PATRICK MURPHY

Nate Oats has Nick Saban on speed dial.

Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has won a third term, defeating U.S. Rep. Val Demings and holding a key seat as the GOP tried to regain control of a closely divided Senate.

There's a shifting narrative on COVID-19 restrictions across the country among Democratic officials and candidates.

An autistic Cambodian teenager has been released from prison after serving time for posting comments critical of the government on social media in a case that has attracted international attention.

Conservative Supreme Court justices are expressing skepticism about saying that Texas must agree to a death row inmate’s request to allow a chaplain to pray out loud and touch him during his execution.

A Cambodian activist has denounced a delay in releasing her autistic teenage son, who has been imprisoned for comments critical of the government he made on social media.

Executions in the nation’s busiest capital punishment state face delays amid legal questions over Texas’ refusal to allow spiritual advisers to touch people as they are being put to death.

Another Texas inmate has had his execution delayed over claims the state is violating his religious freedom by not letting his spiritual adviser lay hands on him at the time of his lethal injection.

Andrew McCutchen drove in four runs and the Philadelphia Phillies erased a six-run deficit against the Washington Nationals to earn a 7-6 victory and a three-game sweep.

A Texas death-row inmate has sued state prison officials to allow his pastor to lay hands on him as he dies from a lethal injection.

Shohei Ohtani hit his major league-leading 38th home run this season, but the Toronto Blue Jays hit it out of the park four times, including two from George Springer and a grand slam by Teoscar Hernandez, to defeat the Los Angeles Angels 10-2.

Democrats see one of their best chances to pick up a Senate seat during next year’s midterms in Pennsylvania.

A Colorado man suspected in the death of his wife who disappeared last Mother’s Day made his first appearance in court Thursday to be advised of the charges he could face, including first-degree murder.

The order from the high court follows two years in which inmates saw some rare success in bringing challenges based on the issue of chaplains in the death chamber. This time, liberal and conservative members of the court normally in disagreement over death penalty issues found common ground not on the death penalty itself but on the issue of religious freedom and how the death penalty is carried out. Dunham said most state execution protocols, which set who is present in the death chamber, do not mention spiritual advisers. For most of the modern history of the U.S. death penalty since the 1970s, spiritual advisers have not been present in execution chambers, he said. The Biden administration is still weighing how it will proceed in death penalty cases.

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2020, file photo the Supreme Court is seen as sundown in Washington. The Supreme Court is telling a lower court to continue to consider a case brought by a Texas death row inmate protesting a policy that means a chaplain cant accompany him into the death chamber. That change came after the Supreme Court halted the execution of another inmate, Patrick Murphy, who requested a Buddhist adviser be allowed in the chamber. By changing the policy, Texas argued all inmates were being treated the same. Gutierrez is on death row for fatally stabbing an 85-year-old woman.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Ruben Gutierrezs execution about an hour before he could have been executed. The Texas prison system last year banned clergy from the death chamber following a Supreme Court ruling that halted the execution of another inmate, Patrick Murphy, who had requested a Buddhist adviser be allowed in the chamber. Six executions scheduled in Texas for earlier this year were postponed by an appeals court or judges because of the outbreak. Gutierrezs attorneys had also sought a coronavirus-related delay but were turned down Friday by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops has filed a brief with the high court in support of Gutierrez.

Steyer's Democratic presidential campaign announced the resignation of Pat Murphy, a former House speaker who served as a top adviser on Steyer's Iowa campaign. "After the conclusion of an investigation alleging improper communications with elected officials in Iowa, Pat Murphy has offered his resignation from the campaign effective immediately," Steyer's campaign manager Heather Hargreaves wrote in a statement. There's no evidence that any Iowans accepted the offer or received contributions from Steyer's campaign as compensation for their backing. Courtney described a similar interaction with Steyer's campaign. I'm working for Tom Steyer," Courtney recalled hearing from the aide.