Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Senior Judge John Leete of Potter County will preside over the suit against the NCAA filed by the family of the late Joe Paterno. The lawsuit filed by the family, several Penn State trustees, former players and others argues that the NCAA bypassed its own rules in taking action against the university. The penalties include a four-year postseason ban and a $60 million fine. The penalties were in response to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case. Sandusky is serving a 30- to 60-year state prison sentence after being convicted last summer of 45 counts of child sexual abuse. He denies the allegations and is pursuing appeals. Leete was assigned after Centre County’s president judge requested that an out-of-county judge hear the case. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

HARRISBURG, March 4, 2013 - - State Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne/Carbon/Monroe) released the following statement regarding his dialogue with Pennsylvania Secretary of Education and Penn State Board of Trustees member Ronald Tomalis about the University’s response to the Sandusky scandal at today’s Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing. “We’ve heard from the governor and many others that the Freeh report is incomplete at best, and at worst, fundamentally flawed. The Freeh report has cost the university in excess of $80 million to date and by some estimates that total will exceed $150 million – an extraordinary amount of money for an incomplete report that lacked subpoena power and had no access to key witnesses.” “It has been reported that the NCAA did not identify a single rule that Penn State violated, and instead, accepted the Freeh report as the conclusive document on the Sandusky scandal. The NCAA’s ill-conceived acceptance and use of the report’s vague conclusio...

Harrisburg - Senator Jake Corman (R-34th District) announced today that the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has agreed not "disperse or otherwise dissipate" any of the $12 million in fine money already paid by the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) to the NCAA while negotiations continue on the over-riding lawsuit filed by Senator Corman. Senator Corman filed a preliminary injunction motion to prohibit the NCAA from releasing any of the $12 million the University has already paid to the NCAA. He also filed a lawsuit this month asking the court to enjoin the NCAA or their endowment from releasing the $60 million fine to organizations outside of Pennsylvania. Senator Corman said, "I believe the fine money, which is coming from Pennsylvania residents, should stay in Pennsylvania and benefit our organizations and children. Every dollar will continue to go to worthy and valuable child abuse prevention and educational organizations, except this way, ...

Penn State Issues Statement Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett today announced that he is suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), calling its sanctions against Penn State University arbitrary and illegal, saying they would result in irreparable economic damage to the university, the commonwealth and its citizens. “Penn State football has played a major role, not only as a focus of campus life, but as a generator of revenue for a proud university, a leading tourist attraction and a creator of jobs in the state," Corbett said. “In the wake of this terrible scandal, Penn State was left to heal and clean up this tragedy that was created by the few. The students, the alumni, the board, the administration and faculty all came together at that moment and began to rebuild. “At that same time, while the healing was taking place, the NCAA piled on, choosing to levy, in their words, ‘unprecedented sanctions’ against Penn State and its football program," Corbett sa...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Charlie Dent issued the following statement on a letter to NCAA President Dr. Mark Emmert requesting the funds derived from NCAA sanctions against Penn State State University remain in the Commonwealth. “Today, I, along with all of my Pennsylvania colleagues in the House sent a letter to NCAA President Emmert requesting the full funding from the endowment created by the NCAA imposed sanctions against Penn State be used in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “All of the victims of this unspeakable tragedy were residents of Pennsylvania and all of the substantiated reports of abuse took place within the Commonwealth. We believe that the full funding from the endowment should be used to provide grants to programs and organizations located within the Commonwealth, instead of just the 25% currently set aside by the NCAA. “While we support the stated purpose of the endowment, we believe its funds should be used solely for programs and organizations lo...

The NCAA announced a $60 million fine today against Penn State University as part of the fallout from the child sex abuse scandal involving former coach Jerry Sandusky. The university also is banned from bowl games for four years. The NCAA also vacated all of Penn State's football wins from 1998 to 2011, stripping the late Joe Paterno of the title of winningest coach in major college football history. Get complete coverage of the Penn State scandal and fallout for the university on CNN.com, CNN TV and CNN Mobile. Watch live coverage now on http://CNN.com/Live The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947