House passes GOP budget plan promising deep cuts

House passes GOP budget plan promising deep cuts 

FILE - In this March 18, 2013 file photo, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate pressed ahead Wednesday on a huge, bipartisan spending bill aimed at keeping the government running through September and ruling out the chance of a government shutdown later this month. The developments in the Senate come as the House resumed debate on the budget for next year and beyond. Republicans are pushing a plan that promises sharp cuts to federal health care programs and domestic agency operating budgets as the price for balancing the budget in a decade.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican-controlled House passed a tea party-flavored budget plan Thursday that promises sharp cuts in safety-net programs for the poor and a clampdown on domestic agencies, in sharp contrast to less austere plans favored by President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies.

The measure, similar to previous plans offered by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., demonstrates that it's possible, at least mathematically, to balance the budget within a decade without raising taxes.

But its deep cuts to programs for the poor like Medicaid and food stamps and its promise to abolish so-called "Obamacare" are nonstarters with the president, who won re-election while campaigning against Ryan's prior budgets. It passed on a mostly party-line 221-207 vote.

The House measure advanced as the Democratic Senate debated its first budget since the 2009 plan that helped Obama pass his health care law.

The dueling House and Senate budget plans are anchored on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum in Washington, appealing to core partisans in the warring parties that are gridlocked over persistent budget deficits. Obama is exploring the chances of forging a middle path that blends new taxes and modest curbs to government benefit programs.

"The president has an opportunity during this critical debate to come forward and to help make this part of his legacy, like it has become part of the Clinton legacy: working together on behalf of the American people to solve what we know is a crisis in our country," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. He was referring to President Bill Clinton's success in working with a GOP Congress to generate budget surpluses over 1998-2001. "We can't continue to spend money that we don't have," Boehner said.

The sharp contrast over the 2014 budget and beyond came as the House cleared away last year's unfinished budget business - a sweeping, government-wide funding bill to keep Cabinet agencies running through the 2013 budget year, which ends Sept. 30.

The House passed the bipartisan 2013 measure by a sweeping 318-109 vote. The Senate had approved the measure on Wednesday after easing cuts that threatened intermittent closures of meat packing plants starting this summer and reviving college tuition grants for active-duty members of the military. The cuts were mandated by automatic spending cuts that took effect at the beginning of the month.

Looking to the future, Democrats and Republicans staked out divergent positions over what to do about spiraling federal health care costs and whether to raise taxes to rein in still-steep government deficits.

The long-term GOP budget plan authored by Ryan, the party's failed vice presidential nominee, offers slashing cuts to domestic agencies, the Medicaid health care plan for the poor and "Obamacare" subsidies while exempting the Pentagon and Social Security beneficiaries. The measure proposes shifting programs like Medicaid to the states but is sometimes scant on details about the very cuts it promises.

The Ryan measure revives a controversial plan to turn the Medicare programs for the elderly into a voucher-like system - for future beneficiaries born in 1959 or later - a program in which the government would subsidize the purchase of health insurance instead of directly paying hospital and doctor bills. Critics say the idea would mean ever-spiraling out-of-pocket costs for care, but Ryan insists the plan would inject competition into a broken system.

"This is an uncompromising, ideological approach to our budget issues," said top Budget Committee Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. The American people voted, and they resoundingly rejected the approach that is now taken, once again, for the third year in a row, in this Republican budget."

The cuts to domestic agencies like the FBI, Border Patrol and National Institutes of Health could approach 20 percent when compared with levels agreed to as part of a hard-fought budget deal from the summer of 2011. That could run the already troubled appropriations process - it features 12 spending bills that are supposed to be passed by Congress each year - into the ground.

Fresh from passing the 2013 wrap-up measure, the Senate was turning to a plan by new Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., that would add nearly $1 trillion in new taxes over the coming decade in an attempt to stabilize the $16 trillion-plus national debt. But Murray's plan would actually increase government spending after the $1.2 trillion cost of repealing the automatic cuts, called a sequester in Washington-speak. That means the net cuts to the deficit would amount to just a few hundred billion dollars in a federal budget estimated at $46 trillion or so over the coming decade.

"We need to tackle our deficit and debt fairly and responsibly," Murray said. "We need to keep the promises we've made as a nation to our seniors, our families and our communities."

At issue is the arcane process by which Congress approves a budget. It involves special legislation, called a budget resolution, that sets nonbinding targets for taxes and spending but relies on follow-up legislation to go into effect.

Energy Efficiency Financing Takes a Giant Leap Forward | The Energy Collective

Energy Efficiency Financing Takes a Giant Leap Forward | The Energy Collective

The prosecution rests in the case of the former deputy coroner accused of shooting at police | PennLive.com

The prosecution rests in the case of the former deputy coroner accused of shooting at police | PennLive.com

Man barricaded in Susquehanna Township hotel surrendered to police negotiators | PennLive.com

Man barricaded in Susquehanna Township hotel surrendered to police negotiators | PennLive.com

5 of 6 ex-officials guilty in Bell, Calif., case

5 of 6 ex-officials guilty in Bell, Calif., case 

Five former Bell City elected officials listens to the judge as a guilty verdict is read in their trial on Wednesday, March 20, 2013, in Los Angeles. The five former elected officials were convicted of multiple counts of misappropriation of public funds, and a sixth defendant was cleared entirely. Former Mayor Oscar Hernandez and co-defendants Teresa Jacobo, George Mirabal, George Cole, and Victor Belo were all convicted of multiple counts and acquitted of others. The charges against them involved paying themselves inflated salaries of up to $100,000 a year in the city of 36,000 people, where one in four residents live below the poverty line.

