PHOTO CREDIT: Times-Picayune
Reporter Rebecca Catalanello and photojournalist Kathleen Flynn of The Times-Picayune spent Dec. 4 to 7, 2013, in Shreveport La., with Jennifer Halter and several other women as they set out for the Bienville Parish Sheriff's Office, where Halter made a police report, alleging child sexual abuse that she says occurred some 25 years ago, while she was a teenage resident at New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia, La.
The material gathered for this Picayune exclusive stem from a combination of firsthand observations, interviews, court documents, and archived news reports.
`` Halter did not know then that for years children had been running away from New Bethany and making reports to police about physical violence. She did not know that in the mid-1970s, a teenager named Joanna Wright believed she had developed a consensual relationship with Ford, 31 years her senior, and would later tell police he had raped her. She had no idea that just a few years before, between 1982 and 1984, a 14-year-old named Simone Jones was doing her chores, feeding a horse in the pasture when she says Ford approached her, asked her if she was a pure lady, reached into her uniform culottes, unbuttoned his coveralls and then forced her to perform oral sex. She too would give her statement to investigators three decades later.''
``At the time, I thought I was the only one," Halter said. "Each day that went by, the worse it got and the more it got easier for me to accept what was happening and allowing it and not fighting and giving in." http://goo.gl/Wa801X
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- AP: KIEV, Ukraine —Throngs of pro-Russian demonstrators stormed government buildings Sunday in several major cities in eastern Ukraine, where secessionist sentiment has sparked frequent protests since Ukraine’s Russia-friendly president was ousted in February. Ukraine’s interim authorities accuse Moscow of trying to sow instability with baseless charges the interim government is infringing on the rights of the ethnic Russian population. Russia, meanwhile, has moved large contingents of troops to areas near the Ukrainian border, with many speculating that unrest in eastern Ukraine could be used as a ruse for a Russian invasion. http://goo.gl/c8OrcF
- WSJ: WASHINGTON—More than two dozen Democrats are fighting the Obama administration over planned cuts to private plans offered in Medicare, tied in part to the 2010 health overhaul, carrying with it the potential of dividing the party on health care with the fast approaching midterm elections.
``On Friday’’, the Journal reports, ``22 House Democrats joined seven Republicans in a letter urging Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius not to reduce rates in 2015, citing "an outcry of concern from our constituents who rely on this program." A bipartisan group of senators sent an earlier letter to the administration expressing similar concerns.’’
``About 30% of Medicare beneficiaries use Medicare Advantage instead of the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program, partly because the private plans can offer lower out-of-pocket costs and sometimes give extra benefits.’’ http://goo.gl/SSLZqg
- L.A. Times: Ten things to know about your lost baggage. The total number of lost delayed or damaged bags by airlines around the world dropped 17% in 2013 to nearly 22 million; in 2013, airlines took an average of 36 hours to return delayed bags to their owners. http://goo.gl/lnzWpU
- The Boston Globe: The crippling high cost of college tuition has spawned a new concept: a three-year bachelor degree, as a few dozen schools around the country, including Wesleyan University, a private liberal arts college in Middletown, Connecticut, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Lesley University have embraced the phenomenon. Nineteen private, nonprofit colleges have debuted three-year degrees since 2009, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities; and the association’s president, David L. Warren, said he expected the new model to continue to grow in the coming years. http://goo.gl/uCRGna
USA Today: America's thinnest (and fattest) cities http://goo.gl/L4Vdne
This and STAT
- ESPN: Kevin Durant now has 25 plus points for the 41st straight game, passing Michael Jordan's previous mark of 40 straight (1986-87).
- The Boston Red Sox were not swept in a home series all season in 2013, but got swept by Brewers over weekend
- WSJ INFOGRAPH: Since 2000, which jobs have thrived despite the great recession and which jobs have been lost? http://goo.gl/5YQL4G
- Captain America' sets record as the biggest domestic April release with a $96.2 million debut at the box office:
- By 2010, the number of computers on the Internet had surpassed the number of people on earth.
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