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US Supreme Court sides with Alabama inmate who seeks to die by nitrogen hypoxia

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:31:53 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with an Alabama death row inmate, who had his lethal injection called off at the last minute in November, and argues he should be put to death by nitrogen hypoxia when he is ultimately executed. Justices without comment rejected the Alabama attorney general’s request to review an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith. The state argued the decision disregarded Supreme Court precedent that an inmate challenging an execution method must show that an alternative method is readily available, not just feasible. Alabama has authorized nitrogen hypoxia — death as a result of breathing pure nitrogen — as an execution method but no state has attempted to use the untested method to put an inmate to death. Smith was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on Nov. 17, 2022, for the 1988 murder-for-hire slaying of a preacher’s wife.On the day of the execution, a divided ...

Payback? Project funds axed after Kansas lawmaker defies governor on abortion, trans rights

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:31:53 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ Democratic governor vetoed state funding on Monday for a project long advocated by a Democratic lawmaker who broke ranks to override the governor’s vetoes and give Republicans crucial support for laws restricting abortion and rolling back transgender rights.Apparently, Rep. Marvin Robinson’s decision had consequences. Gov. Laura Kelly axed $250,000 in the next state budget for drafting a state plan to develop the Quindaro Ruins in Kansas City, Kansas, which Robinson represents. Quindaro was a short-lived town and a station on the Underground Railroad that helped enslaved people escape to Canada. A proposal to build a landfill there in the 1980s led to an investigation of the site and the discovery of multiple buildings’ foundations. Robinson, who is Black, advocated for the site’s restoration and development as a national historic landmark for several decades before he won an open House seat last year. Democratic leaders call...

UN chief in Jamaica urges international response to Haiti’s spiraling crisis

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:31:53 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.N. Secretary General António Guterres warned Monday that Haiti’s “tragic situation” is threatening the security of the Caribbean region and beyond as he pressed the international community for a response.Guterres spoke after meeting behind closed doors with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness in his first visit to the island, which comes more than three months after Holness announced that his government was willing to send soldiers and police officers to Haiti as part of a proposed international armed forces deployment.Guterres noted that no other country has stepped forward despite the plea from Haiti’s prime minister and other top officials last October for the immediate deployment of an international force to fight a surge in gang violence.“We are kind of in a stalemate right now,” he said, adding that it’s been difficult to mobilize the will of countries who could best lead such an operation.Holness, who visited Haiti in February as part of a re...

Court order that could end US health law’s preventative care mandate put on hold

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:31:53 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court in New Orleans temporarily put on hold Monday a federal judge’s ruling striking down a part of the Affordable Care Act that requires most insurers to cover preventative care including vaccines and screenings for cancer, diabetes and HIV. Without comment, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an “administrative stay” of the March 30 ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of Texas.The Biden administration had asked for a stay as it appealed the March 30 decision. Administration lawyers said in court filings that O’Connor’s decision would affect preventive care for 150 million people. O’Connor, a nominee of former President George W. Bush, is the same judge who ruled more than four years ago that the entire health care law, a signature achievement of former President Barack Obama, was unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned that ruling.In his March ruling, O’Conner blocked only the r...

Trump claimed the Durham probe would uncover the ‘crime of the century.’ Here’s what it really found

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:31:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An investigation into the origins of the FBI’s probe into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign has finally been concluded, with the prosecutor leading the inquiry submitting a much-awaited report that found major flaws.The report, the culmination of a four-year investigation into possible misconduct by U.S. government officials, contained withering criticism for the FBI but few significant revelations. Nonetheless, it will give fodder to Trump supporters who have long denounced the Russia investigation, as well as Trump opponents who say the Durham team’s meager court record shows their probe was a politically motivated farce.A look at the investigation and the report:WHO IS JOHN DURHAM?Durham has spent decades as a Justice Department prosecutor, with past assignments including investigations into the FBI’s cozy relationship with mobsters in Boston and the CIA’s destruction of videotapes of its harsh interr...

