The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • A21

THE MORNING CALL THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 NEWS 21 Celebrities TELEVISION Easton native Rebecca Moore is a member of Catapult Entertainment, a shadow imagery dance troupe competing on the reality television series 'America's Got CONTRIBUTED PHOTO MARIO ANZUONIREUTERS PHOTO Cowell looks forward to fatherhood dance group Talent' judges moments that we sometimes take for granted." Spice Girl Mel called the dance "a true celebration of life." "You took us on a journey," she added. "I did not want it to stop at all." Mandel continued the praise, saying, "I promise you there isn't anyone who has been on this stage who could follow you. As a parent first, it was so hadn't thought of before, but now I know I feel good about it." And about Lauren Silverman: "She's a very special girl." Cowell had been named by Andrew Silverman as a co-respondent in his divorce petition alleging adultery, putting music producer Cowell in the position of possibly having to take the stand. But he never had to make that court appearance because the Silver-mans reached an "amica Simon Cowell, the 53-year-old first-time father-to-be with his former friend Andrew Silverman's ex-wife, Lauren Silverman is putting a positive spin on the situation. "Things are changing in my life right now for the better," the Factor" judge told the BBC at the London premiere of British boy band One Direction's documentary "This Is Us." "I'm proud to be a dad," he said.

"It's something I ble" out-of-court settlement, People.com reported. One Direction was formed on the seventh season of the British Factor," finishing in third place and then signing with Cowell's record label. So the band is kind of his baby too. Cowell said he would be willing to let his own child become a pop star, as long as he was the manager. Tribune Newspapers clear and so wonderful and so creative to see the circle of life that these children who we lost in Connecticut will never have." Even Stern commended Catapult's achievement, saying, Easton native's impresses 'Got Ryan Kneller Of The Morning Call Easton native Rebecca Moore and the group with which she dances, Catapult Entertainment, wowed the "America's Got Talent" judges Tuesday night.

The nine-member New York troupe, whose dancers use shadows to tell a story, performed a tribute to Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims on the NBC reality show. The dancers opened their act by creating a beach scene, complete with apalmtreeand hermit crab. The piece, choreographed to "Somewhere over the Rainbow," chronicled a woman's life from childhood to adulthood. It featured scenes such as building a sand castle, learning to ride a bike, earning a degree, getting married and giving birth. At the end of the performance, at New York's Radio City Music Hall, the audience and all four judges Howard Stern, Heidi Klum, Mel and Howie Mandel gave Catapult a standing ovation.

Klum was first to comment, saying, "Wow, you guys are on a different level of imagination. It is so beautiful to watch what you guys do behind that screen with your bodies. It's amazing. And hands down, to me, this is the best act of tonight." Catapult director Adam Battlestein said before the performance, "I believe in Catapult and I believe in the shadow art form. I think it's a new genre of dance." Battlestein, who lives near Newtown, wanted the group's performance to honor the shooting victims by telling a story "really reaching from the heart." "It was a huge blow to a lot of us living in Connecticut, and I wanted to do something that honored their loss," Battlestein said.

"So, tonight, our performance is a celebration of life and all of those little The closer: Shortly after Katy Perry was announced as a performer at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards, reports surfaced that she would close the show. Now Perry is also confirmed as the Sept. 30 headlining finale for the monthlong iTunes Festival in the U.K. Ki "It's very hard to get me Moore emotional you did. Your story came through crisp and clear.

You stole the show tonight. And you're definitely going through. I know America's going to vote for you." Moore is a 2002 graduate of Easton Area High School and a 2006 graduate of Moravian College. She was a newspaper carrier for The Morning Call. Now living in Stamford, she is a professional dancer and choreographer who has been with Catapult for two years.

