Story here. Excerpt:

'The trial of a Canberra teacher accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student ended yesterday with the woman's young accuser branded a liar in court by a defence barrister.
After seven days of evidence and submissions in the ACT Supreme Court, 43-year-old Tania Tominac now faces an agonising wait for Justice Malcolm Gray to return his verdict on her guilt or innocence.
...
In his closing submissions yesterday, defence barrister Ken Archer told Justice Gray that the boy at the centre of the allegations was ''not a witness of truth'' and that some of his claims were ''beyond belief''.

Tominac, a former teacher at Saint Francis Xavier College in Florey, is accused of conducting an affair with the then 14-year-old student.

The mother-of-three pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 and one count of maintaining a relationship with a person under the age of 16.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'WILMINGTON – More details emerged Wednesday in the case against a former New Hanover County middle school teacher charged with sex crimes.

Wilmington police say they caught 27-year-old Jessica Wishnask in "intimate contact" with a 15-year-old boy. She was charged with taking indecent liberties with a minor.

News 14 Carolina confirmed Thursday that the teenager is a student at Williston Middle School, where Wishnask used to teach. It is unclear if he was her student.

News 14 Carolina does not identify the victims of sex crimes.

New Hanover County school district leaders say the teacher was suspended twice during her two years with the district. They did not release the reason for those suspensions. She resigned for personal reasons last December.

Wilmington police say they caught the teacher and student together in a parked car around 3:30 a.m. Saturday.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'NASHVILLE - A former Tennessee teacher who was convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old student is fighting for another shot at parole.

Pamela Rogers was arrested in February 2005 and pleaded no contest to having sexual intercourse and oral sex with the student, who attended the elementary school in McMinnville where she had taught physical education.

She was released early for good behavior, but was sent back to jail for sending nude photos to the boy after she was released.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'HARRISON, Pa., May 27 (UPI) -- A former teacher's aide and one-time stripper apologized in a Pennsylvania courtroom for her sexual trysts and partying with teenage students.

Abbie Swogger, 36, of Harrison was sentenced to 3-to-6 years in prison Tuesday after saying she was sorry she had not acted like the role model she should have been during her brief tenure as an aide at a local high school.

The Valley News Dispatch in Tarentum. Pa., said Swogger will also be registered as a sex offender. In exchange for the plea, most of the 40 counts against her were consolidated or dropped.'

Story here. When its a female teacher, its sex or relationship. When its a male, its abuse or rape. How many female teachers who rape boys are held without bail?

'A former teacher's aide in Burlington will remain in jail pending trial on sex abuse charges.

Douglas Cavett, 43, of Milton, is accused of assaulting a male student from Hunt Middle school back in the early 1990s.

Police say Cavett gained the trust of troubled boys and hosted parties at his house where he gave teenage boys drugs and alcohol. Cavett already has one sex crime conviction from 2005, also involving a teenage boy.

Last week he pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault, but police fear there may be more victims. A judge denied him bail, saying he's a risk to public safety.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'HIALEAH, Fla., May 27 (UPI) -- Police in Hialeah, Fla., have charged a female teacher at a religious school with having an affair with a 15-year-old 8th grader.

In addition to the teacher, the boy's mother is under investigation after acknowledging to authorities that she approved of the relationship, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday.

"She apparently didn't find anything wrong with it, thought that the teacher was a nice enough person and a good influence on her son," said Detective Carl Zogby of the Hialeah police.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The society's commission on women and the criminal justice system, whose members include high court judges and Cressida Dick, one of the most senior women in British policing, warned that since it last reported in 2004 there has been a lack of consistent progress in ­promoting women into senior positions, and victims and offenders continued to be marginalised in a system designed for men.

It raised concerns over the number of women given short prison sentences for non-violent crime, including the non-payment of fines and television licences, and the effect it had on their children as well as its failure to address the causes of their offending.

In 2007, 63% of women sent to jail were given sentences of six months or less. Last month the female prison population stood at 4,309, compared with 2,672 in mid-1997. Ministry of Justice projections show that at best it may decrease by 200 by 2015, and at worst will increase to 5,100.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'CHATTANOOGA - A new veterans clinic for women only is opening in Nashville and officials say it is one of the most comprehensive Veterans Affairs women's care clinics in the country.

