NATIONAL BRIEFS

CALIFORNIA: Sweeping climate law OKd

State regulators approved on Thursday the first system in the nation to give polluting companies such as utilities and refineries financial incentives to emit fewer greenhouse gases. The Air Resources Board voted 9-1 to pass the key piece of California's 2006 climate law with the hope other states would follow. The state is discussing linking the new system with similar ones in Canada, Europe and Asia.

OKLAHOMA: Animal drug in execution

A convicted murderer was executed Thursday using a drug combination that includes a sedative commonly used to euthanize animals, after a nationwide shortage of an ingredient forced tinkering with the usual formula. John David Duty, 58, sentenced to die for strangling a cellmate nearly a decade ago, was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. It is believed to be the first U.S. execution that included the use of pentobarbital.

FLORIDA: Challenge to health reform

Attorneys for 20 states fighting the new federal health care law told a judge Thursday in Pensacola it would expand the government's powers in dangerous and unintended ways. The states want U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson to issue a summary judgment throwing out the health care law without a full trial. They argue it violates people's rights by forcing them to buy health insurance by 2014. "The act would leave more constitutional damage in its wake than any other statute in our history," David Rivkin, an attorney for the states, told Vinson.

MARYLAND: 6 months for Army 'birther'

An Army doctor who disobeyed orders to go to Afghanistan because he questioned President Barack Obama's eligibility to be commander in chief was sentenced by a jury Thursday to six months in a military prison and will be dismissed from the Army. The military jury spent nearly five hours deliberating punishment for Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin after three days of court-martial proceedings at Fort Meade, outside Baltimore.

WASHINGTON STATE: Car injures 3 at Pike Market

A driver who lost consciousness hit three pedestrians Thursday at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Fire Department Lt. Sue Stangl said two of the injuries appeared serious and one minor. All were taken to Harborview Medical Center along with the car driver. The accident occurred on a steep hill leading into the market, a Seattle tourist attraction.