Storms leave at least 5 dead, 2M without power

A fallen tree blocks one lane of traffic on 13th Street NW in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, Saturday, June 30, 2012. Violent evening storms following a day of triple-digit temperatures wiped out power to more than 2 million people across the eastern United States. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

last Updated 11:02 a.m. ET

(CBS/AP) -- Violent evening storms following a day of triple-digit temperatures wiped out power to more than 2 million customers across the eastern United States and caused at least five fatalities - including a 90-year-old Virginia woman asleep in bed when a tree slammed into her home, and two young cousins on a camping trip in southern New Jersey.

Widespread power outages were reported from Indiana to New Jersey, with the bulk of the service interruptions concentrated on Washington, D.C. and surrounding areas, leaving many without power - and without air conditioning - on a day that temperatures are expected to reach triple digits across the eastern U.S.
Earlier Friday, the nation's capital reached 104 degrees — topping a record of 101 set in 1934.

Authorities say the violent storms have left at least five people dead.
Anne Arundel County, Md., police said in a news release Saturday that 25-year-old Kevin Obrien was killed when a tree fell onto his car late Friday. Two other people in the car suffered minor injuries.
In Pittsgrove, N.J., police say two boys, ages 2 and 7, were killed after a tree fell on their tent during the storm early Saturday at Parvin State Park. Authorities say the boys' families had been camping at adjacent sites when the storm hit, and the families decided to huddle together in one tent. They say the heavy winds and rains from the storm snapped a pine tree, which then fell on the families' tent.

The boys suffered serious injuries and died.

Falling tree kills 2 children at N.J. state park
A line of thunderstorms, 100 miles from tip-to-toe, rolled through the Washington. D.C. area Friday night packing winds of 50-to-80 mph, reports Topper Shutt of CBS D.C. affiliate WUSA-TV. The same clump of storms hit southeastern Ohio and West Virginia with hurricane force winds Friday evening.

These types of storms, known as Musicale Convective System, or Derecho, are usually seen in the Midwest and not in the Mid-Atlantic, Shutt adds.

Storm damage, including uprooted trees, also delayed the start of third-round play at the AT&T National golf tournament in Bethesda, Md. Spectators and volunteers are being barred from the course Saturday owing to safety concerns.

Storm damage bars golf fans from AT&T National

More than 20 elderly residents at an apartment home in Indianapolis were displaced when the facility lost power due to a downed tree. Most were bused to a Red Cross facility to spend the night, and others who depend on oxygen assistance were given other accommodations, the fire department said.

The storms toppled three tractor trailers on Interstate 75 near Findlay, Ohio. Fallen trees were blamed on both deaths in Springfield, Va. — the 90-year-old woman in her home and a man driving a car, Fairfax County police spokeswoman Mary Ann Jennings said.

In addition, a park police officer was injured by an uprooted tree in the northern Virginia county, and an 18-year-old man was struck by a power line, Jennings said. He was in stable condition after receiving CPR, she said.

"Our officers and firefighters are out there with power saws, trying to clear the streets," Jennings said.

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency after more than 500,000 customers in 27 counties were left without electricity.

At least four utility poles fell on a road in Columbus, Ohio, making it too dangerous for people in four cars to get out, police said. One person was taken to a hospital.

As of 1 a.m. Saturday, Pepco was reporting 406,000 outages in the District of Columbia and Montgomery and Prince George's counties, Md.

Amtrak suspended its service from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia due to the storms, at least until mid-morning.

"We have more than half our system down," said Pepco spokeswoman Myra Oppel. "This is definitely going to be a multi-day outage."

In the Washington, D.C., area, the Metrorail subway trains were returned to their endpoints due to the storms and related damage, officials said.

"It has had a widespread effect on the region," Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said early Saturday. He said about 17 train stations were operating on backup power due to local power outages, but that he didn't anticipate service being disrupted on Saturday.

Egypt's first Islamist president takes oath

first Islamist president Mohamed Mursi attends his swearing in ceremony in this still image from a video footage in Cairo June 30, 2012. Mursi took his oath of office on Saturday, ending six decades of rule by former military men although the generals in charge since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year have already curbed his powers.

