In abortion debate, both sides point to Philadelphia trial

(Editor's Note: Please be advised that this story contains graphic material that may upset some readers)

By Dave Warner

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The Philadelphia abortion clinic that prosecutors called a "house of horrors" is now being cited as powerful evidence by both abortion and anti-abortion rights groups.

Advocates on both sides of the issue spoke out as the murder trial of Dr Kermit Gosnell, accused of killing a patient and four infants during late-term abortions at his clinic, headed for closing arguments on Monday in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia.

Gosnell, 72, who ran the now-shuttered Women's Medical Society Clinic in urban West Philadelphia, could face the death penalty if convicted. The case focuses on whether or not the infants were born alive and then killed.

"Abortion is not safe, it never has been, and what happened in Kermit's clinic is not that unusual," said Joe Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League.

Rev. Frank Pavone, director of the anti-abortion group Priests for Life, said the often gory trial testimony "will change the conversation ... It'll help people engage and make them realize they're not just talking about a theoretical idea."

Abortion-rights activists said Gosnell is an outlier among predominantly safe and legal abortion providers.

"Gosnell ran a criminal enterprise, not a healthcare facility, and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law," said Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Shoddy practices revealed in the Gosnell case are proof that safe abortions should be easily accessible to women of all income levels, said Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

"This is a peek into the back-alley days, the pre-Roe v. Wade days. It's what too many women experienced when we didn't provide access to safe and clean abortion services," Hogue said, referring to the landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1973 that struck down state laws restricting abortion.

The charges against Gosnell and nine of his employees have added fresh fuel to the debate in the United States about late-term abortions.

It is legal in Pennsylvania to abort a fetus up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. It becomes murder if the infant is fully expelled from the mother alive and then killed, according to a lawyer familiar with Pennsylvania law, who declined to be named given the volatility of the case.

Gosnell is charged with first-degree murder for delivering live babies during late-term abortions and then deliberately severing their spinal cords, prosecutors said. He is also charged with third-degree murder in the death of Karnamaya Mongar, 41, of Virginia, who died after the procedure from a drug overdose, prosecutors said.

The doctor has pleaded not guilty to all charges, contending there is no evidence the babies were alive when they were expelled and that Mongar failed to disclose her full medical history, which may have triggered drug complications.

Testimony in the six-week trial before a seven-woman, five-man jury has depicted a filthy, squalid clinic serving mostly low-income women in the largely black community.

Early in the trial, anti-abortion rights groups criticized the national media for largely ignoring the case.

Day Gardner, the head of the National Black Pro-life Union in Washington, tied the media's initial avoidance of the trial to what she said was deeply ingrained racism in American society, noting that many of Gosnell's patients were poor black women and the doctor himself is black.

The national spotlight would have shown brighter if the victim had been "a blonde, blue-eyed child ... It's very obvious that passion across America is not quite the same when it comes to black children," Gardner said.

Gosnell, who has been in jail since his January 2011 arrest, is being tried along with Eileen O'Neill, a medical graduate student accused of billing patients and insurance companies as if she had been a licensed doctor. Eight other defendants have pleaded guilty to a variety of charges and are awaiting sentencing.

(Additional reporting by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Prudence Crowther)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/abortion-debate-both-sides-point-philadelphia-trial-040400904.html

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PFT: CMU's Eric Fisher goes to Chiefs at No. 1

AP

Don Banks of SI.com thinks the Bills? choice of QB E.J. Manuel means the read option will be part of their offense.

Said Dolphins coach Joe Philbin of first-round pick Dion Jordan, ?We?ve got to get our hands on him a little bit (and) work with him a little bit to find out what is his ideal weight and those type of things. I?m not going to sit here and say that we want him to be 265 pounds. We?ll see. Maybe his body isn?t going to function and do some of the things he can at that (weight). He may be able to.?

Patriots DT Vince Wilfork raised $235,000 at his draft party, 10 percent of which will go to marathon bombing victims with the rest to go to fight diabetes.

Two defensive players in the first round suggests coach Rex Ryan?s influence isn?t totally gone with the Jets.

The Ravens website calls trading up in the second round a possibility.

The Bengals didn?t reach for a tackle in the first round with Andre Smith still unsigned.

The Steelers were worried that the Saints would pick LB Jarvis Jones before they had a chance.

WR DeAndre Hopkins is the fourth straight player to come out of college early to be drafted by the Texans in the first round.

Colts DE Bjoern Werner is the first NFL first rounder to call his selection ?unglaublich,? which translates from German as ?beyond belief.?

The Jaguars look to be sitting pretty at the top of the second round.

G Chance Warmack thinks he convinced the Titans to pick him during a private workout.

