In brief: California starts emissions auction
San Francisco – California began auctioning permits Wednesday for greenhouse gas emissions, launching one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to cut heat-trapping gases from industrial sources.
Under the program, the state sets a limit, or cap, on emissions from individual polluters. Businesses are required to either cut emissions to cap levels or buy allowances through the auction from other companies for each extra ton of pollution discharged annually.
The board said the results of the online auction – what price is paid for a ton of carbon, and how many companies participated – would be released Monday.
Colorado shooting suspect hospitalized
Centennial, Colo. – A court hearing for the man charged with the Colorado movie theater killings has been postponed after his attorneys said Wednesday that he had been taken to a hospital for unspecified reasons.
Court documents filed Wednesday gave no details of James Holmes’ condition, other than that it “renders him unable to be present in court for (today’s) hearing.” The hearing had been scheduled to discuss pretrial motions and media requests for information under open records laws.
Denver media outlets, citing unnamed sources, reported Holmes had injured himself by hitting his head, apparently intentionally, on a jail cell wall.
The 24-year-old Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and injuring at least 58 by opening fire in a crowded theater on July 20.
Charges filed in 1979 disappearance
New York – A man authorities say confessed to the infamous 1979 disappearance of a 6-year-old boy from his New York City neighborhood has been formally charged with murder and kidnapping, a major milestone in a case that has stymied investigators and Etan Patz’s devoted family for decades.
The indictment against Pedro Hernandez, 51, of Maple Shade, N.J., was made public Wednesday and sets up a potential showdown at trial over whether prosecutors can convince a jury that his claim that he strangled the boy – a secret kept for more than 30 years – is credible.
The suspect’s attorney has argued that Hernandez is mentally ill and prone to hallucinations, and that his confession can’t be trusted.