Tennessee governor Bill Lee suspended all executions through the end of 2025 and ordered an independent inquiry after the state's attempted lethal injection of Christa Pike failed catastrophically. Pike, convicted of the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, survived two rounds of the lethal injection protocol and was left in critical condition. Her attorney Randy Spivey confirmed she is receiving life-saving medical care. Witness Catherine Sweeney of Nashville Public Radio described Pike lifting her head, looking around, and asking if the burning and pain were normal. "None of it was normal," Sweeney said. Death penalty experts told the Guardian the failure constituted a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment severe enough to justify a nationwide halt to executions. Lee, a Republican governor in a deep-red state, had not yet spoken with Slemmer's family — an omission that underscores how the botched procedure left no one served: not the condemned, not the victim's family, not the state's claimed interest in justice. Elsewhere, the family of Renee Good — the woman killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis in January — filed two federal lawsuits against the agent who shot her and top Trump administration officials, alleging wrongful death and federal law violations. The DNC filed its own suit alleging the administration illegally altered the overseas voter registration form to suppress absentee ballots before the midterms. Twenty-one states led by New York are challenging the EPA's repeal of power plant emissions rules, with attorney general Letitia James calling the move a "callous disregard" for public health. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth installed Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey — both major Maga donors whose companies hold federal defense contracts — into advisory roles on a Pentagon project about the future of warfare. Luckey, 34, whose company is backed by Joshua Kushner's equity fund, has acquired manufacturers of underwater drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, and space technology. He has publicly predicted warfare in the second half of this century will involve "subterranean" conflict. Meanwhile, the US is dispatching a third carrier strike group to the Middle East, bringing naval presence to over 20,000 sailors and Marines. New York governor Kathy Hochul appointed Letitia James as special prosecutor to investigate an alleged gang-rape at Cornell University, saying the victim "deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued." In tech, Google restricted access to its new Gemini AI model over safety concerns while California's attorney general subpoenaed OpenAI over reports of rogue agents hacking. SpaceX launched a crew to the ISS led by Jessica Watkins, the first Black woman to command a crew to orbit. In a landmark wage theft settlement, Lyft agreed to pay California $272.5 million over claims it stole drivers' wages by mislabeling them as independent contractors. Lawmakers called for action on what they described as "plainly illegal" taxpayer-funded ads promoting Trump ahead of the midterms. Kanye West's sold-out Russia concerts were cancelled after Russia's foreign ministry called the shows unacceptable due to the rapper's "glorification" of Adolf Hitler.
