Aurora Oil & Gas has started drilling operations at the Eagle Ford Shale play in Texas, officials said. -More-
Reported by SmartBrief 15 hours ago.
Aurora Oil & Gas launches Eagle Ford Shale drilling operations
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Judge to rule on insanity plea for Aurora massacre suspect James Holmes
A Colorado judge is set to decide Tuesday whether Aurora massacre suspect James Holmes can plead not guilty by reason of insanity.The accused mass killer is expected to be in court for a hearing that will determine what defense he mounts when he goes on trial for allegedly killing 12 people and wounding dozens more at a Batman movie screening last summer.Holmes asked to enter the plea weeks ago, b...
Reported by msnbc.com 14 hours ago.
Reported by msnbc.com 14 hours ago.
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Boldt CEO's LLC buys Aurora site in Kenosha
A limited liability company owned by Tom Boldt, who is CEO of The Boldt Company, paid $1.75 million for the site of the new Aurora Health Care offices and Aurora-IASIS Healthcare cancer center in Kenosha. The seller of the 11-acre parcel was Kenosha Land-2012 LLC, which is controlled by Milwaukee-based Aurora, said Jim Kleinfeldt, executive vice president of The Boldt Company. The Boldt Company, Appleton, is the developer and construction manager for the Aurora project and will lease the property…
Reported by bizjournals 13 hours ago.
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Colorado judge accepts Aurora shooter’s insanity plea
The man charged with opening fire with an automatic weapon in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater has been found not guilty by reason of insanity. According to Colorado’s News Channel 9, the judge in the case indicated in a hearing Tuesday morning that the court would allow James Holmes to change his plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity. The ruling sets in motion a lengthy mental evaluation of Holmes, which [...]
Reported by Raw Story 12 hours ago.
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Aurora bank robbed
A bank on Aurora far east side was robbed over the weekend, but no one was injured, according to police.
Reported by ChicagoTribune 12 hours ago.
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Judge accepts James Holmes' plea of not guilty by reason of insanity
Lawyers for accused Aurora shooter had contested restrictions on plea – including a requirement to co-operate with doctors
A judge on Tuesday accepted a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity from the suspect in the deadly Colorado movie theater shooting, setting the stage for a lengthy mental evaluation.
James Holmes, a former graduate student, is accused of opening fire in a packed Denver-area movie theater last summer, killing 12 people and injuring 70. He is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The July 20 massacre was one of several mass shootings that jolted the US debate over gun violence, and it helped prompt Colorado to adopt significant statewide gun control laws this year.
At Tuesday's hearing, the court clerk placed a written advisory of the ground rules of the plea before Holmes so he could examine it as judge Carlos Samour Jr read through all 18 points.
When Samour asked if he had any questions, Holmes replied no in a clear, firm voice. Samour then accepted the plea.
"I find Mr Holmes understands the effects and consequences of the not guilty by reason of insanity plea," the judge said. "He was looking at the advisement and appeared to be following along."
Samour also determined prosecutors can have access to a notebook that Holmes sent to a psychiatrist before the rampage.
Holmes' lawyers repeatedly have said he is mentally ill, but they delayed the insanity plea while arguing state laws were unconstitutional. They said the laws could hobble the defense if Holmes' case should ever reach the phase where the jury decides if he should be executed.
The judge rejected that argument last week.
Hundreds of people were watching a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises at the Aurora theater when the shooting occurred.
The dead included a navy veteran who threw himself in front of his friends to shield them, an aspiring sports journalist who had survived a mall shooting just two months earlier, and a 6-year-old girl.
Prosecutors say Holmes spent months buying weapons, ammunition and materials for explosives and scouted the theater in advance. He donned police-style body armor, tossed a gas canister into the seats and opened fire, they say.
The insanity plea is widely seen as Holmes' best chance of avoiding execution, and possibly his only chance, given the weight of the evidence against him.
But his lawyers delayed it for weeks, saying Colorado's laws on the insanity plea and the death penalty could work in combination to violate his constitutional rights.
The laws state that if Holmes does not co-operate with doctors conducting a mandatory mental evaluation, he would lose the right to call expert witnesses to testify about his sanity during the penalty phase of his trial. Defense lawyers argued that is an unconstitutional restriction on his right to build a defense. They also contended the law doesn't define co-operation.
Samour rejected those arguments last week and said the laws are constitutional.
The next step is an evaluation of Holmes by state doctors to determine whether he was insane at the time of the shootings. That could take months.
Colorado law defines insanity as the inability to distinguish right from wrong caused by a diseased or defective mind.
If jurors find Holmes not guilty by reason of insanity, he would be committed indefinitely to the state mental hospital. He could eventually be released if doctors find his sanity has been restored, but that is considered unlikely.
