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TheAssociatedPress OKLAHOMA CITY Okla- homa Gov. Mary Fallin named a member of her Cabinet on Wednesday to lead a review of the state's execution protocols after a botched procedure that the White House said fell short of the humane standards re - quired. Fallin said Clayton Lock- ett, who had an appar- ent heart at- tack 43 min- utes after the start of an execution in which the state was us - ing a new drug combi- nation for the first time, had his day in court. "I believe the death pen- alty is an appropriate re- sponse and punishment to those who commit heinous crimes against their fellow men and women," Fallin said. "However, I also believe the state needs to be certain of its protocols and its proce - dures for executions and that they work." Lockett convulsed vio- lently and tried to lift his head after a doctor declared him unconscious, and prison officials halted the execution. Fallin said "an independent review of the Department of Corrections procedures would be effective and also appropriate." The governor said the re - view, to be led by Depart- ment of Public Safety Com- missioner Michael Thomp- son, will focus on Lockett's cause of death, noting that the Oklahoma State Med- ical Examiner has autho- rized an independent pathol- ogist to make that determi- nation. The review will also look at whether the depart- ment followed the current protocol correctly and will also include recommenda- tions for future executions. Fallin also said a stay for Charles Warner, who had been scheduled to die two hours after Lockett, is in place until May 13. She said Warner's execution will be further delayed if the inde - pendent review is not com- plete by then. Warner's attorney imme- diately raised objections to the investigation being led by a member of Fallin's cabinet. "I don't consider that to be an independent investi - gation," said attorney Mad- eline Cohen. Lockett, 38, had been de- clared unconscious 10 min- utes after the first of three drugs in the state's new le- thal injection combination was administered Tues- day evening. Three minutes later, he began breathing heavily, clenching his teeth and straining to lift his head. Officials later blamed a rup - tured vein for the problems with the execution, which are likely to fuel more debate about the ability of states to administer lethal injections that meet the U.S. Constitu - tion's requirement they be neither cruel nor unusual punishment. The blinds eventually were lowered to prevent those in the viewing gal - lery from watching what was happening in the death chamber, and the state's top prison official later called a halt to the proceedings. Lockett died of a heart at - tack shortly thereafter, the Department of Corrections said. Most executions in Okla - homa, which used different fast-acting barbiturates, were completed and the in- mate declared dead within about 10 minutes of the start of the procedure. In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Car - ney said President Barack Obama believes that evi- dence suggests the death penalty does little to deter crime, but that some crimes are so heinous that the death penalty is merited. Lockett, a four-time felon, was convicted of shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Nei - man and watching as two accomplices buried her alive in rural Kay County in 1999. Neiman and a friend had in - terrupted the men as they robbed a home. "But it's also the case that we have a fundamental stan - dard in this country that even when the death penalty is justified, it must be carried out humanely," Carney said. "Everyone would recognize this case fell short of this standard." Questions about execu - tion procedures have drawn renewed attention from de- fense attorneys and death penalty opponents in re- cent months, as several states scrambled to find new sources of execution drugs because drugmakers that oppose capital punishment — many based in Europe — have stopped selling to U.S. prisons and corrections de - partments. OKLAHOMA Go ve rn or c al ls f or r ev ie w of e xe cu ti on p ro to co l Lockett SteveGooch—theASSociAtedPreSS Nathaniel Batchelder, with the oklahoma coalition Against the death Penalty, places a sign protesting the death penalty on Gov. Mary Fallin's office tuesday at the state capitol in oklahoma city. By Kristen Wyatt The Associated Press DENVER Colorado's mari- juana experiment is threat- enedbythepopularityofeat- ing it instead of smoking it, leading the pot industry to join health officials and state regulators to try to curb the problem of consumers in - gesting too much weed. A task force that's meet- ing Wednesday planned to start work on refining Col- orado's rules on edibles, the industry term for mari- juana that has been concen- trated and infused into food or drink. "Basically, we are trying to figure out how to come up with a reasonable THC con - centration or amount in ed- ibles in proportion to prod- uct safety size," said Dr. George Sam Wang of Chil- dren's Hospital Colorado, a pediatric emergency physi- cian who has treated chil- dren and toddlers who fell ill after eating marijuana. Marijuana-infused foods are booming in the state's new recreational market. Some choose edible pot because of health con - cerns about smoking the drug. Others are visitors who can't find a hotel that allows toking and are sty - mied by a law barring pub- lic outdoor pot smoking. Whether through inexpe- rience or confusion, many are eating too much pot too quickly, with potentially deadly consequences. A college student from Wyoming jumped to his death from a Denver ho - tel balcony last month after consumingsixtimestherec- ommended