A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing a man with nitrogen gas after declaring the method violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Alabama became the first state in the nation to use the execution method in January 2024, but has faced repeated legal challenges to its use.
Emily C Marks, a US district judge, permanently enjoined the state from executing Jeffery Lee by nitrogen gas. Lee was scheduled to be executed Thursday at an Alabama prison.
A spokesman for Alabama attorney general Steve Marshall said the state is appealing the decision. The case will likely end up before the US supreme court, which has previously let nitrogen executions proceed.
In 2000, a jury sentenced Lee to life without parole for the 1998 murders of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson. A judge later declined to follow the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. In 2017, Kay Ivey, an Alabama governor, signed a bill to ban such cases of judicial override, but the law only applied to future – and not past – cases. Lee’s attorneys have since asked Ivey to grant him clemency and end judicial override retroactively.
A provision in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act blocked Planned Parenthood’s health centers from billing Medicaid for the other services they provide, like contraception and cancer screenings. Medicaid is their primary source of funding, and the legislation meant they lost out on more than $700 million annually.
Graham Platner, a progressive oyster farmer and political newcomer whose campaign has been wrought with controversies, will face off this fall against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, Decision Desk HQ projects.
The top soccer referee in Africa says he's devastated he won't be able to officiate in the 2026 World Cup after being denied entry into the United States last Saturday.
Volkswagen is considering plans to convert one of its German car factories into a production hub for Israel’s missile defence systems, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Danish shipping giant Maersk is still shipping smaller weapons components to Israel that include rifle and pistol parts, as well as bomb bodies, despite its assertion to the contrary last year, according to a report published on Monday by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and Oxfam Denmark. 
Russian overnight strikes across Kharkiv region killed three people in Chuhuiv and injured at least 15 others in Kharkiv city, including three children. Officials reported damage to apartment buildings and private homes, while emergency crews worked to extinguish fires and search through rubble.
Nithya Raman, a progressive Los Angeles city council member, has advanced to the November runoff for LA mayor, edging out former reality TV villain Spencer Pratt for the chance to face incumbent mayor Karen Bass.
