Apparently scumbags love company as they slowly descend into the abyss of vileness. The Homeland Security Division of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in conjunction with the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice arrested 16 suspects after an investigation turned up evidence that the group was using an online file-sharing network to download and distribute child pornography.
“These defendants come from all walks of life, but they allegedly share a depraved desire to see children being raped and sexually exploited,” said the acting attorney general for the State of New Jersey. The suspects were caught downloading and making child pornography, the files found on the various computers including videos of children being raped or coerced into performing sexual acts on themselves or others. The youngest victim was only 8 months old.
The age range of the 16 suspects is from 17 to 72, including an area bus driver, and all of them are charged under New Jersey’s strict 2013 child pornography statute, which enhanced the penalties for these crimes.
One lane of a Florida road was closed due to a school bus bursting into flames. Information is scarce of those who were on the bus, but fire authorities have assured all anxious parties that no one injured in the blaze. Witnesses have claimed that no children were aboard at the time of the explosion, the school district confirming this assertion as the bus had just wrapped up dropping off its final riders. Preliminary reports have indicated that the incident was a mechanical fire.
Obviously, when a district claims its better prepared, everyone should take that assertion at face value. It’s been two years since the state auditor general called out the Greater Johnstown School District for failing to document $8.7 million in transportation expenses over an eight-year period. Now Eugene DePasquale wants to return to the school to check in on the progress after handing down a list of suggested actions the district needed to take to correct its issues. “They say they have their issues fixed, and we’ll go back and have an independent review,” said DePasquale. A district spokesperson noted that the district has gotten good marks from a team brought in to review procedures, a statement claiming, “The auditor general should be satisfied with the overall progress.” Exciting, no?
Some parents and others raise questions about the absence of seat belts or safety harnesses on school buses. The debate has begun to shift. A series of crashes have raised serious safety concerns, forcing federal regulators to start advocating seat belts on school buses even though school buses remain the safest mode of transportation for children. Three school bus crashes in Virginia and Maryland left at least 11 students and a police officer injured, and claimed the life of the driver that reportedly crashed into a school bus that was not carrying any students at the time. An elderly driver also was killed in Massachusetts when her vehicle hit a school bus carrying 25 students.
