Ohio killer: Block 2nd execution try

Ohio killer: Block 2nd execution try

COLUMBUS

A convicted Ohio killer who survived a botched execution attempt in 2009 is asking a federal judge to prevent a second trip to the state’s death chamber.

Romell Broom was sentenced to die for the 1984 rape and murder of 14-year-old Tryna Middleton in Cleveland. The state stopped Broom’s execution after two hours when executioners couldn’t find a usable vein after 18 needle sticks.

The 61-year-old Broom is only the second U.S. inmate to survive an execution after the process began. A new execution date has been set for June 17, 2020.

Broom’s attorneys asked in a filing last week that Broom be removed from death row, arguing a second execution attempt is cruel and unusual punishment and a double-jeopardy violation.

Man catches teen falling from park ride

NEW YORK

Matthew Howard Sr. was leaving a New York amusement park Saturday evening with his family when he heard someone screaming for help.

He looked up to see a young girl dangling about 25 feet off the ground from a slow-moving gondola ride. Her little brother sat next to her in the green two-person pod, crying hysterically, saying he couldn’t hold on.

Howard, 47, and his 21-year-old daughter, Leeann Winchell, positioned themselves under the girl as the ride stopped and security came running. The girl lost her grip and fell down where Howard and Winchell, arms outstretched, waited with other good Samaritans.

The 14-year-old girl from Greenwood, Del., was taken to Albany Medical Center in stable condition with no serious injuries, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office said.

9 dead, 28 missing after tourist boat sinks

GUATAPE, Colombia

Nine people were dead and 28 missing after a tourist ferry packed with around 170 passengers for the holiday weekend capsized Sunday on a reservoir near the Colombian city of Medellin, officials said.

A major rescue effort involving Colombia’s air force and firefighters from nearby cities was looking for survivors at the Guatape reservoir where the four-story El Almirante boat sank. As it went down, a flotilla of recreational boats and jet skis rushed to the scene to pull people from the vessel and deliver them safely to the shore, avoiding an even deadlier tragedy.

Landslide in China

MAO COUNTY, China

Rescuers recovered 10 bodies and were searching for 93 missing people Sunday, a day after a massive landslide buried a picturesque mountain village in southwestern China.

More than 2,500 rescuers with detection devices and dogs were looking for signs of life amid the rubble of huge boulders that rained down on Xinmo village in Sichuan province Saturday.

As of Sunday night, only three people had been rescued.

UK: All samples from towers fail safety tests

LONDON

The list of high-rise apartment towers in Britain that have failed fire safety tests grew to 60, officials said Sunday, revealing the mounting challenge the government faces in the aftermath of London’s Grenfell Tower fire tragedy.

All of the buildings for which external cladding samples were so far submitted failed combustibility tests, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said. As of late Sunday, that includes 60 towers from 25 different areas of the country – double the figure given a day earlier.

The national testing was ordered after an inferno engulfed Grenfell Tower in west London on June 14. The tower’s cladding – panels widely used to insulate buildings and improve their appearance – was believed to have rapidly spread that blaze, which killed at least 79 people.

Associated Press