In this task, you are given news articles and you need to generate a highlight, i.e., a short summary, with a maximum length of 10 lines.
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Question: (CNN) -- Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards was released from federal prison Thursday after serving about 10 years, the federal Bureau of Prisons said. Edwards was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy and extortion after prosecutors said he asked for payoffs from people who applied for riverboat casino licenses in New Orleans in the 1990s. Edwards, 83, had pursued a pardon from President George W. Bush, but never got one. He began serving his sentence in February 2001. He was released from prison to a halfway house, said Edmond Ross, spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons. At Edwards' trial in 2000, star witness Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, got a reduced sentence in exchange for testifying about his own $400,000 bribe to Edwards. He said he had felt compelled to make the payment. DeBartolo ended up not going through with the project after the scandal broke. Allegations of corruption dogged Edwards throughout much of his political career, but he always maintained that he'd never lose an election, and famously joked that he'd keep his office unless he was caught "in bed with a dead girl or a live boy." Frequently during his trial -- for allegedly extorting almost $3 million from casino applicants -- he held his own court on the courthouse steps. "Today, I took care of some housekeeping and had my car fixed and went and cashed a check before they freeze my accounts," he told reporters at one point. Edwards served several terms in office -- from 1972 to 1980, 1984 to 1988 and 1992 to 1996. The Democrat, U.S. Navy aviation cadet and lawyer began his career as a city councilman and state representative before being elected to Congress, and then governor. He won his first gubernatorial term "by an unprecedented combination of 'Cajun' and black votes," according to his biography on the Louisiana Secretary of State's website. "Edwards named blacks to key state positions and his support of black politicians resulted in a mutually beneficial relationship," the biography says. His third term "was marked by federal indictments, but not convictions, for mail fraud, obstruction of justice and public bribery," the biography adds. The bio does not refer to Edwards' conviction later on. The U.S. District Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, on its website, describes Edwards as "leader of the corrupt enterprise whose objectives included the illegal and corrupt manipulation of the riverboat gaming licensing process during and after his four terms as governor." "Also convicted were Edwin's son, Stephen Edwards and his close associates Andrew Martin, Cecil Brown, and Bobby Johnson," the office says. CNN's Dave Alsup contributed to this report.

Answer: The former governor was convicted of extortion in casino industry .
Edwards had pursued a pardon from President Bush .
A former NFL team owner testified about a bribe during Edwards' trial .
Edwards said he'd keep his office unless he was caught with a "dead girl or a live boy"


