Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101
Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101. The KRAK 11 News hour: The World Desk, Criminal Intent, Happy Animals, Sports. Real stories from named sources, read by Chip Marlowe and Deb Sarkissian.
Aired 2026-08-19 12:51 UTC · 5 segments · 9 min · complete transcript below
Rundown
KRAK 11 NEWS
Good evening. I'm Chip Marlowe.
And I'm Deb Sarkissian. This is KRAK 11 News at the top of the hour.
Tonight — the oldest death row inmate in American history has died at age one hundred and one after eight stays of execution. We'll have that story on The World Desk.
A British couple killed in a helicopter crash in Greece while on their honeymoon. The investigation continues on The World Desk.
Tennis star Nick Kyrgios provisionally suspended after testing positive for cocaine. The ATP has not issued a timeline for review. That's on Happy Animals.
That's not the segment name.
And boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko speaks out after the death of his ex-partner, actress Hayden Panettiere. The family says they are in profound shock. That story is on Sports.
All of that coming up this hour on KRAK 11 News, beginning with The World Desk — a man who spent seventy-three years behind bars and was scheduled to die eight separate times has died of natural causes at age one hundred and one. That's next.
Stay with us.
THE WORLD DESK
Good evening. I'm Chip Marlowe.
And I'm Deb Sarkissian. The oldest death row inmate in United States history has died in Louisiana at the age of one hundred and one.
Francis Smith spent seven decades behind bars after being spared execution eight separate times.
Smith was convicted in nineteen fifty-one. He was spared execution eight times over the course of seventy-three years in prison, dying of natural causes Monday morning at Louisiana State Penitentiary.
Seven decades is longer than most American cities have had television.
It's seventy-three years.
Smith is one of a growing number of elderly people who are incarcerated in the United States as prison populations age nationwide.
Six people are confirmed dead after a helicopter crashed at Mount Ololokwe in northern Kenya early this morning.
Mount Ololokwe is in the Samburu region, which is known for its wildlife preserves and is a popular destination for safari tourism.
Mount Ololokwe is in Samburu County. Kenya's Aircraft Accident Investigation Department says the identities of those on board have not yet been confirmed.
Samburu County. That's what I said.
You said Samburu region.
The investigation is ongoing and authorities have not released information about what caused the crash or whether weather was a factor.
In Washington, the Department of Justice has filed additional charges in connection with what prosecutors are calling a massive cyber theft campaign.
Seventeen Iranian nationals are charged with conducting coordinated attacks on American institutions over a period of several years.
Prosecutors say many of the alleged attacks were carried out on behalf of the Iranian government. The charges include conspiracy, wire fraud, and unauthorized access to protected computers.
Iran has consistently denied involvement in state-sponsored cyber operations.
Iran has not responded to this specific indictment.
Which is consistent with their denials.
None of the seventeen individuals charged are in United States custody.
And President Trump has paused the imposition of new tariffs on Canadian goods for seventy-two hours, saying negotiators are close to finalizing an agreement.
The pause applies to a range of import taxes that were set to take effect Thursday. The president said in a statement that both sides are finalizing documents and that a deal is, quote, very close.
Canada is the United States' largest trading partner and any disruption to that relationship has significant implications for both economies.
Canada is the second-largest trading partner. Mexico is the largest.
By volume.
By volume is how trade is measured.
Canadian officials have not commented publicly on the pause, but sources close to the negotiations say talks have been productive.
Still ahead on KRAK 11 News, a Wexler County man is facing charges after a dispute over a lawn mower escalated into what deputies are calling a multi-hour standoff.
The lawn mower was never recovered.
CRIMINAL INTENT in a few minutes.
You're watching KRAK 11.
CRIMINAL INTENT
Good evening. I'm Chip Marlowe.
And I'm Deb Sarkissian. Tonight: a bullet with a message, a reservoir giving up its secrets, and a man in Britain who has been changing the law for forty years without holding office.
That last one is not a crime.
It's remarkable.
Prosecutors in the killing of Charlie Kirk say the defendant targeted Kirk based on how he perceived Kirk's politics. The evidence, they say, is the bullet itself.
The round, recovered at the scene, bore an inscription. Prosecutors argue that inscription demonstrates motive. The defendant has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege.
I said prosecutors say.
You said they argue.
In Nevada, what appears to be human remains have been discovered in Lake Mead as water levels reach historic lows. The remains include what witnesses describe as a human jaw with teeth still attached.
