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Death by nitrogen

Alabama became the first state in the U.S. to use the nitrogen hypoxia method of execution Thursday night when it put to death convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith, reports AL.com’s Ivana Hrynkiw.

Smith was convicted in the murder-for-hire of 45-year-old Elizabeth Dorlene Sennett in Colbert County in 1988. Sennett had been beaten and stabbed. Court records show Smith was paid about $1,000.

The state previously attempted to execute Smith by lethal injection but had trouble accessing a vein and didn’t complete the execution within time allotted by the state’s execution protocol.

Smith’s legal actions to avoid a second lethal-injection effort included an argument that he could choose nitrogen hypoxia instead. At that time the state didn’t have a protocol in place for using nitrogen, which has also been approved for use by Oklahoma and Mississippi but had not been used anywhere until last night.

The Alabama Department of Corrections delivered a protocol, which was approved by the state’s Supreme Court. Smith’s legal efforts to then challenge the Constitutionality of the new method failed. The method includes using a mask on the condemned that replaces breathable air with nitrogen.

So a major part of this story is whether nitrogen will be considered an acceptable method of execution going forward.

Five members of the media were allowed to witness the execution, including our Ivana Hrynkiw. Here’s part of Ivana’s description of what took place:

“The gas appeared to start flowing at approximately 7:58 p.m. Smith visibly shook and writhed against the gurney for around two minutes. His arms thrashed against the restraints.

“He breathed heavily, slightly gasping, for approximately seven more minutes.”

The state continues to stand behind the method. Attorney General Steve Marshall said the execution took place without problems, and he called the method humane and effective.

Pig kidneys

You may remember back in August we reported on success UAB researchers had in transplanting a genetically modified pig kidney into a brain-dead patient.

That was UAB’s second such effort. Now there have been three such implants, and researchers there are wanting clinical trials, reports AL.com’s Amy Yurkanin.

The technology has yet to be approved for human trials.

Dr. Jayme Lock said this could be the answer for organ shortages.

“For our patients, if they don’t have a living donor, they are more likely to die than to receive a transplant,” Locke said. “We are really anxious to have the opportunity to offer this to our patients.”

A fake Trump

Does the proliferation of artificial intelligence have you questioning everything you see and hear digitally?

Well, it’s a big election year, so you might want to start taking a second look.

Ken McFeeters is running against incumbent Gary Palmer in the GOP primary for Congress. Palmer represents Alabama’s District 6.

AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz reports that McFeeters has a commercial in which he’s speaking with an AI-generated Donald Trump over the phone. In the ad, the fake Trump says ugly things about Palmer, calling him a weasel, a backstabbing worm and a Deep State puppet.

That kind of insult-slinging for a presidential candidate probably would’ve been way over-the-top a few years ago. But it’s on the realistic side of satire these days.

Read this quote from the ad in a Trump voice: “I’m glad you informed me about Deep State Palmer. What he is doing is lowdown and dirty, snitch-like. We call Palmer ‘Old Creepy Eyes,’ up here.”

To be clear, that’s fake Trump, not real Trump.

Responded the Palmer campaign to McFeeter and his efforts: “Even the use of artificial intelligence doesn’t make him relevant.” Palmer’s

By the numbers

$450

That’s how much the City of Birmingham gave to a woman who made sure her kids went to school every school day for a month. Parents of students with perfect attendance entered a drawing for the prize.

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