Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
The Oklahoma conservative bastion and corporate media can attempt to rationalize it, but state government continues to inadequately fund public education. This has caused incalculable harm through t...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
There's been a lot of talk recently about wind turbines and natural gas and how they fit into Oklahoma's future. T. Boone Pickens, a political conservative and one of Oklahoma State University's impo...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
Oklahoma should be trying to make college affordable for as many of its residents as possible, yet the state continues to drastically raise tuition rates.  Virtually every leader in the state p...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
When the Oklahoma Legislature declined to give the state's teachers raises this session, it didn't seem to make much news. After all, the mantra went, everyone must make sacrifices. Revenues are down...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
Doesn't everything happening in the metro seem bifurcated these days? Bifurcated is a word that fits. It simply means divided into two camps. In terms of Oklahoma City, it means recent events here " ...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
So far Oklahoma has escaped the major economic downturn faced in many areas of the country because of the foreclosure and banking crisis, but state revenues are down because of recent tax cuts. Govern...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
An Oklahoma House bill called "The Religious Viewpoints Anti-discrimination Act" is just another deceptive initiative to further erode the country's constitutionally guaranteed separation of church an...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
Oklahoma's reputation as a state dominated by good ol' boy politics and corruption lives on in the 21st century. This reputation is rooted in the state's historical legacy of corruption.   This...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
Should Oklahoma City voters approve an extension of a penny sales tax to fund improvements to the Ford Center so the city can have its own NBA team?   There is little doubt the city is ready fo...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
Oklahoma's new illegal immigration bill, considered one of the strictest such laws in the country, should become a catalyst for state leaders from diverse political backgrounds to come together to opp...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
When city officials recently dedicated a Bricktown alley in honor of The Flaming Lips, they did more than just honor a local rock band that has become world famous.   They also sent this clear ...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
It's too early to call it a progressive juggernaut and events with political ramifications could change everything, but recent polls and an election show some Oklahoman voters may be shifting away fro...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
What will it take to make some Oklahoma politicians and leaders understand how detrimental it is for the state that teachers here are paid below regional and national levels?   Low teacher sala...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
The famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass had it right about education in this often-cited quote: "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."   Those words are as true t...

Commentary
Kurt Hochenauer
By all reliable accounts, former District 1 Oklahoma County Commissioner Jim Roth brought integrity and wisdom to county government.   Roth, who was appointed recently to the Okl...