November 13, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/utah-judge-reverses-decision-baby-lesbian-couple/

Judge amends order to take baby from lesbian couple
CBS/AP
November 13, 2015

Photograph -- Beckie Peirce, left, and her wife, April Hoagland, are fighting a Utah judge's order to give their foster daughter to a straight couple. KUTV
Play VIDEO -- Utah judge orders baby removed from lesbian foster parents



SALT LAKE CITY -- A Utah judge has amended his decision to take a baby away from her lesbian foster parents and place her with a heterosexual couple after the ruling led to widespread backlash.

Ashley Sumner, spokeswoman for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, said a revised order by Judge Scott Johansen means the agency won't have to pull the 9-month-old baby from April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce's home next week, as originally ordered.

Sumner said Johansen's decision, which was released Friday, doesn't rule out the possibility that he could order the child removed from the home after a custody hearing scheduled for Dec. 4.

She said child welfare officials are working to keep the family together and hope that the public outcry surrounding the case sends a strong message to the judge.

Friday's development comes after Johansen said in court Tuesday that the baby would be removed from the couple's home. Utah officials and the couple filed court challenges demanding the judge rescind the order.

In his first decision, Johansen cited research that shows children do better when raised by heterosexual families. However, the American Psychological Association has said there's no scientific basis that gay couples are unfit parents based on sexual orientation.

On Thursday, Hoagland and Peirce told CBS News correspondent Carter Evans the judge on Tuesday ignored pleas from the baby's biological mother to grant them custody. They believe the judge, a bishop in the Mormon church, imposed his religious beliefs over the law.

"This is all about sexual orientation, not what is best for the child," Peirce said.

"He has no other grounds but that," Hoagland added.

Messages left with Jim Hunnicutt, a lawyer for the couple, seeking comments on the judge's revised order were not immediately returned Friday.

Hoagland and Peirce are among a group of same-sex married couples who were allowed to become foster parents in Utah after last summer's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal across the country. State officials don't keep an exact count but estimate there are a dozen or more foster parents who are married same-sex couples.

A full transcript of Johansen's initial ruling has not been made public and may not be because court records of cases involving foster children are kept private to protect the kids. Johansen is precluded by judicial rules from discussing pending cases, Utah courts spokeswoman Nancy Volmer has said.

The move to take the baby away generated widespread criticism, including from national gay rights groups and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert.

Herbert said Thursday that Johansen should follow the law and not inject his personal beliefs into the decision. Groups including the Anti-Defamation League, Human Rights Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union called the order shocking, outrageous and unjust.




“Ashley Sumner, spokeswoman for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, said a revised order by Judge Scott Johansen means the agency won't have to pull the 9-month-old baby from April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce's home next week, as originally ordered. Sumner said Johansen's decision, which was released Friday, doesn't rule out the possibility that he could order the child removed from the home after a custody hearing scheduled for Dec. 4. She said child welfare officials are working to keep the family together and hope that the public outcry surrounding the case sends a strong message to the judge. …. Utah officials and the couple filed court challenges demanding the judge rescind the order. In his first decision, Johansen cited research that shows children do better when raised by heterosexual families. However, the American Psychological Association has said there's no scientific basis that gay couples are unfit parents based on sexual orientation. …. On Thursday, Hoagland and Peirce told CBS News correspondent Carter Evans the judge on Tuesday ignored pleas from the baby's biological mother to grant them custody. They believe the judge, a bishop in the Mormon church, imposed his religious beliefs over the law. "This is all about sexual orientation, not what is best for the child," Peirce said. …. The move to take the baby away generated widespread criticism, including from national gay rights groups and Utah Gov. Gary Herbert. Herbert said Thursday that Johansen should follow the law and not inject his personal beliefs into the decision. Groups including the Anti-Defamation League, Human Rights Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union called the order shocking, outrageous and unjust.”


