Florida
Execution called off after DeSantis withdraws death warrant for the first time
MIAMI (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has withdrawn a death warrant for the first time since taking office, calling off a man’s execution just days before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection in the nation’s busiest death chamber.
The Republican governor, who has aggressively used the death penalty in his final term, signed a letter Thursday withdrawing the death warrant for William Lee Thompson. The 74-year-old inmate had been set to die Tuesday for the murder and kidnapping of Sally Ivester in 1976.
A second Florida execution scheduled for the same day is still set to take place. James Robertson, 63, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and waived all appeals in the 2008 strangling of Frank Hart while the men were cellmates at Charlotte Correctional Institution, north of Fort Myers. Robertson told investigators he killed the other man so he could be moved to death row.
DeSantis did not provide a reason in the letter for withdrawing Thompson’s death warrant but had temporarily stayed his execution last month pending a psychiatric evaluation. Florida prison officials, however, had still been preparing for Thompson’s potential execution next week.
Thompson’s attorney, Bri Lacy, said they’re relieved by the result.
“Mr. Thompson suffers from dementia and his health is failing — both of which were gravely concerning with an impending execution,” Lacy said in an email. “Now that Mr. Thompson is no longer under a death warrant, we hope FDOC (Florida Department of Corrections) will relocate him to an adequate medical facility and provide the care he needs.”
The move comes at a time of escalating attention on the death penalty in the U.S.
In Tennessee, Christa Pike survived an execution attempt last week despite receiving two lethal doses of pentobarbital. On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan would be livestreamed.
Thompson will remain on Florida’s death row, and a new death warrant could be signed for him in the future.
A spokesperson for DeSantis did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Florida carried out 19 executions last year, a record in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. In July, Florida became the first state in nearly a decade to execute two prisoners in one day.
London
Prosecutor says suspect in Nigel Farage terror plot was motivated by left-wing views
LONDON (AP) — A man charged with plotting a terror attack on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and murdering former lawmaker Ann Widdecombe was motivated by “extreme left-wing” views, a prosecutor said Friday.
Prosecuting attorney Jonathan Polnay said Joshua Kerry’s attack on Widdecombe is “inextricably linked” to his earlier attempt to break into the home of Farage, Britain’s best-known anti-immigration politician. The lawyer said both crimes have a “terrorist connection.”
During a pretrial hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court, Polnay said Kerry conducted research into the home and office addresses of a number of politicians, including Farage and Widdecombe, over a two-year period. Polnay said Kerry had an “extreme left-wing and/or anti-establishment mindset” and was “particularly hostile” toward Reform UK.
Kerry, 28, has not been asked to enter a plea and spoke only to confirm his identity when he attended the hearing remotely from Belmarsh high-security prison. Defense lawyer Nicholas Lumley said Kerry is likely to contest all the charges against him.
Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb set a trial date of June 8 next year.
Kerry was arrested in July and charged with murdering 78-year-old Widdecombe, who was found dead at her rural house in southwest England on July 8. Prosecutors say Kerry drove 265 miles (425 kilometers) from his home in northern England and hit her 21 times with a hammer as she ate lunch in her kitchen.
Widdecombe joined Reform UK after a long career as a Conservative member of Parliament and government minister, and was known for her blunt-spoken, socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.
After her death, counterterrorism police reopened a probe into an alleged firebomb and break-in attempt at Farage’s south London home in April 2025. Prosecutors say the door was damaged by a knife, and Kerry’s DNA was found on a bottle of lighter fluid left on the porch.
Last week prosecutors charged Kerry with preparing terrorist acts, including against Farage, between May 2024 and the day Widdecombe was killed.
Widdecombe’s slaying renewed concerns over security for politicians, which has been tightened in the past decade after two lawmakers were murdered.
Labour legislator Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, and Conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.
Washington
Trump’s memorial arch faces a new lawsuit from Arlington County
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Arlington County Board in Virginia filed a lawsuit Thursday opposing the construction of the Triumphal Arch, becoming the first governmental body to take legal action against President Donald Trump’s planned monument.
The lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, criticized the speed at which the project slated for Memorial Circle has moved without going through the full review process.
