The American Civil Liberties Union and several other immigrants’ rights advocates sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Thursday condemning “deplorable” conditions inside the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga.

The letter cites widespread reports of medical neglect, insufficient food, severe social deprivation and failure to provide detained people with reasonable access to their legal counsel.

“We have received dozens of harrowing reports about life inside Diamondback,” the letter states. “These accounts are strikingly consistent in the concerns they raise.”

The 2,160-bed Diamondback Correctional Facility was built in 1998. Before it reopened this year as an immigration detention center, it sat empty for 15 years. In October 2025, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and the federal government signed a 1000 million dollar contract with the private prison company CoreCivic, allowing the company to “hold noncitizens in immigration detention” at Diamondback. Two months later, the facility became operational.

“The uniformity and gravity of these complaints signal to us that ICE and its contractor CoreCivic are operating the facility with blatant disregard for the safety and legal rights of the people in their custody and care,” the letter states.

The facility’s infrastructure is potentially unfit to facilitate attorney-client visits, according to the letter. The advocates also say immigration detention is civil and not criminal in nature, meaning people at Diamondback are constitutionally entitled to conditions that do not aim to inflict punishment.

“People detained at Diamondback have also alleged that ICE officials systemically deny them reasonable access to counsel and the law library,” the letter states. “These barriers to basic legal resources undermine detained people’s constitutional rights, depriving them of fundamental fairness in their immigration proceedings.”

Travis Handler is a legal fellow for the ACLU of Oklahoma. In a press release, Handler said the Trump Administration’s policies have disregarded due process and the rights of those detained.

“We encourage all Oklahomans to hold the Department of Homeland Security and CoreCivic accountable,” Handler said in the statement. “Access to necessities like food, medical care, and legal counsel aren’t mere suggestions — they are constitutional protected rights to which all detained people are entitled.”

The letter details reports of deficient medical treatment. One detained man reported going without his prescription HIV medication for over two weeks, making him more vulnerable to HIV “progressively destroying his immune system.” Another woman reported having a urinary tract infection for over a month, despite requests for assistance.

Detained people also reported being deprived of sufficient food and clean drinking water, leading to significant weight loss, according to the letter.

The 14-page letter was signed by people from the ACLU of Oklahoma, the ACLU National Prison Project, Latitude Legal Alliance, YWCA Tulsa, Rivas & Associates law firm, University of Tulsa College of Law Legal Clinic and Council on American-Islamic Relations of Oklahoma.

It was directly addressed to two people at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the warden at Diamondback Correctional Facility, requesting a meeting with officials to discuss concerns. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections was copied on the letter, along with six federal committees and offices.

“We urge ICE not to process in any new detained noncitizens at Diamondback until it has conducted a comprehensive review and ensures the public that the facility has adequate systems in place to provide for constitutional health care, attorney access, access to outdoor recreation, and processes for swiftly effectuating voluntary departure orders,” the letter states.

You can read the full letter here.

Richard Galbraith, a revered Oklahoma concert photographer, died on Sept. 16 due to kidney and heart failure.

The Enid native befriended Larry Shaeffer of Little Wing Productions and became Cain's Ballroom's house photographer. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Galbraith documented Oklahoma’s rock, metal and country music scenes at venues like The Myriad in OKC, Boomer Theater in Norman and The Bamboo Club in Enid.

Galbraith shot dozens of bands from Van Halen to Metallica, Sex Pistols to The Police and countless others. He shared his favorite work with Tulsa People in 2024.

His photos were published in local magazines like JAM Magazine and Oklahoma Today and national and international magazines, including Vintage Guitar and Metal Hammer.

Galbraith's work also appeared on the LP sleeves of Rainbow's 1979 Down to Earth and Dio's 1983 Holy Diver, and on the covers of Richie Ranno's 1984 self-titled solo EP and Ruby Starr's Alive In '75 (Live From Winterland) album in 2023.

Dozens of previously unpublished photos of the rock band KISS were included in his 2009 book Richard Galbraith Photography Presents KISS. Additional photos appeared in Garry Sharpe-Young's books Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: The Battle for Black Sabbath (2006) and Thrash Metal (2007), Martin Popoff's Ye Olde Metal book series and dozens of others.

Tributes to Galbraith have poured in from Ronnie James Dio's estate, Bob Daisley, JAM Magazine and more.

