Sanctions

Penn State has enjoyed a fertile recruiting pipeline into Maryland high school programs during the past decade, and the most recent classes have been no different. But now, the future is unclear for several players from Baltimore who have made State College their home, although none have directly expressed interest in leaving the school. Former Calvert Hall players Adrian Amos, Da'Quan Davis and Trevor Williams and Gilman graduate Brian Gaia are all currently weighing their options and not rushing into a decision after the NCAA sanctioned the Nittany Lions with a four-year bowl ban, significant scholarship loss, a $60 million fine and the forfeiture of all wins from 1998-2011.

Double fine, preserve wins Teddy Greenstein Chicago Tribune The NCAA mostly got it right and should be commended for acting swiftly. I also applaud the NCAA for not caving to the death penalty crowd that wanted blood at the cost of harming tens of thousands of people who did no wrong. But there are two penalties I would have changed. Doubling the fine to $120 million — two years' worth of football revenue — would have benefited victims of child sexual abuse even more.

The NCAA this morning announced stiff penalties on the Penn State football program, acting with unprecedented swiftness in response to a report detailing the repeated failure of officials there to act appropriately in response to long-time assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's serial child sexual abuse. The football team, already reeling from the scandal and the firing and subsequent death of legendary coach Joe Paterno, faces a four-year ban on post-season appearances, a $60 million fine and the vacating of all its victories from 1998-2011, the time period when officials knew about Mr. Sandusky's crimes but failed to stop them.

Erik Etherly will not listen to anyone who says Loyola's schedule was easy last year - unless those critics also went up against Ohio State's Jared Sullinger and Kentucky's Anthony Davis. While Davis (who went No. 1 to the Charlotte Bobcats) and Sullinger (who was picked No. 21 by the Boston Celtics) are preparing for their rookie year in the NBA, Etherly is taking part in the Baltimore Summer League at Loyola's Reitz Arena, fighting for rebounds with guys who are just hoping to catch a glimpse of action with their Division II or III teams in the fall.

The parent company of Harborside Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Baltimore, which faced state sanctions for air-conditioning failures more than two years ago, has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to court documents. Ravenwood Healthcare Inc., based in Baton Rouge, La., listed $10 million to $50 million in liabilities and the same amount of assets, according to documents filed late last week with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Middle District of Louisiana.

Up to this point, sanctions against Iran have only caused it to accelerate its drive to build a nuclear weapons capability, with the stated goal of wiping out Israel. As long as Russia, China and India trade with Iran and are willing to pay the currently inflated prices for its oil, there will be no cessation of Iran's drive to build a bomb, and any sanctions imposed by the U. S. and its allies will be ineffective. Meanwhile, Israel is living under the threat of annihilation. The window of opportunity is rapidly closing for an effective military strike against Iran.

The drumbeat for war only helps Iran by driving up oil prices, undermining the effect of sanctions on its economy and stifling domestic opponents of the regime. President Barack Obama conveyed that message clearly and emphatically to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee over the weekend. He repeated it to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the two met at the White House on Monday. And he aimed it at his prospective Republican rivals Tuesday when he reminded them of what happened the last time we let the politics of warmongering get ahead of diplomacy.

Advocates for Maryland's abused and neglected youths said Wednesday that the state's second-largest foster care placement company failed the children in its care by allowing the qualification assessments of the homes they live in to lapse. Ed Kilcullen, director for Maryland's network of Court Appointed Special Advocates, said he is alarmed that the Hyattsville-based Contemporary Family Services did not document annual recertification for some of its homes, including providing up-to-date records such as criminal background clearances.

By punishing Iran for its nuclear research and development, U.S. and European sanctions only give incentive to Iran to double-down on the program ("U.S. sees Iran sanctions bite," Jan. 8). That's because the whole purpose of nuclear capability is to protect against outside influence in Iranian affairs which the sanctions represent. The logic of sanctions as a deterrent is flawed. Let's be clear: If Iranian nuclear capability is the trip-wire for U.S. war against Iran, then the current and planned sanctions against Iran are best understood as a prelude to war - one of the many incremental steps necessary for hostilities to develop - not as a deterrent to war, which is the ostensible claim.

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi's five steps for dealing with Iran are steps to confrontation disguised as an alternative to war ("Five steps to isolate Iran," Dec. 6). Sanctions are self-evidently counter-productive as a means to stop or alter Iran's nuclear research and development when the motive behind sanctions is punishment or regime change. The premise of the sanctions - that the problem is with Iran exclusively - ignores the nuclear neighborhood that Iran lives in and our own desire to dominate the region.