Investigation

Cleveland police face U.S. probe TOLEDO, Ohio - The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday it will open a wide-ranging civil rights investigation into the use of force by Cleveland's police department, whose officers fired 137 shots at the end of a massive police chase last fall, killing two likely unarmed people. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said the investigation will look beyond the November car chase that involved more than 60 patrol cars and ended in the shootings of Timothy Russell, 43, and his passenger, Malissa Williams, 30. Perez said the probe will not be a criminal investigation; its focus is the entire department, not individual officers.

Pennsylvania State University's trustees appear headed for another battle at their meetings in Hershey this week, as backers of Joe Paterno continue to try to discredit the probe that found him culpable of a cover-up in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal. Thirty lettermen plan to appear in support of Paterno at Friday's meeting, and there is a continued call for a reexamination of the trustee-commissioned investigation conducted by former FBI Director Louis Freeh. This also will be the first trustee meeting since the Paterno family released its own report, which absolved the coach of wrongdoing in the scandal.

AFTER FIVE MONTHS of silence from the U.S. Attorney's Office, a Delaware County middle school found out Tuesday why its suspended principal had been under investigation: his alleged possession of more than 150 sexually explicit photos and videos of children. Federal authorities Tuesday indicted former Springton Lake Middle School Principal Troy Czukoski, 42, on one count of possession of child pornography. The Exton man had been on administrative leave since October, when authorities alerted the Rose Tree Media School District of their investigation.

THREE Daily News reporters have won the 2013 Larry Weiss Award for Investigative Journalism for a series of articles exposing misconduct by several high-ranking Philadelphia police officials. Barbara Laker, David Gambacorta and Dana DiFilippo will share a $10,000 prize for the series, dubbed "Bad Brass. " The award, open to investigative journalism of any medium produced in the Philly metropolitan area, South Jersey and Delaware, will be presented April 18 at a luncheon at the offices of WHYY, on Independence Mall.

Bailey O'Neill liked Granny Smith apples, the high dive, and flying kites on the beach. He was excited, he told his mother, to be confirmed later this month at Collingdale's St. Joseph Church. He followed the Flyers and the Phillies and served as best man at his grandfather's wedding. He scored the highest math grade in his class at Darby Township School. In the schoolyard there two months ago, Bailey's nose was broken when he was punched during a fight with two other boys. His parents said he had been the target of bullying, an allegation that has drawn national attention.

Downed power lines took out electricity for 1,993 West Philadelphia customers of Peco Energy Co. shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday. Power was restored to all but 36 by 9:50 p.m., Peco spokesman Ben Armstrong said. He said crews were working to replace multiple lines that went down in two places. Why the lines fell was still under investigation, Armstrong said. - Jennifer Lin

PITTSBURGH - Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, whose chance political ascendancy made him one of the youngest heads of a major American city, announced Friday that he would not seek reelection, just 11 days after saying he would. Ravenstahl, 33, has held office since 2006, when, as City Council president, he rose to fill the position when Bob O'Connor died. Controversy and criticism continue to build following revelations that the Police Bureau's Special Events and Finance Offices were under investigation by the FBI and IRS. Deputy Police Chief Paul Donaldson said he believed federal authorities were investigating misappropriation of funds.

The rapper French Montana and his entourage left Philadelphia on Friday afternoon after a day spent answering questions from detectives about a late-night shootout that erupted near Montana's tour bus, leaving one man dead and another injured. After Montana's sold-out show Thursday night at South Street's Theater of Living Arts, the rapper's bus was parked near the Holiday Inn Express on Columbus Boulevard around midnight, surrounded by hundreds of friends and fans, when a car with tinted windows drove up and shots were fired from a rolled-down passenger-side window.

The board of trustees of Camden's LEAP Academy University Charter School is conducting a review of the process by which its executive chef got a $24,000 raise last year. Chef Michele Pastorello is the boyfriend of LEAP's founder and board chairwoman, Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, and, as The Inquirer reported this week, his base salary was bumped up to $95,000 as part of a new food-service contract. That is more than double what chefs at schools in the area typically earn. A school spokesman said Bonilla-Santiago had recused herself from any votes pertaining to the food-service contract.