Florida judge delays killer’s execution
Orlando, Fla.
Child-killer Mark Dean Schwab has been spared, at least temporarily.
U.S. District Judge Anne Conway on Wednesday delayed his execution for the “relatively short time” it will take for the U.S. Supreme Court to consider questions about lethal injection, an issue not likely to be resolved until next summer.
Florida officials quickly filed an appeal in hopes of carrying out the execution on schedule tonight at Florida State Prison in Starke.
Schwab, 38, was sentenced to die for the 1991 rape and murder of Junny Rios-Martinez, 11, of Cocoa.
Washington
Added protection pushed for sea turtle
Two environmental groups are asking the Interior Department to declare loggerhead sea turtles that inhabit the Atlantic coast officially endangered, maintaining that tens of thousands of the turtles are killed annually by commercial fishing and because of coastal development.
The loggerhead sea turtle is classified as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act, but environmentalists say a higher level of protection is needed for the turtles that nest primarily along the southern Atlantic coast and to some extent off the Gulf coast of Florida.
Oceana, a sea-life advocacy group, and the Center for Biological Diversity will file a petition with the Interior Department and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration today asking that the Western Atlantic sea turtle be declared a subspecies and officially endangered.
Chicago
Judge bars moment of silence
A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction barring a suburban Chicago school district from implementing a new Illinois law mandating a moment of silence at the start of classes, calling the statute too vague and “likely unconstitutional.”
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman made the decision Wednesday in a hearing on a lawsuit brought by Rob Sherman, who filed suit against Township High School District 214, where his daughter is a freshman at Buffalo Grove High School.
Gettleman asked the parties in the case to return to court today, when he could make the injunction statewide.
Also
No charges: Vermont truck driver Delbert Degree, 41, who ran over a woman during a confrontation stemming from a traffic incident, won’t be charged in her death, Vermont State Police said Tuesday.
Hawaii: A state judge cleared the way for a new interisland ferry to operate before an environmental assessment is complete.
Seattle Times news services