FLA. EXECUTES DOUBLE-MURDERER USING NEW DRUG
FLA.» The state on Thursday STARKE, put a man to death with an anesthetic never used before in a U.S. lethal injection, carrying out its first execution in more than 18 months on an inmate convicted of two racially motivated murders.
Authorities said 53-year-old Mark Asay, the first white man executed in Florida for the killing of a black man, was pronounced dead at 6:22 p.m. Thursday at the state prison in Starke. Asay received a three-drug injection that began with the anesthetic, etomidate.
Although approved by the Florida Supreme Court, etomidate has been criticized by some as being unproven in an execution. Etomidate replaced midazolam, which became harder to acquire after many drug companies began refusing to provide it for executions.
Hostage situation ends after gunman shot.
S.C.» A CHARLESTON, fired dishwasher shot and killed a chef and held a person hostage for about three hours before he was shot by police at a crowded restaurant in a tourist-heavy area Thursday. The hostage was freed with no injuries, Mayor John Tecklenburg said. The shooting took place at Virginia’s restaurant on the usually crowded King Street, a line of shops and nice dining that caters to tourists and residents in South Carolina’s largest and most historic city. Authorities did not release the names of the gunman or the employee he killed.
Qatar sending ambassador back to Iran, ignoring Arab demands.
Qatar restored full diplomatic relations with Iran on Thursday and promised to send its ambassador back to Tehran — a move counter to the demands of Arab nations trying to isolate Doha as part of a regional dispute.
In announcing its decision, Qatar made no mention of the diplomatic crisis roiling Gulf Arab nations since June, when Doha found its land, sea and air routes cut off by the four Arab states.
Iran, which welcomed Doha’s decision, has sent food to Qatar and allowed its airplanes to increasingly use the Islamic Republic’s airspace.
Hiker survives lightning strike that blasted his clothes off.
An Austrian man hiking 9,000 feet up in the Sierra Nevadas was on a peak taking a photo when he was struck by a lightning bolt that blasted away his clothes, burned a hole in one of his shoes and left him with severe burns.
Mathias Steinhuber, who was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail with his girlfriend and a friend, had an entry wound on his hand and an exit wound on his foot, he said.
Steinhuber had major burns throughout his body and was struggling to walk when a helicopter crew rescued him Tuesday from an exposed peak among the rugged mountains near Donner Summit, the California Highway Patrol said.
There was no rain or lightning when they set off on their hike.
Meehan, Tony-winning writer of “Annie,” “The Producers” and “Hairspray,” dies at 88.
NEW
YORK» Thomas Meehan, a onetime magazine writer who became a three-time Tony winner on Broadway, writing the plot and dialogue for the blockbuster hit musicals “Annie,” “The Producers” and “Hairspray,” died Aug. 22 at his home. He was 88. The cause was cancer.
Meehan once aspired to be a serious novelist, but he turned toward journalism and humor because “whenever I wrote Faulkneresque, it came out lousy-esque.”
“Cheers” actor, radio host Jay Thomas dies at 69.
Jay Thomas, a radio talk show host and actor with recurring roles on the sitcoms “Murphy Brown” and “Cheers,” has died, his publicist said. Thomas was 69.
He was “one of the funniest and kindest men I have had the honor to call both client and friend for 25 years plus,” publicist Tom Estey said in a statement Thursday. He did not provide further details.
Thomas was fighting cancer, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.
Thomas’ best-known roles were as Eddie LeBec, the former-hockey-player husband of barmaid Carla on “Cheers,” and tabloid-talkshow host Jerry Gold on “Murphy Brown,” for which he won two Emmys. — The Associated Press