ASSOCIATED PRESS: Penn State has long cast itself as embodying the highest standards of personal conduct coupled with academic excellence, as captured in its school song: “May no act of ours bring shame to one heart that loves thy name.” And few bled the school’s blue and white colors more than Sandusky, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees there and began his Nittany Lions coaching career in 1969. In retirement, Penn State football continued to play a big role in Sandusky’s life; he just wasn’t pacing the sidelines at games. He received celebrity treatment from adoring fans and football […]

THAT IS ALL from John Hodgman

The American people, at least the great majority who constitute the middle class, are no longer perceived as the wholesome backbone of America; the middle class is now perceived simply as prey; the domestic source of revenue for corporations to exploit with impunity. In the past, Americans have relied on the institution of Congress as a social backstop to protect the interests of the people from organized exploitation. But now, that institution has failed miserably as a protector of the public. This failure is further exacerbated by the practice of allowing private money to finance Congressional candidates who in turn […]

Look for it Monday on a Phawker near you! RELATED: A retired Philadelphia police captain arrested in uniform during Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City has received written warnings from police and union officials. Philadelphia police Commissioner Charles Ramsey sent a cease and desist letter to retired Capt. Raymond Lewis, saying the police department supports his First Amendment rights but “those rights do not extend to the improper and/or illegal use of the official uniform.” “It could give the mistaken opinion that somehow this is a statement being made by a member of the police department, and it’s […]

BY MIKE WALSH Matthew Sweet’s Girlfriend was released in late 1991, just four weeks after Nevermind, but it took another six or eight months of word-of-mouth recommendations before it became a hit. That was probably because very few people had heard of Sweet prior to Girlfriend. He grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and moved to Athens, GA, in the early 80s to attend college at the University of Georgia and quickly became part of the vaunted music scene there. Sweet played in bands such as Oh-OK and Buzz of Delight, got married, and made a few recordings with people like […]

A Christmas carol for the modern age, with Brendan Skwire on upright bass.

DAILY BEAST: White confessed that Cain wasn’t the only man who helped her financially; her work history and her sex life have long been intermingled in complex and contradictory ways, she said. […] “There are good men in corporate America, and there are bad men in corporate America, and those bad men take advantage of women in fragile situations—women who are struggling,” White said. “I’ve supported my kids, and I never wanted to let my kids go without. When I was having trouble making a payment on something, there was this powerful man saying, ‘I’ll help you out.’ I remember […]

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Virginia Tech officials said a police officer and another person were shot and killed on the school’s campus Thursday and the university locked down the campus, where 33 people died in 2007 in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The gunman remained on the loose. A news release from the school said the police officer had pulled someone over for a traffic stop and was shot and killed. Witnesses told police the shooter ran toward a parking lot on campus. A second person was found dead in that parking lot. A police officer secures the scene […]

[Illustrations by ALEX FINE] HUFFINGTON POST: News Corp. honcho Rupert Murdoch threw his weight behind Congress’ attempt to restrict the Internet, personally lobbying leaders on Capitol Hill Wednesday for two measures that purport to combat piracy. Murdoch’s media empire is among some 350 large corporations that have come out in favor of the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House, as well as the Protect IP Act in the Senate. Both measures would require Internet operators to police activity online, and would mandate Internet giants like Google and AOL (the parent company of The Huffington Post and an opponent of […]

ASSOCIATED PRESS: More than five dozen protesters upset about what they call corporate greed and the excessive influence of money in politics were arrested Wednesday after shutting down K Street, home to many of Washington’s lobbying firms, in a mass demonstration that snarled midday traffic in the nation’s capital. Demonstrators from across the US converged for the Washington march that included participants from Occupy Wall Street encampments as well as other groups, including unions, sympathetic to their message of income inequality. Organizers said they expected several thousand people in Washington this week for days of activism, almost three months after […]