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The government pledged to end an unfair system. Ministers must give homeowners power over costs, rather than another place to complain

“To the millions of leaseholders across the country, you have my word. The days of you being squeezed for every penny are coming to an end,” Andy Burnham told the Labour party conference. Only a few hours earlier, his housing secretary, Angela Rayner, had announced that the government would legislate for a new independent regulator and launch a consultation to cap “rip off” administrative fees. While these are undoubtedly steps in the right direction, they are miles away from Labour’s manifesto promise to “finally bring the feudal leasehold system to an end”.

In its modern form, leasehold in England and Wales turns homes into income streams for freeholders. It should be abolished. There are powerful vested interests – billionaires, aristocrats and big businesses – that would oppose this move. But the system of service charges is crippling the housing market because its exorbitant cost puts off prospective buyers. The average annual service charge for a flat in England and Wales is now £2,405, up 32.6% since 2020 and 55.6% over a decade. Owners of flats in high-rise blocks in London are paying service charges of more than £7,000 a year. Little wonder that first-time buyers are increasingly bypassing flats.

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Trucks were 'clearly marked as humanitarian vehicles', UN agency says.

In a CBS News interview, Biden-era Middle East adviser Brett McGurk recounted the administration's response to the Oct. 7 attack, its handling of the Israel-Hamas war, the role of Iran and the long-sought push to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

England’s strong results in an early learning study are a Sure Start legacy that ministers must build on

Recognition of the importance of babyhood and early childhood continues to grow. It is widely understood by many ordinary people, as well as experts, that what happens to us when we are very small, and our brains are at their most malleable, has lasting effects. As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) put it in a study of early years education, “the first five years of a child’s life represent a window of opportunity, but also of vulnerability”.

New Labour’s grasp of this underpinned its pioneering Sure Start programme. Much of this was dismantled under the Tory-Liberal Democrat austerity programme. But despite that loss, England’s results in this year’s OECD Early Learning and Child Well‑being Study were strong. This study does not have the high profile of the programme for international student assessment (Pisa) comparing the academic performance of 15-year-olds. It is newer and relies on a far smaller sample size. But while its findings should not be treated as gospel, it is heartening that England’s five-year‑olds were found to be thriving. On a social-emotional development measure, they came out on top.

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Pike's lawyer says doctors are still trying to clear two lethal doses of pentobarbital from her body.

Pike's lawyer says doctors are still trying to clear two lethal doses of pentobarbital from her body.

Sullivan’s goal beat fellow teenager Julian Hall's record for United States which was only set against Chile on Tuesday.

Officers were called to the area of Lawrence Avenue West and William R. Allen Road around 8:20 a.m. Sunday, police said in a post on social media.

Two of the seven men accused of sexually assaulting a Cornell University student at a fraternity house in 2024 were expelled, while others were ordered to take sexual harassment training and write "reflection papers," according to university disciplinary records obtained by the New York Times.

The records offer the most detailed look yet at how Cornell handled the case, which has drawn national outrage and is now under criminal investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

On Friday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that a woman who alleges she was drugged and raped by multiple members of a Cornell University fraternity in 2024 was "failed" by those obligated to protect her.

Hochul's comments came a day after announcing she had lost faith in the district attorney overseeing the Cornell University rape case and signed an executive order appointing James as a special prosecutor to lead the investigation.

"In what world would the police learn from a victim that she'd been literally gang raped while intoxicated by five men in a fraternity house and not elevate those allegations to the district attorney?" Hochul said at a press conference with James in New York. "In what world does the district attorney not even interview her or anyone else involved or even request the full transcript?

"At every turn, she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her," Hochul said.

James said that the case is "now an active criminal investigation."

"We will review the facts, gather evidence, interview witnesses and, if warranted, pursue prosecutions," James said, adding: "I know that you want answers. I do too."

The local district attorney and Cornell both said they support James taking over the case.

Read more from Yahoo: A timeline of the Cornell rape case, from the alleged 2024 incident to the appointment of a special prosecutor to oversee the criminal investigation

New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a news conference with New York Attorney General Letitia James in New York on Friday.AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten has come under intense scrutiny in recent days over his decision not to prosecute anyone when the initial allegations were made in 2024.

