Free Republic

Microsoft founder Bill Gates had an 'inappropriate' sexual relationship with a female staff member in 2000, and resigned while an investigation into the relationship was being investigated by the company board. The affair came to light after the Microsoft employee wrote to the board in 2019 detailing the affair - and allegedly asked that Gates' estranged wife Melinda Gates, 56, read the letter. Gates, 65, quit the board suddenly in March 2020 while the investigation was still underway.

Citing “hundreds of millions of dollars” in losses, Penn State University will cut program budgets, furlough 2,000 employees at half pay, and president Eric Barron will return 10% of his monthly salary amid what he called “unprecedented” times. Further furloughs and layoffs are possibilities in the new fiscal year, he said, as Penn State faces $160 million in lost tuition revenue from likely enrollment declines, on top of more than $100 million in room and board refunds and other costs since March associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Neither Mr. Barron’s video remarks nor a university statement specified the number of...

What's more dangerous: rugby, or a walk in the woods? At Pennsylvania State University, the administrators apparently think it's the latter. The student "Outing Club," which has gone backpacking, kayaking, and hiking in state parks over the course of its 98-year-existence, will no longer be allowed to host outdoor events after administrators conducted a risk assessment, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "The types of activities in which [Penn State Outing Club] engages are above the university's threshold of acceptable risk for recognized student organizations," according to an official announcement. A key issue for administrators was that the Outing Club frequently...

After logging enough miles to hike around the world more than four times, Penn State has decided it's too risky for the campus Outing Club to go on student-led outings. A risk assessment by the university led to the decision, says a statement on the Outing Club's web page. The club's outings were deemed to be "above the University's threshold of acceptable risk for recognized student organizations," said the statement. This spring, campus recreation, a division of student affairs, decided to evaluate its 79 student-led programs, said Lisa Powers, Penn State spokeswoman. It found 20 clubs had "elements of risk,"...

The entire trailer is framed as a question of Paterno’s guilt, ending with his son asking “Did you know?” This puts it in a similar league as Levinson’s last film for HBO, The Wizard of Lies, about Bernie Madoff and the familial aftermath of him being charged and jailed for his crimes. In both cases, the focus remains on an older man who has become famous due to incalculable amounts of cover-ups and shady dealings having to face the truth of his actions when confronted by his own children.Its a worthy subject but also feels a bit stale, considering that...

Looking for some advice/guidance from the smart folks here. I have a child who is a junior at Penn State at State College and another child who is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (UPenn pre-med). I am currently deployed (National Guard) on a year-long US Army combat deployment with American and Afghan Special Forces in Afghanistan. My Penn State child decided to join the Pennsylvania National Guard to help pay for college and take a financial burden off our family. His dates for BASIC/AIT are Summer 2017 - Spring 2018. When we informed UPenn that Penn...

AP Photo: Jerry Sandusky arrives at the Centre County Courthouse, in Bellefonte, Pa. Photo caption: It’s been nearly five years since retired Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested on child molestation charges. The scandal has produced new state laws regarding child abuse, millions in civil settlements to his victims and significant changes to Penn State’s policies and procedures. HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — It’s been nearly five years since retired Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested on child molestation charges, and earlier this month he testified as he seeks to have his 45-count criminal conviction overturned. The...

Joe Paterno was told as early as 1976 that former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky had sexually molested young boys according to a new report. A child apparently reported to Paterno that he was sexually abused by Sandusky in 1976. This came to light via a court order during a related insurance coverage case involving Penn State. The line in the court order says the following: “in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU’s Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky.” The court order also cites references to incidents in 1987 and 1988 in which...

It looks like former Penn State President Graham B. Spanier won't be going to Saudi Arabia this fall after all. Commonwealth Court denied Spanier's request to travel there to meet with higher education officials, noting the lack of an extradition treaty with Saudi Arabia that would make it impossible to force him back. Spanier, who is awaiting trial on perjury and conspiracy charges connected to the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, has been barred from leaving the country without approval of the court and the attorney general since August 2013.

Time to move on. Too juvenile and too much name-calling. Not near the level of critical thinking that used to go on back in the day. I wish the best to all the good ones left out there.

Attorneys for the Paterno estate have been fighting tooth-and-nail for months to subpoena the Pepper Hamilton law firm for an undisclosed number of documents gathered during Freeh's investigation into the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. Pepper Hamilton (which acquired Freeh’s law firm through a merger in 2012) fought just as hard to keep those documents out of Centre County court, appealing several of Judge John Leete's decisions that overturned the firm's objections. But Leete refused to put the case on hold for those appeals, and now he's issued an order directing Pepper Hamiltion to turn over the documents within...

