ADA — An Ada woman was sentenced Thursday to serve time in prison for committing lewd acts with children and child abuse. Mary Elizabeth Russell, 30, was sentenced to 25 years for each of three counts of lewd acts with a child under the age of 16, 25 years for sexual abuse of a child, and 25 years for each of two counts of child abuse by injury.

A Virginia man charged with eight felonies on charges of severely hurting his 2-month-old son is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. According to law enforcement officials, the infant suffered several broken bones — including a femur — and other injuries at the hands of Christopher Warren Heinrich, 24.

PENNSYLVANIA–Given that the latest state report on child abuse shows the numbers are going down, it’s easy to assume everyone would be relieved. Unfortunately not. Doctors are raising serious red flags about how Pennsylvania’s narrow definition of child abuse is causing too many cases to go undetected, too many children unprotected. Dr. Rachel Berger of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC wrote recently in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “We believe statistics about abuse and neglect of children in our state do not accurately reflect what our children are experiencing. And without reliable data, we cannot address the safety, health and vulnerability of Pennsylvania’s children.”

When child abuse has been substantiated, a number of risk factors can predict the likelihood that abuse will be repeated if the child is returned to the care of the abuser, according to a prospective cohort study. For instance, when the parents or caregivers were in their teens or twenties, were survivors of abuse, and had never taken parenting classes — the child faced a 54% risk of being harmed again, wrote Suzanne R. Dakil, MD, and colleagues from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

ORLANDO, FL — The jury, after only 11 hours of deliberation, reached a verdict on the charge of 1st Degree Murder in the Casey Anthony murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee – Not Guilty. They reached a verdict in the count of manslaughter – Not Gulity. They reached a verdict on the count of aggravated child abuse – Not Guilty. They reached a verdict on counts 4, 5, and 6 – providing false information to a police officer – Guilty.

Child abuse continues to be a huge concern in this country, but society still remains to be silent on the issue. As I fight daily with a wonderful team of men and women from Dreamcatchers for Abused Children for the rights of children I am sometimes overwhelmed and concerned by the amount of people who continue to have a blind eye to child abuse, and neglect to see or admit children are being abused. Not only does this concern me greatly as a parent and grandparent, but this greatly concerns me as a member of society and for the future generations of children in this country to come.

FAIRBANKS — A grand jury indicted a Fort Wainwright man Thursday on 13 counts of possession and distribution of child pornography. State troopers and Army investigators arrested the man, 27-year-old Whitney Cole, on Friday, one year after state investigators seized five computers and three hard drives from his Army post home. The teams later downloaded 346 images of child porn from the equipment.

A 12-member jury said he was guilty. But Martin Romero refused to believe it. He had just listened to a week of testimony from medical experts and his 17-year-old daughter describing years of sexual abuse that started when she was 4 years old. The physical evidence was overwhelming. The girl had internal injuries consistent with sexual abuse over a long period of time.

MARTINSVILLE, Ind. — An 11-year-old boy is being charged with murder in the shooting death of his 6-year-old brother.Andrew Frye was shot in the head with a .22-caliber gun at his home south of Martinsville on Thursday afternoon, the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department said.The 11-year-old was the only other person at home, just east of State Road 37, at the time of the shooting, and he called 911 afterward, police said.

CHICAGO– Bond was denied Sunday for a convicted sex offender charged with trying to kidnap a 2-year-old boy from North Avenue Beach. Tyrone Hill, 37, has been charged with one count of attempted aggravated kidnapping of a child under 13 and one count of unlawful restraint, according to the Chicago Police Department.

Family members said the search will continue daily through Wednesday. The search by volunteers comes a day after law enforcement authorities completed their ground search. The Mason County Sheriff’s Department, the Michigan State Police, the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard conducted the search.

Starting Tuesday, it will be illegal in the U.S. to sell or even donate a crib that fails to meet the toughest crib safety rules in the world. Newly required safety tests are so stringent that few cribs in American homes — even those that have escaped recall after recall — are sturdy enough to pass them. As a result, federal regulators recommend that families that can afford to do so buy new cribs and destroy their old ones.

Jury deliberations are now underway in the first-degree murder trial of Casey Anthony. Following several weeks of testimony, the 12 member jury will be taken into a deliberation room, where they will stay until a verdict is reached. All 17 jurors were escorted from the courtroom, but the alternates were separated from the 12 members who will decide Casey Anthony’s fate.

PICO RIVERA, CA — Authorities are searching for a man who allegedly sexually assaulted a 6-year-old boy in a bathroom at park in Pico Rivera. The boy reported being molested in a bathroom stall just after 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Rio Hondo Park. Sheriff’s officials say the boy was at the park with family members for a soccer match when he went into the bathroom alone.