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.

• As the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin pummeled the state with high winds and flooding, a woman inFort Cobb drowned in her cellar where she was seeking shelter from the storm.Rescue workers also found the bodies of two women and a 17-year-old girl submerged in a minivan in floodwaters near Carnegie.
• A woman also drowned in Seminole when she drove her car into high water, then became trapped when it was swept away. More than 100 people were rescued as the storm dropped more than 9 inches on some communities in the western part of the state. Helicopter pilots from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol rescued seven of the stranded people in Canadian and Kingfisher counties.  
• Searchers in Minneapolis recovered the remains of the last person missing after the I-35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River on Aug. 1. That brought the official death toll to 13.
• The percentage of Oklahomans using prescription painkillers has far outpaced the national average, an Associated Press analysis of statistics from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration shows. Residents using five of the most common painkillers — codeine, hydrocodone, meperidine, morphine and oxycodone — jumped 145 percent from 1997 to 2005, statistics showed, ranking the state No. 8 among the 50 states and District of Columbia.
• Communities began cleaning up after a historic storm lashed the state with torrential rain and gusting winds a day earlier. Six people drowned in the flooding, and more than 100 were rescued as the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin dropped more than 9 inches on some communities in the western part of the state.
• Plans to build a coal-fired power plant near Red Rock received support from Oklahoma Corporation Commission Administrative Law Judge Maribeth Snapp, whose nonbinding recommendation declared the state’s utilities need a new electric generation source.
• Oklahoma City mother Wendy Scroggins, 22, and her boyfriend, Kerry Joe Smith, 21, were arrested on first-degree murder complaints after Scroggins’ 23-month-old daughter died at a city hospital.
• A medical study by Dr. David Kaelber of Case Western Reserve University and Harvard Medical School found that more than 1 million U.S. youngsters have undiagnosed high blood pressure leaving them at risk for developing organ damage.
• U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, announced he is backing Fred Thompson, an actor and former U.S. senator from Tennessee, for president, even though Thompson has not formally announced his candidacy.
• Betty Price, who helped add color to the drab walls of the state Capitol and sparked enthusiasm for arts across the state, said she will leave her post as executive director of the Oklahoma Arts Council on Oct. 1.
• Summer vacation officially ended for the 32,207 students who showed up for the first day of classes in Oklahoma City Public Schools; that total does not include those who are enrolled in charter schools.
• While visiting a car dealership in Elk City, Bill Bolechala, a Burns Flat city councilman, was struck by a 9mm bullet that may have come from a police shooting range more than two miles away.
• Two FBI agents spent about 90 minutes in the office of state Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan as part of an ongoing investigation of political corruption in southeastern Oklahoma. McMahan’s spokeswoman declined to answer whether a search warrant was delivered to the office or McMahan’s home. The spokeswoman would not say whether anyone in the office provided records voluntarily.
• The body of Phillip Jones, 17, was recovered in about 20 feet of water about 30 yards south of the Lake Overholser dam. The Putnam City West High School cross-country runner drowned the previous day during a team run through a flooded area.
• It wasn’t good news for the Iraqi government. A report released from America’s spy agencies said the Iraqi government will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months. The National Intelligence Estimate also said Iraq’s security forces have not improved enough to operate without outside help. The analysts reported al-Qaida in Iraq is still able to carry out highly visible attacks.
• Members of the Oklahoma National Guard’s 45th Infantry Brigade learned that they would be mobilized in October for deployment to Iraq early next year. More than 2,400 members of the unit are affected by the mobilization.
• The Texas Rangers fell behind 3-0 to the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday only to rebound to hammer 30 runs in six innings. The Rangers won the game 30-3.
• Oklahoma schools that need improvement jumped from 47 in 2006 to 62 this year, according to a preliminary report by the state Education Department. The increase is largely because students had to meet higher math and reading benchmarks under the No Child Left Behind Act.
• Raye Dawn Smith, the mother of Kelsey Smith-Briggs, denied that she allowed the toddler to be abused and killed, and said there was a “conspiracy” against her. Smith, 27, was found guilty of enabling child abuse and will be formally sentenced Sept. 10.