Student with HIV sues private residential school

(CNN) -- A 13-year-old Pennsylvania boy is suing a private residential school for discrimination after it refused to admit him because he has HIV, his attorneys said.

The eighth grader, whose name wasn't disclosed in a federal lawsuit filed in Philadelphia, alleges that the Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania, "violated multiple anti-discrimination laws that protect the rights of people with HIV to remain free from unwarranted discrimination."

Chocolate maker Milton S. Hershey and his wife, Catherine, founded the school in 1909. The school provides a cost-free education and coeducational home for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students who come from a low-income family, the lawsuit said.

The youngster sought enrollment last February for this school year, the lawsuit said. The boy is an honor roll student and a student athlete, and his medication of five pills per day and one vitamin wouldn't impact his school schedule, the suit says.

Executive director Ronda B. Goldfein of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, which is representing the boy and his mother, likened the case to Ryan White, who died at age 18 in 1990 and had been expelled from middle school when his HIV diagnosis became widely known.

"Like Ryan White, this young man is a motivated, intelligent kid who poses no health risk to other students, but is being denied an educational opportunity because of ignorance and fear about HIV and AIDS," said Goldfein, an attorney for the boy and mother.

The suit, filed Wednesday, was timed to coincide with Thursday's World AIDS Day, the law project said.

Goldfein told CNN that she was "stunned that in the third decade of AIDS (Milton Hershey School) still thinks it is too dangerous to admit a student who is HIV positive. It really shows how far we haven't come."

In response, the school said it had been intending to seek a federal court review of its decision denying enrollment to the boy, but the law project "took the adversarial action of filing a lawsuit against the school," said spokeswoman Connie McNamara.

"We believe we made the right, legal decision under the law," McNamara told CNN.

"The decision to deny enrollment was a challenging one for us to make. Like all our enrollment decisions, we need to balance our desire to serve the needs of an individual child seeking admission with our obligation to protect the health and safety of all 1,850 children already in our care," McNamara added in a statement.

McNamara said the case is nothing like Ryan White's.

"Milton Hershey School is not a day school, where students go home to their family at the end of the day. Instead, this is a unique home-like environment, a pre-K -12 residential school where children live in homes with 10-12 other students on our campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week," McNamara said.

"In order to protect our children in this unique environment, we cannot accommodate the needs of students with chronic communicable diseases that pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others. The reason is simple. We are serving children, and no child can be assumed to always make responsible decisions which protect the well being of others," McNamara said.

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Penn State finalizes dismissals of Paterno and Spanier

(CNN) -- Penn State University officially dismissed longtime football coach Joe Paterno and President Graham Spanier on Friday, reaffirming a decision made after a child sex abuse scandal surfaced involving a former assistant football coach.

"The executive committee of the board met via conference call to reaffirm the deliberate leadership decisions that were made," according to a school statement.

University officials removed Paterno and Spanier on November 9, amid allegations that former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was involved in the scandal.

Sandusky, 67, is charged with 40 counts relating to the alleged sexual abuse of eight boys he met through The Second Mile, a nonprofit organization he founded for underprivileged children.

The former coach is free on $100,000 bail and has maintained his innocence.

On Thursday, Sandusky's attorney denied what he called rumors that his client was considering a plea deal.

"The rumors ... are completely unfounded," Joe Amendola told CNN in an e-mail.

Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley, 57, and the school's vice president for finance and business, Gary Schultz, 62, have also been charged in the scandal. Each faces one count of felony perjury and one count of failure to report abuse allegations.

Attorneys for an alleged sexual abuse victim, meanwhile, say they have reached a settlement with Second Mile that allows it to stay in operation but requires it to obtain court approval before transferring assets or closing. Second Mile also is required to notify the plaintiff about any proposed distribution of assets.

"Our goal in filing this lawsuit was to protect the interests of our clients and other victims," attorney Ben Andreozzi of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said in a statement. "This settlement will preserve the assets of the Second Mile, and allow these victims to have a voice before any assets are transferred."

