Classroom Discipline Bill Passes House

Governor Daniels' top non-economic priority in this legislative session is on its way to his desk.

The House has unanimously approved giving teachers qualified immunity from lawsuits for disciplining students, as long as they act reasonably and in good faith.

The bill also requires criminal background checks before teachers are hired, and creates a public database of teachers convicted of drug or sex crimes.

Read more here.

Police Probe Unauthorized Background Checks

Lawrence police said they do not yet know why Mark Rivera, 32, a former special assistant to schools superintendent Wilfredo Laboy, did unauthorized background checks on hundreds of people using school computers."It's not illegal. However, if this information was disseminated, it could become illegal," said police Chief John Romero.

Read more here.

College of Charleston Employee Background Checks

Two College of Charleston employees have been arrested in the past two months and the college is putting new measures in place to screen employees.

The College employs about 1,800 people in the Lowcountry. Before now, background checks have not been required for all its workers.

The recent arrest of two of its workers is prompting the college to change the way it screens potential employees.

Read more here.

Schiff: Make Background Checks Reliable and Accessible

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced legislation to create a nationally-accessible background check system for youth-serving organizations. The Child Protection Improvements Act of 2009, builds on a highly successful pilot program to ensure that youth serving groups such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Boys and Girls Clubs can perform quick, accurate, and affordable background checks on prospective volunteers or employees. The bill is being introduced with Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Mike Rogers (R-MI) as original cosponsors.

"We are fortunate to live in a country where millions of volunteers generously make time to participate in community service," said Schiff, a former national Board Member of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. "But with so many volunteers working with children we need to ensure that child predators are not preying on innocent children through the guise of volunteerism. Children´s safety is paramount, and we need to make certain that those working with our youth have been thoroughly and properly screened."

Read more here.

Crooks With Toy Guns Still Look Deadly

The use of pellet, BB, airsoft and toy guns that look like real firearms in criminal activities appears to be on the rise, some law enforcement officials said.

Earlier this month, two officer-involved shooting incidents in the Sacramento region involved the use of such guns.

Experts, policy researchers and law enforcement officials The Bee interviewed said systematic data in recent years aren't available and little research has been done on the subject.

Read more at The Sacramento Bee.

Nebraska May Require Background Checks for Drivers of Children in State Care

Providing fingerprints and getting an extensive criminal background check could be a prerequisite for transporting kids and vulnerable adults under state care.

On Thursday, state Sen. Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center introduced a bill (LB290) to the Legislature that would require both of those who contract with the state to transport foster kids and vulnerable adults.

People who had felony records would not be able to drive for the state.

Read more at KCAU ABC 9.

VA Commision Splits on Ruling to Close Gun Show Loophole

The Virginia State Crime Commission on Tuesday declined to endorse closing the so-called gun show loophole in Virginia law, heightening uncertainty about the prospects of success in the General Assembly.

The deadlocked vote -- taken before a large crowd that included gun owners, at least one survivor of the Virginia Tech shootings and friends and relatives of other massacre victims -- highlighted an enduring split between country and city that transcends party affiliation in Virginia.

Two key commission members bucked their parties' habitual views of gun control measures. The commission's chairman, Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax), voted to recommend that the General Assembly close the loophole by requiring all gun buyers to undergo an electronic background check before any sale, including purchases at gun shows. But House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry), who noted the economic importance of an annual gun show in his economically depressed rural district, voted no.

Read the rest of the story at The Washington Post.

In the Internet Age, How Deep Should Someone Dig Before Hiring a PI?

Mary Kington once asked her daughter how to use the Internet to see if someone had served time in prison or had a criminal record.

Katrina Gregory steered her mother, a 56-year-old home-health caregiver from Worthington, to the searchable Web site of the Franklin County Municipal Court and the state prison system's online database of inmates and parolees.

Gregory, 26, said she never would have thought to tell her mother to dig deeper.

Incomplete Background Check Foils Bid to Open New Childcare Facility

The Pleasanton City Council Tuesday rejected for a second time a bid by a martial arts professional to operate a childcare facility for 20 children at a time in the Valley Business Park off Valley Avenue.

The council voted 4-1 to support Councilwoman Cindy McGovern who successfully sought to overturn the city Planning Commission's approval of the project on Nov. 12 and a subsequent recommendation that the council abide by that decision.

Read the rest of the story at the Pleasanton Weekly.

"Mommy On Call" Helps Take Care of Sick Children

Mary King is a single mother who can't afford to miss work.

The paralegal specialist, who is active-duty military at Fort Gordon, has two young children, and she is also six months' pregnant.

Her children recently became ill, but the people listed on her contact list weren't available.

"They started day care, and they're catching every bug that comes through there until they acclimate themselves. I had to take off quite a bit of work to stay home with them," Spc. King said.

If her children become ill again, she said, she's going to contact Mommy on Call, a new Grovetown caregiver service that cares in-home for sick children.

Felonies in College Deter Employees After Graduation

Felony convictions can severely impair a person from attending universities and securing careers. In certain, less severe cases, those potential students and employees still struggle for acceptance in society.

Annually at Illinois State University, between 30 and 40 applicants have a felony conviction on their record. Trying to get a job after college with a felony conviction is extremely difficult, as many administrators explain.