dosage of a mar- ijuana-infused cookie. And earlier this month, a Den- ver man accused of shoot- ing his wife reportedly ate pot-laced candy before the attack, though police say he may have had other drugs in his system. The deaths have under - scored a common com- plaint from new marijuana customers — they say they don't know how much pot to eat and then have unpleas - ant experiences when they ingest too much. MARIjuANA Co lo ra do e ye s edibles rules as mo re e at p ot By Melissa Nelson- Gabriel The Associated Press PENSACOLA BEACH, FLA. People were plucked off roof- tops or climbed into their at- tics to get away from fast- rising waters when nearly 2 feet of rain fell on the Flor- ida Panhandle and Alabama coast in the span of about 24 hours, the latest bout of se- vere weather that began with tornadoes in the Mid- west. In the Panhandle on Wednesday, roads were chewed up into pieces or wiped out entirely. A car and truck plummeted 25 feet when portions of a highway collapsed. Cars were sub - merged or overturned and neighborhoods were inun- dated, making rescues dif- ficult for hundreds of peo- ple who called for help when they were caught off guard by the torrential rains. Boats and Humvees zig - zagged through the flooded streets to help stranded res- idents. At the height of the storm, about 30,000 people were without power. One woman died when she drove her car into high water, offi - cials said. Kyle Schmitz was at home with his 18-month-old son Ol- iver on Tuesday night when heavy rain fell during a 45-minute span in Pensac- ola. He gathered up his son, his computer and important papers and decided to leave. "I opened the garage and thewaterimmediatelyflowed in like a wave," he said. "The water was coming up to just below the hood of my truck and I just gassed it." Schmitz and his son made it out safely. He returned Wednesday to assess the damage at his rented home in the East Hill neighbor - hood. The water was up to his shins. Alabamaflooding In Alabama, Capt. David Spies of Fish River/Marlow Fire and Rescue said he was part of a team who found two women and a young boy trapped in the attic of a mod - ular home. Spies said they received the first call of help before midnight Tuesday but they couldn't find the group un - til about 8 a.m. Wednesday. By then, the water was 2 feet below the roof. A firefighter used an axe to punch a hole through the roof and free them. "They were very scared, they were very upset. I would've been, too," Spies said. Florida Gov. Rick Scott said officials received about 300 calls for rescues. About 22 inches of rain fell in Pensacola — one- third of what falls in an en - tire year. National Weather Service officials were still sorting out official num- bers because equipment that serves Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola lost power during the storm. Rain records broken Meteorologist Jeffrey Medlin said what they had recorded officially — more than 11 inches — would be the fourth highest total for a calendar day since 1879. Medlin said flash flood warnings were issued as early as Friday. Still, many people were caught unaware because the rain happened so fast. Elizabeth Peaden was at her weekly Bunco game Tuesday night. It wasn't raining on her way there, but on her way home, she drove her van through a flooded in - tersection and got stuck. "I was scared out of my wits. Water started coming in and I wasn't sure what to do," she said. SEVERE WEATHER Hundreds stranded in Florida KAtie e. KiNG — the ASSociAted PreSS vehicles rest at the bottom of a ravine a er the Scenic highway collapsed Wednesday near Pensacola, Fla. Rising waters force residents to roo ops thoMAS GrANiNG — the ASSociAted PreSS charles Milam takes a break tuesday while searching his destroyed home in tupelo, Miss. Milam, his wife and his granddaughter were at home at the time of the tornado, and all survived. The Associated Press WASHINGTON Scientists implanted thin sheets of scaffolding-like material from pigs into a few young men with disabling leg inju - ries — and say the experi- mental treatment coaxed the men's own stem cells to regrow new muscle. The research, funded by the Defense Department, included just five patients, a small first step in the com - plex quest for regenerative medicine. But the researchers de- scribed some of the men im- proving enough to no longer need canes, or to ride a bicy- cle again, after years of liv- ing with injuries that today have no good treatment. "The real rush for some- one like myself is to see this patient being able to do these things and not struggle and have a smile on his face," said Dr. Stephen Badylak of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Muscles have some natu - ral ability to regenerate af- ter small injuries. But if too much is lost — from a car accident, a sports injury or, for soldiers, a bomb blast — the body can't heal properly. Hard scar tissue fills the gap instead. Called volumetric muscle loss, a severe enough injury can leave an arm or leg essentially useless. The new experiment com - bines bioengineering with a heavy dose of physical ther- apy to spur stem cells that are roaming the body to settle on the injury and turn into the right kind of tissue to repair it. SCIENCE Experiment grows new muscle in injured legs Western heritage. Cattlemen and women. Bigtime rodeo. Old California. Victorian homes. Antique stores. World class hunting and fishing. Agri-Tourism. World-famous motorcycle road. Alpine hiking and camping. Volcanic legacy. Award winning olive oils. Slow foods. Wineries in the pines. Warm, welcoming people. We love it here. They will, too. 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