Cynthia Daily and her partner used a sperm donor to conceive a baby seven years ago, and they hoped that one day their son would get to know some of his half siblings - an extended family of sorts for modern times.

So Daily searched a Web-based registry for other children fathered by the same donor and helped to create an online group to track them. Over the years, she watched the number of children in her son's group grow. And grow.

Today there are 150 children, all conceived with sperm from one donor, in this group of half siblings, and more are on the way. "It's wild when we see them all together — they all look alike," said Daily, 48, a social worker in the Washington area.

As more women choose to have babies on their own, and the number of children born through artificial insemination increases, outsize groups of donor siblings are starting to appear. While Daily's group is among the largest, many others comprising 50 or more half siblings are cropping up on websites and in chat groups, where sperm donors are tagged with unique identifying numbers.

Concern is growing among parents, donors and medical experts about potential negative consequences, including the possibility that genes for rare diseases could be spread more widely through the population. Some experts note the increased odds of accidental incest between half sisters and half brothers, who often live close to one another.

So, when are we going to start being more like the French?

Although other countries, including Britain, France and Sweden, limit how many children a sperm donor can father, there is no such limit in the United States. There are only guidelines issued by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, a professional group that recommends restricting conceptions by individual donors to 25 births per population of 800,000.

This is just nasty.

The HIV scare comes less than one month after the launch of a new online sexual health database aimed at preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among porn actors through mandatory testing. To be listed in the database — a requisite for getting work — porn actors must get tested every 30 days and present a clean bill of health. But critics say routine testing does not prevent STDs from creeping in.

"Testing is not a substitute for condom use, and it never will be," said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles. "No test can detect HIV from the moment of infection. There will always be a window period," which might not reflect recent infection.

The health of the porn stars is important, but it seems the producers don't think people would watch or buy porn where condoms are used. It's hard to believe that we're having a debate about using condoms in porn in 2011.

The positive test results will be confirmed by more sensitive testing methods, but details of the case, including the performer's name, age and sex, will not be released. It is also unclear how many sexual partners might be at risk.

"The average American male has seven female sexual partners in a lifetime. But it's possible for a male to have seven sexual partners in a single day on porn movie set," said Weinstein. "Because this is a network that's kind of inbred, the spread of disease could be exponential."

This alleged sex tape starring former Sen. John Edwards and his baby mama Rielle Hunter must be something hot. No leaks, no 30-second upload on PornHub.com and another delay in the case.

A judge has agreed to delay the civil trial over who owns a purported sex tape of John Edwards because of the former presidential candidate's pending criminal case.

Edwards' former mistress Rielle Hunter sued his former aide Andrew Young in 2010 over ownership of several items, including an intimate video made by Hunter.

Edwards was indicted in June on felony charges of violating federal campaign finance laws over about $1 million provided by donors to help hide his pregnant mistress during his presidential campaign. His lawyers in that case requested a delay in the civil case out of concern information disclosed from that trial could taint his criminal case.

Just release the tape already! The trial is set for March 26.

It's amazing who gets bail in the state of North Carolina. And it's equally as amazing how long someone can run from sex charges.

North Carolina man Heath Hayes spent three years on the run after being charged with seven counts of first-degree sexual offense and an additional four counts of indecent liberties.

Officials said they arrested 32-year-old Heath Hayes in New Martinesville Saturday morning after getting a tip from the North Carolina Fugitive Task Force.

NEWS9 spoke with U.S. Marshal Deputy Chad Simpson, who said Hayes' offenses involved a child who was 7 at the time.

Hayes was booked into the northern regional jail Saturday morning.

Here's what a judge needs to answer: Why was he given a bond three years ago?

Here's what the NC Fugitive Task Force needs to answer: Just what in the hell were you doing for three years?

It's a cliche, but people often say they felt the earth move after good sex. Well, yesterday around 1:51 p.m., it actually happened. Too bad the sex wasn't good for *Maya (not her real name).

Over lunch, Maya and I talked about the 5.8 quake that hit the East Coast and made Charlotte tremble for a few seconds.

"I figured something was wrong," she said. "I was fighting sleep while he was pumping in and out like a jackrabbit. Then it felt as if the we were having sex on a water bed in the middle of the ocean. And then bam, it was over. Pretty much the way we normally had sex."

Maya and her guy were puzzled and flipped on the TV to find out that the earth really did move. Maya said that was the last time she plans to get intimate with Mr. Lackluster Lover.

