Due to the victim's age, a Defiance man convicted Monday of child sexual abuse was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Defiance County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Schmenk handed the mandatory sentence to Andrew Arps, 18, 700 Kiser Road, for rape, a first-degree felony. Arps, who pleaded guilty to the charge Monday morning, will be parole eligible in 10 years. State law required Schmenk to impose the sentence because the victim " a four-year-old girl " was less than 10 years of age.

Authorities said during Monday's hearing that Arps engaged in digital penetration at an apartment at 700 Kiser Road on Nov. 21. Because the sentence was mandatory, the court entertained only a few comments before Arps was sentenced. Arps said he was "sorry for everything. If I could take it back I would."
The victim's father, however, said Arps had "stolen my daughter's innocence. I hope for his sake he doesn't get parole. No amount of time he can spend in jail ... can make the hurt go away."

Arps' court-appointed attorney, Steve Sondergaard of Defiance, said his client understands his conduct and is remorseful. "I believe Mr. Arps understands how this not only impacts the victim, but himself and his family," said Sondergaard. "He's truly remorseful. He understands his wrongdoing."

Schmenk made no comment in pronouncing sentence while assistance county prosecuting attorney Morris Murray said the crime has made a "tremendous impact on the victim" and her parents.

Arps was arrested in November by Defiance police not long after the crime occurred. He was later indicted by a county grand jury in December for a single count of rape. The defendant has been incarcerated at CCNO on a $1 million bond.

Federal prosecutors plan to retry Brown and the others on the counts that were overturned.

The Supreme Court Monday turned down an appeal from an Iowa telecommunications company that claimed Qwest Communications International Inc. owed it money for wireless phone calls that Qwest connected to its network.

At issue in the case, which was brought by Iowa Network Services Inc., is whether federal regulators have the final say on telecom rates or whether local call rates can be set by state officials.

Lower federal courts ruled in Qwest's favor and gave Iowa's state utilities board a role in resolving the dispute. By declining to take the case, without comment, the Court let stand the lower court rulings in Qwest's favor, which will save Qwest tens of millions of dollars in charges and interest that INS had sought.

James Troup, Iowa Networks' attorney, said the rulings undermined the ability of the Federal Communications Commission to enforce uniform rates across the country and could also affect other federally regulated industries, such as electric and gas utilities and railroads.

The quarrel began in the late 1990s, when INS sought to bill Qwest for wireless telephone calls that Qwest transmitted to INS's networks, which INS then sent to local phone companies. The calls were originated by third-party wireless carriers, not Qwest.

INS argued that Qwest did not provide them with enough information to determine which wireless companies originated the call, making it impossible to bill firms for the use of their network. At that point, INS sought payment from Qwest, based on rates that had been approved by the FCC.

Qwest, though, had sought a ruling in 2000 from the Iowa Utilities Board, which said that since the calls in question are local, rather than long-distance, they would not be subject to the FCC-approved rates.

Iowa Network Services said in its petition to the Supreme Court that the board's ruling overrides federally approved rates that require telecom carriers to charge the same rates to all customers, INS said.

A federal district court and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, however, agreed with much of the utility board's analysis. The 8th Circuit said that rather than nullifying the rates, the utilities board's ruling meant they didn't apply to local traffic.

The case is Iowa Network Services Inc. v. Qwest Corp., 06-1217.

Iowa Network Services owns a stake in Newton, Iowa-based Iowa Telecommunications Services Inc., whose shares dropped a penny to $21.88 in early trading. Qwest shares rose 9 cents to $9.86.

Over 250,000 people gathered in Rome Saturday to protest a bill currently before parliament which would give legal status to unmarried heterosexual and same-sex couples. The bill was approved by Italy's cabinet in February, but has been harshly criticized by the Italian justice minister and the top Italian bishop. The proposal would give unmarried couples combined medical insurance, the right to visit their partner in prisons or hospitals, inheritance rights, and decision-making authority should one partner become sick. Couples would have to live together for nine years before they would be entitled to property rights, but if the legislation is passed, couples would be able to take advantage of the other legal protections immediately.

