Guidelines

Four former Synthes Inc. executives who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from an illegal clinical trial of bone cement in which three people died are now awaiting word from U.S. District Judge Legrome D. Davis about the guidelines he will use to sentence them and the date for sentencing. The defendants are Michael Huggins of West Chester, Thomas Higgins of Berwyn, Richard Bohner of Malvern, and John Walsh of Coatesville. The four men were in court earlier this week as their lawyers argued for guidelines that might lessen the potential prison and probation time.

After a year of preparation, formal guidelines for accommodating students or employees with AIDS or AIDS-related infections have gone to the Marple Newton school board for its approval. A two-page document was received with little comment from the board at its public executive session Tuesday night. A vote is scheduled at a public board meeting Sept. 25. "We tried to make it very general and nonspecific. Each individual has to be dealt with on an individual basis," said Robert Plotkin, the district's physician, who assisted in developing the guidelines.

The Haverford Township school board, in an attempt to "neither advance nor inhibit religion," has drafted guidelines to aid its teachers and administrators on religious issues, including Christmastime activities. A key proposed guideline presented at a work session of the school board on Tuesday night states, "Any dramatic or musical displays and activities in art, music, dance or other form of artistic expression, regardless of the season, must be determined by their educational function and value and must avoid the atmosphere of a religious ceremony or observance.

The Radnor Township school board Tuesday was presented with a detailed report proposing that class sizes in the high school be pegged within a flexible range of 10 to 27 students. The 38-page final report was submitted by Superintendent John A. DeFlaminis after nearly 18 months of discussions, research and public hearings with the administrative staff, teachers and parents. The report, DeFlaminis emphasized, is a guideline subject to periodic review of conditions that would influence class sizes, such as complexity of courses, extent of student needs, instructional needs, scheduling and enrollment.

A week after rescinding an ordinance permitting planned residential developments, the Uwchlan Board of Supervisors has formed a six-member committee to prepare new guidelines for large residential developments. Supervisor Chairwoman Mary Powell said at Tuesday's joint meeting of the supervisors and Planning Commission that the committee would try to complete a replacement ordinance by the end of the year. She said the committee would consider density, parking, open space, screening and traffic in proposing new guidelines.

In the opinion of some Haverford School District parents, Scrooge - not Santa - is dominating their children's holidays this year. Parents Thursday night complained that the way the new religious guidelines have been implemented in the schools, the holidays are being ignored. "It is a tomb for this time of year," Frank Werner told the board. "Tell me why Ronald Reagan can light a tree at the White House and my child can't have decorations?" Last month, the board adopted a set of religious guidelines designed to show sensitivity toward all students and their beliefs.

Members of the Octorara Area school board have reviewed proposed guidelines for the busing of students to their baby sitters' homes after school each day. The district transports students without extra cost to their babysitters' homes, instead of the students' homes, as a service to working parents and others who are not home after school hours. The board members reviewed the new guidelines at a work session Monday night.. The guidelines are expected to be on the board's agenda at its meeting tomorrow.

One trouble with federal judges is that they spend most of their lives in a warm milk bath of adulation. Accountable to no one, protected by life tenure, they take on the trappings of hereditary monarchs. We are seeing the phenomenon all over the country in the judges' revolt against federal guidelines for sentencing criminals. The guidelines are tough. Some of the protesting judges are woefully soft. Consider the U.S. district judge. His public day begins when the bailiff cries "All rise!"

One document comes up frequently whenever doctors and insurers debate how soon new mothers and their babies should be sent home from the hospital: the guidelines for perinatal care written jointly by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders (Ind., Vt.) uses the policy paper to justify his House resolution requiring hospitals and insurance companies to allow new mothers and their babies to stay in the hospital for two days.

Five will get you 10 that fresh produce is a super buy at a number of farm markets in Pennsylvania. Make that "Pick 5, Get 10%. " What this means is, buy five different fruits or vegetables at participating farm markets and get a 10 percent discount. The statewide sale started Monday and continues through Sept. 5. It's sponsored by the Pennsylvania Vegetable Marketing and Research Program and the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association. The first-ever statewide growers farm market sale is designed to call attention to the national 5-A-Day health guidelines, which the U.S. Surgeon General, National Cancer Institute and other groups are using to promote better health through a low-fat, high-fiber diet.

