Corbett to sign Pa. child-abuse bills

    Gov. Tom Corbett is expected to sign the first bills in the Pennsylvania’s Legislature wide-ranging response to the Jerry Sandusky and Roman Catholic clergy scandals.

    Corbett was holding a signing ceremony in suburban Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania Child Resource Center.

    Lawmakers have approved a half-dozen bills that update nearly 20-year-old state laws on how cases of suspected child abuse are defined, investigated and punished in Pennsylvania.

    Roughly 20 bills are part of the legislative package.

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    One bill that passed would expand the definition of who investigators can consider a potential perpetrator of child abuse. Another bill addresses a longstanding complaint of child welfare advocates by lowering the threshold for the kind of injury or pain that is considered child abuse.

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