Another Catapult member, Jaime Vera-zin of the Wilkes-Barre area, studied dance at DeSales University in Center Valley. The episode featured 12 acts competing for four spots on next week's semifinals episode. Those four acts will be decided by viewers' votes. The winner gets $1 million and a headline show in Las Vegas. ryan.knellermcall.com 610-820-6597 Chris Brown cancels: The EnergySummer Rush four-day concert series in Canada has been canceled after headliner Chris Brown had to pull out for "personal and health-related issues," the festival's promoter announced.

Brown recently suffered a seizure. THEO WARGOGETTY PHOTO The "I do" factor: One Direction's Zayn Malik is engaged to Perrie Edwards of Little Mix, another band. "It's true. They got engaged Sunday, and it was absolutely lovely," Edwards' mom, Debbie Duffy, said on Real Radio North East's "Gary and Lisa Show." Nickelodeon star comes out: Lucas Cruikshank, star of the online series "Fred" and Nickelodeon's "Marvin Marvin," said on YouTube he is gay. "My family and friends have known it for, like, three years.

I just haven't felt the need to announce it on the Internet." News services contributed. Federal law could stymie charter funding pay for classrooms, child health, administration, individual school improvements and various other spending categories. AUentown, for example, received a $L5 million School Improvement Grant for South Mountain Middle School as part of its federal allocation in 2012-13. The grant was secured through a competitive process. Under grant guidelines, AUentown could not have spent that money on any other AUentown school, let alone an independent charter school, Clark said.

"The state knows this," Clark said. "I don't know what basis charters are using to do it. It's almost like a double dip they want to do." Kevin McKenna, one of the lawyers handling the charter appeals filed by Latsha Davis McKenna of Exton, Chester County, declined to comment. Bob Fayfich, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, said his organization is not part of the federal challenge. But charter schools are not trying to double-dip on taxpayers, he said.

Tim EUer, spokesman for the state Department of Education, said charter schools are not precluded from receiving or applying for whatever federal money they want. That is why the department excluded the federal money from the tuition payments in 1997, he said. Citing the upcoming appeal hearings, EUer declined to comment on federal funding regulations. The departmenf only role is to set up tuition dispute hearings as it is required to do under the 1997 charter school law and a subsequent court order, he said. The department needs to stay neutral, he said, because acting Education Secretary William Harner wiU rule on whether to money with Title I proceeds to pay for mandatory services such as special education, the law states.

Bethlehem Superintendent Joseph Roy said those rules would preclude charter schools from getting a direct share of Bethlehem's federal money. But if the state sides with charter schools, Roy said, Bethlehem would have to use local tax doUars to cover the additional $232,595 to nearly $500,000 Lehigh Valley Academy has requested. The local funds would have to come from the district's restored fund balance, which is used for emergencies and as coUateral when the district takes out bonds because banks Kke to see a healthy cash balance. "It's not coming from our federal funds," Roy said. "If coming from money generated by our local property taxes." But poorer districts such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh do not have reserves or other local revenue sources to cover the potential cost borne by the charters' tuition appeal.

That would cause the state to take those districts' federal money in ways not allowed under the law or grants, said Jay Himes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. "They are essentially penalizing school districts," Hymes said. Ira Weiss, solicitor for Pittsburgh Public Schools, agreed, saying charter schools have no right to a school district's federal money. "The U.S. Constitution says federal law overrides state law," Weiss said.

"We fought a Civil War over that" The department has not set hearing dates for the tuition appeals. steve.esackmcall.com 717-783-7305 Rules may bar charter schools' bid to get $150 million more from local districts. By Steve Esack Call Harrisburg Bureau HARRISBURG Federal laws and regulations could save Pennsylvania school districts from having to turn over as much as $150 million that charter schools say they are owed. The charters have filed 231 requests to Gov. Tom Corbett's administration, seeking to change the charter school funding formula to give them a share of the federal money school districts receive.

Charter schools want a mandate requiring school districts to include federal dollars in the per-pupil tuition payments they send to charter schools. The charters claim the current practice of deducting federal money is not allowed under the 1997 state charter school law. If successful, the state's 173 charter schools, which already receive federal money, would gain $100 million to $150 million annually from school districts with students attending charter schools. But Congress and the U.S. Department of Education have strict guidelines for how, when and where the federal money is spent Those restrictions could preclude the state from ruling in favor of charter schools.