In a civil lawsuit filed last month against the school and seven current and former fraternity members, a former student identified as "Jane Doe" alleged that she was the victim of a "gang rape" at the Chi Phi fraternity on Cornell's Ithaca, N.Y., campus on Oct. 19, 2024. She said she was already intoxicated when she arrived and was given ketamine before and during the alleged assault. She reported the incident to campus police three weeks later.

Van Houten said last week that Jane Doe's sworn statement to police didn't include allegations that she was "drugged against her will or gang raped."

"On the contrary, Jane Doe's statement described her participation in drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious, and consensual," Van Houten said. "My office obviously did not and could not have based our November 2024 decision on the allegations in a civil lawsuit that would not be filed until nearly two years later."

On Tuesday, CBS New York published excerpts from Jane Doe's Nov. 14, 2024, interview with Cornell police, in which she asserted, "I can say with 100% confidence I was raped." 

"Shockingly, those words never made it into the account that the Cornell police sent to prosecutors," Hochul said Friday.

Van Houten said he was not provided with a transcript of her interview before his office decided not to pursue charges.

"I'm going to follow up on this because this is news to me," Van Houten told CBS. "If she had said those words, we certainly would want to have explored that more. Like I said, that wasn't provided to me."

Records obtained by the New York Times show the district attorney's office declined to look at additional evidence gathered by Cornell police beyond Jane Doe's six-page statement. A Cornell police investigator wrote in a note that prosecutors had already decided, based on that statement, that "criminal charges would not be pursued in this case."

Van Houten told the Times in an email that the other records were "not pertinent to our analysis because we had Jane Doe's comprehensive account of the events."

Cornell initially said its police "shared all investigatory information" with the district attorney's office. The university later revised its statement to say police shared "the victim's sworn statement and the Snapchat screenshot," CNN reported.

Cornell University Police vehicles are seen on campus on Sept. 29.Reuters / REUTERS

According to ABC News, Jane Doe told the school's investigators that she "felt like bait" on the night of the alleged assault. 

"I felt like lions around me," she said during a 2025 hearing. "It just was a totally debilitating place to be in."

The comments were included in a 99-page report prepared by the university as part of its Title IX investigation, per ABC.

The report also included comments from a fraternity member who Cornell's investigation concluded did not engage in the assault but was found responsible for "attempted sexual exploitation." 

"I was sorry that maybe if it wasn't consensual and she was victimized, I was sorry for not stopping it," the fraternity member said, according to ABC.

That student, who was allowed to stay at Cornell, has asked a New York court to throw out the disciplinary finding against him, the Associated Press reported. His punishment included a no-contact order, a class on sexual harassment and bystander intervention, and a reflection paper.

Two of the men have released statements through their lawyers denying they participated in a sexual assault, according to the Associated Press.

Cornell University issued a statement pushing back against claims that the school did not thoroughly punish those involved in the alleged assault.

"Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false," the university said. "A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault."

Hochul announced on Wednesday that Cornell had agreed to initiate an independent review of its initial response to the allegations.

The governor also said she would work to close a loophole in New York law, which states that someone who was voluntarily intoxicated cannot claim they were mentally incapacitated during an assault, unless they can show they were "physically helpless" and unable to communicate consent.

"If someone is too intoxicated to consent, it should not matter whether they chose to use drugs or alcohol," Hochul said. "Voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault or gang rape. Period."

What does the lawsuit allege?The Chi Phi fraternity house at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., is seen on Sept. 28.AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth

On Sept. 14, Jane Doe filed a civil lawsuit against Cornell University and seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity, alleging that she was the victim of a "gang rape" at the fraternity house when she was incapable of consent — and that the school failed to protect her from "sexual predators" on its campus.

The defendants named in the lawsuit include Cornell, the seven fraternity members, the Chi Phi fraternity, the woman's own sorority, Delta Delta Delta, and an off-campus bar that allegedly served her alcohol.

She is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages resulting from "sustained psychological injuries, severe emotional distress, along with pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life."

According to her lawsuit, Jane Doe was a 20-year-old student at the school in October 2024 when she went to visit a friend at the fraternity house on Cornell's Ithaca, N.Y., campus while intoxicated. Shortly after arriving, Jane Doe alleged that she was pressured by two fraternity brothers into snorting what they said was ketamine before sexually assaulting her. One of the men then allegedly sent a message to the fraternity's Snapchat group suggesting that she was available for sex. A screengrab of part of the chat was included in the lawsuit.