“The National Park Service, the agency responsible for projects on national park land such as Memorial Circle, is proceeding full-speed toward ground-disturbing construction,” the lawsuit said. “Although the agency has claimed that a final decision to construct the Arch has not yet been made and purports to be engaged in a routine decisional process, that rushed process appears to be a pretext designed to shore up justifications for building the Arch in accordance with the President’s repeated marching orders.”
The lawsuit asks that “the agency’s feverish pace toward construction of the arch” be halted to ensure that the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act be followed and proper analysis and testing be done.
“The Arlington County Board has filed this lawsuit because our community has the most to lose from this egregious and unlawful proposed project,” Arlington County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said in a statement. He added that the county has acted in good faith in the review process, pointing out the “severe, unique, and wide-ranging negative impacts” the project will have on the county and its residents, only to see them ignored.
Memorial Circle sits on federal parkland west of the Potomac River across the Memorial Bridge and immediately adjacent to Arlington County.
The county is being represented in the lawsuit by legal advocacy group Democracy Forward.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the Trump administration and White House have been “fastidiously compliant with all procedural and legal requirements and are certain this meritless and dilatory lawsuit will be dismissed.”
The arch will become one of the world’s most iconic landmarks, he added. “It will enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen, and all Americans alike.”
The lawsuit came a day after the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson expressed concerns that the 250-foot (76-meter) arch compounds multiple safety issues that she said have gone unaddressed since a deadly January 2025, crash over the Potomac River that killed 67 people. Nelson also criticized Trump’s plan to turn the arch into “a top grade military complex” able to host drones and snipers while storing ammunition.
Though the arch has received early approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were all tapped by Trump, a group of three veterans and an architectural historian sued in federal court in Washington, D.C., saying the project needs to be approved by Congress. The judge in that lawsuit said the administration must give the court 48 hours before undertaking any activities related to or in preparation for construction of the arch.
The arch is one of several projects around Washington that Trump has undertaken as he remakes the city, from renovating one of its storied public golf courses to threatening to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
California
Lyft to pay $272 million settlement to California rideshare drivers
A settlement has finally been reached in the six-year lawsuit California waged against the rideshare giant Lyft. The company will pay $272.5 million to settle claims that it committed wage theft against its drivers.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alongside the city attorneys of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, sued Lyft in 2020 after the company was accused of misclassifying drivers as independent contractors from 2016 through 2020. This misclassification meant drivers were paid well below minimum wage and were denied other legally required workplace protections.
“Rideshare companies like Lyft have enjoyed massive growth and profits on the backs of drivers over the past decade, many of whom are from immigrant communities and communities of color,” Bonta said in a statement. “Lyft’s success would not be possible without the drivers Lyft sought to unfairly short-change. Hard-working employees deserve full compensation for their labor.”
Lyft has agreed to pay a $272.5 million settlement; the majority of that money, around $237 million, will be placed in a third-party fund to be administered to drivers.
The settlement must still be approved by the court.
The eligibility and compensation for drivers will be determined based on the hours and total miles driven between April 2016 and December 2020.
Data from Lyft’s yearly Economic Impact Reports show that immigrants and communities of color carry the bulk of driver demographics year after year.
In 2025, 80% of L.A. Lyft drivers were members of a community of color and more than two-thirds of its drivers spoke Spanish at home.
Nearly half of all the Lyft drivers in L.A. last year (47%) were Latino.
Once the court approves the settlement and payments start being made, eligible drivers will be notified through the third-party administrator when it is time for them to submit their information for restitution. The Attorney General’s office said it will provide additional details about the settlement process in the future.
“When companies misclassify their workers, they deny them critical protections and shift the burden onto taxpayers,” Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said in a statement. “This historic settlement sends a clear message: companies must follow the law, pay their fair share and play by the rules.”
Although Lyft has agreed to pay the settlement to end litigation, the company still denies any wrongdoing.
