Story here. Excerpt:

'APRIL 5--An Indiana man had his scrotum severely torn when his “on-again, off-again” girlfriend entered his home and pummeled him in an attack that resulted in the woman’s arrest on several criminal charges, including two felonies.

Christina Reber, 43, was freed from jail yesterday after posting $10,000 bond in connection with her bust for the alleged attack last Friday at the Muncie house of her ex-beau (who told cops he had ended the couple’s eight-month relationship days before the assault).

The victim, 57, told police that he was working at his computer when Reber, pictured in the adjacent mug shot, “walked into his house uninvited,” according to a Muncie Police Department report that will make every guy wince. The man said Reber screamed at him to “call the fucking police” before launching her assault.

Story here. Excerpt:

'The Obama campaign is hoping to train an army of women at the DNC's national issues conference in Washington, D.C., later this month.

The two-day convention will include remarks by President Obama and strategy meetings on American women, values and the 2012 election as well as economic security and strengthening the middle class.

Confirmed training sessions include: "Talking to Your Neighbor: Persuading Women Voters," "Digital Organizing: Effective Social Media Strategies," "Talking about the President’s Accomplishments," and "Crafting Your Personal Narrative."
...
The White House also is targeting women with a forum on Friday that will highlight how the administration “has helped create economic security for women and recognized that women are key to economic growth and competitiveness.”'

Transcript here. Excerpt:

'Q Jay, thank you. I want to go back to the women’s conference on Friday. There’s a pretty obvious political strategy from Chicago to exploit the gender gap that you have. It’s in a lot of public polls that women, by a wide margin, are supporting the President over Mitt Romney or any other Republican paired up against him. Why are you using the White House on Friday to stage an event that clearly has some political implications?

MR. CARNEY: Ed, by that — you’re saying that anything that has to do with women has political -- so anything that has to do with growing the economy, because I think every political analyst out there would say that a stronger recovery would be good for the President politically, or anything that has to do with job creation is inherently political because more jobs would be good for the President.

Q So what day are you having a men’s conference on the economy? (Laughter.)

Article here. Excerpt:

'Middle school boys rated reading more valuable as an activity after two months of using an e-reader, according to a new study.

The findings come from a study of 199 middle school students who struggle with reading and who participated in a reading improvement class that included Amazon's Kindle e-reader, said one of the study's authors, Dara Williams-Rossi, Southern Methodist University, Dallas.

The researchers found that boys consistently had a higher self-concept of their reading skill than girls both before and after using the e-readers. After use of the e-readers, boys' attitudes about the value of reading improved, while girls' attitudes declined, said Williams-Rossi, an assistant clinical professor in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development at SMU.'

Story here.

'Boys are to be allowed into an all-girls prep school for the first time in the North Down school’s history.

Cygnet House, preparatory school for Glenlola Collegiate Grammar School in Bangor, are to allow boys in, in a relaunch for the school in time for next September’s intake, or soon after.

The Department of Education has approved the plans but Minister John O’Dowd said the move did not signal an increase in capacity and would therefore not impact on neighbouring schools.

Last year every girl who attended Cygnet House’s P7 class secured a grammar school place.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Tomorrow is Women's Day at the White House.

President Obama will host and speak at a White House Forum on Women and the Economy on Friday, designed to "highlight ways the administration has helped create economic security for women and recognizes that women are key to economic growth and competitiveness."

The White House will also be releasing a report from its Council on Women and Girls, showing how economic security and jobs for women are essential to a sustained economic recovery.

"From access to affordable education for young women to supporting women at work and at home, to ensuring security for women in retirement, the administration is committed, across all agencies and departments, to do everything it can to create an economy built to last for America's women," said a White House statement.'

Over the last few months we have called upon all of you to help us reform domestic violence law, specifically the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), S.1925. We have asked you to make phone calls, send emails and sign petitions. And you haven't let us down. Thank you so much!     

Today, we'd also like to recognize our volunteers.

We are honored to work with members of the Domestic Violence Legislative Project (DVLP), Campaign 2012, and the Countering Abuse Misinformation Project (CAMP).

Meet two of our volunteers:

DVLP member Relda Copning shared her son's tragic story with the women of WAVE. She also called every senator to talk about VAWA. Sign Relda's petition on false allegations of domestic violence: http://www.petition2congress.com/1627/stop-false-allegations-domestic-violence

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Nassau County judge dramatically reversed himself in a decision about divorce payments that had been cited by an independent commission as an example of flaws in legislation passed to reform New York's matrimonial laws.

