Houston: Texas executes convict who killed 2 girls

A man was executed by injection Tuesday for fatally stabbing two Houston-area girls in 1992 after they refused to turn down some loud music.

Rex Mays, 42, was convicted of killing Kynara Carreiro, 7, and Kristin Wiley, 10, at the Wiley home next door to his house.

Mays confessed to the crime, saying he used knife skills he learned as a Marine. Kynara was stabbed and slashed 23 times and Kristin at least 18.

Mays, who occasionally earned money performing as Uh-Oh the Clown and dressed as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, killed the girls the same day he was fired from a low-level warehouse job.

West Virginia: Asbestos claims heard in court Tuesday

Thousands of asbestos claims against two dozen corporations went to trial Tuesday in a potentially multimillion-dollar case that has renewed criticism of trial lawyers and brought demands for legal reform.

Jury selection began Tuesday in state court.

Asbestos was widely used for fireproofing and insulation by railroads, steelmakers and other heavy industries until the 1970s, when it became widely known that asbestos fibers cause cancer and other lung problems.

In Washington, the Senate Judiciary Committee will have a hearing today on asbestos lawsuits. Defense lawyers are seeking federal laws targeting what they consider abuses in the asbestos litigation process.

San Francisco: Journalists banned from stem cell meeting

Journalists will be barred from a scientific conference next month that will bring together some of the best minds in stem cell science, one of the most promising and controversial areas of medical research.

The two-day conference, organized by the Strategic Research Institute, will draw scientists, biotech executives, venture capitalists, patent attorneys and a representative from the President’s Council on Bioethics.

“I instituted this years ago as some members of your profession have caused irreparable … damage with speaker relationships and in some cases their companies over coverage,” Strategic Research executive Mark Alexay wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “Hence, no coverage. Over and out.”

California: KFC employee arrested after customer gets pot

An employee at a fast food place in Mill Valley was arrested after a customer at the drive-in window received the wrong side order with his chicken dinner some pot.

The customer who visited a KFC Friday got two bags of marijuana, instead of the extra biscuits he had ordered. He gave the pot back to the worker, got his biscuits and called police.

Police arrested Carlos Ayala, 26, at the restaurant. The sheriff’s office and the restaurant’s management company did not immediately return calls Tuesday seeking further detail.

Washington: Double amputee killed in training by falling rock

A double-amputee training to climb Mount Everest was struck and killed by a falling rock on Mount Rainier early Monday, a park spokeswoman said.

Ed Hommer, a 46-year-old pilot from Duluth, Minn., was killed instantly when he was struck by a basketball-sized rock, spokeswoman Maria Gillett said.

Three years ago, Hommer became the first double-amputee to climb Alaska’s Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America at 20,320 feet. He had lost his legs to frostbite on McKinley after a 1981 plane crash during a mountaineering trip.