"It's not as if he can make the earth move again. He could barely make his hips move."

Ouch.

A man in Wilmington, N.C. is being sought after he was seen smashing a "homophobic" sign in front of a church.

WECT reports on the sign at Sea Gate Community Chapel, which had become a flashpoint for vandalism from opponents and supporters of the church prior to the damage on Sunday afternoon. Wilmington Pride protested the sign Sunday morning because of its message, which said, “God loves gays but he hates a perverted lifestyle,” with the warning to “turn or burn.”

“Witnesses tell police a tall man took a hammer to the sign before leaving in a silver Ford Taurus,” reports WECT. “The car is reported to have bumper damage and a missing hubcap from the front left tire.”

Anna Benson, who made the sign, told the news station that it is not meant to offend anyone. Pastor David Heuring supports her and the sign because, he said, it is based on biblical truth.

“I love the gays,” said Benson. “I love everybody.”

The sad thing about religion, which is supposed to be about love, is that people twist the bible to fit their cause. I'm sure if I cracked open the holy book, I could take a statement out of context and further my cause as well. But is this really love?

Check out what a pastor in Charlotte did during a recent service at St. Peter's Catholic Church And he explains his hate holy reasoning for protesting gays by quoting the bible.

Two people are dead after what police are describing as a domestic-violence-related shooting. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officers responded to the Park Creek Apartments on Thursday to investigate multiple calls to 911 that gunshots had been fired inside an apartment.

When officers arrived on the scene, they found Edris Gbarlee Juyenneh Dickson and Darron Orlando Davis inside the residence, both suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Davis was transported with life-threatening injuries by Medic to Carolinas Medical Center. He later died. Dickson was pronounced deceased on scene by Medic.

Based upon information and evidence gathered on the scene, Dickson reportedly shot her boyfriend multiple times and then turned the gun on herself. In addition, at the time of the shooting, a female called 911 and stated that she shot her boyfriend; she then hung up the phone.

What's not clear in this story is who the abuser was. Or if this shooting could've been prevented. Was there help for Davis, if he was a battered man? According to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office website, Dickson was arrested last year for carrying a concealed weapon, a gun.

Equality NC spent the weekend getting signatures to stop a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. It's interesting that the GOP-controlled General Assembly wants to push this legislation through when such an amendment may hurt North Carolina.

How, you ask? University of North Carolina law professor explains it this way:

"the larger economic impact may be based on the perception of what the policy means about the state of North Carolina as a place to live and do business. In this way, even the Constitutional amendment that apparently would only codify state law could have an effect on business as it changes the perception of the state." In addition to impacting the perception of the state as a good place to do business, other UNC Law professors have also pointed out that the passage of such an amendment could impact those already doing business here, undermining "private employers efforts to attract top employees to North Carolina by providing employee benefits to domestic partners."

North Carolina is one of 37 states with a law that defines marriage as something between a man and a woman. According to an article in The Charlotte Observer, conservative groups are saying this is a biblical issue. (Which means the government shouldn't even be involved. Separation of Church and State, anyone?)

Proposed constitutional amendments must be decided by voters. To get on a ballot, the proposed amendment needs three-fifths majorities of the House and Senate. About 30 other states have constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Constitutional changes were eventually approved in every state where they made it on to ballots.

North Carolina is one of 37 states with active laws defining marriage between a man and woman.

Ron Baity, president of the conservative Christian organization Return America, was a featured speaker at a pro-ban rally that drew thousands to Raleigh in May. Baity, a pastor frequently invited to speak at Baptist churches around the state, says he preaches about supporting the constitutional ban.

"It's a biblical issue," Baity said. "Our organization is pushing to say to our legislature, 'We want you to vote on it.' "

A poll of North Carolina residents showed that more than half of the people who participated support same sex-unions. So, who does this proposed legislation benefit? The people writing it? If voters sent their representatives to Raleigh to do the work of the people, maybe it's time to pull a Wisconsin and call them back. Because, this is not what the people want.

Equality NC hopes to have 50,000 signed postcards in favor of same-sex marriage and against the proposed constitutional amendment to deliver to legislators in September, when lawmakers return.

Aerosmith asked the right question: What's the matter with the world today?

Two young people in Charlotte have recently been involved in sex crimes — and that's just what's been reported.

On last Thursday, 18-year-old Robert McFadden was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison for raping an 83-year-old woman.

