Two Voices on Sharia Law in Oklahoma Courts

By:
Jesika Byerly
Renae Powers

The legislature’s Counterterrorism Caucus worries about Islamic Law in America’s courts. The caucus brought the founder of the Center for Security, Frank Gaffney, to Oklahoma City to discuss what he feels are the dangers.

“That is a fight against a doctrine that is our generation’s most serious, and I believe most potential, mortal peril. The adherence to it: call it, Sharia,” Gaffney says.

In 2010, Oklahoma voters approved an amendment barring Sharia Law in the state, but the courts overturned it. Gaffney prays for the legislature to fix the problems that were ruled unconstitutional.

A bill to ban foreign laws from the state consideration has cleared both houses. It has been sent to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin’s desk and is waiting for her signature.

Oklahoma Legislature website: http://www.oklegislature.gov/index.aspx

Full video of the Counterterrorism Caucus of Oklahoma Legislature’s press conference:

Article on judge overturning the approved amendment in 2010: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/08/oklahoma-sharia-law-struck-down-_n_780632.html

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The Oklahoma Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relation opposes the Counterterrorism Caucus, which it says is based on fear.

Adam Soltani, Executive Director of CAIR Oklahoma, says that the bill is trying to convince Oklahomans that Oklahoma Muslims are here to do things other than abiding by the law. Soltani says this is far from the truth. He says they're trying to create fear that is unnecessary.

Soltani says Sharia Law requires following the law of the land.

He expects the measure, if passed, could be subject to legal challenges. He says objections would be similar to those that overturned the anti-Sharia law state constitutional amendment.

CAIR asked Muslims and other to ask Governor Fallin to veto the bill. Soltani says to NewsOk that his organization has no ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

For more on what Soltani and others had to say to NewsOk, here's a complete article:

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-governor-urged-to-sign-revised-sharia-law-measure/article/3785689

Tulsa Newest Professional Team

By: J.L. Calderwood 

The city of Tulsa is welcoming their newest professional team. The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) has expanded its league in 2013 and Tulsa will have a team this year.

The Tulsa Athletics is now just one of 61 amateur and professional teams that will make up the NPSL. Their first game will be on May 18 when they play host to the Liverpool Warriors at old Drillers Stadium.

This will be Tulsa’s first professional game to be played at old Drillers Stadium since the Roughnecks called Tulsa home. Their last game was played on July 13, 1985. 

Co-owners Sonny Dalegandro and Dr. Tommy Kern goal is to generate a lot of public interest in soccer so that Major League Soccer (MLS) has no choice but to bring a professional team to Tulsa.

What is something unique about the NPSL is that not only professional will be able to play in the league but those that are in high school and college are able to be on teams as well. This is one of the only professional leagues that will allow high school or college aged kids to play with the professionals and still remain eligible for their school teams. 

Spring Awakening Show Not for Children

By Jesika Byerly, Renae Powers and Dustin Duvall

The University Of Tulsa’s theater group is getting ready for their production of Spring Awakening. They play’s costume designer Ashley Bellet told us what the audience can expect.

Bellet says that Duncan Sheik wrote the music for the play. She says the setting of production is the turn of the century during the 1890s. 

“If you want to see a show where the cast is having a blast on stage, this is a great one because they’re head banging and rocking out," Bellet says. "If the performers are enjoying it, the audience is enjoying it.”

University of Tulsa student reacts to increase in homicide rate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6-B4pTUO28

By Lauren Nehf and Laura Yeradi

We interviewed a University of Tulsa student for her reaction to the rising homicide rate in the city of Tulsa. Already in 2013, the homicide rate is 24, which is more than half of the total homicide count in 2012.

Visit the Tulsa World link for their report: http://www.tulsaworld.com/article.aspx/Tulsa_homicides_at_24_more_than_half_of_2012_already/20130409_11_A1_CUTLIN736201

Race Fans Welcome the Reopening of Live Racing at Fair Meadows

By J.L. Calderwood

Live racing at Fair Meadows is only two months away, and thanks to recent developments, people can actually enjoy racing again in Tulsa—including my roommate and myself.

We are happy with the decision to have live racing for the 2013 season. We enjoy going there and watching the horses while also enjoying each other’s company. We have a fascination with these animals and watching them do something pretty amazing. 

But this season was almost lost thanks to a vote that occurred late in 2012.

Last November, according to the Tulsa World, the Tulsa County fair board voted unanimously to sign a multi-year naming-rights agreement with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. This would have ended racing at Fair Meadows.

But a special meeting of the fair board was held on December 12, the Tulsa World reported,to get live racing scheduled for 2013. During that meeting the fair board rescinded the vote to cancel the 2013 racing season.

“When confronted with this new information, it was imperative to take aggressive and timely action,” said County Commissioner and fair board Chairman Fred Perry. “I believe it is appropriate to follow the terms of the agreements regarding the 2013 race meeting, which is why I have requested a special meeting to address the issue.” 

Fair Meadows has released their schedule for the 2013 season. The first race will be held Saturday, June 8, and the final race will be Friday, August 2. Night races are scheduled Thursday-Sunday, as well as two races on Wednesday, June 19 and July 3. 

Interview with Freshman TU Soccer Player Christian Mata

TU seniors Bonnie Garden and Nicholas Graham interviewed freshman Cristian Mata about his first year as a student-athlete in college. See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVFd4m6ur9o

In-class Digital Journalism Workshop: Producing News Stories for the Web

Today's assignment is simple: Use the next hour to create and produce a short web-based news or feature story for this site, Tulsa Street Stories.

