In brief: Pennsylvania ends fight to halt same-sex marriage
HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania’s governor ended his fight Wednesday to stop same-sex marriage in the state, allowing a growing number of couples to proceed with their wedding plans with greater peace of mind.
A day after a federal judge struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban, Gov. Tom Corbett announced he would halt his court fight because “the case is extremely unlikely to succeed on appeal.”
U.S. District Court Judge John Jones III struck down a 1996 state law banning recognition of gay marriage, calling it unconstitutional. One widow, 11 couples and one couple’s teenage daughters had sued. Their lawyers said another party never has been allowed to appeal in the state’s place.
Wyoming mulls firing squad for death row
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Prompted by the shortages of available drugs for lethal injections, Wyoming lawmakers are considering changing state law to permit execution of condemned inmates by firing squad.
A Wyoming legislative committee has directed its staff to draft a firing-squad bill for consideration ahead of next year’s legislative session starting in January.
Lawmakers in Utah also may consider a return to firing squads for civilian executions. A Republican state lawmaker there recently announced that he intends to introduce firing-squad legislation in his state’s next legislative session in January as well.
Lethal injection is becoming increasingly difficult for states to perform as pharmaceutical companies withhold drug compounds that states traditionally have used. Some inmates have raised constitutional challenges as states have turned to untried compounds.
Bus strikes pipes on interstate, killing 4
BLYTHE, Calif. – A bus carrying about 33 passengers through a remote stretch of desert struck a load of metal pipes scattered across a dark California highway Wednesday, then slid down an embankment and overturned in an accident that killed four passengers and seriously injured at least seven others.
Only a minute or two before the collision, the pipes had tumbled from a flatbed truck that jackknifed after drifting into the dirt median on Interstate 10, the main road linking Southern California and Arizona, the California Highway Patrol said.
The bus was about three-quarters through its 800-mile trip from El Paso, Texas, to Los Angeles.
Neither driver was hurt.