Honor guard leader headed to prisonPITTSBURGH — An 80-year-old man who organized honor guard ceremonies for thousands of deceased veterans is heading to prison for stealing donations meant for American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts.Patrick Gorman was sentenced Thursday to 11½ to 23 months after he was convicted earlier of theft, receiving stolen property and misapplication of entrusted funds. The Baldwin man previously served as a commander of an American Legion post, where he led the group’s honor guard. He took over the same role at a VFW in 2010.

Police say mother burned her son, 2EAST PITTSBURGH, — Police say a Pennsylvania woman tortured her 2-year-old son with at least 15 cigarette burns while her boyfriend watched and laughed. That’s why police have jailed 19-year-old Anna Russell and 25-year-old Enrique Soto on charges including aggravated assault and conspiracy.Police said the burns were inflicted on Aug. 1 and were discovered a week later when the boy’s grandmother took him to a hospital. Doctors there told police the burns were “administered deliberately, in a chronological order, over a very short period of time in one sitting.”Police have since interviewed the boy’s 3-year-old sister who told them Russell burned the boy while Soto watched and laughed.

‘Kids for cash’ lawsuit droppedWILKES-BARRE — A lawsuit against two former judges who were involved a scandal that became known as “kids for cash” has been dropped. Raul Clark filed a lawsuit in 2009 alleging that former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. had directed him to count the number of birds outside the courtroom, then sentenced him to detention according to that number — six months — at a 2002 hearing.A lawyer filed a motion saying the plaintiffs have opted into settlements in the case. Ciavarella and Michael Conahan are serving time for accepting bribes in exchange for ordering youths to for-profit detention centers.