Arizona Could Resume Executions With Single-Drug Protocol - NPR

Arizona Could Resume Executions With Single-Drug Protocol - NPR
Single-Payer Backing by AAFP Rebuffed - Medscape
‘1917’: Sam Mendes Explains the ‘Emotional Choice’ to Design His War Epic As a Single-Take Drama - IndieWire
Travis Scott Sets Release Date For New Single 'Highest In The Room' - Forbes
Non-Conference Single-Game Men's Basketball Tickets Now on Sale - Georgia Tech Official Athletic Site

Posted: 30 Sep 2019 02:06 AM PDT

The move to resume federal executions later this year has motivated Arizona to find a replacement for its lethal cocktail. The state stopped executing people after a botched case in 2014.

NOEL KING, HOST:

The Department of Justice plans to resume federal executions, so some states have gone looking for lethal injection drugs. Arizona is one of them. Jimmy Jenkins from member station KJZZ in Phoenix has this story. And just a quick note - there are graphic details in this piece that some people will find disturbing.

JIMMY JENKINS, BYLINE: Assistant federal public defender Dale Baich has witnessed 11 executions by lethal injection. He says the experience is usually the same.

DALE BAICH: It's eerily silent.

JENKINS: In the witness rooms of different state prisons across the country, no one speaks except for periodic updates from the staff.

BAICH: Occasionally, a voice coming over the speakers announcing the prisoner is sedated or that the execution is complete.

JENKINS: But in 2014, at the state prison in Florence, Ariz., something went wrong. Soon after officials began the lethal injection process of Baich's client Joseph Wood, the first announcement came. The prisoner is sedated. However, Wood wasn't acting sedated.

BAICH: We could hear the sound that was coming from Mr. Wood, and it sounded like a freight train.

JENKINS: Wood's mouth was open. He was bucking against the restraints and making a gulping, gasping sound. It went on for two hours before the final announcement came. The execution was complete. The dramatic nature of Wood's death and the ineffective nature of the method prompted the state to suspend executions and change the lethal injection guidelines. There are currently 116 people on death row in Arizona; 14 of them have exhausted the appeals process.

MARK BRNOVICH: I think we have an obligation to uphold the rule of law and make sure those sentences are carried out.

JENKINS: Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich says a recent opinion from the Department of Justice has cleared the way to import the drugs necessary to resume executions by lethal injection. Botched efforts like the Wood execution have raised questions about the most effective drugs to use. Arizona has since adopted a single-drug protocol. In a recent letter to the governor, Brnovich said he believed the DOJ had obtained a drug suitable for single-drug execution - pentobarbital.

BRNOVICH: And so I will work with the Department of Corrections to make sure that they can procure the necessary drugs in a lawful manner to carry out injections.

MEGAN MCCRACKEN: States are looking overseas for drugs to use in executions because they have difficulty obtaining the drugs here.

JENKINS: Megan McCracken is an attorney who specializes in method of execution challenges. She says pharmaceutical companies that produce FDA-approved drugs like pentobarbital have come out against their use in executions, forcing states to find alternative sources. Some states like Texas, with the highest number of executions in the country, have turned to compounding pharmacies to make drugs in small batches.

MCCRACKEN: Or it could be that there will be importation of drugs that are illegal. They're not FDA-approved drugs; they're not otherwise allowed into the country. But it could be that states will attempt to import the drugs.

JENKINS: That's exactly what Arizona has tried to do in the past, but their efforts were thwarted by the federal government. If the state tries again, Dale Baich says the drugs should be obtained from a legitimate source.

BAICH: Because if the state does carry out an execution, it should not be prolonged and the prisoner should not suffer and experience pain.

JENKINS: Attorney General Brnovich says he believes too much attention has been paid to the defendants on death row instead of seeking justice for their victims. He says he has no doubt of the guilt of the 14 people set for execution.

BRNOVICH: Every single one of them committed heinous crimes, and so I think every single one of them deserves the ultimate punishment.

JENKINS: Both Arizona and Ohio recently renewed their applications with the DEA to import pentobarbital, but it's not clear if they've been able to acquire the drug.

For NPR News, I'm Jimmy Jenkins in Phoenix.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.

Single-Payer Backing by AAFP Rebuffed - Medscape

Posted: 30 Sep 2019 01:16 PM PDT

PHILADELPHIA — A proposal to choose single-payer as the healthcare delivery system supported by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) was rejected last week after a lengthy debate in a reference committee hearing.

The resolution put forward by the New York chapter here at the 2019 Congress of Delegates came amid intense focus on the subject from Democratic presidential candidates and repeated attempts to revamp the Affordable Care Act.

Michael Munger, MD, AAFP board chair, said he opposes the proposal and believes that the healthcare-for-all policy passed last year should stand.

The tenets of that policy are that healthcare is a human right, that all Americans need meaningful, affordable coverage, and that it must be based in fundamental primary care, he explained.

We're not even at the starting line of a meaningful discussion on any one of those ways to achieve this.

