A local TV station gave constant weather updates about a hail storm near Beebee, Oklahoma during last week's episode of Boston Legal. They even placed a scrolling, beeping message over James Spader's face during his closing argument on the episode! Is OKC weather forecasting getting too sensational?

National Basketball Association President David Stern said today his preference would be for the Sonics to remain in Seattle. Taking into account owner Clay Bennett's Oct. 31 deadline to work out a deal with Seattle to build a new arena, Stern said he thinks Bennett can negotiate for a new place for the team to play its games in Washington.

April 13 when the Hornets played their last game at the FordCenter, Stern extolled the virtues of Oklahoma City.

Is Stern dissing OKC? Or does he have an interest in the Sonics staying in Seattle for the league to have a Northwest U.S. presence?

After turning down interview requests with Oklahoma Gazette for its June 13, 2007, story on the company, a Rocketplane Ltd. official has gone public with comments concerning the story.

On the website hobbyspace.com, Rocketplane Vice President Chuck Lauer posted a comment in response to a previous comment about a Texas company, Armadillo Aerospace, being the first to launch a rocket from Oklahoma.

DISSENTING OPINIONS

Lauer started his comments by praising Armadillo for its accomplishment. Then he turned his sights on Gazette.

"The OK Gazette in general tries to find every possible opportunity to trash us, either directly or indirectly. They have editorialized against our winning the O Prize R&D tax credits for years. The fact that LLC vehicles have VERY little in common with suborbital commercial passenger vehicles seems to have escaped them. Most people would have the common sense understanding that it takes longer to build a 100 km altitude passenger ship than a 50 m altitude hovering robot."

However, follow-up commenters had their say about Lauer's remarks.

"No offense, Chuck, but you guys are taking your sweet time over there

A California Congresswoman will propose legislation on Thursday that would cut off federal funding to the Cherokee Nation.

In a press release sent out Wednesday night, U.S. Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif, announced the measure would cut off tribal funding from several federal agencies and suspend the Cherokees' gaming authority, until the Cherokee Nation restores full rights to the Cherokee Freedmen and fulfills all treaty obligations.

"It is a tragedy that, over 40 years after the passage of the historic Civil Rights Act, legislation has to be introduced to compel the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma to recognize the basic civil rights of the Cherokee Freedmen," Watson said in the statement. "The Cherokee Nation's leadership claims that it has the sovereign right to determine who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. But the sovereign right to discriminate is no right at all."

Back in March, the Cherokee Nation voted to oust the Freedmen as members of the tribe, The Freedmen are black slaves of Cherokees who were freed and married to Cherokees. The children of these marriages, known as the "Black Cherokees" were made Cherokee citizens by the Treaty of 1866.

The Cherokee tribal court recently temporarily reinstated the Freedmen as citizens. They will be allowed to vote in the upcoming Cherokee general election.

Photos leaked to a Web site reportedly show the Oklahoma County Commissioner hanging with some young ladies and sitting next to a beer can.

Some of the photo captions claim that Rinehart, who faces felony money laundering and perjury charges stemming from his 2004 campaign, is drunk.

Rinehart has said that he doesn't know anything about the photos and can't say if he is drunk in them.

If Mr. Rinehart were to go drinking in OKC, where would he hang and what would he drink?

Albertson's announced they are leaving the Oklahoma market. Homeland is buying six OKC-area stores and Williams Discount Foods are buying another six stores.

Why is Albertson's leaving?

Will Homeland and Williams Discount Foods succeed?

With big convention centers in downtown, Oklahoma City has been getting some first tier musicians and performers. Rod Stewart, The Who, Alison Krause and many other big time acts have hit city stages.

But Oklahoma City hasn't been a stop for some other big acts that have made dozens of stops at other cities in the United States. Why can't OKC land a U2 show? Why did we miss out on the Police tour?

What shows have you had to drive to Dallas or Kansas City for?

The University of Oklahoma announced today that Sherri Coale's women's basketball team has been able to endow all 15 scholarships during a 30-month fund-raising campaign.

"We began the endowment program in 2005 with a goal of creating a perpetual source of funding for our women's basketball program," said Coale in a statement (that we actually believe the former English teacher uttered). "The full endowment of all 15 scholarships puts us in a position to achieve self-sufficiency, an accomplishment achieved by very few programs across the country."

Hopefully none of the donors take investment advice from OU football coach Bob Stoops.

The new immigration law passed in Oklahoma would require businesses to report whether or not illegal immigrants work for them, require police officers to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and jail them, and even refuse public services for those who cannot prove their citizenship status.

Is this long-awaited reform, or a racist, reactionary, and unenforceable law?

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater is carrying forward a first-degree murder charge against a woman who is accused of taking methamphetamine with the intention of killing her unborn child, allegedly based on a stillbirth of her child.

The woman, Theresa Hernandez, has a history of felony charges of drug use and other crimes, according to court records. Prater also alleges Hernandez also has lost custody of five children to the state, including two with developmental disabilities allegedly caused by her by drug abuse, according to a recent story in The Oklahoman.

However, critics complain that first-degree murder charges are uncalled for and call into question women's abortion rights. Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma is calling on activists to right letters in support of Hernandez.

Which is right? Support Hernandez? Or Prater?