If jurors convict him, the next step is the penalty phase, during which both sides call witnesses to testify about factors that could affect why Holmes should or shouldn't be executed.
The jury would then decide whether Holmes should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
If jurors impose the death penalty, it would trigger court appeals and open other possibilities that would take years to resolve. Reported by guardian.co.uk 10 hours ago.
A judge on Tuesday accepted a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity from the suspect in the deadly Colorado movie theater shooting, setting the stage for a lengthy mental evaluation.
James Holmes, a former graduate student, is accused of opening fire in a packed Denver-area movie theater last summer, killing 12 people and injuring 70. He is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The July 20 massacre was one of several mass shootings that jolted the US debate over gun violence, and it helped prompt Colorado to adopt significant statewide gun control laws this year.
At Tuesday's hearing, the court clerk placed a written advisory of the ground rules of the plea before Holmes so he could examine it as judge Carlos Samour Jr read through all 18 points.
When Samour asked if he had any questions, Holmes replied no in a clear, firm voice. Samour then accepted the plea.
"I find Mr Holmes understands the effects and consequences of the not guilty by reason of insanity plea," the judge said. "He was looking at the advisement and appeared to be following along."
Samour also determined prosecutors can have access to a notebook that Holmes sent to a psychiatrist before the rampage.
Holmes' lawyers repeatedly have said he is mentally ill, but they delayed the insanity plea while arguing state laws were unconstitutional. They said the laws could hobble the defense if Holmes' case should ever reach the phase where the jury decides if he should be executed.
The judge rejected that argument last week.
Hundreds of people were watching a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises at the Aurora theater when the shooting occurred.
The dead included a navy veteran who threw himself in front of his friends to shield them, an aspiring sports journalist who had survived a mall shooting just two months earlier, and a 6-year-old girl.
Prosecutors say Holmes spent months buying weapons, ammunition and materials for explosives and scouted the theater in advance. He donned police-style body armor, tossed a gas canister into the seats and opened fire, they say.
The insanity plea is widely seen as Holmes' best chance of avoiding execution, and possibly his only chance, given the weight of the evidence against him.
But his lawyers delayed it for weeks, saying Colorado's laws on the insanity plea and the death penalty could work in combination to violate his constitutional rights.
The laws state that if Holmes does not co-operate with doctors conducting a mandatory mental evaluation, he would lose the right to call expert witnesses to testify about his sanity during the penalty phase of his trial. Defense lawyers argued that is an unconstitutional restriction on his right to build a defense. They also contended the law doesn't define co-operation.
Samour rejected those arguments last week and said the laws are constitutional.
The next step is an evaluation of Holmes by state doctors to determine whether he was insane at the time of the shootings. That could take months.
Colorado law defines insanity as the inability to distinguish right from wrong caused by a diseased or defective mind.
If jurors find Holmes not guilty by reason of insanity, he would be committed indefinitely to the state mental hospital. He could eventually be released if doctors find his sanity has been restored, but that is considered unlikely.
If jurors convict him, the next step is the penalty phase, during which both sides call witnesses to testify about factors that could affect why Holmes should or shouldn't be executed.
The jury would then decide whether Holmes should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
If jurors impose the death penalty, it would trigger court appeals and open other possibilities that would take years to resolve. Reported by guardian.co.uk 10 hours ago.
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Judge OK's insanity defense for Aurora massacre suspect James Holmes
A Colorado judge allowed Aurora massacre suspect James Holmes to change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity on Tuesday and ordered an independent mental health evaluation.The grad-school dropout's next stop is the state hospital in Pueblo, Colo., where a sanity exam could take months, legal experts said."I don't think any of the families were surprised," said Sandy Phillips, mother of Jes...
Reported by msnbc.com 1 hour ago.
Reported by msnbc.com 1 hour ago.
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Verlee F. Hatcher, 83, was an Election Judge for Over 30 Years
Patch Oswego, IL --Verlee F. Hatcher, age 83 of Plano, IL passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, June 1, 2013 at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, IL. She was born on May 12, 1930 in Lomax, IL the daughter of Elmer and Dorothy (Lund) Klossing.
Verlee was unite Reported by Patch 3 days ago.
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McGuireWoods Sponsors American Diabetes Association's 2013 Chicagoland Tour de Cure
CHICAGO, June 3, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- McGuireWoods LLP, the presenting sponsor of the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) Chicagoland Tour de Cure, will join together with thousands of community members at the event in Aurora, Ill., on June 9, 2013, in support of the...
Reported by PR Newswire 3 days ago.
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Verlee F. Hatcher, 83, was an Election Judge for Over 30 Years
Patch Yorkville, IL --Verlee F. Hatcher, age 83 of Plano, IL passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, June 1, 2013 at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, IL. She was born on May 12, 1930 in Lomax, IL the daughter of Elmer and Dorothy (Lund) Klossing.
