Paterno legacy in jeopardy as report alleges cover-up of abuse allegations STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — A blistering report that claims Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials concealed what they knew about Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of children may prove to be an indelible stain on the beloved coach’s 61-year tenure at the school where he preached ‘‘success with honor.’’ Paterno’s supporters are legion, though, and some insist the late coach got a raw deal from former FBI Director Louis Freeh, whose 267-page report on the Sandusky scandal Thursday asserted that Paterno and senior Penn State officials made a decision to protect Sandusky to avoid damaging the image of the school and its powerful football program. Penn State’s internal investigation into one of the worst scandals in sports history is unlikely to settle the debate about Paterno’s culpability — even as it showed him to be more deeply involved in the university’s response to 1998 and 2001 abuse complaints about Sandusky than previously thought. Damaging emails unearthed by Freeh and his team of lawyers and ex-law enforcement officials show the extent to which Paterno, Penn State President Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president Gary Schultz fretted over what to do about Sandusky. Ultimately, they did nothing — and their inaction allowed the retired defensive coordinator to continue molesting boys, the report found. Freeh also faulted university trustees for failing to exercise proper oversight and said a culture that showed excessive reverence for the football program helped protect a pedophile. Sandusky, 68, was convicted last month of abusing 10 boys over 15 years and will likely die in prison. ——— Obama takes his economic message to once-red Virginia, seeks to block Romney in the state WASHINGTON (AP) — Against an increasingly bitter campaign backdrop, President Barack Obama is seeking to shore up support for his re-election in Virginia, a state he won four years ago ending decades of domination by Republican presidential candidates. For challenger Mitt Romney, the state now looms as a battleground crucial to his presidential hopes. Obama will travel to the southeast and southwest corners of the state Friday, courting young and African-American voters in the Virginia Beach-Hampton area before turning to more conservative Roanoke, unwilling to cede votes to Romney. On Saturday, he will campaign in Richmond, a once-staunchly Republican region that he won in 2008. Both campaigns acknowledge Virginia’s new role as a fiercely contested state after years of being virtually overlooked in presidential politics. Obama won the state by a 53-46 margin over his 2008 rival, Sen. John McCain. Obama’s visit comes after a day of hostile exchanges between the campaigns over Romney’s tenure at the private equity firm he founded in 1984. Documents filed by the company, Bain Capital, conflict with Romney’s statements about when he gave up control of the firm. Both sides accused the other of being dishonest. ——— Authorities discover 2 sophisticated border drug tunnels in southwest Ariz, California PHOENIX (AP) — Two drug-smuggling tunnels outfitted with lighting and ventilation systems were discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border, the latest signs that cartels are building sophisticated passages to escape heightened surveillance on land. Both tunnels were at least 150 yards long. One began under a bathroom sink inside a warehouse in Tijuana but was unfinished and didn’t cross the border into San Diego. The Mexican army found the tunnel Wednesday. The other was completed and discovered Saturday in a vacant strip mall storefront in the southwestern Arizona city of San Luis. It showed a level of sophistication not typically associated with other crude smuggling passageways that tie into storm drains in the state. ‘‘When you see what is there and the way they designed it, it wasn’t something that your average miner could put together,’’ said Douglas Coleman, special agent in charge of the Phoenix division of the Drug Enforcement Administration. ‘‘You would need someone with some engineering expertise to put something together like this.’’ As U.S. authorities heighten enforcement on land, tunnels have become an increasingly common way to smuggle enormous loads of heroin, marijuana and other drugs into the country. More than 70 passages have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years. ——— Dogs and dead people among the questionable targets of left-leaning voter registration effort OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The voter registration form arrived in the mail last month with some key information already filled in: Rosie Charlston’s name was complete, as was her Seattle address. Problem is, Rosie was a black lab who died in 1998. A group called the Voter Participation Center has touted the distribution of some 5 million registration forms in recent weeks, targeting Democratic-leaning voting blocs such as unmarried women, blacks, Latinos and young adults. But residents and election administrators around the country also have reported a series of bizarre and questionable mailings addressed to animals, dead people, noncitizens and people already registered to vote. Brenda Charlston wasn’t the only person to get documents for her pet: A Virginia man said similar documents arrived for his dead dog, Mozart, while a woman in the state got forms for her cat, Scampers. ——— San Francisco eyes law requiring some buildings to install reusable bottle filling stations SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco, the city that regulated Happy Meal toys and banned plastic grocery bags, has a new target in its health-conscious, eco-friendly crosshairs: plastic water bottles. City officials are considering an ordinance that would require owners of new and renovated buildings with water fountains to install special bottle-filling taps. The law’s designed to encourage thirsty people to refill containers instead of reaching for another bottle of Evian or Aquafina. ‘‘This is the appropriate next step to make it easier for San Franciscans to get out of the bad habit of using environmentally wasteful plastic water bottles and into the good habit