At approximately 10:00 AM EST, Terri Schiavo died. There are no reports so far in the mainstream news.

Update:
My Way News is now reporting her death.

News Flash:
As Schiavo’s neared her last moments, her husband denied her parents the comfort of being by her side.

“‘It is with great sadness that it has been reported to us that Terri Schiavo has passed away,’ Paul O’Donnell, a Franciscan monk who acts as spokesman for the parents, said.

“‘They’ve been requesting, as you know, for the last hour to try to be in there. And they were denied access by Michael Schiavo.’”

(AFP/Reuters, “Terri Schiavo dies in Florida”, ABC News Online, 1 April 2005, online)

Commentary:
“This probate judge apparently reasoned that (1) since guardians have the power to withhold fluids from persons in irreversible coma, and (2) since they have the power to withhold medical treatments in general, then (3) they therefore have the power to withhold fluids from patients who are awake, possibly responsive, and able to swallow. This is madness.

“To withhold minimal comfort measures such as water is gratuitous cruelty. But the judge must be convinced of his probity and rectitude, for he alerted every sheriff in Florida to be vigilant in preventing a chip of ice from entering Terri’s mouth. And appellate courts declined to interfere with this travesty of justice on the grounds that proper procedures were followed. Thus they became complicit in the evolving tragedy.”

(William Anderson, “It Is Ended”, The Weekly Standard, 31 March 2005, online)