According to the complaint, multiple other members of the fraternity showed up, and she was raped for hours.

"The Snapchat was disgusting and vulgar and immoral," Van Houten told ABC News. "But the question that we analyzed was, did Jane Doe consent to what happened? And the law in New York state is clear: That if you are voluntarily intoxicated, or under the influence of drugs such that your judgment is impaired, that does not legally under the penal law constitute your inability to consent."

During the alleged assault, the fraternity members "began pouring lines of Ketamine all over her body and snorting them," according to the complaint.

"At around 5:45 AM, this assault concluded and Plaintiff lost consciousness," the lawsuit stated.

About three weeks later, on Nov. 8, 2024, Jane Doe reported the incident to the university's police department.

According to ABC News, Jane Doe told police in a sworn statement on Nov. 15, 2024, that the incident "felt like coercion," and that at one point she said "no to the foursome" one of the fraternity brothers had proposed. She also stated: "I felt like I was unable to make any decision because of how intoxicated I was."

According to the New York Times, she told Cornell's Title IX investigators that she did not consider herself a victim until she saw the incident being discussed in an online forum.

"Are Chi Phi brothers Crips or Bloods because I hear they have been doing hell Gang Banging?" one user wrote.

"They do drugs and gang r*ped a sophomore," wrote another.

"That's the first time I had ever heard the narrative change that I wasn't a whore and that I was assaulted," Jane Doe told investigators, per the Times.

What was Cornell's response?A student walks past a Cornell University sign in Ithaca, N.Y., on Sept. 28.AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth

Cornell's months-long Title IX investigation included at least 12 hearings, according to the lawsuit, which said that the accused fraternity members were "afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell."

The panel's sanctions varied widely, according to the records obtained by the Times:

• Two men were expelled. The panel found one responsible for sexual assault, concluding he had manipulated and endangered Jane Doe. The other had been accused of assault and of sending the Snapchat message that drew other fraternity members to the room.

• Two were suspended, one for two years and one for three semesters, followed by probation. Both were barred from contacting Jane Doe and ordered to complete sexual harassment training and write reflection papers.

• One, who had already graduated, was barred from campus for three years. Jane Doe had accused him of forcibly kissing her.

• Two received lighter sanctions: no-contact orders, training on sexual harassment, social media use and bystander intervention, and reflection papers.

Cornell has denied that essays were the only punishment for any of the men. All seven deny wrongdoing, and none has been criminally charged. Jane Doe dropped out of school.

In a video message Saturday, Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff said the university's board would name an outside law firm this week to review how the school handled the case. He also promised "a serious look" at fraternities and sororities, the Cornell Daily Sun reported.

On Sept. 21, Cornell issued a statement saying that it had concluded its Title IX investigation but would not disclose individual sanctions, citing federal privacy laws.

"The Cornell Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards investigated and adjudicated the allegations consistent with university policies. The Xi chapter of Chi Phi fraternity remains barred from our campus," the statement said: "Federal privacy law prohibits Cornell from disclosing specific information regarding individual students and we therefore are unable to make a public statement on any other disciplinary response. Violations of university policies could lead to sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion. We will respond in detail through the legal process."

The university also pointed out that it launched a task force on campus sexual assault in the wake of the incident and issued a report in March with recommendations for "an environment that fosters sexual health and safety."

"Several of the recommendations have already been implemented, while others are in development with oversight by a university implementation committee," Cornell said.

According to USA Today, more than 1,200 incidents of sexual assault, domestic and dating violence and stalking were reported to Cornell University's Title IX from 2018 through 2024. Of those, 14 cases resulted in suspensions, while seven ended in expulsion or dismissal, per the paper.

"Cornell takes each report seriously and, to the greatest extent possible, honors a complainant's decision not to pursue resolution," Rebecca Valli, a Cornell spokesperson, said in a statement to USA Today. "The university provides support and resources regardless of whether the respondent is subject to our conduct processes, and regardless of whether a complainant consents to an investigation."

Reactions to the allegationsFlorence Pugh attends an event for Netflix's "East of Eden" in New York City on Sept. 27.Jason Mendez via Getty Images

The harrowing allegations revealed in Jane Doe's lawsuit prompted reactions from several celebrities, including Florence Pugh, who posted a lengthy response on Instagram calling for men to speak out against sexual violence.