  

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Five former elected officials of the small, blue-collar California city of Bell were convicted Wednesday of multiple counts of misappropriating public funds by paying themselves huge salaries while raising taxes on residents.

Former Mayor Oscar Hernandez and co-defendants Teresa Jacobo, George Mirabal, George Cole and Victor Belo were all convicted of multiple counts and acquitted of others.

Former Councilman Luis Artiga was cleared entirely.

The charges against the officials involved paying themselves inflated salaries of up to $100,000 a year in the city of 36,000 people, where one in four residents live below the poverty line.

An audit by the state controller's office previously found the city had illegally raised property taxes, business license fees and other sources of revenue to pay the salaries. The office ordered the money repaid.

The guilty findings were related to the appointment of the defendants to the Solid Waste and Recycling Authority, an agency that prosecutors had argued during trial served no purpose other than to pay them a salary.

All were cleared of charges that they illegally tapped public money while serving on the city's Public Financing Authority. The waste authority was never created legally and met only once in 2006, which boosted pay by about $13,000 per member.

Artiga was found not guilty of a dozen allegations. He was the only defendant who had not served as mayor at some point.

Artiga wept as the clerk read the not guilty verdicts against him, and he thanked members of the community who believed in his innocence.

"I feel righteous and I also feel nothing in my heart against the people that yell at me. I love `em," he said.

His attorney, George Mgdesyan, said Artiga was not involved in the committees where the corruption began.

"We were not there. We did not vote for these authorities, we did not vote for these raises," Mgdesyan said. "My client was there every day working for the city of Bell."

Prosecutors brought an extensive case involving about 100 counts.

After the verdicts were read, Judge Kathleen Kennedy noted there were 10 deadlocked counts and asked the foreman if the panel had exhausted efforts to reach decisions.

He said that was correct, but four other jurors told the judge they thought a verdict could be reached if they received more direction.

Kennedy ordered more deliberations after the lunch recess.

The current jury deliberated since Feb. 28, when one member of an original panel was replaced and the judge told the reconstituted group to start talks anew.

The trial was the first court proceeding following disclosures of massive corruption in the gritty town.

A lawyer for Hernandez said during the trial that his client was unschooled, illiterate and not the type of "scholar" who understood the city's finances.

"We elect people who have a good heart. Someone who can listen to your problems and look you in the eye," attorney Stanley Friedman said.

The scandal that rocked Bell raised the curtain on a fiefdom established by powerful former city manager Robert Rizzo. City records revealed that Rizzo had an annual salary and compensation package worth $1.5 million, making him one of the highest paid administrators in the country.

His salary alone was about $800,000 a year, double that of the president of the United States.

To fund his and other officials' salaries, prosecutors say, Rizzo masterminded a scheme to loot the treasury of $5.5 million. He and his assistant city manager, Angela Spaccia, face their own trial later in the year.

Witnesses at the former council members' trial depicted Rizzo as a micro manager who convinced the city's elected officials that they too deserved huge salaries.

He was said to have manipulated council members into signing major financial documents, particularly Hernandez who could not read what he was signing.

After the scandal was disclosed, thousands of Bell residents protested at City Council meetings and staged a successful recall election to throw out the entire council and elect new leaders.

Jurors heard more than three weeks of testimony and saw numerous documents. But when it came time to deliberate, things did not go well.

A juror who claimed she was being harassed by others on the panel acknowledged she had done research on the Internet about her jury service and discussed it with her daughter. The judge found she had committed misconduct and, after five days of deliberations, the weeping juror was dismissed from the panel.

Senate vote: OK $85 billion cuts, avert shutdown

Senate vote: OK $85 billion cuts, avert shutdown 

FILE - In this March 18, 2013 file photo, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate pressed ahead Wednesday on a huge, bipartisan spending bill aimed at keeping the government running through September and ruling out the chance of a government shutdown later this month. The developments in the Senate come as the House resumed debate on the budget for next year and beyond. Republicans are pushing a plan that promises sharp cuts to federal health care programs and domestic agency operating budgets as the price for balancing the budget in a decade.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate approved legislation Wednesday to lock in $85 billion in widely decried spending cuts aimed at restraining soaring federal deficits - and to avoid a government shutdown just a week away. President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats rejected a call to reopen White House tours scrapped because of the tightened spending.

Federal meat inspectors were spared furloughs, but more than 100 small and medium air traffic facilities were left exposed to possible closure as the two parties alternately clashed and cooperated over proposals to take the edge off across-the-board spending cuts that took effect on March 1.

Final House approval of the measure is likely as early as Thursday. Obama's signature is a certainty, meaning the cuts will remain in place at least through the end of the budget year on Sept. 30 - even though he and lawmakers in both parties have criticized them as random rather than targeted. Obama argued strongly against them in campaign-style appearances, predicting painful consequences, before they began taking effect, and Republicans objected to impacts on Pentagon spending.

Without changes, the $85 billion in cuts for the current year will swell to nearly $1 trillion over a decade, enough to make at least a small dent in economy-threatening federal deficits but requiring program cuts that lawmakers in both parties say are unsustainable politically. As a result, negotiations are possible later in the year to replace the reductions with different savings.

The administration as well as Republicans picked and chose its spots in arguing for flexibility in this year's cuts.

