NEW DELHI ? Two states in northern India with 20 million voters are choosing state assemblies in elections testing the popularity of the national government’s ruling Congress party.
Paramilitary troops patrolled thousands of polling stations for the votes Monday in Punjab and Uttarakhand states.
In Punjab, often called India’s bread basket, the Congress is trying to wrest power from a coalition including the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. Results of the elections are not expected until March 6.
The biggest test for Congress will be elections starting next week in India’s biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, which are viewed as a make or break moment for Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Gandhi has launched an intense campaign to dislodge the state’s ruling party.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_as/as_india_elections
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The head of the state’s nascent gaming commission has some advice for would-be casino developers lining up to cash in on Massachusetts’ new gambling law.
Be creative. Think outside the box.
“I like the idea of saying to these people, ‘Take the wraps off. Let’s think big,’” said Stephen Crosby, who was named by Gov. Deval Patrick last month to chair the five-member panel that will award licenses for up to three casinos and one slots parlor in the state.
“Obviously, you’re in it to make money. That’s fine. If you can figure out a way to make money that is going to be consistent with our value structure and what we lay out as the primary values, go for it,” Crosby said during a recent interview with The Associated Press.
Once the commission is fully formed ? Crosby is the only member appointed to date ? one of its first tasks will be drafting a formal call for bidders on the casino licenses.
Crosby, a former state Secretary of Administration and Finance, sees two ways to approach the task. One envisions a rigid set of guidelines and financial benchmarks that he said would make it relatively easy to compare competing proposals and make decision-making more objective.
Another option, he said, is to write a broad, conceptual invitation for bids that would lay out a system of values that maximizes job creation and other economic benefits of casinos while minimizing the potentially negative impacts feared by casino opponents.
“Then you say to these hugely wealthy, creative ? presumably ? people, ‘Come to us with your best shot. You think outside the box, you say how you want to do this.’”
Such an open-ended call for proposals would lead to a more subjective decision-making process for the commission, he said, and one that he clearly prefers. But Crosby also recognizes a potential pitfall in this approach: the possibility of lawsuits from losing bidders.
Crosby, 66, readily admits to being as unfamiliar with the world of casino gambling as most Massachusetts residents. He plans to travel to other states to learn more about the good, bad and ugly of casinos.
The visits would include meetings with civic leaders and interest groups to find out whether casino operators kept their promises after setting up shop in a community, he said. Crosby also plans to meet with people who work with compulsive gamblers.
Once up and running, the commission can expect no shortage of big-name, deep-pocketed casino suitors.
On Thursday, MGM Resorts International announced it was partnering with a local landowner to develop a resort casino on a 150-acre site in Brimfield. That plan would face stiff competition for the sole western Massachusetts license with Mohegan Sun, which is pursuing a casino in Palmer, and from developers eyeing sites in Springfield, Holyoke and possibly Chicopee.
In eastern Massachusetts, another major Las Vegas casino operator, Steve Wynn, has teamed with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft in the hopes of developing a resort casino near Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. The owners of the Suffolk Downs racetrack in East Boston have also made clear they will seek a casino license.
The third license, pegged for the southeastern part of the state, hinges initially on the ability of a federally recognized Indian tribe to reach a casino compact with the state. If no such deal is struck by July 1, several private developers could enter the fray.
The framers of the casino law Patrick signed in November predicted it would net the state at least $300 million in annual revenue, with casinos taxed at 25 percent of gambling proceeds. But making money for Massachusetts is only third on Crosby’s list of priorities.
“I’m personally not going to get hung up on trying to make sure that we maximize the revenue generation for the Commonwealth,” he said, unless it was consistent with his higher priorities.
Priority one, he said, was ensuring that casino gambling is implemented in a way that avoids corruption and minimizes negative consequences for host communities. The second priority is economic development and job creation.
“The governor is clear that he’s not into this because he’s got stars in his eyes about (revenue),” Crosby said. “He does have stars in his eyes about jobs.”
Crosby will take a leave from his job as dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and has committed to serving two years in the gaming post. That means he could depart before any casino actually opens in the state, estimated at three to five years from now.
No matter what safeguards are in place, it might be difficult to convince an often cynical public that the casino selection process is on the level, Crosby acknowledged.
Using a common expletive to describe a disliked individual, Crosby said there would be times he must act like such a person ? even to people he knows well ? to prevent any hint of favoritism. He offered one recent example.
“Somebody called me and said, ‘I need to talk off the record.’ I said, ‘I can’t talk to you off the record. There is no off the record on this.’”
