Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Some higher education leaders worry that dwindling funding from the state could hurt Oklahoma's college completion goals.

The Oklahoman newspaper says University of Oklahoma President David Boren recently voiced concern about eroding public support for higher education.

Boren also says he's concerned that efforts to boost college completion could be put at risk if state funding for higher education isn't a higher priority.

The newspaper says state funding has made up a shrinking percentage of college and university budgets since 1980.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The number of homicides in Tulsa in the first half of 2012 puts the city on pace to challenge last year's seven-year low.

The Tulsa World reports the city saw 26 killings this year through June 30, compared to 25 during the same period last year. There were 53 homicides in all of 2011, marking the lowest number since 2004.

The newspaper says that if the pace holds, the city could finish this year with three annual declines since it had a record 71 killings in 2009.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival kicks off this week in the singer-songwriter's hometown in Oklahoma.

The Tulsa World reports the festival runs Wednesday through Sunday in Okemah. It features performances by Guthrie's son, Arlo Guthrie, and rising star and fellow Okemah native John Fullbright.

The festival is free, except for an Arlo Guthrie concert, which organizers say will help offset costs.

Woody Guthrie is known for the anthem, "This Land is Your Land" and his songs about the poor and downtrodden.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma death row inmate scheduled to die next month has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the state's limited supply of a lethal injection drug could lead to a painful death.

The Oklahoman reports that Michael Hooper is seeking an execution using a single drug instead of three.

Hooper is scheduled to die August 14th. He was convicted of killing a mother and her two children in 1993.

WAURIKA, Okla. (AP) — Authorities say a 3-year-old drowned at a lake in southern Oklahoma after he wandered away from a tent.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says the boy, James Traywick Wyler of Ryan, was asleep in a tent. But then he somehow got out and headed toward the water's edge early Saturday.

Authorities say the boy was found in up to 18 inches of water at Waurika Lake in Jefferson County.

Emergency responders took him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — More than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the sweeping federal health care law, Oklahoma's political leaders have offered few specifics about how the state will proceed in complying with its provisions.

Members of the Republican-controlled Legislature were quick to issue press releases condemning the high court's decision. Some have vowed to continue fighting implementation of the law in Oklahoma.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Tulsa police are looking for a group of people who shot off fireworks directly at officers and a television news crew.

Tulsa television station KOTV says it's the second time this week that police have been hit with fireworks. The latest incident happened at about 10:30 p.m. in north Tulsa.

Police say the group fired mortars and Roman candles at officers and a news crew. Authorities say one officer was hit in the back and a reporter was struck in the back of the head.

No one was seriously injured.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Gov. Mary Fallin is leading a delegation of seven Oklahoma aerospace companies to the Farnborough International Air Show in the United Kingdom.

Fallin and Science and Technology Secretary Stephen McKeever planned to depart Friday for the show, which begins Monday in Farnborough, England. Fallin spokesman Aaron Cooper says the governor will return to the United States on July 12 and then spend the rest of next week at the National Governor's Association's annual meeting in Williamsburg, Va.

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — City and state leaders plan an event Monday to announce the sale of a manufacturing facility in Stillwater to an international aerospace company.

Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb will join Stillwater Mayor John Bartley and other leaders at the Monday morning press conference. The announcement comes as Gov. Mary Fallin attends the Farnborough International Air Show in the United Kingdom.

The Stillwater NewsPress reports that a privately owned Belgian aerospace company has purchased the former MerCruiser manufacturing facility on Perkins Road in Stillwater.

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) — Authorities say a Tahlequah man has drowned in the Illinois River.

Thursday's death is the third in less than a week on waterways under the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission.

Commission administrator Ed Fite says 54-year-old Leslie Angel, who used the nickname "Rocky," drowned at about 3 p.m. on the Illinois River just east of Tahlequah.