Back in Happy Valley

No better place for a bowl

Penn State fans are in luck. In this year when the Nittany Lions played themselves out of a top bowl game, the Alamo Bowl has come calling.

And be happy. There is no better place for a big event or a bowl game than San Antonio.

RiverWalk anyone?

We experienced San Antonio during a big event just last year when the Alamodome hosted March Madness. Ohio State won its way to the Final Four that weekend, but great games were played and our NCAA tournament experience was enhanced because of San Antonio.

I've been there several times and I'll throw out some tips for visiting in future blog posts.

But enjoy this one, Penn State fans. There is no better place.

It's always better to be open

My view has always been that it's better to be open, particularly when it comes to public policy and spending public money.

There should be nothing to hide.

Any time you keep something under wraps there are unanswered questions and suspicions that maybe something's wrong. Human nature perhaps, but it's a prevailing condition.

Now let's move to Coach Joe Paterno's salary. He gets a state pension. Keep that in mind.

His salary is now public, like most coaches in the United States, all because of a five-year court battle. And what have we learned? That Penn State perhaps has a really good story to tell, about how the university is not spending wild amounts of money on a coach like others.

And Paterno is not just a coach, he's a legend and he'll be a Hall of Famer next week.   

Penn State is now accounted for in the Big Ten salary list. Only Northwestern is missing.

What is wrong with this picture? Nothing, if you believe public policy and spending public money should be public.

If you don't, then we'll disagree and we'll ask whether you want to know when your school taxes are going up, or when parking rates change in town, or when state legislators get cost-of-living increases. These examples involve public money and public policy, and they should be public, just like we said above.

Entire paycheck series: Required reading?

Readers checking out one or two stories of our paycheck to paycheck series can now find it all on one online page.

The paycheck to paycheck page will house the series contents and reaction, and be available for Web reading for quite some time.

Here's the link, and if you think friends or lawmakers should read this series feel free to forward the link. Seems it should be required reading for those making decisions.

As we pointed out in the midday report today, it's all about respecting workers and in this case the workers struggling to make ends meet. You know some of them, think about it.

A win and a tribute

Spiderman and Ketchup and Mustard were part of a strong student turnout last night at the Bryce Jordan Canter, as Penn State beat Virginia Tech in the ACC-Big Ten challenge.

It was a good win for the Nittany Lions, coming off the downer of the Old Spice Classic, and you have to think Mike Walker is now in the right spot coming off the bench and adding a spark.

Last night his shooting was the difference as Penn State, as Jeff Rice reports today.

Freshman Talor Battle's impressive driving layup in the last minute was a great sign for this team, which is improving and has a lot of potential.

Spiderman and Ketchup and Mustard seemed to enjoy themselves, and one of the best moments was when the students sitting near Spider stole the Papa John's pizza that was being delivered to him in the timeout feature.

Pretty cool stuff.

The tribute to Jeremy Herbstritt and victims of the shootings occurred just before the game and a remarkable $110,000 was presented from sale of the Virginia Tech memorial shirts downtown.

All in all it was a good win for the Nittany Lions and a good night for Happy Valley hoops fans.

We are all Hokies

With Virginia Tech coming to town tonight, I'm reminded of a special poster hanging in my house, purchased at the APME silent auction this year.

"We are all Hokies" is the theme, and it's fitting.

Tonight the family of Penn State graduate and Bellefonte native Jeremy Herbstritt, killed in the shootings, will receive a special presentation, and the Bryce Jordan Center basketball crowd will honor victims.

It should be a great night and hope many fans can attend the 9:30 p.m. game, which will be televised on ESPN2.

I must admit, though, I'm jarred at the marketing approach coming out of Penn State and seen in an ad today promoting the game. "Light up the Hokies," is the theme, with fire around Hokies.

C'mon, that approach is not needed and is insensitive, and I'm not one who gets worked up easily.

Jeff Rice previews the game in his story today.

The credit crunch

Today's paycheck to paycheck series subject is credit card debt. It's tough to dig out once you've maxed out, and this is a time where credit is so available, so easy to get.

