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Condemned
Texas inmate granted stay of execution
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed Thursday’s
scheduled execution of Texas death row inmate Thomas Miller-El.
Miller-El,
50, who is black, was condemned for the 1985 robbery-slaying of
Douglas Walker, a desk clerk at the Holiday Inn-South in Irving.
Miller-El contends that prosecutors kept blacks off his jury.
Justice
Antonin Scalia granted the stay for Miller-El, whose case could
be used by the Supreme Court to clarify rules for claiming racial
discrimination in the selection of a jury.
The
high court said Friday it would hear Miller-El’s appeal but
did not stay the execution.
It
was up to the state to stay execution on its own, or for Miller-El’s
lawyers to ask the Supreme Court to do so separately. His lawyers
filed such a request Tuesday.
Prosecutors
used their power to challenge jurors to eliminate 10 out of 11 potential
black jurors before Miller-El’s trial, his lawyers claim. The
only black juror chosen told prosecutors he regarded execution as
“too quick” and painless a method
of punishment.
Miller-El
was convicted of killing Douglas Walker, 25. He was shot in the
back as he lay bound and gagged on the floor of a Holiday Inn near
the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Texas
Democratic gubernatorial debates to be televised
AUSTIN
(AP) — They were off. Now they’re on again.
Televised
debates in English and Spanish between leading Democratic gubernatorial
candidates Tony Sanchez and Dan Morales have been agreed on, their
campaigns said Wednesday.
The
first one-hour debate will be in English, followed by a one-hour
Spanish debate set to take place in Dallas on March 1, a Friday
evening.
“We
have agreed,” said Sanchez campaign manager Glenn Smith. “Sometimes,
negotiations
are tough. But we think this is working out best for the people
of Texas.”
Last
weekend, Sanchez said he was abandoning plans for any debates. His
campaign accused Morales’ campaign of negotiating in bad faith
and of launching personal attacks.
Morales
urged the Sanchez campaign to reconsider.
Morales
spokesman Jim Moore said Wednesday the agreement has been reached
but that Morales still would like more than those two debates.
Both
men are seeking to become Texas’ first Hispanic governor.
Morales,
a former state attorney general, is waging his campaign with far
less money than Sanchez and wants televised debates to help spread
his message. Sanchez, a multimillionaire from Laredo, is saturating
the state with paid TV ads.
The
debates are being organized by public television station KERA and
other news media.
Former
police officer pleads guilty to drug charges
SAN
ANTONIO (AP) — A former San Antonio police officer and a relative,
both accused of being part of a drug-trafficking scheme, pleaded
guilty Wednesday to federal charges of conspiring to sell cocaine.
Conrad
Fragozo Jr. and his uncle, Edward Fragozo, entered their pleas before
U.S. District Judge Edward Prado. The judge did not set a sentencing
date.
Eight
of the 12 people swept up in the FBI undercover operation have now
entered guilty pleas.
John
Convery, lawyer for Conrad Fragozo, said afterward that his client
had negotiated a sentencing cap of 20 years, while Albert Rodriguez,
representing Edward Fragozo, said his client’s cap was set
at eight years.
Ten
San Antonio law officers and two civilians were arrested in March
2001. Seven of them were accused of conspiring to protect what they
believed were cocaine shipments in exchange for money. The shipments
were supplied by FBI agents posing as drug smugglers.
Playboy.com
names “College Bar of the Month”
EVANSTON,
Ill. (U-WIRE) — Bar-hopping could have a whole new meaning
for Northwestern University students, now that bunnies are involved.
Playboy.com
named Nevin’s Pub, 1450 Sherman Ave., “College Bar of
the Month” for February.
“Throngs
of sexy sorority girls from the nearby quad head down for cocktails
after Monday night chapter,” the article reads, “but on
any given night you might find Northwestern’s fashionably-clad
theater majors, ultra-hip DJs from the campus radio station and
Evanston townies all chilling over brews together.”
Nevin’s
manager Jamie Fritz, 32, smiled when he read the article.
“(The
patrons) are just students who make it a college bar for a couple
of hours each night,” Fritz said. “It’s nice that
we were written about because Playboy’s great. As cliche as
it sounds, it’s known for its articles.”
Antonia
Simigis, who wrote the article, said she considered a number of
bars she recalled from her time at NU. But when deadline came up,
she said she chose Nevin’s due to its history.
Supreme
Court to review online copyright case
WACO
(U-WIRE) — The Supreme Court agreed to review a case involving
copyright protection on Tuesday, deciding when books, songs and
movies are free to go online.
The
outcome will determine whether the public’s right to material,
according to the First Amendment, has been violated, or if inventors
and authors have exclusive rights to their works for a certain length
of time.
A
nonprofit Internet publisher and other plaintiffs argue that Congress
sided too heavily with writers and other creators when it passed
a law in 1998 that retroactively extended copyright protection by
20 years.
As
a result of the extension, older Disney movies and other works that
had been expected to enter the public domain soon were prevented
from becoming freely available on the Internet.
Baylor
University’s electronic libraries staff is also involved the
debate about materials available through the university’s servers.
A new division of electronic libraries recently was created in an
attempt to expand the resources of library computers.
The
system’s aim is to make research and studies done online at
any of the Baylor libraries more complete and useful through easier-accessed
resources, said Billie Peterson-Lugo, assistant director of electronic
libraries. The new system of digital libraries will be available
for access on the Baylor Web site.
Rutgers’
students want input in hiring new president
NEW
BRUNSWICK, N.J. (U-WIRE) — Concerns about the ideals and qualities
students want resigning University President Francis L. Lawrence’s
replacement to reflect are being raised amid mixed emotions in several
of Rutgers University’s student governing bodies.
The
Rutgers College Governing Association is attempting to ensure student
concerns are heard by passing a resolution to present a bill to
the Board of Governors that encourages student involvement in the
selection of the University’s new president.
The
RCGA will request the BOG allow representatives from the New Brunswick,
Camden and Newark, N.J., campuses to join the committee and have
voting privileges in the selection of the new president. It also
will ask the BOG to permit students from every college at the University
to meet with presidential candidates and to allow each governing
association to choose three members to represent their respective
colleges on an advisory committee that would coordinate interviews
between those members and the candidates.
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