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TexasTowelie's JournalAllentown Diocese mum on 800-page state grand jury report into sexual abuse
The Allentown Diocese had no comment Friday after receiving a grand jury report of an investigation into sexual abuse by priests and laypeople in six Pennsylvania dioceses.
Matt Kerr, spokesman for the diocese, did not respond to calls seeking comment. Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office turned over the 800-plus page report to church officials in the dioceses of Allentown, Harrisburg, Scranton, Greensburg, Pittsburgh and Erie this week. It was compiled after a statewide grand jury heard testimony for two years.
Under state law, if a grand jury report is “critical of an individual not indicted for a criminal offense” the supervising judge may permit that person to “submit a response” before a final report is published.
That is what is occurring at least at the Erie Diocese. Citing attorney Mark Rush who represents the diocese, GoErie.com Friday reported that Bishop Lawrence Persico is writing a response “in a manner that is appropriate given the context of the report and consistent with Bishop Persico’s commitment to transparency and his policy of protecting children and youth in the diocese.”
Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-diocese-allentown-grand-jury-20180525-story.html
Last gasp for Pa. hog farm suit: 'We don't want to be hostages'
BERWICK, Pa. — Residents who say they've endured a horrific stench from an industrial hog farm on the edge of their Pennsylvania town are taking their fight to the state Supreme Court.
The gigantic barn outside Berwick confines as many as 4,800 hogs. Their waste is applied to nearby farm fields. Residents filed suit, saying the smell forces them inside.
Pennsylvania law shields farms from most suits making a nuisance claim, helping Will-O-Bett Farm prevail in the lower courts. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court must now decide whether it will hear the case after plaintiffs filed a last-gasp appeal this month.
One resident, John Molitoris, says he feels like a hostage in his own house.
Read more: http://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/13698036-74/last-gasp-for-pa-hog-farm-suit-we-dont-want-to-be
Former state AG Kane loses appeal of criminal conviction
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania appeals court on Friday upheld the conviction of former state attorney general Kathleen Kane for leaking secret grand jury information and lying about it, saying among other things she wasn't entitled to use evidence of a pornographic email scandal in her defense.
A three-judge Superior Court panel rejected arguments made by Kane, who has remained out on $75,000 bail since her October 2016 sentencing to 10 to 23 months in jail.
The court turned down claims that all Montgomery County judges should have been prevented from handing her case, evidence against her was illegally obtained, she was the victim of selective and vindictive prosecution and jurors should have been given certain information about grand jury secrecy rules.
The judges also denied her argument she should have been able to use evidence about a pornographic email scandal that involved the office she ran, or the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case that her former office prosecuted.
Read more: http://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/13689583-74/former-state-ag-kane-loses-appeal-of-criminal-conviction
CEO of Bumble Bee Foods steps down following indictment
The chief executive of Bumble Bee Foods has stepped down, one week after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he conspired to fix the prices of packaged seafood.
“Chris Lischewski has taken a leave of absence to defend himself from the accusations made against him,” Jill Irvin, senior vice president, general counsel, Bumble Bee Seafoods, said in an emailed statement.
Effective immediately, Jan Tharp, the company’s chief operating officer, will act as interim CEO, the statement continued.
“As previously mentioned, we have implemented new guidelines and internal policies over the past year and a half as a result of this investigation, through the leadership of our chief compliance officer. We are committed to act with integrity and transparency in every way we operate our business,” the statement read.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/money/2018/05/25/CEO-of-Bumble-Bee-Foods-steps-down-following-indictment/stories/201805250156
Czechs and Slovaks to mark 100-year anniversary of Pittsburgh Agreement
Simply putting a pen to paper doesn’t create a nation. Such an undertaking takes inspirational leadership and dedicated followers.
One hundred years ago, Pittsburgh was the scene of just such forces coming together to draw up the Pittsburgh Agreement — the historic one-page document that outlined the unification of the Czech Republic and Slovakia into one nation: Czechoslovakia.
And even though they have since separated, the bond reflected in that momentous pact is being remembered and celebrated here this week and later this year in the two nations.
“It’s fascinating, really, that it happened in Pittsburgh,” said author Robert W. Doubek, founding president of the American Friends of the Czech Republic. “But it couldn’t happen in Europe. The Czechs and Slovaks were in an occupied territory, and calling for political activity could get you in trouble.”