"This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us," Pugh wrote. "You need to be leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behaviour as much as we are. How can you expect us to trust that it's 'not all men' when in moments like this, many of you stay quiet?"

In an expletive-laden Instagram post, actor Josh Gad tore into Cornell, seizing on allegations in the civil lawsuit that the fraternity members were required to write essays as part of the adjudication process.

"When we start setting a precedent that our girls and women can be brutally raped, and the resulting disciplinary action is to hand out (checks notes) ESSAYS (like it's Bart Simpson being a lil' rascal), about why it was wrong to brutally violate an innocent girl, we have lost our f***ing minds," Gad wrote.

Toby Morton, a former South Park writer, launched a website, TheCornell7.org, dedicated to holding the school and the accused fraternity members accountable.

"Accountability is coming," Morton wrote on Instagram.

Mariska Hargitay posted a joint statement on Instagram with the Joyful Heart Foundation, which supports survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, with a quote from a scathing editorial by the Cornell Daily Sun.

View this post on Instagram

"Arrest them," Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams wrote in an Instagram story while sharing a photo of the seven accused men, according to Variety.

"F*** them and f*** Cornell, too!" he added.

At a town hall in Ithaca, N.Y., last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, said that "the culture of rape, sexual assault and pedophilia is protected in elite institutions across the United States, including Cornell."

Ocasio-Cortez recalled her own experience as a freshman at Boston University.

"Within maybe 10 seconds of me walking into a party — at a gym, at a school facility — someone had touched me inappropriately," Ocasio-Cortez said.

"Jane Doe, that survivor, lost her education because you can't stay in school when something like that happens to you," Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd. "She had to lose her education, and those men were protected by an institution and granted an Ivy League degree as a reward. Never again."

The congresswoman said she had a message to Jane Doe and other survivors of sexual assault.

"I want you to know that you are not defined by the things that have happened to you," Ocasio-Cortez said. "You are bigger than that. You are stronger than them. And they will never define you for your entire life. And that you can achieve anything that you want to achieve, from one survivor to another."

This article originally appeared on Yahoo News at https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/article/cornell-rape-case-how-the-university-reportedly-punished-each-of-the-7-men-accused-from-expulsion-to-reflection-papers-183826467.html

For almost three years, Ibrahim Rabaa has filmed fragments of his life through Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Attorney says people have threatened to silence or harm ‘Jane Doe’ if she does not withdraw civil lawsuit

The woman who has alleged that ⁠she was drugged ⁠and raped ​by Cornell University students has been the target of threats, her lawyer said on Sunday.

Thomas Giuffra, who represents the ⁠woman identified as “Jane Doe”, told CNN that people have threatened to silence or harm her if she does not withdraw her civil lawsuit ⁠alleging that several members of a Cornell fraternity drugged and raped her in 2024.

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The ongoing global energy crunch doesn't just cause pain at the gas pump: As winter approaches, millions of Americans are facing dramatic spikes in their home heating costs.  

The price of heating oil, which some 4.8 million households, mostly in the Northeast and Alaska, use to heat their homes, is approaching all-time highs as two wars strain global supply. 

Heating oil costs are expected to jump 50% this winter, according to one estimate from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, adding nearly $900 to the average home's heating bill. The jump is catching consumers by surprise at a time of year when many households fill their tanks for winter, and it's stoking concern that the high prices will force low-income families to make tough choices between warming their homes and paying for necessities. 

Read more: What an extended war with Iran could mean for gas prices

"There's a lot of sticker shock," said Chris Herb, president of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association, a trade group for local fuel providers and other energy companies in the state. 

Heating oil is nearly identical to diesel, and diesel prices have continued to rise while crude oil prices have plateaued as higher seasonal demand collides with ongoing supply shocks. The Iran War has disrupted exporters' ability to reliably pass through the Strait of Hormuz, while escalating Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries have limited another key source of supply. 

Read more: How to protect your money as Mideast turmoil fuels market volatility

Record-high prices

In recent weeks, diesel prices have topped $6.50 a gallon, breaking an all-time record. And across the Northeastern states, heating oil prices have either recently broken or are just short of the highest levels on record. 

"Diesel and heating oil are basically directly tied now," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. "Diesel setting all-time records is certainly very worrisome for home heating oil expenses this winter." 

