In the Nation

OKLAHOMA

Prisons chief resigns amid execution probe

The head of Oklahoma's prison system, who presided over two botched lethal injections, announced his resignation Friday amid an investigation into what went wrong with the executions.

Robert Patton said in a news release that he will resign effective Jan. 31, but will begin taking accrued leave on Dec. 25.

"I appreciate the members of the board of corrections for their continued support during my time as director," Patton said in a statement, adding that he has accepted a job in Arizona to be closer to family. A phone message left Friday at Patton's office wasn't immediately returned.

Patton appeared in October before a multicounty grand jury that is investigating how the wrong lethal-injection drugs were used during an execution in January. The same wrong drugs were delivered to the prison hours before an execution was to be carried out in September. - AP
UTAH

School alert a hoax

A teenager was arrested after authorities say he lied about seeing a man with a gun inside his high school, triggering a two-hour lockdown and massive police response. Parents and residents in the small city of Pleasant Grove, about 35 miles south of Salt Lake City, waited nervously outside the school Thursday afternoon after finding out about the lockdown in emails and automated calls from the school district. Inside, armed SWAT-team officers ordered anxious students into the gym and did a room-by-room search, finding nothing. - AP
NEW YORK

No-show Buffalo snow

A 116-year-old snow record has fallen in Buffalo. This time, it's for lack of snow. The city had yet to see its first measurable snowfall by Friday, breaking the record for latest first snow set on Dec. 3, 1899. The wait will continue, National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Mitchell said. There's no snow in the forecast until mid-December. - AP