Free Republic

The largest student-run philanthropy in the world kicks off at Penn State this weekend, as more than 15,000 students will culminate a yearlong fundraising effort with a 46-hour dance marathon called Thon. The event – which benefits The Four Diamonds Fund at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center -- draws in thousands of spectators and more than 300 families affected by pediatric cancer each year. This year’s event at the Bryce Jordan Center kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday evening and will end at 4 p.m. Sunday. If you’re planning on making the trip to State College this...

At a time when most draft prospects are trading up their cars, NFL hopeful Rashid Williams recently traded in his luxury sedan for a minivan. He's heard the jokes and the zingers from the other players training at TEST Parisi Football Academy in Martinsville, N.J., including that he drives a “soccer mom mobile.” But his minivan is more than a set of wheels to take him to his combine training every day. He also lives in it. Williams is homeless by choice. For most NFL draft prospects, sacrifices are to be expected as they ready for the combine and their...

The next president of Penn State will be a familiar face on campus here — Florida State President Eric Barron, a source confirmed Friday. Barron, a 20-year faculty member and a former dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, has been chosen to be Penn State’s 18th president. Penn State’s board of trustees will vote to hire Barron during a special board of trustees meeting at noon Monday at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. The board’s compensation committee also must approve his contract. Barron will succeed Rodney Erickson, who delayed retiring and opted to lead the university...

direct youtube [audio] link here

It's not every day that the hard-charging CEO of an S&P 500 company goes back to his university and offers -- not to buy a little immortality with a new dorm or lab -- but himself as an active leader. Al Lord relishes combat: Raised in a Philly housing project, toughened by his campaigns to seize control of student lender Sallie Mae and defy challengers from Wall Street to the White House for 30+ years, Lord stepped down last year and has gone to fight for alma mater, Penn State, which faces unusual reputational and governance challenges... Lord is collecting...

<p>Police officers were investigating a reported marijuana-growing operation when they discovered a homemade bomb and bomb-making materials in a suitcase, the news release said.</p> <p>Vladislav Miftakhov, a Russian citizen, was arrested and charged with possessing a weapon of mass destruction, risking a catastrophe and drug-related offenses. He was arraigned Friday and bail was set at $500,000, Blair County corrections officer James McMahon said Sunday.</p>

Remembering Joe Paterno’s 1983 Board of Trustees Speech “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” When I visit Joe Paterno’s gravesite, as I have done on occasion over the last two years when I’m in need of some ethereal inspiration or peace, I’m always struck by the above line from Robert Browning on his headstone. The message speaks to the profound impact of Paterno as an academic visionary, and there’s a specific moment that comes to mind when I think of it. It was just days after the school’s first football National Championship,...

AccuWeather Global Headquarters, January 13, 2014 - AccuWeather is pleased to announce it will launch a 24X7 weather channel, to be known as the AccuWeather Channel, in the third quarter of 2014. AccuWeather had not planned to make the announcement at this time, but decided to accelerate the announcement in light of the controversy that has developed between DIRECTV and The Weather Channel and in order to make the public aware of an additional offering that will be available to them later this year. AccuWeather is already the leading source of weather forecasts, information and data and is considered to...

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- After a nine-day search, Penn State is set to introduce James Franklin as its new head football coach at a Saturday afternoon news conference. "I can't tell you how excited I am to come home," Franklin said in a statement Saturday. "I grew up watching Penn State football and now to be at the helm of such a storied program is a tremendous honor. It's important to me to be a part of a university that strives for excellence in everything they do. "When football student-athletes come to Penn State, they have a unique opportunity to...

One of the most egregious and well documented cases of news media dishonesty, libel, cowardice and greed along with official misconduct by the NCAA and others, will finally go on trial in a court of law where facts and rules of evidence, not media dishonesty,a mob mentality, distortions or ratings, web hits and newsstand sales at the expense of a man's reputation, will be the standard on which facts will be presented and judged. On Tuesday a judge ruled that the Paterno family's law suit against the NCAA can continue. The issue had always been, would the judge find that...

At some point, you almost have to wonder if maybe this isn't about James Franklin, that it's really about Penn State, that these schmucks would have had a problem with anybody we could've tabbed to coach our team, that they would've found some dirt on Al Golden or Mike Munchak or even Larry Johnson, that it's really a cause for their affronted wrath when we win a damn game or two, or threaten to become the national powerhouse we once were. This university can do no right, because then what would they have to write about? The only good...

