The execution of a man who killed two real estate agents in Georgia was halted by a judge’s late-night decision, at least for now, while an execution in Texas of a man convicted of a rural triple murder was still expected to take place Wednesday. This would be the fifth execution in Texas, while Georgia has yet to put anyone to death this year. The nation’s busiest death chamber is in Florida, which accounted for more than half the 25 executions already carried out in the U.S. this year. Stacey Humphreys, 53, was convicted of malice murder and other crimes in the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown in an Atlanta suburb. He had been scheduled to die by injection of the sedative pentobarbital at 7 p.m. EDT at the state prison near Jackson. LeJames Norman, 40, was sentenced to death in the 2005 fatal shootings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, while looking for cocaine inside their home in Texas. He too is scheduled to die by injection of the same chemical at 6 p.m. CDT at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. A judge halted Humphreys’ execution late Tuesday after…

The invasive emerald ash borer beetle’s discovery in Delta, Erath, Hardin, Walker, and Wood continues its spread into new parts of Texas. Eight new counties have been confirmed to have the invasive species this year. The detections were made through Texas A&M Forest Service’s statewide emerald ash borer monitoring program, which uses purple traps to identify new infestations and track the insect’s movement across the state. Traps are deployed during the adult beetle flight season, typically beginning in February or early March and remain in place through July or August. Trapping has concluded for 2026, but monitoring for signs of emerald ash borer infestation continues year-round. WHAT IS AN EMERALD ASH BORER? The emerald ash borer is a small beetle, green in color and smaller than a penny. The beetle bores its way into the tree’s bark and lays eggs. Larvae feed on water-conducting tissue, eventually killing the tree.  Officials said the insect has been confirmed in more than half of the United States and has killed millions of ash trees. “Both healthy and unhealthy ash trees are susceptible to an EAB attack and may die within two or three years after becoming infested,” said Allen Smith, Texas A&M Forest Service…

A Texas court on Friday slashed a $50 million judgment that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre over his false claims that one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history was a hoax. The Infowars founder can only be forced to pay about $6 million, the Texas Third Court of Appeals ruled in a unanimous opinion, citing state laws that limit lawsuit damages. The ruling does not affect a separate $1.25 billion judgment against Jones in Connecticut, where he was also found liable for defaming and causing emotional distress to relatives of the 20 first-graders and six educators killed in the Newtown shooting. The punishing financial verdicts against Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, in recent years have forced him into bankruptcy, led to some of his personal property being put up for auction, and led him to leave his Infowars platform. For decades, he used the platform to push conspiracy theories about the United Nations, the federal government, gun control and more. Sandy Hook families have yet to collect any money from Jones, who has waged lengthy appeals in state and bankruptcy courts as his…