In March 2011, Judge Norman Janowitz ordered Jeffrey Goldberg to pay his wife Jill Goldberg more than $17,000 a month, though his monthly take-home pay as an investment banker was only $12,775, according to court documents. His wife, Jill, is employed as a guidance counselor, earning $103,000 a year. Mr. Goldberg was laid off in August.

But on March 12, Judge Janowitz declared his original decision to be "unjust and inappropriate" and substantially reduced how much Mr. Goldberg must pay his wife, including reductions in temporary alimony and child support.

"The Court did not consider how the totality of the court-directed payments would impact the parties' economic reality on a month to month basis," Judge Janowitz wrote in his new decision.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Men walking around campus with red painted nails aren’t cross-dressing; they’re taking part in an initiative to stop violence against women.

Volunteers will be at the Atrium, Student Recreation and Wellness Center and Scramble Light to ask men if they are man enough to stop violence against women by volunteering to paint one of their nails red.

Operation Red Jungle, a campus wide initiative, is geared toward bringing awareness to stopping the violence.

Emily Sullivan, president of Ball State’s Timmy Global Health, volunteered her time on Tuesday to ask men passing by if they wanted to take the pledge.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Men wearing high heel shoes paraded through downtown Cherokee on Thursday, April 5. No, it wasn’t a drag show, and none of them lost a bet. The brave men donned the shoes, as part of a “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event which drew over 100 people, to help bring awareness to the problem of violence against women.

“Thank you for manning up and walking with us,” said Painttown Rep. Terri Henry, a long-time advocate against domestic violence. She spoke to the crowd about the importance of awareness and education on the problem as well as the need to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
...
Tom Hill, of Analenisgi, said it is important for men to take responsibility for the problem. “We are responsible for this problem and we are the ones that have to take care of it.”'

I agree with this column about the culpability of Tiger's mistresses in his downfall. Famous men who cheat pay a price while the women with whom they cheat are often rewarded. Excerpts:

'This threesome of apparent adulterers apparently so cherished their time with the then-married golfer they decided to do a film tribute. I have not yet been able to screen "3 Mistresses: Notorious Tales of the World’s Greatest Golfer," but I am sure the Q&A about Tiger’s sexual tastes and demonstration portion of the video is not at all about cashing in on their role in ruining a marriage but, rather, just their fond memories of doing so.
...
This latest Tiger development reveals the hypocrisy. He is getting excoriated for cheating on Elin Woods, and his helpers are profiting from it."
...
Because this is now a business plan: Be hot, sleep with a famous rich guy, save the texts, call Allred and turn it into a 401(k).'

Link here. Excerpt:

'Circumcision is the most commonly performed surgical procedure in newborns.1 Although circumcisions may be performed for cultural or religious reasons, there has been debate over the ethics and medical necessity of this procedure.1,2 As recently reported by the CDC, the percent of male newborn circumcisions declined over the past decade.3

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Teri Stoddard
Telephone: 301-801-0608

Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

$1.2 Million in Anti-Violence Funds Embezzled, Missing, or Misused:

Fraud is Widespread, SAVE Charges

Washington, DC/April 4, 2012 – Following release of three reports by the Department of Justice, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is charging that many grants made under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) are plagued by fraud and waste. Such malfeasance shortchanges the vulnerable victims of partner abuse.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued three reports in March highlighting the problem:

1. A March 28 press release announced the sentencing of Julie and Andrea Matau for embezzlement of funds from a VAWA grant.  From 2005 to 2007, the mother and daughter pair stole $159,763 in federal money from their American Samoa legal services corporation, which had received $1.2 million in VAWA-related grants. http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/March/12-crm-386.html

Just published this story. Are you as fed up with this kind of blatantly sexist injustice as I am? Time to make your feelings known. The DA who is declining to prosecute the daughter has a page here with a contact email (baurs-at-co.cowlitz.wa.us) listed here, which also lists a phone number of 360-577-3080. Please call or email her and POLITELY ask her to reconsider her decision. Let her know the eyes of the country (if not also the world-- I also encourage non-US-based activists to take action as well) are on her and these eyes are not happy with what they are seeing.

Link here. Excerpt:

'Young women who drink and drive in the United States are at increasing risk for being in a fatal accident, according to a new study.

Although men had roughly double the risk for a fatal crash as women with the same blood-alcohol level in 1996, that gender gap had closed by 2007, the researchers pointed out. And although reasons for that trend remain unclear, they said it may be because young women are taking more risks on the road.

"Young women who drink and drive may be behaving more like young men who drink and drive," said the study's lead researcher, Robert Voas, of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Md., in a news release from the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
...
The researchers concluded drunk-driving and distracted-driving prevention education is needed for both boys and girls.'