"Chicago Tribune" Reader

"Chicago Tribune" Reader

How to talk to children about the Colo. theater shooting

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 11:27 AM PDT

Batman, Kids and Aurora: How to Talk to Children About the Colorado Movie Theater ShootingHours after the horrific shooting during a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a Colorado movie theater, Melissa Lawrence's young children were on their way to camp, happily oblivious to the tragedy.

Giffords’ husband on Colo. shooting: ‘Gabby and I were horrified’

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 01:07 PM PDT

Former astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly speaks during the United States Merchant Marine Academy commencement exercises in Kings Point, N.Y., Monday, June 18, 2012. Kelly, who is an alumnus of the academy, referenced his wife, former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, during the speech. Kelly said that he and Giffords have dedicated their lives to public service and urged the graduates to do the same. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)Mark Kelly, the husband of former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded by a gunman while meeting with constituents in Tucson in 2011, said he and Giffords were "horrified" to hear about the shooting in Aurora, Colo., Friday:

Obama phones Aurora police chief, vows ‘full support’ of FBI

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 02:28 PM PDT

President Barack Obama pauses during a moment of silence for the victims of the Aurora, Colo., shooting during an event at the Harborside Event Center in Ft. Myers, Fla., Friday, July 20, 2012. Obama said the tragic movie theater shooting in Colorado that left 12 people dead is a reminder that life is fragile. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)President Barack Obama telephoned Aurora, Colorado Police Chief Dan Oates in the aftermath of the tragic mass shooting there and pledged the "full support" of the FBI and other federal agencies in dealing with the suspected gunman's booby-trapped apartment. Obama told Oates that he and First Lady Michelle Obama sent their "thoughts and prayers" to [...]

Possible source of half of all web spam meets its end

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 03:13 PM PDT

Spam affects all of our daily web activities, whether we choose to ignore it or not. Junk mail, fake chat messages, and malicious websites are just a few of the potholes that dot the information superhighway. Insidious internet software is … Continue reading →

'I do not feel safe': Shooting suspect’s neighbors speak out

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 01:51 PM PDT

Shamecca Davis hugs her son Isaiah Bow, who was an eye witness to the shooting, outside Gateway High School where witness were brought for questioning Friday, July 20, 2012 in Denver. After leaving the theater Bow went back in to find his girlfriend. " I didn't want to leave her in there. But she's ok now," Bow said. A gunman wearing a gas mask set off an unknown gas and fired into a crowded movie theater at a midnight opening of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises," killing at least 12 people and injuring at least 50 others, authorities said. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)Leilannah White woke Friday morning thankful her last-minute plans fell through. Hours earlier, the 22-year-old Aurora resident and her husband planned to catch the midnight premiere of newest Batman movie at the Century 16 theater at the Aurora Town Center. But they couldn't find someone to watch their children on short notice. "We were [...]

Family escapes Colorado shooter

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 02:32 PM PDT

Couple in Colo. Theater Shooting Escape With Baby and Toddler in TowA young couple who'd recently moved from New Mexico and were attending the Aurora, Colo., midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" with their children said they had planned to sit in the front row by the exit in which a gunman entered and allegedly killed at least 12 people.

Olympic buzz takes off: London welcomes the flame

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 02:58 PM PDT

British Royal Marine Martyn Williams, right, rappels down from a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter into the Tower of London with the Olympic torch, Friday, July 20, 2012, in London. The Olympic Torch arrived in London after it was carried around England in a relay of torchbearers to make its way to the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony on July 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)With the flame comes the games. After years of preparation and months of buildup, London's Olympic moment finally arrived Friday night.

Wall Street falls as Spain bailout feared

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 02:54 PM PDT

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock ExchangeU.S. stocks fell on Friday as Europe's debt crisis flared up again on fears Spain may eventually need a bailout, prompting traders to cash in three days of gains. The news that the heavily indebted region of Valencia asked Madrid for financial aid interrupted a period of relative calm for Wall Street and raised the specter that the euro zone's fourth-largest economy may itself need to be rescued. Bank shares, sensitive to signs of trouble in Europe, were among the biggest losers. The KBW bank index fell 1.9 percent, taking its weekly decline to 2.3 percent. ...

Kim plans economic change in North Korea

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 02:12 PM PDT

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un visits Kyongsang Kindergarten in PyongyangImpoverished North Korea is gearing up to experiment with agricultural and economic reforms after young leader Kim Jong-un and his powerful uncle purged the country's top general for opposing change, a source with ties to both Pyongyang and Beijing said. The source added that the cabinet had created a special bureau to take control of the decaying economy from the military, one of the world's largest, which under Kim's father was given pride of place in running the country. ...