His son, Richard Galbraith Jr., is raising funds to pay for his father’s funeral costs.

This information was first published in KOSU's music newsletter, The Spy Bulletin. You can sign up to receive local music news, ticket giveaways and concert listings in your inbox every Wednesday.

With President Donald Trump stumping in our state this evening, StateImpact's Logan Layden talked with OU political science professor Allyson Shortle about the politics of the visit.

An Oklahoma district judge found that a natural gas marketing company illegally hiked prices during Winter Storm Uri in 2021.

Marketers are the middlemen between natural gas producers and utility companies. In 2023, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed several lawsuits alleging marketers had illegally hiked natural gas prices.

According to a 2023 investigation by the attorney general’s office, the companies used a so-called short squeeze to create an unnecessary surge in natural gas prices from $3 per unit to $1200 per unit just as Oklahoma’s temperatures plummeted. At the time the suit was filed, Drummond estimated it cost Oklahomans billions of extra dollars to heat their homes during the five-day winter weather event.

Now, an Osage County Court judge has ruled one of those marketers, NextEra Energy Marketing, is responsible for artificially inflated natural gas prices.

“This ruling marks an important victory in our fight to hold NextEra accountable for the staggering prices Oklahomans were forced to pay during Winter Storm Uri,” Drummond said in a statement.

Although the judge says NextEra is liable, the court will hold a trial to determine how much NextEra must pay to compensate for the illegal cost hikes.

This ruling in state court came a week after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected NextEra’s request to move the case to federal court.

Who was that guitarist at OU’s football home opener last Friday?

Last football season, OU fans enjoyed (or endured, depending on your POV) sing-alongs to Toby Keith’s "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" between the third and fourth quarters. During the playoff game against Alabama, OU flew in 50 Cent to perform “Many Men (Wish Death),” a nod to that team’s adopted motto, “Hard to Kill.”

This season, OU is going with a fan favorite — The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” — with a twist. Garret Humann, an OU and Pride of Oklahoma alumnus, was asked to play that song’s iconic opening riff live in front of 84,000+ people on Friday night.

“Absolutely no pressure at all,” Humann said, laughing. “Stepping out in front of 80,000-plus people is just, it's kind of mind boggling. I've been there and I've done that with the marching band, but I've never had the attention solely be on me. It was just obviously super nerve-wracking, but it was a lot of fun.”

It’s not the first time Humann played guitar at a Sooners football game. In 2023, he wrote and played a guitar part for a Metallica halftime show at OU/Texas. He says that performance led to his most recent opportunity.

“The athletic department was reaching out to Brian Britt, who's the director of athletic bands at OU,” Humann said. “They were like, 'Hey, do you know anybody who plays guitar?' And he was like, 'Actually, I do know somebody.' And he recommended me and it was super nice. As soon as I could break my sworn to secrecy thing that I had going on, I immediately emailed Mr. Britt and I was like, ‘hey, thanks again for the opportunity.’ Super, super cool experience — can't really top it.”

The 23-year-old OU music graduate was almost on Owen Field in another capacity. Standing at 6 feet 5 inches tall, Humann nearly walked-on at OU as an offensive lineman before accepting a scholarship to play at UCO. After a coaching change, he quit football and transferred to OU to focus on music. That history led to Friday night being a special experience.

“Totally, I mean totally, like a full circle moment,” Humann said. “An awesome crossover.”

Local music fans know Humann as the towering lead guitarist for OKC alt-rock band daychaser., which has been active since 2023. The band’s debut album comes out in late October.

Humann says the plan is for him to be back at OU’s next home game on Sept. 19.

“I guess they're going to roll with that for the rest of the third quarter kind of things. And hopefully I can be like, ‘Hey, just let me shred a little bit.’” Humann said. “I'm not going to take it for granted either. So I'm super stoked for the opportunity and it doesn't get better than that, you know?”

The release of water from Canton Lake to Oklahoma City is scheduled to begin in mid-September.

Oklahoma is still mired in drought and triple-digit heat.

Canton Lake is currently about 1.6 feet below normal. After the water is released to Oklahoma City, the Canton Lake Association projects the lake will drop another 3 feet.

After it leaves Canton, the water journeys about 100 miles down the North Canadian River to reach Lake Hefner. Along the way, about 30-40% of the water is expected to evaporate or soak into the riverbed and banks.