Allow me to ruffle feathers today by asking why credit cards are so available outside a 100,000-seat stadium near you, when we know credit is a problem for young people and others?

Perhaps we can think about that while reading today's installment of the series.

There are many ways to make credit cards available for those who need or want them, I think you'd agree, rather than outside a stadium. 

Anyway, this is on my mind today as the series, which is getting wide readership, continues.

Thanks again to the Centre Countians who shared their stories with us, and if you'd like to share yours senior reporter Chris Rosenblum is interested.

Thanks too to readers who are talking about the series and sharing it with others. Later today we'll debut a Web page with the full series content, making it easy for everyone to catch up with it.

A challenge this winter

It's not cold yet and it might not get really, really cold this winter.

But already, residents have major concerns about how they're going to pay to heat their home this year.

Nearly 2,000 Centre Countians are asking for heating assistance already, as Washington reporter Barbara Barrett reports in segment three of the paycheck to paycheck series, and Bob Ott's quote is telling. Ott does an outstanding job as Centre County's director of the Office of Adult Services, and here's what he had to say:

"We have a huge number of working poor now who just can't make ends meet. This is not a joyous season to date."

Ott and others know, and now readers know as part of this series. Thanks for widespread feedback for this reporting, and thanks to the Centre Countians who told their stories for all to read.

Those who are able to help should do what they can to lend a hand this winter. It will be appreciated.

A raise for legislators

Timing is everything, they say, and here right in the middle of our paycheck to paycheck series is word that legislators will get a 3.5 percent cost-of-living raise starting Saturday.

Nice deal, if you can get it, and I guess we should applaud because this is out in the open, not the result of a back room deal in the middle of the Harrisburg night.

So many workers out there won't get 3.5 percent raises this year. Now that's the understatement of the week, isn't it?

We're still waiting, as are you, for meaningful legislation this fall. Turkey day is over, now will they get down to business on open records reform, smoking and other issues?

On Sunday we suggested they clean off the plate in our editorial. We can only hope.

Paycheck to paycheck series

Our paycheck to paycheck series, running through Friday, was just begging to be told in depth here in Centre County.

Just begging to be told, and I used the term "outta sight, outta mind" twice in my Sunday column to describe the prevailing mentality in Happy Valley.

Amazingly, we heard for months and months and months about a $100 million or more school building plan and days would go by without a reader or a school official mentioning cost. Instead, they'd debate the size of classrooms, the need to be the best, the claims of one group or another.

At the same time, we managed to get some movement on affordable housing only after pushing and pushing and pushing and after people came together. There's an affordable housing crisis here that has built up over time. It needs continued work.

I'm pleased and proud to make this series front and center in the Centre Daily Times this week. It's a great credit to reporters Anne Danahy and Chris Rosenblum, city editor Teresa Bonner, designer Diane Lewin and our photographers.

We don't run many local series in the paper because it's quite a challenge to direct resources to one topic while trying to cover everything else all over the county. There isn't much down time for a small staff with a daily newspaper, special products, and a bustling Web site.

But this got the attention, the energy and the urgency it deserved and the result is the paycheck to paycheck series. I hope you take time to read this solid journalism and talk about it with friends and family.

So far, as is the case, I have little reaction but I thank this online reader from Philadelphia for an e-mail that arrived Sunday morning. I'll share it here:

"Bravo to you, the writers and your paper for doing this series. Our society has long tried to ignore the plight of an increasing number of our neighbors -- urban, suburban or rural. And the media have allowed us to do so. You have taken a huge step in changing that. Thank you!"

NFL Network controversy

The timing of Jennifer Thomas' comparison of cable and satellite TV costs is interesting.

The package ran in our Sunday Money section and is here for Web reading. It precedes by a few days what should be one of the biggest sports controversies surrounding cable and satellite.

I'm talking about the NFL Network, not offered on Comcast and other cables to regular customers. The network just happens to feature arguably the second biggest NFL game of this year on Thursday when two 10-1 NFC teams -- Dallas and Green Bay -- settle the score.

Much of the country will not see the game, and I'm wondering if much of the country realizes it.

NFL Network ... Big Ten Network ... same boat for cable customers.