The purpose of the assignment is for you to learn more about blogging and multimedia journalism using this site and other digital technologies, such as Storify, Ustream and others we discussed last week. Or you might use Vine, the six-second video app that is popular on smart phones. Whatever you decide, add your content—or a link to the content—on this site.

As an experiment, I signed on to Ustream yesterday and made a short video about social media use and the AP Stylebook. It's very basic, but it's an easy example of the kind of thing that you can do in a short time. If you want to use Ustream, I can supply you with the password for the Tulsa Street Stories channel.

You'll have to work fast to produce this story and upload it by 4:45, but this is a do-able project. You can use your own laptop, tablet or phone to make photos, audio or video. Remember, this is a journalism class, so you should tell a short, but interesting story of some kind.

Some suggestions for stories:

• TU unveiled a statute of TU football player Glenn Dobbs on Saturday. There's information online about Dobbs and the statue. The state itself is only a short walk away so you can easily make images.

• Tulsa is hosting a number of concerts and performances this spring. Write an advance for one of these performances and add links or other digital content to make a multimedia story.

• Head to the coffee shop at McFarlin Library. Interview a student about his or her summer plans, recent spring break experiences, graduation plans, etc.

• Use your imagination. Be creative. Any sort of idea can work, but it needs to be something  interesting.

AP Stylebook Advice on Social Media

This is my first experiment using Ustream as a digital journalism tool on the blog. Ustream is free at the basic level, so there's an ad here, but it seems to be an easy way for student journalists to use digital technology to produce web-based video. This message was recorded, of course, but Ustream allows journalists to go live, which has a lot of possibilities for breaking news or other types of programming.

This Land Radio: Documentary Radio from Oklahoma

From the audio team at Tulsa's This Land Press, here's the first installment of This Land Radio. Check it out.

Sound Experiment: A Hip Musical Clip from Soundcloud

Here's a short, fun sound piece I found on Soundcloud. Just posting it to practice doing some new things on the blog. Enjoy.

Boomtown Tees Brings Tulsa Pride to Downtown

 By Bonnie Garden

Downtown Tulsa has a growing number of shops and boutiques that cater to the young and hip. If you have been to restaurants such as El Guapo, The Max or Joe Momma's, you might have walked by some of these shops and not even noticed.

Boomtown Tees was started three years ago on Elgin, right next to Joe Momma's. The store sells T-shirts designed by local artists as well as local music and art by the the employees.

Boomtown Tees also gives customers the option of designing their own shirts and having Boomtown screen print them for you. I spoke with Cheryl Quetone, who told me how the business began.

"It started with just a T-shirt booth at local shows in Tulsa, and once my boss saw that it was successful, he decided to set up shop," Quetone said.

If you're like me and love to show off your Tulsa pride, this is the place. To see some of their tees, check out their website here.

The Joy of Verbs: Studio Tulsa's Interview with Word Guru Constance Hale

Verbs make the language move. They bring strength and power to writing. They need to be used carefully and well. 

That's among the messages you can find in Constance Hale's recent book, Vex, Hex, Smash, Smoosh, a book about verbs.

We learned about the book this week when Studio Tulsa replayed an interview with Hale. Hale, it turns out, is a funny lady who knows her verbs. She knows the rules and she knows when to break them. She's worth a listen.

A link to the interview with host Rich Fisher can be found here.

Resources for Digital Journalists: Some Links

By John Coward

Audio producers Abby Wendle and Sarah Geis of This Land visited the News Gathering class earlier this month, talking about their work and inspiring the students with some gripping audio interviews.

They also told us about some of the resources available for student journalists aiming to do more audio production. Here are links to a couple of those resources, which students are encouraged to check out and use.

One of the most useful is transom.org. Another is SoundCloud.com.

Dining in Tulsa's Brady Arts District: The Tavern

By Renae Powers

My husband Tyler and I love The Tavern, a wonderful restaurant in Tulsa's Brady Arts District, just north of downtown. 

The Tavern occupies a corner on North Main and Brady. The looks might fool you. The lights are dim inside, with two levels of candle-lit tables. The servers are in business casual attire (no aprons) but the atmosphere is casual. Their food and service: exceptional.

We went to The Tavern on Monday evening around 6 p.m. There were about six groups dining. One of them a table of businessmen that looked like they just got off work and another was a round table of older women celebrating one of their birthdays with laughs, gifts and cocktails.

Throughout the evening, I tried to catch snippets of conversations wherever I could, but the clinking of silverware and glasses blocked them out. The only word I could get from the ladies was “beer.”

Tyler and I started our evening with the deviled egg trifecta. It’s three different kinds of deviled eggs that come in pairs so there’s no need to fight over them. The traditional, wasabi, and bacon renditions are placed on a bed of greens. The colors are naturally vibrant I didn’t even turn on my flash for the photo. 

After finishing our dinner, our waitress drops off the check which is paper clipped to the back of a sienna-filtered postcard. I didn’t have to ask about the picture on the front because I instantly recognized it as the far wall of The Tavern. 

Tyler and I sat to the right of the postcard.  I recommend everyone tries Tavern. It will not disappoint.

The Power of Audio Journalism from This Land

Abby Wendle, left, and Sarah Geis, audio producers from Tulsa's This Land Press, played some examples of their audio reporting to the news gathering class Thursday, March 14. In the foreground on the right is TU student J. L. Calderwood and, center, Lauren Nehf.

Check out some of the This Land audio with a click here.