First Person: Father of slain Newtown first-grader told me to find beauty in every day, yet struggled to find inner peace
As the plane took off I offered him a piece of gum. I wish I could remember now what kind it was because when I handed it to him he smiled and said, “That was my daughter’s favorite.”
The “was” caught me off guard but it felt intrusive to pursue it.
Cardinal Wuerl: Protector of the flock or facilitator of abuse?
WASHINGTON -- Cardinal Donald Wuerl had become known as a gutsy but introverted leader who saved the diocese from financial disaster, elevated women in the church, created a well-read adult catechism, withstood downturns in Catholic school enrollment, held his flock together through tumultuous parish mergers, engaged with parishioners in ways predecessors had not, and handled delicate assignments.
Now, though, the cardinal is facing a crisis after a grand jury report revealed a horrifying culture of sexual abuse partly under his watch as bishop of Pittsburgh, where priests are accused of unthinkable abuses — mostly against young boys who were raped, groped, photographed nude, whipped and otherwise abused by men they called “father.”
Now, though, the cardinal is facing a crisis after a grand jury report revealed a horrifying culture of sexual abuse partly under his watch as bishop of Pittsburgh, where priests are accused of unthinkable abuses — mostly against young boys who were raped, groped, photographed nude, whipped and otherwise abused by men they called “father.”
A Lamb Among Congressional Lions
Photo by Tracie Mauriello
WASHINGTON – If not for the freshly pressed suit and the lapel pin identifying him as a member of Congress, it would have been understandable to mistake Conor Lamb for a tourist.
He walked toward an escalator leading to an underground subway from the Capitol to the House office building, paused to get his bearings, and pondered which way to go.
“Lamb, are you lost?” U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., asked as he redirected Congress’ newest member onto an elevator leading back toward his office in the Rayburn House Office Building on Tuesday.
Undocumented: A Pittsburgh family lives in uncertainty
Photo by Rebecca Droke
PITTSBURGH -- She made the sign of the cross over her small boy, stuffed a prayer card in his pocket so that la virgen Maria, full of grace, might keep him safe on his journey. She told him not to cry, and he didn’t.
Tim Murphy: A voice for values who went astray, an expert on anger who succumbed to it
WASHINGTON -- The staunch family man had strayed from his marriage. The fervent anti-abortion politician urged a woman with whom he had an extra-marital relationship to get an abortion and dismissed his pro-life statements as the work of his staff. The man who advised parents on how to handle angry children was said to be an angry boss by current and former staffers.
Colleagues and friends struggled to reconcile the hardworking advocate for mental health with the character portrayed in emails, texts and comments from former staffers.
Monticello: Digging up history
Photo by Rebecca Droke
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – In dirt-caked jeans, a white hardhat and rosy pink nail polish, Crystal Ptacek spends her days piecing together scraps of forgotten history and wrestling with how to interpret a past that Thomas Jefferson preferred to keep hidden.
The McCandless native’s work is part of a $35 million restoration project meant to make Monticello’s history tangible, relevant and accessible to the 440,000 annual visitors who view Thomas Jefferson’s life through a sometimes distorted lens.
The Long Journey Home
Billy Mall was 10 when the letters stopped.
He would eagerly read the letters chronicling his cousin Chuck’s stories of military life and his visions of soon barreling down on the Japs. Often, there would be an Army Air Corps patch or two.
Instead, there was a tersely worded telegram addressed to Bill’s aunt Mildred: Tech. Sgt. Charles L. Johnston Jr., her son, was missing in action.
MIA meant there was hope, and that was something Mildred McGann Johnston never lost.
“She believed until her dying day that he was going to come walking back through the door,” her nephew remembers.
It would be 70 years before he would learn the truth about what happened to his cousin and boyhood hero.
He would eagerly read the letters chronicling his cousin Chuck’s stories of military life and his visions of soon barreling down on the Japs. Often, there would be an Army Air Corps patch or two.
Instead, there was a tersely worded telegram addressed to Bill’s aunt Mildred: Tech. Sgt. Charles L. Johnston Jr., her son, was missing in action.
MIA meant there was hope, and that was something Mildred McGann Johnston never lost.
“She believed until her dying day that he was going to come walking back through the door,” her nephew remembers.
It would be 70 years before he would learn the truth about what happened to his cousin and boyhood hero.