Our package today gives you the rundown on cable and satellite. The choice is yours.

Holiday wishes for the military

Over Thanksgiving we featured two wonderful stories of military men returning to their families for the holiday.

Thanks to the Thompsons and Manuels for inviting us to tell their stories.

Reunions don't happen all the time, however, as troops continue to serve.

This year we're offering friends and loved ones a chance to send holiday messages to active soldiers and veterans. Here are the details, announced on Thanksgiving.

We'll print the message and post it online for all to see, particularly the military man or woman in service.

Happy Thanksgiving

Here's a hearty Happy Thanksgiving to our readers, thousands and thousands of you. Thanks for visiting with us each day, whether you open your homes to the paper or access the Web site with many, many others.

We appreciate it.

One of the great, great things about being Back in Happy Valley is that I don't have to go anywhere for Thanksgiving.

For many years we came up here from Harrisburg, to have Thanksgiving out or in my downtown condo and for my mother to shop until she dropped on Black Friday. When she became ill and moved into a nursing home, I had Thanksgiving dinner with her for two years.

The first one, I will never forget, occurred on the day Dauphin Narrows opened to two full lanes. After our lunch/dinner we hopped in the car and made the drive to the Clarks Ferry Bridge, just to see the road. I had driven the one-lane Dauphin Narrows for too many years and sat in gridlock too many times not to celebrate the long-awaited improvement.

A similar thing may go on for someone tomorrow through the Lewistown Narrows, with two lanes now open eastbound. PennDOT has something for Thanksgiving, doesn't it?

Happy memories, and Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Bowl projections by others

As mentioned in today's midday report, two writers on ESPN.com have projected the bowl lineup and agree that Penn State will play in Orlando in the Champs bowl.

Not bowl speculation is everywhere and I'm not endorsing this, but you might like to see their projections.

Notice that they disagree on the fate of Kansas and Missouri. Have to admit, I never expected to watch a huge game involving those two, but Saturday night's shootout from Kansas City should be special.

How have I become a Jayhawks football fan all of a sudden?

Sunshine prevails

At long last, sunshine has prevailed in what's been known as the Joe Paterno salary case but is much more.

Congratulations to The Patriot-News, my former employer, which began this legal adventure in 2002 while I was still there.

Fighting all the way, Penn State refused to make public what should be public through the state retirement system. So it took the Pennsylvania Supreme Court today to end all of this and say Paterno's salary and the salaries of other university top administrators are indeed public.

Penn State President Graham Spanier maintains that 99 percent of Penn State is indeed public, so this must qualify in that 1 percent bracket.

We in the media seem to focus a lot on the 1 percent, but whatever, this is a victory for sunshine in Pennsylvania government.

Let's hope more victories are on the horizon, because taxpayers in our state deserve to know what they're paying for in their government. Please don't tell me that Penn State doesn't receive significant state money, even though it's never considered enough year after after year.

Just one vote

Today's story on the deadlocked Gregg Township election should serve notice: Yes, every vote does count.

It's "football overtime," as one candidate said, with the end coming Monday in a draw.

Good luck to Republican Chris Cole and Democrat Patrick Leary. It's ashame it has to end like this.

Perhaps next time one more voter will go to the polls in Gregg, and everywhere else. I'll be sure to remind you of this one before the next election, as I encourage readers to vote.

How outrageous is that?

You get called a lot of things when you put out a daily newspaper, filled with stories and issues that deserve to be debated.

My favorite, as blog readers may know, is when I get "shame on you" notes. In most cases they're in reference to something the reader didn't want us to publish, even though the community at large should know about the topic.

Occasionally we get called "outrageous," like last night by State College council after our editorial stance concerning the New Orleans conference on taxpayer expense.

Memo to government officials: I don't ever mind us being called "outrageous" for questioning public spending. That's a part of our job.

Driving, walking in downtown

Our Sunday "Crosswalk confusion" package got a lot of reaction, and to answer some questions we will republish it when the 42,000 Penn State students return.

In fact, we'll put it in our Blue Weekly section, which has about a 15,000 circulation free distribution.