US Virgin Islands says it can’t find Elon Musk to serve a subpoena in Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:31:53 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands told a federal judge Monday that it can’t find billionaire Elon Musk to serve him with a subpoena for documents in its lawsuit seeking to hold JPMorgan Chase liable for sex trafficking acts committed by businessman Jeffrey Epstein. It wants to serve his electric vehicle company instead.Lawyers asked Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan in a court filing to let it serve the subpoena on Tesla Inc. because it has not been able to give the papers to Musk or his lawyers since it issued the subpoena on April 28.They said they hired an investigative firm to search public records databases for possible addresses for Musk and reached out to one of his lawyers by email but received no response.A message sent to a lawyer for Musk seeking comment Monday was not immediately returned.The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands said it believes Epstein may have referred or tried to refer Musk to JPMorgan.It sued JPMorgan last year, saying its ...

Autopsy showed 13-year-old B.C. teen was strangled, pathologist tells murder trial

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:31:53 GMT

VANCOUVER — A forensic pathologist testifying in the trial of a man accused of murdering a 13-year-old girl in Burnaby, B.C., said she died by strangulation.Dr. Jason Morin, who conducted the autopsy, told the jury Monday that the four-hour procedure, in conjunction with a subsequent neuropathology report, showed there had been a lack of blood supply to the teen’s brain.The body of the girl, who cannot be identified under the terms of a publication ban, was found in Burnaby’s Central Park in July 2017, just hours after her mother had reported her missing.Ibrahim Ali last month pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the B.C. Supreme Court trial.Content warning: material that some may find disturbing follows.Morin told the jury he identified a number of other injuries to the girl’s body, including bruising, scraping and tearing on the back of her head, as well as to her face, arms and legs.He also testified that, during the autopsy, he identified lacerations in...

Bears sign 1st-round selection Darnell Wright, 2 more draft picks

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:31:53 GMT

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Bears signed first-round draft pick Darnell Wright to his rookie contract on Monday.The Bears chose the Tennessee offensive tackle with the No. 10 overall pick in the NFL draft late last month, giving quarterback Justin Fields more protection after trading back one spot with Philadelphia.The 6-foot-5, 330-pound Wright played a big role in Tennessee going 11-2 and finishing sixth in the final AP Top 25 poll. He delivered a memorable performance in containing Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. in a 52-49 win over the Crimson Tide, and was first-team All-SEC as a right tackle last season. He played left tackle in 2021. Bears add two big names to OTA coaching staff Chicago also signed South Carolina defensive tackle Zacch Pickens and Cincinnati wide receiver Tyler Scott to their rookie deals. The Bears took Pickens in the third round and Scott in the fourth.Chicago has seven of its 10 draft picks under contract. Florida defensive tackle Gervon D...

At nearly $48M, this is Zillow's most expensive Midwest listing

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:31:53 GMT

SANTA CLAUS, Ind. (WGN) — The most expensive home currently listed on Zillow in the Midwest isn't some mansion in Minneapolis or a penthouse in Chicago. The honor falls to a $47,900,000 farm in southern Indiana.Big Tree Farm, near the border with Kentucky, is a 550-acre, or 0.86 square mile estate featuring a main home, a guest quarters building, an entertainment facility a.k.a. honky-tonk roadhouse, a full 1950s style diner, and its own classic car museum, among numerous other features. Chicago suburbs’ most expensive home for sale In total, the property features 65,000 square feet of roof-covered space, 15 beds, 16 full baths, three half-baths, eight lakes, and a 2,042-square-foot pool. Its additional amenities include a shooting range, tennis facility, basketball court, miniature log cabin playground, horseshoe pit, multiple stone fire pits, and woodland nature trails.The main residence was inspired by the traditional mountain log cabin. Offering 8,786 square feet of living spa...

Elon Musk subpoenaed by U.S. Virgin Islands in Jeffrey Epstein case

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:31:53 GMT

(The Hill) - Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been subpoenaed for documents by the U.S. Virgin Islands in its case against JPMorgan Chase Bank in connection with sex trafficking by the late Jeffrey Epstein.In the subpoena, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, investigators in the Virgin Islands are seeking any documents reflecting or regarding communications between Musk and Epstein about JPMorgan, or Musk and JPMorgan about EpsteinThe subpoena seeks any documents about fees Musk paid to Epstein or JPMorgan dating back to 2002 and “all documents reflecting or regarding Epstein’s involvement in human trafficking and/or his procurement of girls or women for commercial sex” in that same period. The Virgin Islands contend that Musk is "a high-net-worth individual who Epstein may have referred or attempted to refer to JPMorgan," but doesn't accuse Musk of any wrongdoing in the latest filings.The government of the Virgin Islands is suing JPMorgan, alleging the bankin...