of using reusable water containers,’’ said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, who introduced the legislation in June. Bottle-filling taps like the ones that would be required if Chiu’s measure passes already are found at San Francisco International Airport and at some city parks and schools. Installed behind a drinking fountain’s regular faucet, they dispense chilled water in a quick-streaming vertical jet that is high enough to accommodate most water containers. Advocates say having bottle-specific spigots encourages the reuse of water bottles by eliminating long waits to fill them and removing concerns about germs. Some people squirm at the thought of drinking from a fountain exposed to so many mouths, although city officials say water fountains are no less hygienic than bottle taps. ——— Activists post videos showing some of the dead from latest massacre reported in Syria BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian activists have posted videos they say show at least 17 of the dozens of people reportedly killed in heavy government shelling of a farming village in central Syria. If confirmed, the massacre in the village of Tremseh would be the latest in a string of deadly assaults by President Bashar Assad’s regime as it tries to crush dissent since a nationwide uprising erupted over a year ago. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said early Friday it had reports of more than 150 killed in heavy government shelling there the previous day, though it had collected only 30 names of the victims. One of the posted videos shows the dead bodies of 15 men lined up on a floor. Some are covered in blood and have wounds to their heads and chests. A second video shows a man’s body lying on a hospital gurney. Yet another video shows a young man wailing over the body of an elderly grey-haired man wrapped in a blanket and lying in the street. ——— Autistic man lives on frogs, roots during 3-week ordeal in Utah desert DENVER (AP) — An autistic man lived on a few frogs he caught and roots as he wandered for weeks in the remote Escalante Desert of southern Utah until being rescued, emaciated but alive. William Martin LaFever, 28, of Colorado Springs, Colo., told rescuers that in addition to the bits of food he scavenged, he drank water from the Escalante River while attempting to walk from Boulder, Utah, to Page, Ariz., a distance of approximately 90 miles or more by the route he appeared to be taking. The Garfield County Sheriff’s Department estimated he had traveled about 40 miles over at least three weeks before he was found Thursday. ‘‘It is some of the most rugged, unforgiving terrain you will find anywhere on Earth, jagged cliffs, stone ledges, sandstone, sagebrush, juniper,’’ sheriff’s spokeswoman Becki Bronson said in a telephone interview. ‘‘Where William was hiking, there just isn’t anyone out there,’’ she said. ‘‘There are no people. There are no towns.’’ ——— JPMorgan CEO will try to provide clarity over trading loss, restore trust at investor meeting NEW YORK (AP) — Just three months ago, JPMorgan Chase was viewed as the top American bank, led by the steady hand of veteran CEO Jamie Dimon. In the last couple of months that stellar reputation has eroded, with Dimon appearing before Congress twice to explain a $2 billion trading loss, which could be growing. Several government agencies have also launched investigations. On Friday morning, Dimon will appear before Wall Street analysts to apprise them of the size of the loss and what he has done to protect the bank from a similar kind of loss happening again. A lot rides on his ability to restore trust in the bank and calm angry investors who feel betrayed at being misled just three months ago, when Dimon characterized the losses as a ‘‘tempest in a teapot.’’ The surprise loss, which was disclosed May 10, has come to symbolize much more than a line item on an earnings report. It has become a glaring example of how large banks can incur huge losses by taking risky bets that can jeopardize the global financial system. Coming just four years after the 2008 financial crisis, its significance wasn’t lost on members of Congress, the American public, or on investors. JPMorgan has lost about 15 percent of its in market value since the loss came to light. ——— Tyler’s exit from ’American Idol’ could be start of upheaval for aging show; who’s next? LOS ANGELES (AP) — ‘‘American Idol’’ is on the brink of an adolescent identity crisis. Judge Steven Tyler is leaving and taking his naughty rock star vibe with him, fellow judge Jennifer Lopez is dithering about staying put, and ratings for the Fox show have declined as TV’s talent show field gets more competitive. When ‘‘American Idol’’ returns for its 12th season next January, it will have to be a reengineered version of the once-powerhouse series that turned hopefuls such as Jennifer Hudson into stars and gave network rivals fits. One big step would be a clean sweep of the judging panel. Aerosmith frontman Tyler got the ball rolling with his announcement Thursday that he was putting rock ‘n’ roll ahead of the show that he said had been ‘‘over-the-top fun.’’ ‘‘I strayed from my first love, Aerosmith, and I’m back — but instead of begging on my hands and knees, I got two fists in the air and I’m kicking the door open with my band,’’ Tyler said in a statement. Aerosmith is on a nationwide tour with Tyler and has an album due out in the fall. ——— With Griffin lost to a knee injury, Davis gets his shot with the US Olympic basketball team LAS VEGAS (AP) — Anthony Davis was seated on the court, the best players in the world towering above him. The NBA rookie had just been fouled while making a 3-pointer, falling backward toward the U.S. bench, looking up to see the likes of LeBron James and Kevin Durant dancing in celebration. The Americans weren’t just giddy over the basket. Their joy was in knowing they can count on the kid in the Olympics. With Blake Griffin heading for left knee surgery that will keep him from London, Davis is expected to join the Americans as they chase another gold medal. He got his first taste of playing with them in a 113-59 exhibition victory over the Dominican Republic on Thursday night, which ended about the time the Los Angeles Clippers were announcing the news about Griffin.