Our society is in a period of experimentation on many levels, as is a part of the growing democratization here. Europe is ahead of us in most places in these things. It’s like the inclusion into a neighborhood of any other outlier group, there will be a range of opinion about it, with some being in favor of greater diversity and others feeling frightened of that kind of thing. Some of course are simply in a state of war with liberalizing forces, such as fundamentalist religious groups of all kinds. It is interesting to me that in a place like Utah there are enough liberals to force this judge to step back from his initial decision, and that the Governor was actually in favor of the lesbians’ position. This pullback from a highly predictable rightist position gives me hope for the future for our country as a whole.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/kurdish-peshmerga-isis-on-the-run-us-backed-battle-sinjar-iraq/

"Sinjar is liberated," U.S.-allied Kurds declare
CBS NEWS
November 13, 2015

Play VIDEO -- Yazidi villagers describe ISIS atrocities
Photograph -- Kurdish Peshmerga sniper Mazan Maraq scans the horizon for ISIS targets in Sinjar, Iraq, Nov. 12, 2013. CBS
Play VIDEO -- Multi-pronged assault on ISIS in Sinjar
Map -- isis-held-territory-map-cropped3.jpg, CBS




OUTSIDE SINJAR, Iraq -- Kurdish forces quickly reclaimed the strategic northwest Iraq city of Sinjar from ISIS militants Friday after advancing into the city from all angles, the leader of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq said.

About 7,500 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters launched "Operation Free Sinjar" -- backed by intense U.S.-led coalition airstrikes -- early Thursday morning, and little more than a day into the mission it was declared a success.

"Sinjar is liberated by peshmerga," Kurdish President Masoud Barzani said in a Tweet, adding his congratulations to the people of Kurdistan, and saying his Peshmerga military force had "delivered on our pledge to liberate Sinjar."

"I warmly thank the U.S. and other coalition countries for their air strikes," added Barzani.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council said in a statement Friday morning that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters were "defeated and on the run."

CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata, embedded with the Kurds, and his team watched Friday as a first wave of Peshmerga -- about 500 men -- hiked down from their position on a hillside to the east of Sinjar into the city's streets, some draped in Kurdish flags.

That faction, at least, appeared to meet little resistance.

But there was heavy fighting heard to the west of the city, and the airstrikes continued in its immediate surroundings.

U.S. and coalition aircraft carried out more than 250 strikes in the month leading up to the Peshmerga offensive.

D'Agata reported Thursday that the Peshmerga had managed to seize parts of the vital Highway 47 -- a road used by ISIS to ferry supplies from its de-facto capital in Raqqa, Syria, to Mosul, an Iraqi city of more than 1 million people and the terror group's stronghold in Iraq. Sinjar sits near the mid-point on the route.

From their position on the mountainside, D'Agata watched as Kurdish forces searched for targets and passed the coordinates back to U.S. advisers, who would organize airstrikes.

Kurdish soldiers at the forward operating position told CBS News that with aircraft overhead all the time, it could be as little as five minutes from the moment they requested a strike to the time it was delivered.

Peshmerga sniper Mazan Maraq watched the enemy. "They're inside houses," he said. "They move from house to house, they're behind the rubble."

Maraq and his family fled Sinjar when ISIS overran the city 15 months ago.

Tens of thousands were uprooted in the terror that followed as ISIS murdered, raped and enslaved members of the Yazidi religious sect.

Maraq said he hoped ISIS would be defeated so that he and his family can return home.

The fight was going to go house to house. Peshmerga soldiers told CBS News they were expecting snipers, car bombs, and booby traps not only on the roadside, but also inside buildings as they push deeper into Sinjar.

Speaking Friday during a visit to the Tunisian capital, Secretary of State John Kerry said he was, "absolutely confident that over the next days Sinjar will be able to be liberated."




