By JOSHUA WOLFSON
Star-Tribune staff writerSaturday, June 28, 2008 2:07 AM MDT

Ask Casper Police Chief Tom Pagel or Natrona County District Attorney Michael Blongien and they’ll tell you: They alone can’t stop domestic violence.

Sure, Pagel’s officers can throw an abuser in jail and Blongien’s attorneys can work to get him punished. But those steps only come after a crime has already been committed.

According to some experts, the key to reducing domestic violence in Casper can be found inside the city’s restaurants.

A generation ago, those restaurants, along with most public places, were choked with cigarette smoke. The smoke and the odor were certainly an annoyance, but most people tolerated it. Smoking in public was acceptable.

Flash forward 30 years and only a few restaurants allow customers to smoke. Those that do usually confine smokers to one part of the building.

In many respects, smoking in public has become a societal taboo. The effort took decades of public awareness and legislation, but it managed to drastically alter how the public viewed smoking.

StarTribune

by Matthew Benson – Jun. 27, 2008 04:39 PM
The Arizona Republic

Democratic state Rep. Mark DeSimone is expected to resign his seat following his arrest early Friday morning on charges related to an episode of domestic violence involving him and his wife.

DeSimone, 45, a first-term legislator representing District 11 in Phoenix, was booked into Maricopa County’s 4th Avenue jail. He faces assault charges, a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Phoenix police responded to DeSimone’s north-central Phoenix home after receiving a 911 call from his wife around 11:45 p.m. Officers were told that the couple had engaged in a verbal dispute that turned physical, said Sgt. Joel Tranter. DeSimone, who had been drinking, is believed to have struck his wife in the face at least once, Tranter said.

AZCENTRAL

DENTON COUNTY, Texas  –  A Denton County man with a long criminal history is now behind bars after an alleged shootout with sheriff’s deputies on Thursday morning.

31-year-old Ronnie Nash is facing attempted capital murder charges on a peace officer for shooting a pistol at a deputy who responded to an emergency domestic violence call. The deputy fired two shots from a rifle back at Nash, but didn’t strike him.

MyFoxNews

Ouisa D. Davis / Special to the Times

Article Launched: 06/27/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

Here’s an entertainment idea for those of you with teenaged and young adult sons and daughters. Go see the play, “Domestic Violence — the Musical!”

What a concept; stories of struggle and survival told through the medium of theater and music is a powerful way of educating and advocating for the silent and invisible victims of violence in our homes, our neighborhoods, our community.

Linda King, co-writer of this production, is a powerful person with a powerful story — her own story of a family’s struggle through tragic loss, resolution and resilience and healing through outreach and advocacy.

King was the mother of three children, all three of whom tragically died — one in an automobile accident, the others through violent crime. Her daughter died as a result of a nine-year relationship rife with violence. Lisa’s death led Linda toward the path upon which she now travels; speaking out against family violence and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

El Paso Times

Posted by Jeremy Gray — The Birmingham News June 23, 2008 8:55 AM

Categories: Breaking News

More than a dozen Birmingham police officers fanned out across the city early this morning arresting people with outstanding domestic violence warrants.

The arrests, part of an effort dubbed Operation Hit Back, was the second such sweep in less than a month, said Sgt. James Jackson, supervisor of the department’s domestic violence unit.

While Jackson said he does not yet know how many people were arrested today, he estimated more than 50 arrests had been made since the first sweep on June 9.

The idea of targeting those with domestic violence warrants came from Deputy Chief Herman Hinton, Jackson said.

Domestic violence is connected to a myriad of other crimes, Jackson said, because offenders are often addicted to drugs and sometimes commit robberies and burglaries to feed their addictions.

Birmingham News

By Nancy Anderson

Daily Planet

Tue Jun 24, 2008, 10:59 AM MDT

Telluride, Colo. -

Domestic and sexual violence permeate our society, even here in San Miguel County. Yet, it often goes unexposed because we allow the perpetrators to hide behind a false shield of propriety.

The Telluride News

By LISA MARCHESONI, Senior Writer
Posted: Sunday, June 22, 2008 10:04 am

Saturday June 21, 2008, 12:20 PM

The face of homicide has changed on Staten Island this year.

Just one of the Island’s 10 murders so far can be linked to domestic violence — a dramatic change from last year, when more than half of the borough’s murders were the result of abusive relationships or parental violence and police didn’t have to look far for a suspect.

Instead, investigators are seeing an array of motives — from robbery to romantic rivalry to escalating turf disputes.

And that’s making this year’s murders tougher to solve.

“Domestic-violence murders are almost always solved, and the stranger-to-stranger murders, or murders that are in the drug trade … are rarely solved,” says Andrew Karman, a sociology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the author of a book exploring the reasons behind Manhattan’s steep drop in crime in the 1990s.

Last year, suspects in seven domestic-violence murders were identified by police almost immediately.

Staten Island Advance