The Oklahoma Water Resources Board voted on a release request from Oklahoma City just before Labor Day weekend. The release is currently planned for Sept. 17, according to a spokeswoman for Oklahoma City, “as recommended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”

The Corps manages the dam at Canton Lake.

Lake Hefner stores about 40% of OKC's drinking water, and its levels have been steadily dropping because of hot and dry weather.

Oklahoma City has drawn from Canton Lake before in 2013, 2022 and 2024.

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 26,000 people signed a Change.org petition demanding more transparency and fewer rate increases from Public Service Company of Oklahoma. The petition was started by Tulsa resident Raelynn McMurchy, who wrote the increases are unsustainable.

"Electricity is an essential utility, yet it's turned into a financial burden that so many of us in Tulsa can't ignore," McMurchy said. "The rising costs are hurting our community, and stress is mounting for families."

Oklahomans are living through one of the hottest summers on record and report seeing higher electricity bills as they keep their homes cool. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which oversees utilities, is reviewing a pending PSO rate case. In the meantime, customers are paying a temporary increase of $11.

A response from the commission published on the petition's website showed the regulators acknowledged the concerns but won't consider the customers' demands during the case.

"Because the current PSO rate case is still pending, the merits of this petition will not be addressed at this time, but it should not be interpreted as a lack of concern about the impact utility costs have on Oklahomans," the commission wrote.

"Oklahoma's three elected Corporation Commissioners will ultimately reach a decision in the pending PSO rate case based upon the evidence, testimony and official record developed through the commission's public regulatory process."

Dozens of residents responded to the petition saying they are paying several hundred dollars more than usual. Some compared their electricity bills to the price of rent or said they were choosing between utility bills and other essentials.

"[Our] bill was $570 this month," one comment reads. "We live in a double wide. Which do we choose? Food, rent, car payment or electricity this month?"

PSO spokesperson Matt Rahn said in an email the company is aware of the petition and that concerns over rising costs would be considered in the regulatory process.

"As part of that process, PSO supports a settlement that would reduce the residential bill impact from 15% to 1%," he said. "PSO has also asked commissioners to approve a large load tariff that would require major new energy users to pay the costs of serving their needs, ensuring long term affordability for all customers."

"Similar approaches have been implemented in other jurisdictions, including Indiana, where one utility recently announced a residential rate reduction."

The Muscogee National Council approved a minimum wage increase for tribal employees on Saturday, which will grow to $20 per hour over the next two years.

Tribal employees, except those working for the Muscogee Nation Department of Health, OneFire Holding Company and gaming ventures, will see gradual wage increases in the next three fiscal years.

The tribe’s current minimum wage is $15. It’ll be $16.67 this October, $18 next year and $20 starting on Oct. 1, 2028. Meanwhile, hourly full-time workers will receive a $5 wage increase amounting to around $10,400 per year.

To accommodate those raises, $52.5 million in funding will be split over the three-year period.

Tvlse Rep. Lucian Tiger authored the legislation, which was approved by the council 11-3 during its regular session. Tiger said it should help the tribe retain employees.

“That's something that we should be proud of as a nation, to be able to take care of our employees,” Tiger told the council. “We lose a lot of employees because of pay. We have a hard time with retention because everyone in the room, I'm sure, can agree that money goes a long ways.”

Second Speaker Thomasene Osborn voted against the bill. She said she felt the tribe wasn’t ready to consider the increases because it has other pressing issues.

“If this legislation is approved today, it could throw finance into chaos because we haven't approved our budgets yet,” Osborn said Saturday. “I do support an increase, but I just feel like right now that we have a lot of issues that we're trying to tackle.”

Muscogee Principal Chief David Hill said he supports wage increases.

“I truly do support increases for our employees. They do a lot of work and we are behind,” Hill said. “I know (Tribal Administrator Shane G. Holuby) has been working with HR to try to get where we can, where we need to be paying our employees what they should.”

The tribe last increased its minimum wage from $10.15 to $15.00 in 2023.

Oklahoma’s minimum wage is $7.25, the same as the federal minimum wage. That number hasn’t increased since 2009.

In June, Oklahoma voters rejected increasing the wage to $15 an hour.

Before he helps a customer choose a baked good from behind the counter at his bakery and café in Edmond, Dale Trujillo asks whether they have any allergies.

Recently, more and more people have been saying that they have alpha-gal syndrome.

