Nate Oats has Nick Saban on speed dial.

Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio has won a third term, defeating U.S. Rep. Val Demings and holding a key seat as the GOP tried to regain control of a closely divided Senate.

A Jewish death row inmate who was part of a gang of prisoners who fatally shot a police officer in 2000 after they had escaped is one step closer to getting a new trial after prosecutors have agreed with defense claims that the judge who presided over his case held antisemitic views.

There's a shifting narrative on COVID-19 restrictions across the country among Democratic officials and candidates.

An autistic Cambodian teenager has been released from prison after serving time for posting comments critical of the government on social media in a case that has attracted international attention.

Conservative Supreme Court justices are expressing skepticism about saying that Texas must agree to a death row inmate’s request to allow a chaplain to pray out loud and touch him during his execution.

A Cambodian activist has denounced a delay in the release of her autistic teenage son, who has been imprisoned for comments critical of the government he made on social media.

The unresolved legal debate over whether spiritual advisers can touch inmates and pray aloud as condemned individuals are being put to death has delayed the final two executions scheduled this year in Texas.

A state district judge says a Jewish death row inmate who was part of the so-called “Texas 7” gang should get a new capital murder trial because the judge who presided over his case held anti-Semitic views.

Executions in the nation’s busiest capital punishment state face delays amid legal questions over Texas’ refusal to allow spiritual advisers to touch people as they are being put to death.

Another Texas inmate has had his execution delayed over claims the state is violating his religious freedom by not letting his spiritual adviser lay hands on him at the time of his lethal injection.

Andrew McCutchen drove in four runs and the Philadelphia Phillies erased a six-run deficit against the Washington Nationals to earn a 7-6 victory and a three-game sweep.

A Texas death-row inmate has sued state prison officials to allow his pastor to lay hands on him as he dies from a lethal injection.

A Texas death-row inmate has sued state prison officials to allow his pastor to lay hands on him as he dies from a lethal injection.

Shohei Ohtani hit his major league-leading 38th home run this season, but the Toronto Blue Jays hit it out of the park four times, including two from George Springer and a grand slam by Teoscar Hernandez, to defeat the Los Angeles Angels 10-2.

Democrats see one of their best chances to pick up a Senate seat during next year’s midterms in Pennsylvania.

A Colorado man suspected in the death of his wife who disappeared last Mother’s Day made his first appearance in court Thursday to be advised of the charges he could face, including first-degree murder.

The order from the high court follows two years in which inmates saw some rare success in bringing challenges based on the issue of chaplains in the death chamber. This time, liberal and conservative members of the court normally in disagreement over death penalty issues found common ground not on the death penalty itself but on the issue of religious freedom and how the death penalty is carried out. Dunham said most state execution protocols, which set who is present in the death chamber, do not mention spiritual advisers. For most of the modern history of the U.S. death penalty since the 1970s, spiritual advisers have not been present in execution chambers, he said. The Biden administration is still weighing how it will proceed in death penalty cases.

FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2020, file photo the Supreme Court is seen as sundown in Washington. The Supreme Court is telling a lower court to continue to consider a case brought by a Texas death row inmate protesting a policy that means a chaplain cant accompany him into the death chamber. That change came after the Supreme Court halted the execution of another inmate, Patrick Murphy, who requested a Buddhist adviser be allowed in the chamber. By changing the policy, Texas argued all inmates were being treated the same. Gutierrez is on death row for fatally stabbing an 85-year-old woman.

WASHINGTON The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a large chunk of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation, a decision that state and federal officials have warned could throw Oklahoma into chaos. Forced to leave their ancestral lands in Georgia and Alabama, the Creek Nation received assurances that their new lands in the West would be secure forever. ... Today we are asked whether the land these treaties promised remains an Indian reservation for purposes of federal criminal law. The Creek Nation will also have greater jurisdiction over child welfare cases involving tribal members." Oklahoma state courts rejected his argument that his case does not belong in Oklahoma state courts and that federal prosecutors should instead handle his case.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Ruben Gutierrezs execution about an hour before he could have been executed. The Texas prison system last year banned clergy from the death chamber following a Supreme Court ruling that halted the execution of another inmate, Patrick Murphy, who had requested a Buddhist adviser be allowed in the chamber. Six executions scheduled in Texas for earlier this year were postponed by an appeals court or judges because of the outbreak. Gutierrezs attorneys had also sought a coronavirus-related delay but were turned down Friday by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops has filed a brief with the high court in support of Gutierrez.