What?s on the wish list for the Broncos on Friday?

T Eric Fisher said being drafted first overall by the Chiefs was like winning the lottery.

Said Raiders CB D.J. Hayden of whether he thought his career was over when his inferior vena cava was severed last season, ?I did. I definitely did. [It lasted] about a week, and I was just wondering if I would walk straight again. That?s what was on my mind; it was walking straight. I wasn?t worried about life after football. I wasn?t worried about life after college. I was just worried about walking.?

A negative review of the Chargers? decision to draft T D.J. Fluker.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said the two players the team considered trading up to get both were off the board in the top 10.

Giants OL Justin Pugh started all 34 games he played at Syracuse.

Even new Eagles T Lane Johnson thought the Dolphins were trading up to take him on Thursday night.

A look at defensive back options for the Redskins in the coming rounds.

Bears G.M. Phil Emery called Kyle Long the most athletic guard to come out in the last 12 years.

John Niyo of the Detroit News believes drafting DE Ziggy Ansah was a risk worth taking for the Lions.

The Packers highlighted the versatility of DE Datone Jones after drafting him on Thursday.

A bold offseason continued with the Vikings grabbing three players in the first round.

Falcons G.M. Thomas Dimitroff proved again that he isn?t afraid to make big moves to secure players he wants.

The Panthers didn?t waste much time before handing in the card picking DT Star Lotulelei in the first round.

Need might not be the driver when the Saints make their next pick in the third round.

The Buccaneers didn?t do any drafting, but they had quite a draft party.

G Jonathan Cooper said he was shocked the Cardinals picked him because he doesn?t read the mock drafts that projected him as a top 10 pick.

Trading up for WR Tavon Austin says that the Rams aren?t rebuilding anymore.

The 49ers ?absolutely? have a player in mind with the 34th pick.

The Seahawks are ready to jump into the draft after a quiet first night.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/25/chiefs-make-it-official-select-eric-fisher-with-first-pick-in-draft/related/

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Abusive parents still meeting children - timesofmalta.com

Photo: Reuters

Decisions being taken by a government advisory board on children in care, not to allow abusive parents to meet children during supervised access visits, are sometimes ignored, according to a social worker.

There were occasions when the Children and Young Persons Advisory Board recommended that a child who was living in foster care, for example, did not meet his or her abusive parent during family access time.

However, the abusive parents still turned up for the visit leaving the child traumatised.

This was recounted by social worker Daniella Zerafa during a conference entitled The Rights of the Child in Foster Care.

Ms Zerafa, who also lectures at the University of Malta, presented the case study of a fostered child, who she referred to as Katya.

The true story highlighted shortcomings in the system such as delays in deciding whether to issue a care order to remove a child from an abusive family.

Another problem highlighted was the fact that although Maltese law technically allowed the Government to strip parents of parental rights, in cases of abuse, this was not done in practice.

As a result, children were not being allowed to be adopted and live in a stable home.

During the conference Family Minister Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said that her Government put the rights of children at the centre of its policies. She will work to ensure that children are given a stronger voice and that children in care are freed up for adoption. She said that there were about 600 children who lived in out of home care of which some 230 were being fostered.

Nationalist Party spokesman for the Family Chris Said also spoke about the need to strengthen legislation in the best interest of children. ?

Source: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130426/local/abusive-parents-still-meeting-children.467202

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Senate passes bill to end air traffic control furloughs

By Richard Cowan and Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate moved quickly late on Thursday to end air traffic controller furloughs that were causing widespread airline flight delays related to last month's automatic federal spending cuts.

Without any debate, the Senate unanimously passed legislation giving the Department of Transportation flexibility to use unspent funds to cover the costs of air traffic controllers and other essential employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.

The House of Representatives, which is expected to approve the measure, could take it up on Friday, capping a feverish effort by Congress to end the flight delays that were snarling traffic at major U.S. airports and angering travelers.

Some Senate aides said the measure would also give the FAA flexibility to keep open nearly 150 "contract towers" at smaller airports that are staffed by non-FAA employees who help control takeoffs and landings.

Explicit language to keep open those towers was not included in the measure, however, according to the aides, and it was not clear how the agency would handle the matter.

"I'm delighted that the Senate has just passed a bipartisan bill to resolve a serious problem confronting the American traveling public and our economy," said Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, one of a handful of senators who wrote the legislation.

The bill moved with lightning speed in the Senate where legislation often bogs down for weeks or months. It was passed after a day of furious negotiations between lawmakers and the Obama administration.

The bill, if passed by the House, would close another chapter in a series of Washington battles over budget and taxes that have been waged since 2011.