"My hope is that gets done," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said earlier in the week of the effort to prevent layoffs among inspectors that could disrupt the nation's food supply chain. "If it does not, come mid-July we will furlough meat inspectors," he added, departing from the administration's general position that flexibility should ease all the cuts or none at all.

The final vote was 73-26, with 51 Democrats, 20 Republicans and two independents in favor and 25 Republicans and Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana opposed.

Political considerations were on ample display in both houses as lawmakers labored over measures relating to spending priorities, both for this year and a decade into the future.

Rep. Mark Mulvaney, R-S.C., said he had wanted the House to vote on Obama's own budget, but he noted the president hadn't yet released one. `It's with great regret ... that I'm not able to offer" a presidential budget for a vote, he said. He added he had wanted to vote on a placeholder - "34 pages full of question marks" - but House rules prevented it.

Minority Democrats advanced a plan that calls for $1 trillion in higher taxes, $500 billion in spending cuts over a decade and a $200 billion economic stimulus package. Republicans voted it down, 253-165.

They are expected to approve their own very different blueprint on Thursday.

It calls for $4.6 trillion in spending cuts over a decade and no tax increases, a combination that projects to a balanced budget in 10 years' time. That spending plan would indeed be simply a blueprint, lacking any actual control over federal spending.

The issues were grittier in the Senate, where lawmakers grappled with the immediate impact of across-the-board cuts on individual programs.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a deficit hawk, said he wanted to reopen the White House tours, shut down since earlier in the month. He said his proposal would take about $8 million from the National Heritage Partnership Program and apply it toward "opening up the tours at the White House, opening up Yellowstone National Park and the rest of the national parks."

White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters previously the decision the cancel the White House tours was made by the Secret Service because "it would be, in their view, impossible to staff those tours; that they would have to withdraw staff from those tours in order to avoid more furloughs and overtime pay cuts."

But in remarks on the Senate floor, Coburn said, "This is a Park Service issue, not a Secret Service issue."

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said the funds involved in Coburn's amendment would not go to the Secret Service, and as a result the tours "would not be affected." He also said the Heritage program, a public-private partnership, helps produce economic development and should not be cut.

The vote was 54-45 against the proposal. Montana Sen. Max Baucus, whose state borders on Yellowstone National Park, was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans.

The Park Service has announced some parks may open late to automobile traffic this spring because budget cuts have reduced funds available to clear roads of winter snow.

The overall legislation locks in the $85 billion in spending cuts through the end of the budget year, yet provides several departments and agencies with flexibility in coping with them. It extends flexibility to the Pentagon, the departments of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Justice, State and Commerce and the Food and Drug Administration.

But bipartisanship has its limits, and in private negotiations Republicans rejected Democratic attempts to provide flexibility for the rest of the government.

That set off a scramble among lawmakers to round up support for changes on a case-by-case basis.

The provision to prevent furloughs for federal meat inspectors had the support of industry as well as from both sides of the political aisle and cleared without a vote. It was supported by Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, a Democrat seeking re-election next year, and Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who quietly helped Democrats round up the votes they needed to clear the legislation over a procedural hurdle.

The effect was to transfer $55 million to the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service from other accounts within the department, including deferred maintenance.

"Without this funding, every meat, poultry, and egg processing facility in the country would be forced to shut down for up to two weeks," said Blunt. "That means high food prices and less work for the hardworking Americans who work in these facilities nationwide."

In contrast to Blunt, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, opposed Democrats when they sought to overcome procedural hurdles earlier in the week.

In the days since, he repeatedly refused to let the bill advance unless he was given a chance to cancel about $50 million in cuts aimed at contract employees at more than 170 air traffic facilities around the country. In the end, his amendment was jettisoned without a vote.

NYPD's Stop and Frisk Put on Trial in "Historic" Class Action Lawsuit

NYPD's Stop and Frisk Put on Trial in "Historic" Class Action Lawsuit

Dr. Umar Johnson's New Book Highlights Psychology's Role in the School-To-Prison Pipeline

Dr. Umar Johnson's New Book Highlights Psychology's Role in the School-To-Prison Pipeline

Bookcover Black Psychologist Releases New Book Highlighting Psychology's Role in the School-To-Prison Pipeline -- "Psycho-Academic Holocaust" by Dr. Umar Johnson discusses how ADHD and other diagnoses poorly discriminate between normal and abnormal behaviors amongst Black boys. -- Philadelphia, PA (March 19, 2013) -- Motivational and inspirational presenter, Dr. Umar Johnson,  a descendant of Frederick Douglass, the 19th century Abolitionist, releases his highly-anticipated  1st book detailing how learning disabilities and psychiatric medications are fueling the school-to-prison pipeline..."   For more go to www.blacknews.com For more details about Dr. Umar visit www.DrUmarJohnson.com or follow him on Twitter @DrUmarJohnson

Racism Helps Create Fiscal Distress, Ex-Harrisburg Receiver Says - Bloomberg

Racism Helps Create Fiscal Distress, Ex-Harrisburg Receiver Says - Bloomberg

Sheriff says missing Mo. mom staged disappearance

Sheriff says missing Mo. mom staged disappearance 

In this undated photo released by Chariton County Sheriff's office, Rachel Koechner and her 4-year-old daughter Zoee Sandner are shown. The central Missouri woman who has been missing with her daughter for four days called her boyfriend from a suburban Kansas City motel but was gone when police arrived to check on her. Authorities say they're believed to be with Koechner's former husband and are considered endangered because of previous domestic violence incidents.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- To law enforcement agencies, the disappearance of a Missouri woman and her young daughter for four days had all the markings of an abduction: a cryptic text message asking for help, a phone call that sounded like it was being read from a script, an ex-husband with a history of domestic violence.