"I know it will," said Jack Clark, Allen-town School District's chief financial officer. "So this whole thing, to me, doesn't make any sense." The federal government provides funding through the No Child Left Behind law and grants to help districts and charter schools include federal money in the tuition payments. "In short, the department cannot deny due process because it feels the 'case is EUer said. The federal government helps local districts and the state pay for pubKc education. The bulk of the federal money allocation is in so-called Title I and Title II money that flows from the No Child Left Behind law.

The law doles out money to states, which then distribute it to school districts based on the number of poor students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. Charter schools get their Title I and II money directly from the U.S. Department of Education. For both regular pubKc schools and charter schools, Title I money helps pay for instruction and nutrition of children. Title II money covers professional development for staff.

The federal government also distributes separate grants, which states, school districts and charter schools can apply to receive. From those federal funding sources, Pennsylvania school districts got $508 million in the 2011-12 school year. Charter schools, including eight in the Lehigh Valley, got more than $6 million. In every instance, federal money is meant to be a boost, not a substitute for local and state funding under two provisions of No Child Left Behind, according to the law. The law's "maintenance of effort" rule says local school districts must have enough local and state funds to cover their budgets, because Title I money is meant only to assist, not pay for, at-risk students.

The law's "supplement not supplant requirement" works the same way. School districts cannot replace all local and state Philly archdiocese moves to shore up finances It's selling six nursing homes, trying to lease out cemeteries after suffering loss. By Harold Brubaker Of The Philadelphia Inquirer PHILADELPHIA In an aggressive move to help remedy its deep financial woes, the Archdiocese of PhUadelphia said it has put its six nursing homes up for sale. The archdiocese also said Tuesday it would try to lease out 11 cemeteries and two parcels that could be used as cemeteries. In addition, the archdiocese said it would try to outsource the management of the cemeteries, a move that could cut costs and increase revenue.

Catholic Health Care Services, which operates six nursing homes and an assisted-Kving facility in Southeastern Pennsylvania, is the seventh-largest faith-based operator of such facUities in the United States, according to the archdiocese. The facUities for sale are: Immaculate Mary Home, St John Neumann Home and St. Monica Manor in PhUadelphia; Villa St. Martha and St. Martha Manor in Downing-town; St.

Francis Country House in Darby; and St. Mary Manor in Lansdale. VUla St. Martha is the assisted-living facility. They have about 1,400 beds and employ L100 people fuU time and 950 part time, the archdiocese said.

Catholic Health Care had $132.2 milKon in revenue and an operating loss of $7.73 milKon in the year ended June 30,2012. "Our difficult financial situation must be addressed and the actions that we need to take may be painful ones," Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said in a news release. "I understand this fact fully, but it is of critical importance that we rebuild our financial foundation so that we can continue our coUective good works." The archdiocese last month reported a $39.2 miUion loss for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012. Excluding miUions in unusual expenses, the archdiocese's cash outlays in fiscal 2012 stiU exceeded revenue by $17.4 miUion.

In addition to annual operating shortfalls, the archdiocese has huge long-term gaps in its balance sheet, totaKng about $350 mUlion, for pensions, self-insurance reserves, and money owed to a trust-and- loan fund for parishes. Until now, financial recovery efforts have focused on selling real estate, cutting costs, and turning over high school operations to an independent nonprofit. Real estate sales have brought in about $15 million, needed to fund day-to-day operations. The announcement opens a new front in balancing its books. "These are things that are not essential to the life of a diocese.

What's essential are the parishes and after that, probably the schools in the minds of most bishops and the CathoKc charities," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior analyst for the National CathoKc Reporter. Reese, an expert on CathoKc finances, said Philadelphia is unusual in the extent of its health-care operations..