HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is calling bankruptcy protection a path forward to preserve its future. The diocese filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, six months after disclosing it had paid millions of dollars to people sexually abused as children by its clerics. It says it paid more than 100 people a total of just over $12 million to compensate for claims of sexual abuse they suffered as children from its clerics, deacons and seminarians. The diocese joins at least 20 others across the U.S. in seeking protection from creditors. It is the first diocese in Pennsylvania to take such a step.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — As many Pennsylvania counties adopting new hand-marked ballot voting systems, a persistent criticism is a perceived loss of privacy in polling places when filling them out and scanning them. State lawmakers raised those complaints Wednesday with Gov. Tom Wolf’s top elections officials during an Appropriations Committee hearing. Critics say other voters or poll workers may be able to see how someone voted while they are filling out their ballot or while they are feeding their ballot into an electronic scanner that reads it. Election officials say some complaints can be solved by using curtains or other privacy devices, or changing a polling place’s layout.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former prosecutor who led the child molestation case against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is losing his law license for a year over his handling of a grand jury witness in the case. The court on Wednesday suspended Frank Fina’s law license. Fina’s own lawyer says he will seek U.S. Supreme Court review. The state justices also are ordering a public reprimand of former Penn State general counsel Cynthia Baldwin for violating professional conduct rules in her representation of three Penn State officials and during her own grand jury testimony. Baldwin’s attorney says she “made every effort to comply” with conduct rules.

An Aliquippa School Board member is being investigated for allegedly threatening to physically harm two seventh-grade students. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano has details. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

WEATHER FORECAST FOR THURSDAY, FEB. 20TH, 2020

 

TODAY – MORNING CLOUDS FOLLOWED BY SOME
AFTERNOON SUNSHINE. HIGH – 31.

TONIGHT – CLEAR SKIES. LOW – 17.

FRIDAY – SUNNY. HIGH – 38.

SATURDAY – SUNNY. HIGH – 47.

SUNDAY – SUNNY. HIGH – 52.

Debate night brawl: Bloomberg, Sanders attacked by rivals
By STEVE PEOPLES, ALEXANDRA JAFFE and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) — From the opening bell, Democrats savaged New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg and raised pointed questions about Bernie Sanders’ take-no-prisoners politics during a contentious debate Wednesday night. The aggressive confrontation in Las Vegas threatened to further scramble the party’s urgent quest to defeat President Donald Trump in November. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, was forced to defend his divisive record on race, gender and Wall Street in his debate-stage debut. Sanders, appearing in his ninth debate of the 2020 primary season, tried to beat back pointed questions about his health and his ability to defeat Trump as a self-described “democratic socialist.”