Instead, Rachel Koechner told investigators Monday night that she slipped away with Devon Sandner, the ex-husband who's the father of her 4-year-old daughter, last week as part of a plan she devised a day before they took off. Koechner, Sandner and their child were found Monday in a home in Linn County about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City after someone saw them getting gas in nearby Brookfield and called police.

"Her family has such a strong hatred for her ex-husband, and his family has a strong hatred for her. They just wanted to be together," said Chariton County Sheriff Chris Hughes, whose department is leading the case.

Koechner was staying at her mother's house in Rothville in northern Chariton County when she disappeared.

Hughes said she left Thursday with Sandner and their daughter. They spent most of the time they were missing at a low-rate suburban Kansas City motel, where Koechner, 28, and Sandner, 37, smoked synthetic marijuana and laid low while law enforcement agencies frantically searched for them. Empty wrappers that had contained the artificial pot were found in Sandner's vehicle, and it appeared the couple had smoked the substance with their daughter nearby, the sheriff said.

Koechner's sister, Brandi Koechner, said family members are relieved that the mother and daughter have been found safe, but they're stunned by Rachel Koechner's actions - especially after a nasty divorce that was finalized in November.

"The whole family is pretty much confused, hurt, upset, but glad we got the little girl back," Brandi Koechner said. "We don't understand any of it."

She said 4-year-old Zoee Sandner is now staying with Koechner's mother and other relatives in Rothville, and that the family is planning to seek custody of the girl.

The family doesn't necessarily hate Sandner, she said, but there was a great deal of animosity because of what Rachel Koechner went through during her relationship with him. She also said the family felt that Sandner had the ability to manipulate his ex-wife.

"They've had such an on-and-off again, bad relationship," Brandi Koechner said. "He knew how to get into her head. All of us were really scared because we've seen what he can do."

Sandner, of Brookfield, was charged in January in Livingston County with third-degree domestic assault after his new girlfriend told police he had struck her in the face at a Chillicothe motel. He pleaded guilty in 2007 to third-degree domestic assault involving a different woman and was given a 60-day suspended sentence.

Hughes said Sandner isn't expected to be charged in connection with Koechner's disappearance, but was being held Tuesday in Chariton County Jail on five forgery charges from a Linn County case. Prosecutors allege he wrote five bad checks on the account of another man last August.

Koechner hadn't been charged by midday Tuesday, but was being held without bond in the Chariton County Jail pending charges. Hughes expected her to at least be charged with making a false report.

Neither Sandner nor Koechner had acquired an attorney, and Hughes declined an Associated Press reporter's request to interview either of them at the jail.

Media coverage Monday of what was then being described as a possible abduction forced Koechner, Sandner and their daughter to leave the motel in the Kansas City suburb of Blue Springs early, even though they had paid for another night in advance, the sheriff said.

"He said, `I saw my picture on the news yesterday morning and I started freaking out,'" Hughes said of Sandner.

Rachel Koechner called her boyfriend around 9 a.m. Monday to tell him she was OK and to have the search called off. The boyfriend, whose name has not been released, told Hughes the conversation sounded scripted.

Hughes tracked the phone number to the Blue Springs motel, which he called just as Koechner, Sandner and their daughter were checking out. The motel worker who answered the phone handed it to Koechner.

"She said she couldn't talk now," Hughes said. "I asked if she was OK, and she said, `No.'"

The sheriff contacted Blue Springs police, but the three were gone by the time officers arrived at the motel.

Defiant teen gets life sentences in Ohio shooting

Defiant teen gets life sentences in Ohio shooting 
 

T.J. Lane unbuttons his shirt during sentencing Tuesday, March 19, 2013, in Chardon, Ohio. Lane, was given three lifetime prison sentences without the possibility of parole Tuesday for opening fire last year in a high school cafeteria in a rampage that left three students dead and three others wounded. Lane, 18, had pleaded guilty last month to shooting at students in February 2012 at Chardon High School, east of Cleveland. Investigators have said he admitted to the shooting but said he didn't know why he did it. Before the case went to adult court last year, a juvenile court judge ruled that Lane was mentally competent to stand trial despite evidence he suffers from hallucinations, psychosis and fantasies.

CHARDON, Ohio (AP) -- Wearing a T-shirt with "killer" scrawled across it, a teenager cursed and gestured obscenely as he was given three life sentences Tuesday for shooting to death three students in an Ohio high school cafeteria.

T.J. Lane, 18, had pleaded guilty last month to shooting at students in February 2012 at Chardon High School, east of Cleveland. Investigators have said he admitted to the shooting but said he didn't know why he did it.

Before the case went to adult court last year, a juvenile court judge ruled that Lane was mentally competent to stand trial despite evidence he suffers from hallucinations, psychosis and fantasies.

Lane was defiant during the sentencing, smiling and smirking throughout, including while four relatives of victims spoke.

After he came in, he calmly unbuttoned his blue dress shirt to reveal the T-shirt reading "killer," which the prosecutor noted was similar to one he wore during the shooting.

