Meet The Oklahoman Connect team: Answering the big questions that are important to you
That's fine by me ― I want them on their phones. That's where readers are, too.
The Oklahoman's Connect team focuses on digital-first journalism, service journalism, and trending news within our community. That means we specifically write stories at the speed of news that are useful, local and concise, often stemming from trends emerging on social media or curiosities about Oklahoma life.
For example, when Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt shared a post on X that made it sound like he was proposing that students be forced into the military if they do not attend college, parents freaked. The resulting firestorm occurred over the next 24 hours wholly online, where parents, students and advocates posted their reactions and questions in videos and posts across TikTok, Instagram, Reddit and X.
Our Connect team spotted the uproar while it was on the rise, and we used our curiosity to carry the community's questions from the comment section into our interviews with the governor's office and other officials.
The governor's office quickly clarified that his comments were misconstrued ― Stitt only wanted to encourage post-high school planning, not force any requirement changes ― so our subsequent stories assuaged fears and ensured accuracy while keeping pace with the speed of news.
Other times, stories by Connect reporters dovetail with topics covered by others in the newsroom, ensuring you can find answers to questions in every facet of an issue. We explain how a national egg shortage could affect your neighborhood grocery store, where to park during the OKC Memorial Marathon, or what a red flag warning means during wildfire season.
These types of stories and videos may be brief, but they're essential.
As The Oklahoman's deputy managing editor for digital initiatives, I'm excited to start every day with this team and see what new curiosities and questions they'll bring, or a new storytelling format to try. Here is a closer look at The Oklahoman's Connect team:
Dale Denwalt covers breaking news and trending issues for the Oklahoman Connect team. Originally from Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Dale has filed all kinds of stories from across the state since 2011, and spent several years as The Oklahoman's State Capitol reporter. Outside of work, he tracks geopolitical conflict and gets nerdy about cool airplanes and space science.
Read Dale Denwalt's work here.
Coming up on four years working for the same newspaper she grew up seeing her dad read at the dining table, Jana Hayes covers breaking and trending issues for The Oklahoman.
Hayes graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2021 before joining The Oklahoman's staff as part of its inaugural Native American Fellowship program. During her time with the paper, she has covered city government, public safety, features and homelessness.
She loves that as part of her job she is able to meet some of the most interesting people, and is thankful they trust her with their stories. As part of the Connect Team, she has had to become an expert in a myriad of topics and is grateful to provide readers with the information they need on an everyday basis.
Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her husband and two kids, walking their dogs and finding any excuse to listen to an audiobook.
Read Jana Hayes' work here.
Josh Kelly covers breaking and trending issues for The Oklahoman. He is an Owensboro, Kentucky native and graduate of Northern Kentucky University, where he obtained his degree in Journalism. After graduating he worked at his hometown outlet, The Owensboro Times before leaving his Ol' Kentucky Home. He continues journalism as a way to learn and preserve culture in the moment. Outside of work he enjoys yelling at Tottenham Hotspur players, watching the latest "Survivor" episode, catching as many movies as possible and reading books to learn new words to yell at Tottenham Hotspur players.
Read Josh Kelly's work here.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: The Oklahoman's Connect team brings digital community together
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Morgan Weistling, an accomplished painter of cowboys and Old West frontier life, was vacationing with his family this month when he got a surprising message from a friend about one of his works of art. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, he said the friend told him, had posted a work he had painted five years ago to its official social media channels without his knowledge. The painting, which looks like a scene from the Oregon Trail, depicts a young white couple — she in a long dress, he in a cowboy hat — cradling a baby in a covered wagon, with mountains and another wagon in the background. 'Remember your Homeland's Heritage,' the Department of Homeland Security captioned the July 14 post on X, Instagram and Facebook. Exactly whose homeland and whose heritage? And what was the intended message of the federal department, whose masked and heavily armed agents have arrested thousands of brown-skinned, Spanish-speaking immigrants — most with no criminal convictions — in California this summer? That has been the source of heated online debate at a time when the Trump administration has ramped up its online trolling with memes and jokes about the raids that critics have called racist, childish and unbefitting official government social media accounts. The 'Remember your Homeland's Heritage' post racked up 19 million views on X and thousands of responses. Critics compared the post to Nazi propaganda. Supporters said it was 'OK to be white' and to celebrate 'traditional values.' Among the responses: 'You mean the heritage built on stolen land, Indigenous genocide, and whitewashed history? You don't get to romanticize settlers while caging today's migrants.' And: 'A few minutes later, an ICE wagon pulls up next to them, agents cuff and stuff them into the back and then summarily send them back to Ireland.' Another person, referencing the 'Oregon Trail' video game, joked: 'All three died from dysentery.' Asked about criticism of the post, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email to The Times: 'If the media needs a history lesson on the brave men and women who blazed the trails, forded the rivers, and forged this Republic from the sweat of their brow, we are happy to send them a history textbook. This administration is unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage. Get used to it.' On July 11, a federal judge temporarily halted indiscriminate immigration sweeps in Southern California at places such as Home Depot, car washes and rows of street vendors. U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong said she found sufficient evidence that agents were unlawfully using race, ethnicity, language, accent, location or employment as a pretext for immigration enforcement. The next week, the Department of Homeland Security — which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with Customs and Border Protection — posted the white-people-in-the-covered-wagon painting. It also posted a meme with a fake poster from the 1982 movie 'E.T. The Extra Terrestrial' with the caption: 'Illegal aliens, take a page from E.T. and PHONE HOME.' Ramesh Srinivasan, founder of the University of California Digital Cultures Lab, which studies the connections between technology, politics and culture, said the mean-spirited posts and gleeful deportation jokes are part of a deliberate trolling campaign by the Trump administration. 