The Vatican has said that giving unmarried couples rights would threaten traditional families. Saturday's Family Day rally, not organized by the Vatican, drew tens of thousands of families. Organizers said over 1.5 million people participated, but an early police estimate was lower at about 250,000. Supporters of the proposed legislation held a counter-demonstration, which was attended by some 10,000 people. A similar rally in support of the bill was held in March.

"We obviously asked leadership not to call the bill," said Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

"The bottom line is we certainly had a lot more votes than what we've had, but it's not a majority and quite a few people we've talked to in the last week or so said personally they'd support it and sooner or later it will pass, but it's too soon."

Lawlor said he was slightly surprised that the so-called gay marriage bill won easy passage in his committee, recalling that in 2003 the civil union legislation that was signed into law in 2005 was defeated in the Judiciary panel.

"At this moment the marriage-equality bill seems to be going in the right direction," Lawlor said. "People are saying 'we're getting there, give us a little more time, we want to discuss it a little more.' "

He said that the effort for the legislation ended Friday in part to clear the table for the Supreme

Court hearing Monday. A possible option for the court, Lawlor said, would be to send the entire issue back to the General Assembly to review the rationale for providing the expanded civil rights for gay couples, while calling it something other than marriage.
"I think we'd have a hard time explaining it a second time around," said Lawlor, who is gay.

Anne Stanback, president of the umbrella gay-rights group called Love Makes a Family, said Friday that she had "mixed emotions" about pulling the bill from floor debate.

"We are disappointed that after coming so far we did not quite have the votes we needed in the House to advance the bill this session," Stanback said in a statement.

"However, we can't help but feel encouraged by the significant progress we have made in the two years since the civil union law passed," she said. "We still must win those remaining votes in the Legislature, as well as convince Gov. Rell that treating all Connecticut families fairly is the right thing to do."

Sen. Andrew J. McDonald, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, agreed that support is growing for the marriage-equality bill.

"We achieved an incredible benchmark this year by passing the bill out of committee — a step that many believed we would not be able to accomplish," said McDonald, who is gay, recalling the 27-15 vote of April 12.

The lawmakers' decision came the same day that opponents of gay marriage, led by the Family Institute of Connecticut, announced a push to combat "anti-family activists" and an anticipated vote next week in the House.

"They are trying to push this through quickly before people find out and make their voices heard," the Family Institute announced in an e-mail message.

Later Friday, Brian S. Brown, executive director of the Family Institute, called the withdrawal of the legislation "a massive victory for marriage protection."

The group has scheduled a May 23 rally against same-sex marriage outside the Capitol at 10 a.m.

The Laporte teen accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend and himself last month was at the center of an emotionally charged court appearance this morning.

Nineteen year-old Timothy Schaub was crying as he entered the courtroom, wearing a helmet because of recent surgeries.

He was not the only emotional one Schaub's father went after the media for taking pictures and video of his son. The shooting happened April 9th but timothy Schaub's ex-girlfriend, Katherine Perkins, is still in the hospital, her condition is not being released.

Germany's highest court of appeal rejected a legal challenge by a Moroccan friend of the September 11, 2001 hijackers against a 15-year jail sentence for being an accessory to mass murder.

The Federal Court of Justice said on Friday it had thrown out the appeal by Mounir El Motassadeq on the grounds that it was unjustified. Motassadeq's lawyers had complained his sentencing contained legal errors, but the court disagreed.

In January, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court rejected a separate appeal made by Motassadeq about the 15-year sentence handed down by a court in Hamburg earlier that month.

Motassadeq was a member of a group of radical Arab students in Hamburg, led by Mohammed Atta, which helped organize the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The complex and drawn-out case strained Berlin's relations with Washington as German courts tested how far the United States would go in giving sensitive evidence.