At one point, he swiveled around in his chair toward the gallery where his own family members and those of the slain teenagers were sitting and spoke suddenly, surprising even his lawyer.

"The hand that pulled the trigger that killed your sons now masturbates to the memory," he said, then cursed at and raised his middle finger toward the victims' relatives.

A statement released later to local media by the court on the judge's behalf said that he wasn't aware of the shirt and that if he had noticed it he would have halted the proceedings and ordered Lane to wear proper attire.

A student who was wounded in the rampage dismissed Lane's outburst.

"He said it like a scared little boy and couldn't talk slow enough that anyone could understand him," said Nate Mueller, who was nicked in the ear in the shooting.

Dina Parmertor, mother of victim Daniel, called Lane "a pathetic excuse for a human being" and wished upon him "an extremely, slow torturous death." She said she has nightmares and her family has been physically sick over the crimes.

"From now on, he will only be a killer," she said, as Lane's smile widened. "I want him to feel my anger toward him."

Prosecutors say Lane took a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to the school and fired 10 shots at a group of students in the cafeteria. Daniel Parmertor and Demetrius Hewlin, both 16, and Russell King Jr., 17, were killed.

Lane was at Chardon waiting for a bus to the alternative school he attended, for students who haven't done well in traditional settings.

Six days before the rampage, Lane had sent a text message to his sister, who attended Chardon High school, and mentioned a school shooting, Geauga County Prosecutor James Flaiz disclosed after the sentencing. He gave no details about what the message said.

"The way the text message was phrased to his sister, I'm not sure she would have taken it as anything. I think only when you look at it in retrospect does it really have the impact that it does now," Flaiz said.

Lane's sister, Sadie, was in the cafeteria the day of the shooting, and said outside the snow-swept courthouse that the brother she saw in court wasn't the one she remembers. She asked for prayers for her family.

"It may be hard for some to understand, but I love my brother and hope that whatever the sentencing in life takes him in the future, that he can touch others' lives in a positive way from the point of view that only he can give," she said.

She spoke and left the courthouse before Flaiz addressed reporters.

Flaiz said he has a theory about the motive but wouldn't discuss it until he has a chance to meet with the families of victims and answer their questions.

Lane's courtroom behavior came as a surprise, he added.

"I am totally disgusted by that," Flaiz said. "What he did today is consistent with what we thought of him all along."

One of Lane's defense attorneys, Ian Friedman, also said he was caught off-guard by the comments. The defense had signaled earlier that Lane wouldn't speak in court and didn't want anyone to speak for him.

Lane had pleaded guilty last month to three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of felonious assault.

Life imprisonment without parole was the maximum sentence Lane faced. He wasn't eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the shootings. Relatives of the slain students indicated earlier they wanted Lane to get the maximum sentence.

In addition to three life sentences without chance of parole, Geauga County Common Pleas Judge David Fuhry also gave Lane sentences totaling 37 additional years for attempted murder and felonious assault and using a weapon in the crimes.

Statement released by family of Skyler Stewart, man shot and killed by Lower Paxton Twp. police after chase | PennLive.com

Statement released by family of Skyler Stewart, man shot and killed by Lower Paxton Twp. police after chase | PennLive.com

Supreme Court soon to get Bailey recommendation | PennLive.com

Supreme Court soon to get Bailey recommendation | PennLive.com

David Unkovic Say’s “Racism Helps Create Fiscal Distress” | The Black Informant

David Unkovic Say’s “Racism Helps Create Fiscal Distress” | The Black Informant

Autopsy consistent with witness statements in officer's shooting of man who shot Harrisburg police dog | PennLive.com

Autopsy consistent with witness statements in officer's shooting of man who shot Harrisburg police dog | PennLive.com

Partisan split marks high court gay marriage cases

Partisan split marks high court gay marriage cases 

FILE – In this Feb. 7, 2012, file photo Ted Olson, right, lead Co-Counsel for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, seen with Proposition 8 paintiffs, Jeff Zarrillo, left, and Paul Katami, middle, comments on the announcement that California's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional during a American Foundation for Equal Rights conference in Los Angeles. A continuing distinct partisan divide is present in the gay marriage cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, set for arguments March 26-27, 2013, even though a brief on behalf of more than 100 prominent Republicans calls for marriage equality. The split is most in evidence in legal briefs filed with the court by state attorneys general.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- No Democratic attorney general in a state that prohibits same-sex couples from marrying has signed onto a legal filing asking the Supreme Court to uphold California's constitutional ban on gay marriage.

No Republican attorney general is asking the high court to rule in favor of marriage equality.

The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives, supported by 10 GOP senators, is spearheading the defense of the federal law that prevents legally married gay couples from collecting a range of federal benefits otherwise available to married couples.

Some 212 Democrats and independents in Congress want part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act overturned. That includes two dozen who initially voted for it.

A continuing distinct partisan divide is present in the gay marriage cases at the Supreme Court, set for arguments March 26-27, even though a brief on behalf of more than 100 prominent Republicans calls for marriage equality. The split is most apparent in legal briefs filed with the court by state attorneys general.

All 21 attorneys general who have signed legal briefs or letters urging the court to uphold California's ban on same-sex marriage are Republican.

The result of the federal appeals court ruling striking down California's ban, known as Proposition 8, "is disintegration of perhaps the most fundamental and revered cultural institution of American life: marriage as we know it," the Republicans said. The states represented on the briefs mostly are reliably Republican and chose GOP nominee Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama in November.

