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Penn St. leaders passed on reformBy Don Van Natta Jr. | ESPN.com Updated: July 18, 2012, 12:45 PM ET In November 2004, four of Penn State's leaders, including then-president Graham Spanier, sat down at Joe Paterno's kitchen table on a Sunday morning. The men asked the iconic coach to retire. Paterno said no, and that was that. That same month, seven members of Penn State's board of trustees proposed sweeping reforms that would have strengthened the board's oversight power of Spanier and other campus leaders, including Paterno, according to documents obtained this week by "Outside the Lines." The group told...

UPDATE: THE prospect of government forcing priests to report what was said in confession is the sign of a "police state mentality", says a priest and law professor.Hundreds of years of Catholic tradition in the confessional could be overturned by Victoria's inquiry into child sex abuse. Priests would be ordered to reveal crimes told to them in private confessions under one proposal before the inquiry. But priests say they will resist being forced to reveal secrets of the confessional. Priest and law professor Father Frank Brennan said the move would be a restriction on religious freedom. “If a parliamentary inquiry...

He was skeptical of preachers and their effect on God-and-gun clinging Americans, and saw the Catholic Church as an obstacle to his policies, plans, and vision for the state.At the same time, he argued that Christians should support his ideas and enthusiastically sought the support of the "social justice" Religious Left for various causes and campaigns. And yet, many people were unclear about his personal religious beliefs, including whether he was a Christian. Some even dared to call him a communist, while he described himself as "progressive."Sound familiar? Who is this man? If you answered "Barack Obama," you're only half...

Do people who rape children, or fantasize about sexually abusing them, deserve sympathy – because they were born with the brains of pedophiles? That’s the question a prominent scientist and a well-known anchor at CNN have asked in the wake of the recent Jerry Sandusky scandal. CNN recently featured a story by James Cantor, a homosexual psychologist and scientist at the Sexual Behaviors Clinic of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health who serves as associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. “It appears that one can be born with a brain predisposed to experience sexual arousal in...

A jury today acquitted a San Francisco man of felony charges that he beat up and abused the cleric he says brutally raped him decades ago. The jury found Will Lynch not guilty of felony elder abuse and felony assault for a confrontation with Rev. Jerold Lindner two years ago. It also found Lynch not guilty of misdemeanor elder abuse, but deadlocked 8-4 in favor of a conviction on misdemeanor assault. The verdict was a triumph for Lynch, now 44, and his supporters, who faithfully picketed outside and packed the Santa Clara County courtroom as the assault trial -- normally...

A Days Inn housekeeper was arrested on charges that he molested a 14-year-old boy in a room at the International Drive hotel Wednesday. The housekeeper, identified as 35-year-old Vanessa Olmos, partially came through the door and asked if there were any dirty towels. (SNIP) The teen told the housekeeper no, but Olmos then asked the teen if he was alone. After the teen said yes, Olmos asked how old he was. (SNIP) The police report said Olmos, a male who identifies himself and lives as a female, asked the teen "Can I touch?"

PORTLAND, Ore. – A listing on Oregon’s sex offender registry paints a scary picture of the man police said tried to sexually assault a boy in a restaurant bathroom before stabbing him on Sunday. Adam Lee Brown was declared a “predatory” sex offender after he was convicted for sodomy in December of 1993. According to news reports from KATU and others at the time, Brown had unprotected sex with children and tried to infect them with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Prosecutors said he victimized nine kids, five of whom were exposed to HIV. He targeted both male and...

Police claim that teacher Emmanuel Del Rosa, 27, “facilitated some students to carry out the hazing to limit behavioral problems within the classroom” during summer school at AB Miller High School in Fontana, California. Four students reportedly took part in the assault, authorities said in a statement. Police declined to release more details, citing the on-going investigation. Fernando Salgado, 18, is accused of attempted sodomy with a person under 18-years-old, rape, mayhem and child cruelty with the possibility of injury or death. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/students-teacher-arrested-alleged-hazing-incident-california-high-school-article-1.1101702#ixzz1z0tfRPmc

Police say they arrested 66-year-old Larry Brinkin, the high-profile gay activist, on possession of child pornography on Friday night.

