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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And we're gonna return now to the breaking news this morning. Fourteen people are dead after a shooting at a movie theater in a suburb of Denver. There were several dozen more hurt. The shooting occurred during a showing of the latest Batman move, "The Dark Night Rises." We're gonna now to Ben Markus, who's with Colorado Public Radio, and he is on the scene in Aurora. Good morning.

BEN MARKUS, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.

MONTAGNE: So bring us up to date on what we know happened, please.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning. We are continuing to follow news of a shooting today in Aurora, Colorado. There, according to Police Chief Dan Oates, 14 people have been killed, approximately 50 wounded, when a gunman opened fire inside a multiplex where the new Batman film was playing.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Writer Michael Connelly hits a milestone this summer. It's been 20 years since he introduced the character that launched his bestselling books - Los Angeles homicide Detective Harry Bosch. In today's encore Crime in the City, we return to the City of Angels.

It was here, back in 2007, NPR's Mandalit Del Barco met up with Michael Connelly. He was living in Florida but still spending time on the mean streets of L.A.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC)

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And today's last word in business is: Sylvia - Sylvia Woods, the name behind soul food haven Sylvia's.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

It's a restaurant, and for many, it's much more. The Harlem institution has been around for half a century, but it will never be the same because yesterday, Sylvia Woods died at the age of 86, on the same day New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was due to celebrate her legacy.

A gunman opened fire early Friday at a movie theater in a Denver suburb, killing at least 12 people and leaving dozens more injured, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said. Steve Inskeep talks to Chayyiel Jackson about the shooting.

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

In other news this morning, the Free Syrian Army has claimed responsibility for the bombing attack in Damascus earlier this week. To learn more about the group, we reached Amr al Azm. He's a Syrian activist and professor of history at Shawnee State University.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Who is the Free Syrian Army exactly?

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Colorado has been at the center of another devastating story in recent days -the worst wildfires in its history. Those fires are just one consequence of record heat in a drought that has spread across the Rockies and the Midwest. Local news is filled with pictures of farmers gripping shriveled ears of corn and boats marooned in empty reservoirs. It's a drought that will go down in history, much like that of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, and another in the 1950s that hit the central plains and the Southwest.

The health of public pension plans — the retirement plans for teachers, firefighters, police officers and other state and local governments — has gotten plenty of attention lately.

Some plans are hurting, and numbers from state and local governments suggest their public pension plans are underfunded by about $1 trillion.

But that gap between what they owe and what they have on hand today is about to look bigger — much bigger, in some cases.