Poster Child

A man who was once a poster child for missing children has been sentenced to 25 years to life prison for raping a 10-year-old girl he was baby-sitting in upstate New York. Adam Croote, 23, was sentenced Friday in Albany, N.Y., after pleading guilty in March to a felony charge of predatory sexual assault against a child. Authorities said Croote raped the girl in June 2011, then -- when she screamed -- tried to strangle her to make her quiet. He then fled. Croote later surrendered to police, telling them: "I think a hurt a little girl," according to an account in the Times Union.

There are no people on Earth as romantic as the French. No one is punctual like the Swiss. The Germans have defined a sense of order. The Italians know how to eat. And no one, I mean no one, does misery like the Irish. Ireland's well-chronicled story of rags to riches to rags again is a cautionary tale of the early 21st century. A country reared on hardship, famine and oppression has, after a brief turn in the economic sun, been cast back into the misty gloom of struggle. But lately I've begun to notice that a mischievous quality has sneaked in under the cloak of misery the Irish have put back on with disarming ease after the good times ended.

Most Americans are familiar with the ubiquitous poster by L.A.-based street artist Shepard Fairey of then-candidate Barack Obama looking off into the distance, pensive yet resolute, with the word "Hope" emblazoned across his chest. No image more clearly captured the excitement and expectations of that historic race. What Americans were not aware of when the posters were first plastered up across the country is that the image was drawn from an Associated Press photograph of Obama at a National Press Club event in 2006.

A man who was once a poster child for missing children has been sentenced to 25 years to life prison for raping a 10-year-old girl he was baby-sitting in upstate New York. Adam Croote, 23, was sentenced Friday in Albany, N.Y., after pleading guilty in March to a felony charge of predatory sexual assault against a child. Authorities said Croote raped the girl in June 2011, then -- when she screamed -- tried to strangle her to make her quiet. He then fled. Croote later surrendered to police, telling them: "I think a hurt a little girl," according to an account in the Times Union.

A couple of weeks ago this column sounded off about the outrageous pay of Occidental Petroleum CEO Ray Irani, triggering numerous responses from his defenders. Those ranks include former California Gov. Gray Davis. In an online op-ed for The Times, Davis wrote that under Irani's leadership Occidental has been a "tremendous asset" to California and that Oxy's shareholders have profited immensely over the years. What really ticked off Davis, however ? and I assume he was speaking for Irani, who has been a client of his law firm ?

He was found by two fishermen on Thanksgiving Day, clinging to an inner tube off the coast of Fort Lauderdale in waters where his mother, stepfather and other Cubans had died while trying to reach the U.S. Now, see this sweet-faced child of tragedy on television. See him play with his new toys. See him play with his new teddy bear. See him play with his new puppy. See him swing his new baseball bat. See him go to Disney World. See him wave a subpoena above his head and grin.

Former Ventura resident Anne Marie Ramirez Fierbaugh died Thursday at her home in Colorado Springs, Colo., following a lengthy illness. She was 34. Fierbaugh was born Sept. 1, 1966, in Mt. Holly, N.J., When she was 1, her family moved to Ventura, where she attended local grade schools and graduated from Ventura High School in 1984. At age 4, Fierbaugh was named Ventura County's Easter Seal poster child, her family said.

The grocers at Halona Plaza, in the heart of the Zuni Indian Pueblo, spotted him some nights, rummaging through trash cans in the gravel lot behind the store. He was scrawny and not much taller than the bins he scavenged. He was 7 years old and in search of his supper. His name was Marty, the son of alcoholic parents who spent what little money they had on liquor. His only meals were the free breakfast and lunch served at school. At night he went hungry, but for the scraps.

JUDGING from all that went on and all that was said at the MTV Movie Awards ["Edgy, Pushed to the Edge," by Geoff Boucher, June 5], Paris Hilton was the classiest person there! I carry no brief for Hilton, but surely even Sarah Silverman and the people who laughed at her "jokes" were born with some sense of decent behavior. DELORES BURRIS Upland Iguess it's happened! I'm starting to feel just a little bit of sympathy for Paris Hilton. The most humorous aspect of Silverman's Hilton beat-down is that Hilton is merely a poster child for the self-absorbed, live-on-another-planet, Hollywood celeb crowd, who are all Paris Hilton in one way or another.

The former top procurement official in George W. Bush's administration was sentenced to a year in prison for lying about his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman told David Safavian that he must be punished for obstructing justice and making false statements to investigators who were looking into the Abramoff scandal. Safavian and his wife, Jennifer, each pleaded tearfully to the judge not to send the former Bush White House official to prison.