The cause of the air traffic controller furloughs was the controversial "sequestration" that took effect on March 1, requiring across-the-board spending cuts among most federal agencies. With those cuts starting to bite, a public backlash prompted Congress to reconsider, and fully fund high-profile FAA operations.

Lawmakers are eager to fix the air travel problem before they head out of town for next week's congressional recess. They are concerned about deepening public resentment over the delays caused by the furloughs of controllers.

Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, who also negotiated the legislation, applauded its quick passage, but added, "It does nothing for other essential government operations and employees that also desperately need relief."

ANGRY TRAVELERS

Airline passengers have grown increasingly irritated over the past week with delays at major hubs like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Some have reported delays of several hours in takeoff times and planes being put in holding patterns in the air. Many pilots blame furloughs for landing delays.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said on Thursday that many of the 1,978 controller trainees were now working full shifts by themselves to help cover staffing shortages.

Airline executives had ratcheted up their complaints. "This is government not working - capital letters, exclamation point - when we're sitting here holding the traveling public hostage in the midst of sequestration," JetBlue Chief Executive Dave Barger said on a conference call on Thursday.

The FAA has said it had no alternative to furloughing controllers this week after Congress failed to come up with a budget deal that would have averted the $85 billion in across-the-board federal spending cuts between March 1 and September 30.

At the same time, the FAA has emphasized that passenger safety is not at risk. Airlines for America, the trade organization for U.S. airlines, also said on Thursday the furloughs had not created a safety issue.

While Republicans joined the effort for a quick fix, many were skeptical about whether the White House and FAA were taking advantage of flexibility they already had.

Republicans have accused the Obama administration of maximizing the disruptions to try to shift budget blame on Republicans, an allegation the administration has denied. Republicans have created a Twitter hashtag, #Obamaflightdelays, for people to complain about the delays.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, a California Republican, and House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican, sent a letter on Thursday to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking for internal documents discussing budget flexibilities. The Department of Transportation said it was reviewing the request.

But a congressional aide involved in the original automatic spending cut legislation that was enacted in August 2011 told Reuters the administration could not under current law shift money from outside accounts to fund the air traffic controller account.

SEQUESTRATION FALLOUT

Without the legislation, the FAA said it would have to furlough 47,000 employees for up to 11 days through September 30 in order to save $637 million that is required by the sequestration.

Of those 47,000 workers, almost 15,000 are full-time air traffic controllers or trainees.

The FAA issued an update that said more than 863 delays in the system on Wednesday were attributable to staffing reductions resulting from the furloughs.

An additional 2,132 delays were attributed to weather and other factors, the FAA said. The agency said it would work with airlines to minimize delays.

Airlines, many of which are reporting earnings this week, have pushed the government to quickly ease the flight delays caused by the furloughs.

Jeff Smisek, chairman and chief executive of United Continental Holdings Inc, said his company's network operations center was working around the clock to minimize the impact of fewer controllers.

"We are disappointed that the FAA chose this path, that maximizes customer disruptions and damage to airlines instead of choosing a less disruptive method to comply with the budget obligations," Smisek said on a conference call.

The proposal being weighed would not spare other agencies and federal programs from the across-the-board reductions.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Doug Palmer, Thomas Ferraro, David Lawder, Karen Jacobs and Nivedita Bhattacharjee; Writing by Karey Van Hall; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/congress-moving-toward-quick-fix-flight-delays-000258160.html

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The sequester, jobs, politics, and national security (Powerlineblog)

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Are you sick and tired of people interrupting your training - because I ...

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AP PHOTOS: Louisville beats Wichita in Final Four

Wichita State's Carl Hall (22) and Louisville's Russ Smith vie for the loose ball during the second half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game, Saturday, April 6, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Wichita State's Carl Hall (22) and Louisville's Russ Smith vie for the loose ball during the second half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game, Saturday, April 6, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Louisville's Luke Hancock (11) Louisville's Peyton Siva (3) and Louisville's Stephan Van Treese (44) react after the second half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game against Wichita State Saturday, April 6, 2013, in Atlanta. Louisville won 72-68. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Wichita State's Cleanthony Early (11) heads to the hoop against Louisville during the second half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game Saturday, April 6, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall watches play against Louisville during the second half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball semifinal game Saturday, April 6, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino walks the court during the first half of a national semifinal at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball game against Wichita State, Saturday, April 6, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

The first of Saturday's pair of Final Four matchups ends with the Louisville Cardinals advancing to the national championship game with a 72-68 victory over upstart Wichita State, which lost a 12-point lead. Here are some images from the game.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-06-NCAA%20Finals-Photo%20Gallery/id-b9515fc4f36e40ee98b7d9ce26a6853a

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