2 crewmen escape fiery train derailment
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A large rock slide caused a fiery train derailment Thursday morning in eastern Kentucky that briefly trapped two crew members and caused a chemical leak into a river, authorities said.
Two crew members of the CSX train were initially trapped in a flaming locomotive along the river's edge before climbing out and waiting for firefighters to rescue them by boat. They were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, officials said.
CSX said in a statement that the train derailed into the Big Sandy River around 7 a.m. after a rock slide over the tracks. The derailment happened in Draffin, about 160 miles southeast of Lexington. Video showed a wooded area behind homes ablaze shortly after the derailment occurred.
CSX said the train had 96 cars carrying ethanol and two cars loaded with rocks. Five rail cars derailed, including four ethanol tanks and one sand car, CSX said on Twitter.
One locomotive and an unknown number of cars caught fire.
Kentucky State Police spokesman William Petry said authorities authorities decided to let the fire burn itself out since it did not pose a public safety threat.
Execution hiatus ending, Oklahoma says
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma plans to resume executing death-row inmates, state officials said Thursday, five years after lethal injections were put on hold in the aftermath a series of botched executions, state officials announced Thursday.
Gov. Kevin Stitt, Attorney General Mike Hunter and Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Scott Crow said in a joint news release that the state will resume executions using a three-drug lethal injection protocol and that a source for the drugs has been secured. The three drugs are: midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride.
"I believe capital punishment is appropriate for the most heinous of crimes and it is our duty as state officials to obey the laws of the state of Oklahoma by carrying out this somber task," Stitt said.
Hunter said the state criminal appeals court has been notified that they're ready to resume executions, triggering a five-month wait before an execution can be scheduled. More than two dozen inmates have exhausted all their appeals and are awaiting execution dates. There are 47 inmates on Oklahoma's death row, Hunter said.
Dale Baich, a federal public defender representing death row prisoners who are challenging the state's execution procedures in federal court, said in a statement that he's disappointed the state is reverting to the same three-drug protocol that has been used in past problematic executions.
"Oklahoma's history of mistakes and malfeasance reveals a culture of carelessness around executions that should give everyone pause," he said, adding that "ongoing litigation challenging the constitutionality of Oklahoma's protocol" will continue.
2 killed in Alabama Walmart gunfight
MOBILE, Ala. -- Two men shot each other and died after an argument inside an Alabama Walmart store, police said Thursday.
A statement from the Mobile Police Department said the two were arguing in a Walmart Neighborhood Market on Wednesday night and both pulled out guns. Witnesses described people running for cover as multiple shots were fired, news outlets reported.
Both men were taken to a hospital where they died. Police identified the victims as Jaquess Thompson, 21, and Seantatis Kirksey, 44.
No one else was injured, police said. It was unclear what prompted the dispute.
Ex-aide Hicks returning to White House
WASHINGTON -- Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump's most trusted and longest-serving aides, is returning to the White House as the president works to surround himself with loyalists as his reelection campaign moves into high gear.
Hicks, who was one of Trump's original 2016 campaign staffers, then served as White House communications director before she left in 2018. She moved to California, where she joined the Fox Corporation as executive vice president and chief communications officer.
In her new role, Hicks is expected to serve as counselor to the president, working with presidential son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made public. She will not be part of the White House communications department, but will work closely with Kushner and White House political director Brian Jack "in a number of strategic areas," a White House official confirmed.
Hicks is expected to start early next month, though details were still being worked out Thursday.
A Section on 02/14/2020