Tuesday, October 7, 2014

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Peterson reportedly used charity funds to pay for sex party


The public perception of embattled running back Adrian Peterson — already banned from NFL activities following allegations of child abuse — has taken another hit as allegations surface that the former Minnesota Viking’s charity had financial improprieties.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Peterson was the center of an incident in an Eden Prairie hotel room that ended with a rape accusation and a lengthy police investigation that did not end in criminal charges. But, according to a 38-page police report on the 2011 incident, two relatives, including Peterson’s brother, a minor, were involved in a night of drinking and sex that Peterson’s relative told police was paid for using a company credit card for Peterson’s All Day, Inc.
“As the night wore on, the report says, one woman who said she knew Peterson previously became upset when she saw him having sex with another woman,” the newspaper reports. “She started an argument that lasted at least an hour. According to the report, when she told him that she was ‘emotionally attached to him,’ Peterson reminded her that he was engaged to another woman and had a baby.”
Prosecutors chose not to file charges following the rape accusation, which was first reported by TMZ on Sept. 26.
Peterson, who has fathered at least six children with six different women, and those children live in at least three states — Minnesota, Georgia and Texas — according to court records reviewed by the Star Tribune. In a 2013 interview, Peterson declined to say how many children he had.
“I know the truth,” he told ESPN. “I’m comfortable with that knowledge.”
Peterson’s indictment has also led to increased scrutiny of his charity, which focuses on at-risk children, particularly girls. The charity’s 2011 financial report showed $247,064 in total revenue, and listed just three organizations that received money. A fourth outlay, titled simply “clothing for needy families,” listed “unknown” for the number of recipients, the newspaper reports.
In 2009, the charity said its largest gift, $70,000, went to Straight From the Heart Ministries in Laurel, Md. But Donna Farley, president and founder of the Maryland organization, told the newspaper it never received any money from Peterson’s foundation.
“There have been no outside [contributions] other than people in my own circle,” Farley told the newspaper. “Adrian Peterson — definitely not.”
Furthermore, the East Texas Food Bank, based in Tyler, said it received money from Peterson’s foundation in 2009, although the foundation’s tax filing for that year listed just one donation to a food bank — the North Texas Food Bank, based in Dallas.
Colleen Brinkmann, the chief philanthropy officer for the North Texas Food Bank, told the Star Tribune that while her agency partnered with Dallas Cowboys players, she could not recall ever getting money from the All Day Foundation.
“Was he with the Cowboys before?” she asked of Peterson. “I’m not a football fan.”
Peterson is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday.

Supreme Court paves way for gay marriage in several states, leaves issue unresolved nationally


The Supreme Court on Monday turned away appeals from five states looking to prohibit gay marriage, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage in those states and likely others -- but also leaving the issue unresolved nationally. 
The justices rejected appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. The court's order immediately ends delays on gay marriage in those states. 
Couples in six other states -- Colorado, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming -- also should be able to get married in short order. Those states would be bound by the same appellate rulings that were put on hold pending the Supreme Court's review. That would make same-sex marriage legal in 30 states and the District of Columbia. 
In Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert said he was "surprised" and "disappointed" by Monday's development. But the Republican governor said that "while I continue to believe that the states do have the right to define marriage and create laws regarding marriage, ultimately we are a nation of laws, and we here in Utah will uphold the law." 
With no other state cases currently pending before the court, the decision to reject the appeals means the justices -- for now -- will not be considering the question of same-sex marriage nationwide. 
Experts and advocates on both sides of the issue believed the justices would step in and decide gay marriage cases this term. The justices have an obligation to settle an issue of such national importance, not abdicate that responsibility to lower court judges, the advocates said. Opting out of hearing the cases leaves those lower court rulings in place. 
Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, called on the high court to "finish the job." Wolfson said the court's "delay in affirming the freedom to marry nationwide prolongs the patchwork of state-to-state discrimination and the harms and indignity that the denial of marriage still inflicts on too many couples in too many places." 
Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, an opponent of same-sex marriage, also chastised the court for its "irresponsible denial of review in the cases." 
However, several other lower-court cases still are percolating and eventually could make their way to the Supreme Court. 
Two other appeals courts, in Cincinnati and San Francisco, could issue decisions any time in same-sex marriage cases. Judges in the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit who are weighing pro-gay marriage rulings in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, appeared more likely to rule in favor of state bans than did the 9th Circuit judges in San Francisco, who are considering Idaho and Nevada restrictions on marriage. 
The situation, meanwhile, was changing rapidly Monday in the states affected by the court's latest announcement: 
-- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said the fight against same-sex marriage "is over" in Wisconsin. "With the Supreme Court's announcement today, it is clear that the position of the court of appeals at the federal level is the law of the land and we're going to go forward enacting it." 
-- Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, said marriage licenses could start to be issued to same-sex couples as early as Monday afternoon. 
-- In North Carolina, lawyers for same-sex couples said they planned to ask a judge Monday to overturn the state's gay marriage ban. 
-- In Oklahoma, the clerk in the largest county said he would await a formal order from the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before he begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. That court had placed its ruling striking down the state ban on hold. 
It takes just four of the nine justices to vote to hear a case, but it takes a majority of at least five for an eventual ruling. Monday's opaque order did not indicate how the justices voted on whether to hear the appeals.

Ebola strikes Spanish nurse who treated priests, 30 people under surveillance in Madrid


A Spanish nurse who treated two missionaries for Ebola at a Madrid hospital has tested positive for the virus, Spain's health minister said Monday.
It is the first known transmission of the current outbreak of the disease outside West Africa.
The female nurse was part of the medical team that treated priests Manuel García Viejo, who died on Sept. 26, and Miguel Pajares, who died Aug. 12, at the hospital Carlos III de Madrid.
The infection was confirmed by two separate tests, Health Minister Ana Mato said after an emergency meeting held Monday afternoon in Madrid.
According to El País newspaper, the woman checked herself Monday morning in a hospital in Alcorcón, a suburb southwest of Madrid, with a high fever. The identity of the woman, who according to El Pais is 44 years and has no children, has not been released.
Health officials quoted by the paper say 30 people are currently under surveillance, and it is still being determined who she has been in contact with.
Nobody apart from the woman is in quarantine at the moment.
They said the woman went on vacation after García Viejo’s death, but did not disclose the destination. She led a normal life in recent weeks and her only symptoms were a fever and fatigue, Antonio Alemany, Madrid director of primary health care, said in the news conference.
"We do not know yet what could have failed, we are investigating the mechanism of infection," he said.
The World Health Organization confirmed there has not been a previous transmission outside West Africa in the current outbreak. WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told The Associated Press that so far there have only been confirmed cases in West Africa and the United States, and no known transmission outside West Africa. The organization is awaiting official notification of the case from Spanish authorities.
The woman will be transferred for treatment to Madrid's Carlos III hospital, where she has been a nurse for 15 years.
The virus that causes Ebola spreads only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person who is showing symptoms.
Spanish authorities said they were investigating how the nurse became infected at a hospital with modern health care facilities and special equipment for handling cases of deadly viruses.
More than 370 health workers in West Africa have become infected in this outbreak, and more than half of those have died. Doctors and nurses there have worked under difficult conditions, treating patients in overflowing wards, sometimes without proper protection. But even under ideal conditions, experts warn that caring for Ebola patients always involves a risk.
WHO estimates the latest Ebola outbreak has killed more than 3,400 people.

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