Sometimes it’s easy to miss an event, so here’s a look back at the past week or so to help bring you up to date.
The federal government took over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to stabilize the nation’s mortgage market.
Season ticket buyers chose their seats for the Oklahoma City Thunder, the city’s NBA franchise. The entire allotment of season tickets were sold out.
Oklahoma stars Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flatts, Reba McEntire and Trisha Yearwood got good news when the nominations were announced for the 42nd Country Music Association Awards.
The 102nd State Fair of Oklahoma opened with rain in the forecast.
Gov. Brad Henry rejected new requirements for amusement park ride operators to be certified. Henry said the new rules were too vague and questioned whether the Labor Department has enough investigators to enforce them.
President Bush came to honor two Oklahomans, Karen Stark of Edmond and National Guard Maj. Dan Rooney, with President Volunteer Service awards. Stark’s group makes cooling ties for troops in Iran and Afghanistan. Rooney has raised millions for military families by asking golfers to donate an extra dollar in green fees over Labor Day weekend.
Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin campaigned together against earmarks. Although Palin had herself sought $200 million in earmarks for Alaska this year, McCain vowed to veto any bill containing such funding.
Democrat Barack Obama was defending his use of the phrase, “You can put lipstick on a pig … it’s still a pig.” Although Obama had been comparing McCain’s economic policies with those of President Bush, McCain’s campaign claimed Obama was referring to Palin.
At the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, the lights in the Field of Empty Chairs are being replaced with $30,000 in LED lights.
As the nation remembered the events of Sept. 11, 2001, a bipartisan group reported that the U.S. remains vulnerable to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks.
The University of Oklahoma announced plans to convert entirely to wind-generated electricity by 2013.
More Oklahoma children are being immunized against childhood diseases. The immunization rate for children ages 19 to 35 months has reached a record with 78.5 percent.
Hurricane Ike killed more than 300 people in Haiti and skimmed Cuba. Nearly a million Texans evacuated coastal areas, including parts of Houston.
The sentence was death for Gilbert Ray Postelle, convicted in the Memorial Day 2005 slayings of four people in Oklahoma City. Postelle is the second person convicted in the killings, described as believed to have been in retaliation for a motorcycle accident that injured Postelle’s father.
Congress approved $8 million in emergency funding after projected cuts in federal highway money delayed some state projects including replacing bridges for the new Crosstown Expressway.
The state Health Department interviewed people who ate at the Country Cottage in Locust Grove to try to track the source of the E. coli contamination that has sickened more than 200 people.
Georgia’s president has pledged to regain control of two breakaway republics.