In brief: Alito order suspends Missouri execution

BONNE TERRE, Mo. – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued an order late Tuesday suspending the planned execution of a Missouri inmate with a little more than an hour to spare before the inmate’s scheduled lethal injection.

Alito, who handles emergency matters for Missouri and other states covered by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, didn’t explain why he issued the order suspending Russell Bucklew’s execution, which had been scheduled for 12:01 a.m. today. But Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster issued a statement saying his office understands the full Supreme Court would consider Bucklew’s requests today.

Under Missouri law, the state has 24 hours to carry out a death warrant, meaning it could still execute Bucklew anytime today if the high court rejects his appeals.

Alito’s order came shortly after the full 8th Circuit court lifted a stay granted to Bucklew hours earlier by a three-judge panel of that court.

Bucklew, who was sentenced to death for killing a southeast Missouri man in 1996, suffers from a rare medical condition that his attorneys claim could cause him great pain during the execution process.

The 8th Circuit panel’s 2-1 ruling read that Bucklew’s “unrebutted medical evidence demonstrates the requisite sufficient likelihood of unnecessary pain and suffering beyond the constitutionally permissible amount inherent in all executions.”

USDA allows delay in school-lunch rules

WASHINGTON – The Agriculture Department will allow some schools to delay adding more whole grains to meals this year, responding to criticism from school nutrition officials and Congress that the standards were too difficult to put in place.

The delay comes hours after a Republican-led House spending panel criticized the Obama administration’s healthier school-lunch standards and proposed letting some schools opt out of them entirely.

USDA said schools can put off for two years a requirement that all pastas in schools be whole-grain rich, or more than half whole grain, if they can demonstrate that they have had “significant challenges” in preparing whole-grain pasta.

Many schools have complained that the whole-grain pastas don’t hold together well when cooked.

Marine’s body found after fall from aircraft

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. – A spokesman said the body of a U.S. Marine who fell from an aircraft during a training flight has been found.

Spokesman Mike Barton said the body was found Tuesday. Barton said the Marine was a member of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing and a crewmember of an Osprey that was conducting a training flight Monday evening.

Barton said it appears the Marine died as a result of the fall. The Marine’s identity wasn’t immediately released pending notification of his family.

Bladen County Coroner Hubert Kinlaw said the body was found south of Raleigh.

The Marine disappeared about 45 miles west of Marine Corps Air Station New River. Barton said he didn’t know how high the Osprey was flying or the number of crew aboard at the time of the accident.