Jim Field talks about the book “Heaven is for Real” by Todd Burpo.
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Jim Field talks about the book “Heaven is for Real” by Todd Burpo.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.2MB)
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – For the first time in almost a half-century, someone other than Joe Paterno is calling the shots at Penn State. The winningest coach in major college football history was fired
Wednesday night, sending angry students into the streets where they shouted support for Paterno and tipped over a news van. Also relieved of duty was Penn State president Graham Spanier. Both were ousted by a board of trustees fed up with the damage being done to the university’s reputation by a child sex-abuse scandal involving Paterno’s one-time heir apparent. “Right now, I’m not the football coach. And I’ve got to get used to that. After 61 years, I’ve got to get used to it,” the 84-year-old Paterno said, speaking outside his house. “Let me think it through.” Paterno had earlier in the day announced his intention to retire at the end of the season, his 46th. It didn’t matter. “I’m not sure I can tell you specifically,” board vice chair John Surma replied when asked at a packed news conference why Paterno had to be fired immediately. “In our view, we thought change now was necessary.” As word of the firings spread, thousands of students flocked to the administration building, shouting, “We want Joe back!” and “One more game!” They then headed downtown to Beaver Avenue, where about 100 police wearing helmets and carrying pepper spray were on standby. Witnesses said some rocks and bottles were thrown, a lamppost was toppled and a news van was knocked over, its windows kicked out. State College police said early Thursday they were still gathering information on any possible arrests. The decisions to oust Paterno and Spanier were unanimous, Surma said. Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley will serve as interim coach, and the university scheduled a news conference with him for Thursday morning. Penn State hosts Nebraska on Saturday in the final home game of the season, a day usually set aside to honor seniors on the team. Provost Rodney Erickson will be the interim school president. Paterno had come under increasing criticism – including from within the community known as Happy Valley – for not doing more to stop the alleged abuse by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who has been charged with molesting eight boys over 15 years. Some of the assaults took place at the Penn State football complex, including a 2002 incident witnessed by then-graduate assistant and current assistant coach Mike McQueary. McQueary went to Paterno and reported seeing Sandusky assaulting a young boy in the Penn State showers. Paterno notified the
athletic director, Tim Curley, and a vice president, Gary Schultz, who in turn notified Spanier. Curley and Schultz have been charged with failing to report the incident to authorities, and Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly earlier this week refused to rule out charges against Spanier. Paterno is not a target of the criminal investigation, but the state police commissioner called his failure to contact police himself a lapse in “moral responsibility.” Paterno said in his statement earlier Wednesday that he was “absolutely devastated” by the abuse case. “This is a tragedy,” Paterno said. “It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.” The Penn State trustees had already said they would appoint a committee to investigate the “circumstances” that resulted in the indictment of Sandusky, and of Curley and Schultz. The committee will be appointed Friday at the board’s regular meeting, which Gov. Tom Corbett said he plans to attend, and will examine “what failures occurred and who is responsible and what measures are necessary to ensure” similar mistakes aren’t made in the future. In Washington, the U.S. Department of Education said it has launched an investigation into whether Penn State failed to report incidents of sexual abuse on campus, as required by federal law. “The Penn State board of trustees tonight decided it is in the
best interest of the university to have a change in leadership to deal with the difficult issues that we are facing,” Surma said. “The past several days have been absolutely terrible for the entire Penn State community. But the outrage that we feel is nothing compared to the physical and psychological suffering that allegedly took place.” Sandusky, who announced his retirement from Penn State in June
1999, maintained his innocence through his lawyer. Curley has taken a leave of absence and Schultz has decided to step down. They also say they are innocent. Sandusky founded The Second Mile charity in 1977, working with at-risk youths. It now raises and spends several million dollars each year for its programs. Paterno is listed on The Second Mile’s website as a member of its honorary board of directors, a group that includes business executives, golfing great Arnold Palmer and several NFL Hall of Famers and coaches, including retired Pittsburgh Steelers stars Jack Ham and Franco Harris.
The ouster of the man affectionately known as “JoePa” brings to an end one of the most storied coaching careers – not just in college football but in all of sports. Paterno has 409 victories – a record for major college football – won two national titles and guided five teams to unbeaten, untied seasons. He reached 300 wins faster than any other coach. Penn State is 8-1 this year, with its only loss to powerhouse Alabama. The Nittany Lions are No. 12 in The Associated Press poll. After 19th-ranked Nebraska, Penn State plays at Ohio State and at No. 16 Wisconsin, both Big Ten rivals. It has a chance to play in the Big Ten championship game Dec. 3 in Indianapolis, with a Rose Bowl bid on the line. Paterno has raised millions of dollars for Penn State in his career, and elevated the stature of what was once a sleepy land-grant school. Asked why he was fired over the phone, Surma said, “We were unable to find a way to do that in person without causing further distraction.” At Paterno’s house, his wife, Sue, was teary-eyed as she blew kisses to the 100 or so students who gathered on the lawn in a show of support. “You’re all so sweet. And I guess we have to go beat Nebraska without being there,” she said. “We love you all. Go Penn State.”
