The Supreme Court has rejected a plea from South Carolina to reimpose the death penalty on a South Carolina inmate whose death sentence stood for two decades until a federal appeals court threw it out in August. Chief Justice John Roberts did not comment Friday in denying the state's request. The order requires the state to conduct a new sentencing hearing for inmate Sammie Stokes, if it wants jurors to sentence him again to death. Otherwise, Stokes will spend the rest of his life in prison. He was sentenced to death in 1999 for the rape and murder of 21-year-old Connie Snipes in Orangeburg County.

Authorities have released 911 calls made by prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh and two motorists after a Sept. 4 roadside shooting in which a bullet grazed Murdaugh's head. A woman passerby says on one call she saw a man bloodied and waving his hands on the roadside but she didn't stop because it looked — in her words — "like a setup." Police have since charged Murdaugh with insurance fraud, saying he tried to have himself killed so his surviving son could collect $10 million in life insurance payouts. The recordings were released Friday and in one Murdaugh says someone shot him when he stopped for a flat tire.

South Carolina's oldest and most powerful state lawmaker is currently receiving hospice care after the discovery of what colleagues describe as an inoperable cancer. A GOP senator told The Associated Press on Thursday that Hugh Leatherman's staff notified a handful of lawmakers the 90-year-old Florence Republican was recently hospitalized after experiencing severe abdominal pain. Leatherman was first elected to the chamber in 1980 and serves as chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which has sway over the state's budget.

A year ago, The Daily Gamecock, the University of South Carolina's student newspaper, went dark as a way to relieve the pressures on the staff's emotional health. They took a few on the chin for that. But a year later, their newsroom's culture has changed for the better, and their idea has caught on elsewhere.

It isn't the first gun death on a set, but Hutchins' shooting has refocused attention on the safe use of firearms by the entertainment world and raised the question of whether they should be banned.

A 1992 law called for all records surrounding the assassination to be made public, but the National Archives says it needs more time to review the files to ensure their release wouldn't cause harm.

Dairo Antonio Úsuga, better known by his alias Otoniel, is the alleged head of the much-feared Gulf Clan. President Iván Duque likened his arrest to the capture three decades ago of Pablo Escobar.

Most people who hike, paddle and ski in New York's Adirondack Mountains are white, but a state university program aims to change that by introducing students of color to outdoor adventures.

The federal government says it will soon tighten regulations around a group of contaminants linked to cancer and other illnesses. Labs are now looking for ways to detect these "forever chemicals".

In light of newly-leaked documents on its membership, we look at Oath Keepers, a group charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

NPR's Asma Khalid speaks with Mahan Gafari, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, about the state of the pandemic in Iran and what we can learn about herd immunity.

NPR's Asma Khalid speaks to Dan Leonard, associate dean of Chapman University's film school, about proper safety protocols on sets following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

In Austin, elected officials cut millions from the police budget last year and then refunded the department this year. Now, residents in the city are deciding if they want to hire more police.

NPR's Asma Khalid plays the puzzle with puzzle master Will Shortz and this week's winner Paula Kroeker from Foothills, Alberta, Canada.