Heating oil costs are expected to jump 50% this winter, according to one estimate from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)ASSOCIATED PRESS

A gallon of heating oil now averages around $5.96 in Maine, where more than half the state relies on oil, the highest share anywhere in the country. Prices are $5.87 in Vermont and $5.91 in Connecticut, meaning 100 gallons, a common minimum order threshold, comes out to nearly $600. 

During the winter months, a typical home relying on heating oil alone can run through 100 gallons in a few weeks. 

Homeowners have been making tough choices: Fill up now, or hold off in hopes that prices fall in the months ahead? Look into alternative heating sources that might be pricey up front but deliver savings in the long-term? Lower the thermostat and shiver to stretch a tank's worth of oil longer? 

'Do I order? Do I hold off?'

In Connecticut, Herb said suppliers were seeing more business than is typical for September, perhaps a sign that households who had been waiting in vain for prices to go down after February's Iran war shock didn't want to risk another price jump later in the season. 

KC, who lives near Augusta, Maine, and asked that her last name be withheld to protect her privacy, recently made a similar calculation. She was just quoted $5.99 per gallon for her 100-gallon order and could end up paying even more if prices are higher when her delivery arrives. In a typical year, she pays closer to $3 a gallon. 

"I was shocked, honestly, to find out that oil was this much," the 51-year-old said. She knew prices had been rising, but didn't realize the extent of the jump until a month ago, when a colleague at her healthcare job mentioned paying around $5 a gallon. 

"That's when I started thinking, 'Do I order? Do I hold off?'" she said. "I really didn't think it would get this bad." 

Meanwhile, she's taking several other steps to reduce her heating costs. She'll set her thermostat to 50 — the lowest she thinks she can go without risking a pipe freeze — and rely primarily on her two pellet stoves for heat. She's also looking into sealing her windows with plastic insulation and adding fans to help heat circulate more evenly throughout her home. 

Weatherization measures and system tune-ups can shave up to 10% off a typical bill, Herb said. 

"Ten percent at these levels is meaningful, meaningful money back in your pocket," he said. 

Options also exist for those who need help with rising energy bills. The federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program provides grants to qualifying households, and many states also have similar programs for low- and moderate-income families. 

But with costs so high this year, politicians, industry watchers, and worried neighbors alike have all expressed concerns about how lower-income households and elderly people who rely on fixed incomes will manage, and if the existing programs are enough. 

A bipartisan group of senators is pressuring the Trump administration to release this year's assistance funds early, and several bills aimed at expanding the program have been introduced.  

Meanwhile, Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King have requested that President Trump tap the federal government's 1 million-barrel emergency supply of heating oil "to protect Mainers from the very high prices that are imposing a difficult financial burden."

Claire Boston is a Senior Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance.

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This article originally appeared on Yahoo Finance at https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/article/a-lot-of-sticker-shock-home-heating-costs-soar-for-millions-amid-oil-crisis-160853971.html

On "This Week," former FTC Chair Lina Khan called on Congress to help regulate AI.

Christa Pike remains unconscious and critically ill four days after surviving Tennessee's attempt to execute her, and doctors don't yet know whether she will recover, her lawyer said Sunday.

"We don't know the prognosis and may not know for several days," attorney Stephen Ferrell told CNN's "State of the Union." Ferrell said he has not been allowed to see her and doesn't know of her speaking or regaining consciousness.

"I think at the very least the governor should commute Ms. Pike's death sentence to a life sentence," he said. "We don't know what her physical state will be, but it is clear that she has endured a torturous attempt at executing her."

On Saturday, Gov. Bill Lee announced that Tennessee's top prison official is stepping down.

In a statement, Correction Commissioner Frank Strada said resigning was "in the best interest of Tennesseans" while an independent review examines what happened Wednesday, when Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital.

Strada said he still believes the state "carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol."

Strada will leave at the end of October, and an interim commissioner will be named later, Lee said.

Pike's lawyers said the resignation "is justified, but it does nothing to help Christa now." "What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person," they said in a statement, according to ABC News.

Pike, who was sentenced to death in 1996, was unconscious, intubated and breathing with help from a ventilator at a Nashville-area hospital as of Thursday night, her lawyers said in a court filing Friday. Hospital staff were trying to save her life and flush the pentobarbital from her system, the filing said.

