In brief: Statue’s reopening on hold for storm

NEW YORK – The Statue of Liberty has officially reopened to the public after a renovation project. The public will just have wait until a massive storm has passed to see it.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and a group of U.S. Military Academy cadets were the first to visit on Sunday. The statue had been closed for a year to undergo a $30 million interior renovation project. Visitors had been restricted to the grounds on Liberty Island during that time.

The renovation included replacing the stairs to the crown, as well as creating wheelchair access to one of the observation decks at the top of the pedestal.

But the monument will be closed today and Tuesday because of the superstorm. It is expected to reopen Wednesday.

Clinton heads to Mali, Balkans talks

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is on a five-day trip overseas to increase pressure on Mali’s al-Qaida-linked rebels and help Balkan nations end long-simmering ethnic and political disagreements.

Clinton left for Algeria on Sunday, moving up her departure by a day to beat the onslaught of an East Coast storm.

With Algeria’s president, she’ll discuss the crisis to the south in Mali, where European and African countries are considering military intervention against radical Islamists.

Clinton then visits Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania.

She is aiming to advance each of their NATO and European Union aspirations. Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo, and the two dispute borders and minority issues. Bosnia’s power is divided among ethnic lines.

Clinton also visits Croatia, a new NATO member and an EU state as of next year.

Penn State panel discusses abuse

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Survivors of child sexual abuse say the problem cannot be combated unless people are willing to discuss it openly.

At a panel discussion Sunday night at Penn State University, two-time Olympic swimmer Margaret Hoelzer, state Rep. Louise Williams Bishop (D., Phila.), and Christopher Anderson, executive director of MaleSurvivor, shared personal stories of being abused as children before an audience of about 150 people.

Williams Bishop said the sex abuse scandal involving former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was just a conversation starter because sexual abuse has been going on for years.

Said Anderson, “There are Sanduskys in almost every community in the United States. There are survivors in every community in the United States.”

The panel discussion was the opening session of a three-day conference on child sexual abuse.

Skydiver dies after hard landing

CHESTER, S.C. – A skydiver died Sunday after a hard landing at an airport in South Carolina, authorities said.

Chester County Emergency Management director Eddie Murphy said authorities were called to an airport in Chester, about 50 miles southwest of Charlotte, N.C., just after 10:15 a.m. Sunday.

The skydiver was airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where he later died. His name was not immediately released.

Murphy said the accident had nothing to do with the plane that was used. Murphy also didn’t know how many other people were in the skydiving group, or if the victim had been strapped to another person during the jump.

The jump was coordinated through a company called Skydive Carolina. General manager James LaBarrie didn’t immediately return a message Sunday from the Associated Press.

LaBarrie told the Rock Hill Herald that the man was an experienced skydiver who “had a perfectly good parachute.” There was no equipment malfunction, he said.