all be expected to suffer without a rebound in oil prices, which seems unlikely in the near future. Oil continued to fall on Tuesday as prices neared 6 year lows before regaining some ground... Brent crude has fallen roughly 70% since June while West Texas Intermediate (U.S. crude) has fallen approximately 55% in the same time period. To date the largest oil and natural gas companies in the state...