The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded more than $7.8 million in grants to 72 homeless housing and service programs in Oklahoma.

The funding announced Monday is an increase of $356,155 over the previous year. HUD's Continuum of Care grants help agencies provide housing and support services to people and families experiencing homelessness.

Local programs receiving the grants offer a variety of services including street outreach, client assessment, and direct housing assistance. Nationally, HUD awarded $1.8 billion.

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Oklahoma's request to join a challenge to the federal health care law.

In a one-sentence order on Monday, the nation's high court denied Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt's writ of certiorari.

Pruitt wanted the court to review Oklahoma's lawsuit that challenges the tax subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act, arguing it was important to consider state sovereignty implications.

Authorities in Blackwell say a gas leak in a school gymnasium has sent 35 students and three faculty members to the hospital.

Officials say the leak occurred in the high school practice gymnasium in the Kay County community about 9 a.m. as the middle school boys basketball team and varsity cheer squad were practicing. Some students began to feel sick and a couple of students passed out in the shower area.

The students and faculty members were taken to Blackwell Regional Hospital and administered oxygen. All are expected to recover.

The cowboy is an American icon. The Hollywood image of the cowboys is lone, rugged and white, but in reality the old west was very diverse, and many of the cowboys were African-American or Hispanic.

Every year, culturally diverse cowboys from all over the country come to the Cowboys of Color Rodeo in Oklahoma City.

Monday morning Attorney General Scott Pruitt asked for stays of execution for three Oklahoma death row inmates until either the U.S. Supreme Court reaches a decision in the state’s use of the controversial drug midazolam, or the Oklahoma Department of Corrections finds another drug to use in the lethal injection procedures.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has decided to consider whether two oil companies can be held liable for injuries a Prague woman suffered during a 2011 earthquake.

The lawsuit by Sandra Ladra of Prague is among dozens of lawsuits filed in the past several years across the country alleging oil and gas companies are responsible for earthquakes.

Similar lawsuits seeking class-action status have been filed against energy companies in Arkansas and Texas.