....Then came the sound bite NBC should have aired on every television set around the country as soon it was muttered from Sandusky’s mouth. “Well — you might think that,’’ Sandusky said. “I don’t know. In terms of — my relationship with so many, many young people. I would — I would guess that there are many young people who would come forward. Many more young people who would come forward and say that my methods and — and what I had done for them made a very positive impact on their life. And I didn’t go around seeking out...

The Occupy movement's hatred for authority is well known. Last fall, Occupy Baltimore was condemned by the heads of three rape crisis centers after they published a pamphlet which seemed to discourage victims from reporting rape to police (preferring instead to handle such accusations as an internal matter). In a similar move last week, a group calling itself Occupy Patriarchy protested a conference against child sex trafficking and suggested that "minors" involved in the "sex industry" would be better off without the intervention of police.

A College Station man faces felony indecency charges after police said he exposed himself from his apartment balcony to four kids swimming in a pool at the complex. Frank Alan Stortini, 43, was arrested Saturday afternoon at Pepper Tree Apartments on Longmire Drive. He remained in the Brazos County Jail on Sunday in lieu of $48,000 bail. Authorities said children — ages 4, 9, 10 and 12 years old — were in the pool when Stortini is accused of committing the crime. An arrest report filed by College Station police states that parents of the children said that Stortini was...

Full Title: The Irish government is going to make it a criminal offence for a priest not to tell the gardai when a sex offender confesses his crime: I say, bring it on Alan Shatter, Ireland's Minister for Justice (PA photo) “It has to be made clear to everyone, including the main Church in this State, that the rights of children and the laws of the land come first,” Senator David Cullinane was reported by the Irish Times as saying earlier this week in Seanad Éireann. “Priests should know that they cannot use the confessional seal as a reason for...

They can't even cross-examine one of the prime witnesses, a former Penn State janitor who now has dementia but alleged a particular graphic 2000 assault in a locker room shower. Judge Cleland allowed hearsay evidence to be admitted, a brutal hurdle for an already challenged defense.

SEANAD: DAVID CULLINANE (SF) said he was glad the Minister for Justice had made it clear that there would be absolutely no exemptions in terms of legislative requirements on the reporting of the abuse of children or vulnerable adults. Mr Cullinane had earlier noted that the Association of Catholic Priests had stated that there would be no breaking of the confessional seal. It had to be made clear to everyone, including the main church in this State, that the rights of children and the laws of the land came first, Mr Cullinane stressed. Priests should know that they could not...

A high-profile member of the Boy Scouts of America's governing board says he doesn't support the Scouts' policy of excluding gays and will work from within to seek a change. Ernst & Young CEO James Turley, whose accounting firm has welcomed gays and lesbians in its own work force, becomes the first member of the Scouts' Executive Board known to publicly disapprove of the policy.

QUINCY — Authorities have arrested a 24-year-old Quincy woman who they allege disguised herself as a 17-year-old male in striking up an interstate Internet romance with a West Virginia minor.

Penn State responded to Tuesday's report that former university vice president Gary Schultz kept a secret file on former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and related allegations of sex abuse. "The University has responded to several subpoenas and gathered documents from many sources across the institution," spokesman Dave La Torre said in a statement. "As soon as any relevant documents were discovered, the University immediately provided them to the office of the Attorney General and the Freeh Group. ... New evidence surfaced Tuesday morning involving former Penn State vice president Gary Schultz. According to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, the State Attorney...

A father beat a man to death after catching him molest his four-year-old daughter in a barn. The man - whose name has not been released to protect his daughter - allegedly beat the attacker over the head when he pulled him off his child after discovering them in a barn in Lavaca County, Texas. Sheriff Micah Harmon said the victim, a 47-year-old Gonzales man, died at the scene. His name will not been released until his next-of-kin are notified.

A father who said he saw a man molesting his 4-year-old daughter behind a barn in Lavaca County apparently beat the man to death Saturday afternoon, officials said. The death occurred about 3:45 p.m. at a horse barn along County Road 302 near Shiner, about 127 miles west of Houston, said Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon. Harmon said the victim, a 47-year-old Gonzales man, died at the scene. His name has not been released because his next of kin has not yet been notified of the death. No arrests have been made in the case. Harmon said a grand jury...