nor is the case of lawrence russell brewer who was executed at 6:21 p.m.me yesterday in huntsville, texas. he was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the 1998 hate crime murder of 49-year-old james bird jr. lawrence, russell brewer and two is had friends chained bird to the back of a pickup truck and drove along a bumpy asphalt road at 2:00 in the morning. they drove for at least three miles with james bird dragging 24 and a half feet behind them at the end of that chain. six hours later, when what was left of james bird's mangled body was found, the sheriff who found him at first thought he was looking at animal road kill. lawrence russell brewer's execution yesterday passed virtually unnoticed by the national media at the very moment when they were covering minute by minute developments in a possible stay of execution for troy davis, which was then followed by troy davis' actual execution at 11:08 p.m. in jackson, georgia. many protesters were heard on focusing on the injustice being done to troy davis. but the legendary civil rights hero dick greg

we do want to report, though, out of texas tonight, lawrence russell brewer has been executed for his to death of a black man near jasper, texas, and as of tonight, lawrence russell brewer has been executed for the murder of james byrd. >>> still to come, john king asks former vice president dick cheney about a new book, quoting him as saying, deficits don't matter. ♪ ♪ ♪ when your chain of supply ♪ goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there ♪ ♪ track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that ♪ hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ >>> tonight, we have remarkable pictures from the middle east. a few hours ago in oman, u.s. hikers josh fattal and jane bauer rushed into the arms of their loved ones after a jet brought them from more than two years of captivity in iran. the two men, along with a woman companion, were captured after they strayed across the iraqi/iranian border while hiking. the iranians said they were spies. both men deniied it. >> we

. >>> while georgia executed troy davis yesterday, texas put to death lawrence russell brewer for the notorious 1998 dragging death of a black man. the white supremacist gang member gave no last words. >>> in china, rescuers were called into action after a restaurant boat that broke free collided with another vessel and capsized. 11 people were tossed into the water. fortunately, they were all saved. >>> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,124 after sinking 283 points yesterday. the s&p dropped 35 points, the nasdaq did 52. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei tumbled 180 points while in hong kong, the hang seng plummeted 912. >>> the fed is doing the twist but its wall street audience is throwing tomatoes. the federal reserve's long-awaited plan for kick starting the economy already nicknamed operation twist, after a similar move in 1961, involves the central bank selling $400 billion of its holdings from short-term government debt. in turn, the fed will buy long-term debt. treasury notes and bonds

texas put to death lawrence russell brewer for the notorious 1998 dragging death of a black man.the white supremacist gang member gave no last words. >>> in china, rescuers were called in to action after a restaurant boat that broke free collided with another vessel and capsized. 11 people were tossed into the water. fortunately, they were all saved. >>> here's a first look at how wall street kicks off the day. the dow opens at 11,124 after sinking 223 yesterday. the s&p down 35, the nasdaq skidded 52. in overseas trading, in tokyo the nikkei tumbled 180 points, the hang seng in hong kong plummeted 912. >>> the fed is doing the twist so to speak. wall street and its audience is throwing tomatoes. the federal reserve's long-awaited plan to kick-start the economy already nicknamed operation twist after a similar move in 1961 involves the central bank selling $400 billion from its holdings of short-term government debt. in turn the fed will buy long-term debt, treasury notes and bonds with maturities of stockton 30 years. the goal, stimulate the economy by driving down long-term int

lawrence russell brewer, a supremacist gang member was put to death in texas for the 1998 dragging death of a black man. james byrd jr. was chained to the back of a pickup truck and pulled along a bumpy road. two others were involved. one is on death row. the other received a life sentence. >>> this morning, those two american hikers who were convicted of spying by iran and for over two years are with their families in oman. josh fattal and shane bauer were released yesterday, a day their relatives call the best day of their lives. susan mcginnis is in washington with the latest on this story. good morning, susan. >> betty, good morning. >> reporter: no one will soon forget the sight when the two raced off the jet to reunite for with their families. for washington and america, it it was a moment of joy and relief. shane bauer and josh fattal are back with their families, enjoying their first full day of freedom. the american hikers jumped into the arms of their loved ones in oman wednesday. they were released on $1 million bail after spending more than two years in an iranian prison. >>