Trujillo knows exactly what they are talking about. His wife, Rebecca Schuckman, was diagnosed with the same tick-borne condition in late 2024. She can’t eat beef, dairy or other mammalian products without having a severe allergic reaction.

For Trujillo, who opened No Cow Bakery & Café last year to create an allergy-friendly restaurant, accommodating customers with alpha-gal hasn’t been difficult. The bacon that goes in his signature breakfast burritos, for example, is prepared and cooked separately from other ingredients, with no chance of cross-contamination.

“That's what we're building the business on,” he said. “You can walk in here and not worry.”

Still, he knows how challenging it can be to see your loved one’s dining options shrink, especially when alpha-gal syndrome is added to an existing list of allergies. The couple used to dine out together, but now that Schuckman has been diagnosed with alpha-gal, she prefers to eat at home.

“It was a mental thing for her,” Trujillo said. “We found a couple of restaurants that she could go to. That's taken away from her now completely.”

Schuckman is one of many Oklahomans living with alpha-gal syndrome — a condition that existed relatively under the radar for years. Now, restaurant owners like Trujillo, doctors, researchers and lawmakers are taking notice and trying to adapt.

What is alpha-gal syndrome?

Most cases of alpha-gal syndrome start with a bite from a lone star tick, which can transfer trace amounts of the alpha-gal sugar molecule through its saliva, according to Tulsa-based dermatologist Dr. George Monks.

“Once [the ticks] bite you and they have this sugar molecule on their mouthparts, it induces your immune system to produce these antibodies against the sugar,” he said. “And so then later exposure to these mammal products triggers this allergic reaction.”

Cows, pigs and some other animals produce the sugar, so it can be difficult to avoid. Monks said allergic reactions can vary from stomach pain and diarrhea to anaphylaxis and swelling.

“I think over the last 5 or 10 years, we've realized, ‘Hey, this is something that quite a few people suffer from,’” Monks said. “It's definitely underdiagnosed and it seems to be increasing.”

Now, the condition is gaining national attention, especially because of its prevalence in the popular vacation destination Martha's Vineyard.

Unlike typical allergies, the reaction caused by alpha-gal syndrome is delayed, sometimes beginning hours after a person ate or was exposed to alpha-gal triggers. That’s one reason Monks thinks the medical community took a while to catch up.

It took Schuckman months to get diagnosed after she was bitten by a handful of ticks while doing yardwork. She started taking antibiotics for Lyme disease but remained sick. It took visits with multiple different doctors before one suggested she take the blood test needed to diagnose alpha-gal syndrome, she said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates as many as 450,000 Americans are living with alpha-gal syndrome. The agency also reports that emergency department visits due to tick bites have surged to their highest level in nearly a decade.

“I'm seeing more and more patients that have this condition and it's really impacting their life,” Monks said.

Monks said he expects there will be a high prevalence of alpha-gal syndrome cases that impact people’s normal routines in Oklahoma because being outdoors is a large part of the state’s culture. That’s particularly true for people raising livestock that also produce the alpha-gal sugar.

Why Oklahoma?

The lone star tick gets its name from the distinctive white dot on the back of the adult female tick. The arthropod is most common in the southern and eastern United States, where moist leaf litter creates ideal breeding habitats.

But the tick has been encroaching inward in Oklahoma since the mid-80s, according to Bruce Noden, a medical veterinary entomologist who studies vector-borne illnesses at Oklahoma State University. He and OSU ecologist Scott Loss set out to figure out why.

“I started asking the question, how does a tick like this actually survive in western Oklahoma?” Noden said. “And you start driving around out there, and you go, ‘boy, there's a lot of these Christmas trees, I wonder if that has something to do with it?’ And sure enough, they were loaded.”

Noden has found thousands of ticks under a single eastern red cedar tree, which is an invasive species that has spread into Oklahoma’s grasslands. White-tailed deer carry the ticks westward, where they drop off into the cedar habitats, forming what Noden calls “islands of ticks.”

According to Loss, deer and birds have carried ticks for as long as the three species have existed, but the likelihood of the ticks surviving and establishing an ecosystem in drier climates used to be lower.

“The eastern red cedar coming into the equation and providing the right type of habitat, the right type of humidity conditions, the temperature conditions, the availability of wildlife that use the habitat, is allowing these ticks to now become established and spread, unlike in the past,” he said.

