Arizona executed a man Thursday for molesting and fatally bludgeoning a 9-year-old girl in a case that spread fear through Flagstaff and the rest of the state. Richard Lynn Bible, 49, received an injection at the state prison in Florence and died at 11:11 a.m. He was convicted of kidnapping, molesting and killing Jennifer Wilson of Yuma while she was on vacation with her family in Flagstaff in June 1988. She had spoken with her mother only moments before she disappeared.

LOS ANGELES– A 32-year-old man is under arrest for allegedly molesting children at a public swimming pool in Los Angeles. Darnell Island, of Compton, is accused of touching female children inappropriately at the Ted Watkins Memorial Park Pool on East 103rd Street. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies were contacted by L.A. County Parks and Recreation lifeguards working at the pool.

Sexual harassment is unwanted and unwelcomed sexual behavior which interferes with your right to get an education or to participate in school activities. In school, sexual harassment may result from someone’s words, gestures or actions (of a sexual nature) that make you feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, offended, demeaned, frightened, helpless or threatened. If you are the target of sexual harassment, it may be very scary to go to school or hard to concentrate on your school work.

IN COMMUNITIES OF ALL SIZES and shapes, parents face multiple challenges that may inhibit their ability to effectively raise and support their children. For example, the U.S. adolescent birth rate (43 for every 1,000 females aged 15-19 in 2002, results in teens who are often unprepared to take on the tasks of parenthood. The increasing incidence of parental substance abuse, child abuse and neglect (often related to substance abuse), parental AIDS, incarceration, divorce, and desertion have resulted in substantially higher rates of children being raised by grandparents.

FARGO – A Fargo man is accused of child abuse for punching a young child in the face. Twenty-six-year-old Naser Gashi faces a charge of felony child abuse. Police were called to a home in the 900 block of 44th Street South in Fargo where they found the child with “obvious” injuries to her face. Investigators were able to determine Gashi caused the injuries. He’s not related to the girl but she was under his care at the time.

MICHIGAN– Police in Ludington, Mich., have issued an amber alert for a 4-month-old child. The child was last seen Wednesday afternoon at 922 E. Tinkham Road in Ludington, police said.Police described the child, Katherine Phillips, as 2 feet 2 inches tall with blue eyes and no hair. She was last seen wearing pink shorts with a matching pink top with black and pink flowers. On Thursday, police said Sean Phillips had been charged with kidnapping. Katherine was with Phillips when she went missing, police said. He is being held at the Mason County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

Sexual abuse of children by children was a hot topic at a recent education conference held by the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation. It’s time to take back our children, say experts. The daycare centre seemed like a safe and fun environment for three young friends, a three-year-old boy and two girls aged three and four. That was until the boy allegedly tried to stick an object into the girls’ private parts.

A Chicago man charged with killing the 18-month-old son of his live-in girlfriend admitted that he repeatedly punched the toddler in the face and chest because he was angry, prosecutors said today. When doctors at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital examined the body of Adonis Bright, they found multiple “healing” fractures of the ribs in leg, indicating prior abuse, according to prosecutors.

The second of two boys accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl in an Omaha park last week will also be back in court next month. Channel 6 News first reported about the alleged June 14th attack that led to the arrest of the suspects, ages 12 and 13.

LOS ANGELES — Police have arrested local soccer coach on multiple charges of child molestation. Jose Duarte, 42, was taken into custody on Monday in the mid-city area. Police began investigating Duarte after a 13-year-old victim came forward and said he had been sexually assaulted by his soccer coach, the LAPD said.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A Memphis man was found guilty of sexually abusing his step-granddaughter for nearly eight years. 51-year old Michael McVay was found guilty of rape of a child, rape, aggravated sexual battery, and sexual battery by an authority figure. Prosecutors with the Shelby County District Attorney’s office stated that McVay started sexually abusing the child in the year 2000, when she came to live in his home at age 8. The sexual abuse continued and escalated until the child was 15 years old.

MI–A Hillsdale County man is charged with first-degree murder, torture and first-degree child abuse in the death of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter. James David Campbell, 29, was arraigned today in Hillsdale County District Court. Beautiful Skyla Villanueva was pronounced dead June 10 at Hillsdale Community Health Center. Police, called to her home in the 7600 block of Hudson Road in Pittsford, were told Beautiful had fallen down the stairs, but further investigation showed signs of abuse, Michigan State Police earlier reported.

TRENTON — The manager of the state’s child abuse hotline was fired Monday, making her the first casualty in the scandal surrounding a mishandled hotline call about an 8-year-old Irvington girl found dead in her home nine days later. A spokeswoman for the commissioner of the state Department of Children and Families confirmed that Margarita Marriaga, the administrator of the statewide central registry, “was relieved from service’’ in connection with the May 13 call from an anonymous tipster.

With the start of a new law Friday requiring applicants for the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program to test for drugs, a new rule will also require that anyone who fails be reported to the state’s child abuse hotline. The Tampa Tribune reported Tuesday on a June 24 memo in which the Department of Children and Families directs staff to refer applicants to test positive to the abuse hotline for possible offer of services, or a possible investigation into the welfare of the child.