During the years targeted in the lawsuit, Lyft reported a total revenue of $9.5 billion. The average Lyft driver makes anywhere between $11 and $18 an hour after factoring in expenses, according to data compiled by ShiftTracker
Execution called off after DeSantis withdraws death warrant for the first time
MIAMI (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has withdrawn a death warrant for the first time since taking office, calling off a man’s execution just days before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection in the nation’s busiest death chamber.
The Republican governor, who has aggressively used the death penalty in his final term, signed a letter Thursday withdrawing the death warrant for William Lee Thompson. The 74-year-old inmate had been set to die Tuesday for the murder and kidnapping of Sally Ivester in 1976.
A second Florida execution scheduled for the same day is still set to take place. James Robertson, 63, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and waived all appeals in the 2008 strangling of Frank Hart while the men were cellmates at Charlotte Correctional Institution, north of Fort Myers. Robertson told investigators he killed the other man so he could be moved to death row.
DeSantis did not provide a reason in the letter for withdrawing Thompson’s death warrant but had temporarily stayed his execution last month pending a psychiatric evaluation. Florida prison officials, however, had still been preparing for Thompson’s potential execution next week.
Thompson’s attorney, Bri Lacy, said they’re relieved by the result.
“Mr. Thompson suffers from dementia and his health is failing — both of which were gravely concerning with an impending execution,” Lacy said in an email. “Now that Mr. Thompson is no longer under a death warrant, we hope FDOC (Florida Department of Corrections) will relocate him to an adequate medical facility and provide the care he needs.”
The move comes at a time of escalating attention on the death penalty in the U.S.
In Tennessee, Christa Pike survived an execution attempt last week despite receiving two lethal doses of pentobarbital. On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan would be livestreamed.
Thompson will remain on Florida’s death row, and a new death warrant could be signed for him in the future.
A spokesperson for DeSantis did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Florida carried out 19 executions last year, a record in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. In July, Florida became the first state in nearly a decade to execute two prisoners in one day.
London
Prosecutor says suspect in Nigel Farage terror plot was motivated by left-wing views
LONDON (AP) — A man charged with plotting a terror attack on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and murdering former lawmaker Ann Widdecombe was motivated by “extreme left-wing” views, a prosecutor said Friday.
Prosecuting attorney Jonathan Polnay said Joshua Kerry’s attack on Widdecombe is “inextricably linked” to his earlier attempt to break into the home of Farage, Britain’s best-known anti-immigration politician. The lawyer said both crimes have a “terrorist connection.”
During a pretrial hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court, Polnay said Kerry conducted research into the home and office addresses of a number of politicians, including Farage and Widdecombe, over a two-year period. Polnay said Kerry had an “extreme left-wing and/or anti-establishment mindset” and was “particularly hostile” toward Reform UK.
Kerry, 28, has not been asked to enter a plea and spoke only to confirm his identity when he attended the hearing remotely from Belmarsh high-security prison. Defense lawyer Nicholas Lumley said Kerry is likely to contest all the charges against him.
Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb set a trial date of June 8 next year.
Kerry was arrested in July and charged with murdering 78-year-old Widdecombe, who was found dead at her rural house in southwest England on July 8. Prosecutors say Kerry drove 265 miles (425 kilometers) from his home in northern England and hit her 21 times with a hammer as she ate lunch in her kitchen.
Widdecombe joined Reform UK after a long career as a Conservative member of Parliament and government minister, and was known for her blunt-spoken, socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.
After her death, counterterrorism police reopened a probe into an alleged firebomb and break-in attempt at Farage’s south London home in April 2025. Prosecutors say the door was damaged by a knife, and Kerry’s DNA was found on a bottle of lighter fluid left on the porch.
Last week prosecutors charged Kerry with preparing terrorist acts, including against Farage, between May 2024 and the day Widdecombe was killed.
Widdecombe’s slaying renewed concerns over security for politicians, which has been tightened in the past decade after two lawmakers were murdered.
Labour legislator Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, and Conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.
Washington
Trump’s memorial arch faces a new lawsuit from Arlington County
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Arlington County Board in Virginia filed a lawsuit Thursday opposing the construction of the Triumphal Arch, becoming the first governmental body to take legal action against President Donald Trump’s planned monument.
The lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, criticized the speed at which the project slated for Memorial Circle has moved without going through the full review process.