The family of Joe Paterno had a partial victory today as Judge John Leete, ruling over its lawsuit against the NCAA, permitted parts of it to move forward. The family, along with various former coaches, trustees, and players, brought forth a lawsuit challenging various aspects of the NCAA’s sanctions against Penn State and their effects on the community. The judge ruled that the plaintiffs couldn’t pursue breach-of-contract claims over the NCAA because of Penn State’s binding agreement with the NCAA. Penn State has shown it wants nothing to do with this lawsuit and is not a party, and the judge...

By now, you’ve probably read Patriot News columnist David Jones’ rabble-rousing piece outlining some of the reasons behind Bill O’Brien’s departure — specifically quoting O’Brien during profanity laced tirade against so-called “Paterno people” that supposedly drove him right out of Happy Valley. If you haven’t, you should. I couldn’t help but feel compelled the first time I read the story Tuesday night. On the surface, it has significant shock value and information you won’t find anywhere else. But then I read it again. And again. And now, three days later, I find myself reading it for the dozenth time and...

The shroud of intrigue surrounding impending NFL head coaching vacancies has again descended upon Happy Valley. The rebuilder and savior of Penn State football, the 44-year-old Bill O’Brien, has resurfaced as one of the hottest candidates. And why not? O’Brien has been a feel-good story for a fan base still reeling from the unthinkable. But with his dream job within reach, how long will he last at a college program saddled by the NCAA’s bureaucratic limbo? The NFL keeps calling. Multi-million dollar contracts are to be negotiated. Sunday afternoons beckon like a siren. “Sure, it seems like a no-brainer,” says...

Sportscaster Bob Costas among those featured in documentary — LEWISBURG — “The story is NOT over,” according to the filmmakers of 365 Days: A Year in Happy Valley. The upcoming documentary about the aftermath of the Sandusky scandal will have an exclusive showing at 2 p.m. at The Campus Theatre in Lewisburg on Saturday, Dec. 28. Tickets are $12 each and must be purchased in advance through 365daysthefilm.com. Veteran NBC sportscaster Bob Costas is among those interviewed in the film. Commenting on the Freeh report, Costas said that while the report might have contained some valuable information, Freeh then “assigned...

IOWA CITY | Top-ranked Penn State delivered a powerful message Saturday night. The three-time defending NCAA champions dominated the third-ranked Hawkeyes 24-12 in a nonconference dual which saw Iowa win just three matches. With a third-period pin at 133 pounds, Tony Ramos energized the Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd of 13,747 which included celebrities Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, who enjoyed second-row center mat seats next to wrestling legend Dan Gable. Ramos’ win provided Iowa with the only bonus points the Hawkeyes mustered against the Nittany Lions. “We needed every point we could get and as a captain and leader of this...

The lawyer for ex-Penn State president Graham Spanier is raising new questions over what she called contradictions raised by the grand jury testimony of Cynthia Baldwin, the university’s embattled former in-house lawyer. Baldwin approached the state Attorney General’s Office about an “off the record” discussion in exchange for a deal in which the information she provided was not to be used against her, according to documentation released Sunday by Spanier lawyer Elizabeth Ainslie. Baldwin signed the document, called a proffer letter, on Oct. 19, 2012, and a week later she went before a grand jury. In her testimony, Baldwin said...

SEATTLE — It appeared the Penn State women’s volleyball team was on the brink of blowing a two-set lead. But the right person stepped to the service line at the right time, and the Nittany Lions caught fire. Micha Hancock delivered a pair of aces as the Nittany Lions ran off the final five points of the match — and another national title was theirs. Behind a match-high 21 kills from Ariel Scott, Penn State held on for a 25-19, 26-24, 20-25, 25-23 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday night at KeyArena for the program’s sixth national championship and fifth in...

...Earlier this summer, coaches, wrestlers, and fans in State College and Iowa City were alarmed to learn that the Lions and Hawks were not scheduled to wrestle - an unfortunate side effect to being in a 12- and soon to be 14-team conference. Many pointed to last year's awesome dual at Carver Hawkeye Arena, and wondered, with Olympic wrestling still fighting for its life, how could the Big Ten - the nation's premier wrestling conference - let this happen? Tom Brands and Cael Sanderson got it figured out, of course. And so for the first time since 1992, Penn State...

John Bacon, author of Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football, shares his thoughts on the future of Penn State football following an unprecedented inside look at the program. Check it out, below: NO MATTER HOW CYNICAL YOU GET The comedian Lilly Tomlin once said, "No matter how cynical you get, you just can't keep up." Too often, that's how I feel about college football, which has been my favorite sport from the start. I get jaded about the insane amounts of money generated on the backs of amateur athletes, and certain selfish, egotistical coaches, AD's,...