McFadden, who was 16 at the time of the rape, was sentenced to at least 9 1/2 years in prison. It was the maximum sentence the judge could impose.

"In 25 years on the bench, this is the first case I've handled like this," Superior Court Judge Timothy Kincaid said. "It's awful."

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated just 1 1/2 hours before reaching their verdicts. McFadden, now 18, was convicted of second-degree rape and breaking and entering. He was acquitted of first-degree kidnapping.

What will McFadden's mindset be when he is released from prison? How can a young person commit a crime like this? What factors contribute to something so heinous? Will the state examine this while he's confined? His family took responsibility for what McFadden did in court, but is it too little, too late?

James McFadden, the teenager's uncle, cried as he stood before the judge and apologized to the victim's family.

"I love my nephew," he said. "I should have been a better uncle. ... He's a troubled boy because his mom and dad weren't there."

Lue McFadden told the judge she'd helped raise her grandson.

"I am truly sorry," she said to the victim's family. "Nobody should have to go through that."

Judge Kincaid then addressed McFadden's family members.

"I'm sure you did the best you could," he said. "This is not your fault."

Then news broke last Friday that a 12-year-old Charlotte boy had been arrested for the rape of a 2-year-old girl at a day care center.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police charged the boy with one count each of rape and indecent liberties with a child, according to a police report.

The 2-year-old was assaulted on Tuesday at Kid's Inn Childcare on Old Potters Road.

Where does this violent behavior come from, and what should we do to stop it from happening again?

When you're a kid, your parents tell you to trust the police and your teachers. So imagine being a child who gets taken advantage of by a police officer or a teacher. Two North Carolina girls know this story all too well.

William “Matt” Matthew Hill, 30, of Ivey Road, Graham, was charged in February 2010 with two counts of statutory rape and two counts of statutory sex offense for incidents that allegedly occurred in April 2009. The 14-year-old girl was involved in the police department’s Explorer program, for teens interested in police work.

Hill resigned his position with Burlington police in July 2009, following an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation and an internal investigation by the department. He had been with Burlington police since 2008.

The investigation began after the girl’s mother allegedly found a text message from Hill to her daughter on the girl’s cell phone. In the message, Hill allegedly invited the girl to spend the night at his home because he knew she was planning to spend the weekend at a friend’s house.

The 14-year-old may never look at law enforcement the same again. Her stepfather said as much in court.

During Monday’s hearing, the state presented a letter from the girl’s stepfather condemning Hill for destroying his daughter’s trust in law enforcement and asking Superior Court Judge Michael J. O’Fogludha for the maximum sentence.

“(Hill) was everything that our daughter wanted to be. She looked up to him and wanted to learn from him and become an officer of the law so that she could serve her community,” the man wrote. “Police officers should be held to a higher standard because they are entrusted to enforce the laws that all of us must live by.”

Closer to home, as in Charlotte, a victim's right to sue for sexual molestation by a Charlotte Mecklenburg School System teacher is being hampered.

A former South Mecklenburg High School student is suing her former band teacher and the school board.

She said Richard Priode, the former teacher, had sex with her. He pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a minor. He said the school board knew or should have known that Priode was a threat and didn't do anything about it.

But a judge ruled Tuesday that the school board is immune from part of the lawsuit, and maybe all of it.

The victim's lawyers said that's not right.

“The school system is treated differently than every other institution,” one lawyer said. “Churches are held responsible if they don't check, if they hired a sexual predator, YMCAs, camps, everybody is, but not school systems."

The judge said yes to some immunity, but since neither side wanted that ruling, they're both appealing

Arrests and court cases are only one aspect of healing for victims of sexual molestation. According to hypnotherapist, Jacquelyne Morison, BA, DACHp, MHS post traumatic stress disorder often follows a victim of sexual molestation.

PTSD symptoms develop in the trauma-victim when the subjective perceptual impact of the stressor is exceptionally forceful because the traumatic event is outside the normal range of human experience and, therefore, engenders a powerful response of objective, realistically-founded anxiety which will debilitate his/her ability to cope with normal life. PTSD differs from commonplace stress in that while certain predisposing factors (such as a personality disorder and/or a previous history of neurotic illness) are capable of lowering the victim’s resilience-threshold or aggravating the condition via cognitive and emotional filtering, in the main, such factors are insufficient to justify the materialisation of symptoms.