Judge: Children can stay with sex offender

Judge: Children can stay with sex offender
AUBURN, N.Y. -- A judge has ruled that a man will be allowed to keep custody of two young girls despite being a convicted sex offender who spent eight years in prison for sexually abusing a child.
Cayuga County Family Court Judge Peter Corning said Tuesday he was convinced that Roger Kulakowski was not a sexual predator and may have been wrongly convicted in 1985. He agreed to give visitation rights to the children's maternal grandparents, who were contesting custody.
"I would not agree to this unless I was wholly convinced that there is no peril to the children," Corning said. "These children have flourished ... and are well on their way to being productive, good people."
Kulakowski, 49, and his sister, Joanne, have had temporary custody of the two girls -- ages 4 and 6 -- since 1999. The older girl is Kulakowski's biological daughter, the other is her half-sister.
Bonita and Donald Babcock had challenged the placement of their granddaughters with the Kulakowskis, saying they were not aware until 2000 that Kulakowski was a convicted sex offender.
Corning gave the Kulakowskis custody of the two girls in 1999 after the girls' mother admitted she had neglected them.
Board strips collegeof its accreditation
ATLANTA -- Students at Morris Brown College in Atlanta face an uncertain future after the 117-year-old historically black institution was stripped of its accreditation, leaving 80 percent of its students without federal financial aid.
The decision, released Tuesday by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, means Morris Brown, saddled with mounting debt, could close its doors permanently. The school said it would appeal.
"I'm just going to have to go to another institution if this thing stands," said student Renata Robertson, who can't afford to stay if she doesn't receive half the $6,000-a-semester tuition she gets in federal financial aid.
Also losing its accreditation was Mary Holmes College, historically a school for black women in West Point, Miss. The tiny two-year college, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, has been suffering declining enrollment and cash shortage.
Bush campaign owesgovernment $700,000
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's 2000 presidential campaign should repay the government about $700,000, but taxpayers owe Bush's election effort some money too, federal auditors say.
Former Vice President Al Gore's 2000 primary and general election campaign committees' owe money as well, Federal Election Commission auditors said.
They are questioning $426,836 in Gore's primary campaign funding and $14,887 in spending by his general election campaign. Gore's campaign has already repaid some of the money: Auditors say the primary campaign still owes the U.S. Treasury $372,245 and the general election campaign owes $3,262.
The commission was to consider auditors' recommendations Thursday.
The Bush campaign is disputing the audit. At most, it owes a fraction of the amount auditors say it does, campaign attorney Ben Ginsberg said.
Gore's primary and general election campaign funds were audited because both received federal money; Bush accepted public financing only for his general election campaign, so only that fund was audited.
In all, FEC auditors raised questions about $1 million from Bush's campaign -- of which about a quarter involved interest payments earned by the campaign on the taxpayer money it received.
22 killed in mudslide
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A mudslide triggered by days of heavy rain swept through a hotspring resort full of vacationers in Indonesia's East Java province today, killing at least 22 people and injuring four, a medical official said.
The massive wave of mud and water descended from a mountain near the village of Pacet, 390 miles east of the capital of Jakarta, said police Sgt. Suwarno, who like many Indonesians uses a single name.
Endang Sri Wulan, a doctor in Pacet contacted by phone, said the death toll had reached 22 and was expected to rise.
Around 50 people were bathing in the complex's three pools when the deluge took place, said police Lt. Col. Sobri Effendi.
"Witnesses said they heard a thundering sound before the mud mixed with rocks and wood poured into the pools," he said. "It came so fast."
State news agency Antara reported at least 30 people had been killed, adding that many of the dead were women and children. It was not clear if there were any foreigners among the dead.
Associated Press