But also are included are four states won by Obama - Colorado, Michigan, Virginia and Wisconsin.

An additional 14 attorneys general who are asking the court for the opposite outcome are Democrats, including those from the nine states that allow gay couples to wed. Also among those Democrats are California's Kamala Harris and Ellen Rosenblum of Oregon, which has a constitutional prohibition on same-sex weddings. Obama won all 14 states.

Removing barriers and promoting the equality of spouses has strengthened the institution of marriage, the Democratic attorneys general said. "Over the past decade, this evolution has been affirmed as same-sex couples have been permitted to marry. Against that history of greater inclusion and equality, Proposition 8 singles out same-sex couples and excludes them from the opportunity to marry," the Democrats said.

Florida and Ohio are among nine other states that define marriage as the union of a man and a woman in their constitutions, but that are not represented in the Supreme Court debate at all.

Obama won both states in November, but Republicans control the state government. Spokesmen for Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, both Republicans, declined comment.

In the seven other states, a Democrat is attorney general. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood wants the court to issue narrow rulings in both cases, spokeswoman Jan Schaefer said. "The outcome of the two cases should not directly impact Mississippi law," Schaefer said.

The participants in the two cases and other interested parties have submitted nearly 200 briefs that range from broad historical overviews to personal stories to technical legal matters.

The Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Mormon church and Orthodox Jewish congregations are among the religious organizations urging the court to uphold the California provision.

Supporters of same-sex marriage include Episcopal bishops in California, the United Church of Christ, and the Reform and Conservative movements in Judaism.

There are testimonials in support of gay marriage from the straight parents and siblings of gays and lesbians, as well as from people who call themselves survivors of efforts to help them change their sexual orientation. On the other side, some members of the ex-gay community defend traditional marriage laws, and some gay and bisexual men say the courts should not be involved in defining marriage.

One group of international scholars and jurists argues that reserving marriage for straight couples, while offering other protections for gay Americans, is consistent with practices in other countries. Experts in foreign law claim that upholding Proposition 8 would diminish the U.S. on the world stage at a time when many other nations also are moving toward marriage equality.

The court is expected to rule in the cases by the end of June.

Pa. lacrosse team bus crashes; pregnant coach dies

Pa. lacrosse team bus crashes; pregnant coach dies 

This undated photo provided by Seton Hill University shows women's college lacrosse coach Kristina Quigley. A tour bus carrying the Seton Hill women's lacrosse team to a game went off the Pennsylvania Turnpike on Saturday, March 16, 2013, and crashed into a tree. Authorities said the accident killed the driver and Kristina Quigley, who was about six months pregnant, and sent others to the hospital.

CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) -- A road trip by a college women's lacrosse team came to a horrifying end Saturday when the team bus veered off the Pennsylvania Turnpike and crashed into a tree, killing a pregnant coach, her unborn child, and the driver, and injuring numerous others, authorities said.

Seton Hill University team players and coaches were among the 23 people aboard when the bus crashed just before 9 a.m. No other vehicle was involved, and police could not immediately say what caused the accident.

Coach Kristina Quigley, 30, of Greensburg was flown to a hospital but died there of injuries she suffered in the crash, Cumberland County authorities said. Quigley was about six-months pregnant and her unborn child did not survive, authorities said. The bus driver, Anthony Guaetta, 61, of Johnstown, died at the scene.

The other passengers were removed from the bus within an hour and taken to hospitals as a precaution. The collision appeared to have shorn away the front left side of the bus, which rested upright about 70 yards from the road at the bottom of a grassy slope.

The lacrosse team was headed to play Saturday afternoon at Millersville University, about 50 miles from the crash site in central Pennsylvania, for its fourth game of the year.

Both Saturday's game and a Sunday home game were canceled after the crash, and Seton Hill, a Catholic school of about 2,500 students near Pittsburgh, said a memorial Mass was planned for Sunday night on campus.

Duquesne University women's lacrosse coach Mike Scerbo remembered Quigley as a warm, outgoing person who immediately impressed him when he hired her to be an assistant during the 2008 season.

Quigley, also a Duquesne alum, spent just one season under Scerbo before moving to South Carolina to start Erskine College's NCAA Division II program.

"In that time, I really saw how much passion she had to be a coach, and how much she enjoyed working with the kids," Scerbo said. "She was a teacher, and she wanted to help kids grow and learn, not just about the sport, but about life."

She spent three years at Erskine before taking the top job at Seton Hill for the 2012 season. She stayed in touch with Scerbo, often seeking his guidance and showing up at the Duquesne alumni game.

"She was a very happy person, very passionate about life, about her players, about her job and most importantly about her family," Scerbo said.

Quigley, a native of Baltimore, was married and had a young son, Gavin, the school said.

The bus operator, Mlaker Charter & Tours, of Davidsville, Pa., is up to date on its inspections, which include bus and driver safety checks, said Jennifer Kocher, a spokeswoman for the state Public Utility Commission, which regulates bus companies.

The agency's motor safety inspectors could think of no accidents or violations involving the company that would raise a red flag, she said, though complete safety records were not available Saturday.

On Tuesday, another bus carrying college lacrosse players from a Vermont team was hit by a sports car that spun out of control on a wet highway in upstate New York, sending the bus toppling onto its side, police said. One person in the car died.

And last month, a bus carrying 42 high school students from the Philadelphia area and their chaperones slammed into an overpass in Boston, injuring 35. Authorities said the driver had directed the bus onto a road with a height limit.