Finding Strength: Parents seek FDA approval for muscular dystrophy drug
Photo by Rebecca Droke
WASHINGTON — A wheelchair by age 12, maybe 15 if he were one of the lucky ones. A ventilator would be next and then would come the casket, probably before he turned 30.
That was what Terri and Bill Ellsworth expected for their son when doctors confirmed his diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a debilitating and fatal disease striking one in 3,500 boys.
Newtown: One Year Later
Be sure to click the button below to see excellent photography and video by Rebecca Droke and amazing web presentation by Andrew McGill. We recently won a Golden Quill from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania for this work.
Photo by Rebecca Droke
NEWTOWN, Conn. — There are the balloons that suddenly appear everywhere on children's birthdays — red for Avielle, green for Ben, Mylar ducks for Jesse. There are the young voices raised in song, the teenagers returning to Friday night football games, the number 26 peeking out from doorways and shop windows, a father's sax solo in memory of his spirited Ana.
A year later, a year after the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary, this is a town that has learned to live again.
A year later, a year after the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary, this is a town that has learned to live again.
Veon loads a double-barrel defense team
HARRISBURG -- Dan Raynak is a fast-talking Arizona lawyer who makes witnesses stammer and fills courtrooms with his overpowering presence and volume.
Joel Sansone, an intense Pittsburgh attorney, is his cross-country mirror image.
One a high-profile criminal lawyer, the other an outspoken civil-rights attorney, they have been best friends for 40 years. And together they are a former state representative's best chance of avoiding conviction in a high-profile government-corruption case that has become known as Bonusgate.
Investigative Work
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State probes handling of grant
HARRISBURG -- In 2006, a nonprofit called Greene County Industrial Developments Inc. applied for a $500,000 state grant on behalf of a start-up Internet company in Pittsburgh.
State officials turned down the funding request because it did not follow grant guidelines.
But thanks to a secret contract with the nonprofit, weak grant oversight, and the efforts of state Rep. Bill DeWeese's office in Harrisburg, Gravity Web Media ultimately ended up with access to the money anyway -- despite never signing a deal with the state.
The state was none the wiser. But as a result, it is all the poorer.
State officials turned down the funding request because it did not follow grant guidelines.
But thanks to a secret contract with the nonprofit, weak grant oversight, and the efforts of state Rep. Bill DeWeese's office in Harrisburg, Gravity Web Media ultimately ended up with access to the money anyway -- despite never signing a deal with the state.
The state was none the wiser. But as a result, it is all the poorer.
Top bonus recipients aided top Dems
HARRISBURG -- Eighty of the 100 Democratic state House staffers awarded the biggest bonuses in their government paychecks last year either donated money to or worked on the political campaigns of the two powerful Democratic leaders who controlled the bonuses.
Those staffers, all of whom received bonuses of $5,700 or more, gave money to or campaigned for House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese of Waynesburg; his former second-in-command, Rep. Mike Veon of Beaver Falls; or the House Democratic Campaign Committee, which Mr. DeWeese chairs. Some gave to or worked for all three.
Those staffers, all of whom received bonuses of $5,700 or more, gave money to or campaigned for House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese of Waynesburg; his former second-in-command, Rep. Mike Veon of Beaver Falls; or the House Democratic Campaign Committee, which Mr. DeWeese chairs. Some gave to or worked for all three.
E-mails show how Dems tied staffers' bonuses to campaign work
HARRISBURG -- E-mail messages exchanged by top aides in the Democratic caucus starting in 2004 make clear that taxpayer-funded bonuses were given to legislative employees for their work on election campaigns.
The messages, obtained by the Post-Gazette, are a key component in an investigation by Attorney General Tom Corbett into the bonuses and whether they constituted an illegal use of state money for political work.
In startlingly blunt language, a group of aides, at points working under the direction of then-House Minority Whip Michael Veon, D-Beaver, rated the political work of state employees, sometimes adjusting the amounts of the bonuses based on time they spent in the field or, in one instance, in getting presidential candidate Ralph Nader off the Pennsylvania ballot.
The messages, obtained by the Post-Gazette, are a key component in an investigation by Attorney General Tom Corbett into the bonuses and whether they constituted an illegal use of state money for political work.
In startlingly blunt language, a group of aides, at points working under the direction of then-House Minority Whip Michael Veon, D-Beaver, rated the political work of state employees, sometimes adjusting the amounts of the bonuses based on time they spent in the field or, in one instance, in getting presidential candidate Ralph Nader off the Pennsylvania ballot.
