Personal Blogs

Beckie Francis remembers sitting on her couch last year, staring in amazement as she watched Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts reveal on TV that he was a survivor of sexual abuse.
Francis turned to her husband and told him she could do the same thing.
The women's basketball coach at Oakland University shared her story with parishioners at her suburban Detroit church and with her players. And now, she is telling everyone else in hopes that it will encourage victims of sexual abuse to seek help and to assist parents and children to avoid what she endured.
Until now, Francis had not publicly disclosed that she was sexually assaulted by her dad, who is now deceased, from the age of 4 until she was in the seventh grade. Francis says she doesn't know when her dad died and can't recall the last time she saw him because she blocked him out of her life and mind after the abuse he inflicted on her.
The 47-year-old coach decided to come forward to speak out against the problem, in part because of the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State.
"It's not easy to talk about," Francis said in an interview with the Associated Press. "It's something I tried to hold back and hide because I was afraid of what people would think. It's to a point now, where situations are coming out in the media with all kinds of cases from schools, churches, everywhere, and I'm tired of it."
And, Francis is trying to do something about it.
She agreed to emcee an event on Oakland's campus Thursday night featuring Erin Merryn, who was sexually abused as a child and now campaigns for increased education and protection from sexual predators. While Francis has been inspired by Brown and Merryn to go public with her past plight, the politician and the advocate are thrilled to have the coach on their team.
"Since telling my own story of abuse, I've been struck by the number of people who say they have drawn strength from it," Brown said. "It is humbling and gratifying to know that I may have given coach Francis the courage to speak out about the abuse she suffered."
Merryn travels around the nation to get versions of "Erin's Law" passed in all 50 states to require schools to adopt policy and create a curriculum that, among other things, would help children understand and talk about sexual abuse. The legislation has been introduced in many states, including Michigan, and enacted in four: Illinois — where Merryn, 27, is from — Missouri, Indiana and Maine, she said.
"It (is) always a help when you have a public figure like Beckie, especially at a university, to come forward like this to encourage other people to not keep their story a secret," Merryn said.
Sandusky's secret was exposed nearly a year ago, and the former Penn State assistant football coach was sentenced this month to 30 to 60 years in prison. He was found guilty of raping or fondling boys in a child sex-abuse scandal that disgraced the school, forced the ouster of coach Joe Paterno and brought unprecedented penalties from the NCAA.
Penn State is hosting a child sexual abuse conference later this month. Merryn plans to be there to share information about "Erin's Law" and sign copies of her two books.
"It's good that Penn State is trying to do something positive instead of shoving it under the rug, but at this point, they don't have a choice," Merryn said. "It's unfortunate that it look something like the tragedy at Penn State to bring the world's attention to the monsters, who 93% of the time are somebody you trust with your kids, that are in every community."

Dennis Quaid is splitting up from wife No. 3 — again.
Kimberly Buffington-Quaid first filed for divorce back in March, but rescinded a month later to give the marriage another shot.
Now it looks like the breakup is for real.
"Kimberly and Dennis Quaid have decided to legally separate after eight years of marriage. They ask that their privacy and the privacy of their family be respected during this difficult time," the actor's rep tells People.
Back in March, Buffington-Quaid had said in the filing that the union had "become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities."
The Vegas star, 58, and the former real estate agent have 4-year-old twins.

Stocks were mostly higher Wednesday as U.S. financial markets opened smoothly for their first trading session post-Sandy.The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 stock index were both in plus territory; the Nasdaq composite index was trading slightly lower.
The New York Stock Exchange was operating on generator power as much of lower Manhattan remains without electricity because of the storm.
The exchanges closed Monday and Tuesday as Hurricane Sandy approached and struck the nation's financial center in the New Jersey-New York City area.
Traders and investors were pleased to see the market open without a hitch.
"It's good to see things happen so smoothly on the opening," said Joe Kinahan, managing director at TD Ameritrade. "The fact the market opened so smoothly is a vote of confidence."

Investors clearly were paying special attention to industries affected by the storm. At the center of the day's trading were property and casualty insurers, many of which will be on the hook for storm-related losses.

The SPDR S&P Insurance exchange traded fund(symbol: KIE), which owns 44 insurance stocks, was down 0.3%, following a 0.7% decline Friday before the storm. Allstate (symbol: ALL) fell $0.47 or 1.2% $39.68 Wednesday, following a 0.9% loss Friday. Allstate is scheduled to report quarterly earnings after the market closes.