Marques Colston & the Harrisburg Stampede: Small football field, big dreams | PennLive.com

Marques Colston & the Harrisburg Stampede: Small football field, big dreams | PennLive.com

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Police Dog, Suspect Shot During Central Pa. Pursuit « CBS Philly

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If some fool wants to shoot somebody, he will find a way: Nancy Eshelman | PennLive.com

Mayor Nutter’s Budget Address Disrupted By Angry Protesters

Mayor Nutter’s Budget Address Disrupted By Angry Protesters

 

City Council president Darrell Clarke, at rear, tries in
vain to restore order before recessing the Council session
in the midst of Mayor Nutter’s address.

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The chambers of Philadelphia City Council were packed to the rafters with angry union members this morning as mayor Michael Nutter tried to unveil his new budget.

To a chorus of boos, catcalls, and whistling, the mayor waited in vain for quiet, then tried to deliver his speech while the cacophony continued.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

New style of papacy: Pope Francis pays hotel bill

New style of papacy: Pope Francis pays hotel bill 

In this image made from video provided by CTV, Pope Francis celebrates his inaugural Mass with cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, Thursday, March 14, 2013. As the 266th pope, Francis inherits a Catholic church in turmoil, beset by the clerical sex abuse scandal, internal divisions and dwindling numbers in parts of the world where Christianity had been strong for centuries.

 

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- On his first day as shepherd of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, Pope Francis picked up his luggage at a Vatican hotel, personally thanked each member of the staff and even paid his own bill. Then, at his first Mass, he delivered a short, unscripted homily - in Italian, not the Latin of his predecessor - holding the cardinals who elected him responsible for keeping the church strong.

Pope for barely 12 hours, Francis brushed off years of tradition and formality Thursday with a remarkable break in style that sent a clear message that his papacy is poised to reject many of the trappings enjoyed by now-retired Benedict XVI.

That was hardly out of character for Francis. For years, as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Argentine pastor took the bus to work, kissed the feet of AIDS patients and prayed with former prostitutes, eschewing the luxurious residence that would have been his due as archbishop of Buenos Aires.

But now he is pope - the first from the New World and the first Jesuit - and his style both personal and liturgical is in a global spotlight.

On his first day, he couldn't have signaled a greater contrast to Benedict, the German academic who was meek and generous in person but formal and traditional in public.

The differences played out Thursday in the Sistine Chapel as the 76-year-old Francis celebrated his first public Mass as pope.

Whereas Benedict read a three-page discourse in Latin, Francis had a far simpler message. Speaking off-the-cuff for 10 minutes in easy Italian, he said all Catholics must "build" the church and "walk" with the faith.

He urged priests to build their churches on solid foundations, warning: "What happens when children build sand castles on the beach? It all comes down."

"If we don't proclaim Jesus, we become a pitiful NGO, not the bride of the Lord," he said.

"When we walk without the cross, and when we preach about Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are mundane. We are bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but we are not disciples of the Lord."

The new style was evident even in Francis' wardrobe. Rather than wear the new golden pectoral cross he was offered after his election Wednesday, he kept the simple crucifix of his days as bishop. He also turned down the red velvet cape that Benedict wore when he was presented to the world for the first time in 2005, choosing the simple white cassock of the papacy instead.

"It seems to me what is certain is it's a great change of style, which for us isn't a small thing," Sergio Rubin, Francis' authorized biographer, told The Associated Press.

Rubin said the new pope "believes the church has to go into the streets" and be one with the people it serves and not impose its message on a society that often doesn't want to hear it.

For this reason, as Cardinal Bergoglio, "he built altars and tents in the squares of Buenos Aires, and held Masses with former prostitutes and homeless people in the street," Rubin said. "He did this to express the closeness of the church to those who are suffering."

Rubin said he expected to see more changes - even substantive ones - once Francis gets his footing.

"I think the categories of progressive and conservative are insufficient," Rubin said. "Pope Francis is someone with a great mental openness to enter into dialogue. He is very understanding of different situations. He doesn't like to impose."

Francis began Thursday with an early morning trip in a simple Vatican car - not the papal sedan - to a Roman basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary, where he prayed before an icon of the Madonna.

Like many Latin American Catholics, Francis has a particular devotion to the Virgin Mary, and his visit to the St. Mary Major basilica was a reflection of that. Laying flowers on the altar, he then prayed before a Byzantine icon of Mary and the infant Jesus.

"He has a great devotion to this icon of Mary, and every time he comes from Argentina he visits this basilica," said the Rev. Elio Montenero, who was present for the pope's arrival. "We were surprised today because he did not announce his visit."

Francis himself had foreshadowed the visit, telling the 100,000 people packed into rain-soaked St. Peter's Square after his election that he intended to pray to the Madonna "that she may watch over all of Rome."

The new pope, known for his work with the poor in Buenos Aires' slums, had charmed the crowd when he emerged on the loggia and greeted them with a simple and familiar: "Brothers and sisters, good evening."

On Thursday, members of his flock were charmed again when Francis stopped by the Vatican-owned residence where he stayed before the conclave to pick up his luggage. But that wasn't the only reason he made the detour.

"He wanted to thank the personnel, people who work in this house," said the Rev. Pawel Rytel-Andrianek, a guest at the residence. "He greeted them one by one, no rush, the whole staff, one by one."

Francis then paid his bill "to set a good example," Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said.