hungry homiciders can thank inmate lawrence russell brewer who ruined it for everyone when his adios order amounted to two chicken fried steaks and a triple patty cheeseburger a pound of barbecue and three pho he taus and a pint of ice cream and chunk of peanut butter fudge and three root beers. >> wow. >> the root beers were the final straw. after ordering all of that, he decided he wasn't hungry. spoiler alert, his executioner still was. so from now on his cell mates are allotted the same food the prison is eating that day. quote, it is long overdue. enough is enough. we are fixing to execute this guy and maybe it makes the system feel better about what they are doing. you recon? oh i reckon. you know who doesn't? >> rip, little murderer. should convicted killers be allowed to eat something fried before they are fried? >> first of all, no. i didn't even know you get that much for killing a black dude in texas. what do you get for killing a white dude? >> i am not trapped in those unnecessary stereo types. >> the victim is a male. >> if you could take your last meal, what would it b

lawrence russell brewer was also executed for dragging a black man behind his truck.er in alabama and duane buck in texas, both spared execution in the past week when the supreme court stepped in. for davis, the campaign ran into the final hours. davis had high profile list of supporters, including big boi of the group outkast. and quest love of the roots. also, backing his clemency request were former president jimmy carter and the pope. >> it's hard to believe that many witnesses came forward and said, look, police coerced us into saying this guy did it. how someone would not have said, let's put on the brakes -- see if we can do something. hard to believe. >> it's hard to believe there wasn't enough doubt there that you wouldn't want to go forward until you were 100% certain. >> to take someone's life. we asked the white house to chime in. they said they didn't want to make a comment. this is a state's issue. we're going to leave it at that. >> a lot of outspoken celebrities have taken to twitter about this case. celebrities have taken to twitter about this case. a

lawrence russell brewer expected to be executed tonight for dragging a man. and and both spared because the supreme court stepped in. >> we just thank god for another chance. >> the candidate ran into the final hour. and on twitter, celebrities from rapper big boy. davis supporters went beyond music stars backing the bid were former presidents jimmy carter and the pope. >> and a piece of the beatles up for grab. a contract went for thousands today. >> the end of the world as they know it. a popular rock band calls it quits. >> and questions from twitter and facebook. he'll answer them later. we'll have links for you now, checking traffic again there is eastbound traffic towards the bottom of the screen. it's moving slowly in both directions and pulling better on the right side heading towards san francisco and bay bridge. and now, checking national travel forecast. >> there is air travel moving on slowly. we're getting reports delays were there are scattered thunderstorms. so atlanta and jfk reporting delays. now, we have an all-familiar summer time weather p

lawrence russell brewer. then there was cleave foster in alabama and dwayne buck in texas, both spared execution when the supreme court stepped? >> he we just thank god for another chance. >> for davis the campaign ran into the final hours. in atlanta. and on twitter with celebrity support from rapper big boy of outkast. davis' supporters went beyond music stars. also backing the bid were president jimmy carter and the pope. john hendron, ap bc news. >>> shane bauer and josh fattal were released from prison and flown to amman. >> the long grueling imprisonment ended as an air force jet touched down in moscow. the families rushing right up to the plane to meet them. until josh fattal and shane bauer bounded down the steps into their arms. smiles, tears, and a long kiss between shane and sarah shore, his fiancee and fellow prisoner until one year ago this week. >> we are so happen be we are free and so relieved we are free. two years in prison is too long. >> too long for the families as well. >> he lasted 781

