A federal judge on Tuesday cleared the way for alumni of a top-ranked Brooklyn private school to sue over alleged sexual abuse decades ago by the institution’s late football coach, writes The New York Times.

U.S. District Judge Frederic Block said Poly Prep cannot automatically invoke the state’s statute of limitations to head off lawsuits because the school may have engaged in a years-long scheme to hide allegations against Philip Foglietta, its football coach from 1966 to 1991. The decision makes possible a hearing to establish whether there was such a cover-up.

“The court has basically carved out an exception on statute of limitation claims where the party has engaged in affirmative misrepresentations or deceitful conduct,” said Kevin T. Mulhearn, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

The Poly Prep case is being closely watched amid allegations that institutions such as the Roman…

Read More

An Austin, Tex.-based foundation ostensibly established to support the families of slain state troopers will shut down under an agreement with state officials who accused the group of misleading donors and misusing contributions, according to the Austin American-Statesman and the Houston Chronicle.

The Texas Highway Patrol Association will dissolve and close its Texas Highway Patrol Museum in San Antonio as part of a settlement with the state attorney general’s office, which sued the charity in December. The pact also permanently bans most of the organization’s leaders from overseeing any entity in Texas related to law enforcement.

The group’s assets will be turned over to law-enforcement agencies or sold, with proceeds going to troopers’ families, whom state officials said never received $10,000 death benefits promised by the charity.

The association raised some $12-million…

Read More

Southern Oregon University will take full control of 22 northwestern public radio stations in a deal that settles a financial dispute between the university and its former partner in the network, say the Mail Tribune of Medford, Ore., and the Associated Press.

The campus will now fully operate Jefferson Public Radio, which broadcasts in southern Oregon and northern California.

The deal effectively separates the network from the Jefferson Public Radio Foundation, which had previously run some of the stations, and establishes a third entity, Jefferson Live!, to take over nonradio projects launched by the foundation, including renovation of historic theaters in Medford and Redding, Calif.

Tensions between the university and the foundation erupted in June after an audit commissioned by the Oregon University System raised questions about whether the foundation’s outside spending…

Read More

The youth charity founded by convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky has suspended plans to shut down and shift its assets to another organization, saying it will wait until lawsuits related to the scandal are resolved, according to the Associated Press and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

In court papers filed Monday, the Second Mile agreed to remain in operation pending possible damage claims by Mr. Sandusky’s victims. Investigators say the former Penn State assistant football coach, now awaiting sentencing on dozens of child sex-abuse charges, used the charity he launched in 1977 to meet boys.

“Our goal is to ensure that the at-risk children who benefit from The Second Mile programs continue to receive the support they need while also being mindful of Jerry Sandusky’s victims and the horrible abuse they suffered,” said David Woodle, the charity’s chief executive.

Mr. Woodle said the…

Read More

Dozens of recipients of the Boy Scouts of America’s highest award are handing back their Eagle Scout badges or otherwise publicly protesting the national nonprofit group’s recent decision to maintain its ban on openly gay members, according to The Boston Globe.

At least 148 Eagle Scouts nationwide have shared letters on a Tumblr blog called “Eagle Scouts Returning Our Badges,” set up by a Seattle Scout to oppose the ban, which the national scouting organization reaffirmed last month. Additional protests have sprung up on other social-media sites.

“This is absolute bigotry and ignorance,” said Ned Coltman, 21, of Reading, Mass., who last week sent the Scouts back his Eagle badge. “They have to know there are Eagles out there who are angry at this.”

In a statement, the Boy Scouts group said there are some 2 million Eagle Scouts nationwide.

The organization does not have a…

Read More

The conservative nonprofit organization whose lawsuit is credited with opening a floodgate of political support has not itself seen contributions pour in as a result, The Washington Post writes.

The Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in what has become known as the Citizens United case lifted federal restrictions on corporate campaign contributions, leading to the development of super PAC’s and, indirectly, the emergence of 501(c)(4) advocacy groups as key pipelines for political cash.

Citizens United President Dave Bossie said the Washington-based advocacy group has benefited from the “branding, marketing aspect” of having its name on the famous case but has also seen itself linked to controversial megadonors such as the Charles and David Koch even though they have not given to Citizens United.

“I’d love for you to print my address in the newspaper article so that the Koch brothers…

Read More

A New York state senator was charged Monday with conspiring with a relative and aides to steal taxpayer money via an alleged sham charity, says The New York Times.

Queens Democrat Shirley L. Huntley turned herself in to authorities and pleaded not guilty to felony counts of tampering with evidence and falsifying business records. She joins a string of state and New York City legislators who have come under investigation or been convicted  in recent years on suspicion of using allied nonprofit groups for personal gain.

Prosecutors allege Ms. Huntley, 74, created a paper trail to hide the theft of nearly $30,000 by her niece, Lynn H. Smith, and an aide, Patricia D. Savage, from Parents Workshop Inc., an organization for low-income families the senator founded shortly after her election in 2006. Ms. Smith, Ms. Savage, and David R. Gantt, a former Huntley aide who served as a…

Read More

Donations to Lance Armstrong’s cancer charity skyrocketed on the day after the cycling legend abandoned his challenge to charges that he used performance-enhancing drugs, Reuters reports.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation, better known as Livestrong, received 400 donations worth $75,000 on Friday, 20 times what it took in on Thursday, when Armstrong made his announcement and was stripped by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency of his seven Tour de France titles.

Supporters of the foundation, based in Austin, Tex., “respect Lance’s decision and I think they just want to move on,” Doug Ulman, the chief executive of Livestrong, said of the outpouring.

Mr. Armstrong continues to deny allegations of cheating but said Thursday that he was tired of fighting the nonprofit anti-doping body, which had reportedly lined up several witnesses, including former riders and staff members of Mr. Armstrong’s …

Read More

An insurance executive of Elkhart, Ind., has left his entire fortune to his hometown community foundation, a gift that will allow the charity to increase its grant-making 10-fold, the Associated Press reports.

The bequest by David Gundlach, who died in October of a heart attack at age 56, triples the Elkhart County Community Foundation’s overall assets and will boost its grant spending from about $750,000 to $7.5-million a year.

Pete McCown, the foundation’s president, told the local newspaper, The Elkhart Truth, that he had only met Mr. Gundlach a few months before his death. He said the gift would become a watershed event in the northern Indiana community’s history, ranking with the arrival of its first settlers.

“I don’t think we have any idea what the scope of change is going to be,” Mr. McCown said. “He had greater wealth than what was expected or what we were aware of.”

The former chief financial officer of a Kansas health-care organization has been charged with siphoning more than $2-million in Medicaid money from the organization, The Topeka Capital-Journal writes.

Federal prosecutors claim that Jason Sellers, 43, of Lyndon, Kan., diverted Medicaid payments to Kansas Health Solutions, a nonprofit group contracted by the state to administer mental-health services, to a shell consulting company he created.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court last week, the firm, Advanced Business Consulting, fraudulently billed the charity for information-technology services. Mr. Sellers allegedly also billed Kansas Health Solutions for sports gear and uniforms for teams with which he was involved, computer equipment for a school, and personal funds.

Mr. Sellers, who left Kansas Health Solutions in August 2011 amid a state probe of…

Read More