A pickup truck overloaded with 23 men, women and children who authorities suspect were in the country illegally crashed Sunday in south Texas. There are reports now, from KSAT-TV in San Antonio and other local news outlets, that 13 people are dead and 10 injured.
Steve Inskeep speaks with Colorado Public Radio's Megan Verlee
A dazed-looking James Holmes, his hair dyed a reddish orange, made his first court appearance this morning as the state of Colorado began its case against the man arrested at the scene of Friday's massacre in Aurora, Colo., where 12 people were killed and an additional 58 were wounded.
It was a short hearing in an Arapahoe County, Colo., courtroom, starting at 11:30 a.m. ET. He'll be formally charged next Monday, the judge announced.
In this image taken July 16 and provided by Edlib News Network, a Syrian girl holds a poster that reads, "Greetings from Kfarnebel's children to the Free Syrian Army soldiers in Damascus," during a demonstration in Kfarnebel, Syria. Rebels hold large swaths of territory in rural Syria. Fighters in the village of Atima recently launched their first operation against the regime.
It's sunset in the village of Atima. The old police station clearly was part of the government at one point. The police basically left and now the police station itself is a headquarters for the rebels.
The flag on top of the police station is no longer the Syrian flag, but the flag of the revolution. It's a bit in tatters, but it's still there.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
Let's hear some of the sounds from last night in Aurora, Colorado. That's where thousands of people gathered to remember victims of last Friday's shooting. Twelve people were killed. And the explosives rigged in the suspect's apartment suggest it could have been far worse.
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
Police in Aurora, Colorado spent the weekend disarming a snarl of bombs and incendiary devices inside the apartment of James Holmes. He's the man police arrested early on Friday, just after they say he opened fire in a crowded movie theater, killing 12 people and injuring 58. Holmes is described as a 24-year-old who'd been studying at the University of Colorado. He's expected in court later this morning.
The 19th International AIDS Conference is underway in Washington. More than 20,000 people are in this city from around the world to discuss the latest developments in the effort to prevent the spread of HIV and help people who already have it. NPR health and science correspondent Richard Knox is here to talk about the meeting. Richard, good morning.
RICHARD KNOX, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: Natural that you'd have a big meeting like this in Washington, global capital, but there's also a story about AIDS in Washington, D.C.
We imagine high-powered lawyers making plenty of money, and surely many do, but the American Bar Association has revealed a bit of a secret. A huge number of new law school graduates cannot find jobs as lawyers. The weak job outlook, coupled with high tuition, is prompting many students to think twice about law school. Enrollments are falling. NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.
If there is a founding ethos in the world of high-tech startups, it's this: The idea is everything. Facebook's initial public offering might have seemed like the perfect illustration. A simple concept, conceived by a college student, became a $100 billion empire in just 8 years.
Crime novelist Jo Nesbo says despite Oslo's well-kept streets and sharply dressed residents, the city has a dark and seedy side.
Credit Eric Westervelt / NPR
The real-life residents of No. 5 Sofie's Gate have paid homage to Nesbo's fictional detective by putting Harry Hole's name on the doorbell.
Credit Tom Sweeney
Around the corner from Henry Hole's fictional flat, Restaurant Schroder serves up real, traditional Norwegian food.
Credit Eric Westervelt / NPR
Nesbo — a former stockbroker, journalist and professional soccer player — says he doesn't consider himself to be part of the larger Nordic Noir tradition.
The sun descends reluctantly over Norway's waterside capital, but novelist Jo Nesbo is determined to show Oslo's dark side, to convince me the real city, in parts, is as dirty, twisted and seedy as his own fictional version.
It's a tough sell in this city of bike helmets, clean streets and smiling blond people.
The author has written nine successful novels about the reckless Oslo police detective Harry Hole, a nonconformist with a mercurial mind.
Child life specialist Kelly Schraf helps to put at ease Yoselyn Gaitan, 8, who had surgery on her cleft palate, at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Yoselyn Gaitan, an 8-year-old with a shy smile, sits quietly in an exam room at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., wearing a tiny hospital gown. She looks a little uneasy as she waits to be brought back to the operating room for the final surgery on her cleft palate.
Kelly Schraf spots her through the curtain and tiptoes into her room.
Every morning, Shannon Orley parks as far away as possible from her office in Anchorage, Alaska. And on the sprawling Providence Alaska Medical Center campus that is really far away.
"Right around 1,000 steps each way. Definitely worth it," Orley says.