On Wednesday, a 29-year-old man filed the first civil lawsuit against Sandusky, saying Sandusky sexually abused him more than 100 times over several years during the 1990s, when he was a boy.

The accuser, identified in court documents as "John Doe A," was not cited in the report from a grand jury that prompted the charges against Sandusky, said his attorney, Jeff Anderson.

The lawsuit targets The Second Mile, Sandusky and Penn State University.

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Winds up to 140 mph hit California

(CNN) -- Powerful winds continued to batter Los Angeles, Las Vegas and other southwestern U.S. locales Thursday -- downing trees, delaying flights and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Quvondo Johnson told CNN that, as of 4:30 p.m. PT (7:30 p.m ET), firefighters had responded to reports of approximately 460 downed power lines over the previous 24 hours. He estimated that the fire service had received "thousands" of calls total.

Wind gusts stronger than 140 mph -- which would be equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane -- have been measured on the Sierra Crest mountain ridge, according to the National Weather Service.

Lower-lying areas also have been hit hard by Santa Ana winds, with 80 mph gusts expected in Southern California. Santa Ana wind is a condition in which strong winds descend to the Pacific Coast around Los Angeles from inland desert regions, according to the weather service.

It's all part of a system the federal weather agency called "the strongest easterly wind event in the past several years."

The National Weather Service has issued high-wind warnings -- which go into effect when there are sustained winds forecast of 40 mph or stronger or gusts of 58 mph or stronger -- for part of southwestern California as well as along the Sierra Nevada range in the eastern part of the state.

Similar warnings were in effect for much of Nevada, as well, with wind advisories also having been issued for other parts of those two states.

Southwestern California has been especially hard-hit, leading Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich to issue a state of emergency "to ensure that state and federal financial resources are available to serve county residents impacted by the windstorms."

In a statement, the county noted that Pasadena, Sierra Madre and Monrovia particularly have seen extensive damage, including to private property. The perilous conditions, specifically the strong winds, would likely continue through Friday, the county noted.

As of 5 p.m. PT, Southern California Edison was reporting more than 205,000 households without power, a slight drop from seven hours earlier. Hard-hit communities in the utility's 50,000-square-mile service area include Alhambra, Altadena, Arcadia, El Monte, La Canada Flintridge and San Bernardino, San Gabriel.

"Severe winds and debris have been hampering power restoration efforts by SCE crews, and some customers without power should prepare for the possibility of being without service overnight and possibly longer," the utility said in a news release. "High winds have knocked down thousands of trees and strewn debris across wide areas, limiting and, in some cases, preventing access to equipment. "

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reported that, as of 9 p.m. Thursday, about 109,000 of its 1.4 million customers did not have electricity. The department added, in a press release, that it has more than 100 crews responding to more than 1,000 incidents thought to be responsible for the outages, touting the fact that about 100,000 customers had already gotten their electricity restored.

The utility estimated that customers without power -- most of them in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, except for a smattering in San Fernando Valley -- would most likely get service restored in between 24 and 48 hours.

Los Angeles International Airport experienced a partial power outage and significant delays Wednesday night, as well as 20 domestic and three international inbound flights diverted.

iReport: Woman injured from felled tree due to winds

As of late Thursday morning, that airport appeared to be operating normally with minimal delays, said Marshall Lowe, a spokesman for the Los Angeles World Airport Response Coordination Center. The same couldn't necessarily be said for some others, with Lowe noting that there was at one point a roughly one-hour delay for flights destined for Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport.

Several hours later, around 4:30 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration's website was still reporting a 49-minute average delay for flights to McCarran due to a "traffic management program." But by 7 p.m., no notable delays were being reported.

Wintry weather was a chief concern in that Nevada city, where the weather service issued a freeze watch and forecast light accumulations of snow into Friday morning in addition to strong winds.

Gale warnings were in effect for some Southern California coastal locales, while heavy snow fell over the central and southern Rockies as part of the same system, according to the weather service.