“The National Park Service, the agency responsible for projects on national park land such as Memorial Circle, is proceeding full-speed toward ground-disturbing construction,” the lawsuit said. “Although the agency has claimed that a final decision to construct the Arch has not yet been made and purports to be engaged in a routine decisional process, that rushed process appears to be a pretext designed to shore up justifications for building the Arch in accordance with the President’s repeated marching orders.”
The lawsuit asks that “the agency’s feverish pace toward construction of the arch” be halted to ensure that the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act be followed and proper analysis and testing be done.
“The Arlington County Board has filed this lawsuit because our community has the most to lose from this egregious and unlawful proposed project,” Arlington County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said in a statement. He added that the county has acted in good faith in the review process, pointing out the “severe, unique, and wide-ranging negative impacts” the project will have on the county and its residents, only to see them ignored.
Memorial Circle sits on federal parkland west of the Potomac River across the Memorial Bridge and immediately adjacent to Arlington County.
The county is being represented in the lawsuit by legal advocacy group Democracy Forward.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the Trump administration and White House have been “fastidiously compliant with all procedural and legal requirements and are certain this meritless and dilatory lawsuit will be dismissed.”
The arch will become one of the world’s most iconic landmarks, he added. “It will enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen, and all Americans alike.”
The lawsuit came a day after the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson expressed concerns that the 250-foot (76-meter) arch compounds multiple safety issues that she said have gone unaddressed since a deadly January 2025, crash over the Potomac River that killed 67 people. Nelson also criticized Trump’s plan to turn the arch into “a top grade military complex” able to host drones and snipers while storing ammunition.
Though the arch has received early approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were all tapped by Trump, a group of three veterans and an architectural historian sued in federal court in Washington, D.C., saying the project needs to be approved by Congress. The judge in that lawsuit said the administration must give the court 48 hours before undertaking any activities related to or in preparation for construction of the arch.
The arch is one of several projects around Washington that Trump has undertaken as he remakes the city, from renovating one of its storied public golf courses to threatening to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
California
Lyft to pay $272 million settlement to California rideshare drivers
A settlement has finally been reached in the six-year lawsuit California waged against the rideshare giant Lyft. The company will pay $272.5 million to settle claims that it committed wage theft against its drivers.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alongside the city attorneys of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, sued Lyft in 2020 after the company was accused of misclassifying drivers as independent contractors from 2016 through 2020. This misclassification meant drivers were paid well below minimum wage and were denied other legally required workplace protections.
“Rideshare companies like Lyft have enjoyed massive growth and profits on the backs of drivers over the past decade, many of whom are from immigrant communities and communities of color,” Bonta said in a statement. “Lyft’s success would not be possible without the drivers Lyft sought to unfairly short-change. Hard-working employees deserve full compensation for their labor.”
Lyft has agreed to pay a $272.5 million settlement; the majority of that money, around $237 million, will be placed in a third-party fund to be administered to drivers.
The settlement must still be approved by the court.
The eligibility and compensation for drivers will be determined based on the hours and total miles driven between April 2016 and December 2020.
Data from Lyft’s yearly Economic Impact Reports show that immigrants and communities of color carry the bulk of driver demographics year after year.
In 2025, 80% of L.A. Lyft drivers were members of a community of color and more than two-thirds of its drivers spoke Spanish at home.
Nearly half of all the Lyft drivers in L.A. last year (47%) were Latino.
Once the court approves the settlement and payments start being made, eligible drivers will be notified through the third-party administrator when it is time for them to submit their information for restitution. The Attorney General’s office said it will provide additional details about the settlement process in the future.
“When companies misclassify their workers, they deny them critical protections and shift the burden onto taxpayers,” Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said in a statement. “This historic settlement sends a clear message: companies must follow the law, pay their fair share and play by the rules.”
Although Lyft has agreed to pay the settlement to end litigation, the company still denies any wrongdoing.
During the years targeted in the lawsuit, Lyft reported a total revenue of $9.5 billion. The average Lyft driver makes anywhere between $11 and $18 an hour after factoring in expenses, according to data compiled by ShiftTracker