'The saddest part of all of this is it mirrors how DHS is acting in real life,' he said. 'Someone can be a troll online but may not be as much [of one] in real life,' he said. 'The digital world and physical world may not be completely in lockstep with each other. But in this particular case, there's a level of honesty that's actually disturbing.' Srinivasan, who is Indian American, said that although the covered wagon painting is not offensive in and of itself, the timing of the Homeland Security post raises questions about the government's intended meaning. The painting, he said, 'is being used to show inclusion and exclusion, who's worthy of being an American and who isn't.' Srinivasan said mean memes are effective because they spread quickly in a media environment in which people are flooded with information and quickly scroll through visual content and short video reels with little context. 'There are hidden algorithms that determine visibility and virality,' Srinivasan said. 'Outrage goes more viral because it generates what tech companies call engagement.' Here in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken a page from Trump's troll playbook, with recent social media posts that include name-calling, swear words, and, of course, memes. Earlier this month, Newsom responded to a post on X by the far-right Libs of TikTok account that showed video of someone apparently firing a gun at immigration officers in Camarillo. The account asked if the governor would condemn the shooting. Newsom wrote: 'Of course I condemn any assault on law enforcement, you shit poster. Now do Jan 6.' In a post on X, Newsom's press office called White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of many of Trump's hard-line immigration policies, a 'fascist cuck.' Newsom defended the name-calling in a news conference, saying of the Trump administration: 'I don't think they understand any other kind of language.' The term is used in far right circles to insult liberals as weak. It is also short for 'cuckold,' the husband of an unfaithful wife. Even for Team Trump, which is adept at distraction, the heightened online efforts to own the libs, as supporters say, come at a precarious time for the president. He has been embroiled in controversies over rumors about his friendship with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the effects of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, which will cut Medicaid and food assistance programs while funding the planned hiring of thousands of new immigration agents. Still, his meme teams are working hard to stoke outrage and brag about immigration raids. Earlier this month, Homeland Security posted a slickly edited video on its social media accounts showing border agents at work, with a narrator quoting the Bible verse Isaiah 6:8: 'Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me.'' The video uses a cover of the song, 'God's Gonna Cut You Down' by the San Francisco rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. On Instagram, the band wrote: 'It has come to our attention that the Department of Homeland Security is improperly using our recording of 'God's Gonna Cut You Down' in your latest propaganda video. It's obvious that you don't respect Copyright Law and Artist Rights any more than you respect Habeas Corpus and Due Process rights, not to mention the separation of Church and State per the US Constitution.' On July 10, the band asked the government to cease and desist the use of its recording and pull down the video. It added, 'Oh, and go f— yourselves.' As of Friday evening, the video remained posted on X along with the song. 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They used a painting I did 5 years ago and re-titled it and posted it without my permission. It is a violation of my copyright on the painting. It was a surprise to me and I am trying to gather how this happen [sic] and what to do next.' He later shortened the statement on his website and deleted posts on his Instagram and Facebook accounts saying he learned about the post while on vacation and was stunned the government 'thought they could randomly post an artist's painting without permission' and re-title it. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions from The Times about copyright issues. But a spokesman said the posting of an incorrect title was 'an honest mistake.'
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"Arthur" TikTok Goes Viral After Trump's PBS Funding Cuts
Everyone's inner child is heartbroken after the Trump administration received approval to reportedly cut all federal funding for public broadcasting, leaving programs like PBS in limbo. PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger said the cuts "go against the will of the American people," in a written statement. "The Senate just approved a rescissions package that goes against the will of the American people, the vast majority of whom trust PBS and believe we provide excellent value to their communities. These cuts will significantly impact all of our stations, but will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas. Many of our stations, which provide access to free, unique local programming and emergency alerts, will now be forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead. There is nothing more American than PBS. Despite today's setback, we are determined to keep fighting to preserve the essential services we provide to the American public," Kerger said. The PBS channel has been home to many popular educational children's TV shows, including the Emmy-winning animated series Arthur, a show about an 8-year-old aardvark who explores real-life issues through the lens of a child and promotes healthy problem-solving and social skills for young kids. Well, the official Arthur TikTok page recently posted a video in response to the news of budget cuts, with the caption: "PBS has been defunded. This isn't goodbye yet." In the clip, the character Sue from Arthur is seen writing in her journal. "I never wanna go through another fire. But I also never wanna lose this feeling. That each day is special; that my friends are the best friends in the world; and that if we stick together, we can make it through just about anything." The TikTok has received over 350,000 views in less than 24 hours, and thousands of comments have expressed their heartbreak over Trump's PBS cuts. "You guys raised multiple generations and that won't be forgotten ever," one person wrote. "I can't believe these vile politicians defunded you. Fuck them," another person wrote. "Trump is trying to defund education. They know education means they have less power and voter base. Don't let them win. Continue to educate yourself," another person wrote. Others shared what the show Arthur has meant to their lives. "This channel was my everything. I learned how to speak English watching PBS." "I came to the U.S. when I was 4. I went into school knowing 0 English thanks to PBS kids I learned English by the 3rd grade fluently. I'm now about to be in 12th." "from a foster child that had no structure or love growing up. thank you for helping raise me into who I am." One person even shared that "Arthur's Reading Race" helped them start reading as an autistic kid. And this teacher said that PBS reinforced the "ethics" taught to them at home and helped them as a student. According to @arthursPBS, donating to your local PBS station is one way to help. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