Source: http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2012/01/mass-gaming-chief-seeks-creative-casino-bids/2099121
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. ? Former board members of Jerry Sandusky’s charity say its CEO never told them about a 2002 shower incident that is the focus of child sexual abuse charges against the retired Penn State assistant coach. If they knew Sandusky had been banned from bringing kids on campus, they say they could have taken steps to better protect children a decade ago.
“Not one thing was said to us,” said Bradley P. Lunsford, a Centre County judge who served on the Second Mile board between 2001 and 2005. “Not a damn thing.”
If more information had been given to board members, they “would have asked the follow-up question: Why? You don’t know? Who knows? Who can we talk to? Has this been reported to the police?” Lunsford said. “I guarantee you there would have been a competition among all those people to be the first to ask the question, `Why is he not allowed on campus?’”
Lunsford and four other former board members at The Second Mile point the finger at Jack Raykovitz, a close friend of Sandusky’s who ran the charity until resigning following the former coach’s Nov. 5 arrest.
A former prosecutor, Lunsford said Raykovitz had an obligation to tell the board. “There are a number of people around that table who have been involved with children’s charities for years and there’s a very good chance that if given accurate information about what the allegation was, there’s a lot of people around that table who could have done something about it.”
One of Raykovitz’s vice presidents said Raykovitz also shared little information with his managers about a 2008 sexual abuse complaint that led to the current criminal charges against Sandusky.
And the head of Clinton County’s child welfare agency, where the 2008 investigation began, said Raykovitz’s wife told him in November 2008 that Sandusky had been spoken to about getting “too close” to children involved with the charity. Gerald Rosamilia said Raykovitz’s wife, Katherine Genovese, who helped run The Second Mile, did not define what was meant by “too close” or give a timeframe.
Raykovitz defended himself in a telephone interview, saying he acted appropriately at all times. “There have always been steps in place to protect kids,” he said.
Two grand jury reports, which led to Sandusky being charged with 52 sexual abuse-related counts involving 10 boys, said the former coach found his victims through The Second Mile and committed many of his offenses inside Penn State football buildings.
The nonprofit had thrived since its creation in 1977 because of Sandusky’s prominence as a defensive coach at Penn State, its close ties to university donors and leaders, and its use of Penn State’s athletic fields for its camps serving at-risk children. Then-coach Joe Paterno often served as master of ceremonies at The Second Mile fundraisers.
Paterno, 84, led Penn State football for more than 45 years until early November, when the sexual abuse charges against Sandusky shook the entire university and claimed the jobs of major college football’s winningest coach and the school’s president, Graham Spanier.
Now, with The Second Mile’s future in doubt, it is unclear whether Raykovitz properly handled the charity’s response to the 2002 case.
Penn State athletic director Tim Curley testified that a graduate assistant had told him in 2002 only that he had seen “inappropriate conduct” that made him feel uncomfortable, and nothing of a sexual nature. But Mike McQueary, now an assistant coach, testified to the grand jury that he told Curley he saw what he believed to be Sandusky raping the boy, who he said was about 10.
Curley, who has been charged with perjury and failure to report suspected child abuse, testified he told Raykovitz of inappropriate conduct and that Sandusky was prohibited from bringing youth onto the Penn State campus.
Asked what Curley told him, Raykovitz cited a Nov. 6 Second Mile statement that referred only to inappropriate conduct: “At no time was The Second Mile made aware of the very serious allegations contained in the Grand Jury report.”
The statement also said Curley, who has been placed on leave, told Raykovitz the shower incident “had been internally reviewed and that there was no finding of wrongdoing.”
But Lunsford said the charity’s board couldn’t take action in 2002 that might have prevented other assaults of children “if there’s a cover-up from the source.”
Even if Raykovitz had only limited information, he still should have acted more aggressively in 2002 when contacted by Curley and should have viewed Curley’s ban on Sandusky bringing Second Mile kids to campus as “a red flag,” Lunsford said.
As the person in charge, Raykovitz was legally required to provide the board all available information whether he believed it was true or suspected it was false, Lunsford said.
“We still need to know. That’s our job,” he added. “By not telling us, it essentially rendered us ineffective and we had no chance to help those children.”
Informed of Lunsford’s comments, Raykovitz said, “He can feel anything he wants to feel.”
Charles Markham, retired president of Uni-Marts Inc. and a Second Mile board member from the late 1990s until about 2004, said that Raykovitz never discussed the 2002 case with him personally or at board meetings. “If I’d known anything in 2002, I would have had a hard time keeping it under my hat,” Markham said.