Thirty years ago, we first began hearing about AIDS — then a mysterious, unnamed disease that was initially thought to be a rare form of cancer that affected gay men. Scientists soon learned that it was neither of those things, and, in fact, it was a virus that everyone was vulnerable to.
That vulnerability became apparent when, in 1991, basketball superstar Magic Johnson announced that we would retire immediately because he had contracted HIV.
Ted Engelmann, left, helps Yamilet Ortega, 3, second from left, and Kimberly Hernandez, 7, light candles, Saturday at a memorial near the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., where a gunman killed 12 people and wounded dozens of others Friday.
President Obama is in Aurora, Colo., on Sunday, meeting with the families of the victims of the deadly theater shootings that killed 12 people and injured 58 more. He'll also attend a memorial service and meet briefly with local officials.
Outside the movie theater where Friday's rampage occurred, there's a makeshift memorial at the edge of a hot and dusty lot. There are hundreds of candles and flowers, American flags and signs memorializing the victims.
"It's a sad time, very sad time," said William Cloud, a local professor, who came by to pay his respects.
There are millions of killers loose in California, and eucalyptus trees are their victims. Entomologist Timothy Paine has been studying the insects killing California's menthol-scented trees for two decades — and he's noticed a suspicious pattern.
Credit Louis Vandenberg / KUCR
Entomologist Timothy Paine
Credit Zoe Corbyn / Zoe Corbyn
Entomologist Timothy Paine holds a longhorned borer. The borer was one of the early killers of California's eucalyptus trees.
Credit Zoe Corbyn/Zoe Corbyn
Timothy Paine points out a eucalyptus tree killed by an onslaught of longhorned borers. The beetles bore deep into the tree and feed on the wood.
Long before the era of post-Sept. 11 security precautions in the U.S., an unknown person or group of people may have begun carrying out a series of bioterrorism attacks in California.
The target? Menthol-scented eucalyptus trees.
Before you wonder why you hadn't heard of this, it's because the story isn't necessarily true. It's a hypothesis, a theory promoted by a noted California entomologist and eucalyptus expert named Timothy Paine.
If his theory is correct, then somebody out there wants those trees dead.
Theweekends on All Things Considered series Movies I've Seen a Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.
For actor Donald Faison, whose credits include Clueless, Remember the Titans, the TV shows Scrubs and The Exes, the movie he could watch a million times is Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. "I want to say I saw it at the movie theaters 30 times," Faison says.
Oliver Stone's latest film, Savages, opened in theaters earlier this month. The movie centers on two young marijuana growers, Ben and Chon, who live and deal in California, alongside their girlfriend O — short for Ophelia. They find themselves thrust into a world of violence and murder when a Mexican drug cartel comes after their business. The film is based on the book by crime writer Don Winslow, who also co-wrote the screenplay.
We are all used to judicial nomination fights, but what has been remarkable in the Obama administration has been the molasses-like confirmation process for noncontroversial nominees, especially federal district court nominees.
More bad news for Penn State: The NCAA says it will issue sanctions Monday against the school over the child sex abuse scandal involving Jerry Sandusky.
The announcement came the same day the school removed the famed statue of legendary football coach Joe Paterno from outside the Penn State football stadium. Our colleague Eyder Peralta has written more about that move.
Ted Engelmann, left, helps Yamilet Ortega, 3, second from left, and Kimberly Hernandez, 7, light candles, Saturday, July 21, 2012, at a memorial near the movie theater in Aurora, Colo. where a gunman killed at least 12 people in one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history.
Originally published on Sun July 22, 2012 10:12 am
The latest:
-- President Obama is headed to Aurora today to meet with the families of the victims. Obama, reports USA Today, is also scheduled to meet with state and local officials.
-- By evening, Aurora Police said that "all hazards" had been removed from the suspect's apartment. Residents in surrounding buildings were allowed to return home after law enforcement conducted a controlled detonation.
A Pennsylvania Girl Scout Troop poses with the statue of former Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., on Saturday.
Credit Jeff Swensen / Getty Images
One student had even vowed to "chain myself to that statue" if there was an attempt to remove it, but there was no attempt to stop the work Sunday.
Credit Jeff Swensen / Getty Images
The statue's sculptor, Angelo Di Maria, said it was upsetting to hear that it had been taken down. "It's like a whole part of me is coming down. It's just an incredibly emotional process."
