Dave Morris NewsOK.com Blogging Community

Apple's iPhone went on sale this morning. The first person in the world to buy an iPhone was 22-year-old Auckland student Jonny Gladwell, who queued in freezing temperatures in New Zealand for around 60 hours to be the first to buy it, at a minute past midnight over there.

Locally, the Apple store at Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City had quite the crowd this morning. So did the AT&T stores on Memorial Road in NW Oklahoma City. You can purchase the iPhone from the Apple stores or from the AT&T stores.

Or online at Apple.com, which had a few malfunctions this week with its new data synching service. Some users were denied access to their accounts as Apple transitioned from .Mac to the MobieMe service.

Second thing to know. You should really not like this guy (I'm very much kidding). Or at least really, really envy him. He's Sam Presti, the 31 year old General Manager of the Oklahoma City NBA franchise. He impressed The Oklahoman's Mike Sherman and Berry Tramel as he spoke to the local media for the first time. You can watch Sherm and Tram's take and the entire press conference, online at NewsOK.

And finally, RockLahoma continues in Pryor, Oklahoma. Imagine yourself surrounded by thousands of your sweatiest, perhaps dirtiest friends, all hand banging to some classic 80s hair metal. Mmmm..... The five day event continues through Sunday. The Oklahoman's Matthew Strasen filed these photos from the festival. Looks like fun. Today's headliners are Triumph, Extreme, Night Ranger and Living Colour. Talk about your Cult of Personality.

- The Oklahoman's Wendy Kleinman reports new Oklahoma City Superintendent Karl Springer signed on Monday to join the district under a one-year contract at his request, saying he wants to be subject to the same treatment and evaluation as teachers. Springer, a former teacher, has been the superintendent of Mustang Public Schools since 1999, and has been working in Oklahoma schools since 1977.

- The Oklahoma City NBA franchise opened its summer league season yesterday in Orlando, losing to Indiana but sporting black jerseys with Oklahoma City on the front. The Oklahoman left voice mail with Seattle judge Marsha Pechman about how she would have ruled before the settlement was reached last week. Monday she delivered a response through a law clerk. "She is not going to reveal how she would have ruled,” the law clerk said.

- A cold front moved slowly overnight, bringing a chance of rain today and Wednesday in most of Oklahoma. Today in OKC: Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 90s. Southerly winds 10 to 15 mph. Twenty percent chance of thunderstorms. That increases to a 50 percent chance of storms tonight.

Where the Seattle Supersonics will play basketball next year could be decided by 6 p.m. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman is scheduled to release a ruling then on whether the Sonics must stay in Seattle two more seasons or be allowed to move to Oklahoma City. Stay with NewsOK for the very latest updates.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. announced Tuesday a joint venture in the Haynesville Shale natural gas field that will make the Oklahoma City-company more than $3 billion.

The tornado-ravaged town of Picher appointed a new mayor Tuesday. Tim Reeves inherits a town that at the beginning of his term is looking for ways to close down for good.

The Mayo Hotel in Tulsa, a once-proud landmark turned eyesore, is getting a long-awaited makeover that will result in 72 apartments and 100 hotel rooms being added to downtown.

In OKC today: Mostly sunny. High near 94. South-southwest winds 11 to 18 mph, gusting to 25 mph.

So I did.

Angi and I had a 9 a.m. shoot at McNellie’s Pub, which just opened a few days ago. It’s in the Midtown part of Oklahoma City, just north of downtown at NW 10 and Walker. It’s in the old Plaza Court building where Veazey’s drug store used to be back in the day.

The official name of the establishment is James E. McNellie’s Public House. The owner, Elliott Nelson, spent a few months in Ireland, decided he liked their pubs, so he opened one in Tulsa called McNellie’s Pub - a play on his last name. It went well, so now he’s trying one in our backyard.

We shot two videos, a typical “DnA” video where we talk with someone about their establishment. And Angi interviewed the head chef, Steven, in the kitchen as he whipped up some really good pasta.

Pretty good morning I’d say - surrounded by 350 beers and good food.

