Colorado

A Colorado parolee who was killed in a gunfight with authorities in Texas this week is officially considered a suspect in the death of Colorado's prisons chief, a spokesman for the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said Saturday. Tom Clements, who had served as head of Colorado's prison system for two years, was shot to death Tuesday when he answered the door of his home near Colorado Springs. The suspect, Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, was shot two days later by law enforcement following a high-speed chase that ended about 60 miles west of Dallas.

When: 7:30. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: TWC SportsNet, TWC Deportes; Radio: 1150, 1220. Records: Galaxy 1-0-1; Rapids 0-2-1. Record vs. Rapids (2012): 2-0-1. Update: Galaxy forward Robbie Keane (Ireland) and defender Omar Gonzalez (USA) will be absent after being called up to their national teams for World Cup qualifiers. Mike Magee could get the start for Keane, with defenders Leonardo or Sean Franklin as options for Gonzalez.

Investigators have matched the brand and caliber of shell casings from a Colorado parolee's gunfight with north Texas authorities to those found at the home of Colorado's prisons chief, who was killed earlier this week. Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, died after he was critically wounded by deputies at the end of a high-speed chase Thursday in Texas. Hornady 9-millimeter casings were found at the Texas scene, the same type found at the home of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements, according to an application for a warrant to search the car filed by officials in Wise County, Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The NCAA selection committee did not put a regional favorite in the Austin games for the tournament's second and third round this weekend. Only two of the eight teams playing at the Erwin Center are less than 1,000 miles away. Northwestern State, from Natchitoches, La., is 332 miles from Austin. Colorado, from Boulder, is 936 miles away. There is no favorite-son team. But a safe bet would be that Colorado is the least favorite team. The Buffaloes bolted from the Big 12 for the Pac-12 after the 2011 season, and they weren't very popular around these parts to begin with.

HOUSTON -- A man suspected of trading gunfire with North Texas authorities Thursday and who could be linked to the slaying of Colorado's prisons chief is likely to die, Texas officials said. Wise County Sheriff David Walker said the suspect was being kept alive by machines at a Fort Worth hospital and is “basically legally dead.” “If he survives, he will be charged with attempted capital murder of a police officer,” Walker said at a news briefing in Decatur, about 65 miles northwest of Dallas.

In a sharp turnaround, Colorado will formally approve civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, years after voters banned same-sex marriage in 2006. Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign the measure Thursday afternoon at a ceremony near the state Capitol. It easily sailed through the Legislature, controlled by Democrats, after years of fierce fighting when Republicans ran the lawmaking body. Hickenlooper's signature had been expected. Last May, Republicans who controlled the House by one vote prevented debate on the bill.

HOUSTON - Authorities were investigating whether a man involved in a high-speed chase and shootout in north Texas on Thursday was linked to the killing of Colorado's prisons chief. The man was driving a black Cadillac with Colorado plates - a vehicle similar to one seen outside the home of Tom Clements, executive director of Colorado's Department of Corrections, before Clements was shot to death Tuesday night. Authorities did not release the suspected gunman's identity, but the Denver Post and the Associated Press reported that he was Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, a parolee and a member of a white supremacist prison gang.

DENVER - As the manhunt expanded Wednesday for the killer of Tom Clements, Colorado's top corrections official, shock and sadness spread across the nation for the loss of what many called a true innovator in how prisons should work. "What Tom brought was a completely different perspective," said a shaken Doug Wilson, Colorado's state public defender, who had frequently worked with Clements. "He wasn't a cop. He was a man who cared not only for those he worked with, but he treated inmates with respect and dignity.

Colorado officials Wednesday searched for clues and a motive to explain why the executive director of the state Department of Corrections was shot and killed when he answered the front door of his house, officials said. Tom Clements, 58, was shot around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at his home in Monument, Colo., according to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. "There is no evidence of a home invasion," spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said in televised interviews. "Whether he was specifically targeted or this was random, we don't know.

Colorado has expanded gun background checks and limited the size of ammunition magazines, even as the U.S. Senate has stepped back from some of its more controversial gun control proposals. Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat in a Western state where gun-control issues are politically sensitive, signed the law exactly eight months after a gunman shot up a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and injuring about 70. The signing of the tough Colorado bill comes a day after Majority Leader Harry Reid dropped California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's proposed assault weapons ban from a broader gun package to help ensure passage of other more popular measures.