California governor to impose moratorium on executions

LOS ANGELES: Governor Gavin Newsom will Wednesday impose a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty in California, granting temporary reprieve to the 737 inmates on death row — the largest such group in the United States. Newsom is a Democrat who took office in January and a long-standing opponent of the death penalty, which was last carried out in California in 2006. “The death penalty is inconsistent with our bedrock values and strikes at the very heart of what it means to be a Californian,” Newsom will say, according to prepared remarks from his office.