Business schools are under the microscope again, their relevance and value questioned in many quarters. The financial crisis has triggered a self-examination of their raison d'etre. However, before we can decide whether and how business schools need to change, it is worth pausing to consider how and why business schools have evolved as they have. FOR THE RECORD: Business book review: A review in the Oct. 2 Business section of the book "The Roots, Rituals and Rhetorics of Change: North American Business Schools After the Second World War" misspelled the last name of reviewer Morgen Witzel as Wenzel.

He made the most spectacular defensive play in Super Bowl history, as well as the most notorious hits of this NFL season. Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison prefers to look at both of those things the same way ? yesterday's news. Asked Tuesday about his 100-yard interception return in Super Bowl XLIII against Arizona, Harrison brushed it off. "That was then," he said. "This is a totally different year. " And it's a season in which he's been a little lighter in the wallet, as he was fined a league-high $125,000 for helmet-to-helmet hits ?

Most Americans are familiar with the ubiquitous poster by L.A.-based street artist Shepard Fairey of then-candidate Barack Obama looking off into the distance, pensive yet resolute, with the word "Hope" emblazoned across his chest. No image more clearly captured the excitement and expectations of that historic race. What Americans were not aware of when the posters were first plastered up across the country is that the image was drawn from an Associated Press photograph of Obama at a National Press Club event in 2006.

Adam Reitz could be a poster child for the "eat less, exercise more" campaign. He learned firsthand that shedding 100 pounds required both. Sounds simple, but it was anything but. In the past, Reitz's dad had confronted him about his obesity. But there was a pivotal moment that inspired him to act. This Allentown Morning Call story tells what happened: "It was three years ago and two months before his wedding. He had just returned from a trip to Hawaii with his students and colleagues from Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pa. The school nurse had taken the picture and left it in his mailbox for him to remember their trip.

A couple of weeks ago this column sounded off about the outrageous pay of Occidental Petroleum CEO Ray Irani, triggering numerous responses from his defenders. Those ranks include former California Gov. Gray Davis. In an online op-ed for The Times, Davis wrote that under Irani's leadership Occidental has been a "tremendous asset" to California and that Oxy's shareholders have profited immensely over the years. What really ticked off Davis, however ? and I assume he was speaking for Irani, who has been a client of his law firm ?

In the weeks before his death from a suspected accidental overdose, actor Corey Haim went "doctor shopping" and obtained at least 553 pills of powerful prescription medications from seven doctors and as many different pharmacies, California's attorney general said Tuesday. Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said Haim visited physicians at offices, urgent-care facilities and emergency rooms to obtain the potential deadly collection of pills and on one occasion used an alias. He said Haim's case illustrates how prescription drugs can be just as dangerous as street drugs, and that doctor-shopping can be deadly.

Adam Reitz could be a poster child for the "eat less, exercise more" campaign. He learned firsthand that shedding 100 pounds required both. Sounds simple, but it was anything but. In the past, Reitz's dad had confronted him about his obesity. But there was a pivotal moment that inspired him to act. This Allentown Morning Call story tells what happened: "It was three years ago and two months before his wedding. He had just returned from a trip to Hawaii with his students and colleagues from Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pa. The school nurse had taken the picture and left it in his mailbox for him to remember their trip.

A tortured, misunderstood, critically acclaimed, critically disputed, learning-disabled artist who suffered from a difficult childhood fixates on mundane street events and can't be concerned with dressing himself ("Master of the Double Take," by Kristine McKenna, July 26). Are you sure that wasn't David Helfgott on the cover? Sharon Chan Orange Your cover story on "Southern California's hottest artist," Charles Ray, took pretentiousness to a new level. As I read it, I had to keep checking that it wasn't April Fool's Day. Ray could be the poster child.

The former top procurement official in George W. Bush's administration was sentenced to a year in prison for lying about his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman told David Safavian that he must be punished for obstructing justice and making false statements to investigators who were looking into the Abramoff scandal. Safavian and his wife, Jennifer, each pleaded tearfully to the judge not to send the former Bush White House official to prison.

Add yet another thing to President-elect Barack Obama's to-do list: Tax reform. If Timothy Geithner -- the guy Obama wants to run the Treasury Department -- could make $34,000 worth of mistakes on recent federal tax returns, then clearly this is a system so bloated and complex as to be incomprehensible to all but the most pointy-headed accountants.