Credit Jeff Swensen / Getty Images
Some newspaper columnists have said the statue should be taken down, while a small plane pulled a banner over State College reading, "Take the statue down or we will."
Credit Jeff Swensen / Getty Images
Anticipating the statue's removal, fans drove in from miles around on Saturday to take their photos posing with it for the last time.
Credit John Beale / AP
The famed statue of Joe Paterno was taken down from outside the Penn State football stadium Sunday after top officials were accused in a scathing report of burying child sex-abuse allegations against a now-convicted retired assistant.
Credit John Beale / AP
Police formed a line in front of Beaver Stadium as workers prepared to lifted the 7-foot-tall statue off its base and move it inside.
Credit John Beale / AP
Penn State President Rod Erickson said he decided to have the statue removed and put into storage because it "has become a source of division and an obstacle to healing."
Credit John Beale / AP
But Paterno still has plenty of fans, and Penn State's decision to remove the monument won't sit well with them.
Credit Jeff Swensen / Getty Images
"I hope they don't remove it permanently or destroy it," Di Maria said. "His legacy should not be completely obliterated and thrown out. ... He was a good man. It wasn't that he was an evil person. He made a mistake."
Originally published on Sun July 22, 2012 12:49 pm
After much controversy, Penn State President Rodney Erickson announced this morning that he had decided to remove the statue honoring the school's former football coach Joe Paterno.
Among the many contenders who could wind up becoming presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney's running mate, there are some potential surprises — like former presidential candidate-turned TV and radio host Mike Huckabee.
Putting Huckabee on the GOP ticket could certainly liven up the presidential race. In addition to being a respected former governor of Arkansas, he's well known for his good-natured public persona. At a Huckabee campaign event, you might find him playing an electric bass with the old-time rock 'n' roll band Capitol Offense.
Spanish star Pau Gasol shoots over France's Ronny Turiaf during a pre-Olympic game earlier this month. Gasol, who regularly plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, was Spain's leading scorer in the 2008 Olympics, when the team won a silver medal. The Spaniards may have the best chance of upsetting the favored U.S. team at the London Olympics.
Spain is a country that partied for days after winning the European Soccer Championships earlierthis month.
Soccer dominates the sports scene, and the Spanish side is favored to win Olympic gold in London this summer. But Spain is also a basketball powerhouse and is currently ranked No. 2 in the world behind the U.S.
At a school gym, you'll find Spaniards who actually know that. Basketball is growing in popularity among kids, especially girls.
"Basketball is a sport that's beautiful for me," says 13-year-old Lucia Gutierrez.
Anti-AIDS posters hang in the Eshowe public health clinic in South Africa's Kwazulu-Natal province. Clinicians there are hoping to slow the spread of HIV by getting more people treatment.
With the largest HIV epidemic in the world, no nation has been more affected by HIV and AIDS than South Africa, but the country has also had one of the most conflicted responses to the epidemic.
A decade ago, as the virus was spreading rapidly, then-President Thabo Mbeki was questioning the link between HIV and AIDS. His health minister was advocating the use of beetroot, garlic and lemon juice to treat it.
Now, years later, South Africa is trying to make up for lost time. The nation is attempting to put in place a cutting-edge HIV treatment and prevention program.
Authorities in Aurora, Colo., on Saturday cleared scores of explosive devices from the apartment of the man suspected of killing 12 people and injuring more than 50 at a local movie theater.
Experts spent hours dismantling the labyrinth of trip wires and incendiary devices that filled the home of the suspect, 24-year-old James Holmes.
Yellow police tape stretched for blocks surrounding the apartment complex where Holmes lived. Ambulances, fire engines and police cars filled parking lots and streets.
The Arapahoe County Coroner's Office has released the names of 11 of those killed in Friday's mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises. An additional victim was identified in a statement released by the family. Officials notified the families of all of the victims before publicly releasing the names.
This list will be updated as we learn more about each of those killed in the shooting.
Pastor Mary Lu Saddoris (left) prays with Isaac Pacheo (center) and Courtney McGregor near a photo of their friend Alex Sullivan on Saturday at a memorial near the movie theater in Aurora, Colo.
As investigators dig deeper into Friday's mass shootings at a movie theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora, residents also are trying to piece together what happened and what it means for their city.
Aurora is Colorado's third-largest city, but it's probably not one many people had heard of before now.
Sitting in a cafe, life-long resident Joseph Nguyen says it's unfair his city will now be associated with the tragic attack that left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
