Week in review

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.

Matthew Wilson

Wilson, shown in these undated photos,
was found clean-shaven in Berkeley,
Calif. earlier this week. He vanished in
December from Rice University.

  • A missing college student from southeast Oklahoma was found in a campus building at the University of California at Berkeley. Matthew Wilson, missing from Rice University since finals in December, was found after hours with what police said was a stolen laptop.
  • Nearly 80,000 Oklahomans, many of them seniors and disabled veterans, are eligible for $300 economic stimulus payments but haven’t applied, leaving an estimated $24 million unclaimed.
  • In the Olympics, swimmer Michael Phelps was collecting gold medals all week.
  • Former OU gymnast Jonathan Horton led the U.S. men’s gymnastic team to a bronze. He was ninth in the men’s all-around gymnastics competition. Among women, Nastia Liukin won the gold, edging teammate Shawn Johnson by six-tenths of a point.
  • Sales representatives have begun contacting the 16,000 people who expressed interest in tickets to watch Oklahoma City’s NBA team play. About 11,000 tickets will be priced at $50 or less per game, but season tickets for the most expensive seats could cost as much as $10,500.
  • A federal grand jury will hear evidence in the death of an Oklahoma County jail inmate. Christopher Beckman, 34, of Choctaw died after a struggle with guards. Jail officials hope transferring nearly a dozen inmates out of state will stem the violence at the jail.
  • The state’s use of cable barriers in medians is saving lives and preventing crossover accidents, officials said. In the past four years, the state has averaged 34 crossover fatalities. There were no crossover deaths in the first six months of 2008.
  • Republican John McCain was cleared by the Federal Election Commission after a complaint he bypassed the public finance system in the GOP primary.
  • Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign is publishing “Change We Can Believe In.”
  • An Associated Press-Ipsos poll has found 43 percent of American voters are still undecided about their choice for president.
  • The Bush administration wants changes to the endangered species act, allowing federal agencies to decide for themselves whether a construction project would harm an endangered species, eliminating the independent reviews.
  • California is considering charging some homeowners a disaster surcharge to pay for year-round firefighting.
  • Russia signed a cease-fire agreement in its assault on Georgia over control of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Refugees from South Ossetia described being forced to run for their lives.
  • National Guard troops and reservists serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to develop drinking problems, a military study suggests. After exposure to combat, about 26 percent of troops became binge drinkers, the study found.
  • The United Nations has announced plans to spend $2.2 billion to rebuild Iraq and create jobs.
  • A slow-moving storm made Monday the wettest August day on record with 4.62 inches in Oklahoma City
  • Citing economic uncertainty, University of Oklahoma President David Boren announced a hiring freeze on all OU campuses.
  • A Tennessee man, the pilot of a single-engine plane, died when the plane plowed into a vacant lot in a Muskogee neighborhood.
  • Former Custer County Sheriff Mike Burgess was ordered to stand trial on 35 felony counts ranging from forcible oral sodomy to rape.
  • Televangelist Richard Roberts is being offered a severance package after his resignation as president of Oral Roberts University.
  • Pioneering singer and songwriter Isaac Hayes, whose music laid the groundwork for disco, has died at 65.

  • New NewsOK Web site collects and shares Oklahomans’ World War II stories

    wwii1.jpg

    NewsOK.com, The Oklahoman and local PBS channel OETA have joined forces to create a new Web site.

    Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ new series on World War II, ‘The War’, airs starting Sept. 23 on OETA and, in an effort to join a national movement, a new Web site has been launched to gather and share Oklahomans’ WWII stories.

    The site – http://oklahomawwii.org – offers archived stories and photos from The Oklahoman, as well as videos from OETA, a blog from OETA’S Dick Pryor, WWII resources and much more. We are proud to offer Oklahomans’ stories about WWII and videos submitted by Web site users telling personal stories about the war.

    Oklahoma sent more than 268,000 of its own to fight in WWII, and with an estimated 1,500 people from this ‘greatest generation’ dying nationally every single day, it has never been more important to gather their stories.

    Visit the Web site today to find out more about the project and to share your story. Families are encouraged to tell the stories of their loved ones, also. You can find the site through NewsOK.com by searching ‘world war two’. The related blog can be found at blog.newsok.com/worldwartwo.

    And make sure to watch OETA this Sunday to see the first installment of Burns’ documentary.

    Lindsay Hodges – NewsOK.com Web Editor – lhodges@newsok.com


    Lice: They aren’t nice

    No, I do not have lice.

    But last night, I fought lice in a duel called Lindsay vs. the lice in kids’ hair, helping administer lice checks, treatments and haircuts for kids in the neighborhood around NW 10th street and McKinley. All kids in Oklahoma City public schools are required to be checked for lice before returning to school. And while we only found lice in two children’s hair, we were glad that those two children were able to go to school today after receiving a thorough lice treatment.

    If your child or a child you know has lice, the Web has a number of resources you can turn to for treatment. There are three different forms of lice treatments:

    1. Insecticides, including malathion, phenothrin and permethrin.

    2. Thorough combing of the hair.

    3. Alternative treatments, including essential oils, herbal extracts or homeopathic tincture.

    A good lice treatment also includes a thorough washing of any items that may have had contact with the child’s head, and someone should also check for eggs the first few days after the treatment.

    Have any more advice on how to get rid of lice? Let us know.

    -Lindsay Goodier, Online Editor