Mo. senator urged to back justice pick
Compiled from news services
KANSASCITY, Mo. — Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday put pressure on Sen. Claire McCaskill to support President Donald Trump’s latest pick for the Supreme Court, using a speech in Ms. McCaskill’s home state of Missouri to hammer the vulnerable Democrat for her opposition to Mr. Trump’s first nominee last year.
“Today, we call on Senator Claire McCaskill, put politics aside, give our nominee a fair hearing and vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh as the newest justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,” Mr. Pence said in Kansas City, Mo.
The remarks by Mr. Pence come two days after Mr. Trump unveiled Judge Kavanaugh as his choice to succeed retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
Ms.McCaskill, who is in themidst of a tough reelectionbattle and last year voted againstthe confirmation of Mr.Trump’s first Supreme Courtnominee, Neil Gorsuch,has so far sounded a cautiousnote on Judge Kavanaugh,saying that she plans tothoroughly examine his recordbefore coming to a decision.
Wisconsin suburb blast
SUNPRAIRIE, Wis. — A massive natural gas explosion killed a firefighter and leveled portions of a city block in a southern Wisconsin community, including a bar the firefighter owned, authorities said Wednesday.
Theblast in downtown SunPrairie on Tuesday eveningalso injured at least a dozenpeople and left residentsof the Madison suburb wonderinghow they’ll put theirdowntown back together.
Theblast happened after police got a call at 6:30 p.m. thatconstruction workers workingon a downtown streethad punctured a WE Energiesnatural gas line. Police and firefighters arrived toinvestigate and were evacuatingthe area when the gas explodedshortly after 7 p.m. Theblast ignited four-story highflames that burned long intothe night and belched a smokeplume visible for miles.
Killer’s execution blocked
LASVEGAS — A Nevada judge effectively blocked the execution of a two-time killer Wednesday after a pharmaceutical company objected to the use of one of its drugs to put someone to death.
Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez disallowed the drug in a ruling that came less than nine hours before Scott Raymond Dozier, 47, was to be executed by injection with a three-chemical combination never before tried in the U.S. State prison officials later called off the 8 p.m. execution, and a judge issued an order indefinitely postponing it.
At a hearing earlier in the day, New Jersey-based Alvogen urged the judge to block the use of its sedative midazolam, saying the state illegally secured the product through subterfuge and intended it for unapproved purposes. The pharmaceutical company also raised fears that the drug could lead to a botched execution, citing cases that apparently went awry elsewhere around the country.
Twitter battles fishy users
NEWYORK — Twitter says it will begin removing suspicious accounts it has locked from its counts of users’ followers.
Twitter users are likely to see a reduction in their follower counts in the coming days. For many, this will amount to a reduction of four followers or less. But large accounts of celebrities and public figures could see bigger drops. An account that’s been locked can’t tweet, like or retweet posts, and it won’t be shown ads.