There was some concern that we ran this public service package when the students were gone for Thanksgiving break. That's true, but we don't see huge student pickup of the Sunday paper when they're in Happy Valley. They are more likely to read it online along with our wide Web audience, or see it in Blue when they return.

Clearly this is an important local concern and it merits the attention that we gave it on Sunday.

Driving in the downtown is certainly an experience, and I hope our suggestion today -- made again in an editorial -- gets some consideration. We feel strongly that the borough should eliminate parking on the university side of College Avenue. Motorists, instead, could park in the garages and we'd eliminate the major problem of people darting out, whenever they want to, between parked cars on the campus side.

It's not an end all but it would be a step in the right direction, and it certainly would make my driving downtown a better experience.

As the editorial says that's a free suggestion for council. No task force is needed to recommend it.

'Living textbook'

One of the highlights of last week for me was talking to some local teachers who are using our newspaper in their classrooms.

It's a "living textbook" for many Centre County students, and that's truly fantastic.

These teachers are involved in the Newspapers in Education program, getting papers delivered to their classrooms every day. My Sunday column discussed this program and recognized -- in a big way -- our home delivery subscribers who are donating to it.

The teachers pointed out that their students read and discuss the stories in the paper, and in some cases "mini-debates" break out as students agree and disagree. Isn't that the way it should be? The paper presents many viewpoints and many issues for you every day.

Thanks to readers who are donating, and thanks to the teachers who are involved. It's all a win-win here in Centre County.

Covering more than football

Intercepted from one of the comment forums and edited to conform to my blog style:

"Does anyone at CDT care that Penn State has other sports where the athletes aren't causing trouble? PSU women's field hockey is playing for a national title today. The women's volleyball team won their fifth consecutive Big Ten title last night. Where are the stories on those. ..."

If the poster actually reads the paper and our Web site, he/she will realize that we cover those sports regularly. In fact, our coverage of those games and teams is often the only coverage (besides the Daily Collegian, which doesn't print all the time, like this coming Thanksgiving week.)

Again, here's an example of an anonymous poster not knowing what he/she is talking about. I realize this happens, and I'll take the high road and use this blog to talk reality at times like this.

That 8-4 feeling

Why, when 8-4 is really not a bad record, do you have a bad, bad feeling for this 8-4 Penn State squad?

Perhaps it's the way it all ended, with the defense unable to stop the Spartans in East Lansing and the Nittany Lions blowing a 24-7 lead that was built with strong offensive line play.

Or perhaps that feeling came earlier, with off-the-field stuff constantly interrupting football, and you wondering what you'll read about next.

Or perhaps it's because there were some really high expectations this year, with an easy non-conference setup (including Notre Dame) and that real chance in Ann Arbor that was just thrown away.

Perhaps any or all of these, or others. But this Penn Stater doesn't have a good feeling at 8-4 this year, and I bet you don't either.

Fans may be rewarded if the Alamo Bowl comes calling and they can get over this bad feeling in time to go. San Antonio is wonderful, and perhaps some quality time along the Riverwalk and a good game against Texas could cure the blues.

Does this team deserve it? We'll see. The fans certainly do.

Jambalaya and gumbo, anyone?

It's probably no surprise to blog readers that I'm curious today about how good the jambalaya and gumbo are in New Orleans for visiting State College officials.

Nothing like New Orleans for a big event, even if it's the National League of Cities conference.

I'm all for networking, just not necessarily on taxpayer expense and not necessarily for council members leaving office soon.

And I guess I should add not necessarily right after a big tax increase was proposed in State College.

But we'll reserve judgment to see what ideas they bring back from the Big Easy. And I have to applaud anything that will help the New Orleans economy rebound.

Piling on

Very sad to say, but this Penn State team might best known for two fights -- in April and October.

Both apparently were piling on, with team leadership lacking and bad decisions all around.

Anyone watching ESPN tonight sees the bottom of the screen headline, first with Austin Scott's not guilty plea and then with news on the latest pileup leading to charges against Chris Baker and Navarro Bowman.

Very sad indeed, for a proud program now with two fights and the Scott rape case as the latest skirmishes with the law.