lawrence russell brewer as you pointed out dragged to death a black man and killed him. james byrd jr. it's mr. byrd's family who is interesting. this family said they did not want the execution to go forward even though there was no doubt that lawrence byrd committed this crime. they felt there was nothing that could be accomplished by executing the man who killed their father. it is incredible where we are. we talk about the dead and so many other things in this country. this reminds me of the death penalty debates in the dark of the night. people used to be execute skpud wake in the morning and you hear someone was execute and now it's 7:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. in the evening. will it continue to be talk here? especially after the troy davis case. >> i don't think it will be talk. the one name you should remember is cameron todd willingham was convicted of a triple homicide of his children? e in texas and put to death on governor perry's watch. this was a guy about whom it was an arson case allegedly. the science was later questioned. people often asked is an innocent pe

prison officials made that change after lawrence russell brewer who was executed wednesday requested two chicken fried steaks, a triple meat bacon cheeseburger, a pound of barbecue. fried okra, three fajitas, a meat lovers pizza, pint of ice cream and peanut butter fudge but ate none of it. jaycee duguard is suing the federal government for failing to monitor the person who kidnapped her and held her for years. he was on parole and under federal supervision when he kidnapped dugard in 1991. her lawyers said had federal parole officers done their job, dugard would not have to endure nearly two decades of captivity. scientists think today is the day a bus sized satellite will plunge back to earth. most of the satellite expected to burn up in the atmosphere but pieces totalling about 1/2 ton are expected to crash to earth somewhere. nasa says the debris will miss north america and the odds of anyone being hurt by falling debris are very slim. we hope they're right. all right. we'll take a break right now but when we come back, the very latest market numbers from around the globe. also,

. >>> we should note that lawrence russell brewer is set to be executed by lethal injection at 7:00 p.m. eastern time in texas. he was one of three men convicted of killing 49-year-old james byrd jr. some 13 years ago. byrd was tied to a pickup truck in jasper, texas, and dragged nearly three miles to his death. >>> we continue to follow breaking news in iran. the u.s. hikers who have been held there for two years are now free. we have word that shane bauer and joshua fattal have been turned over to custody of amani officials. we have the latest now from iran. and ali, do we know where josh and shane are right now? >> reporter: craig, i just got word that they have entered the airport compound. i have colleagues there that are standing outside the airport. they saw their convoy at the airport compound. ar -- amani officials and swiss officials are with them. the flight has not taken off contrary to state reports here. there's got to be red tape to cut through during the airport. past experiences showed that when sara shourd was taken to the airport was forced to give an interview to sta

because of the white supremacist, lawrence russell brewer. brewer was executed wednesday night for his infamous murder of james byrd who was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to death. brewer's last meal request, you ask? here we go. two chicken fried steaks. a triple bacon cheeseburger. cheese omlette with ground beef, fried okra with ketchup, three fajitas, pound of barbecue. half loaf of white bread. meat lovers pizza, pint of blue bell ice cream. slab of peanut butter fudge with nuts. three root beers. and the kicker, he didn't eat a single bite. his last meal, so outraged a texas state senator who fired off this letter to prison officials and today the last meal tradition in texas is toast. >>> a funny thing happened during last night's gop debate. amid all the usual candidates, one man just recognized by a couple of people stole the show. you have to hear what he said and how the crowd in orlando responded. here it is. >> my next door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel ready jobs than this current administration. >> that g

in texas, white supremacist gang member lawrence russell brewer was executed for the dragging death ofmost notorious hate crimes in recent u.s. history. >>> eahmadinejad preparing to address the u.n. general assembly today with his grip on power weakening, some wonder if he will be seeking to ease tension was the united states. >>> typhoon roke weakened. the typhoon caused at least ten deaths in gentleman ban. fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant managed to weather the storm without major incident. >>> teamners tacoma, washington, reaching a tentative deal with the district last night that could put 1900 teachers back in the classrooms. >>> it is the end of the world as we know it but they feel fine. r.e.m. announcing they are breaking up after 30 years together. the band says they are walking away as great friends. that's news you need to start your day. "american morning" back after a break. >>> welcome back to "american morning." special in-depth look at the new face of poverty in america. >> it is pretty depressing, too. focus this morning group of low-income mothers in pennsylvan