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Dynamic denim
Family heads to Michigan The OKC family behind the Michigan T-shirt flap is set to receive a Big House welcome.
This season’s favorite jeans are skintight and boast bold patterns, textures and prints. Women of all ages are embracing the trend, experts say.
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THE OKLAHOMAN THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012
75¢
NEWSOK.COM
COVERING OKLAHOMA SINCE 1907
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Hobby Lobby seeks to block contraception coverage rules BY DON MECOY Staff Writer dmecoy@opubco.com
David Green, who founded Oklahoma City-based retail giant Hobby Lobby on Christian principles, is fighting new federal health care rules
that he says conflict with his values by requiring the company to provide employee insurance that offers “abortion-causing drugs and devices” at no cost. Green, his family and his company filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in
Oklahoma City seeking to block the federal government from forcing the self-insured company to pay for contraception devices like the morningafter pill and certain kinds of intrauterine devices.
ONLINE
THUNDER
HARDEN DEAL CLOSE? Thunder center Kendrick Perkins offered a sliver of hope for fans, saying James Harden and the team are “getting close” on a contract deal that would keep the shooting guard in Oklahoma City. PAGE 1C
CAPITOL
To watch a video and to view the lawsuit, scan the QR code at right or go to NewsOK.com.
STATE REVENUE DIPS
SEE GREENS, BACK PAGE
Low energy prices dragged down tax collections to Oklahoma’s main operating fund in August, but officials said the state’s economy still has vitality.
U.S. sends Marines to Libya after attack claims ambassador Officials are investigating whether deadly violence at consulate was planned by terrorists
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WEATHER
RAIN Cooler High: 77 Low: 58 U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens died in the violence.
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BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BENGHAZI, Libya — The U.S. dispatched an elite group of Marines to Tripoli on Wednesday after a mob attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. U.S. officials are investigating whether the violence — initially blamed on an anti-Islamic video — was a terrorist attack planned to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11. Tuesday’s stunning attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi poses a daunting task for U.S. and Libyan investigators: searching for the culprits in a city rife with heavy weapons, multiple militias, armed Islamist groups and little police control. The one-story villa that serves as the consulate was a burned-out wreck after the crowd armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades rampaged through it. Slogans of “God is great” and “Muhammad is God’s Prophet” were scrawled across its scorched walls. Libyan civilians strolled freely in charred rooms with furniture and papers strewed everywhere. President Barack Obama vowed in a Rose Garden address that the SEE LIBYA, PAGE 4A
INSIDE I Inhofe slams Obama policy I Romney, Obama trade barbs I Stevens was envoy to Arabs PAGE 4A
ABOVE: Libyans walk on the grounds of the gutted U.S. consulate Wednesday in Benghazi, Libya, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. The American ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed when a mob of protesters overwhelmed the building, setting fire to it.
TOP: In an April 11, 2011, photo, then-U.S. envoy Chris Stevens attends meetings at a hotel where an African Union delegation was meeting with opposition leaders in Benghazi, Libya. AP PHOTOS
Chesapeake Energy announces $6.9 billion in asset sales [ PAGE 1B ] Chesapeake Energy Corp. is whittling almost $7 billion off its fundraising target for 2012 with its latest round of asset sales. The cash-
strapped oil and natural gas company on Wednesday announced a series of deals that will bring in about $6.9 billion from the sale of pipeline assets and acreage
it does not consider vital to its operations. “These transactions are significant steps in the transformation of our company’s asset base to a more balanced portfo-
lio,” CEO Aubrey McClendon said. Chesapeake plans to raise at least $1.4 billion more before the end of the year to offset a projected budget shortfall. The com-
pany also will need to raise another $4 billion to $5 billion in 2013 to solve its money problems.
EVENT
JAY F. MARKS,
BUSINESS WRITER
TODAY’S PRAYER With Your love, O Lord, we can defeat the powers of evil that hit us from many directions. Amen.
Crews prepare for fair’s opening Thursday
Advice Business Classified Comics
A worker checks out a ride Wednesday in preparation for the Oklahoma State Fair. The event in Oklahoma City begins Thursday and ends Sept. 23.
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Volume 121, 252 Five sections Copyright 2012 The Oklahoma Publishing Co., Oklahoma City All rights reserved
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PHOTO BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN