A new and serious threat to our children has emerged, one many parents know little or nothing about — cyber bullying. Its effects can be devastating. The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, in partnership with the County Education Office, brought the schools in this county up to date on the latest in cyber bullying and cyber crimes. The information was shared at a workshop featuring Tracy Webb of the L.A. City Attorney’s Office. Webb explained that child abuse is horrific, but it has a specific time when it ends. That is not the case with cyber bullying. It is unending. Young people are connected via phone and computer all day and all night.

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http://www.santamariatimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/commentary/article_814caaf6-30b5-11e0-8f05-001cc4c03286.html

Sarasota, Florida – An aggravated child abuse charge has been brought against a 22-year-old man after his 6-week-old son suffered a head injury. The sheriff’s office said Joshua Hammer of Bee Ridge Road is also charged with one count of child neglect. Hammer and his wife brought the infant to Sarasota Memorial Hospital saying their son had a fever. Doctors determined the infant had bleeding on his brain.

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http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=172958&catid=8

Two women in Gilmer County are behind bars for allegedly shocking kids as a form of punishment. State police said Yarica Jackson and Mary Ann Starcher used a homemade electrical shock device to punish four kids between the ages of 4 and 12 years old. During the investigation, Starcher admitted to police that she shocked the children, and Jackson admitted that she allowed this form of punishment in her home. Police also found their home to be in a deplorable condition.

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http://www.wdtv.com/index.php/home/local-news/4842-first-on-5-news-two-arrested-for-shocking-children-as-punishment

DENVER – The mother of two children who police say were found wandering around an apartment complex Friday has been arrested. Thornton Police say 33-year-old Calean Nicol Hickey was arrested on charges of misdemeanor child abuse and neglect. Police say she has been processed, given a summons and has been released. Police say they were called to the Montair Apartment Complex in the 8900 block of North Grant Street around 3:45 p.m. Friday after a witness said they had seen two children wandering the complex for almost an hour. Police say the witness brought the children in from the cold and called authorities.

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http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=179851&catid=339

TAMPA, FL — The 16-month-old boy who police said was abused by his father died from his injuries Saturday morning. Ronderique Anderson was not expected to survive. Had his family kept him alive with a respiratory machine at St. Joseph’s Hospital, he would have remained in a vegetative state, authorities said earlier this week. Ronderique’s father, 23-year-old Dwayne Poole, is now charged with first-degree murder, police said.

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http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/police-16-month-old-abused-by-his-father-dies-at-hospital/1149854

THE career of a senior fire officer and school governor is in tatters after he was unmasked as a pervert with a “disturbing” interest in child pornography. Gary Mason’s collection of sick pictures was unearthed when police searched his home in Hartlepool during an unconnected investigation. Officers found a total of 1,861 images on his computers, and he was suspended from his roles at a secondary school and Cleveland Fire Brigade.

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http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/hartlepool/8835513.Ex_fire_officer_had_pictures_of_child_abuse/

Kansas Child Abuse Survivors Share Their Rescue Story Next Week on “Oprah”

SHAWNEE, KANSAS (February 4, 2011) Kellie and Kathie Henderson first spoke of surviving years of sexual abuse by several family members in The Wichita Eagle’s series, “Promise Not to Tell.” Now their story and that of family and professionals who vowed to rescue them will find a national stage on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” Tuesday, Feb. 8.

Viewers will hear the disturbing story of the girls’ sexual abuse starting at ages 3 and 4. The show features the many heroes who helped end the abuse: the girls themselves, for disclosing their abuse and ending the secrecy; their neighbors, for believing the girls and taking action; and the response team, law enforcement, social workers and others who protected the girls and hold their offenders accountable.

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http://pressreleases.kcstar.com/?q=node/50649

A 29-year-old man has been charged with multiple counts of rape, molestation and child abuse of a minor who was in his custody last year, according to Superior Court of Guam documents. Carl John Taitingfong has been charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct as a first-degree felony; two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct as a first-degree felony; and two counts of child abuse as a third-degree felony, according to a magistrate complaint.

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http://www.guampdn.com/article/20110206/NEWS01/102060331

MINDEN — The stepfather of an 11-month-old girl has been charged with felony child abuse or neglect causing substantial bodily harm, accused of swinging her against a crib and fracturing her skull. Acting East Fork Justice Richard Glasson read the charge against Stephen Joseph Tribon, 27, on Friday. Tribon, jailed on $25,000 bail, is to appear for another hearing Wednesday. He told Glasson he was unemployed.

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http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20110205/NEWS/110209743/1070&ParentProfile=1058

A Bristol woman — allegedly intoxicated since Friday and acting “out of her head” — was arrested Tuesday on charges of child abuse and neglect, following her 13-year-old daughter’s call to 911. An arrest report from the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office says the woman was also responsible for the welfare of four additional children, one being a special needs child. The report did not specify if theses juveniles, ages 4, 7, 11 and 13, were related to the woman.

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http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9029551

ST. GEORGE — A Ridgeville woman charged with homicide by child abuse remained in jail Friday, while her boyfriend, who faces the same charge, was released. Circuit Judge Diane S. Goodstein denied bond today for 19-year-old Amber Lynn Bracci of Ridgeville, who has been in the Dorchester County Detention Center since Jan. 14, when she was arrested in the Jan. 8 death of her 16-month-old son, Rowan Bracci.

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http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/feb/04/amber-bracci-remains-jail-charges-homicide-child-a/

LONG BEACH — A former state mental hospital director accused of molesting his foster son for at least 10 years has been found guilty. Jurors found 63-year-old Claude Foulk guilty of 31 of 35 counts of sex crimes in Superior Court in Long Beach. Foulk, the former executive director of Napa State Hospita, was charged with 35 counts including lewd and lascivious acts on a child.

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http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-hospital-director-molest-guilty,0,5410163.story

WHITTIER– A registered sex offender has been arrested for violating parole, after he walked into a school in Whittier and offered to read to children. John Davis, 56, was taken into custody Wednesday at his home after a 3 month investigation. Last November, authorities say the former Army major, showed up at Los Altos Elementary School and volunteered to read to the school children at a “Heroes Day” event on Veteran’s Day.

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http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-sex-offender-reads-kids,0,186665.story

Drugged, raped, and pregnant? Too bad. Republicans are pushing to limit rape and incest cases eligible for government abortion funding.

Rape is only really rape if it involves force? So says the new House Republican majority as it now moves to change abortion law. For years, federal laws restricting the use of government funds to pay for abortions have included exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. (Another exemption covers pregnancies that could endanger the life of the woman.) But the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” a bill with 173 mostly Republican co-sponsors that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has dubbed a top priority in the new Congress, contains a provision that would rewrite the rules to limit drastically the definition of rape and incest in these cases.

READ MORE HERE:

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/republican-plan-redefine-rape-abortion

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION TO OPPOSE the Republicans plan to “redefine rape” thus making only “certain” rapes count as rape. Rape is rape–PERIOD.

http://pol.moveon.org/smithbill/?rc=fb.share.smithbill.0.2.taf.alt.fb.share.smithbill.1.2.taf.alt_c.fb.share.smithbill.0.2.taf.alt_b.fb.share.smithbill.1.2.taf.alt_b.fb.share.smithbill.2.2.taf.alt_c.fb.share.smithbill.0.2.taf.alt_b.mailto.alt.fb.share.smithbill.2.2.taf.alt_c.mailto.alt_b.alt6