“The Kurdistan Region Security Council said in a statement Friday morning that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters were "defeated and on the run." …. CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata, embedded with the Kurds, and his team watched Friday as a first wave of Peshmerga -- about 500 men -- hiked down from their position on a hillside to the east of Sinjar into the city's streets, some draped in Kurdish flags. That faction, at least, appeared to meet little resistance. But there was heavy fighting heard to the west of the city, and the airstrikes continued in its immediate surroundings. …. D'Agata reported Thursday that the Peshmerga had managed to seize parts of the vital Highway 47 -- a road used by ISIS to ferry supplies from its de-facto capital in Raqqa, Syria, to Mosul, an Iraqi city of more than 1 million people and the terror group's stronghold in Iraq. Sinjar sits near the mid-point on the route. …. Peshmerga sniper Mazan Maraq watched the enemy. "They're inside houses," he said. "They move from house to house, they're behind the rubble." Maraq and his family fled Sinjar when ISIS overran the city 15 months ago. Tens of thousands were uprooted in the terror that followed as ISIS murdered, raped and enslaved members of the Yazidi religious sect. …. The fight was going to go house to house. Peshmerga soldiers told CBS News they were expecting snipers, car bombs, and booby traps not only on the roadside, but also inside buildings as they push deeper into Sinjar.”


This is an exciting story. Sinjar is of course only one of many such cities, but with persistence we should “degrade” the ISIS positions as President Obama said. If they can completely control the road being used by ISIS they can cut off it’s supply route and then Mosul. I am proud of the Peshmerga.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-agrees-hear-texas-abortion-case/

Supreme Court agrees to hear Texas abortion case
AP November 13, 2015

Photograph -- Anti-abortion-rights activists try to block abortion-rights activists as the annual March for Life passes by in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Jan. 22, 2015, in Washington. ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES


WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court is taking on its first abortion case in eight years, a dispute over state regulation of abortion clinics.

The justices said Friday they will hear arguments over a Texas law that would leave about 10 abortion clinics open across the state. A decision should come by late June, four months before the presidential election.

The high court previously blocked parts of the Texas law. The court took no action on a separate appeal from Mississippi, where a state law would close the only abortion clinic, in Jackson.

States have enacted a wave of measures in recent years that have placed restrictions on when in a pregnancy abortions may be performed, imposed limits on abortions using drugs instead of surgery and raised standards for clinics and the doctors who work in them.

The new case concerns the last category. In Texas, the fight is over two provisions of the law that Gov. Rick Perry signed in 2013. One requires abortion facilities to be constructed like surgical centers. The other allows doctors to perform abortions at clinics only if they have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

Texas had 41 abortion clinics before the clinic law. More than half of those closed when the admitting privileges requirement was allowed to take effect. Nineteen clinics remain.

The focus of the dispute at the Supreme Court is whether the law imposes what the court has called an undue burden on a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. If allowed to take full effect, the law would leave no abortion clinics west of San Antonio and only one operating on a limited basis in the Rio Grande Valley.

The state has argued that women in west Texas already cross into New Mexico to obtain abortions at a clinic in suburban El Paso.

In its decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in 1992, the court ruled that states generally can regulate abortion unless doing so places an undue burden on women. Casey was a huge victory for abortion-rights advocates because it ended up reaffirming the constitutional right to an abortion that the court established in Roe v. Wade in 1973.

In 2007, a divided court upheld a federal law that bans an abortion procedure that opponents call partial-birth abortion and opened the door to new limits on abortion.




“The Supreme Court is taking on its first abortion case in eight years, a dispute over state regulation of abortion clinics. The justices said Friday they will hear arguments over a Texas law that would leave about 10 abortion clinics open across the state. A decision should come by late June, four months before the presidential election. The high court previously blocked parts of the Texas law. The court took no action on a separate appeal from Mississippi, where a state law would close the only abortion clinic, in Jackson. …. One requires abortion facilities to be constructed like surgical centers. The other allows doctors to perform abortions at clinics only if they have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Texas had 41 abortion clinics before the clinic law. More than half of those closed when the admitting privileges requirement was allowed to take effect. Nineteen clinics remain. …. In its decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in 1992, the court ruled that states generally can regulate abortion unless doing so places an undue burden on women. Casey was a huge victory for abortion-rights advocates because it ended up reaffirming the constitutional right to an abortion that the court established in Roe v. Wade in 1973.”