Fire hazards were another potential problem, with the combination of strong winds and moderate-to-low humidity spurring red flag warnings through 6 p.m. PT Friday for Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Downed power lines adjacent to Occidental College in Los Angeles started a 2-acre grass fire and prompted a precautionary evacuation of those nearby, the Los Angeles County fire department said. No one was injured.

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Al-Zawahiri: We captured American

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has claimed responsibility for the capture in August of a 70-year-old U.S. citizen in Pakistan, according to a number of radical websites known for carrying militants' messages.

In the eighth episode of a series called "A Message of hope and glad tidings to our people in Egypt," the speaker sent a "message of support and encouragement" to members of al Qaeda and the Taliban as well as to "our female oppressed prisoners."

"We did not forget you and we will not forget you, God willing, and therefore in order to release you, we have been successful, thanks to God almighty, to capture an American Jew called Warren Weinstein," he said.

He described the captive as "a former employee and a current contractor working with the U.S. government in its aid program to Pakistan, which aims to fight the jihad in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and just like the Americans arrest any suspect linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban, even if they were far related."

The speaker then listed eight demands that he said, if met, would result in Weinstein's release. They included the lifting of the blockade on movement of people and trade between Egypt and Gaza; an end to bombing by the United States and its allies in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Gaza; the release of anyone arrested on charges of belonging to al Qaeda and the Taliban; the release of all prisoners in Guantanamo and American secret prisons and the closure of Guantanamo and the other prisons; the release of terrorists convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center; and the release of relatives of Osama bin Laden, the founder of al Qaeda who was killed in May in Pakistan.

"Your government is torturing our prisoners, and we have never tortured your prisoner," he added. "Your government signed the Geneva Conventions, and then threw it in the rubbish bin, and even though we did not sign the Geneva Conventions, we are honoring your prisoner."

The speaker said Weinstein's fate lies with U.S. President Barack Obama. "I warn you of Obama's lies and deceit because he hopes that this man gets killed so he doesn't have to worry about his problem. Obama is a liar. He lies, lies and will lie. He may say to you, 'I sought the release of your relative but al Qaeda got stubborn,' so do not believe him. And he may say to you, 'I tried to contact them, but they did not answer,' so do not believe him. He may tell you, 'I do everything in my power to release your relative,' but again do not believe him."

He urged Weinstein's relatives to pressure Obama to accede to his demands "if you want to bring back your relative."

A U.S. official said the circumstances surrounding Weinstein's disappearance have been murky, but added, "It's entirely possible that al Qaeda or one of its militant allies may be holding Mr. Weinstein and the statement by Zawahiri supports this conclusion."

The official said that, based on the materials found in the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, al Qaeda's involvement with a kidnapping would not be surprising. "The documents from bin Laden's hideout show his frustrated deputies were considering kidnapping and other criminal enterprises as a means of striking from their weakened state," said the official, pointing to the terrorist groups' failure to conduct big attacks against Western targets.

Reached Thursday at her home in Rockville, Maryland, Weinstein's wife, Elaine, said, "I just found out myself two minutes ago when somebody told me. I have nothing to add and no information for you."

Weinstein was abducted from his home in Lahore on August 13. As his three security guards prepared for the meal before the Ramadan fast, three men knocked at the front gate and offered food for the meal -- a traditional practice among Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, Lahore police said.

Once the gate was opened, the three men forced their way in, while five others entered the house from the back, tied up the guards and duct-taped their mouths, according to police. They pistol-whipped the driver and forced him to take them to Weinstein's room, where they hit Weinstein on the head with a pistol and forced him out of the house and into a waiting car, police said.

A police official said August 23 that three suspects had been arrested in Weinstein's kidnapping.

Weinstein works for J.E. Austin Associates Inc., a consulting firm based in Arlington, Virginia. He is a development expert, according to the company's website. The company did not immediately respond to a call and an e-mail seeking reaction.

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Sandusky attorney denies plea deal being considered

(CNN) -- The attorney for former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky denied what he called "rumors" Thursday that his client was considering a plea deal.

"The rumors ... are completely unfounded," Joe Amendola told CNN in an e-mail.