No shame in Pennsylvania

Rep. Frank LaGrotta took up space for 10 terms -- that's 20 years -- in the state Capitol.

That was bad enough, sending a finally defeated LaGrotta onward with an inflated state pension, no doubt.

But now we find out that his relatives apparently took up space, too, on the state payroll. They never actually did any work, it's alleged.

There's no shame in Pennsylvania government, and LaGrotta is today's poster child. We have the most corrupt government in the country, according to one who should know, and it's apparently getting worse.

We're looking for more charges at the Capitol in coming weeks. Bonus scandal anyone? Stay tuned.

Blogs for all

My Sunday column recognized our bloggers, and I'm late in posting it for all of you Web readers. Here it is.

We have a vibrant community blogging group and we're adding to it virtually every week. At the same time we're subtracting, taking down the largely inactive blogs.

There's growing interest for these, and we welcome Centre Lacrosse as the newest blog.

As I mentioned in the column, if you have an idea that is missing from our community, let me know.

And while I'm on blogs, let's recognize Michele Marchetti who has just traded in Lost & Found for Mother of Two. That's certainly a great blog topic and a great development. All the best, Michele.

Here's our community blogs page.

It's getting old, Joe

Coach Joe Paterno again chose to blame the media yesterday, this time for how his quarterback is treated.

"Anthony's had a tough time at Penn State, and mostly because of the media," was yesterday's Paterno gem.

Another week it'll be about a reporter asking a question that he doesn't approve of. Paterno just blames the media.

Let's talk about the quarterback. Penn State is 8-3, Anthony Morelli has made big plays and thrown interceptions, and he fumbles every time he carries the ball. The fans aren't all that happy. The media cover the action. Simple as that.

Paterno gets a break here in Happy Valley because there aren't big numbers to the press. Nothing like Chicago or New York. Sports reporters are simply doing their jobs.

The coach sounds like one of those who will blast the media because he disagrees with what is reported. There are a few of those types right now, we all know.

It's time to move past blaming the media, coach, because it's getting old. Maybe you can blame someone else.

Disgusting 'capital culture'

Monthly columnist and Penn State journalism prof Russ Eshleman knows the "capital culture" as much as anyone.

In today's column, he calls it "a smug, pervasive attitude that allows officials in Harrisburg to spend someone else’s money with no regard for decency or common sense and without fear of consequences."

Well said, and I might just add disgusting.

Pennsylvania voters woke up two years ago and started to shake up Harrisburg by showing the door to some entrenched incumbents and electing reformers.

It's not enough. From the looks at what's going on down there we'll need another round of this next election cycle.

Voters, are you ready?

Among friends

There weren't many people at the Nittany Lions' home opener last night, and the Web reader who posted the crowd at 2,200 or 2,300 is probably right.

We were truly among friends, joined by a hearty group from St. Francis who took up two sections of the Bryce Jordan Center.

Penn State's attendance figure counts tickets sold, and clearly some ticket holders stayed home rather than venture out on a mild Monday night in Happy Valley.

Too bad for them. The Nittany Lions have depth and energy and should be fun to watch this year. It's nice to see Coach Ed DeChellis have several guys on the bench who can contribute.

I'm a hoops fan from way back so you'll read about basketball in this blog. Let's hope the fans -- students and the public -- turn out. There's plenty more room in the Jordan Center.

A global view

Thanks today to Vindhya Panagoda, who shares her views of living here from her native Sri Lanka.

She's the writer in the monthly Global Connections series, presented on Mondays in the Centre Daily Times.

Here's Vindhya's column for Web readers.

The columns run on our community page, in the On Centre local section. That content is now being fully posted online and you can find it every day on the Living page of CentreDaily.com.

Make sure to take a look and find out the very local news and columns that our print readers are seeing, covering community achievers, bulletin board photos submitted by readers, our daily calendar and more.

A class act

Today's editorial salutes Celeste Newcomb, who is stepping down as leader of a jewel in our community, Centre Volunteers in Medicine.

Here's the edit and there's not much more I can say.

CVIM is seriously needed here, and Newcomb has made it work so wonderfully. She will be missed.