But "we're not even at the starting line of a meaningful discussion on any one of those ways to achieve this. It's rhetoric; it's sound bytes. There isn't anything there," he said.

"We can't get too far out before the dialogue even begins," he added. Political whims can change and the AAFP could lose credibility by locking in with one delivery plan prematurely.

Student and resident delegations were deeply conflicted, but the majority of those groups came down against the proposal.

"I think the Academy has been very thoughtful in how we approach healthcare reform," said Matthew Peters, MD, resident delegate from Oregon, who spoke on behalf of the student and resident caucuses. "This is a deeply nuanced issue and this resolution specifically poses more consequences than many of our colleagues realize."

Although students and residents generally favor single-payer ideologically, going all in is "neither fully evidenced-based nor politically feasible" in the current political climate, he explained.

Sydney Doe, an alternate student delegate from Chicago, speaking on behalf of herself, pointed out that "single payer is the only system that allows patients to collectively bargain to decrease healthcare costs. This is a unique moment. The AAFP has an opportunity to contribute to the discussion meaningfully to legitimize single-payer by endorsing it."

Heather Paladine, MD, an AAFP member from New York, speaking on her own behalf, said she supports the single-payer option, and added that health equity can only truly be achieved with a single-payer system.

"My patients do have insurance but they still can't get consultations, certain medications, or other services at the same level as people with private insurance," she said. "The AAFP can discuss other health systems but should advocate for single-payer as our preferred system to ensure equitable care."

Fix Medicare First

Robert Jackson, MD, a delegate from Michigan, speaking on his own behalf against the proposal, noted the low reimbursement from Medicare.

"I can't stay in practice on Medicare alone," he said. "We need to fix Medicare before we fix other things."

He pointed out that Medicare originated at a time when seniors had no other alternatives to pay for the healthcare that was draining their pensions. But now there are other options.

The Massachusetts delegation split 50/50 over whether to support the resolution.

However, Dennis Dimitri, MD, one of that state's delegates, said the group strongly supports another proposal to allow people 55 to 64 years of age to buy into Medicare.

"I do think that indicates some momentum," he said.

Munger said the one thing all members agree on is meaningful, affordable coverage for everyone.

"We will get there. I wish it were a short game. It's going to be a long game," he said.

Munger, Peters, Doe, Paladine, Jackson, and Dimitri declared no relevant financial relationships.

American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) 2019 Congress of Delegates. Presented September 23, 2019.

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‘1917’: Sam Mendes Explains the ‘Emotional Choice’ to Design His War Epic As a Single-Take Drama - IndieWire

Posted: 30 Sep 2019 08:28 AM PDT

As has been long rumored, Sam Mendes' upcoming war epic "1917" will tell a pulse-pounding story in ambitious fashion, with the filmmaker opting to design the film to play out in real time and to appear as a single, continuous shot. In a revealing new interview with Vanity Fair, Mendes explains that the decision to tell the story of a pair of British soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) as they race against time (and across enemy lines) to deliver a key message in such an ambitious way sprung from his emotional attachment to the tale and its characters. The film also stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, Richard Madden, Andrew Scott, and Mark Strong.

"It was fundamentally an emotional choice," Mendes told Vanity Fair. "I wanted to travel every step with these men — to breathe every breath with them. It needed to be visceral and immersive. What they are asked to do is almost impossibly difficult. The way the movie is made is designed to bring you as close as possible to that experience."

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That doesn't mean it was an easy choice, however, and Mendes told the outlet that he spent nine months working with lauded Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins to prep for the undertaking. While Mendes is shy about divulging where any actual cuts were made (he joked to the outlet, "What cuts?"), Vanity Fair has also unspooled a behind-the-scenes video that dives deeper into the inherent challenges of such a shoot.

Single-take films — or, at least, films made to look as if they were made in just one take — aren't new in Hollywood, from Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" to recent Oscar winner "Birdman," but "1917" boasts an "epic scale" that follows its two main characters as they "[journey] across a vast and chaotic outdoor landscape." "The movie is essentially linear, and moves through a huge variety of different locations," Mendes told VF. "From the trenches, to No Man's Land, to open countryside, farmland, orchards, rivers, woods, and bombed-out towns. It bears witness to the staggering destruction wrought by the war, and yet it is a fundamentally human story about two young and inexperienced soldiers racing against the clock. So it adheres more to the form of a thriller than a conventional war movie."

It's an ask that required nerves, smarts, and some nimble moves from every member on set. From the locations ("every location had to be exactly the correct length for the scene. We had to walk every step the characters would take long before we designed the sets and built them," Mendes explained) to the cameras (the filmmaker said the Arri Alexa Mini LF made the film possible) and even the screenplay (there were two scripts, one with the usual dialogue and movement notations, another that was "made up entirely of schematics and maps" to plot out everyone's moves), "1917" was in many ways a grand experiment. We'll see how that plays out when the film arrives in theaters later this year.

Head over to Vanity Fair to read the full article and check out a new four minute video below which goes deeper into Mendes' filmmaking process.