Verlee was united in Reported by Patch 3 days ago.
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Police Warn Residents After Multiple 'Drano Bomb' Explosions
Patch Batavia, IL --The North Aurora Police Department is investigating six “Drano” bomb incidents which have occurred on the village’s west side in the past week.
Drano bombs are homemade overpressure devices commonly made out of plastic bottles and household chemical Reported by Patch 2 days ago.
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Recall Looms For Colorado Lawmaker Who Backed Gun Control
DENVER -- Gun-rights activists in Colorado turned in petition signatures Monday to set up the first recall in state history of a state lawmaker after he backed some of the strictest gun control measures to become law in the U.S. this year.
The opponents of Democratic Senate President John Morse said they turned in twice as many signatures as needed Monday to put Morse back on the ballot. Carting white paper boxes of petitions, the gun-rights advocates said Morse will pay for backing a series of gun control measures that were signed into law earlier this year.
"This shot will be heard around the world," said Bill Adaska, a retired engineer from Denver who volunteered to gather recall signatures in Morse's Colorado Springs district. "This is the race, right here, that's going to show Washington and Chicago that when you come after our guns, we're going to take you out."
Adaska is referring to a gun-control package that made Colorado the first state outside the East Coast to significantly ratchet back gun rights after last year's mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Mass. The Colorado package included expanded background checks to include private and online gun sales, plus a 15-round limit on most types of ammunition magazines.
Morse backed the gun control measures, and sponsored an even stricter measure to gun owners liable in some cases for damage caused by their weapons. Morse scuttled that liability measure when it appeared it didn't have enough support to clear the Senate.
Morse did not immediately return a call for comment Monday. He has said several times that national gun groups have targeted him in an effort to scare politicians nationwide away from addressing gun control.
The National Rifle Association sent a political mailer in support of the Morse recall effort. However, recall supporters insisted the effort was home-grown and conducted without national support. They hired petition gatherers, and local gun shops contributed firearms and ammunition to reward people who volunteered gathering petition signatures.
"I ran this campaign. The NRA did not run this campaign," said Rob Harris, organizer of the recall effort. "We the people are making a stand against the people who refused to represent their constituents."
Morse, a former police chief, is term limited and has one year left in office. If Republicans pick up his seat, Democrats would still control the Senate, in addition to the House and the governor's office.
The Colorado Secretary of State has 15 business days to verify signatures. After that, Morse has a period of time to challenge signatures before a recall election is set. The latest possible date for a Morse recall vote would be early October.
No state lawmaker in Colorado history has ever faced a recall vote.
Gun-rights activists are still working to recall another Democrat, Sen. Angela Giron of Pueblo. Signatures in that effort aren't due until next week.
Recall efforts against two other Democratic lawmakers who backed gun control have already fizzled for lack of support.
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Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt Reported by Huffington Post 2 days ago.
The opponents of Democratic Senate President John Morse said they turned in twice as many signatures as needed Monday to put Morse back on the ballot. Carting white paper boxes of petitions, the gun-rights advocates said Morse will pay for backing a series of gun control measures that were signed into law earlier this year.
"This shot will be heard around the world," said Bill Adaska, a retired engineer from Denver who volunteered to gather recall signatures in Morse's Colorado Springs district. "This is the race, right here, that's going to show Washington and Chicago that when you come after our guns, we're going to take you out."
Adaska is referring to a gun-control package that made Colorado the first state outside the East Coast to significantly ratchet back gun rights after last year's mass shootings in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Mass. The Colorado package included expanded background checks to include private and online gun sales, plus a 15-round limit on most types of ammunition magazines.
Morse backed the gun control measures, and sponsored an even stricter measure to gun owners liable in some cases for damage caused by their weapons. Morse scuttled that liability measure when it appeared it didn't have enough support to clear the Senate.
Morse did not immediately return a call for comment Monday. He has said several times that national gun groups have targeted him in an effort to scare politicians nationwide away from addressing gun control.
The National Rifle Association sent a political mailer in support of the Morse recall effort. However, recall supporters insisted the effort was home-grown and conducted without national support. They hired petition gatherers, and local gun shops contributed firearms and ammunition to reward people who volunteered gathering petition signatures.
"I ran this campaign. The NRA did not run this campaign," said Rob Harris, organizer of the recall effort. "We the people are making a stand against the people who refused to represent their constituents."
Morse, a former police chief, is term limited and has one year left in office. If Republicans pick up his seat, Democrats would still control the Senate, in addition to the House and the governor's office.
The Colorado Secretary of State has 15 business days to verify signatures. After that, Morse has a period of time to challenge signatures before a recall election is set. The latest possible date for a Morse recall vote would be early October.