Oklahoma City officials are boasting about having the world's largest Wi-Fi "mesh” network. That means that every city public safety vehicle is tied together on a wireless Internet protocol network that blankets a 555-square-mile area with Wi-Fi coverage. each city fire or police vehicle is in itself a moving wireless router that can broadcast on the network and serve as a Wi-Fi access point if another part of the network is disabled. You can learn more about this, by reading Jim Stafford's report in today's Oklahoman or online at NewsOK.com.

Meanwhile, Steve Lackmeyer reports Oklahoma City officials are negotiating with a national real estate advisory firm to develop a master plan for Bricktown. Check out more from Lackmeyer - and no one covers Bricktown like Steve Lackmeyer - at his blog on NewsOK - at okccentral.com.

Arizona State won the Women's College World Series, routing Texas A&M last night at Hall of Fame Stadium 11-0 to win the best of three series.

Hot, windy and dry weather is expected today. A storm system will approach by late week and bring the potential for severe thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday. Today in OKC Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid-90s. Southerly winds 20 to 30 mph.

3 Things You Should Know:

Alligator found near Shawnee restaurant.

Little drummer boy for Hanson.

John Kruk doing WCWS commentary, to face Michelle Smith.

If you missed it, Jenni Carlson has a good story about the five men who are leading the charge to keep the Sonics in Seattle.

The story breaks down each of the five men:

Gary Nickels, Seattle mayor
Richard Yarmuth, attorney for Howard Schultz
Brian Robinson, Save Our Sonics director
Slade Gorton, City of Seattle attorney
Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman and CEO

From The Oklahoman's Brian Sargent: Oklahoma City police released little new information this morning about a deadly shooting Sunday in a northwest city park.

Master Sgt. Gary Knight said no arrests have been made in the case. The shooter is described as a black female.

In BEIJING - A high-speed passenger train jumped its tracks and slammed into another train in eastern China on Monday, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 400. Authorities were quoted as saying human error was to blame.

A California wildfire near Los Angeles has forced about 1,000 from their homes.

Turning to today's front page, abused and neglected children are taken from parents in Oklahoma County at a rate more than double that of Tulsa County. This is a story by Randy Ellis that you'll only find in today's Oklahoman and on NewsOK. Ellis reports the monthly average number of foster care children in Oklahoma County was 2,261 last fiscal year, compared with 843 for Tulsa County. You can search through the DHS Waivers Database on NewsOK.

The 2008 Festival of the Arts has completed its six-day run in downtown Oklahoma City. It met organizers' expectations by attracting about 750,000 visitors. The festival featured live performances by local bands, art galleries featuring artists from across the nation, food booths and a children's area.

About 6,000 music fans crowded Norman's Main Street for the Norman Music Festival. Headliners included the Polyphonic Spree, British Sea Power and the Chainsaw Kittens.

In Sports, Oklahoma had four players picked in this weekend's NFL Draft. Reggie Smith, Curtis Lofton, Malcolm Kelly and Allen Patrick were the only Sooners drafted. For the first time since 2001, Oklahoma State did not have a player drafted.

Your OKC forecast today, expect clear conditions with highs in the 70s. Looking ahead this week, expect 70s for much of the week.

The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry reports Oklahoma City's NBA team will remain in the Northwest Division. Darnell says according to league sources, the NBA will not realign any divisions or teams to accommodate the relocation of the Sonics to Oklahoma City. Whenever the team lands in Oklahoma, either next season or in 2010, it will continue in its current division, which includes Utah, Portland, Minnesota and Denver.

Elsewhere, crude oil prices surged above $117, setting a new record high today.

A strong aftershock shook Southern Illinois today, three days after a magnitude 5.2 quake rattled the region.

The Festival of the Arts begins tomorrow in downtown Oklahoma City. You can find a complete schedule at NewsOK, including the menu for the food court. And speaking of the Festival of the Arts, let's talk weather:

Today in OKC: Highs in the lower 80s. Southerly winds 10 to 15 mph. Tonight, Twenty percent chance of thunderstorms, some become severe.