Lone star ticks sense carbon dioxide to determine when a new host is close enough to grab onto. The ticks can carry multiple diseases, including Bourbon virus, ehrlichiosis and Heartland virus disease, depending on whether their last meal came from an infected animal.

Meanwhile, Noden said, all lone star ticks have alpha-gal sugar in their saliva, so contracting the condition isn’t dependent on the tick’s feeding habits. Researchers don’t know why some people end up with alpha-gal syndrome, and others don’t, but repeated bites or preexisting autoimmune disorders may make a person more susceptible.

Tracking the condition

In November, Oklahoma laboratories and doctors will be required to notify state health authorities of each positive test for a marker of the syndrome. More than a dozen other states have similar mandatory reporting requirements.

Alpha-gal awareness groups have been advocating for states to take action because the federal government doesn’t currently require the condition be reported.

The new tracking law was brought forward by Sen. Brenda Stanley, R-Oklahoma City. Stanley said she hadn’t heard of the condition before the national advocacy nonprofit Alpha-gal Alliance Action Fund approached her to sponsor the legislation. But after doing some research, she thought the state should start tracking its prevalence. Since then, she said she’s had many people reach out to tell her about their experience with alpha-gal syndrome.

“I think once we see how many cases we have, people will see ‘I'm not alone,’” Stanley said. “I think that's the hardest thing with any health issue, to make sure that you are not the only one. And other people understand what you're going through, and that just makes fighting a disease easier when you're not by yourself.”

The measure requires alpha-gal syndrome to be added to the State Department of Health’s published list of reportable diseases and conditions, and to be reported according to rules set by the commissioner. According to the Department of Health, doctors and physicians will be required to report positive lab results from the alpha-gal syndrome blood test.

Some researchers, including Noden, said they are glad Oklahoma is creating mandatory reporting requirements, but there are a few missing pieces in the state’s approach.

“The law really covers only the people that are positive,” Noden said. “For us to understand if it is increasing or not, we need to understand how many people were tested.”

Noden said that without a “denominator” of total tests administered, there will be no way to track prevalence over time. Additionally, the law does not require medical professionals to report symptomatic reactions along with a positive blood test result, which Noden worries may inflate the number of people suffering from alpha-gal syndrome. Many people may test positive for the high antibody levels associated with the condition, but won’t have a symptomatic reaction to mammalian products.

Stanley said she would be open to sponsoring future legislation related to alpha-gal tracking that could address researchers’ concerns.

Living with alpha-gal syndrome

Schuckman is optimistic that more people will recognize the impact of alpha-gal syndrome as researchers, lawmakers and community members keep talking about the condition, which she said medical providers have long diminished.

“Just being heard,” she said. “I think that's what's really important to me for anybody who has this. You aren't losing your mind, you are not whining, you are not a hypochondriac — you are having these symptoms.”

She was surprised by her diagnosis, but now she hopes that more people will take precautions to protect themselves and prevent tick bites while they’re outside.

Her husband, Trujillo, said he plans to keep creating a place where people with dietary restrictions can eat out without worrying about getting sick, to support his wife and other Oklahomans with alpha-gal syndrome.

The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association changed a controversial rule regarding student athletes.

The organization, which governs activities like school sports and band, announced the changes in a news release Thursday.

Rule 24, or the "Linked Rule," required most students to sit out for a year of athletics if they transfer to a district they do not live in. It was intended to keep students from following a coach to a new school district.

The organization, made up of 484 member schools across the state, passed a change excepting students who return to their home district of residence. Now, a student who attended a school outside of their home district may return to their district and play any sport except for the one played at their previous school.

The new updates take effect July 1, 2027.

A bill passed this spring removed a state law that enshrined the Link Rule. At the time, Gov. Kevin Stitt said it would end penalizing student athletes for transferring schools. But the OSSAA said repealing the rule was up to the organization.

As evidenced by its decision, member schools declined to do so.

Stitt has voiced his disapproval of the organization in the past, calling for the abolition of the OSSAA in his State of the State speech.

A spokesperson for the governor's office did not have a response ready by the time of publication.

A legal battle in 2025 brought the issue to a head when four Glencoe students sued the OSSAA to allow them to play on a basketball team. The organization enforced the rule, saying the boys had followed a coach to the district. In September, a Payne County judge ruled the students could play.

In addition to the Linked Rule changes, the organization announced other updates, mostly regarding academic eligibility.

