Type | Newspaper |
---|---|
Founded | 1905 |
Headquarters | Idabel, Oklahoma |
Website | mccurtaingazettenews |
The McCurtain Gazette-News is a local newspaper published in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. Founded in Idabel, Oklahoma, in 1905, the paper gained national attention for recording and publishing audio of county officials leading to the 2023 McCurtain County, Oklahoma audio recording scandal.
The McCurtain Gazette-News was founded in Idabel, Oklahoma, in 1905 as the Idabel Signal. [1] [2] The paper has been published by Bruce Willingham and the Willingham family since 1988. [3] In 2023, the paper had a circulation of about 4,400 readers and published three issues weekly. The Gazette typically covers local events, provides district court coverage, and occasionally reprints old articles from their microfilm archives. [2]
The paper received national attention in 2023 when reporter Chris Willingham recorded, published, and reported on an audio recording of county officials discussing killing him and other controversial remarks resulting in the 2023 McCurtain County, Oklahoma audio recording scandal. [4] [5]
McCurtain County is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, its population was 30,814. Its county seat is Idabel. It was formed at statehood from part of the earlier Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory. The name honors an influential Choctaw family who lived in the area. Green McCurtain was the last chief when Oklahoma became a state in 1907.
Broken Bow is a city in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 4,120 at the 2010 census. It is named after Broken Bow, Nebraska, the former hometown of the city's founders, the Dierks brothers. Other Dierks-associated legacies in town include Dierks Elementary School, Dierks Street, and Dierks Train #227 which is preserved in Broken Bow.
Garvin is a town in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 256 at the 2010 census, compared to 143 in 2000.
Idabel is a city in and the county seat of McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 7,010 at the 2010 census. It is in Oklahoma's southeast corner, a tourist area known as Choctaw Country.
Valliant is a town in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 754 at the 2010 census.
U.S. Route 259 is a north–south spur of U.S. Route 59 that runs for 250 miles (400 km) through rural areas of northeastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma. The highway's southern terminus is near Nacogdoches, Texas, at an interchange with its parent route, US 59. Its northern terminus is in the Ouachita Mountains, approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of Heavener, Oklahoma, where it reunites with US 59. For most of its length, US 259 lies 30–50 miles (48–80 km) to the west of its parent route.
The Oklahoman is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media lists it as the 59th largest U.S. newspaper in circulation.
The Tulsa World is an American daily newspaper. It serves the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is the primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. The printed edition is the second-most circulated newspaper in the state, after The Oklahoman.
Broken Bow Lake is a reservoir in southeastern Oklahoma, located on Mountain Fork River and 9 miles (14 km) northeast of the town of Broken Bow in McCurtain County. It is one of the largest fresh water lakes within the state of Oklahoma, and a popular tourist destination for locals and visitors from neighboring Texas and Arkansas.
Otto Arthur Cargill was a prominent lawyer, author, politician and buffalo rancher during Oklahoma's early days. He was mayor of Oklahoma City April 4, 1923 - April 12, 1927.
The 2010 Oklahoma gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010, to elect the governor of Oklahoma. Due to term limits established by the Oklahoma Constitution, incumbent Democratic Governor Brad Henry couldn't seek re-election. The race had been hotly contested by both political parties, with several well-known Oklahomans announcing their candidacy up to two years before the election. This was the first time a woman challenged another woman for Governor of Oklahoma.
Rusty Farley was a Republican politician from Oklahoma. Farley was the Representative for District 1 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. House District 1 encompasses all but the far northwestern corner of McCurtain County, located in the southeastern corner of the state.
Curtis McDaniel is a U.S. politician from the state of Oklahoma. McDaniel formerly served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives on behalf of District 1, which encompasses McCurtain County and the southern portion of LeFlore County.
The University of North Carolina academic-athletic scandal involved alleged fraud and academic dishonesty committed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Following a lesser scandal that began in 2010 involving academic fraud and improper benefits with the university's football program, two hundred questionable classes offered by the university's African and Afro-American Studies department came to light. As a result, the university was placed on probation by its accrediting agency.
Hochatown, Oklahoma is a town in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States, the second to hold the name after the first was flooded by the damming of the Mountain Fork River to create Broken Bow Lake. The city lies within the Little Dixie region of Oklahoma, an area originally settled largely by Southerners seeking a new start following the Civil War.
Red River County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state. The county formed part of the Nation's Apukshunnubbee District, or Second District, one of three administrative super-regions.
Henry Lee Johnson was 15-years-old when he was fatally shot in his hometown of Idabel, Oklahoma by a white man from Arkansas. The event happened outside the segregated Black Hat Club, which was located in the Black part of town. Protests over his death the next night resulted in violence and the shooting deaths of two more men.
African Americans in Oklahoma or Black Oklahomans are residents of the state of Oklahoma who are of African American ancestry. African Americans have a rich history in Oklahoma. An estimated 7.8% of Oklahomans are Black as of the 2020 census, constituting 289,961 individuals.
The 2023 McCurtain County, Oklahoma audio recording scandal was a political scandal in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, in which multiple county officials were revealed to have made controversial remarks in an audio recording released in April 2023. The previous month, the McCurtain Gazette-News filed a lawsuit against various county officials. The same day the paper filed suit, one of its reporters left a voice-activated audio recorder in the room after a county meeting and recorded county officials discussing various controversial topics such as lynching Black people, murdering McCurtain Gazette-News reporters, and assaulting county judges.
Freeman Edwin Miller was a poet, lawyer, newspaper editor, professor, and district court judge.