Complain in another direction

Someone posted this comment with a file, in this case the "your turn" allowing readers to pay tribute to veterans. Here's the comment:

"Posted a comment about a young boy and look of admiration and erasing of "anti-war" negativity - and you cowardly did not print it. You call your selves "un-biased" - you're liars at best."

I see this type of thing occasionally, accusing us of choosing comments. We don't. Comments post automatically. This poster probably didn't know how to do it.

We realize the threads will generate wide discussion. We attempt to monitor them and take them down if they get out of control. Sometimes we're alerted to that situation by a reader. But we don't screen comments and decide which to run. This poster is clueless.

Forever thankful

On this Veterans Day we pay tribute to those who've served with three stories and a fully developed Web page with more stories.

Thanks to Centre County veterans for great cooperation in telling their stories of coming home to Chris Rosenblum for our wide audience locally and around the world.

Here's today's package showcased on most of the front page. The only thing that interrupted a full page tribute to veterans was Mike Joseph's stunning story on the cost of the Interstate 99 cleanup. Joseph waited weeks for records detailing the cost from PennDOT.

Here also is today's editorial and the Web page with veterans' stories reported over the years in the Centre Daily Times. It's not fully complete but it includes many of our World War II stories.

I hope each veteran has a truly special day today.

Beating Temple

I couldn't stay away from Penn State-Temple games in years past.

Attended all of them, at Beaver Stadium and Veterans Stadium, Franklin Field and even a game at the Meadowlands.

Back then I went to all the games and certainly spent some uneasy moments watching the Nittany Lions in Philly. Remember Wayne Hardin anyone?

I skipped this one and watched it from Happy Valley. Not too much to sweat about today.

What was it like in Lincoln Financial Field?

A mini-Happy Valley according to our Associated Press story today.

A Penn State tailgate paradise, according to Jeff Rice's Nitt Notes blog.

Whatever it was it was an easy win, and a road win at that. If the Lions can win next Saturday in East Lansing, a nice bowl will be in their sights.

Stay tuned.

Penn State memory columns

Penn State football memory columns have ended their fifth season in the Centre Daily Times, and I want to make sure to thank the writers in this forum.

Here's the part of my column last Sunday that talked about the columns:

Joe Battista, whose Cup ’o Joe columns update Nittany Lion Club members regularly, shares his unique game-day routine with Penn Staters everywhere in our final football memories column of this season.
Battista, writing in today’s Centre Living section, concludes the fifth year of the widely read column series written entirely by readers.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these as much as I have, and here’s a thanks to our 2007 writers: David Han, Michele Marchetti, John Greene, Willis and Martha Herr, Daniel Victor, Gwenn Miller, Brian Clarkson, state Sen. Jake Corman, Jamey Perry, Carolyn Todd, Mike Poorman, R. Thomas Berner, Laura Rudy and Battista.

It’s been a year of great tales — ranging from watching Penn State in Iraq (by Clarkson) to deciding when to start wearing signature blue hair (by the Herrs).

There were memories of tailgates past with plans for reunions this year, and there was humor by the paragraph in Poorman’s piece comparing Penn State to Ohio State.

There also was the column worth the wait — Greene’s replay of the 1987 Penn State win over Notre Dame, two years after he agreed to write. It was great timing, to run on the day of Notre Dame’s first visit to Beaver Stadium in 16 years, by the former Nittany Lion running back and the new executive director of the Big 33.

All in all, the columns reached out to Penn Staters at a time when monthly reading (measured in unique visitors) on CentreDaily.com amounts to the equivalent of four Beaver Stadium sellouts.

That’s a lot of potential shared memories, and we look forward to more next season. Think about it and let me know if you have a story about a special game, a team, a season or the football experience that just must be shared. We’ll work you into the lineup for 2008.

Santorum starts new forum

Former U.S. Sen Rick Santorum, R-Pa., hasn't had many friends at The Philadelphia Inqurier in the past.

So it raised eyebrows when the paper, now under local owners, announced that the strong conservative would join its column lineup, along with other notables.

Well Santorum debuted today and promises to be somewhat gentle. Here's his first column.

