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ment for replacement cards. The Agriculture Department wants to curb the practice by giving states more power to investigate people who repeatedly claim to lose their benefit cards.
• It is proposing new rules Thursday that would allow states to demand formal explanations from people who seek replacement cards more than three times a year. Those who don<t comply can be denied further cards.
• "Up to this point, the state's hands have been tied unless they absolutely suspected fraudulent activity," said Kevin Concannon, the department<s undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services.
• Overall, food stamp fraud costs taxpayers about $750 million a year, or 1 percent of the $75 billion program that makes up the bulk of the department's total budget for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
• Most fraud occurs when unscrupulous retailers allow customers to turn in their benefits cards for lesser amounts of cash. But USDA officials are also concerned about people selling or trading cards in the open market, including through websites.
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• ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The same anesthetic that caused the overdose death of pop star Michael Jackson is now the drug of choice for executions in Missouri, causing a stir among critics who question how the state can guarantee a drug untested for lethal injection won<t cause pain and suffering for the condemned.
• Last week the Missouri Department of Corrections announced it was switching from its longstanding three-drug method to use of a single drug, propofol. Missouri would be the first state ever to use propofol as an execution drug.
• "This is very, very concerning with a drug that we don't know, and seeing the problems of the one-drug method," said Kathleen Holmes of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
• Until recently, the 33 states with the death penalty used a virtually identical three-drug process: Sodium thiopental was administered to put the inmate to sleep, then two other drugs stopped the heart and lungs. But makers of sodium thiopental have stopped selling it for use in executions. Supplies mostly ran out or expired, forcing states to consider alternatives.
• Most states have retained the three-drug method but turned to pentobarbital as a replacement for sodium thiopental. Pentobarbital, a barbiturate used to treat anxiety and convulsive disorders such as epilepsy, has been used in roughly 50 executions

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