THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015
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tomorrow is Abraham Lincoln's 206th birthday. Lincoln was particularly fond of Kansas and what the young state stood for.A sad irony, his assassination happened in 1865, the same year that KU was established.
Comedy Central: Stewart leaving 'The Daily Show'
LYNN ELBER
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Jon Stewart, who turned his biting and free-wheeling humor into an unlikely source of news and analysis for viewers of "The Daily Show," will leave as host this year, Comedy Central said Tuesday.
His departure was announced by Comedy Central President Michele Ganeless after Stewart, host of the show since 1999, broke the news to the audience at Tuesday's taping in New York.
"Through his unique voice and vision, 'The Daily Show' has become a cultural touchstone for millions of fans and an unparalleled platform for political comedy that will endure for years to come," Ganeless said in a statement.
She called Stewart, 52, a "comic genius." He will remain as host until later this year, she said, but did not specify his exit date or what led to his decision.
Helms, Josh Gad and new "Saturday Night Live" anchor Michael Che.
His influence is seen in the work of Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Larry Wilmore, who went on to earn shows of their own. Other "Daily Show" alumni include Steve Carell, Ed
Reaction was swift from Stewart's admirers and, in some cases, likely past targets.
"Just had the honor of being the great Jon Stewart's guest (on 'The Daily Show'), where he announced he's leaving. Emotional night," David Axelrod, former adviser to President Barack Obama, posted on Twitter.
BRAD BARKET/ASSOCIATED PRESS
This Nov. 30, 2011 file photo shows television host Jon Stewart during a taping of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" in New York. Comedy Central announced Tuesday that Stewart will leave "The Daily Show" later this year.
for 118 days in Tehran and accused of being a spy. The Comedy Central statement did not indicate what his plans were after leaving.
Stewart's departure represents a second big blow for Comedy Central: Another star, Stephen Colbert, left "The Colbert Report" last year to take over from CBS late-night host David Letterman when he retires in May.
Larry Wilmore and the new "The Nightly Show" replaced "The Colbert Report."
The Stewart and Colbert shows created templates for a comedic form that offered laughs along with trenchant political and social satire. Authors and politicians were as common as Hollywood celebrities on the self-described "fake news" programs.
Stewart took a several months-long hiatus in 2013 to direct "Rosewater," a well-reviewed film about an Iranian-born journalist who was imprisoned
Last November, in an interview with The Associated Press for "Rosewater," Stewart was asked about his future with the Comedy Central show. He replied that the format he works in doesn't matter.
"It's a journey. It's a conversation," he said. "One thing I won't do is write music or sing."
Mindy Kaling blamed the lure of filmdom.
"I knew when Jon Stewart left to direct that movie he was gonna try something like this," Kaling posted on Twitter.
When he returned from his filmmaking break, Stewart played a tape of President Barack Obama urging military action against Syria because of last month's poison gas attack.
"America taking military action against a Middle East regime," Stewart said. "It's like I never left."
In 2010, Stewart and Colbert drew a crowd to the Washington Mall for their Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. They tackled familiar topics — the partisan gridlock in the nation's capital
Stewart was credited with effectively killing one cable program — CNN's "Crossfire" — when his withering criticism of its partisan squabbling hit a nerve and CNN soon canceled it.
and the political talk show culture that encouraged it.
He poked fun at politicians but
spent even more time on the media establishment covering them. The most recent example was Monday night, when he tut-tutted NBC's Brian Williams for being caught exaggerating about the danger he faced covering the Iraq War.
Missouri inmate set to die for killing neighbor in 1990
LJIM SALTER
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — A Missouri inmate who killed his neighbor 25 years ago was to be executed early Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court and the state's governor denied appeals to spare his life.
Walter Timothy Storey was scheduled to die at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for killing a woman inside her apartment in the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles. After a Missouri-record 10 executions in 2014, it would be
the state's first this year.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon turned down Storey's bid for clemency around 8 p.m. Tuesday, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court also denied his appeal arguing that the lethal drug could cause a painful death. Four justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan — would have granted the stay.
Missouri obtains its execution drug, pentobarbital, from an unnamed compounding pharmacy, and prison officials
refuse to disclose details about how or if it is tested. Storey's attorney argues that the secrecy makes it impossible to know if the barbiturate will quickly work or cause an unconstitutionally painful death.
"After all, compounding is not necessarily a matter of changing a drug's flavor, but rather it is a matter of combining different ingredients in new, untested ways," Storey's attorney, Jennifer Herndon, wrote.
pentobarbital" could severely disable the prisoner without killing him, potentially leaving him alive but permanently brain-damaged.
She cited an anesthesiologist who said that that "sub-potent
In a response, the Missouri attorney general's office noted that virtually every recent inmate facing execution has raised the same issue.
"A dozen Missouri executions using pentobarbital have been rapid and painless," the response read.
Herndon also expressed concerns about Missouri's use of the sedative midazolam prior
to executions. The state has said the drug is administered to help calm the nerves of inmates, and only to those who want it.
Herndon wrote that midazolam was used in three botched executions in other states in 2014.
Storey, 47, was sentenced to death three separate times in the same case.
He was living with his mother in a St. Charles apartment on Feb. 2, 1990, when he became upset over his pending divorce. He spent an angry night
drinking beer.
He ran out of beer and money, so he decided to break into the neighboring apartment of Jill Frey to steal money for more beer.
Frey, a 36-year-old special education teacher, had left the sliding glass door of her balcony open. Storey climbed the balcony and confronted Frey in her bedroom, where he beat her. Frey suffered six broken ribs and severe wounds to her head and face.
Storey was convicted and sentenced to death.
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