It will be interesting to watch where it goes from here.

Reading online from Vegas

I returned from Vegas to the election, and it's been a whirlwind ever since. Have to say it helps being somewhat on pacific time for an election night. You're wide awake, that's for sure, and I made sure the Web was updated all night for our readers.

But back to Vegas for a moment. The Pro Bull Riders World Finals was just phenomenal, with great riding, great bulls and great fans. It was an event that lasted a long weekend and one I won't forget. My little niece even liked it all.

The arena was packed on Saturday night with fans from all over the West, and in came a guy in a Penn State shirt. Odd, at a bull riding event, I must say and he sat right next to my sister. We talked about the Purdue game and turns out he's a Penn Stater in Vegas, taking in his first bull riding.

He's like many Penn Staters, a regular reader of our Web site, and it was nice to see someone else with Pennsylvania roots at the World Finals. Didn't expect it.

The vendors, however, said Pennsylvanians were all over, and I'll believe them. They should know. We buy western gear like belts, watches, shirts, shoes, whatever, like it's going out of style. Have to. You don't necessarily get it here.

It's great to be back, for sure. But I'll go back to the PBR World Finals next year. It's a safe bet.

Making room for Temple

I'm sure you're cheering wildly, like I am, that Penn State filled the final open spot in next year's schedule with ... drum roll please ... Temple.

Yep, Temple, with an Oct. 20 Beaver Stadium date and dates in coming years.

This just solidifies a gem of a non-conference schedule, if we ever saw one, that should have fans on the edge of their seats quarter after quarter.

Something to look forward to, no doubt, and it begs the question to be asked over and over and louder and louder toward University Park: Why can't they bring back Pitt, or West Virginia, or Rutgers?

Why?

Instead we'll get what we get, all topped off with Temple.

I couldn't help but notice that there was no fanfare made in announcing Temple's renewed visits.

I also couldn't help but notice that Coach Joe Paterno had more of a comment about this than about the player punishment memo that deserves his comment. But that may be another blog post entirely.

Train wreck for Republicans

Centre County Republicans should have seen the train wreck coming.

Four Republicans were running for county commission seats, but only two were on the party ballot and only three of the six candidates could be elected.

Four Republicans, including the big write-in effort and an independent, in contention.

You could see the big vote split coming.

I walked around predicting a Rich Rogers win two weeks ago, while others were trying to gaze in the crystal ball. It was obvious.

It was a train wreck for Republicans.

Congratulations to Democrats Jon Eich and Rogers.Congratulations to the Republican who got re-elected,  Steve Dershem.

All are fine candidates and should do well as commissioners, if they can only get along.

And they're off to a rough start, if you read comments in today's story. Guys, guys, guys, the people's business will take teamwork.

Good luck.

Voting is brisk

I'm usually a late voter, hitting the polling place by 7:30 p.m.

But today I changed it up and went to Foxdale at 2:30 p.m., wondering for myself about the turnout and the whole write-in procedure.

Voting is brisk like the weather at Foxdale in State College, and I was voter No. 294. It went smoothly for me and the other handful of voters there, with our normal pleasant and helpful poll workers.

This is an unique Centre County election, with a countywide write-in contest and a high-profile State College schools write-in effort.

Please join me and thousands of others today in voting.

A fan's plea

It is great to be back in Happy Valley for a crisp election day.

VOTE -- all of you. Please take time to do that.

I had a nice quick trip out west and missed some interesting news. I thought I'd do a full post with e-mail comments sent my way, but there weren't many of substance.

There was this, however, in reaction to Monday's story about punishments unmet for Penn State football players. Here's what a fan said, in part: "The players will be either punished by the court or reach a settlement. I do not think it is moral for the C D T to continue bringing this up.  You want the Penn State football team to not put the best players on the field. This shows how much the CDT dislikes Penn State."

So there, back to reality, Happy Valley style. Some of the comments posted with the story sound like this too, but posters don't often send e-mails to the editor.

Let's review: Players get in trouble, coach announces punishments and puts them in writing to the university president, players face trial, players play, coach doesn't follow through with punishments put in writing. Coverage will continue.