Notes from the Newsroom NewsOK.com Blogging Community

Another week has passed, and here is your chance to catch up with what you may have missed.

• The Lawson family from Claremore was among 280 people stranded atop the Gateway Arch in St. Louis by a three-hour power outage. About 200 people on the observation deck, 630 feet above the ground, and 80 people in the small pods that carry onlookers to the top, were trapped in the landmark that overlooks the city and Mississippi River.

• A Yukon woman, Shannon Wilson, 27, died of complications from injuries she suffered while working during Piedmont’s city fireworks show July 7. She was burned over about one-third of her body in the accident and had been battling a fever and pneumonia-like symptoms.
• A judge ruled that Oklahoma State University has eminent domain power to take the final piece of property in Stillwater to complete its athletic village. Unless an appeals court intervenes, a jury will decide the value of a rental house owned by Kevin and Joel McCloskey in the nearly one-year court battle.
• Federal Election Commission documents showed several thousand people political contributors have given to multiple candidates this year, a tilt that favors the Democrats.
• Assistant Secretary of State Maura Harty took responsibility for the passport backlog, saying her office miscalculated the demand for passports after rules were changed to require them for most re-entry to the country from abroad.
• Doctors removed five small growths from President Bush’s colon after he temporarily transferred the powers of his office to Vice President Dick Cheney under the rarely invoked 25th Amendment.
• Helicopter and boat crews rescued hundreds of trapped people after storms whipped through Great Britain, flooding towns and villages and sending thousands to emergency shelters.
• India chose its first female president in an election hailed as a victory for women in a country where gender discrimination is deep-rooted and widespread.
• The U.S. and Iran planned to have their second high-level talk concerning the future of Iraq.
• Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared for his first trip to the Mideast in his new role as envoy of the Quartet hoping to bring about peace in the region.
• After three days on the run, a 33-year-old man suspected in the shooting deaths of two Tulsa youths surrendered to authorities east of Lawton. Joshua Elijah Muller had been spotted near Lawton on Monday, which led to a massive manhunt involving hundreds of law enforcement officers.
• The wreckage of a small airplane and the body of its pilot were found in the Ouachita National Forest in Eastern Oklahoma. Curtis Leroy Hazen of Muse had been missing for five days when the wreckage was found about 10 miles west of the Oklahoma-Arkansas state line.
• The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence given to Kenneth Barrett in connection with the shooting death of a state trooper during a raid at Barrett’s home near Sallisaw. Barrett was convicted in 2005 of fatally shooting David “Rocky” Eales.
• The director of the Department of Human Services is under investigation because of burns his 13-year-old son suffered while they were burning brush at a lake house during the Fourth of July holiday.
• Speaking to governors about early childhood education, Gov. Brad Henry said he plans to revive his proposal for voluntary learning programs for 3-year-olds.
• Miss America Lauren Nelson urged the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to make Internet safety education mandatory in schools to protect children from online predators.
• Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Robert E. Lavender retired after serving 42 years on the bench.
• A grand jury in Louisiana refused to indict Dr. Anna Pou, who was accused of injecting terminally ill patients with a “lethal cocktail” of drugs after Hurricane Katrina stranded them at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans.
• Continental Airlines announced it will offer direct flights from Oklahoma City to Cleveland starting Sept. 30.
• Faulty humidity sensors were blamed for not preventing an outbreak of mold that closed the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training dorm rooms in Ada.

• e Republicans and Democrats worked together to devote an additional $3 billion toward getting control of the U.S. southern border. The deal, which was passed 89-1, puts Congress on a path to override the president’s threat to veto a $38 billion homeland security funding bill.
• Wall Street had one of its worst losses for the year.
• A Bethany High School special education teacher, Rick DeRennaux became a top-three finalist Wednesday night on ABC’s “American Inventor” TV competition.
• Disgraced former prosecutor Mike Nifong acknowledged there is “no credible evidence” that three Duke lacrosse players committed any of the crimes he accused them of more than a year ago.
• The number of marriage licenses issued in Oklahoma County has declined over the past 20 years, and if this year’s numbers hold steady, the fewest number of licenses could be issued since 1987.
• The Irish are coming to face the Sooners in a two-year series of football showdowns between the University of Oklahoma and Notre Dame beginning in 2012.
• An independent panel said that NASA let astronauts fly drunk on at least two occasions, despite safety warnings from its own doctors and concerns raised by fellow astronauts.
• Large chunks of ice, one of them reportedly about 50 pounds, fell from the sky in Iowa, smashing through a woman’s roof and tearing through nearby trees.
• An Indian doctor was freed from custody after Australia’s chief prosecutor said that a charge linking him to failed terrorist bombings in Britain was a mistake.