Two other former board members ? Larry Snavely, who runs a State College-based higher education marketing firm, and Donald Cross, a retired Centre County school employee ? said Raykovitz never mentioned the 2002 allegation. Another former member said he was not told, but asked that he not be publicly identified.
David Woodle, acting CEO, refused to address concerns raised by board members about Raykovitz’s handling of information regarding the 2002 shower incident, saying to do so would be a distraction from the goal of helping serve children.
The board of directors of a children’s charity is responsible for making sure that it operates under reasonable policies and procedures to protect children, according to Daniel Borochoff, president of Chicago-based Charity Watch. Individual board members can face lawsuits for failing in their oversight duties, and The Second Mile insures its board members against such claims.
The Second Mile has been named in two civil complaints, including one that seeks to preserve the charity’s assets.
David Marshall, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who represents other accusers, said: “It may have been only Sandusky who laid his hands on these children, but it is clear that a number of other individuals and agencies placed the children in harm’s way by knowingly taking actions that allowed the abuse to continue even after they became fully aware of it.”
Raykovitz also is facing questions about his handling of the 2008 complaint.
Rosamilia, the Clinton County youth services chief, said he had informed Raykovitz’s wife in November 2008 that his office was terminating its relationship with The Second Mile because of an abuse complaint. He said he had not identified the target of that complaint, but that Genovese eventually guessed correctly that it was Sandusky.
Rosamilia, who said he mentioned his conversation with Genovese to investigators working on the current prosecution, also recalled Genovese saying that a member of The Second Mile board planned to speak with Sandusky about staying away from Second Mile events involving children.
Raykovitz said Rosamilia’s description of the conversation with his wife is incorrect. He would not elaborate. Attempts to reach Genovese were unsuccessful.
Raykovitz referred questions about what he did in 2008 to a prior statement, which said that when Sandusky told The Second Mile he was being investigated because of allegations made “by an adolescent male,” the organization separated him from “all of our program activities involving children.” The Second Mile statement makes no mention of the sexual nature of the 2008 complaint.
He said in the interview last week some staff at The Second Mile were informed in 2008 that the complaint was the reason Sandusky was not participating in programs serving children, but only on an “as-needed basis.”
Bonnie Marshall, the charity’s vice president for development, said Raykovitz described the 2008 complaint to her and other senior staff as a general abuse complaint, not one of a sexual nature.
She said Raykovitz explained that Sandusky would be taking a break from programs with children but would continue fundraising.
She said she also was unaware of Genovese’s conversation with Rosamilia, and was not aware that anyone at the charity had ever spoken to Sandusky about getting too close to The Second Mile children.
In 2009, when Sandusky left the charity’s board, Raykovitz told the staff that child welfare officials had issued a finding of abuse against Sandusky, Marshall said. But, she added, Raykovitz described it only as a general complaint being pursued by an angry mother who had accused Sandusky of wrongdoing, not a complaint of sexual abuse.
“I thought he would have told me that this was something really bad,” Marshall said. “And he didn’t.”
___
AP National Writer Jeff Donn and AP researchers Judith Ausuebel and Monika Mathur contributed to this report.
___
The AP National Investigative Team can be reached at investigate(at)ap.org
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111220/ap_on_sp_ot/us_penn_state_the_second_mile
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PHILADELPHIA ? A former Penn State assistant football coach accused of sexually abusing boys held summer football camps at a satellite campus for six years after he was banned from taking youths onto the university’s main campus by the athletics director and the senior vice president, who have been charged with failing to tell police about him.
Jerry Sandusky was prohibited from holding his youth sports camps on campus in 2002, the year a graduate student claimed to see him assault a child in a locker room shower. But Sandusky held the camps through his Sandusky Associates company from 2000 to 2008 at a satellite campus just outside Erie, Penn State Behrend spokesman Bill Gonda said.
“We provided the facilities for it,” Gonda said Monday. “There were no allegations, no complaints during his tenure here.”
Gonda referred questions about other issues, including whether the school knew about other allegations against Sandusky before allowing the camp to be held there, to officials at the main campus in State College, a four-hour drive southeast of Erie.
School spokeswoman Lisa Powers said Penn State Erie and Penn State Harrisburg provided facilities for Sandusky to run a summer football camp under his own name. She said Penn State Erie runs about 14 to 18 summer camps in a variety of sports. She said the Sandusky camp was among numerous sports and academic camps that ran on campus.
The Sandusky camp was first reported by the sports website Deadspin.
Sandusky operated football camps not only at the Behrend campus but also at Penn State Capital College in Middletown, Robert Morris University and Muhlenberg College, among others, according to his website, which is now offline.
