MONDAY,DECEMBER17, 2012HH

Worthy ofWestern Pennsylvania

WEATHER 58 · 41Rain throughout the day

Details, A10 © 2012

PRICEMAYVARYOUTSIDEPRIMARYMARKET50¢

Advice D7Bridge D7Business B8Classified E1

Comics D8Crossword D7Editorials A9Fanfare D1

Horoscope D7Living D1Local B1Lotteries A10

Movies D5Obituaries B4Sports C1Television D6

INDEXVol. 124 · No. 319

Five sections58 pages

STILL INIT Steelers’ playoff hopesnotdeaddespite overtime loss toCowboys C3

Pitt finds success with brain implants in paralyzed patients

As a genetic condition gradually lefther a quadriplegic, Jan Scheuermannwas forced to shut down a successfulbusiness that produced murder mys-tery parties.Yet the illness didn’t zap her deter-mination, and Scheuermann in July

published amystery book based onherpopular parties.Just before the book’s publication,theWhitehallmother joined ayearlongUniversity of Pittsburgh study thatscientists believe will change theirunderstanding of the human brain.Using her thoughts, Scheuermann,53, guided a robotic hand to completetasks such as stacking plastic coneson a table, Pitt and UPMC researchersreported Sunday in the online editionof The Lancet, one of the best-knownmedical journals in the world.She accomplished the unique feat

because researchers implanted tinychips into the part of Scheuermann’sbrain that initiates movement. Theelectrodes recorded electrical pulsesfrom nerve cells that a computer algo-rithm interpreted and translated intomovement commands, said AndrewSchwartz, the study’s lead author andaprofessor atPitt’s School of Medicine.“She said she’s never done skydiv-ing, so this has been the ride of herlife,” said Schwartz, who spent muchof his career as a neurophysiologist

by LUIS FAbREGAS

Goal of research is to allowpeople to do simple tasks usingmind-controlled robotic arm

PARALYZED · A7

UPMC studyparticipant Jan

Scheuermann, 53,ofWhitehall takes abite out of a candybar she guided intoher mouth using athought-controlled

robot arm asresearch assistants

BrianWodlingerand Elke Brown

look on.UPMC

Show of forceTanks deploy to thepresidential palaceon Sunday in Cairo.During the firstround of voting,Egyptians narrowlyapproved aconstitution shapedby Islamists, butopposition groupsfear it will dividethe nation.Story, A2GETTY IMAGES

Anindependentreviewof theStateDepartment’shandlingofsecurity at the U.S. Consulatein Benghazi, Libya, will be pre-

sented onMonday, according toa report from CNN.Sources in the State Depart-ment told the network thatthe review, ordered by Secre-tary Hillary Clinton, would bedelivered onMonday. Lawmak-erswill receive the report fromthe Independent AdvisoryReview Board before a brief-ing onWednesday fromretired

Ambassador Thomas Picker-ing, who headed the inquiry.The report is expected toprovide answers to questionsthat have dogged the Obamaadministration since theSept. 11 attacks on the U.S.Consulate in Libya that killedfourAmericans, includingU.S.

FROMWIRE AND ONLINE REPORTS

Benghazi review slated for releaseCongress to be briefedabout deadly consulateattack onWednesday

BENGHAZI · A7

Mary Schaab was drivingwhensheheard thenewsabouta massacre in a Connecticutelementary school.Shestoppedandsaidaprayer.“Icouldfeel theirheartache,”said Schaab of Greensburg,whose son Michael, 25, waskilled in March by a gunmanwho burst into the lobby ofWestern Psychiatric InstituteandClinic.Theshooter injuredseveral other employees and apolice officer. “It took me backto that second.”The tragedy in the quaintNew England town awakenedpainful memories for survi-vors and relatives of victimsof gun rampages in WesternPennsylvania. In the past sev-eral years, mass shootings atWestern Psych, the LA FitnessCenter inScott and theStantonHeights neighborhood shookthe region and left survivorssearching for answers.In 2000, Richard Baumham-mers and Ronald Taylor killedatotalof ninepeopleinraciallymotivated shooting sprees.Last week’s rampage, whichleft20childrenandsevenadultsdead,onceagainprovokedtearsand serious questions. All ofthosecontactedbytheTribune-Review spoke of lasting griefandemphasizedhowimportant

TragedyreopenswoundsinW.Pa.

by LUIS FAbREGAS

Rampage reinforcesimportance of family,faith for those affectedbymass killings here

WOUNDS · A6

Butler school districts get permission to arm guards

At least two Pittsburgh areaschool districts got special per-missiononSundaytoarmtheirsecurity officers when classes

resume on Monday, the firstschool day after the Newtown,Conn.,massacre.“We want to have at leastone armed officer at each ofourschools,startingtomorrow

and every day thereafter,” saidButler Area School DistrictSuperintendantMichaelStrutt.“It was our intent to do thisanyway; (the Newtown shoot-ing) causedus to thinkabout itand work over the weekend toexpedite that process.”Butler County PresidentJudge Thomas Doerr gave the

Butler Area and South Butlerschooldistrictsspecialpermis-sion on Sunday to have theirqualified school police offi-cers — all Pennsylvania StatePolice retirees — carry theirpersonal service weapons inschool buildings.Other districts throughoutthe region reached out to reas-

sure parents via letters andemails that their childrenwould be safe, reiteratingsecurity procedures and offer-ing counseling for studentsshocked by Friday’s slayings.AuthoritiessayAdamLanza,20, killed 27 people, including

by MATTHEW SANTONI

Fear of copycat crimes as result of Newtownslayings spurs officials to obtain order from judge

GUARDS · A6

NEWTOWN,Conn.—He spoke for anationinsorrow,buttheslaughterof allthose little boys andgirls left PresidentObama, like so many others, reachingfor words. Alone on a spare stage afterthe worst single day of his presidency,the commander in chief was a parentin grief.“I am very mindful that mere wordscannot match the depth of your sor-row, nor can they heal your woundedhearts,”Obamasaidataneveningvigilin the grieving community of New-town, Conn. “I can only hope that ithelps for you to know that you are notalone in your grief.”The massacre of 26 children andadults at Sandy Hook Elementary onFridayelicitedhorroraroundtheworld,

soul-searching in the United States,freshpoliticaldebateaboutguncontroland questions about the incomprehen-sible—what drove the suspect to act.Italsoleftanewlyre-electedpresidentopenly grappling for bigger answers.Obama said that in the coming weeks,

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Nation not doing enoughto protect children, he tellsgrieving in Connecticut

Inside»Sandy Hook Principal DawnHochsprung “devoted her life tomaking sure children in her carewere taken care of,” her cousinfromWest View says. A6

‘I am very mindful that wordscannot match the depths ofyour sorrow. But whatevermeasure of comfort we canprovide, we will provide. …Newtown, you are not alone.’

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES

Mournerscomfortoneanotheron Sundaybefore thestart of aninterfaithvigil forthe SandyHookElementaryshootingvictims inNewtown,Conn.NEWTOWN · A6

Obamapledgeschange,support

Stacy SchmuckerLatrobeExcela Bariatric Surgery Patient

Join board certified bariatric surgeons Peter Bertin, DO, andMark Zelkovic, MDTuesday, December 18, 6 p.m.

Frick Hospital, 508 South Church Street, Mount PleasantFREE SEMINAR • Call 1-877-771-1234 to register

Conference Rooms 1 and 2

FREEFREE Bariatric Surgery Seminar

adno

=544

8641