House to vote on Fed audit bill on Tuesday

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 01:59 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Tuesday on a bill that would allow for a congressional audit of Federal Reserve monetary policy decisions, a senior House aide said on Friday. The legislation proposed by Republican Representative Ron Paul, a long-time critic of the U.S. central bank and author of the book "End the Fed," has already gathered 274 co-sponsors, virtually guaranteeing passage. ...

Despite June spending, Obama has $97.5M in bank

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 05:38 PM PDT

President Barack Obama's presidential campaign spent more than it raised in June, illustrating both the fierce pace of campaigning during the month and his slightly weaker fundraising position, finance reports filed Friday show.

Mom's nut consumption tied to less allergy in kids

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 02:01 PM PDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a study based on 62,000 Danish mothers, the children of those who ate peanuts and tree nuts while pregnant were less likely to develop asthma or allergies than the kids whose mothers shunned nuts. The results support the recent withdrawal of recommendations that pregnant women should avoid nuts because they might raise a child's risk for allergies to the nuts themselves and for other hypersensitivities like asthma, according to the U.S. and Danish researchers. ...

George W. Bush skipping Republican convention

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 02:17 PM PDT

In this photo provided by the George W. Bush Presidential Center, former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush stop to talk with people who have lined the hallways of the Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone, Botswana, on Thursday, July 5, 2012. The former president and his wife visited Africa for a week to promote a partnership between the George W. Bush Institute, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, UNAIDS and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, that aims to fight cervical and breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/George W. Bush Presidential Center, Shealah Craighead)Add former president George W. Bush to the list of no-shows at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. (The Democrats have their own issues on the convention-skipping front). Bush, who has mostly kept out of sight since leaving office in January 2009, was "grateful" for an invitation to the gathering that will formally nominate Mitt [...]

Was attack inspired by 'Batman'?

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 01:09 PM PDT

This undated film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Christian Bale as Batman in a scene from the action thriller "The Dark Knight Rises." A gunman in a gas mask barged into a crowded Denver-area theater during a midnight premiere of the Batman movie on Friday, July 20, 2012, hurled a gas canister and then opened fire, killing 12 people and injuring at least 50 others in one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures, Ron Phillips)Violence like the massacre that happened in Aurora, Colo., today is a staple of action films, including Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. A similar, now haunting, scene unfurls in "The Dark Knight Rises" when a masked villain leads a violent gang into a packed football stadium and deploys guns and explosives on the unsuspecting crowd.

Anti-Putin feminist punks on trial in Moscow

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 12:40 PM PDT

From left, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot sit behind bars at a court room in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 20, 2012. The trial of feminist punk rockers who chanted a "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin from a pulpit inside Russia's largest cathedral started in Moscow on Friday amid controversy over the prank that divided devout believers, Kremlin critics and ordinary Russians. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)A Moscow court on Friday launched the trial of three feminist rockers who face a possible seven years in prison for performing a "punk prayer" against Vladimir Putin from the pulpit of Russia's largest cathedral.

Beetle released into Texas ecosystem to combat invasive weeds

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 10:46 AM PDT

A foreign insect is being introduced into Texas, and it just may save the local ecosystem. The Army Corps of Engineers is breeding and deploying the alligator weed flea beetle into the Dallas Floodway Extension in order to combat an invasive plant species that has all but taken over the local plant population. And when [...]

London Eye will have light show based on Twitter enthusiasm

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 09:52 AM PDT

The 2012 London Olympic Games will officially begin in one week, and the queen's city has been sprucing itself up in anticipation of being at the center of the world stage. Along with new stadiums and enhanced security measures comes news that [...]

Georgia woman calls 911 to complain about mug shot; gets arrested again

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 11:46 AM PDT

Tonya Ann Fowler had already been in trouble with the law. But in her mind she was now the victim. That's when the Georgia woman called 911 to complain about her police mug shot. The good news: Fowler gets a new mug shot. The bad news: It's because police arrested her again for misusing the [...]

Rose: 'I'm going to be all right'

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 11:21 AM PDT

In his first public comments since tearing the ACL in his left knee in April, Derrick Rose posted a video today in which he thanks fans for their support and vows to return.

Police struggle to identify Bulgaria suicide bomber

Posted: 20 Jul 2012 12:43 PM PDT

Relatives carry the body of Ellior Price who was killed in a suicide bombing in BulgariaBulgarian police, the FBI and Interpol struggled Friday to identify a suicide bomber 48 hours after he killed six people including five Israelis, as the US said the attack bore the "hallmarks" of Hezbollah.