When we look at the hardship to fetuses we must compare it to the “bad old days” of illegal and often botched abortions that caused women to die of infections or by bleeding out in too many cases. Growing up in the South there were stories about high school girls who got pregnant out of wedlock and had to do something drastic about it. Some left their hometown and went out of state to special clinics, to a relative’s house; and also there were childless couples who would take care of the girl until her birth time, then adopting the baby as their own. Others died at the hands of local illegal practitioners who were not medically qualified to perform the operation. The important novel Peyton Place was about a local doctor who removed the fetus from a poverty stricken teenaged girl whose abusive father had impregnated her. Every woman I know has read it. To some men it is not a moral issue – only the fact that the girl is pregnant is the moral issue. That attitude still prevails in Texas, apparently. We’ll see what the Supreme Court does in June 2016.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/9-questions-for-democratic-debate-moderator-john-dickerson/

9 questions for Democratic debate moderator John Dickerson
CBS NEWS
November 13, 2015

Photograph -- Democratic debate moderator John Dickerson on the set of CBS' "Face the Nation." CBS NEWS / CHRIS USHER
Play VIDEO -- How are social media affecting the 2016 campaign?


CBS News will host the second Democratic primary debate Saturday evening, along with CBS News affiliate, KCCI, and the Des Moines Register. Twitter has partnered with CBS News for the debate, and it will provide real-time data and bring live reactions and questions from voters around the country onto the debate stage.

Saturday's contest -- between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley -- is a field winnowed by two since the candidates last met. Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee ended their race for the Democratic nomination.

"Face the Nation" anchor John Dickerson will be the principal moderator, and he answered a few questions about what he hopes that voters will see and hear in this debate.

What is your goal as debate moderator?

John Dickerson (JD): To be a window. The voters should see the voters through our questions and I hopefully won't do anything to get in the way of that commerce.

We know the candidates are preparing for the debate and that you are, too. What have you been doing to prepare?

JD: I've been doing interviews, reading, looking into their positions and looking back on some journalism that I've done over the years addressing these issues of what can we learn about candidates during debates.

What is the most important topic for the candidates this election?

JD: The Middle Class squeeze - why it's happening and how to stop the stagnation of wages and increase of prices in their lives.

Is there a single issue that you'd like to know more about from the candidates that you don't feel has been sufficiently explored so far?

JD: Their views on the choices that presidents have to actually make in office.

Where do you think the greatest disagreements lie between the three remaining candidates?

JD: They have a disagreement on gun control legislation, health care, foreign policy and how best to change the market so that it stops producing income inequality.

How much do you think a debate can influence the course of an election?

JD: Not very much, but it can illuminate ideas and help people feel like they have more control over their lives and understand the issues.

Who has the most at stake in this debate?

JD: They all have something at stake, but Hillary has the most at stake because she is the one who is farthest ahead.

What role will Twitter play in this debate, and will you be Tweeting during the commercial breaks?

JD: No Tweeting for me! Twitter will be giving people a chance to provide us with the questions they would like to ask the candidates.

What role has Twitter played in this election?

JD: It's one of the common spaces where people experience and debate this election. It's also the place where people go when they watch political events.




