A federal judge has tossed the lawsuit filed by Pennsylvania's governor over the NCAA's sanctions against Penn State, calling the suit "a Hail Mary pass" that "failed to advance the ball" as an anti-trust case.
The commonwealth of Pennsylvania's antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, filed today in federal court in the middle district of Pennsylvania, makes the ultimate "Death to the NCAA" argument. It states that the NCAA's decision to slap the Penn State football program with unprecedented sanctions was "arbitrary and…
In July, after the NCAA swung its sledgehammer and imposed sanctions that turned the Penn State football program into a bunch of porcelain shards, we argued that the school actually had a good antitrust case against the NCAA if it wanted to bring a lawsuit. Two leading sports law experts told us that the NCAA's legal…
Soon after Jerry Sandusky's arrest last November, the focus turned toward the insular overlap of several powerful Pennsylvania institutions: Penn State, The Second Mile (Sandusky's charity), and governor Tom Corbett, who had launched the Sandusky investigation during his previous tenure as state attorney general.
Gov. Tom Corbett declared yesterday that all flags on state facilities be at half-staff until Joe Paterno is buried. It's a decision that's generating plenty of opinions pro and con, given Paterno's complex legacy in relation to his towering stature in Pennsylvania. But it's curious that Corbett saw fit to honor…
One might be tempted to say this thickens the plot, but let's resist temptation and merely state the facts: When Mike McQueary told Joe Paterno in 2002 that he'd seen Jerry Sandusky raping a 10-year-old boy in the shower, Paterno was in business with longtime Second Mile board chairman Robert Poole to build a $125…
Two new investigations into child abuse by Jerry Sandusky have been launched by Pennsylvania's Children and Youth Services agency, according to the Patriot-News, which broke the news of the initial Sandusky investigation. It's unclear where or when the new alleged abuse took place. No real details given. What's…
Teenage impregnator and Jerry Sandusky attorney Joe Amendola appeared today on ABC news to say a few things in front of a fake fire and a bad painting. First, he stated the obvious: He expects more charges to be filed against Sandusky.
A lot of people are wondering why it took the better part of two years for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett to investigate Jerry Sandusky while Corbett was attorney general. Today, Corbett appeared at a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon to offer some answers. A grand jury was convened around the summer of 2009 to seek an…
Yes, Penn State and The Second Mile overlapped in many ways. Penn State grad students wrote essays for the charity's annual reports. Second Mile kids participated in programs on the university campus. And companies controlled by Second Mile board members scored juicy contracts from Penn State. Earlier today, we…
Bob Poole is the chairman of The Second Mile board of directors (or, perhaps, former chairman—nobody really knows who's running things now). He's held that position for 17 years. He was chairman, then, in 1998, when an attorney for both Second Mile and Penn State learned about an investigation into alleged sexual…
Earlier today, we reported that some two dozen current and former board members at The Second Mile had given money to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett's 2010 campaign. The board members donated a combined $201,783.64, to be exact. But direct contributions are hardly the end of it. Big donors can also encourage family…
Wow. Leslie Dutchtot, the judge who let Jerry Sandusky out of jail on $100,000 bail, took money from several people involved with The Second Mile when she was running for district judge a few years ago.
We should probably chalk this up to bad bureaucracy as one administration exited and another entered, but it's still kind of hinky. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett called for an investigation into The Second Mile, the charity that gave accused child rapist Jerry Sandusky access to thousands of young boys around the state.
