News from Huntsville, Tex.:

A death row inmate facing execution Wednesday night over a 1998 triple killing in Amarillo has won a reprieve.
But the state is appealing in the case of John Balentine.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday issued a brief order stopping the lethal injection of Balentine. Balentine’s appeal to the federal appeals court said lower courts had not properly resolved his earlier appeals.
Texas is appealing to get the order lifted. It’s uncertain if the state’s appeal will be decided before the execution warrant expires at midnight Wednesday.
Prison spokeswoman Michelle Lyons says the department is proceeding as though an execution is not scheduled.
Balentine was condemned for the shooting deaths of 17-year-old Mark Caylor Jr., 15-year-old Kai Brooke Geyer and 15-year-old Steven Watson. Caylor was the brother of Balentine’s former girlfriend.