“Twitter has partnered with CBS News for the debate, and it will provide real-time data and bring live reactions and questions from voters around the country onto the debate stage. …. What is your goal as debate moderator? John Dickerson (JD): To be a window. The voters should see the voters through our questions and I hopefully won't do anything to get in the way of that commerce. …. What is the most important topic for the candidates this election? JD: The Middle Class squeeze - why it's happening and how to stop the stagnation of wages and increase of prices in their lives. …. JD: They have a disagreement on gun control legislation, health care, foreign policy and how best to change the market so that it stops producing income inequality. …. JD: No Tweeting for me! Twitter will be giving people a chance to provide us with the questions they would like to ask the candidates. What role has Twitter played in this election? JD: It's one of the common spaces where people experience and debate this election. It's also the place where people go when they watch political events.”


What I’m hoping to see through this debate is what former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is like. I could happily vote for either Sanders or Clinton. Is he strong, eloquent, genuinely liberal, and interested in social issues such as overcoming racism and withstanding the push of the rightist religious groups in our country today? I want to see our Democratic candidate be a strong liberal with a wide-ranging field of interest, and I am appalled that the rightest forces in the US are challenging most of what makes us a truly free society. I am also interested in seeing more of such well-qualified true Dems in the political field. I was disappointed when Biden didn’t make a better showing. Of course, after his son died he had no heart for the process, which is grueling at best.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-rolls-out-30-billion-plan-to-help-coal-communities/

Hillary Clinton rolls out $30 billion plan to help coal communities
By STEPHANIE CONDON CBS NEWS
November 13, 2015

Photograph -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at the Democratic National Committee's Women's Leadership Forum's 22nd annual conference in Washington October 23, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron REUTERS
Related topics -- Global temperatures approach milestone amid record greenhouse gases
California wants renewable energy for half its power by 2030


As the United States and other world leaders negotiate an agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, Hillary Clinton is rolling out a plan to help revitalize the American communities that will suffer from the move away from coal.

"The 20th century energy system is not coming back -- because of the shale boom, because of low-cost renewable energy, and because of the growing imperative to combat climate change," Clinton wrote in an op-ed published Friday in Charleston Gazette-Mail, a West Virginia newspaper. "But I believe that we can forge a 21st century energy future for the United States that provides a clean and secure engine for economic growth -- without leaving out or leaving behind our coal communities."

Clinton's plan -- which will cost about $30 billion, according to her campaign -- would ensure retirees in coal communities receive the benefits they were promised and the assistance they need, improve the infrastructure and government resources in coal communities, and it would provide grants to stimulate private investment.

While coal accounts for about one third of U.S. power generation, domestic consumption has fallen by 25 percent over the past 10 years, the campaign noted.

A clean energy economy, the Clinton campaign said, "will create new jobs and industries, deliver important health benefits, and reduce carbon pollution. But we can't ignore the impact this transition is already having on mining communities, or the threat it poses to the healthcare and retirement security of coalfield workers and their families."

The first element of Clinton's plan would be a federal "backstop" to ensure retirees receive the benefits they are promised, even as power plants and coal transportation companies fall into bankruptcy. The proposal builds on the Miners Protection Act, which was introduced earlier this year by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia; Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia; Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania; and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

Clinton would also bolster the federal black lung benefit program, making it easier for miners to get their deserved benefits.

Clinton's proposal also includes plans to support communities as they transition their economies. For instance, her proposed Secure Coal Community Schools (SCCS) program would compensate for the lost local revenue from the coal industry, helping to pay for schools until alternative sources of local tax revenue are built up.

To help create that revenue, Clinton would invest in new infrastructure projects in coal communities, including the completion of new roads, bridges, water systems, airports, transmission lines and broadband. Her administration would also work with railroad companies to find the best ways to leverage rail capacity previously used to ship coal. In addition to investing in these infrastructure projects, Clinton promises to streamline the permitting process.

Clinton will focus on infrastructure, her campaign said, that "connects workers to new jobs and companies to new markets."

Clinton also intends to use existing funding in the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund to help finance projects that repurpose mine lands and power plant sites. As an example of a project to emulate, the campaign pointed to Google's plans to build a data center on the site of a recently closed coal plant in Alabama.

