Free Republic

READING, Pa. — Pennsylvania overhauled its child sexual abuse laws Tuesday more than a year after a grand jury report showed the cover-up of hundreds of cases of abuse in most of Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses over the last seven decades. The central bill signed by Gov. Tom Wolf gives future victims of child sex abuse more time to file lawsuits and to end time limits for police to file criminal charges. The grand jury report spurred several states to change their laws and other states to begin similar investigations.

Accusations that a State College psychologist had inappropriate sexual relationships with two patients could cost the local doctor his license and subject him to more than $1 million in civil penalties. The state Board of Psychology has filed a formal disciplinary action against Richard Scott Lenhart, accusing him of 111 counts of professional misconduct relating to two long-time patients. The charges stem from an investigation by the Pennsylvania Department of State, which began after the two patients came forward with accusations, according to press secretary Ron Ruman. Lenhart, whose office was on South Pugh Street in State College, had his...

The report Penn State trustees commissioned Louis Freeh to do into the Jerry Sandusky scandal and whether there was a cover up at the university will be released Thursday. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh announced today that his report will be published online at 9 a.m., with a press conference at 10 a.m. in Philadelphia. Trustees hired Freeh in November to conduct the investigation, which they have said would be completely independent and unedited. According to the announcement today, the Thursday will be the first time anyone outside of the Freeh investigative team "will in any way receive the report,...

Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky has been placed on suicide watch in jail, his lawyer said on Saturday, day after being found guilty of the serial sexual abuse of vulnerable young people. Speaking on CNN, Sandusky's co-counsel Karl Rominger said his client was in protective custody and being kept away from other inmates as a precautionary measure, adding that there was no "immediate concerns" about Sandusky's wellbeing. Sandusky is currently in jail awaiting sentencing for 45 counts of sexually abusing underage boys over a 15-year period. Sandusky is expected to spend the rest of his life in...

When? When should Joe Paterno have gone above his athletic director? That's the question the legal community and college football fans and media try to wrap their heads around in assessing the despicable allegations coming out of Happy Valley. But for eight young adults, their question would have been far more urgent and desperate as Jerry Sandusky allegedly robbed them of their innocence, one by one: When is somebody going to put an end to this? On Sunday, Paterno issued a 265-word statement that attempted to offer perspective in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal that is gutting Penn...

An explosive sex abuse scandal and possible cover-up rocked Happy Valley after former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, once considered Joe Paterno's heir apparent, was charged with sexually assaulting eight boys over a 15-year period. Among the allegations was that a graduate assistant saw Sandusky assault a boy in the shower at the Nittany Lions' practice center in 2002. Sandusky retired in 1999 but continued to use the school's facilities for his work with The Second Mile, a foundation he established to help at-risk kids. The state grand jury investigation also resulted in perjury charges against Tim Curley, Penn...

Ernesto "Che" Guevara's famous beret is gone. His iconic beard is filthy and matted against skeletal cheekbones. One bushy eyebrow arches over his half-open eyes. As a Bolivian country surgeon methodically saws off his lifeless hands, Che appears vaguely amused. Gustavo Villoldo, a stocky figure in green army fatigues, stands just inside the tiny laundry room where the Cuban revolutionary's corpse rests atop a sink. For five months, the CIA operative has led soldiers hunting Guevara through the rough crags and valleys of southern Bolivia. Less than 24 hours ago, his team had captured and executed him in a village...

J Street, the liberal Middle East policy advocacy organization, on Sunday issued a statement acknowledging what the group had earlier denied: J Street received financial support from billionaire George Soros. "I accept responsibility personally for being less than clear about Mr. Soros' support once he did become a donor," Jeremy Ben Ami, J Street's executive director, said in a note to supporters on the group's website. The Washington Times first disclosed Friday that J Street, a group that portrays itself as a progressive alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), had received $750,000 from Mr. Soros and his...

Revelation about funding sources prompts distancing from J StreetThe White House appears to be distancing itself from the liberal advocacy group J Street that it once embraced as its envoy to the U.S. Jewish community after disclosures that nearly half the group's funding for 2008 came from a single Hong Kong donor. White House spokesman Thomas Vietor declined to comment when asked on Monday if the White House would continue its past practice of inviting J Street's leaders to take part in conference calls with senior White House officials and to other White House events, and whether senior Obama administration...