For instance, seniors must pass all classes to remain eligible, rather than only classes required for graduation. All students must pass all classes from the previous semester, rather than five subjects, to remain eligible. And ineligible students may regain eligibility after three weeks of passing all classes, instead of six.

According to the news release, the changes were developed through a 16-member Rules Review Committee made up of school leadership from across the state. The committee is conducting a "systematic review" of all OSSAA rules.

After approval from the OSSAA Board of Directors, the changes were sent to all member schools for a vote.

"Rules governing high school activities directly impact students' futures, which is why the process for reviewing and changing them must be thoughtful and transparent," OSSAA Executive Director David Jackson said in a release. "Regulating such a diverse set of schools is no easy task, and we know fairness is a key concern, which is why OSSAA's governing structure outlines that member schools from across the state all have a voice in these decisions."

According to the release, the Rules Review Committee will continue to meet monthly through December to review the organization's remaining rules.

The archive of legendary country entertainer and musician Roy Clark has been donated to The Church Studio in Tulsa.

“Roy loved music, but just as much, he loved being around other musicians. He was happiest when he was playing, sharing stories, and enjoying the company of people who loved music as much as he did,” Barbara Clark, the widow of Roy Clark, said in a news release. “That is what feels so right about The Church Studio. It is a place where music is still being made every day.”

Clark was a multi-instrumentalist, known for his skill on guitar, banjo, mandolin and fiddle. A member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry, he was also the co-host of the variety television show Hee Haw for nearly 25 years. Clark, who died in 2018, was born in Virginia but called Tulsa home for five decades starting in 1974.

The Roy Clark Archive includes photographs, awards, concert posters, wardrobe, memorabilia and instruments. Selected pieces will be unveiled at a press conference this fall, along with details about the archive’s documentation, preservation and future exhibition.

“Our family wanted Roy’s collection to remain together, to be cared for with love and to be shared with people who truly understand what music meant to him,” Barbara Clark said. “I believe Roy would be very happy knowing that his instruments, memories and life’s work will have a permanent home there, surrounded by musicians and music.”

For decades, community-based organizations have been on the front lines of providing HIV prevention, receiving funding directly from the federal government. Now, the Trump administration is changing course.

When Theodore Noel was a school-based service counselor in Oklahoma City, he noticed a pattern. Many students with behavioral issues or who were chronically absent had family members living with HIV. Some saw their diagnosis progress to AIDS because they weren't receiving treatment.

Noel wanted to address these disparities. So, in 1999, he created Guiding Right – a public health nonprofit headquartered in Oklahoma City that offers free services like HIV and STI testing, counseling, case management and condom distribution.

Part of that work is funded by a federal cooperative agreement for community-based organizations, from which Guiding Right has received support since 2002. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) covers approximately 1,000 HIV tests annually, STI screenings and four employee salaries. It pays for access to PrEP, an HIV-prevention medication, and education about it. It also funds HIV testing, counseling and education at Langston University.

Guiding Right's primary service population under the funding stream is Black, gay male individuals. Black Oklahomans made up 24.2% of new HIV diagnoses in 2024, despite comprising only 8% of the state's population.

In a 2020 announcement for the five-year funding opportunity, the federal agency recognized groups like Guiding Right as important partners "because of their accessibility, history, and credibility in the community." Noel said the providers are a beacon in their community – especially to individuals who are high-risk for contracting HIV and don't have a connection to the formal healthcare system.

But the direct funding to community-based organizations will not be renewed for the first time in several decades. Instead, the CDC has made supplemental funding for HIV prevention available to state and local health departments. Eligible applicants are encouraged to support community-based organizations, but it isn't mandatory.

The change, which reportedly came from the Office of Management and Budget, leaves Guiding Right and 95 other community-based organizations on the edge of a financial cliff with no warning or reason. The agency, which helps implement the president's priorities through budgetary measures, did not respond to a request for comment.

Since 2021, Guiding Right has received over $2 million under the cooperative agreement. It got a temporary $110,000 extension through the end of September "at the eleventh hour."

"It's one thing if I wrote a grant, and it just wasn't a good grant, it wasn't accepted. I can live with that," Noel said. "But the federal government saying, 'No, these funds are just going to go away. It is going to be redirected,' then that's kind of a slap in the face."

Lindsey Dawson, associate director of HIV policy at the independent health policy group KFF, said although the Trump administration hasn't been explicit about the reason for the funding shift, it aligns with other changes affecting transgender individuals and people of color. These populations are impacted disproportionately by HIV and are often reached by community-based organizations.