"People say that he never in these 20 years asked for a (Vatican) car," Rytel-Andrianek said. "Even when he went to the conclave with a priest from his diocese, he just walked out to the main road, picked up a taxi and went to the conclave. So very simple for a future pope."

Francis displayed that same sense of humility immediately after his election, spurning the throne on an elevated platform that was brought out for him to receive the cardinals' pledges of obedience, said Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York.

"He met with us on our own level," Dolan said.

Later, he traveled by bus back to the hotel along with the other cardinals, refusing the special sedan and security detail that he was offered.

Francis, said U.S. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, has signaled his adherence to a "Gospel of simplicity."

"He is by all accounts a very gentle but firm, very loving but fearless, a very pastoral and caring person ideal for the challenges today," Wuerl said.

Cardinal Thomas Collins, the archbishop of Toronto, agreed.

"He's just a very loving, wonderful guy. We just came to appreciate the tremendous gifts he has. He's much beloved in his diocese in Argentina. He has a great pastoral history of serving people," Collins said in a telephone interview.

And he has a sense of humor.

During dinner after his election on Wednesday, the cardinals toasted him, Dolan said. "Then he toasted us and said, `May God forgive you for what you've done.'"

Kimani Gray Protest: Arrests At Third Day Of Demonstrations For Brooklyn Teen Killed By NYPD (PHOTOS)

Kimani Gray Protest: Arrests At Third Day Of Demonstrations For Brooklyn Teen Killed By NYPD (PHOTOS)

12th Juror Seated For Philadelphia Abortion Doctor’s Trial

12th Juror Seated For Philadelphia Abortion Doctor’s Trial

Dr. Kermit Gosnell.

 

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Seven woman and five men have been seated for the jury that will hear a capital murder case against a Philadelphia abortion provider.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell is charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a woman patient and seven babies allegedly killed after late-stage abortions.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Colo. judge enters not guilty plea for Holmes

Colo. judge enters not guilty plea for Holmes 

James Holmes, Aurora theater shooting suspect, sits in the courtroom during his arraignment in Centennial, Colo., on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Judge William Blair Sylvester entered a not guilty plea on behalf of James Holmes on Tuesday after the former graduate student's defense team said he was not ready to enter one.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) -- A bearded and bushy-haired James Holmes sat quietly as a packed courtroom waited Tuesday for a plea that could help shed light on a deadly shooting rampage he is accused of going on in a crowded Colorado movie theater last summer.

Instead, his lawyers told the judge they weren't ready to enter a plea - despite numerous delays since the July 20 attack that killed 12 people and injured 70 at a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

A barely audible gasp rose from dozens of family members and victims.

"So how am I supposed to make an informed decision?" Judge William Sylvester asked pointedly, his gaze fixed on defense lawyer Daniel King, before the judge entered a not guilty plea on Holmes' behalf.

Victims were relieved by Sylvester's action.

"It's been since July," said Marcus Weaver, who was shot in the arm and who lost friend Rebecca Wingo in the attack. "We're just so thankful we're able to move forward."

Legal experts said the defense's statement may be part of a larger strategy to avoid the death penalty. Holmes can still change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity, and he can wait to do so until after prosecutors announce whether they will seek the death penalty.

"This just allows the defense to think through how they want to proceed," said Dan Recht, a Denver defense attorney who is following the case. "The odds are the prosecution is going to pursue the death penalty and literally Holmes' life is at stake, so they want to be able to think through all the pleas they can offer."

That makes it easier for the defense to plan its best case. Holmes could plead insanity and would wind up in a mental hospital indefinitely - and would never face execution - if the jury finds in his favor.

Holmes could also simply plead innocent, and he wouldn't have to give prosecutors potentially incriminating medical records and statements made to doctors.

Attorneys on both sides left Tuesday's hearing without commenting. They are under orders from the judge not to speak about the case.

As he has done in past hearings, Holmes sat silently through the proceedings. He wore a red jail jumpsuit and sported a thick, bushy beard and unkempt dark brown hair. When he walked into the courtroom, he looked at his parents, Robert and Arlene Holmes. They sat silently at the front of the room and left without comment after the hearing.

Prosecutors say Holmes planned the assault for months, casing the theater complex in Aurora, amassing a small arsenal and rigging potentially deadly booby-traps in his apartment.

Then he donned a police-style helmet and body armor, tossed a gas canister into the theater crowd and opened fire, prosecutors said.

Nearly eight months later, the defense has dropped hints about Holmes' mental state but has given no clear statement on whether he would plead insanity.

Holmes, a former graduate student at the University of Colorado, Denver, had seen a psychiatrist at the school before the shootings.

Last week, his lawyers revealed that he was taken to a hospital psychiatric ward in November because he was considered a threat to himself. Holmes was held there for several days and spent much of the time in restraints.

Tuesday, there was another clue. At one point, in saying they weren't ready to enter a plea, King said, "We have ongoing work scheduled. We're doing the best that we can."

King said he couldn't reveal what the work was, or say when it would be finished. But he did hint that the defense might have its own expert conduct a mental evaluation of Holmes. He said that if Holmes pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, the court would have to order a state mental evaluation, and "whatever evaluations we're doing would be truncated."

The next step in the case comes April 1, when prosecutors announce their decision on the death penalty. The judge scheduled the trial to start Aug. 5, setting aside four weeks.

Whether and when Holmes will change his plea remains uncertain. His lawyers would have to ask the judge to set a hearing for a new plea.