Christa Pike is angry and confused after surviving execution attempt, attorney says
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Christa Pike is “angry and confused” after surviving an attempt to execute her in Tennessee. One of Pike’s attorneys, Randy Spivey, said Wednesday that she aware of what happened. Executioners tried twice to administer lethal doses of pentobarbital to Pike on Sept. 30. Witnesses were able to hear her breathing heavily before she was removed from the death chamber. On Wednesday, a judge said she would issue an order to the state to preserve anything that was in the execution chamber and all communication records. Pike was sentenced to death for the beating and stabbing death of Colleen Slemmer in 1995.
FBI says it stopped a Mall of America terror attack by a teen after agents sold him an assault rifle
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The FBI says it thwarted an attack on the Mall of America by a teenager after agents supplied him with an assault rifle. Authorities announced Wednesday that the 18-year-old had been under investigation for nearly two years, trading messages with a confidential informant. A federal complaint says Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud was arrested Tuesday in a public park after he paid $600 to an undercover FBI employee posing as a member of the Islamic State group for an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition. It accuses Mohamud of repeatedly telling the informant that he wanted to kill non-Muslims. He was represented at his initial court appearance Wednesday by a public defender. The lawyer and members of his family declined to comment.
Isaias strengthens into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season
Isaias has strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. The National Hurricane Center said late Wednesday that the hurricane was on track to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week. It’s expected to bring heavy rains and potentially flash flooding. The Miami-based hurricane center reports the center of the hurricane is about 460 miles south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It has maximum sustained winds around 75 mph. Isaias is developing more than four months into the Atlantic hurricane season.
Maricarmen, the 87-year-old woman whose eviction shook Spain, has died in hospital
MADRID (AP) — María del Carmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman whose eviction from her Madrid home sparked protests across Spain, has died. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez expressed condolences. Known as “Maricarmen,” she became a symbol for renters struggling with Spain's housing crisis. Her eviction on September 23 led to nationwide protests. Despite a deal allowing her to return home, her health worsened. Her lawyer, Beatriz Duro, highlighted the impact of evictions on health. Maricarmen's case has galvanized a social movement, leading to a general strike and early elections called by Sánchez.
Cornell gang-rape accuser was 'misled' about criminal investigation, her lawyer says
ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) — A lawyer for the woman who says she was gang raped at a Cornell University fraternity says she was “misled” by authorities about the status of the criminal investigation in the weeks after she first went to police. Attorney Thomas Giuffra told The Associated Press campus police led the accuser to believe that the investigation was continuing, even after a local district attorney initially declined to prosecute. In reality, the lawyer says little more was done. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has said he made the decision not to go forward with a criminal case within days of the woman giving her first substantial interviews to police. The men accused by the woman denied her allegations. They have not been charged with a crime.
Two lawsuits challenge Trump's taxpayer-funded ads, alleging they violate propaganda law
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two new lawsuits are challenging President Donald Trump's recent spate of federally funded television advertisements. The lawsuits filed Wednesday came from the Democratic National Committee and a coalition including the nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause. The plaintiffs argue the ads, which promote Trump's political message while costing taxpayers millions of dollars, violate U.S. propaganda law. They ask the courts to block the use of federal funds to pay for the ads. The ads began in September and have cost taxpayers at least $12 million out of a contracted $20 million. Trump has defended the ads as positive promotion for the country. He has said he’ll pay for them through his super PAC going forward.
Israelis mourn Oct. 7 attack as Palestinians in Gaza languish in ruins of the war it sparked
REIM, Israel (AP) — Israelis have gathered at intersections, bomb shelters and the site of a music festival that Hamas-led militants overran on Oct. 7, 2023. The attack killed 1,200 people, saw 251 taken hostage, sparked the war in Gaza, and led to a spiral of conflicts across the Middle East. For Palestinians, Wednesday's anniversary brings another day of living with the results of Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people. Most of the population of about 2 million people lives in vast, squalid tent camps, with large parts of the strip reduced to rubble. For the region, the day highlights a startling transformation over the past three years.
UN health agency wants more details from Russia on suspected pneumonic plague case
GENEVA (AP) — A top official with the World Health Organization says the U.N. health agency doesn’t know how a lab employee in Siberia died amid concerns about plague. She called on Russia to provide more information. Maria Van Kerkhove is WHO director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management. She said the agency doesn’t know what the 'causative agent’ was behind the woman’s Oct. 2 death, and “this is why we need more information.” Russian authorities have kept a tight lid on information about the case, which has been surrounded by secrecy.
Texas carries out nation’s first execution since Christa Pike’s failed lethal injection
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas man who fatally shot a convenience store clerk in 2000 has been executed, a week after a failed lethal injection in Tennessee. Forty-six-year-old Jamaal Howard was pronounced dead Wednesday evening after receiving a fatal dose of pentobarbital at the state prison at Huntsville. It was the first U.S. execution since Tennessee’s failed attempt to put Christa Pike to death on Sept. 30. Howard’s attorneys had unsuccessfully sought to block the injection, arguing that he was intellectually disabled and faced risks similar to Pike's because both states use the same lethal injection drug. Howard was convicted of killing 42-year-old clerk Vickie Swartout during a convenience store robbery in 2000.
Trump's $90 Medicare rebate rolls out, but millions aren't eligible. Critics see a political stunt
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's Trump’s promised $90 Medicare rebate rolls out this week, but millions of people will be left out. The rebates are estimated to cost $2 billion and are intended to help more than 20 million Medicare enrollees with their Part B premiums. Less than one-third of all Medicare recipients are eligible for the payouts. Not eligible are roughly 35 million Medicare Advantage enrollees, millions of other people with disabilities and low-income Medicare recipients. The election-year promise comes as the Novembers midterms are fast approaching, with the cost of living and healthcare expenses among the top issues for voters. Critics say the move is a political stunt.
