Good morning! Here’s what’s on tap today. Your Wake Up Call airs on AM 820 News in Tampa and 1190 News in Orlando from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m.
ARIZONA BOTCHES EXECUTION, TAKES ALMOST TWO HOURS FOR FOR CONDEMNED KILLER TO SUBMIT TO DRUG COCKTAIL
A condemned Arizona inmate gasped and snorted for more than an hour and a half during his execution Wednesday before he died in an episode sure to add to the scrutiny surrounding the death penalty in the U.S. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne’s office said Joseph Rudolph Wood was pronounced dead at 3:49 p.m., one hour and 57 minutes after the execution started. Wood’s lawyers had filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court while the execution was underway, demanding that it be stopped. The appeal said Wood was “gasping and snorting for more than an hour.” Attorney’s had used a variety of arguments to try to get things stopped prior on Constitutional grounds, but failed. However, the “cruel and unusual punishment” argument may get a reconsidered look after this incident. At 6:35 ABC News correspondent Jim Ryan will join us.
PRESIDENT OBAMA RETURNS TO STORM OF IMMIGRATION POLICY ISSUES
On the West Coast President Obama winds up a campaign funding trip and talks about the economy but when he gets home another immigration storm is brewing. House Speaker John Boehner is in no mood to write what he calls a blank check to care for children crossing into the US illegally, he wants to change the law to send them home more quickly. President Obama has backed off that change. On Friday, the presidents of three Central American countries will be at the White House to discuss strategies to stop the flow of young migrants. At 7:10, ABC News correspondent Ann Compton will join us.
ISRAEL FACES INCREASING PRESSURE TO HALT GAZA ATTACK; COULD A CEASE-FIRE BE LOOMING?
Israel faced new political and economic pressures on Wednesday to negotiate a halt to the 16-day-old Gaza war, with its rising toll of death and destruction, as cease-fire talks ground forward and the Israeli tourism industry was upended as major foreign airlines extended their suspension of flights over fears of Palestinian rocket fire. Secretary of State Kerry claimed some progress Wednesday in establishing a cease-fire, but still no promising deals appear to be on the table. At 7:35 we will be joined by Jordana Miller.
MALAYSIA AIR FLIGHT 17’S BLACK BOXES NOW IN THE HANDS OF BRITISH INVESTIGATORS; DUTCH WANT PUTIN’S DAUGHTER DEPORTED
Black box flight recorders from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane have arrived for analysis by U.K. crash investigators from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch in Farnborough, outside of London. The team will now go through the information from the cockpit voice recorder, which will give them two hours of pilots’ conversations, as well as studying the contents of the flight data recorder. Meanwhile, word that Russian President Putin’s daughter Maria happens to currently live in a small little Dutch town. It’s mayor, and others, want her sent packing. At 8:10, ABC News correspondent Tom Rivers will join us.
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