President of Pa. charity linked to abuse resigns (AP)

PITTSBURGH – The youth charity at the center of the child sex-abuse charges against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky received donations in recent years from hundreds of corporations, community groups and individuals — including the judge who arraigned Sandusky earlier this month.

On Monday, The Second Mile's president resigned, saying he hoped his departure would help restore faith in its mission. The group also announced it had hired Philadelphia's longtime district attorney as its new general counsel.

Jack Raykovitz, a practicing psychologist, had led the group, which was founded by Sandusky in 1977, for 28 years.

Raykovitz had testified before the grand jury that recommended indicting Sandusky on child abuse charges. The panel said Sandusky found his victims through the charity's programs.

Annual reports show how widely popular the charity was before the scandal hit. Hundreds of corporations, community groups and individuals donated each year.

Among them was State College District Judge Leslie A. Dutchcot, who set Sandusky's bail earlier this month. She and her husband donated between $500 and $999 to The Second Mile in 2009, and she volunteered for the group, according to annual reports and her website.

The judge set bail for Sandusky at $100,000 unsecured — meaning he did not have to post collateral to be freed but would have to post $100,000 if he ever failed to show up for a hearing.

Dutchcot did not immediately respond to a question on whether she will recuse herself from the case because of those past ties to The Second Mile. She has also removed the mention of The Second Mile from her website.

Major companies and their foundations also have given to The Second Mile. Between 2008 and 2010, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Highmark Foundation, The Hershey Company and State Farm Companies Foundation all gave $50,000 or more to the charity.

Raykovitz said in a statement Monday that he hopes his resignation would mark the beginning of a "restoration of faith in the community of volunteers and staff" at The Second Mile.

Tax forms indicate that Raykovitz's wife, Katherine Genovese, was executive vice president of The Second Mile. She has been with the group since 1984. It's not clear if she still works at the charity, as the staff biography page has been removed from the website.

The Second Mile has said that its youth programs serve as many as 100,000 children a year.

Sandusky, who retired from Penn State in 1999, informed The Second Mile board in November 2008 that he was under investigation. The charity subsequently barred him from activities involving children, charity officials said.

The ex-coach allegedly assaulted eight children over a 15-year span. His attorney has said he's innocent.

Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President Gary Schultz were charged with perjury. Both have denied wrongdoing and have left their university posts.

The scandal led to the departure of university President Graham Spanier and the dismissal of legendary head coach Joe Paterno after law enforcement officials said they didn't do enough to stop suspected abuse when it was reported to them in 2002.

The Second Mile also announced a new general counsel on Monday. Lynne Abraham is replacing Wendell Courtney, who resigned last week.

Abraham served as the top prosecutor in Philadelphia for nearly two decades, during which she was known for her no-nonsense approach. The city's first female district attorney, she earned the lasting nickname "one tough cookie" from former Mayor Frank Rizzo. She decided not to run again in 2009 and became a partner at the Philadelphia office of the Archer & Greiner law firm in early 2010.

The Second Mile board also said that it would conduct an internal investigation to assess policies and make recommendations regarding future operations. They hope to have those findings by the end of December.

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Cypriot defense min resigns after blast kills 12 (AP)

MARI, Cyprus – A massive explosion ripped through a Cypriot naval base Monday after a brush fire detonated gunpowder stored in containers, killing 12 people, wounding 62 and prompting the resignations of the country's defense minister and top military chief.

Bodies covered with white sheets lay scattered on a charred hillside near the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base on the Mediterranean island's southern coast, while ambulances ferried the injured to hospitals in Larnaca and Limassol. The bodies of the dead where taken to a morgue at Nicosia hospital in the Cypriot capital.

The blast occurred in the early hours of the morning when a brush fire approached dozens of storage containers holding gunpowder that had been confiscated in 2009 from a ship heading from Iran to Syria.

With criticism mounting over how the material had been handled and stored, Defense Minister Costas Papacostas and the country's top military official, National Guard chief Brig. Gen. Petros Tsalikides, resigned over the incident.

Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said investigators had ruled out sabotage as a cause for the blast, but wouldn't elaborate further. He said experts will be called from abroad to assist police and national guard investigators to determine the exact cause of the explosion.

Greece's National Defense General Staff said it was sending "specialized military and security force personnel" to Cyprus to help with investigations following a Cypriot request.

Asked about concerns that the base commander had reportedly expressed fears over the safety of the gunpowder's storage area, Stefanou said officials convened a meeting last week at the Defense Ministry to discuss the matter followed by an onsite inspection of the storage area.

He said certain decisions were made but weren't implemented in time to prevent the incident.

Fifty of the 62 people injured had been treated and released from hospitals, Stefanou said. Two of those still hospitalized had suffered serious injuries.

President Dimitris Christofias had asked Tsalikides and Papacostas to remain in their posts until replacements were found.

Stefanou said the government has declared a three-day mourning period with all flags at public buildings flying at half staff. State funerals would be held for those killed, he said.

The concussion wave from the blast damaged houses in nearby villages, and knocked out the island's main power station, leading to power cuts in several areas. Authorities appealed to the public to limit their electricity consumption, which has spiked amid a three-day heatwave that has led to temperatures of about 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

Airport authorities said both Paphos and Larnaca airports were reducing power consumption to the minimum possible and had turned on their generators.

The Agriculture Ministry also urged the public to reduce water consumption as much as possible because desalination plants had been taken offline due to power problems.

The blast occurred just one day shy of the ninth anniversary of a fatal national guard helicopter crash that killed then National Guard commander Evangelos Florakis — for which the naval base is named — and four other officers.

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