Author: rpnadmin

ATMORE, Ala. — The U.S. Supreme Court says Alabama cannot proceed with a nitrogen gas execution after a lower court ruled that the method is unconstitutional. The justices declined to lift an injunction blocking the state from carrying out the nation’s ninth execution by nitrogen gas. The decision spared death row inmate Jeffery Lee, 49, from being put to death by nitrogen Thursday night. A spokesperson for the Alabama Department of Corrections said the execution was off for the evening and the state would not try another method. The ruling capped an extraordinary legal back-and-forth over the humaneness of the…

TRACY, Calif. — A fire at a medical equipment warehouse in Northern California sent thick black smoke pouring into the sky Thursday and prompted evacuations of other nearby facilities as authorities fought to get the blaze under control. The fire ignited at a distribution center for Medline, a major medical-surgical products provider, in Tracy, a city about 55 miles east of San Francisco. Officials worked to evacuate a large portion of the area as the wind heightened the risk of spreading embers, said Sgt. Michael Richards, from the city’s police department. The warehouse is in a massive industrial park that…

Children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel visited families connected to detainees at the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, on Monday, calling on the federal government to end what she described as the traumatization of children by immigration enforcement. Rachel Griffin Accurso, the YouTube and Netflix children’s content creator known to her audience as Ms. Rachel, spent Monday at a volunteer hospitality tent outside the privately run facility, where she played with children, sang songs and listened to their accounts of separated families. In an Instagram post the following day, Ms. Accurso said she met children whose hearts were…

The National Park Service said Wednesday that human remains found in a sleeping bag in Washington state in 2000 have been identified. The remains belong to Joseph Louis Serrao Jr., a man originally from Hawaii who moved to Washington and last had contact with his relatives in 1998, the National Park Service said. Mr. Serrao’s remains were first found in a tent in 2000 by a researcher in a remote area of Olympic National Park, 100 miles west of Seattle, the National Park Service said. Officials did not specify the cause of Mr. Serrao’s death. He was born in December…

Jimmy Kimmel used his Tuesday night monologue to taunt Spencer Pratt over his failed Los Angeles mayoral bid, presenting the former reality star with a customized U-Haul and daring him to follow through on his campaign promise to leave the city — a jab that Pratt quickly turned against the late-night host by invoking the wildfire that destroyed his home. “The Hills” alumnus Pratt, a Republican, had drawn national attention with his candidacy challenging liberal governance in a heavily Democratic city, but ultimately failed to secure enough votes to advance to a November runoff. City Council member Nithya Raman overtook…

Defense Department officials ordered a partial shelter-in-place Thursday after the Pentagon’s systems detected an “air quality issue” that required additional precautionary measures. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Defense Department is executing “standard protection protocols” until the severity of the incident has been confirmed. “The Pentagon has sophisticated systems to ensure the safety of the building and its occupants,” Mr. Parnell said in a statement. “Response teams are in place and ready to support building occupants.” The Arlington County Fire Department said its Hazardous Materials specialists are at the Pentagon in support of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency’s Hazmat…

Damaging storms swept through the Midwest, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers and causing more than a thousand flight delays or cancellations at Chicago airports with more potentially severe weather expected Thursday. The National Weather Service said it received more than a dozen reports of tornadoes Wednesday across northern Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Illinois. There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths. Weather service meteorologist Frank Pereira said the frontal system that produced the storms, including high winds and hail, was moving eastward Thursday. There was also a slight risk of severe thunderstorms in parts of…

Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX will make its debut on Wall Street Friday and both institutional and retail investors are expected to gobble up the 555.6 million shares going up for sale at $135 apiece. Musk, already the world’s richest man, could become its first trillionaire. Why go public now? In a video conference on Musk’s social media platform X, he told JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon that people have suggested for the last 10 years that he take SpaceX public. He’s doing it now because the company plans to put 100,000 next-generation Starlink satellites into orbit. Deploying AI data centers…

Extreme floods that once swamped coastal communities only rarely are becoming far more common as climate change caused by humans pushes sea levels higher, according to new research published Wednesday. Experts say the findings are crucial for making plans about floods and coastal infrastructure as the planet warms. These big coastal floods happen when high tides and storm surges – the amount above normal tide level – combine with seas that are already rising. Those pile on top of natural climate patterns and other human influence. Climate change has strengthened storms like Hurricane Ian, which caused significant flooding in 2022,…

DETROIT — Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Wednesday against eight pro-Palestinian activists who are accused of conspiring to run a criminal intimidation campaign against University of Michigan officials while trying to force the school to cut financial ties to Israel. The indictment describes threats and vandalism at officials’ homes, some businesses and the Jewish Federation of Detroit. “In America, we rule by law not by fear. These alleged threats and attempts to terrorize government officials, businesses, and the Jewish Federation are anti-American. We will counter intimidation with justice,” U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said. The document highlights several incidents that…