News
Jerry Bohnen
In the wake of scandal that has engulfed Frederick A. Douglass Mid-High School, state officials found that 81 percent of its senior class does not meet the necessary criteria to graduate next spring. According to an audit conducted by the state Department of Education, 87 of 107 senior students need additional credits and/or state tests to graduate on time.

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Gazette staff
Deciding that the classiest way to approach differences in scriptural interpretation was to stand outside a house of worship holding pictures of aborted fetuses, the Abolitionist Society of Oklahoma recently brought its message to the Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ.

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Gazette staff
Samantha Crain has a sad face. And it has nothing to do with the end of the Twilight franchise.

News
Greg Horton
When Vered Harris became the rabbi of Temple B’nai Israel, only the fifth in its 109-year history, the arrival also proved historical for another reason. It marked the first time in metro history that its only two congregational rabbis are women. Harris’ colleague, Abby Jacobson, is rabbi at Emanuel Synagogue.

News
Kevan Goff-Parker
Lynne Mullins said she made a “bad mistake” when she got married. Her husband abused her and she soon feared for her own and her children’s lives.

News
Jerry Bohnen
Documents obtained from Oklahoma City Public Schools show that former Frederick A. Douglass Mid-High School Principal Brian Staples changed failing grades of some students, as alleged by teachers he had fired. Emails written by Staples suggest he improved Ds and Fs to Cs because some teachers had not complied with grade reporting standards created at the high school. Douglass’ standards were different from district policy due to a federal education improvement program.

News
Gazette staff
Kenneth Cooley has the car he dreamed about since the 1970s: a new Dodge Challenger.

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Gazette staff
We don’t know if The New York Times Magazine’s Nov. 11 feature on the OKC Thunder was, as The Oklahoman reporter Steve Lackmeyer proclaimed on his blog — presumably with a stuck “caps lock” key — “THE BEST ARTICLE EVER WRITTEN ABOUT OKLAHOMA CITY IN A NATIONAL PUBLICATION.”

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Gazette staff

After Oklahoma decided to terminate some Planned Parenthood funding, the organization responded by birthing a lawsuit against the state Department of Health. (Oh, Mistress of Tortured Metaphors, have you no shame?) Planned Parenthood does not perform abortions in Oklahoma, but it does in other states. In the Sooner State, however, the group — among other responsibilities — distributed Women, Infants & Children (WIC) services in three Tulsa clinics.

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Gazette staff
If you thought those slick new SandRidge Energy commercials were just attempts to win some advertising, think again. Turns out Chesapeake Energy isn’t the only Oklahoma City-based energy company in possible need of an image makeover after facing rocky times in the corporate boardroom.

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Gazette staff
Just in time to join lumps of coal in kids’ Christmas stockings, Thunderstruck hits DVD on Dec. 4. The debut movie vehicle for Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Kevin Durant also will be released on Blu-ray, for those cinephiles who wish to best replicate the theatrical experience.

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Gazette staff
Le Flore County commissioners are thinking about reviving a plan to place a Ten Commandments monument on courthouse property.

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Gazette staff
The owners of Hobby Lobby and Mardel are continuing their quest to keep the Affordable Care Act from forcing them to provide emergency contraception insurance coverage to their employees. That vow — presumably made with a fist waved righteously in the air — came after U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton on Nov. 19 denied a preliminary injunction sought by the Green family, which owns the Christian-oriented businesses.

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Gazette staff
Leave those grenades at home. The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne learned that the hard way Nov. 10, when he tried to bring one on his carry-on bag when catching a flight at Will Rogers World Airport. Transportation Security Administration officials had to close the checkpoint for nearly an hour before determining the explosive, which Coyne said he had been given at a party in Arkansas, did not pose a threat. As far as we know, Wayne hasn’t yet tried to bring these on board the friendly skies:

CFN
Gazette staff
Why does the standoff between Gov. Mary Fallin and the Affordable Care Act remind us of the battle between Sylvester and Tweety Bird?