Yes: Let’s hope the legendary coach hears the good news I hope there’s a wire service in the afterlife. I hope there’s some celestial Internet cafe where the departed (regardless of their ultimate destinations) can access news about those of us they’ve left behind. For instance, I’d love it if the monsters who murdered the journalists at Charlie Hebdo could take a moment from baking in eternal hellfire to see how their acts only strengthened our resolve to speak out against intolerance. Similarly, I hope Martin Luther King Jr. can recognize, from his lofty perch in heaven atop his beloved...

OKLAHOMA CITY — Megan Courtney and Aiyana Whitney each had 11 kills, and Penn State defeated Brigham Young 25-21, 26-24, 25-14 Saturday to win their second consecutive NCAA women’s volleyball championship. Micha Hancock had 36 assists and five digs for the Nittany Lions. The senior from nearby Edmond won in front of family and friends in her final college match. Her expert setting helped the Nittany Lions neutralize the nation’s No. 1 blocking team. Penn State (36-3) won its sixth title in eight years and No. 7 overall to break a tie with Stanford for the most titles. Jennifer Hamson...

In two separate Commonwealth Court rulings this week, Judge Anne Covey denied an NCAA and Penn State motion for a protective order and ordered the NCAA to make President Mark Emmert available to give a deposition. The NCAA and the university had asked for the order to protect confidentiality of “certain discovery materials” in the lawsuit brought by state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Benner Township, and state Treasurer Rob McCord that tries to ensure the $60 million in fine money levied against Penn State by the NCAA remains in Pennsylvania. Covey declined that in an order dated Wednesday. “Defendants have demonstrated...

Penn State’s longtime fencing coach, who was fired last year allegedly for retaliating against a staff member who had reported a player for a drug violation, wants his job back and more than $3 million in damages, according to a federal lawsuit he has filed. Emmanuil Kaidanov, who spent 30 years as Penn State’s fencing coach, is suing the university, athletic director Dave Joyner and athletics integrity officer Julie Del Giorno for wrongful termination, breach of contract and violation of his constitutional and civil rights, among other claims. Philadelphia-based attorney Alvin de Levie alleges the defendants conspired to fire his...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - John Urschel (Williamsville, N.Y.), the Penn State All-American guard who claimed the 2013 William V. Campbell Trophy from the National Football Foundation (NFF) as college football's premier scholar-athlete, has been named the recipient of the 84th James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) to America's top amateur athlete. Urschel was announced as the winner of the prestigious award Friday night during an awards ceremony at the AAU National Headquarters in Orlando, Fla. 
Urschel was selected from a pool of 19 semifinalists vying for the honor in 2014, and was joined by two...

Former Pennsylvania State University president Graham B. Spanier is again asking a judge to dismiss charges against him regarding the alleged cover-up stemming from the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case, this time alleging misconduct by the prosecutor in the case. In a lawsuit filed Monday against Attorney General Kathleen Kane in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Spanier accuses former deputy Attorney General Frank Fina of violating his civil rights and acting in "bad faith" by bringing charges based on testimony from attorney Cynthia Baldwin, who was representing Spanier at the start of the investigation.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Minnesota has the numbers to dethrone three-time defending national wrestling titlist Penn State. Oklahoma State is in the mix in the NCAA championships, too. Penn State holds the slimmest of leads heading into the final day of action. The Nittany Lions have 91 points after Friday's matches, followed by Minnesota with 90.5 and Oklahoma State with 87.5. Penn State and Minnesota have two finalists and seven total wrestlers remaining. Penn State's David Taylor advanced to the finals for the fourth time. He defeated North Dakota State's Steven Monk 12-5 in the 165-pound semifinals. He will face Oklahoma...

Following the NCAA's imposition of sanctions, the Big Ten added its own punishment: Penn State is required to forfeit $13 million in revenue from conference bowl games during the four years the university is ineligible. The suit claims that by accepting the Freeh Report, which has been widely criticized by Penn State supporters, the NCAA damaged Paterno's image, the future coaching prospects of Jay Paterno and William Kenny; prevented the university trustees from carrying out their duties; wiped out the achievements of student athletes and deprived faculty of resources. In the court filings Friday, the plaintiffs ask the Big Ten...

THE STAR WITNESS was anonymous, like each of Jerry Sandusky's victims. He was described in the grand jury presentment only as "a Penn State graduate assistant." Anyone reading the 23-page presentment released on Nov. 4, 2011, would be horrified by the prosecution's version of what the witness said he saw a decade ago. In the locker room shower inside the Lasch Football Building on Penn State's campus, he stumbled upon "a naked boy, Victim 2 ... with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky. The graduate assistant was shocked but noticed that...