Politicos 'parked' in state office
HARRISBURG -- Employees of the House Democratic Legislative Research Office, the target of a search warrant last August, have told state investigators that political work there was so rampant that many employees did far more campaign-related chores than legitimate state work.
"Our office was largely a parking place for people until they were needed for a campaign. It was a way for people who were political operatives to have jobs in nonelection years," said Jason Lawrence, who worked there as a research analyst from 2005 to 2006 and is now in law school in Chicago.
His comments about the research office were echoed by three other caucus employees, two of whom spoke with investigators as part of a widening probe into political corruption. A grand jury probe began with questions after employees of both the Democratic and Republican caucuses were given hefty year-end salary bonuses.
"Our office was largely a parking place for people until they were needed for a campaign. It was a way for people who were political operatives to have jobs in nonelection years," said Jason Lawrence, who worked there as a research analyst from 2005 to 2006 and is now in law school in Chicago.
His comments about the research office were echoed by three other caucus employees, two of whom spoke with investigators as part of a widening probe into political corruption. A grand jury probe began with questions after employees of both the Democratic and Republican caucuses were given hefty year-end salary bonuses.
Campaigning on state time: 45 staffers worked to elect Democrats while remaining on House payroll
HARRISBURG -- Brett Cott, a high-ranking policy analyst in the state House of Representatives, spent 11 weeks straight in Beaver Falls last year working on former House Democratic Whip Michael Veon's unsuccessful re-election campaign.
Patrick Grill, also a policy analyst, squeezed in at least 10 trips from Harrisburg to Waynesburg to campaign for Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese.
Both continued to draw their state salaries while they campaigned, according to records obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Patrick Grill, also a policy analyst, squeezed in at least 10 trips from Harrisburg to Waynesburg to campaign for Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese.
Both continued to draw their state salaries while they campaigned, according to records obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Feature Writing
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Veterans History Project lets soldiers reveal the anger and pain that followed them home
WASHINGTON — The journal reads like a dispassionate account of a soldier so accustomed to the atrocities of war that killing had become a tedious errand, but in oral history recorded four decades later, William Barner III revealed the long-term effects of battle, including displaced anger and post-traumatic stress disorder not diagnosed until 2009.
Mr. Barner's is just one of 90,000 accounts that are part of what has become one of the world's largest oral history projects. The stories and documents -- journals, letters home, photographs, memoirs and oral histories -- span the period from World War I to present. Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress has been collecting them since 2000, and anyone can contribute their information or their ancestors'.
"Shot up a large group of Viet Cong, then took a nap," reads one candid entry from the Vietnam War battlefield. Another: "Lt. Mathews shot himself in his leg. I did my laundry. I did not get any mail."
Mr. Barner's is just one of 90,000 accounts that are part of what has become one of the world's largest oral history projects. The stories and documents -- journals, letters home, photographs, memoirs and oral histories -- span the period from World War I to present. Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress has been collecting them since 2000, and anyone can contribute their information or their ancestors'.
"Shot up a large group of Viet Cong, then took a nap," reads one candid entry from the Vietnam War battlefield. Another: "Lt. Mathews shot himself in his leg. I did my laundry. I did not get any mail."
From private plane to prison for Veon
Photo by Robin Rombach
SOMERSET -- As a powerful state representative, Mike Veon for years was perfectly coiffed, wore $1,000 custom-made pin-striped suits, smoked expensive cigars and sipped Makers Mark bourbon with lobbyists. He zipped around on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, attended conferences in Las Vegas and flew back and forth to Harrisburg in a state plane.
Times have changed.
Times have changed.
State unclaimed property vaults are real treasure troves
Photo by Bradley C. Bower
HARRISBURG -- The state Department of Treasury is looking for a few Finders, several Keepers and a handful of Losers.
There are no Weepers, though, on the treasury's list of people who are owed $1.5 billion in money and property they may not know about.
There are no Weepers, though, on the treasury's list of people who are owed $1.5 billion in money and property they may not know about.
Clock winder bides time at Pa. Capitol
Photo by Bradley C. Bower
HARRISBURG -- The wheels of government wouldn't exactly screech to a halt without Bob Martz, but politics might stall without him there to grease the gears.
He is a carpenter by trade, but his main job is to keep the House and Senate running on time. That's an extra challenge during the switch to daylight-saving time, which happens at 2 a.m. tomorrow.
