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Sandusky guilty on 45 counts of sex abuse

BELLEFONTE, Pa., June 22 (UPI) -- A jury in Pennsylvania Friday found former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky guilty on 45 of the 48 counts of sexual abuse against him.

Sandusky -- who was charged with molesting boys he met through his Second Mile charity -- appeared to be shaken but had no comment as he was led from the courthouse in handcuffs to a waiting police car.

His lawyer had said hours before the verdict was read in Bellefont, Pa., he would "probably die of a heart attack" if his client was acquitted on all counts.

Speaking with reporters while the jury deliberated for a second day, Sandusky's lawyer Joe Amendola said if his client is acquitted on all charges, "I will probably die of a heart attack," ABC News Radio reported.

Prosecutors in the trial Friday re-enacted testimony of Mike McQueary, a witness who said he saw Sandusky molesting a boy.

McQueary, who said he saw Sandusky and the boy in a Penn State shower stall, was the only witness to provide direct corroboration of the stories of men who say Sandusky victimized them when they were children. Jurors heard his testimony Friday, with Joseph McGettigan, the lead prosecutor, reading the questions and another prosecutor reading the answers, ABC News reported.

Jurors asked Judge John Cleland Friday afternoon to reread a portion of his instructions to them on how they are to consider evidence submitted regarding a boy allegedly seen in the shower with Sandusky by a janitor in 2000. The janitor, James Calhoun, has dementia and was unable to testify but a former colleague of his, Ronald Petrosky, testified Calhoun told him about the incident, ABC said.

Investigators have not been able to locate the boy.

Cleland told the jurors Friday he would not approve any further review of evidence.

"I understand why this particular exchange might be important to your deliberations, but as a practical matter, we can't go back and redo the trial, so with regard to other witnesses, unless it is extremely important I'm going to instruct you to rely on your memories," the judge said.

Jurors began deliberation Thursday and discussed the case for about 7 hours before breaking for the night.

Cleland, who has sequestered the jury, warned Thursday any reporter or news organization that reports the verdict before he excuses the jury, deals with lawyers' motions and adjourns court could face penalties, KYW-TV, Philadelphia, reported. Cleland said all members of the public and media must remain in the courtroom until he releases them.

Lawyers gave their closing arguments Thursday. Amendola suggested the former coach is a victim of overzealous prosecutors and men who hope to make money from civil suits. McGettigan said the evidence showed convincingly that Sandusky is a serial sexual predator.

An adopted son of Sandusky told prosecutors he would have testified at the trial that Sandusky molested him, his attorney said.

Andrew Shubin, attorney for Matt Sandusky, 33, said his client, who was adopted by Jerry and Dottie Sandusky as an adult after living with them as a foster child, was prepared to testify if called by prosecutors, the (Harrisburg) Patriot-News reported Thursday.

Hispanic voters may swing pres. election

WASHINGTON, June 22 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama is leading among registered Latino voters in key swing states where Latino populations are on the rise, a poll shows.

A poll of 2,000 Latino voters by Latino Decisions and pro-immigration reform advocacy group America's Voice found Obama is leading likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney 63 percent to 27 percent among Latinos in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Virginia, ABC News reported.

Analysts have said Romney would need to win over 40 percent of the Latino vote to win the presidency.

The poll was conducted June 17 and 21 and had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.

Meanwhile, as the Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on the Arizona law that requires law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of people they stop, immigration is expected to be a major campaign topic, The Hill reported Friday.

"What I think we should focus on is the growing number of Hispanic voters in key states like Florida, Virginia, Iowa, North Carolina and others that are much more open-minded, that do not have a long-standing -- via geographic -- allegiance to one political party or ideology," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Thursday, adding he believes Democrats will win a significant majority of Hispanic voters this fall.

"There is a historical reality that Democrats are in the short term going to do much better among Hispanics," he said.

That is not stopping Romney from appealing to Latino voters, however, as he recently softened his stance on immigration and pledged to give green cards to immigrants who earn degrees at U.S. universities.

Obama: U.S. needs 'bottom-up economics'

TAMPA, Fla., June 22 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama told a campaign rally in Florida Friday the country needs "some middle class-out economics, some bottom-up economics."

Speaking at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, the president said the economy is growing, following the worst downturn since the Great Depression, "but it needs to grow faster."

He said what's holding back growth is "a stalemate between two fundamentally different views in Washington about which direction we should go in." He told his audience Republicans, including presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney, "believe that we should go back to the top-down economics of the last decade."

"They figure that if we simply eliminate regulations and cut taxes by trillions of dollars, then the market will solve all of our problems," Obama said.

"They argue that if we help corporations and wealthy investors maximize their profits by whatever means necessary -- whether through layoffs or outsourcing or union-busting -- that it will automatically translate into jobs and prosperity that benefit all of us.

"I believe we should do everything we can to help our entrepreneurs succeed," the president said. "I want our companies to be as profitable as they can be. But that alone is not enough. Because the central challenge we face right now -- the challenge that we've faced for over a decade -- is that bigger profits haven't led to better jobs. Bigger profits haven't led to higher incomes."

The president said American prosperity has always come from "a strong and growing middle class, and all those people who are striving and working to get into the middle class."

"We don't need more top-down economics," he said. "What we need is some middle class-out economics, some bottom-up economics."

Obama cautioned supporters that Republicans will "spend more money than we have ever seen in the history of the Republic" on political ads "telling you that the economy is bad, it's all my fault, and I can't fix it because government is always the answer, according to me."

"Or because I didn't make a lot of money in the private sector, or because I'm in over my head, or because I think everybody is doing just fine," the president said, eliciting laughter from the crowd.

"And that may be their plan to win an election, but it's sure not a plan to create jobs," he said.

Riyadh paying Free Syrian Army salaries

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, June 22 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia is providing funds to the Free Syria Army to encourage mass defections from Bashar Assad's military, The Guardian reported Friday.

Saudi Arabia's financial support of the FSA complements Turkish efforts to supply weapons to Syrian rebels, the British newspaper said.

As many as 22 Syrian nationals are operating a command center in Istanbul, Turkey, to facilitate the flow of weapons to the Syrian opposition. Combined with the Saudi funds, the support is breathing new life into the rebels, whose efforts to bring down Assad looked near an end just six weeks ago, The Guardian said.

Rebels are also receiving a steady stream of ammunition and medical supplies from Turkey.

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Ind-Conn., has been at the forefront of the renewed push to help the rebels.

"Senator Lieberman has called for the U.S. to provide robust and comprehensive support to the armed Syrian opposition, in co-ordination with our partners in the Middle East and Europe," Lieberman's spokesman said. "He has specifically called for the U.S. to work with our partners to provide the armed Syrian opposition with weapons, training, tactical intelligence, secure communications and other forms of support to change the military balance of power inside Syria.

"Senator Lieberman also supports the idea of ensuring that the armed opposition fighters receive regular and sufficient pay, although he does not believe it is necessary for the United States to provide this funding itself directly."