OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City residents and neighbors have been invited to check out the $17.5 million state-of-the-art Willa D. Johnson Recreation Center, which recently opened at 909 Fredrick Douglass Ave. It's the first multigenerational recreation center built by the city in more than 40 years and is named after former Ward 7 Councilwoman Johnson. At more than 38,000 square feet, the center includes a fitness area, lounge, multipurpose rooms, gym and teaching kitchen. There is also a 3,800-square-foot pool with three lap lanes, current channel and zero-depth beach entry with a water playground.

https://journalrecord.com/2023/09/10/willa-d-johnson-recreation-center-opens

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Editor's note: This article has been edited for length to run in The Journal Record. An unedited version can be found online at oklahahomawatch.org . Pottawatomie County jail officials apparently defied state laws and a judge's order when they concealed information on the unexplained deaths of seven vulnerable detainees. All seven people arrived at the jail with medical and mental health or substance use complications that required care. None of them made it home alive. Most of their families still don't know why.

https://journalrecord.com/2023/09/10/cover-up-alleged-in-pottawatomie-county-jail-deaths/

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Change is coming to a southeast Oklahoma private prison plagued with violence and staffing shortages, but advocates for corrections staff and prisoners say further efforts are needed to improve conditions. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections will take control of the Davis Correctional Facility, a medium- to maximum-security prison in Holdenville, on Oct. 1. CoreCivic, a Tennessee-based private corrections company, has owned and operated the prison since it opened in 1996. The state pays CoreCivic $55 per day for medium-security prisoners and $68 per day for prisoners in maximum-security and behavior-modification units.

https://journalrecord.com/2023/09/03/oklahoma-moves-closer-to-eliminating-private-prisons

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According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, there have been nearly 1,000 accidental overdose deaths related to opioids reported annually in recent years. (Photo by www.testen.no on Unsplash) Aug. 31 was National Overdose Awareness Day, but for countless people in Oklahoma – certainly for those who have experienced overdose or witnessed it firsthand or who have been called upon to intervene to try to save the life of an overdose victim – there was no need to heighten awareness. Consider the staggering facts: • Opioid overdoses continue to rise in Oklahoma, with most fatal overdoses resulting from fentanyl.

https://journalrecord.com/2023/09/03/tragic-overdose-realities-all-too-real-for-many-oklahomans/

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Federal and state authorities in New Mexico carried out raids in towns around the state recently, searching for evidence to link the Bandidos Motorcycle Club to a racketeering conspiracy and other crimes. FBI and state police units executed search warrants targeting 25 alleged biker gang members. Federal court records state that the investigation comes as the Bandidos allegedly intensify their search for rivals to kill or seriously injure. Informants have told authorities that Bandidos leadership is concerned about looking weak for not avenging the shooting deaths of two members in May during a motorcycle rally in Red River.

https://journalrecord.com/2023/09/03/motorcycle-club-rivalries-spark-rising-concern/

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