National Roundup

Pennsylvania Police: Man beat girl, 2, to toughen her up ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A Pennsylvania man faces attempted homicide charges for allegedly beating his fiancee's 2-year-old daughter because he thought the girl's upbringing had been too lenient. Investigators say 24-year-old Brandon Bishop told officers the girl was a princess. The Morning Call of Allentown reports Bishop admitted punching, kicking and choking the girl and picking her up by her hair and dropping her. According to a criminal complaint, Bishop said he didn't want to kill the girl. But he allegedly told police that when he was beating the girl, he felt like another person who may have been trying to kill her. Bishop is jailed in lieu of $300,000 bail. A phone listing for his home couldn't be found. The girl's mother is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. New Jersey Court: No shield law for message boards posters TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- The New Jersey Supreme Court says people posting in online message boards don't have the same protections for sources as mainstream journalists. The court ruled Tuesday that New Jersey's shield law for journalists does not apply to such message boards. The case involved a New Jersey-based software company named Too Much Media. It sued a Washington state blogger for defamation and wanted her to reveal sources she cited on message board posts. Shellee Hale claimed customer information was compromised and that she should be protected from revealing her sources. New Jersey's highest court says online message boards are little more than forums for discussion and don't fit the definition of news media as described by the law. Pennsylvania Condom-filled acorns prompt judge complaint HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- A state judicial panel says a Pennsylvania district judge brought disrepute upon the bench by handing out condom-stuffed acorns to women outside the Statehouse. The Judicial Conduct Board filed a complaint in April against Magisterial District Judge Isaac Stoltzfus over the bizarre incident in Harrisburg in September. The Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era reports Stoltzfus remains on the bench pending the outcome of the case. According to the panel's complaint, the judge offered the acorns to two female state employees outside the Capitol. The women found the hollowed-out acorns contained unwrapped condoms. Stoltzfus was cited for disorderly conduct but the charges were later dropped after prosecutors determined he hadn't committed a crime. A phone message left for Stoltzfus' attorney was not immediately returned early Tuesday. Pennsylvania Witness in collar bomb trial gets reduced sentence ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- A Pennsylvania man has received a reduced sentence for his testimony against the alleged mastermind of a bank robbery plot that ended with a pizza delivery driver being killed by a bomb strapped to his neck. The Erie Times-News reports 57-year-old Kenneth Barnes must still serve about 20 years in prison despite Monday's agreement on a reduced sentence. Barnes had pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 45 years in prison for the August 2003 plot to rob an Erie-area bank that ended in the death of 46-year-old Brian Wells. Barnes testified that Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong hatched the scheme because she wanted money to hire a hit man to kill her father. Diehl-Armstrong was convicted of bank robbery and other charges in November. She has appealed. Wisconsin Court revokes Reagan appoin tee's law license MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The state Supreme Court has revoked a former state utility regulator's law license. The state Office of Lawyer Regulation recommended the court revoke Willie J. Nunnery of his license for numerous instances of professional misconduct, including failing to pursue clients' cases and failing to cooperate with OLR investigators. The court ruled Tuesday that the facts support the OLR's case. Nunnery served on the Public Service Commission in the early 1980s. Several calls to Nunnery's law office could not be connected and an email bounced back as undeliverable. His residential number was unlisted. Minnesota New York man sues St. John's, alleging abuse MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A New York man has sued the Order of St. Benedict and St. John's Abbey in Minnesota, alleging a former abbot abused him years ago at a Bronx church. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Minnesota alleges a former altar boy identified only as John Doe 174 was abused in 1966 and 1967 by Timothy Kelly, then an associate pastor at St. Anselm's Church in New York. Kelly became abbot at St. John's in 1992. A year later, he co-founded the Interfaith Sexual Trauma Institute at St. John's, saying sexual abuse by monks was immoral. A news release from the plaintiff's attorneys says former St. John's monk Patrick Wall alleges Kelly actually was unreceptive to abuse victims. Kelly died last year. An abbey spokesman had no immediate comment. Wisconsin Man denied public defender in clinic plot MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The Marshfield man accused of plotting an attack on abortion providers in Madison will not qualify for a public defender. Ralph W. Lang faces state and federal charges after he told investigators he planned to kill abortion providers at Planned Parenthood last month. The 63-year-old is charged in state court with attempted first-degree intentional homicide. At a preliminary hearing Tuesday, a judge ruled that Lang has too much income to qualify for a public defender. Lang can still apply for a court-appointed attorney, an option that would likely give him access to legal counsel at a reduced rate. Lang's alleged plan was thwarted when his gun fired a bullet through his motel-room door. No one was hurt, but when Lang was arrested for reckless endangerment he allegedly acknowledged planning the clinic attack. Published: Wed, Jun 8, 2011