No state lawmaker in Colorado history has ever faced a recall vote.
Gun-rights activists are still working to recall another Democrat, Sen. Angela Giron of Pueblo. Signatures in that effort aren't due until next week.
Recall efforts against two other Democratic lawmakers who backed gun control have already fizzled for lack of support.
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Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt Reported by Huffington Post 2 days ago.
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6 DUI Arrests, Possession of Cannabis, Retail Theft: Police Blotter
Patch Naperville, IL --*Friday, May 31*
*DUI*
· Petronilo Lopez-Castillo, 46, was arrested at 12:54 a.m. near Aurora Avenue and west Ogden Avenue, police said. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. He posted bond.
· Keit Reported by Patch 2 days ago.
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Decision on James Holmes' insanity plea expected Tuesday
The murder case against Aurora movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes is expected to take a major leap forward Tuesday, with two separate events propelling it toward its conclusion.
Reported by Denver Post 2 days ago.
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Judge accepts insanity plea in Aurora movie theater shooting
[caption id="attachment_127231" align="alignright" width="614"]Accused Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes has pleaded insanity.[/caption] Accused Colorado theater gunman James Holmes, who could face execution if convicted of killing 12 moviegoers last summer, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Tuesday, and a judge accepted his plea. Holmes, 25, is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder. He is accused of killing 12 people and wounding dozens more in a gun rampage inside a suburban Denver cinema during a midnight screening of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" last July. Reported by metronews 13 hours ago.
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Aurora Man Arrested for Reportedly Throwing Punch at St. Charles Bar Manager
Patch Batavia, IL -- Robert Michael Kavanaugh, 26, of the 500 block of South Lincoln, Aurora, was charged with battery at 9:40 p.m. Friday, May 31, 2013 at Alley 64, 212 W. Main St.
Police were Reported by Patch 13 hours ago.
Police were Reported by Patch 13 hours ago.
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Wired Space Photo of the Day: ISS and Aurora Over Crater Lake
What very well may be a once-in-a-lifetime shot shows the International Space Station streaking through the beautiful pink glow of an aurora while the Milky Way hovers in the sky.
Reported by Wired 12 hours ago.
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Parents of Blaec Lammers, who Planned Aurora-Style Shooting, Share Story
A family in Missouri turned their mentally ill son into police after they felt he was going to start a shootout similar to the one in Aurora, Colo.Tricia Lammers' son Blaec Lammers was in and out of mental facilities throughout his life, mainly for his violent nature.
Despite being admitted several times to mental institutions, he was able to buy a $865 shotgun at a Missouri Walmart, the same Walmart where he was arrested by police a year earlier for holding a butcher knife and wearing a Halloween mask.
He told his parents after the incident that he had planned to kill an employee once the person went to the backroom. He said he was inspired by the movie Halloween.
"What he told us was he had picked out someone. He was going to watch them go into the back room, follow them back there, and hopefully the police would get him and shoot him first before he did anything," his father Bill said.
When Tricia decided to turn her son into police, she said, "My first thought was, 'What have I done? I just destroyed my son's life.' And people would come up and say to me, 'No, you saved our lives.'"
"This is my hell. This is my hell. If I make it through this, I go to heaven."
While his parents repeatedly checked him into institutions, he only stayed for four days at a time, which is the legal limit without a court order.
They also didn't realize how serious his mental condition was, as doctors seemed to not properly diagnose him. Each time he was admitted, he was given different medication and a new diagnosis, ranging from Asperger's to schizophrenia.
Once he was able to buy the shotgun, he had been in the institution seven times, but none of it showed up on his background check because he had not been committed involuntarily by the courts.
It took Tricia just one day after discovering the gun to contact police, who arrested him.
Later, investigators found out he had purchased two assault rifles and 400 rounds of ammunition.
He admitted he was planning on launching a murderous shooting spree in a movie theater during the opening weekend of the new Twilight film. He had already purchased a ticket to Breaking Dawn Part 2.
He also said he planned on starting a shootout at the Walmart near him, and was going to "just start shooting people at random until police arrived."
Lammers is now in Polk County jail charged with making a terrorist threat, first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He is facing life in prison.
Sources: Daily Mail, CBS Reported by Opposing Views 12 hours ago.
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Aurora begins to plan July 20 remembrance of theater shooting
The city of Aurora has announced a number of activities that will take place July 20 in remembrance of last summer's movie theater shooting.
Reported by Denver Post 9 hours ago.
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Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan blasts Denver's DIA revenue-sharing plan
An entrenched conflict over how Denver International Airport should develop got even testier Tuesday when Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan slammed last week's revenue-sharing proposal by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.
Reported by Denver Post 6 hours ago.
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