Florida

Teen’s heart stops after Disney World ride

A 16-year-old British girl was in critical condition Tuesday after her heart stopped following a Disney World thrill ride, one month after a young boy died after going on another attraction.

Leanne Deacon had said she felt strange but was OK after leaving Disney World-MGM Studios’ “The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror,” said Jim Solomons, an Orange County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

However, the girl’s condition deteriorated rapidly and she was in critical condition Tuesday night, a hospital spokeswoman said.

No other passengers had complained of injuries on the Tower of Terror, which depicts a haunted hotel in which riders are placed in an elevator that shoots up 13 stories and then plummets back twice.

Disney said in a written statement that the ride was closed until more information was available.

A 4-year-old Pennsylvania boy, Daudi Bamuwamye, died June 13 after riding Epcot Center’s “Mission: Space.”

The cause of the boy’s death remains under investigation.

Georgia

Parolee who fatally stabbed lawyer executed

A parolee who fatally stabbed his lover with a screwdriver, then dismembered the man’s body, was executed Tuesday at the state prison in Jackson.

Robert Conklin, 44, said a prayer but made no statement before he was given an injection of deadly chemicals for the 1984 murder of George Crooks.

Conklin had said he invited Crooks, a 28-year-old lawyer, to his Atlanta apartment to tell him that he wanted to end their relationship. Prosecutors said Conklin’s intent was to kill Crooks.

Conklin’s bid for clemency was denied earlier Tuesday by the state parole board, and the state Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court denied his requests for a stay.

Conklin said he was fending off an attempted rape at the time of the attack.

Prosecutors said he acted with malice, and after stabbing Crooks, cut up the lawyer’s body and disposed of the pieces in trash bags and also in a garbage disposal.

Washington

White House: President has confidence in Rove

President Bush supports Karl Rove, the White House said Tuesday, rebuffing Democratic calls for Bush to fire his top political adviser over his role in the leak of an undercover CIA officer’s identity.

Bush ignored a question about whether he would fire Rove, and White House spokesman Scott McClellan said later that “any individual who works here at the White House has the confidence of the president.” McClellan said that includes Rove.

The White House’s defense came after two days of intense questioning following the disclosure that Rove talked about the officer in a July 11, 2003, conversation with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.

McClellan had said in September and October 2003 that Rove wasn’t at all involved in the leak of information about the officer, Valerie Plame.

Bush has said he would fire anyone found to have leaked Plame’s name. An e-mail by Cooper that surfaced over the weekend in Newsweek magazine says Rove identified the woman as someone who apparently works at the CIA and that she authorized a trip to Africa for her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson. Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin, says Rove did not disclose Plame’s name to the Time magazine reporter.

Florida

Emily likely to turn into hurricane today

Tropical Storm Emily likely will spin into a hurricane today and continue molding this unprecedented season into a remarkable stretch of hurricane history.

Emily is the fifth named storm to form in July, the first time that has happened since the U.S. began keeping storm records in 1851. Emily also stands to become the second major hurricane to develop this month, after Dennis, which struck near Pensacola on Sunday.

The long range forecast takes the system south of the Dominican Republic on Friday, near Jamaica on Saturday and south of western Cuba on Sunday as a Category 3 system, packing 115 mph winds.

High pressure north of Emily might keep the system’s path south of Florida, said James Franklin, hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center in Miami-Dade County. But he said it’s too early to say for sure.