Sex scandal report lists ‘failures’PITTSBURGH — A grand jury has recommended no criminal charges against officials in the Plum Borough School District where two teachers have been convicted of having sex with students and two more face related charges.The report issued Thursday by the Allegheny County district attorney’s office found “systematic failures to protect students” but concluded no school official broke laws requiring police to be notified of teacher sex allegations or other inappropriate conduct.“We attribute these failures in large part to an academic culture that encouraged the protection of friends and colleagues over students, insularity, avoidance of personal responsibility in favor of shifting the onus onto others without follow up, and turning a blind eye to obvious signs of teacher misconduct,” the report said.

Surplus electricity sale limit rejectedHARRISBURG — One Pennsylvania state agency is rejecting a move by another to limit how much surplus electricity can be sold back to utilities from customer-owned solar panels or wind turbines.The Independent Regulatory Review Commission voted unanimously Thursday against the proposal by the Public Utility Commission.That proposal would have capped the surplus sale to utilities at 200 percent of the customer’s annual consumption. IRRC member Russ Faber says he doesn’t believe the authority exists to create such a cap.Utility commission officials say they’re concerned that surplus sales could eventually inflate the cost of electricity.