A year ago J Street — the putatively progressive fledgling counter to the Israel lobbying group AIPAC — was riding high. They had just received a write up in the New York Times Magazine that was somewhere between a press release and a love poem and, with a complaisant Obama in the White House, the tiny organization seemed poised to be a significant player in the Middle East discussion. My, as grandma said, have times changed. For starters, J Street’s director, Jeremy Ben-Ami, has shown himself to be a Junior Beltway Pinocchio, serially denying his organization had the financial backing...

Southeast Francesca Lane cuts up and around a hillside to reveal the boom-time promise of Happy Valley circa 2006. Young families rolled in to snap up $600,000, stone-fronted homes with Mount Hood views. They came for the country meets cul-de-sac life, solid schools and a 4,000-square-foot edition of the American dream. Speculators trailed on their heels for the next get-rich-quick venture. Francesca Lane circa 2008 isn't dreamy any longer. One of every five homes or lots on the street has fallen into foreclosure since the neighborhood sprang up three years ago. The street offers a grim picture of how greed...

PHOENIX, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Muslim leaders in Arizona have drawn increased scrutiny from federal officials in the past year because of a string of suspicious incidents, officials say. Although no one in the state has been accused of supporting terrorists, one Mesa, Ariz., man was charged with lying to the FBI during the terror financing investigation into a Muslim charity accused of funneling money to the Palestinian group Hamas, The Arizona Republic reported Sunday. Also drawing attention to Arizona Muslims was a target-shooting episode in Phoenix that involved a large group of Muslim men and boys firing hundreds of...

Scott Armstrong and Steve Payer traveled from Michigan to say their "I do's" in Northampton. They are the first out-of-state same-sex couple to wed in Northampton. Last week, Governor Patrick repealed the 95 year old law which made marriage legal in Massachusetts, only if it was legal in the state you came from. The couple has been together for 17 years. "This is the first way we've had of solidifying what we've already known for all this time," said Armstrong. "I am a little nervous, but we have been together so long, that we've already gone through our trials and...

Remember the name: We are...Penn State By David Brown & Salena Zito David Brown is reporting that there is a huge line, five bodies deep, that is circling around several blocks for Sen. Barack Obama's inaugural visit to Penn State. So far no reports as of yet of an Obama version of the famous Penn State chant of "We are…Penn State!"

Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who turned 81 last week, jokingly dismissed the comments of a Texas A&M yell leader Thursday night that Paterno was “on his death bed” and “someone needs to find him a casket.” But it’s no joking matter to the Aggies, who sent the yell leader home and have issued numerous apologies to various Penn State officials. The remark came at an Alamo Bowl-sponsored pep rally for fans of both schools. Penn State fans booed loudly after the remark from the yell leader, one of five A&M upperclassmen who fill the high-profile spirit role at the...

The Lion in Late, Late Autumn By PAT JORDAN Published: August 29, 2004 Zack Mills, a 22-year-old quarterback at Penn State University, and Graham Spanier, the elegantly dressed 56-year-old president of the school, are separated by a generation, but both are equally amazed by the youthful vigor of someone who is from another generation altogether, Joseph Vincent Paterno, Penn State's 77-year-old football coach. Mills says that Paterno can still drop to the floor and perform 20 push-ups and that the coach often takes part in drills with his linemen that result in a bloody nose. ''Nobody tries to hit him,''...

<p>STATE COLLEGE -- Penn State officials had a bear of a day when a young black bruin made its way onto campus.</p> <p>The 50-pound bear, believed to be between six months and 12 months old, was captured Friday.</p> <p>Police responded to a reported bear sighting shortly before 3 p.m. in the Graduate Circle Complex. They spotted the animal in a brush-filled area between the Forestry Resources Building and the Multi-Sports Complex.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. STATE COLLEGE - The recent announcements of layoffs and consolidations by three manufacturing companies with significant local operations offer fresh evidence that the sluggish national economy is hammering Centre County. Two of the companies, C-COR.net Corp. and Atotech USA Inc., are technology firms. SMS Eumuco Inc. is an old-economy heavy-equipment manufacturer. All blame weak business conditions for downsizing their payrolls or pulling their operations into fewer locations. A fourth company, Corning Asahi Video, which makes glass panels and funnels for cathode-ray television tubes, laid off workers in September. The company's majority...