The Democratic frontrunner also proposes increasing public investment in research and development at universities and other institutions in coal-producing regions. She also intends on attracting new private investment by expanding the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program to ensure that coal communities qualify. Clinton would also offer companies a chance to eliminate capital gains taxes on long-term investments in hard-hit coal communities.

Lastly, Clinton is proposing a series of grants to promote local business development, job training, housing, arts and culture.

This article was corrected to note that Sen. Sherrod Brown is from Ohio, not Pennsylvania.




"The 20th century energy system is not coming back -- because of the shale boom, because of low-cost renewable energy, and because of the growing imperative to combat climate change," Clinton wrote in an op-ed published Friday in Charleston Gazette-Mail, a West Virginia newspaper. "But I believe that we can forge a 21st century energy future for the United States that provides a clean and secure engine for economic growth -- without leaving out or leaving behind our coal communities." …. While coal accounts for about one third of U.S. power generation, domestic consumption has fallen by 25 percent over the past 10 years, the campaign noted. …. But we can't ignore the impact this transition is already having on mining communities, or the threat it poses to the healthcare and retirement security of coalfield workers and their families." The first element of Clinton's plan would be a federal "backstop" to ensure retirees receive the benefits they are promised, even as power plants and coal transportation companies fall into bankruptcy. The proposal builds on the Miners Protection Act, which was introduced earlier this year by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia; Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia; Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania; and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. …. Clinton would also bolster the federal black lung benefit program, making it easier for miners to get their deserved benefits. Clinton's proposal also includes plans to support communities as they transition their economies. For instance, her proposed Secure Coal Community Schools (SCCS) program would compensate for the lost local revenue from the coal industry, helping to pay for schools until alternative sources of local tax revenue are built up. …. , Clinton would invest in new infrastructure projects in coal communities, including the completion of new roads, bridges, water systems, airports, transmission lines and broadband. Her administration would also work with railroad companies to find the best ways to leverage rail capacity previously used to ship coal. In addition to investing in these infrastructure projects, Clinton promises to streamline the permitting process. Clinton will focus on infrastructure, her campaign said, that "connects workers to new jobs and companies to new markets." …. use existing funding in the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund to help finance projects that repurpose mine lands and power plant sites. As an example of a project to emulate, the campaign pointed to Google's plans to build a data center on the site of a recently closed coal plant in Alabama. …. also proposes increasing public investment in research and development at universities and other institutions in coal-producing regions. She also intends on attracting new private investment by expanding the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program to ensure that coal communities qualify. Clinton would also offer companies a chance to eliminate capital gains taxes on long-term investments in hard-hit coal communities.”


Does this remind anyone of President Roosevelt’s New Deal? It does me, and this make me want to vote for Hillary much more than I did before. It’s the first time I’ve seen her really stand up for the underdogs in our society. She should have spoken up sooner. Maybe the fact that Sanders had her on the run helped. This is the kind of thing that our national government needs to do with economic issues press our citizens sorely. They can really help about decreasing the dangerously large gap between the poor and the wealthy. We sometimes forget – a major mistake – that many of the poor are not black or Hispanic people, but Anglo-Saxon stock. Part of the backlash against blacks that is occurring now is due to the fear of our future path among whites. Most of those rightwing militia groups are made up of poor whites. They’re not merely racist, but are also simply desperate.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jerry-sandusky-penn-state-pension-court-ruling/

Court rules on whether Jerry Sandusky can get his pension back
AP November 13, 2015

Photograph -- Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky leaves the Centre County Courthouse after being sentenced in his child sex abuse case on October 9, 2012 in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES


HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The state must restore the $4,900-a-month pension of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky that was taken away three years ago when he was sentenced to decades in prison on child molestation convictions, a court ordered Friday.

A Commonwealth Court panel ruled unanimously that the State Employees' Retirement Board wrongly concluded Sandusky was a Penn State employee when he committed the crimes that were the basis for the pension forfeiture.