[embedded content]

"1917" opens in limited release on December 25 and expands wide on January 10.

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Travis Scott Sets Release Date For New Single 'Highest In The Room' - Forbes

Posted: 30 Sep 2019 04:34 PM PDT

SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 27: Travis Scott attends the premiere of Netflix's "Travis Scott:... [+] Look Mom I Can Fly" at Barker Hangar on August 27, 2019 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)

Getty

After months of teasing his new single "Highest in the Room," Travis Scott will finally drop the record this Friday, October 4th. He took to social media to make the grand announcement, revealing that the Lil Baby-assisted single will be available in a brand new form: cassingle.

Also available in vinyl and CD form, the single is accompanied by three various cover art images. One features a ladder surrounded by the sky's clouds, another displays an alien's face with the words "she fills my mind up with ideas" and a third shows a silhouette of what looks like could be Travis Scott, himself.

"DROP HIGHEST' - bet See u on the 4th," La Flame captioned his Instagram post.

The song follows Scott's recent Netflix documentary Look Mom I Can Fly, which documents his journey to becoming a father, as well as follows him out on the road. The rapper released Astroworld in August of last year, and went on to become his strongest project to date.

Astroworld spent its first two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 upon its debut, but resurged to the top spot four months after its release date — an impressive feat that doesn't happen too often today. The Drake-assisted track "Sicko Mode" is Scott's only No. 1 hit, which comes from his 2017 album, Astroworld.

Though the Houston native has contributed to an array of projects, including Post Malone's new album Hollywood Bleeding, The Game of Thrones soundtrack For the Throne (Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones) and Schoolboy Q's record CrasH Talk, he has yet to clarify whether or not this single is attached to a full LP.

Follow me on Twitter @champagnelali.

Non-Conference Single-Game Men's Basketball Tickets Now on Sale - Georgia Tech Official Athletic Site

Posted: 30 Sep 2019 08:30 AM PDT

September 30, 2019

Full 2019-20 Georgia Tech schedule | Purchase Non-Conference Tickets | ACC Single-Game Presale

THE FLATS – Single-game tickets for Georgia Tech's non-conference men's basketball games will go on sale at 9 a.m. Monday morning.

The Yellow Jackets' non-conference schedule at McCamish Pavilion features visits from Arkansas (Nov. 25, 7 p.m.) and Nebraska (Dec. 4, 7:15 p.m.) for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Tech opens its home schedule Nov. 11 against Elon (7:30 p.m.) and also hosts Bethune-Cookman (Dec. 1, 6 p.m.) and Ball State (Dec. 18, 7 p.m.) before January.

Tickets for non-conference games start at $12 and can be purchased here.

Full season tickets for Georgia Tech men's basketball and 10-game ACC Packs remain available for Tech fans. ACC Packs include all 10 ACC home games, and the packages start at $250, or $25 per game. Season tickets start as low as $290, and offer the best seating locations at McCamish Pavilion. All ticket options can be viewed here.

Head coach Josh Pastner welcomes back the Yellow Jackets' top three scorers from last season – Jose Alvarado, James Banks III and Michael Devoe – who accounted for 48.4 percent of Tech's points, 41.6 percent of its rebounds and 47.2 percent of its minutes.

Also returning are fast-rising 6-9 junior forward Moses Wright, who finished the season with 25 points against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament, and 6-7 sophomore sharpshooter Kristian Sjolund. Altogether, Tech returns eight of its top 11 players, who combined for 73.2 percent of the team's points, 66.4 percent of its rebounds and 73.7 percent of its minutes. Those eight players combined to start 123 games.

The Jackets also will benefit from a pair of transfers – 6-7 forward Jordan Usher from Canton, Ga., who becomes eligible in December after a season and a half at Southern California, and 5-11 guard Bubba Parham, an all-Southern Conference performer eligible immediately after spending two seasons at VMI.

ACC Network has launched!

The ACC Network is a linear and digital platform dedicated to 24/7 coverage of ACC sports that launched on Aug. 22, 2019. It will exclusively televise approximately 450 live events each year, including 40 football games (beginning with Georgia Tech's 2019 season opener at Clemson on Aug. 29), as well as 150 men's and women's basketball contests.

Don't get shut out! For more information and to learn if your cable/satellite/digital provider is carrying the ACC Network, visit GetACCN.com. Georgia Tech fans whose cable/satellite/digital providers aren't carrying the ACC Network are urged to contact their providers and ask for the ACC Network to be a part of their subscription.

ABOUT GEORGIA TECH MEN'S BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech's men's basketball team is in its fourth year under head coach Josh Pastner. Tech has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1979, won three ACC Championships (1985, 1990, 1993), played in the NCAA Tournament 16 times and played in two Final Fours (1990, 2004). Connect with Georgia Tech Men's Basketball on social media by liking their Facebook Page, or following on Twitter (@GTMBB) and Instagram. For more information on Tech basketball, visit Ramblinwreck.com.

Season tickets for men's basketball can be purchased here.

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