Lee has also paused executions in the state for the rest of the year.

Pike, 50, remained alive and snoring loudly after being given two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys and other witnesses said. She was subsequently taken to a hospital.

Both of Pike's arms were "swollen, burned, and blistered" when she arrived at the hospital, her lawyers wrote. They believe the IV lines were placed incorrectly or her veins burst, so that some or all of the drug went into the tissue of her arms instead of her bloodstream.

The filing asks a state court to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve all evidence from the execution attempt.

"Last night was not just inefficient, it was cruel, and it was torturous," attorney Randy Spivey said Thursday. "It was also predictable."

Spivey said Pike's legal team warned the state of Tennessee and the courts that her medical condition of thrombocytosis "would cause her to suffer an agonizing death." They said it could increase clotting and pain during the execution process and that her veins are difficult to access. Pike's attorneys said the state and the court dismissed their client's concerns.

"She was not seeking to delay her execution," attorney Stephen Ferrell told reporters Thursday. "She was seeking to have that execution performed humanely and as quickly and as painlessly as possible."

Lee ordered "a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred" and said that another scheduled execution later this year had been paused.

"There are very few answers this morning. It's very early," Lee told reporters Thursday morning. "There are a lot of questions. The people of our state deserve to have those questions answered.

"This is a tragedy. There is no one who wanted what happened last night to happen. It's deeply disturbing to me that this has happened in this state."

Pike's attorneys said Thursday that the governor's independent review doesn't go far enough after being in solitary confinement for more than 20 years and the botched execution attempt.

"Christa has endured punishment greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty," Spivey said. "The governor must commute Christa's sentence now."

Spivey said the execution team tried to establish an IV line for over an hour and that he counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone, one of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled after an unsuccessful attempt.

May Martinez, the mother of Pike's victim, Colleen Slemmer, told NBC News the execution attempt had been a "mess," adding, "They didn't say anything, and then, all of a sudden, they asked all the victims to leave. We didn't know anything until we got up to the office and saw the commissioner. And he said that it didn't work ... and she's on her way to the hospital."

In a statement posted on Facebook, Sen. Marsha Blackburn called for the state to return to the electric chair as a means of execution. "This situation is tragic," she said. "Christa Pike should have been executed long ago. Now, this botched process is extending the pain for the family of Colleen Slemmer. While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly."

Lee said he had paused another execution scheduled for Dec. 3 this year. "Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the state's most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective," he said.

What happens next?

Tennessee officials have not said whether they will try to execute Pike again, or explained what went wrong.

Her condition could complicate any future attempt. Under Supreme Court precedent, a person can't be executed unless they have a "rational understanding" of why they are being put to death, the New York Times reported. Dr. Joel Zivot, an Emory University anesthesiologist retained by Pike's defense team, told the BBC it is "very possible" she suffered a brain injury because resuscitation was delayed.

Pike's lawyers have asked Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison. Lee had denied her clemency before the execution attempt.

President Trump questioned how the execution could have failed, telling reporters it "shouldn't be very difficult," according to AFP. United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk urged Tennessee not to try again.

What happened during the execution attempt?

Pike had been scheduled for execution at 10 a.m. Wednesday for killing Slemmer in 1995, at the age of 18. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

An appeals court stopped the lethal injection just an hour before it was to start, a stay that was subsequently overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Media witnesses said officials raised the curtains to the execution chamber at 7:27 p.m., showing Pike strapped to a gurney. "I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life, and that is in love," she said in her "last" words.

However, Pike remained conscious after the first dose. Nashville Banner reporter Steven Hale said she lifted her head off the gurney at 7:54 p.m. She also reportedly asked prison officials if her arm was supposed to feel that way.

Tori Gessner, a journalist with WKRN News 2 in Nashville, said Pike was seen pointing at her arm and asking, "Does this happen like that?"

By 8:26 p.m., witnesses reported that the second dose of pentobarbital had been administered.

Pike continued to be heard snoring behind the closed curtain until the microphone was cut off at 8:53 p.m. At that time, an announcement was made to escort media witnesses out of the area.

Christa Pike, pictured in January 2023.Tennessee Department of Correction via AP

Pike's legal team said in a statement to the Tennessean newspaper on Wednesday night, "We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy."

Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said what Pike experienced was "singular and unparalleled."

