Guidelines

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.

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.

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.

The Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections has issued guidelines to comply with legislation passed by the General Assembly extending deadlines for commercial and residential construction permits and approvals until July 1, 2016. The Assembly approved an amendment to an act passed in 2010 extending for three more years all permits and approvals of building projects received between Jan. 1, 2009, and July 1, 2013. The amendment was passed in part to provide additional time for projects throughout Pennsylvania affected by the economic downturn.

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.

WASHINGTON - In early 2010, an Internal Revenue Service team in Cincinnati began noticing a stream of applications from groups with political-sounding names, setting in motion a dragnet aimed at separating legitimate tax-exempt groups from those working to get candidates elected. The IRS officials decided to single out one type of political group for particular scrutiny. "These cases involve various local organizations in the tea party movement," read one internal IRS e-mail sent at the time.

WASHINGTON - The federal government wants automakers to put limits on the electronic devices they install in new cars and is recommending that most Internet-linked applications and video equipment be disabled unless a vehicle is standing still. "These guidelines recognize that today's drivers appreciate technology, while providing automakers with a way to balance the innovation consumers want with the safety we all need," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "Combined with good laws, good enforcement, and good education, these guidelines can save lives.

BOISE, Idaho - Idaho has become the first state to have its so-called fetal-pain law banning abortions after 20 weeks struck down by the federal courts. The decision from U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill was handed down Wednesday as part of a ruling that also overturns other abortion restrictions in Idaho. Also on Wednesday, Arkansas adopted a law banning abortion at 12 weeks of pregnancy, around the time that a fetal heartbeat can be detected by abdominal ultrasound. The Idaho ruling is binding not only in that state but could have a persuasive effect in lawsuits challenging similar bans in other states - such as Arizona, where a suit is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

More than other witnesses, it was the mother-in-law's impassioned testimony that sealed the verdict. There were reams of testimony from experts on the technical causes of the downed utility wire that killed Carrie Goretzka, a young mother of two girls, on June 2, 2009, at her home in Irwin, Pa., 30 miles east of Pittsburgh. But it was the account of JoAnn Goretzka, who spoke of seeing her daughter-in-law engulfed in smoke and flames the day the line came down, that had the most power.

JUVENILE-JUSTICE reformers rejoiced last summer when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles, calling them cruel-and-unusual punishment. Despairing anti-crime crusaders worried that the decision might mean that juveniles, quite literally, would then get away with murder. But Wednesday, a Philadelphia judge put those worries to rest. Common Pleas Judge Linda A. Carpenter ordered Radames Sanabria, of Philadelphia, who was 17 when he was charged in a 2010 slaying, to serve life in prison without parole.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Changes to football season-ticket guidelines at Penn State have been implemented to boost attendance two years after the school instituted new donation levels that left some fans unhappy. The result of the "Seat Transfer and Equity Plan" is this: Attendance is down slightly since 2010, though donations to the booster organization, the Nittany Lion Club, are up slightly. To counter, Penn State this week lowered minimum donation levels for about 11,500 seats at 106,572-seat Beaver Stadium.

A 10-member task force has been named to come up with guidelines for how to distribute the record $60 million fine that Pennsylvania State University will pay in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, the NCAA said Tuesday. The money will fund programs designed to combat child sexual abuse and help victims around the country. The task force will set policy for the endowment and hire a third-party administrator who will choose which nonprofit groups receive funding each year. "This fund will exist, presumably, for a long, long time, and putting it together right, putting a good solid foundation under it, a thoughtful philosophy under it, is just going to mean it will be an effective, respected source of funding in this area for a long time," said task force member Nan Crouter, dean of Penn State's College of Health and Human Development.

Jim Kenney has been getting praise and criticism for speaking out against Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy's comments that gay marriage is "inviting God's judgment on our nation. " Kenney notes that unlike politicians in some other cities, he has not called for the fast-food chain to leave Philadelphia. Kenney says he just wants customers to know what they are paying for when they order their chicken sandwich and waffle fries. He also thinks comments such as Cathy's inspire bullying against gay men and women.

The Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections has issued guidelines to comply with legislation passed by the General Assembly extending deadlines for commercial and residential construction permits and approvals until July 1, 2016. The Assembly approved an amendment to an act passed in 2010 extending for three more years all permits and approvals of building projects received between Jan. 1, 2009, and July 1, 2013. The amendment was passed in part to provide additional time for projects throughout Pennsylvania affected by the economic downturn.