Sandusky, 67, is charged with 40 counts relating to the alleged sexual abuse of eight boys he met through The Second Mile, a nonprofit organization he founded for underprivileged children. He is free on $100,000 bail and has maintained his innocence.

Amendola said he was asked in a recent interview whether his strategy would change if the attorney general filed new charges involving 15 or 20 new alleged victims.

"I responded, if that happened, in addition to the planned course of defending against all the charges, I would have to discuss other possible alternatives with Jerry," he said. "I wouldn't be fulfilling my legal obligation to him if I didn't discuss those other alternatives with him, including the possibility of a plea.

"Jerry has never considered and is not currently considering a plea in his case," Amendola said. "He has always maintained his innocence and continues to do so as we prepare for his preliminary hearing."

Separately, two organizations aimed at preventing sexual violence said Thursday they have partnered with Penn State to focus on that mission. As part of the three-year partnership, Penn State has pledged $1.5 million to facilitate the effort, said a joint statement from the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

The organizations said they "are combining their expertise and resources to work with Penn State University to focus on preventing sexual violence."

The Penn State scandal, which has raised questions of whether university and community leaders took appropriate action about allegations involving Sandusky, "is not unique," Delilah Rumberg, chief executive officer for the two organizations, said in the statement.

"We know that adults see or hear things that make them uncomfortable, or may even have a child disclose sexual abuse, but they don't get involved. We want to prevent abuse by equipping people with information, skills and resources."

Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley, 57, and the school's vice president for finance and business, Gary Schultz, 62, were charged with one count of felony perjury and one count of failure to report abuse allegations.

In addition, Penn State President Graham Spanier and legendary head football coach Joe Paterno lost their jobs soon after Sandusky's arrest amid criticism they did not adequately handle the matter when allegations involving Sandusky arose years earlier.

Attorneys for an alleged sexual abuse victim said Thursday they reached a settlement with Second Mile that allows it to stay in operation but requires it to obtain court approval prior to transferring assets or closing. Second Mile also is required to notify the plaintiff about any proposed distribution of assets.

"Our goal in filing this lawsuit was to protect the interests of our clients and other victims," attorney Ben Andreozzi of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said in a statement. "This settlement will preserve the assets of the Second Mile, and allow these victims to have a voice before any assets are transferred."

"We intend to initiate a civil lawsuit seeking damages from the organizations and individuals responsible for the sexual assaults upon our clients," said Andreozzi, who said he represents other alleged victims of Sandusky.

On Wednesday, a 29-year-old man filed the first civil lawsuit against Sandusky, claiming Sandusky sexually abused him more than 100 times over several years during the 1990s, when he was a boy. The accuser, identified in court documents as "John Doe A," was not cited in the report from a grand jury that prompted the charges against Sandusky, his attorney, Jeff Anderson, said.

The lawsuit targets The Second Mile, Sandusky and Penn State University. The school said in a statement Wednesday it had not received the documents and could not comment on pending litigation.

The Second Mile said, "We will review the lawsuit and respond appropriately when we have done so. The Second Mile will adhere to its legal responsibilities throughout this process. As always, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."

Sandusky told NBC's Bob Costas in an interview that he has been falsely accused and that he only "horsed around" with kids in showers after workouts.

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Cops: 1 serial killer in 10 N.Y. deaths

NEW YORK (CNN) -- After a nearly year-long investigation, police say they now believe 10 sets of human remains uncovered along a desolate stretch of Long Island, New York, beach are linked to a single killer.

"The theory is now that we're dealing with one serial killer," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer told CNN affiliate WABC on Tuesday.

He noted the killer did not "necessarily do the same thing all the time."

"What's common here is the dumping ground," he added.

Dormer previously said that only the bodies of four females uncovered in December were thought to be the work of a serial killer or killers.

It is not clear what prompted the change.

Authorities have sifted through more than 1,000 tips related to the case. But it's unclear whether they have shed any light on an investigation that has drawn state and federal agents and garnered national attention.

