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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Firing squad will be Utah execution option

From Wire Reports

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah became the only state to allow firing squads for executions when Gov. Gary Herbert signed a law Monday approving the method for use when no lethal injection drugs are available, even though he has called it “a little bit gruesome.”

The Republican governor has said Utah is a capital punishment state and needs a backup execution method in case a shortage of the drugs persists.

The governor’s office, in a statement announcing the new law, noted that other states allow execution methods other than lethal injection. In Washington state, inmates can request hanging. In New Hampshire, hangings are a fallback if lethal injections can’t be given. And an Oklahoma law would allow the state to use firing squads if lethal injections and electrocutions are ever declared unconstitutional.

Court rejects challenge to Wisconsin voter law

MADISON, Wis. – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a challenge to Wisconsin’s voter identification law, allowing the law to stand and handing a victory to Gov. Scott Walker following a long fight by opponents who say it’s a thinly veiled attempt to make it more difficult for Democratic backers to vote.

The law won’t be enforced for an April 7 election because it’s only two weeks away, but it will be in subsequent elections, the state attorney general said.

Walker, a likely 2016 Republican presidential candidate, is a longtime proponent of voter ID requirements and signed Wisconsin’s into law in 2011. But it was only in effect for one low-turnout primary in 2012 before legal challenges kept it on hold.

Judge orders Durst to be held without bond

NEW ORLEANS – Millionaire murder suspect Robert Durst is a flight risk and a danger to others, a judge decided Monday after considering what FBI agents found in his hotel room – an elaborate disguise and other escape tools fit for a spy movie.

Durst was arrested at the J.W. Marriott hotel in New Orleans, where he had registered under the name Everette Ward and was lying low while HBO aired the final chapters of his life story.

FBI agents recovered his passport and birth certificate, an apparently fake Texas ID, stacks of $100 bills, bags of marijuana, .38-caliber revolver, a map folded to show Louisiana and Cuba, and a flesh-toned latex mask with salt-and-pepper hair.

“This was not a mask for Halloween” – it was a disguise extending down to the chest, Assistant District Attorney Mark Burton said.

Magistrate Harry Cantrell ordered Durst held without bond on weapons charges in Louisiana, and set a preliminary hearing for April 2, delaying his transfer to California to face murder charges.

An estranged member of the wealthy New York real estate family that runs 1 World Trade Center, Durst, 71, is accused of killing Susan Berman in 2000 before she could speak with investigators about the disappearance of Durst’s first wife, Kathleen, in 1982.

House Democrats unveil budget plan

WASHINGTON – House Democrats on Monday unveiled a $3.7 trillion budget plan for next year that mirrors President Barack Obama’s call for $1.8 trillion in tax increases on wealthier people and corporations over the coming decade. But it would add almost $6 trillion to the national debt over that time.

The plan by Maryland Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen rejects deep cuts proposed by Republicans to social safety net programs and would keep the health care law intact.

The plan calls for a wave of new spending for infrastructure like roads and bridges and additional funding for education and medical research. It would make modest curbs on the rapid growth of the popular Medicare program.

The Democratic plan has no chance of being adopted during House debate this week.