The camp was aimed at students from fourth grade through high school and offered personal attention and coaching from Sandusky, who retired from Penn State in 1999 after learning that he would not be head coach Joe Paterno’s successor.
Sandusky has been aware of the accusations against him for about three years and has maintained his innocence, his lawyer said.
The athletics director back then, Tim Curley, and the senior vice president, Gary Schultz, surrendered to authorities on Monday to face charges that they failed to alert police to complaints that Sandusky had sexually abused eight boys and that they lied to a state grand jury investigating the former defensive coordinator.
A grand jury report released Saturday, after Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period, makes various references to Curley banning him from taking children into the athletics facilities, the football building, the football locker room and the main campus.
A spokesman for the state attorney general’s office declined to comment further on the ban.
Curley and Schultz stepped down from their posts late Sunday, with Curley taking a temporary leave and Schultz retiring. Their lawyers said they are innocent and will seek to have the charges against them dismissed. Schultz’s lawyer said the men did what they were supposed to do by informing their superiors of the accusations against Sandusky.
The state police commissioner said Paterno fulfilled his legal requirement when he relayed to university administrators that the graduate assistant claimed to have seen Sandusky attacking a boy in the shower, but the commissioner questioned whether Paterno had a moral responsibility to do more.
Paterno, major college football’s winningest coach, said he wasn’t told “the very specific actions” contained in the grand jury report. He said in a statement that, if the allegations are true, “we grieve for the victims and their families.”
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111108/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_penn_state_abuse_camps
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TOLUCA, Mexico (Reuters) ? Mexicans voted for new governors in three states on Sunday in races slated to be big wins for the main opposition party and a blow to President Felipe Calderon ahead of next year’s presidential election.
The key ballot is in the populous State of Mexico, where the vote is seen as a popularity test for the outgoing governor, Enrique Pena Nieto, an early favorite to win back the presidency for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
The PRI hopes the telegenic Pena Nieto, 44, will be a fresh face for the party whose 70-year rule was dogged by accusations of vote-rigging and corruption before losing power in 2000.
Pena Nieto backs the PRI’s gubernatorial candidate, Eruviel Avila, the popular former mayor of the state’s largest municipality Ecatepec, where voters turned out despite heavy rains from Tropical Storm Arlene that flooded neighborhoods and closed down streets.
Polls show Avila far ahead of the candidates running for Calderon’s conservative National Action Party, or PAN, and the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, PRD.
“If Eruviel wins that will give a little boost to Pena Nieto. We hope he (Nieto) wins (the presidency),” said Maria de los Angeles Rios, a 28-year-old voter.
PAN candidate Luis Bravo Mena, the PRD’s Alejandro Encinas and Avila cast their votes Sunday morning and then gathered with supporters to await the results after polls close at 6 p.m.local time.
The PRI never lost power in the State of Mexico, a bastion of old-style machine politics where opponents accuse the government of using public funds to sway voters.
Opinion polls show the PRI also likely to sweep gubernatorial races in the states of Coahuila and Nayarit, further bolstering the party’s platform for a comeback after two consecutive PAN governments.
DRUG MONEY, VIOLENCE
Coahuila and Nayarit have seen a dramatic rise in drug killings over the past year, a critical liability for Calderon who has staked his legacy on fighting powerful cartels since taking office in late 2006.
With drug violence surging over the past four years and more than 40,000 deaths to date, some voters are fed up.
“The violence is always getting closer, you see it touching your family, your neighbors,” said Israel Segura, 33, a vendor casting his vote in Ecatepec.
On the eve of the election, five dismembered bodies were found and two people died in a violent shootout in the State of Mexico, local media reported.
National protests over the past few weeks, led by a crusading poet whose son was killed by drug gangs, has turned up the pressure on Calderon to respond to victims complaints. Security for the first time is overtaking the economy as voters’ top concern.
Worries about drug cartels backing candidates are swirling as the country gears up for the 2012 election.
In a rare admission by a politician, former PAN cabinet member Xochitl Galvez told the El Universal daily that she was offered large sums of money by a cartel while running for governor of the central state of Hidalgo last year.
She did not win the race and said she refused the cash, but did not say anything at the time out of fear.
“The offer was very clear,” Galvez told the newspaper.
A messenger from the drug cartel said, “‘I have instructions to give you 50 million pesos ($4.3 million), you are several points down with only a few weeks until the election. With that money you can pay off all the leaders (so they support you).’”
Hidalgo is also set to elect 84 new mayors on Sunday.
(Additional reporting by Mica Rosenberg and Miguel Angel Gutierrez in Mexico City; Writing by Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Paul Simao)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110703/wl_nm/us_mexico_elections
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