by newsroom — published on April 30th, 2008
Texas officials told legislators Wednesday that they’re investigating the possible sexual abuse of some young boys taken from a polygamist sect’s ranch, as well as broken bones among other children.
In written and oral testimony provided to lawmakers Wednesday, officials with the state Department of Family and Protective Services said interviews and journal entries suggested that boys may have been sexually abused.
Earlier, the department’s commissioner, Carey Cockerell, told lawmakers that at least 41 children, some of them “very young,” have evidence of broken bones.
The state has custody of 464 children from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Texas.
The state has been criticized for taking all the children from the ranch, including infants and boys, on the theory that the girls may be abused when they are teens.
State authorities raided the ranch in search of evidence of underage girls being forced into polygamous marriages. Since then, the state won temporary custody of the children, now scattered around the state in group foster-care facilities.
by newsroom — published on April 30th, 2008
The Fed action, announced Wednesday after a two-day regular meeting, pushed the federal funds rate down to 2 percent, its lowest level since late 2004. It marked the seventh consecutive rate cut by the central bank since it began easing credit conditions last September to combat the growing threat of a recession brought on by a deep housing slump and credit crisis.
The rate cut will mean lower borrowing costs throughout the economy as banks reduce their prime lending rate, the benchmark for millions of consumer and business loans.
by newsroom — published on April 30th, 2008
A Butler County couple and their twin daughters escaped a fire that destroyed their garage and part of their home last night on Swain Hill Road in Jackson, police said.
William and Ann Schlichtkrull and their 6-year-old daughters were not injured.
The family had been asleep when a neighbor noticed their garage on fire and awakened them around 11:15 p.m.
The garage and three of the four vehicles parked inside were destroyed, Jackson police Chief Len Keller said.
The home, which has been in the family for generations, sustained at least $500,000 in damage, Chief Keller said.
by newsroom — published on April 30th, 2008
Automated calls from political candidates could be outlawed in Pennsylvania in time for the fall general election.The Senate today approved a bill preventing candidates and campaign committees from making so-called “robo-calls” to residents who join a do-not-call list.
Candidates and campaign committees would still be allowed to contact voters as long as “there is a real person making the calls,” he said. The bill prevents only recorded messages.
The bill, which would take effect Oct. 15, passed 48-1 with Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, opposing. It now heads to the House.
by newsroom — published on April 30th, 2008
A resident in a Corry Pennsylvania neighborhood serving federal probation for possessing child pornography has been charged with having sex with a minor girl in 2003 and 2004, after walking in to a Police station in Corry and confessing.
The defendant, George Eberle, 29, of the 300 block of East Main Street, was arraigned Tuesday and jailed in the Erie County Prison on $100,000 bond. He is accused of aggravated indecent assault and other counts.
The statement was taken on the 15th of April and the girl is now 15. He will get at a minimum 3 years in jail.