Volunteer Won't Agree to Background Check from "Big Brother"

This Christmas, Donald McGinnis will not follow his annual tradition of filling in at Middlesex Hospice so others can spend valuable holiday time with family.

His volunteer position will very likely be terminated Tuesday.

McGinnis, who has been a volunteer at the hospice center for 18 years, is taking a stand against a new federal law that incenses him. After almost two decades of repositioning patients, shaving the men, giving bed baths, spending time and offering support, the Cromwell resident is being required by the government to submit to a criminal background check.

Texas DPS' criminal databases missing thousands of records

More than a third of criminal records are missing from the online Department of Public Safety database available to the public, a Fort Worth company found in a study.

Even government agencies, which have access to more detailed criminal records to screen teachers, doctors, volunteers and tradespeople, use a DPS system fraught with gaps, officials and experts said.

Man Brings Cocaine to Police Station While Getting a Background Check

A man accused of bringing cocaine into the Jackson police station has been formally charged.

Lawrence Hayes, 29, of Jackson was arraigned Thursday on charges of domestic violence and possession with intent to deliver cocaine.

DCF Admits Mistake in Child's Death

Ashley and Tammi Baker were the care takers of five month old Gabriel Golden when he died earlier this month. They found him unresponsive inside their home, and he later died.

Top managers with DCF are admitting the agency made mistakes. William DAiuto is the top administrator for the Lake County area. He said that clearly the agency could have done more.

DCF first got involved when someone complained about Gabriel's biological parents. The Goldens left Gabriel with the Bakers to be his care takers. DCF now says they focused too much attention on the Goldens and not enough on the Bakers.

A new DCF report concludes the investigator was supposed to do a background check on the Bakers within 72 hours, but he waited almost thirty days to do the check.

State Passes Background Check

Do you know if your repairman has a criminal record? For the first time the state is requiring background checks for folks who come into your home to fix things. So when you turn on the heater this weekend - the state says you may want to worry about more than the safety of your home.

The capital city is bracing for a Canadian cold front. James Poole works for Austin's Strand Brothers, and knows a lot of folks are getting ready to switch on the heater. "It's the beginning of our season, as soon as the cold snap comes in that's when everything starts."

So besides checking your furnace and filter, the state says you many want to check the repairman's record.

Student Teachers' Backgrounds Often Go Unchecked

Background checks that are standard for Kansas teachers don't extend to teachers in training.

While some school districts are vigilant about checking the backgrounds of volunteers, no scrutiny is required of student teachers. Schools in Kansas often don't check their backgrounds, sometimes expecting that colleges and universities do that work. In reality, colleges and universities may do little checking before passing student teachers along to work in schools.

 

"I think we expected the institution had already done it for them to get their certificate," said Mike Mathes, Seaman Unified School District 345 superintendent.

Auburn-Washburn USD 437 has had such concerns that it will begin conducting checks on potential student teachers in January. None of the other Shawnee County school districts conduct criminal background checks on incoming student teachers.

92 Guards Hired Without Background Checks

A privately run immigration lockup in Tacoma hired nearly 100 security guards without background checks, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn't catch the practice for two years, court documents show.

Sylvia Wong, an administrator in charge of hiring at the Northwest Detention Center, pleaded guilty this week in federal court in Tacoma to one count of making a false statement, for lying to investigators. In her plea agreement, she admitted that soon after starting work in November 2005, she began hiring guards without background checks "because of the pressure she felt to get security personnel hired at the NWDC as quickly as possible."

ICE auditors discovered early this year that 92 guards had been hired without the checks. The agency acknowledges that some of the guards have been fired following subsequent background checks, but won't say how many.

"In response to this investigation we have implemented a multi-tiered vetting process ... so that no contractor or federal employee has sole responsibility to process and approve employment documents," ICE spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said Thursday. "We have taken proactive steps to prevent this from happening again."

New Jersey Senate Passes Background Check Bill

The New Jersey Senate unanimously passed a bill last week that will revise the current background check requirements for all school employees who come in contact with students.

Sponsored by Sens. Loretta Weinberg, Barbara Buono and Shirley K. Turner, bill S-110 will revise the current criminal background check requirements for employees by requesting that all teachers and school district employees undergo a criminal background check. Besides the faculty and administration, people who are considered school employees also include bus drivers, cafeteria workers and janitorial staff.

The bill revises criminal history record checks for public and nonpublic school employees and bus drivers, and expands the list of offenses that would disqualify an employee from working at a school.

Buono said revisions to background check procedures are something she had been thinking about for a while.

"There were loopholes that needed to be closed," she said.

Library Volunteers Not Happy with Background Checks

Volunteers at Albuquerque libraries are upset about having to undergo criminal background checks mandated by the city for all volunteers.

The Friends of the Library volunteer group says their members don't have any contact with children-they only help with the books.

Volunteers say they were shocked when they were forced to submit to a background check.

"I was quite annoyed that I would have to be going through something like that at the library because I'm assuming that the reason for all that is due to contact with children," a volunteer named John said. "We as volunteers there have absolutely no contact with children."

John said he and other volunteers consider background check a slap in the face and say they are worried their personal information could wind up in the wrong hands.

"Who is really going to be retaining that data? How secure is it, and why does it have to be retained," asked John.