Missouri ready to execute prisoner

Missouri ready to execute prisoner

ST. LOUIS

The U.S. Supreme Court and Missouri’s governor declined Tuesday to block the execution of a man who raped and killed a college student, leaving him on course to be the first U.S. prisoner put to death since an Arizona lethal injection went awry last month.

Michael Worthington, 43, had predicted that the nation’s high court and Gov. Jay Nixon would not spare him from the lethal injection scheduled for 12:01 a.m. today, insisting in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that he had accepted his fate.

Worthington’s attorneys had pressed the Supreme Court to put off his execution, set to take place at a prison south of St. Louis, citing the Arizona execution and two others that were botched in Ohio and Oklahoma, as well as the secrecy involving the drugs used during the process in Missouri.

Report: Hackers steal 1.2B names, passwords

NEW YORK

Russian hackers have stolen 1.2 billion user names and passwords in a series of Internet heists affecting 420,000 websites, according to a report published Tuesday.

The thievery was described in a New York Times story based on the findings of Hold Security, a Milwaukee firm that has a history of uncovering online security breaches. Hold Security didn’t immediately respond to inquiries from The Associated Press.

The identities of the websites that were broken into weren’t identified by the Times, which cited nondisclosure agreements that required Hold Security to keep some information confidential.

Buses crash in Times Square; 14 are hurt

new york

A crash involving two double-decker tour buses injured 14 people and left Times Square blood-spattered Tuesday afternoon.

None of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening, fire department officials said.

The accident happened at 47th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, an area teeming with tourists near the TKTS discount Broadway ticket booth. A stretch of Seventh Avenue was shut down for hours.

Vet revives kitten that was given heroin

exton, pa.

A Pennsylvania veterinarian has used an overdose reversal drug to save a kitten that had been given heroin.

Police said Tuesday they arrested West Chester resident James Myers, who faces charges including animal cruelty and drug possession.

Police say an officer spotted Myers’ car parked in the street Sunday. The officer says he saw an injured black kitten under the door with a rope around its neck and several teeth knocked out. Police say they found bundles of heroin and dozens of needles in the car.

Authorities say the veterinarian revived the cat with Narcan, an antidote for opium-based drug overdoses.

Ancient skeleton found

PHILADELPHIA

An archaeology museum in Philadelphia has made an extraordinary find — in its own storage rooms.

The University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Museum announced Tuesday that it had rediscovered a 6,500-year-old human skeleton originally excavated from southern Iraq around 1930.

The complete remains, which had been kept in a coffinlike box, were missing documentation until researchers recently began digitizing the museum’s collection from an expedition to Ur, an ancient city near modern-day Nasiriyah.

Associated Press