Question: (CNN) -- It's an unreal scene, like one from a horror film. Here's how Tulsa World editor Ziva Branstetter described Oklahoma's botched execution on Tuesday of convicted killer Clayton Lockett: . • 6:28 p.m. Fifty milligrams of midazolam have been injected into each of Lockett's arms to start the process, an attempt to sedate him before the second and third drugs are administered to stop the breathing and the heart. Lockett has spent the past several minutes blinking and occasionally pursing his lips. • ...6:37 p.m. The inmate's body starts writhing and bucking and it looks like he's trying to get up. Both arms are strapped down and several straps secure his body to the gurney. He utters another unintelligible statement. Defense Attorney Dean Sanderford is quietly crying in the observation area. • 6:38 p.m. Lockett is grimacing, grunting and lifting his head and shoulders entirely up from the gurney. He begins rolling his head from side to side. He again mumbles something we can't understand, except for the word "man." He lifts his head and shoulders off the gurney several times, as if he's trying to sit up. He appears to be in pain. State officials reportedly were unsure how much of the second and third drugs that were supposed to kill Lockett were actually injected into his body. While the third was being administered, Lockett's vein "exploded," Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton told reporters. He called the execution off. Then the inmate, Patton told the media, died of an apparent heart attack at 7:06 p.m. Perhaps some supporters of the death penalty find comfort in the fact that death by lethal injection is supposed to be painless -- more sterile than a firing squad, more clinical than the electric chair. For those people, perhaps, Oklahoma's botched execution will be a wake-up call -- a realization that all executions, regardless of method, are cruel and not especially unusual in parts of the United States. But in Oklahoma -- where both the firing squad and the chair are still statutory alternatives to the needle, if other methods were to be deemed unconstitutional by the courts -- method and morality don't seem to matter much. This is the state -- the state where I grew up, by the way, and where I once worked as a newspaper reporter -- that has the highest per capita rate of executions in the country. Nationally, support for the death penalty has declined from a high of 80% in the 1990s to only 60% now, according to Gallup. States such as Connecticut, Maryland and New Mexico recently have abolished this abhorrent practice. It's unclear if public opinion in Oklahoma mirrors the national trend, statistically, but anecdotal evidence suggests the state supports, if not celebrates, state-sponsored death. "Give them a bonus!" one commenter wrote on The Oklahoman's website, apparently referring to the executioner or state officials. "I hope that man was in more pain than anyone ever imagined possible," a woman from Oklahoma wrote on Facebook, echoing a sentiment I saw repeated. Not everyone reacted this way, to be sure. But an outsider could be forgiven for seeing politicians in the state who support these unethical policies as death-hungry and vengeful. History would support that view as well. It was Oklahoma, after all, in 1977, that was the first state to authorize death by lethal injection. That decision was made, in part, because Oklahoma was "facing the expensive prospect of fixing the state's broken electric chair," and lethal injections were cheaper, according to Human Rights Watch. It was Oklahoma, in 1988, that lost an argument before the U.S. Supreme Court that it should be able to execute a man who was convicted of murder at age 15. And it was Oklahoma, just this year, that executed a 38-year-old man, Michael Wilson, whose last words, just a moment before his death, were, "I feel my whole body burning." Yet, the state proceeded with Lockett's execution this week. And it did so, according to The Guardian, using "dosages never before tried in American executions." Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin was forced to show some sense when she ordered a stay of a second execution -- of convicted child rapist and murderer Charles Warner -- that was scheduled to occur after Lockett's on Tuesday. That a state was going to execute two men in one night drew international curiosity and condemnation. It rattled some feathers in Oklahoma, as there were protesters at the Capitol. But the governor and many residents were unmoved. No one would dispute that Lockett's crime was unthinkably heinous: He was convicted of shooting 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman before watching his accomplice bury her alive. But that doesn't excuse the state from ordering his death, especially in this way. Both Lockett and Warner's sentences had been contested in court, with attorneys for the inmates arguing that the state cannot withhold the exact source of the drugs it planned to use for the executions. A political circus ensued, and the court, in the view of Andrew Cohen, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, "caved in to the political pressure." Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Steven Taylor wrote, in agreement with the court, that Lockett and Warner had no right to know the source of the chemicals. "...(I)f they were being hanged, they would have no right to know whether it be cotton or nylon rope; or if they were being executed by firing squad, they would have no right to know whether it be by Winchester or Remington ammunition," he wrote, according to news reports. States have been scrambling to come up with drugs they can use to kill people since some drug makers stopped selling them for such purposes. Fallin has called for an investigation into the botched execution. As part of that, she should make the source of Oklahoma's drugs known. But Oklahoma seems to be a place hell-bent on secrecy. Near the end of the Tulsa World editor's journal of events, Ziva Branstetter writes that "blinds are lowered" and reporters were not allowed to see what happened in the final moments of Lockett's life. "Reporters exchange shocked glances," she wrote at 6:39 p.m. "Nothing like this has happened at an execution any of us has witnessed since 1990, when the state resumed executions using lethal injection." Reporters were escorted to a white van outside the state penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, which is commonly known as "Big Mac." They were told to leave their state-issued pens, Branstetter wrote. One could find hope in that moment -- could think that the state realizes that if witnesses saw what happened after the curtain fell, they would be shocked into action. That seems like a plausible explanation, but I still have my doubts. The death penalty is on its way out in America. But it's got a cold grip on Oklahoma.

Answer: Oklahoma botches first of two executions scheduled for Tuesday .
John Sutter: The horrific scene won't change attitudes in the state .
Sutter writes that some locals more or less celebrated the botched execution .
The death penalty still has a "cold grip on Oklahoma," he writes .


Question: Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama has approved the use of armed Predator drones in Libya, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. Gates suggested that the unmanned Predator missions may have already begun. He said he believed that the first flights were launched Thursday but were called back due to poor weather. "The president has said that where we have some unique capabilities, he is willing to use those," Gates said. "And I think that today may in fact have been their first mission." Gates said the Predator drones offer a "modest contribution" to NATO efforts to support rebels fighting embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces there, though Gadhafi is not a specific target. Unmanned aerial vehicles offer more precise targeting, because their low-flying capability allows for better visibility, "particularly on targets now that have started to dig themselves into defensive positions," Gates said. He said the drones are needed for humanitarian reasons, and they have capabilities that larger aircraft such as A-10s and C-130s cannot provide. Vice Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. James Cartwright said the added precision is necessary because forces loyal to Gadhafi "nestle up in crowded areas" to maximize civilian casualties. "It's very difficult to identify friend from foe," Cartwright said, noting that the drones facilitate identification of individuals on the ground. Remote Predator operators are now permitted to strike Gadhafi's defense missions, including air defense, missile and radar sites. Predator strikes are also authorized for civilian protection and can hit Gadhafi's troops, military installations and equipment in the field. The U.S. employed the use of unmanned drones early in the NATO campaign, but they were intended for surveillance only and not authorized to fire.

Answer:
NEW: "I think that today may in fact have been their first mission," Robert Gates says .
NEW: Vice Joint Chiefs chair says drones help distinguish "friend from foe"
NEW: Gadhafi loyalists "nestle up in crowded areas," Gen. James Cartwright says .
NEW: Air defense, missile and radar sites, as well as troops, are authorized targets .


