Some of the 27 states that have the death penalty have not executed anyone in years but others still do – and the divide is rooted in history The execution of Brian Dorsey in Missouri on Tuesday, despite an extraordinary campaign asking for his sentence to be commuted, brought into focus the issue of the death penalty in the US – one of the few countries in the western world that still uses corporal punishment. Dorsey, 52, was executed for the 2006 murders of his cousin and her husband, after the number of people executed in the US rose to 24 in 2023, from 18 in 2022 ..read more

Brian Dorsey, convicted of murdering his cousin and her husband, put to death amid efforts by many to have his sentence commuted Brian Dorsey, who was convicted of murdering his cousin and her husband in 2006, was executed in Missouri’s Bonne Terre state prison Tuesday despite an extraordinary effort by corrections officials and his appeals judge to have his capital sentence commuted. Prison officials confirmed that Dorsey had been put to death by lethal injection. They said he had been pronounced dead at 6.11pm ..read more

Petition argues that Brian Dorsey is fully rehabilitated and that execution would violate eighth amendment Attorneys for a Missouri death row inmate have asked the US supreme court to block an execution sentence from going ahead on Tuesday, following a petition for clemency from more than 70 correctional officers and a letter from the inmate’s appeals court judge. But the supreme court rejected the request ..read more

Prison guards, judges, jurors and prison workers have beseeched Mike Parson to commute capital punishment to life without parole With less than a week until Brian Dorsey is scheduled to be executed at Potosi correctional center in Missouri for the 2006 killings of his cousin and her husband, an extraordinary effort is underway to have the 52-year-old’s capital sentence commuted to life without parole. More than 150 people have called on the Missouri governor Mike Parson to commute Dorsey’s punishment – including more than 70 current and former prison workers, many of whom got to know Doresy be ..read more

Move follows similar lawsuit by Texas attorney general, raising fear that news outlets could be next targets The attorney general of Missouri is suing Media Matters, a progressive watchdog group, alleging that it failed to turn over internal documents following its 2023 coverage of hate speech on the social media platform X. The head of the group says news outlets could be the next targets. “Media Matters has pursued an activist agenda in its attempt to destroy X, because they cannot control it,” the lawsuit said, describing X – formerly known as Twitter – as a “free speech platform” that allo ..read more

Republican Tim Burchett called Denton Loudermill Jr a ‘shooter’ and ‘illegal’ alien after shooting at Kansas City parade A Kansas man is suing a US congressman after he was falsely identified as a shooter at the Kansas City Chiefs’ celebration parade. Denton Loudermill Jr, 48, filed a suit against the Republican US representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee on Monday in the US district court in Kansas City ..read more

John Moseley of Lincoln University reinstated after review clears him of allegations he bullied Antoinette Bonnie Candia-Bailey The president of a historically Black Missouri university has been reinstated after an independent investigation cleared him of claims that he bullied another top administrator before she killed herself this year, university leaders announced on Thursday. Lincoln University curators called Antoinette Bonnie Candia-Bailey’s January death tragic in an open letter to students and alumni. They said an investigation by the law firm Lewis Rice found no evidence that John Mo ..read more

Lawmakers say they’re on the warpath because TikTok’s owner is a national security threat. Some users think the app has become a hub for progressive activism Tick tock, tick tock … that’s the sound of time running out for Gen Z’s favourite app. On Wednesday the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill would require the TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or get banned in the US. It’s not clear whether the bill would pass in the Senate. However, the White House has said it supports the legislation. All in all, things don’t look great for TikTok ..read more

The statute, which can lead to reproductive coercion in a state that has banned abortion, has recently gained nationwide attention At six months pregnant, H decided enough was enough. She had endured years of abuse from her husband and had recently discovered he was also physically violent towards her child. She contacted an attorney to help her get a divorce. But she was stopped short. Her lawyer told her that she could not finalize a divorce in Missouri because she was pregnant. “I just absolutely felt defeated,” she said. H returned to the house she shared with her abuser, sleeping in her c ..read more

Denver expected to receive up to 2ft of snow as city rolls out the plows and airport braces for delays and cancellations A major storm dumped heavy snow in Colorado on Thursday – forcing flight cancellations and shutting down a highway that connects Denver to Colorado ski resorts for much of the day, stranding some people in their cars for hours. Numerous schools and government offices closed due to the severe weather, along with stretches of highway, as meteorologists warned of difficult-to-nearly-impossible travel by Thursday afternoon ..read more