Back to School

By: Keith Klein (Photo: Inmateaid.com)

Attorneys for a man scheduled for execution at the Federal Prison in Terre Haute next week have asked a federal judge to delay the sentence. Daniel Lee is scheduled to be executed on July 13.  His attorneys asked a federal judge to move that date to the spring of 2021, citing safety concerns posed by the coronavirus. Lee and another man Chevie Kehoe were convicted in 1999 for the 1996 murders of a family of three, including an 8-year-old girl. If Lee’s execution is carried out, it would be the first federal execution since 2003. Two other men are scheduled to be executed the same week at the same facility: Wesley Purkey on July 15 and Dustin Honken on July 17.A fourth man, Keith Nelson is scheduled to be executedon August 28.  Last month the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal blocking all four executions.  In that appeal, attorneys for the inmates were challenging the government’s execution method.

Two-thirds of U.S. parents say they’ll send their kids to school again this fall. 21% were still uncertain about their decision. Many are waiting to hear more about their schools’ plans. Parents said they had no choice but to send their children to school because they had to work. For many families, a surge in COVID- 19 cases would make them reconsider sending children to school. Most support measures to safeguard kidsincluding fewer children on buses, daily temperature screening, alternating classroom and online learning, testing school staff, and requiring staff and older kids to wear masks. Researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed nearly 1,200 parents in June. According to the survey, 75% of parents supported daily temperature checks and testing of kids if one tested positive for COVID-19. Most parents supported face masks for staff and middle and high school students, but not for younger children, especially kindergarten through second grade. There wasn’t much support for closing playgrounds and halting all extracurricular activities.