Mary Ann Woodward-Smith, who oversees women's care for the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, said the clinic opening Wednesday is a sign that the VA is expanding services to women, who have been underserved in the male-dominated military.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported the clinic on Charlotte Avenue is separate from the main VA hospital campus and is staffed entirely by women.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Polls show support for affirmative action tracks with those who benefit from the policy. For example, white women overwhelmingly support affirmative action when it involves women. But when it involves only minorities, white women generally agree with white men. A majority of whites do still support affirmative action for minorities. But their support nears 90 percent when it regards economic background rather than race or gender.
...
That's the bigger issue afoot. It is still acceptable for society to discriminate against white males and to speak derisively of them. At what point will this change?

As Sotomayor stood beside the president Tuesday, she said, "I strive never to forget the real-world consequences of my decisions on individuals, businesses and government."

Story here. Excerpt:

'WHEELING - An assisted living center is suing one of its employees for allegedly spreading rumors that an older man residing at the facility raped a woman.

Weirton Health Partners filed a federal lawsuit April 14 against Gabrielle Yates.

Weirton says it lost clients after Yates began to call families of residents living at Wyngate Senior Living Community and told them a resident had raped another resident.

But Weirton contends the claims are not true.

Rumors began flying after Wyngate staff members discovered the existence of a romantic relationship between two elderly residents in June, according to the complaint.'

Article here. Excerpt:

't’s been such fun watching the right-wing white boys sputtering over the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, a Hispanic woman nominated by a black man!

“Our world domination’s slip, slip, slipping away,” you can almost hear them whimper. “What to do?”
...
Note to those arguing that if a white man said about caucasians what Sotomayor did about Latina women judging better, he’d be finished: That’s true. But it’s a ridiculous analogy. White men - unlike women and minorities - have never endured government-sanctioned racism. Not yet, anyway.

Quick questions:

Why, when a white man wins a political seat or a court appointment, it’s all about merit? But when a nonwhite wins (Obama) or gets appointed (Sotomayor), it’s all about “identity politics” and tokenism?

Article here. Excerpt:

'It could soon be a crime for Malaysian men to call their wives ugly, a women's rights group claimed this week.

The Women's Development Department, which is a branch of the government, plans to ask Parliament to ban 'emotional violence' against women. Physical violence is already illegal.

Campaigners said offenders who 'demonstrate a pattern of causing mental and psychological damage' should face counseling, fines and jail terms.
...
About 90 percent of some 800 women who called Malaysia's Women's Aid Organisation for help last year reported being psychologically abused, though some were also physically assaulted.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Does this remark make you want to head for the hills?

"I would hope that a wise Caucasian man with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn't lived that life."

A male faculty member who made such a claim would be laughed off of any college campus. But a slightly-revised version of that remark actually was made at the University of California at Berkeley. This is what Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor had to say at a Law and Cultural Diversity lecture she gave in 2001:

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

Punctuating that loopy logic, she then opined,

"Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences,...our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging."

Story here. Excerpt:

'Prosecutors believe that the Pennsylvania woman who was found with her daughter at Disney World after claiming they were abducted by two black men may have been taking actions due to domestic tensions with her second husband.

“They’re still looking into the motive behind this. We believe it may have to do with some domestic problems she may have been having with her husband,” Bucks County (Pa.) district attorney Michelle Henry told TODAY’s Natalie Morales Thursday. Henry said the couple may also have been facing financial problems.

Henry said that Bonnie Sweeten, 38, of Feasterville, will be charged with false reports and identity theft, both misdemeanors, and would be extradited from Florida to face the charges. Her 9-year-old daughter, Julia Rakoczy, was being interviewed by investigators and was to return home with her father and Sweeten’s ex-husband, Anthony Rakoczy.'

Hmmm...
"...after claiming they were abducted by two black men..."
"...domestic tensions with her second husband..."

Article here. Excerpt:

'“If children without fathers fare worse than children in two-parent families, say defenders of single mothers, the answer is better pay for women and better social programs. Yet even in Sweden with its generous welfare state, a major 2003 study found that children raised in single-parent homes were at significantly higher risk for addictions and serious psychiatric problems.”

A nice piece from Cathy Young in the Boston Globe–Single mothers and the baby boom (5/26/09). She writes:

"In the past 10 years, with my biological clock winding down and no husband in sight, I have been asked quite a few times if I had considered having a child on my own. What used to be scandalous is now practically a conventional life choice.