| Probes into lecturer's indecent assault bid complete
Two official investigations into a former senior childcare lecturer convicted of attempted indecent assault have been completed, it emerged tonight.The gardaí have sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions after its inquiry into Athlone Institute of Technology ex-lecturer Dr Niall McElwee.Separately, the Health Service Executive (HSE) said it is considering whether to publish its own probe into the circumstances surrounding the case.Dr McElwee resigned from the third-level college last year over his prosecution in the Netherlands of attempted indecent assault on two young women in an Amsterdam hotel room.Children's Minister Brendan Smith ordered an independent review of the the case last July while the gardaí were investigating if Dr McElwee broke sex laws in the Republic.Individuals are obliged under the Sexual Offenders Act 2001 to inform authorities here of any prosecution abroad for an offence also deemed criminal in Ireland.A garda spokesman said: "The investigation is complete and the file is with the Director of Public Prosecutions."Separately, lawyers are to decide whether the HSE probe will be published after health chiefs receive the findings in the coming days.Independent management consultant Conal Devine - a former Director of Industrial Relations at the Irish Medical Organisation - was appointed to carry out the HSE inquiry last July.Child protection experts were to be brought in from outside the State to help Mr Devine with his investigation, it was announced at the time.The report is now understood to be concluded and will be handed to the Assistant National Director of Primary Community and Continuing Care (PCCC) services in the HSE Dublin Mid-Leinster Area before the end of the week.A HSE spokesman said its lawyers will study the findings before a decision is taken on whether or not to make them public."The HSE is committed to establishing the full facts of what information was available to the health services in relation to Dr McElwee," he said.A review inquiry team headed up by Mr Devine was charged with looking at concerns about child protection relating to the incident.It was expected to investigate:::Documents from State agencies, including the gardaí, government departments and Athlone IT relating to Dr McElwee and child protection issues.
Torch Today
Updated throughout the day, it's the Torch News Ticker with all the news and info that's not fit for print. Bookmark it every Monday! Tuesday, January 29, 2008 5:00 p.m. - TNA management was pleased with last weekend's turn-out in Ohio for the house shows in Troy and Youngstown, continuing what they believe has been "nothing but strong experiences in 2008." Steven Godfrey, TNA's public relations manager, tells the Torch: "It's exciting to start the year with this kind of momentum for our live shows, because we feel like this will create a buzz for our pay per view events in Greenville and Norfolk, as well as more live events slated for the coming months." TNA has a three-night tour of New York in late February, and they will be announcing another series of live shows soon. 4:00 p.m. - NWA Notes: The schedule for the "Pro Wrestling Showcase" TV tapings in Las Vegas includes: Feb.
Home sale prices inch up in Illinois
Illinois home prices eked out a 0.7 percent increase in the third quarter despite a raft of negative trends, the Illinois Association of Realtors said Tuesday. Statewide, the trade group said, the median home sale price was $209,000, a slight gain from the $207,500 a year ago. The median price, considered a better yardstick than a standard average, represents the price at which half the homes that sold were at a higher price, and half were at a lower price. The average sale price rose 3.1 percent in the latest quarter, to $270,632. The number of homes sold in Illinois, including single-family homes and condominiums, dropped 16.3 percent, to 39,519. In the Chicago area, the median home sale price rose 4.2 percent, to $262,500.
Verdict against Sears
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McCain's "Mexico First" Aide
**--See, e.g,, his December 2 Stephanopoulos interview ("I also have a record of being in the private sector, not only in small business, but being involved in the human work of touching people's lives from the cradle to the grave ..."). 2:02 P.M. ___________________________ School Me (a new feature in which I advertise areas in which I'm embarrassingly ignorant, in the hope that readers will fill me in faster than I could fill myself in by, say, making phone calls): Back in June, Ron Brownstein wrote that in California "liberal interests and labor unions ... hate the idea" of an "individual mandate" requiring everyone to buy health insurance. Does that "hate" hold true nationally? Is it grounded solely in the sentiment Brownstein alludes to--that "they consider it unfair to working families"? Or does it also have a more cynical, institutional grounding, namely unions' fear that an individual mandate would undermine employer-provided insurance and the role of unions in negotiating for that insurance? ...
We are looking for voluntary translators from Arabic into English.
A soldier from the 1st ID summed up his job situation like this: "Before any soldier risks going to prison he should realize that his ability to communicate with other troops will be limited. "We choose our battles and continue to speak out in our underground action. "There has to be a point when we reach a high enough number of troops in our peace effort that a unified boycott of all military action will have a desired effect." Use Traveling Soldier to serve your organizing purposes and say what you have to say. You say how. Thats what its for. .
Where next for the FTSE 100?
Experts warn that further falls could trigger tipping points for the market, with charting experts naming anything from 5500 to 5850 as the crucial levels for the FTSE 100. Brokers have also been scrambling to reassess the next move for blue chip UK stocks with some still hopeful of a bounce back. 'There are still hard times ahead, and we fully expect the first six months to be volatile, we believe that the FTSE 100 could hit 6900 by the end of the year', said Richard Hunter of stockbrokers Hargreaves Lansdown. .
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