You'll get no sympathy from Mr. Martz, 54, no matter how many alarm clocks, DVD players, microwave ovens and automatic coffee makers you have to adjust before bed tonight.
He has 227 clocks to worry about. Make that 230 if you count three antique clocks at home. And most require his attention on a weekly basis.
He is a carpenter by trade, but his main job is to keep the House and Senate running on time. That's an extra challenge during the switch to daylight-saving time, which happens at 2 a.m. tomorrow.
You'll get no sympathy from Mr. Martz, 54, no matter how many alarm clocks, DVD players, microwave ovens and automatic coffee makers you have to adjust before bed tonight.
He has 227 clocks to worry about. Make that 230 if you count three antique clocks at home. And most require his attention on a weekly basis.
Spot News
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A community awash in tears
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- A once-idyllic town where the local firehouse sold Christmas trees and children gobbled gourmet ice cream at a parlor called Holy Cow abruptly changed in the aftermath of the second-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Now the firehouse has become a comfort center for the bereaved, and the community has tasted the salt of tears during a prayer vigil at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church across from the ice cream shop.
Memorial services for the 20 first-graders and six adults killed at Sandy Hook School began just hours after Friday morning's shooting rampage stunned this middle-class western Connecticut town of 26,000.
Now the firehouse has become a comfort center for the bereaved, and the community has tasted the salt of tears during a prayer vigil at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church across from the ice cream shop.
Memorial services for the 20 first-graders and six adults killed at Sandy Hook School began just hours after Friday morning's shooting rampage stunned this middle-class western Connecticut town of 26,000.
Gunman at Amish school kills 5 girls, wounds 5.
Lancaster County milk truck driver kills himself after slaughter
Photo by Andy Starnes
NICKEL MINES -- It was a bloodbath, made even more horrible by its location and its innocent victims, who became targets of a lone gunman apparently because they simply lived near his home. Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, a rural milk truck driver and father of three, walked into West Nickel Mines School, the tiny schoolhouse less than 2 miles from his home that housed children in grades one through eight.
Armed with three guns and 600 rounds of ammunition, he ordered all but the girls to leave, then barricaded the doors with lumber, bound the children's legs and lined them up against the chalkboard.
Armed with three guns and 600 rounds of ammunition, he ordered all but the girls to leave, then barricaded the doors with lumber, bound the children's legs and lined them up against the chalkboard.
Three Amish schoolgirls killed, eight critically hurt
NICKEL MINES, Pa. -- A gunman killed three girls and critically wounded eight others before killing himself Monday during execution-style shootings in a one-room Amish schoolhouse.
Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, entered the school equipped with enough weapons and equipment to indicate he planned a long siege, State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said.
Motivated by a 20-year-old grudge and leaving suicide notes detailing his anger with life and God, the normally outgoing milk truck driver had been noticeably quiet lately, and police believe he made a decision to carry out the shootings in the past few days.
Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, entered the school equipped with enough weapons and equipment to indicate he planned a long siege, State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said.
Motivated by a 20-year-old grudge and leaving suicide notes detailing his anger with life and God, the normally outgoing milk truck driver had been noticeably quiet lately, and police believe he made a decision to carry out the shootings in the past few days.
Funerals for shooting victims will be simple, solemn
Photo by Andy Starnes
NICKEL MINES, Pa. -- First they will bury 7-year-old Naomi Ebersole.
Next will be Marian Fisher, 13, and then the Miller sisters, Mary Liz, 8, and Lena, 7.
The bodies will be dressed in white and placed in wooden coffins. Bible passages will be read. Hymns will be spoken, not sung. Caskets will be lowered into the earth today, four before the afternoon ends.
Next will be Marian Fisher, 13, and then the Miller sisters, Mary Liz, 8, and Lena, 7.
The bodies will be dressed in white and placed in wooden coffins. Bible passages will be read. Hymns will be spoken, not sung. Caskets will be lowered into the earth today, four before the afternoon ends.
Killings of six family members shake tiny village
Photo by Bradley C. Bower
LEOLA, Pa. -- The lace curtains and white teddy bear in the front window belied the horror inside the white clapboard house where Jesse Dee Wise Jr. allegedly strangled and bludgeoned to death six relatives he lived with in this rural village near Lancaster.