The National Park Service is working with the Clark County coroner to determine identity and cause. Lake Mead has dropped to thirty percent of capacity, exposing shoreline that has been underwater for decades.
This is the third set of remains recovered from the reservoir since water levels began dropping in twenty twenty-one.
Which raises the question: how many are still down there.
The reservoir serves twenty-five million people.
And in what can only be described as a master class in civic patience, a man in Britain has spent forty years quietly getting laws changed without ever holding elected office.
He estimates he has been involved in getting sixteen bills into law and has contributed to twenty-five additional law changes. He works by writing letters, attending committee hearings, and cultivating relationships with members of Parliament.
His method is called showing up.
His method is called forty years of showing up, Deb. There is a documentary quality to that kind of commitment. If we had helicopter footage of his daily commute, which we do not have, it would show a man who believes incremental change is worth pursuing.
We don't have helicopter footage because he takes the bus.
Still ahead: animals who are genuinely delightful. We will bring you that after the break. You're watching KRAK 11 News.
HAPPY ANIMALS
We're back.
Deb, I've been thinking about the segment order.
You submitted a request.
I submitted a proposal that we open every broadcast with an animal story. People respond to hope.
A golden retriever in Texas has taught itself to operate a doorbell camera by watching visitors press the button.
The dog now rings the bell when it wants to come inside. The family says they get notifications at work.
The family installed the camera in March.
That's problem-solving. That's not instinct, that's—
The dog observed the behavior and replicated it.
Researchers in Scotland say they've captured what may be the first recorded sighting of a Scottish wildcat swimming.
The wildcat was filmed crossing a river in the Cairngorms. The species is critically endangered with fewer than three hundred left in the wild.
We didn't know they could swim.
We didn't know they would.
And a sea turtle that washed ashore in Wales two years ago has completed a five-thousand-mile journey back to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Kemp's ridley turtle was treated for hypothermia at an aquarium in Wales before being flown to Texas and released off Galveston last month.
Biologists tracked the turtle using a satellite tag and confirmed it reached the Gulf two weeks ago.
Five thousand miles.
Still ahead, SPORTS.
SPORTS
Time now for the KRAK 11 Scoreboard.
Still waiting on graphics to confirm both our names will display beneath the Scoreboard starting Thursday.
Gordo said Thursday.
College football. Ohio State opens Saturday against Akron, and the Buckeyes are favored by thirty-eight points, which tells you everything about how that matchup is expected to go.
The Buckeyes went eleven and two last season and lost to Michigan.
They did.
Moving to chess. Magnus Carlsen successfully defended his title at the twenty twenty-six Esports World Cup, defeating challenger Hikaru Nakamura in a match that went the full distance.
Carlsen is thirty-five years old and has held the world number one ranking for fourteen consecutive years.
Fourteen years is consistency.
It is.
Professional baseball. The Chicago Cubs walked off the White Sox Monday night four to three on a Pete Crow-Armstrong home run in the bottom of the ninth.
Crow-Armstrong became the youngest Cubs player to hit a walk-off home run in a crosstown game since nineteen sixty-seven.
That is franchise history.
It is also one game in August.
Formula One. Honda has acknowledged it underestimated the scope of technical issues affecting its power units this season, telling reporters Monday it only realized the full extent of the problems in January.
The company says it has implemented corrections and expects performance to improve by the next race in Belgium.
Belgium is three weeks away.
It is.
And if you are watching this broadcast from anywhere within a sixty-mile radius, you are watching the most-watched newscast in Wexler County, which is something we take seriously.
We do.
Because coverage matters.
It does.
Still ahead on KRAK 11 News: the county releases its revised timeline on the Route Twelve sinkhole repairs, and a Fairmont business owner says supply chain delays have now pushed his reopening into October. That is all coming up on the next KRAK 11 News, at the top of the hour.
We will see you then.
Good night, Fairmont.
Reporting behind this episode
- Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101
- US charges 17 Iranians over 'massive' cyber theft campaign
- Helicopter crashes at Mount Ololokwe in Kenya, killing six people
- Trump pauses new tariffs on Canada for three days, saying deal close
- Prosecutors say bullet engraving shows Charlie Kirk was shot over his politics
- One man has been quietly changing the law for the past 40 years - how does he do it?
- Apparent human remains found in US reservoir as water levels hit record low
- Ovarian cancer and menopause at 19 mean I can't have kids, but it's changed me for the better