"The board conflated the requirements that Mr. Sandusky engage in 'work relating to' PSU and that he engage in that work 'for' PSU," wrote Judge Dan Pellegrini. "Mr. Sandusky's performance of services that benefited PSU does not render him a PSU employee."

Sandusky, 71, collected a $148,000 lump sum payment upon retirement in 1999 and began receiving monthly payments of $4,900.

The board stopped those payments in October 2012 on the day he was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for sexually abusing 10 children. A jury found him guilty of 45 counts for offenses that ranged from grooming and fondling to violent sexual attacks. Some of the encounters happened inside university facilities.

The basis for the pension board's decision was a provision in the state Pension Forfeiture Act that applies to "crimes related to public office or public employment," and he was convicted of indecent assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

The judges said the board's characterization of Sandusky as a Penn State employee at the time those offenses occurred was erroneous because he did not maintain an employer-employee relationship with the university after 1999.

The judges ordered the board to pay back interest and reinstated the pension retroactively, granting him about three years of makeup payments.

Sandusky attorney Richard A. Beran said the board had taken from the Sanduskys what was rightfully theirs.

"Perhaps a majority lacked the courage to apply the law as stated," Beran said. He called the December 2014 decision "certainly one that probably pleased the public in light of the current state of the Pennsylvania pension system, but under the law it was very clear he was entitled to it and his wife is entitled to the pension if Jerry predeceases her."

Beran said he expected the retirement system to pursue an appeal to the state Supreme Court, but State Employees' Retirement System spokesman Jay Pagni said he could not speculate on what action might be taken.

"We just received the order today," Pagni said. "We are reviewing it and we will present that analysis to the board." He was unsure how much Sandusky would receive in back payments and interest.

Sandusky, housed at Greene State Prison, is pursuing an appeal of his conviction. Although Penn State employees are not state workers, university employees are allowed to participate in the state government pension system.




“The state must restore the $4,900-a-month pension of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky that was taken away three years ago when he was sentenced to decades in prison on child molestation convictions, a court ordered Friday. A Commonwealth Court panel ruled unanimously that the State Employees' Retirement Board wrongly concluded Sandusky was a Penn State employee when he committed the crimes that were the basis for the pension forfeiture. …. The board stopped those payments in October 2012 on the day he was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for sexually abusing 10 children. A jury found him guilty of 45 counts for offenses that ranged from grooming and fondling to violent sexual attacks. Some of the encounters happened inside university facilities. The basis for the pension board's decision was a provision in the state Pension Forfeiture Act that applies to "crimes related to public office or public employment," and he was convicted of indecent assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. …. Beran said he expected the retirement system to pursue an appeal to the state Supreme Court, but State Employees' Retirement System spokesman Jay Pagni said he could not speculate on what action might be taken. …. Sandusky, housed at Greene State Prison, is pursuing an appeal of his conviction.”


I do hate to see people in high positions triumph over the justice system when so many of the poor and underprivileged only continue in that path. Of course lawyers are nothing if not knit-picking in their judgments, and judges are of the same mind. When it comes to court cases it’s the very narrow legal interpretations that bring about decisions. Sometimes in the Supreme Court there can be a turnaround through their interpretation process which includes the INTENTION of a law as well as its’ specific wording. As for Sandusky, he makes me nauseous. I’m sorry for his wife, but only so sorry, because she was in the house when he was forcibly molesting at least one of those boys and didn’t complain about it. They’re both sickos.




6:35 PM -- I have just turned on my CBS TV news show and found that France is under a limited but frightening attack in at least three sites from Islamists. The French have closed their borders and the French government is under an emergency status. This kind of thing is what I have been fearing since ISIS announced its goals. We are nearing that WWIII situation, I fear. I'll write more tomorrow when the Internet news sites come up to date on all this.