Computer maker Apple shed 2.1%, or $12.92 to $591.08 on its news this week of a personnel shakeup at the top of the company, which included the departure of the executive behind its smartphone unit. And General Motors added $1.01, or 4.3% to $24.29 after the automaker reported quarterly profit that beat Wall Street expectations.
The two-day disruption in trading came at a nervous time for the stocks market as investors were in the process of digesting mostly disappointing earnings results. Corporate profit growth, which had been the engine of the stock market's rise since 2009, sputtered in the third quarter. With more than half the companies in the S&P 500 stock index reporting results, growth was coming in at just 1.1%, worst showing since the third quarter 2009, says S&P Capital IQ. Just 36% of companies in the S&P 500 have beaten revenue forecasts, well below the 56% that usually do.
Investors will get plenty of new earnings data to chew on the first day back. A number of key and widely watched companies are expected to report quarterly earnings, including Allstate, Anheuser Busch Inbev, First Solar, General Motors, Hyatt Hotels, MasterCard and Clorox.
In addition, Facebook employees will get their first chance to sell shares granted to them with a lockup provision. Facebook stock opened down $1.01 to 20.93 or -4.6% at the open Wednesday.
Investors have some macro concerns weighing on them, most important the shaky economy in Europe and looming stiff budget cuts if Congress is unable to find ways to cut spending by the end of the year. Tax breaks will end and deep cuts will be made to the defense budget and Medicare as part of the so-called fiscal cliff, which could jeopardize economic growth. Meanwhile, slowing growth in China is wiping out what had been strong demand from Asia.
Investors will get fresh data on Asia Wednesday as a survey of purchasing managers in China is due. Economists expect that gauge to rise to 50.2 from 49.8, according to economists polled by Bloomberg News.
Asian stocks were strong Wednesday night, perhaps lending some strength to U.S. stocks. The Nikkei 225 index added nearly 1% to 8,928.29 and the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index added 0.7% to 2256.10.

Mitt Romney has bee keeping a low profile the past two days, but now, less than a week to go before the election, he's back on campaign trail, trying to maintain a public presence while managing the delicate balance of superstorm Sandy's aftermath. Today in Florida, Romney's looking to continue building momentum as our new poll shows he has gained ground in the last month. Our new poll shows Romney in a dead heat with the president after trailing by nine points just over a month ago. Romney is now edging out the president among seniors and has cut the president's lead with women voters in half. Poll: Obama holds small Ohio edge; Fla., Va. tight In Florida, he'll be joined by Senator Marco Rubio and Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. He'll make stops just outside of Miami and along the I-4 Corridor, looking to reach crucial swing voters. This will be Romney's first campaign rallies since Hurricane Sandy pounded the east coast Tuesday. He was in the key state of Ohio, but focused his attention on the story as he helped supporters box supplies for victims. "It's part of the American spirit, the American way, to give to people who are in need. And your generosity this morning touches my heart, and I appreciate what you've done," Romney told volunteers. Poll: Obama leads in three battleground states In Florida, Romney is expected to continue pushing a message of bipartisanship. Our poll shows voters here believe he will do a better job working with Democrats and Republicans. More Florida voters also say Romney has stronger leadership qualities than the president. Meanwhile, this is President Obama's fourth day off the campaign trail as he balances running for reelection with being president. "America is with you. We are standing behind you and we are going to do everything we can to help you get back on your feet," Mr. Obama said on Tuesday at the Red Cross headquarters in Washington, DC. At the Red Cross on Tuesday, the president remembered the victims of the storm, then praised the impacted area's mayors and governors. "They have done extraordinary work working around the clock," Mr. Obama said. He specifically mentioned New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, an Obama critic and a Romney supporter who complimented the president's response to the storm multiple times during the day Tuesday. He also said he's more concerned about New Jersey than presidential politics. "Cooperation from the president of the United States has been outstanding. He deserves great credit," Christie said. In an effort to remind voters the president is engaged and in charge, his advisors released behind-the-scenes pictures of him meeting with national security and emergency officials. The Obama campaign also emailed supporters a link to donate to the Red Cross via its campaign website. And to fill the void in the campaign trail, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden are being dispatched - not to key swing states but to Democratic-leaning Minnesota and Pennsylvania - to respond to a last-minute push by the Romney campaign. "In the real world Barack Obama's policies work better," Clinton said at a campaign rally.