Seven other people have survived medical problems caused by an execution team's failure to access a vein to administer lethal injection drugs, but no one has remained alive after receiving the drugs used in such executions, she said.

"I've witnessed, I believe, five executions in Tennessee," Gessner said. "Nothing about today was normal, typical at all, and the court delay was just the tip of the iceberg."

A source told NBC News that there was no medical oxygen or mask in the execution chamber, meaning they had to be brought in from a prison clinic. Some of the medication had worn off by the third time staff checked on Pike, the source added.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said that it "followed every step of the state's lawful, established execution protocol approved by the attorney general's office."

The state's execution protocol calls for a secondary set of drug syringes to be administered "if the inmate is not deceased" after the first set. It does not specify what happens if the subject is still alive after the second set.

Lawyers for Pike filed an emergency motion late Wednesday with the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking to immediately halt and stay the execution, saying she was in "unnecessary agony" and that the execution was violating her right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. They also filed motions in the Sixth Circuit and a district court.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 after being convicted of first-degree murder of Colleen Slemmer the previous year on the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus.

According to legal documents filed with the Supreme Court, Pike "tortured, and killed Colleen Slemmer" on Jan. 12, 1995 because Pike "just felt mean that day." Pike is reported to have cut Colleen's throat multiple times and crushed her skull with a piece of asphalt.

Pike was also convicted of attempted first-degree murder after trying to strangle fellow inmate Patricia Jones in 2001.

Who is Frank Strada?

Strada took over Tennessee's Department of Correction in January 2023 after serving as deputy director of Arizona's prison system. In late 2024, he announced Tennessee would switch to a single execution drug, pentobarbital.

Death penalty lawyers told the Guardian that Pike's was the fifth "botched" execution Strada has overseen in two states since 2022. That count includes Tennessee's failed attempt to execute Tony Carruthers in May, when staff couldn't find a vein, and three 2022 executions in Arizona in which teams struggled to place IV lines.

Kit Thomas, a death row attorney, told the Guardian that training requirements for execution teams were loosened under Strada. "He reduced the training requirements and we've seen disastrous results," Thomas said.

A day before announcing the resignation, Lee defended the department, telling reporters, "So far as we know, the department of correction followed exactly the protocol that was outlined."

How common are botched executions?

According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), there were 75 botched lethal injections between 1982 and 2010. Compared to other methods, lethal injections face complications at a significantly higher rate. There have been a number of botched executions since 2010 that don't appear in the DPIC's tally.

Most of these were executions that went wrong in some way, but still ended in death. But there are seven known instances in which an execution failed entirely. One of them was earlier this year in Tennessee, when staff were unable to find a vein to administer the lethal drugs to inmate Tony Carruthers.

Tony Carruthers was scheduled to be executed on May 21, 2026.Tennessee Department of Correction via AP

More than 20 pharmaceutical companies have also refused to have their products used in executions, which has left states struggling to find the drugs they need to perform lethal injections. In some cases, they have experimented with unproven alternatives, with disastrous results.

An Oklahoma prisoner named Michael Lee Wilson said he could feel his "whole body burning" as he was being executed using a controversial drug cocktail in 2014. There have also been instances of prisoners gasping for air, heaving and coughing, convulsing and being subjected to "three hours of pain" before finally dying.

In April 2022, Tennessee called off the execution of Oscar Smith about an hour before it was scheduled to begin after the state discovered that its lethal injection drugs had not been properly tested. An independent investigation found that the state had repeatedly failed to follow its own drug-testing protocols between 2018 and 2022.

Tennessee then revised its protocol, resuming executions in May 2025 and using a single, lethal drug: pentobarbital.

There's also growing evidence that lethal injection may not provide a peaceful death even when everything appears to go right.

Difficulties with lethal injections have led some states to revive previously discarded execution methods. South Carolina carried out three executions by firing squad last year. There had been three total firing squad executions in the U.S. in the previous half-century combined.

There were 47 executions in 2025, according to the DPIC, higher than the recent average of fewer than 30 per year. These included the lethal injection of South Carolina inmate Marion Bowman, who received twice the intended drug dose, and Tennessee inmate Byron Black, who reportedly showed sustained cardiac activity for nearly two minutes after prison staff pronounced him dead.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo News at https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/article/tennessee-death-row-inmate-christa-pike-survives-2-doses-of-execution-drugs-081613268.html

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