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2018/05/26/Pittsburgh-Agreement-Czechs-Slovaks-100-year-anniversary-czechoslovakia/stories/201805270079
Abolition Hall backers won't let historic site get railroaded
A proposed plan to build town homes on the Abolition Hall Underground Railroad site would harm the historic property, activists said at a Whitemarsh Township Board of Supervisors meeting last week.
Supporters of The Friends of Abolition Hall and Philadelphia’s Avenging the Ancestors Coalition overflowed from a room into the hallway at the Township Hall on Thursday as they voiced their concerns and opposition to the plan in the suburban community northwest of Philadelphia.
The project calls for 67 town homes on 10 acres of land, with eight acres containing Abolition Hall, an Underground Railroad stop, and fields where slaves hid from slave catchers.
“There’s a huge continuum between active demolition and fully preserving the property and [developers] have both said in the hearing and in written documents that they are fully preserving the historic structures, which we believe is pretty far from the truth,” said Sydelle Zove, Friends of Abolition Hall convener.
Read more: http://www.phillytrib.com/news/abolition-hall-backers-won-t-let-historic-site-get-railroaded/article_1b4a4003-e41d-53ab-bb8c-9e9233abc665.html
White neighbor gets prison for harassing black family
EASTON, Pa. (AP) - A neighbor accused of harassing and using racial epithets against a black Pennsylvania family for years has been sentenced to prison.
A Northampton County judge sentenced 45-year-old Robert Kujawa to the term Friday after a jury convicted him of ethnic intimidation, harassment and stalking, the (Allentown) Morning Call reported.
Prosecutors said Kujawa hung Confederate flags in the windows of his Bethlehem Township home, but only those facing the black family's residence, and used a racial slur against the woman and her son when they were in the backyard. Kujawa's attorney denied his client, who is white, used the slur.
Family members said the man used a pellet gun to shoot out their outdoor lights and damage their furniture.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/20180526_ap_4a03d9a1492b440582c3c15c6f11dd4c.html
Lawyer who helped top payday lenders prey on financially desperate is sentenced to 8 years in prison
PHILADELPHIA -- The lawyer behind some of the nation’s top payday lenders was sentenced to eight years in federal prison Friday after more than a decade spent enabling men who prosecutors say preyed on the financially desperate to fuel a multibillion-dollar industry.
Wheeler K. Neff, 69, of Wilmington, Del., devised the legal framework behind business tactics that enabled his clients to dodge government regulatory efforts for years. He forged relationships with American Indian tribes that many payday lenders used to hide their involvement in issuing low-dollar, high-interest loans outlawed in many states.
But flanked in a Philadelphia courtroom Friday by a cadre of family members, neighbors, country club friends, and fellow church congregants, Neff insisted that he’d believed at the time that everything he was doing was legal.
“I now realize how people can be crushed under the weight of payday loans,” he told U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno. “However, it was never my intention to harm anyone.”
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/philadelphia/wheeler-neff-charles-hallinan-lawyer-payday-lender-sentenced-to-8-years-in-racketeering-case-20180525.html
Some public pensions funds could run dry in downturn
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) - Many pension funds for public workers already owe far more in retirement benefits than they have in the bank, and the problem will only grow worse if the economy slows down, according to a report released Thursday.
The study from The Pew Charitable Trusts found that the New Jersey and Kentucky funds are in such perilous shape that they risk running dry.
"Even after eight years of economic recovery - eight straight years of stock market gains - the public pension plans are more vulnerable than they've ever been to the next recession," researcher Greg Mennis said in an interview.
Governments have been ramping up contributions to the funds to help cover the promises they've made to retirees, but that leaves less money to spend on schools, police, parks and other core government services.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/nj/20180524_ap_f1f873f4e73e4d429bf4012b6d1f6fd4.html
Shore towns ban plastic bags, say they dirty beaches, hurt wildlife
Bob Schoelkopf took a hose and sprayed down a gray seal pup that remained quiet as two other seals bellowed in their own nearby cubicles.
“This little gray seal pup, a little male, was lucky because he crawled out onto the beach here at Brigantine while we were releasing another seal back into the wild,” said Schoelkopf, founder of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center. “It came in with a fishing net wrapped totally around its neck.”
The material acted like a “saw” around the animal’s neck, and had cut through both skin and blubber by the time he was rescued.
The Jersey Shore is literally the end of the road for fishing nets and thousands of other plastic items. Westerly winds carry balloons and shopping bags from inland and they snag on trees like rogue Christmas ornaments. They land on docks and light poles, the last impediments before the open ocean.
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/health/environment/plastic-new-jersey-shore-beach-longport-long-beach-brigantine-20180524.html
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