Virginia abolishes the death penalty, becoming first southern state to end capital punishment
CBSN
Virginia became the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty Wednesday after Governor Ralph Northam signed legislation that would end the use of capital punishment in the commonwealth.
"There is no place today for the death penalty in this commonwealth, in the South, or in this nation," Northam said in a speech Wednesday before he signed the bill. He called capital punishment "fundamentally flawed" and noted that it was disproportionately levied against Black people. Over Virginia's 400-year history, the commonwealth has executed more than 1,300 people — more than any other state, Northam said. Virginia will become the first state of the former Confederacy to abolish the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
A Hawaii man who spent 30 years in prison for a murder he long denied committing declared the day "Freedom Friday" and said he was eager to visit his mother after a judge ordered him released because of new DNA evidence.
Hamas has handed over three more Israeli hostages to the Red Cross in the latest exchange under the fragile ceasefire.
The Defense Department said Friday that it's cutting about 5,400 probationary workers starting next week and will put a hiring freeze in place.
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Washington — A federal judge on Friday declined to block the Trump administration from putting thousands of employees with U.S. Agency for International Development on administrative leave and recalling others from overseas, clearing the way for the president to resume his efforts to overhaul the agency as part of his plans to slash the size of the federal government.
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