ENTERPRISE
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Devoutness doesn't resonate as strongly in New Hampshire as it did in Iowa
WEARE, N.H. — Stacey Brown slammed a shot of Bacardi as Ted Cruz explained his flat-tax proposal.
Karl Messner drank a locally brewed Henniker pale ale. Jennifer Stevens ordered another glass of white wine, and ESPN sportscasters made Super Bowl predictions on a muted television.
This is Generals Sports Bar and Grill, not the Christian church Mr. Cruz spoke at just three days earlier, and it isn’t the Baptist church or the Christian bookstore he visited before that.
Battle between coal and gas a hot issue in Pennsylvania
WASHINGTON -- For decades, the coal industry fueled not only America's factories, but its politics. It filled campaign coffers with cash and congressional offices with persuasive lobbyists who helped keep regulation at bay.
But factors beyond industry control are converging to create a difficult climate for an industry whose future could depend on its allies in Congress -- many of whom now are focused on helping the burgeoning natural gas industry.
As gas from the Marcellus Shale and other newly discovered reserves floods the market, gas lobbyists are flooding Washington to seek environmental regulations tailored to cleaner-burning gas -- a standard that coal plants can't easily meet. They have the ear of state and federal lawmakers who are working to encourage gas exploration as a way to promote American energy independence, protect the environment and bring jobs and revenue to their legislative districts.
Pennsylvania, which has an abundance of both resources, is ground zero for the coal-vs.-gas battle.
But factors beyond industry control are converging to create a difficult climate for an industry whose future could depend on its allies in Congress -- many of whom now are focused on helping the burgeoning natural gas industry.
As gas from the Marcellus Shale and other newly discovered reserves floods the market, gas lobbyists are flooding Washington to seek environmental regulations tailored to cleaner-burning gas -- a standard that coal plants can't easily meet. They have the ear of state and federal lawmakers who are working to encourage gas exploration as a way to promote American energy independence, protect the environment and bring jobs and revenue to their legislative districts.
Pennsylvania, which has an abundance of both resources, is ground zero for the coal-vs.-gas battle.
Toomey, Manchin forge gun checks deal
WASHINGTON -- It was in front of an enormous painting by an artist from Ohio that a Republican from Pennsylvania and a Democrat from West Virginia shared perhaps the most important handshake of the year Wednesday.
There, overlooking William Powell's fabled "Battle of Lake Erie" in the U.S. Capitol, Sens. Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin set off a different kind of battle, one whose echoes will carry far beyond Washington.
Their bipartisan amendment on a gun control bill already has attracted fire from the right, with Mr. Toomey, the Pennsylvania Republican, immediately being characterized as a traitor for departing from the core conservative belief in nearly unfettered gun rights.
There, overlooking William Powell's fabled "Battle of Lake Erie" in the U.S. Capitol, Sens. Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin set off a different kind of battle, one whose echoes will carry far beyond Washington.
Their bipartisan amendment on a gun control bill already has attracted fire from the right, with Mr. Toomey, the Pennsylvania Republican, immediately being characterized as a traitor for departing from the core conservative belief in nearly unfettered gun rights.
Delegates cherish diversity that McGovern began
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- When Laurel Dagnon went to her first Democratic National Convention in 1968, women accounted for just 13 percent of delegates. Even fewer were under 30, and hardly any were lesbians like her.
That was the last convention before the Democratic National Committee adopted reforms requiring states to ensure their delegations more closely reflected wider demographics.
Now diversity is a given in the Democratic Party and a reality at its convention.
That was the last convention before the Democratic National Committee adopted reforms requiring states to ensure their delegations more closely reflected wider demographics.
Now diversity is a given in the Democratic Party and a reality at its convention.
GOP tries to lure Hispanic voters
TAMPA, Fla. -- If you're like most Americans, you were taught that it's best to avoid talking about religion and politics in public.
Not so if you grew up in a Hispanic community, where any trip to the mercado or peluqueria was liable to include a discussion of politics. Both the Romney and Obama campaigns are going to have to do a lot more than translate campaign rhetoric into Spanish if they want to attract Latino voters; they're going to have to appeal to cultural differences.
Not so if you grew up in a Hispanic community, where any trip to the mercado or peluqueria was liable to include a discussion of politics. Both the Romney and Obama campaigns are going to have to do a lot more than translate campaign rhetoric into Spanish if they want to attract Latino voters; they're going to have to appeal to cultural differences.
