Here's a news item from the Associated Press in Washington, D.C.: WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is refusing to intervene in the case of an Idaho inmate who is scheduled to be executed Friday for killing two women nearly a quarter-century ago. Paul Ezra Rhoades' lethal injection would be the first execution in Idaho in 17 years. Rhoades' lawyers asked the high court for time to challenge the state's lethal injection policy. They argue that it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment that is barred by the Constitution. Lower courts have rejected their arguments, and late Thursday, the Supreme Court denied two requests for a stay. Rhoades was sentenced to death for killing newly married, 21-year-old Stacy Dawn Baldwin and 34-year-old Susan Michelbacher, a special education teacher. He received a term of life in prison for killing 20-year-old Nolan Haddon.