POMEROY, Iowa (AP) – The state of Iowa has fined a Pomeroy nursing home where an 8-year-old girl reported seeing an elderly resident being sexually assaulted by a registered sex offender who lives there. The Des Moines Register says the 83-year-old sex offender hasn’t been charged but that a Calhoun County prosecutor says charges are expected. State records say an Iowa judge had ordered the man placed in the Pomeroy Care Center. The girl had been visiting a relative on Aug. 21. She told officials she saw the man in the room of a resident in her upper 90s who has dementia. The state fined the center $10,000 last week for failing to protect its residents. The center’s administrator declined to comment on the state allegations.
Small towns in Iowa don’t have to think small when it comes to art, according to one organizer of this weekend’s event in Coon Rapids called Public Art for Rural Communities. It will gather artists, art appreciators, patrons and rural leaders from across Iowa to discuss prospects for public art, even in small rural towns. Doug Carpenter is the rural arts coordinator for Creating Great Places. “There’s been a question for years over the role of public art in small communities,” Carpenter says. “Big towns have a lot of money and a lot of volunteers and can make things happen but smaller towns have a smaller budget and that makes it more difficult but it doesn’t keep small towns from pursuing it.”
He says the event will showcase place-based art that reflects Coon Rapids’ rich agricultural history as the cradle of hybrid seed corn on the Garst farm and host to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1959. One feature will be the large, lighted sculpture, “Hybrid Icon,” at the Coon Rapids entryway. “We’re bringing together people who have successfully started programs,” Carpenter says. “Plus, we’re bringing together some of the state people who know about public art and funding from the Iowa Arts Council.” He says from sculpture to singing and from dancing to poetry, people in small towns deserve art just as much as city folks, which is why this event is being held.
“We call it a gathering,” Carpenter says. “It’s not a symposium or a formal meeting. It’s just inviting people who know about art or who are interested in art in small communities to come together and network, compare notes and get ideas.” The gathering begins at 1:30 Friday afternoon and ends late Saturday morning with a visit to the sixth annual Raccoon River Art Fair in downtown Coon Rapids.
(Radio Iowa)
The top Democrat in the Iowa Senate says a Democratic victory in an eastern Iowa legislative race highlights the faulty campaign strategy “outsiders” employed. Democrat Liz Mathis finished 12-percentage points ahead of her Republican competitor in the Linn County state senate race, preserving Democrats’ two-seat majority in the senate. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal, from Council Bluffs, says voters refused to be distracted by outside groups like the National Organization for Marriage, which argued a Republican victory would oust Gronstal from power.
“There were a whole bunch of outsiders that came into this district and tried to make it a referendum on this, or that or the other thing,” Gronstal says. “And in the end, what I kept saying to folks is, ‘This is a referendum on who the people of Senate District 18 think ought to represent them in the Iowa Senate.'” The special election came about because Republican Governor Branstad appointed the Democrat who had held the senate seat to the Iowa Utilities Board. Gronstal says Branstad and his Republican allies miscalculated. “They thought this district was theirs for the taking,” Gronstal says. “That’s why they made the appointment. That’s why they went out there and recruited a candidate. They engaged in this race and now they’re going to try and pretend, ‘Oh, no. We didn’t.’ That’s really nonsense.”
A day before the election, Governor Branstad said people shouldn’t read too much into special election results, as they’re a reflection of that particular district at that particular time. The candidate Branstad recruited to run in the district didn’t wind up winning the nomination from Linn County Republicans.
(Radio Iowa)
Class 1-A First Round
Class 2-A First Round
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Authorities suspect a medical condition in the death of a western Iowa man involved in a car crash. An Omaha Police Department news release says officers were sent to the accident scene in northeast Omaha just after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. They found that a car had veered off a road and struck a power pole. There was no sign that the driver had tried to stop before hitting the pole. Police say the driver was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was identified as 73-year old James Fisher, of Carter Lake. An autopsy has been scheduled.
JOHN EDWARD VENNINK, 95, of Missouri (& formerly of Manilla), died Mon., Nov. 7th. Funeral services for JOHN VENNINK will be held 10:30-a.m. Wed., Nov. 16th, at the United Church in Manilla. Ohde Funeral Home in Manilla has the arrangements.
Friends may call at the chuch beginning 9-a.m. Wed., Nov. 16th (prior to the service).
Burial will be in the Nishnabotna Cemetery near Manilla.
JOHN VENNINK is survived by:
His daughters – Kathryn Fontinel, of Des Moines; Judy Bonner, and Marlene McGrew, both from MO.
17 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren.
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