Sean Murphy, Author at The Rapid City Post

Trump’s pick for DHS secretary leaves US Senate vacancy in deep-red Oklahoma

March 5, 2026

President Trump’s plan to nominate U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma as Homeland Security secretary will leave an unexpected Senate vacancy in deep-red Oklahoma. Under a new Oklahoma law, Gov. Kevin Stitt will get to pick Mullin’s replacement if Mullin does indeed leave his Senate seat. Stitt said in a statement Thursday that he will look to appoint “a strong, small government conservative voice to support President Trump.” But whoever Stitt appoints won’t be a U.S. senator for long. The new law requires that person to step down ahead of the next election, which will be in November.

Trump turns to an Oklahoma senator with a fighter’s reputation as his next choice to lead DHS

March 5, 2026

President Donald Trump’s plans to nominate Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to take over as Homeland Security secretary follow a meteoric political rise for the plumbing company owner who was first elected to Congress in 2012. The 48-year-old Republican has become one of Trump’s fiercest defenders in the U.S. Senate. He’s now positioned to join the administration after Trump on Thursday fired embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Mullin is a former mixed-martial arts fighter and collegiate wrestler who has earned a reputation as a fighter in the Senate.

This photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Kendrick Simpson, 45, on Aug. 11, 2025, who is scheduled to be executed, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Oklahoma, for the 2006 drive-by shooting deaths of two men. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP)

Oklahoma set to execute man convicted of double killing in 2006 drive-by shooting

February 12, 2026

Oklahoma is set to execute a man convicted of killing two men in a drive-by shooting in 2006. Forty-five-year-old Kendrick Simpson is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday in Oklahoma’s first execution this year. Simpson admitted at a clemency hearing last month that he shot and killed 19-year-old Anthony Jones and 20-year-old Glen Palmer and apologized to their families. Oklahoma’s five-member board narrowly voted to deny Simpson clemency. Simpson’s attorneys had argued he suffered from chronic trauma growing up in a New Orleans housing project. He moved to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

FILE - The Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter in Oklahoma City, speaks during a rally outside the Stillwater Police Department in Stillwater, Okla., June 3, 2020, to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on May 25. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

Oklahoma Black Lives Matter leader indicted for fraud, money laundering

December 11, 2025

The longtime leader of the Black Lives Matter movement in Oklahoma City has been indicted for fraud and money laundering. Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that 52-year-old Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson was indicted on 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering. Prosecutors allege she used millions of dollars in grants on personal expenses like trips, groceries and personal property in her name. Phone and email messages left Thursday with Dickerson were not immediately returned. Court records don’t indicate whether she has retained an attorney. In a live video posted on her Facebook page, Dickerson said she was not in custody and was “fine.”

Members of the Oklahoma spirit groups drive the Sooner Schooner after a touchdown against Missouri during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in Norman, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

First Native woman drives Oklahoma’s iconic Sooner Schooner

November 22, 2025

The University of Oklahoma’s iconic covered wagon mascot, the Sooner Schooner, has been pulled onto Owen Field in Norman for 60 years. For the first time this football season, it’s being driven by a Native American woman. Brianna Howard is a junior at OU and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation. Howard first drove the Schooner onto the field during Oklahoma’s season opener against Illinois State. Howard acknowledges that some people see the wagon as a symbol of oppression against Native American people. But Howard said to her, driving the wagon represents taking back a symbol of oppression.

This Feb. 9, 2023, photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Tremane Wood, who was sentenced to die for the stabbing death of a man during a robbery in 2001. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP)

Oklahoma is set to execute a man after a state panel recommended his life be spared

November 12, 2025

Oklahoma is preparing to execute a man after a state panel recommended his life be spared. Forty-six-year-old Tremane Wood is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He is convicted of stabbing a migrant farmworker to death during a 2002 robbery. He says his brother, who died serving a life sentence, committed the killing. The Pardon and Parole Board recommended that Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt grant him clemency. But Stitt has declined to take any action on that recommendation. Wood’s attorneys also have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution.

FILE - Copies of the Bible are displayed Aug. 12, 2024, at the Bixby High School library in Bixby, Okla. (AP Photo/Joey Johnson, File)

New Oklahoma schools superintendent rescinds mandate for Bible instruction in schools

October 15, 2025

Oklahoma’s new public schools superintendent is rescinding a mandate from his predecessor that forced schools to incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for students. Superintendent Lindel Fields said in a statement Wednesday he has “no plans to distribute Bibles or a Biblical character education curriculum in classrooms.” The directive last year from former Superintendent Ryan Walters drew immediate condemnation from civil rights groups and prompted a lawsuit from a group of parents, teachers and religious leaders. It would have applied to students in grades 5 to 12. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Fields to the post after Walters resigned to take a job in the private sector.

FILE - This March 4, 2025, photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows John Fitzgerald Hanson. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP,File)

Oklahoma court clears the way for execution of a man convicted in a Tulsa woman’s killing

June 11, 2025

An Oklahoma appeals court has ordered a stay of execution for a man on death row to be lifted, clearing the way for him to receive a lethal injection. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals issued its order on Wednesday. John Fitzgerald Hanson has been scheduled to be executed Thursday for killing a Tulsa woman in 1999. A district court judge temporarily halted the execution Monday after Hanson’s attorneys argued he didn’t receive a fair clemency hearing before the state’s Pardon and Parole Board. The attorneys argued the 3-2 vote against Hanson was tainted because one board member worked for the district attorney’s office that prosecuted his case.

Oklahoma man who was given 3 last meals will stand trial again but won’t face the death penalty

June 9, 2025

Oklahoma prosecutors say they will pursue a murder charge, but not the death penalty, against longtime death row inmate Richard Glossip for his role in the 1997 killing of his former boss. The decision announced Monday comes after the U.S. Supreme Court in February tossed Glossip’s conviction and death sentence. Glossip was twice convicted and sentenced to die for the killing of Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese in what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire. Glossip has come so near to being executed that he ate three last meals while on death row. But the U.S. Supreme Court determined that prosecutors failed to correct testimony from a key witness they knew to be false.

Tulsa’s new Black mayor proposes $100M trust to ‘repair’ impact of 1921 Race Massacre

June 1, 2025

Tulsa’s new mayor on Sunday proposed a $100 million private trust as part of a reparations plan to give descendants of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre scholarships and housing help. The proposal is a city-backed bid to make amends for one of the worst racial attacks in U.S. history. The plan by Mayor Monroe Nichols would not provide direct cash payments to descendants or the last two centenarian survivors of the attack that killed as many as 300 Black people. Nichols is the first Black mayor of Oklahoma’s second-largest city. He made the announcement in the once-thriving Greenwood District that was destroyed by a white mob.

Sean Murphy.

Sean Murphy

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