In June, police upped the ante in their search for a culprit.

The reward for information leading to an arrest -- once topping out at $5,000 -- was raised five-fold, making it the largest offered in Suffolk County history. It was an apparent bid to fill out a case that some fear has gone cold.

"We're hoping the increased reward money will encourage somebody to come forward by calling the police in respect to the families and to (the) victims," Lt. Robert Donohue said at the time.

At least 10 sets of human remains have been found in Nassau and Suffolk counties since December. But the woman whose disappearance triggered the searches, 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert, remains missing. The New Jersey woman was last seen in May 2010 at a private party at a home in Long Island's Oak Beach community.

The first four bodies have since been identified. They, like Gilbert, had advertised for prostitution services on websites such as Craigslist.

Their remains were found among bushes along a quarter-mile strip of beachfront property, according to police. More human remains were found on March 29 and April 4.

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said in May that the newly found remains were not believed to be connected to the first four victims. In September, authorities released composite sketches of what two unidentified victims might have looked like.

Authorities at the time said the evidence suggested two other killers dumped bodies along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, about 40 miles east of New York City.

"This investigation is not an episode of 'CSI' or 'Criminal Minds' that is going to be solved in a one-hour period," Spota said of the serial killer probe. "Most likely, it ... is going to take a very long period of time to complete."

Spota was not immediately available for comment Wednesday regarding police statements that the killings are now thought to be the work of a single killer.

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Frank discusses coming out as gay, going out as congressman

Washington (CNN) -- Barney Frank wasn't the first member of Congress to publicly reveal he was gay, but he was the first to do so voluntarily, he told reporters Tuesday in talking about his decision to retire.

Still, Frank said, he didn't come out about his sexuality until he was 47.

"So I was not the daring young man on the flying trapeze, but it worked out better than I thought," he said.

A prominent 16-term liberal Democrat from Massachusetts and archenemy of political conservatives nationwide, Frank announced Monday that he does not intend to seek re-election in 2012.

Now 71, Frank said Tuesday his decision was prompted in part by changes made to the boundaries of his U.S. House district.

As part of Massachusetts' recently concluded redistricting process, Frank's 4th Congressional District will lose the heavily Democratic blue-collar port city of New Bedford while gaining several smaller, more conservative towns to bring in more than 300,000 new constituents.

"I decided many years ago I will not be here when I'm 75," Frank said, saying that meant the 2012 election would have been his last.

"Everybody has a last term, and if you're talking about people that you've substantially represented, then that's not an obstacle," he said. "But then I would then be required to go to 325,000 people, some of whom I've never represented, and areas I've never been involved in, and say to them, look, here's the deal -- why don't you elect me and for the next two years I will be there to receive your problems and, by the way, by the end of 2014, I'm going to dump them."

President Barack Obama issued a statement praising Frank's public service, calling the congressman a "fierce advocate for the people of Massachusetts and Americans everywhere who needed a voice."

While Massachusetts' entire House delegation is Democratic, local Republicans insist Frank's retirement will put the reconfigured district in play.

"It is clear that Congressman Frank was not looking forward to another hard-fought campaign after losing his gerrymandered district and spending nearly every penny he had in 2010," Massachusetts Republican Party Executive Director Nate Little said in a written statement.

"Republicans were already gearing up for a strong race and Frank's sudden retirement injects added optimism and excitement into the election."

Frank, first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980, is the top Democrat on the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The controversial 2010 Dodd-Frank measure, designed to rein in Wall Street excesses after the 2008 financial collapse, passed the House without any GOP support.

Frank made headlines earlier in his career by becoming one of the first openly gay members of Congress. He was formally reprimanded by the House in 1990 for allegations of political impropriety relating to his association with a male prostitute.

Frank's current district -- which extends from the affluent, liberal Boston suburbs of Newton and Brookline to the cities of New Bedford and Fall River -- is considered safe Democratic political terrain. Frank did, however, receive an unusually strong challenge from Republican Sean Bielat in 2010.

Frank ultimately defeated Bielat, 54% to 43%.

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