President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders disputing the concept of gender identity, and his administration has worked to reduce funding directed at individuals or groups based on race and ethnicity.

Dawson said it is also worth noting this change comes as Trump continues an initiative his first administration started to reduce the number of new HIV infections in the U.S. by at least 90% by 2030. The goal, which he championed in his 2019 State of the Union address, is further contradicted by proposals to eliminate funding for several HIV programs in the first two budgets of his second term.

"Pulling back prevention funding could certainly make it harder to achieve goals related to that initiative," Dawson said.

CDC guidance lists 59 state and local health departments as eligible for supplemental funding. It outlines anticipated award amounts for each department, ranging from under $300,000 to more than $11 million through May 31, 2027.

In some cases, health departments are expected to get less money than their states' community-based organizations received. If they do allocate funding to these groups, it will likely be less robust and efficient, Dawson said.

"When we're looking at this whole period of funding, we're talking about over $200 million that went to community organizations. And some of these went to quite well-resourced organizations," Dawson said. "But some of this funding went to smaller organizations for whom these grants would make up a considerable share of their revenue."

The Oklahoma State Department of Health did apply for the new supplemental funding opportunity, said spokesperson Erica Rankin-Riley. It is anticipated to receive more than $1 million, according to the guidance.

The CDC encourages recipients to set aside a minimum of 10% of the funding for community-based organizations to provide, enhance and expand HIV testing and PrEP services.

Eligible parties in Ending the HIV Epidemic jurisdictions – which focus on areas or states with high HIV burden – are encouraged to provide a minimum of 25% to community-based organizations. Oklahoma is a priority state because rural parts of the state have disproportionately high rates of HIV.

The State Department of Health developed its application based on the updated guidance. Rankin-Riley said funding allocations have not been finalized because Oklahoma has not yet received an award notice. She added the guidance does not identify the new award as replacement funding for community-based organizations.

About 37% of the state's anticipated award amount would have to go to Guiding Right to maintain its current service level.

Without funding, Guiding Right would lose support for several prevention services and the salaries of four full-time roles, President and CEO Noel said. That includes two HIV testers, a linkage coordinator, and a PrEP Navigator who also helps with HIV testing, as well as funding for part of Noel's work.

Noel said he and his finance administrator have worked to see if they could make up for what they're set to lose and retain those employees. He said, unfortunately, there will be one he can't save.

"That's heartbreaking – I get emotional just thinking about it," Noel said. "They are committed to the work that they do; they're committed to Guiding Right, they're great ambassadors of Guiding Right."

Guiding Right has one location in Tulsa and three in Oklahoma City, including a clinic it started in 2021, nestled behind a gay bar. Noel opened the clinic based on community need – especially for patients newly diagnosed with HIV.

"They had to wait two or three months to be seen by a provider," Noel said. "Unacceptable, totally unacceptable*.*"

Now, patients can access everything in one place, including medications at the clinic's onsite pharmacy.

"I love Guiding Right because it helps our community, and it serves the [underserved] population and the population that gets overlooked," said lead clinical case manager Sharitta Brown. "They can have all their services here. And it touches everything medically, like case management, treatment, the clinic, the pharmacy. It does exactly what it's supposed to do."

On a Thursday in August, the clinic was alive with providers and patients. Their work continues despite the funding uncertainty.

Patients like 21-year-old Rowan are thankful for Guiding Right. Rowan, who asked to be identified by his first name because he discussed sexual health, has come to Guiding Right for a year. He said he used to have panic attacks because he was worried he might test positive for an STI. Now he can access care and medication.

He said he appreciates that Guiding Right prioritizes hiring people of color, and they helped him feel comfortable opening up about his health and identity.

"They'll be sure to check up on you – not only with your weight, your health, your mental state, but also just make sure that you are doing okay as a whole," Rowan said.

Noel said that's what the community stands to lose – culturally competent care that benefits those who need it most.

"The populations that we serve, they are very distrusting. 'Are you the police? What are you doing? Are you from the health department?' Or 'I might not have legal status.' We don't care about all of that. We're just here to provide the services: risk reduction, HIV testing, if you are positive, linking you into treatment and care. That's the biggest thing," Noel said.

"Community-based organizations, we're able to do things that a health department just can't."