CHICAGO - A small but growing number of teens and even younger children who think they were born the wrong sex are getting sex-changing treatments, according to reports in the medical journal Pediatrics. It's an issue that raises ethical questions, and some experts urge caution in treating children with puberty-blocking drugs and hormones. An 8-year-old second-grader in Los Angeles is a typical patient. Born a girl, the child announced at 18 months, "I a boy" and has stuck with that belief.

A FEDERAL judge yesterday found that admitted fraudster Bonnie Sweeten ripped off more than $1 million from clients and co-workers at a Bucks County personal-injury law firm where she worked before lying to a 9-1-1 operator about having been abducted and then jetting off to Disney World. That finding and others by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr. potentially exposes Sweeten to 10 years in prison. Yohn deferred final arguments and sentencing until next Thursday. Sweeten, 41, who has been in federal custody since June 2010, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Chimps are about 96 percent genetically identical to humans, and like us they are self-aware enough to recognize themselves in a mirror. But physically, we show some remarkable differences. They don't get the same kind of heart disease humans get. They develop some of the brain abnormalities associated with Alzheimer's disease, but not others. And despite being more sexually promiscuous than humans, they don't get the same sexually transmitted diseases. They heal better than we do and don't get sleep apnea, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, or acne.

The Obama administration needs to live up to its promise to reduce meat and poultry producers' overuse of antibiotics, which has been linked to the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections among humans. Leading health experts believe that new guidelines are needed to protect consumers from difficult-to-treat illnesses that have been increasing at an alarming rate. Farmers routinely give antibiotics to hogs, cattle, poultry, and other animals to treat illnesses, prevent infection, and to spur the animals' growth while giving them less feed.

Former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo is back in Philadelphia to be resentenced Wednesday, but the real focus will be on a 74-year-old federal judge who must wrestle with how to respond to a rebuke from his bosses. Ordered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to resentence Fumo, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter must now decide whether to give Fumo more time or simply fix his legal errors and reinstate Fumo's hotly debated 55-month sentence. The defense wants the judge to stand pat. The prosecutors want Buckwalter to impose at least 15 years; Fumo has already served two years and two months.

Anybody who hoped Gov. Corbett's Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission might call for a halt to natural gas drilling missed the whole point of the exercise - the issue was not whether drilling will take place in Pennsylvania, but how it will be conducted. The 30-member commission, weighted heavily with business and political leaders who support natural gas extraction, on Friday unanimously approved a set of recommendations whose details are still under wraps. A final report will be delivered to Corbett by Friday.

WASHINGTON - President Obama has signed executive orders that lay out how far military commanders around the globe can go in using cyber attacks and other computer operations against enemies and as part of routine espionage in other countries. The orders detail when the military must seek presidential approval for a cyber assault on an enemy and weave cyber capabilities into U.S. war-fighting strategy, defense officials and cyber security experts said. Signed more than a month ago, the orders cap a two-year Pentagon effort to draft U.S. rules for cyber warfare.

Four former Synthes Inc. executives who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from an illegal clinical trial of bone cement in which three people died are now awaiting word from U.S. District Judge Legrome D. Davis about the guidelines he will use to sentence them and the date for sentencing. The defendants are Michael Huggins of West Chester, Thomas Higgins of Berwyn, Richard Bohner of Malvern, and John Walsh of Coatesville. The four men were in court earlier this week as their lawyers argued for guidelines that might lessen the potential prison and probation time.

When should the government file criminal charges against powerful corporations - and when is it enough to accept cash and a promise not to break the law again? How about selling drugs for unapproved uses? Pfizer Inc. paid $2.3 billion in 2009 to settle government painkiller-marketing accusations, avoiding prosecution. What about helping rich people illegally evade taxes? Union Bank of Switzerland averted a criminal court battle when it paid $780 million and agreed to give the IRS data from secret Swiss bank accounts in 2009.

IS THE CEREAL BOWL half empty - or half full? When it comes to a government proposal to pressure food companies to voluntarily change the way they market fast food, candy and sugary cereals to children, it's hard to say. A couple of weeks ago, an Interagency Working Group - including the Federal Trade Commission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture - released proposed...