After a CBS Sports college football blog reported that Penn State coaching legend was dead, many believed that the 85-year-old, who is battling lung cancer from a hospital room, had passed. But his family said, actually, no, JoePa is alive. His son Scott Paterno Tweeted, "CBS report is wrong - Dad is alive but in serious condition. We continue to ask for your prayers and privacy during this time." more ›

Jerry Sandusky has left jail—for now. Yesterday the former Penn State associate head football coach's wife Dottie cut a certified check for $50,000 to bail her hubby out after he was arrested on two more sex abuse charges. In addition to the cash the Sandusky's used $200,000 in real estate holdings to make bail. Dottie also took time yesterday to release a statement to the media in which she emphasized her belief in her husband's innocence. more ›

Former assistant Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky tells the New York Times in an exclusive interview that legendary head coach Joe Paterno never confronted him about any suspected misconduct with minors. Despite the fact his last interview with Bob Costas didn't exactly paint him in a sympathetic light, Sandusky (and his lawyer) agreed to this interview (you can watch excerpts from it here) as a chance to defend himself, saying prosecutors had distorted his words: “They’ve taken everything that I ever did for any young person and twisted it to say that my motives were sexual or whatever," Sandusky said. "I had kid after kid after kid who might say I was a father figure. And they just twisted that all.” more ›

This week, the owner of West Village celebrity-magnet restaurant Da Silvano was hit with a sexual assault lawsuit—parking garage manager Samuel Cruz claims Silvano Marchetto fondled his genitals twice. Marchetto's spokesman Mike Paul countered today that Cruz is just a petty extortionist: “Silvano’s only mistake was giving him large tips in the past, which created a money-hungry monster.” And then Paul made the ill-advised decision to compare Marchetto's situation with that of Penn State and JoePa. more ›

The Penn State/Jerry Sandusky sex scandal just keeps going. As some of the alleged victims of the former football coach are starting to talk, the school has started another investigation into the scandal and now the NCAA has decided to begin its own investigation—one which, in theory, could be a disaster for the school. This comes as the Patriot-News reveals why Paterno might have been in the hospital earlier this week: Reporter Sara Ganim Tweeted, "Joe Paterno has been diagnosed with a treatable form of lung cancer, The Patriot-News learned." more ›

As more and more twisted details about the Penn State scandal and former coach Jerry Sandusky's alleged sexual abuse of children comes to light, it seems as though there's no end to this horrible story. Moreover, there doesn't seem to be any appropriate way to be humorous about this scandal—but that didn't stop South Park from hilariously ripping the whole thing last night with a seemingly endless slew of purposefully terrible jokes about the terrible subject (as well as a hefty dose of self-awareness). Watch a supercut (via SB Nation) of all the Penn State-related jokes below: more ›

Whatever Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach charged with sexually abusing a string of young boys, was hoping to get from his much-maligned interview with Bob Costas earlier this week it doesn't seem to be working. His claims that sexual misconduct was just "horseplay" has reportedly emboldened a number of other alleged victims to come forward while firming the resolve of those who already spoke out. Meanwhile, more questions are being asked about Mike McQueary, the assistant coach currently on paid leave whose testimony against Sandusky is key to the case. For instance? Turns out McQueary went to a fundraiser for Sandusky's charity a year after he says he saw him raping a 10-year-old in the Penn State showers. more ›

Penn State is still reeling from the horrifying accusations that a former assistant football coach abused and raped young boys—sometimes on campus—and that the school ignored reports of the abuse. In a marked shift from Wednesday night's student riots over beloved Penn State coach Joe Paterno being fired, thousands of students and staff gathered on campus at Old Main last night for a candlelight vigil in honor of the child sex abuse victims. Watch some videos of the event below: more ›

Penn State receivers coach Mike McQueary—a key witness in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal who reportedly witnessed him raping a 10-year-old boy in the Penn State showers in 2002—has been put on paid administrative leave. Penn State's new president Rodney Erickson made the announcement at a press conference today. He says the decision was made by the Penn State athletic department. more ›

With JoePa out and the riots over, death threats are rolling in, people are lawyering up, and the national media is focusing in on alleged pederast Jerry Sandusky's youth charity The Second Mile. more ›

Last night, not only were there riots at Penn State over the firing of legendary coach Joe Paterno, Twitter users took the time to shame celebrity Twitter fiend Ashton Kutcher. Last night, the "Two and a Half Men" star and college football fan Tweeted, "How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste"—which sent the Twitterverse into a frenzy. more ›

In the wake of the horrible and graphic charges of pedophilia and sexual misconduct brought against longtime Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky this weekend, Penn State's legendary coach Joe Paterno announced today that he will be retiring at the end of the football season. The decision might not be his to make though, as the Penn State Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the rapidly metastasizing scandal. more ›

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television: Spike TV's Video Game Awards 2007 (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., Spike TV) It is the fifth annual outing for this awards show for video games. Live From Lincoln Center: Red Hot Holiday Stomp (Monday, 8:00 p.m., WNET 13) Jazz at Lincoln Center is highlighted with this special hosted by Glenn Close. There will be a program of holiday music and jazz, plus it also features the broadcast... more ›

Even though today is the coolest day in more than a week, it still is much warmer than an average late-October day. The Times had a story yesterday on our unusually warm October. A Penn State meteorologist said in the article that this might not be a record warm October for New York City but it would be close. Since we said something similar a week ago we thought we'd revisit the topic. more ›

The Jets and the Giants took very different approaches to the draft on Saturday, but when the day was over, both had primarily upgraded their defenses. Five of the six selections made by the locals were defensive players and both teams hope they addressed some key needs. more ›

It's birdseed throwing or bubble blowing time with this weekend's NY Times wedding announcements. more ›

Lots of Times Weddings Announcements today! more ›

How often does college football matter to a New York-area team? Rutgers's game against Louisville garnered enough attention the Empire State Building was lit up in scarlet. It was the biggest local game in recent memory. But despite all the hype, the Scarlet Knights were heavy underdogs to the Cardinals, even at home. A last-minute field goal by Jeremy Ito stunned the No. 3 Cardinals and capped a shocking 28-25 Rutgers win. The result effectively ended Louisville's national title hopes and kept Rutgers, which still has to play three more games -- including at West Virginia -- in the discussion. That's right. Rutgers is in the national title discussion. more ›

- Woman was killed by an oncoming D train when she stuck her head out to see if a train was coming (she was looking in the opposite direction) more ›

Do you shop around for a weather forecast, or do you have a trusted forecaster that you rely on? While looking at the morning forecasts every day last week Gothamist couldn't help but notice that the National Weather Service and AccuWeather forecasts were often quite different, especially in the amount and timing of precipitation. We prefer the Weather Service because they provide a forecast discussion in which we can see the reasoning behind their forecast. We did not keep careful track of the forecasts but it seemed to us that AccuWeather was far more accurate, with the Weather Service repeatedly overforecasting the amount of rainfall. more ›

We don't want to be agiest, but there has to be a time when you hang it up. If you're playing well, as in Clemens's case, by all means, keep playing if it's going to make you happy. But if you're just coaching away and not really performing to expectations, isn't it time to retire? We know that many Nitanny Lions fans want JoPa to retire so the program can move into the next era. This may sound unreasonable, but Paterno's teams haven't played up to expectations, going 22-26 since 1999. Sure, it will be difficult for Penn State to move on when Paterno leaves, after all, he's been the head coach for 38 seasons, but sooner has got to be better than later. more ›