Credit: Reuters/Egyptian Television via Reuters TV

CAIRO | Sat Jun 30, 2012 11:17am EDT

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mohamed Mursi became Egypt's first Islamist, civilian and freely elected president on Saturday, reaping the fruits of last year's popular revolt against Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, although the military remains determined to call the shots.The bearded U.S.-trained engineer is Egypt's first non-military leader since army officers toppled the king in 1952.
For the 84-year-old Muslim Brotherhood, banned and repressed by Mubarak, it marks a dramatic reversal of fortunes.
"God is greatest, above all," Mursi said at the start of his first public speech at Cairo University, soon after swearing his oath at the Supreme Constitutional Court.
Egypt remains in political limbo, without a constitution, a lower house of parliament or any clarity about the role of a military establishment anxious to stay in the driving seat, even as Islamists and others challenge its right to do so.
"Egypt will not go backwards," Mursi said, pledging to keep the country on a democratic course, but saying it would not "export the revolution" or interfere in the affairs of others.
"We carry a message of peace to the world," Mursi said, reaffirming Egypt's commitment to international agreements, which include its U.S.-brokered 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
Israel has watched the rise of the Brotherhood in Egypt with apprehension since the fall of Mubarak, who staunchly upheld peace with the Jewish state, even if relations were never warm.
Mursi pledged to work to end bloodshed in Syria, scene of the most violent of a string of Arab uprisings.
WRANGLING OVER VENUE
The president, 60, took his oath in the constitutional court, instead of parliament as is usual, because the court had dissolved the Islamist-led lower house earlier this month amid a raft of measures to ensure enduring military influence.
The Brotherhood reluctantly accepted the venue, but in a symbolic riposte, Mursi read his oath on Friday to crowds in Cairo's protest hub, Tahrir Square. He told supporters there that the people were the only source of power, in a dig at the generals who see themselves as the state's ultimate arbiters.
The new president won a standing ovation when he recited his vow for a third time during his speech at Cairo University, delivered from the podium used by U.S. President Barack Obama to reach out to the Islamic world in 2009, early in his term.
An honor guard, artillery salute and the national anthem greeted Mursi at the university, where "No SCAF", the acronym for the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, was scrawled on a wall visible on television as he drove in.
In the audience were women in full Islamic face veils or headscarves, some waving portraits of "martyrs" killed in the anti-Mubarak uprising. Christian priests sat alongside Muslim clerics and men in suits or robes, some with beards.
The arrival of Egypt's military chief, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, provoked extraordinary scenes, with chants of "Down with military rule" countered by applause for Tantawi.
Tantawi's SCAF has led Egypt's chaotic and sometimes bloody transition since Mubarak's overthrow, holding elections, but ruling by decree with arbitrary and often contradictory decisions, even as the economy shrinks with millions jobless.
An army decree on June 17 clipped presidential powers, denying the head of state his role as supreme commander of the armed forces with the right to decide on war and peace. It also gave SCAF legislative powers until a new parliament is elected, as well as veto rights over the writing of a new constitution.
Nevertheless, SCAF insists it has now kept a promise, made the day Mubarak fell, to transfer power to an elected president.
"Today is the day to fulfill the pledge, the day that our great army and its national leadership proves that it is the guardian after God," said a statement obtained by Reuters, shortly before a formal handover ceremony to Mursi.
Tantawi greeted Mursi with a swift salute when he arrived at Heikstep army base for the ceremony, television pictures showed.
The handover of power to an Islamist by a military that long backed Mubarak and his suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood was just one moment in a day rich in images that told of how much Egypt has changed, as well as the fragility of its transition.
The Nile-side constitutional court building where Mursi took his oath is next to the plush military hospital where Mubarak was transferred last week from the prison where he had begun a life term for failing to stop police killings of protesters.
TUSSLE FOR POWER
Much remains uncertain with a protracted struggle likely as Islamists seek to roll back the control of a once all-powerful military, as their counterparts in Turkey have done.
An assembly that is supposed to write a new constitution has begun work after its predecessor fell apart amid disputes over whether Islamists were over-represented in a country with a 10 percent Christian minority and many secular-minded liberals.
Egypt's 82 million people are more polarized than ever.
Mursi narrowly won a run-off vote against Ahmed Shafik, a former air force chief and Mubarak's last prime minister, but many voters were dismayed at having to choose between an Islamist and a man seen as a remnant of Mubarak's era.
Egypt will find it hard to attract the investment, loans and foreign aid it needs to revive an economy blighted by months of turmoil and uncertainty until political stability returns.
The International Monetary Fund's head, Christine Lagarde, called Mursi to discuss Egypt's economic challenges and how the IMF can best help, an IMF spokeswoman said on Friday.
Lagarde hailed Mursi's election as "an important step forward in Egypt's transition", but the Fund has set no date for a staff visit to discuss a proposed $3.2 billion IMF loan, pending the formation of a new government.
In Tahrir, where demonstrators have camped out for weeks to demand an end to military rule, one man said the protest would go on. "We will not leave until parliament is restored and the president gets all his authorities," said Mahmoud Arafa, 41.
Arafa, a shopkeeper from Shabin al-Kom in the Nile Delta, said he wanted Mursi to fulfill the promises he made for his first 100 days in office. "If he cannot, we will help him."
The Muslim Brotherhood's programme calls for swift measures with an immediate social impact, pledging to get traffic moving, restore security, collect rubbish, and clear bottlenecks in the distribution of subsidized bread, petrol and cooking gas.
"For the first time in my life I feel we have elected a leader through our own free will," said Mustafa Abu Hanafi, 31, a computer engineer, from Mansouria, Giza.
"When someone graduates he's supposed to have a job. I haven't been able to find one. You always needed 'wasta' (connections). Under Mursi this will change ... He's one of us."

Obama Believed Early Reports That Supreme Court Had Declared Individual Mandate Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON -- For a brief period of time on Thursday morning, President Barack Obama was operating under the impression that a portion of his signature health care law had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Top administration officials, briefing reporters, said that the president initially saw news alerts that the court had ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional while watching coverage in the outer Oval Office. The news was being projected on a single monitor with four split screens, each showing a different station. Both Fox News and CNN inaccurately reported the court's decision at first.
After a period of time, White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler and Chief of Staff Jacob Lew came to greet the president with news of the actual ruling.
Ruemmler flashed him two thumbs up. The court, she relayed, had upheld the Affordable Care Act by a 5 to 4 vote, ruling the individual mandate valid under Congress' taxing power.
The period between when Obama heard the wrong report and the corrected one lasted no longer than a couple of minutes, the top administration officials said. White House aides had been watching cable news in addition to following SCOTUSblog to track the results.
After learning of the ruling, the president went into the Oval Office and called Solicitor General Don Verrilli, who had argued the case on the administration's behalf, to thank him for the work he'd done. Vice President Joseph Biden came in shortly thereafter to take in the news.
Administration officials said they were unsure, as of 2:00 p.m., whether or not the president had yet read the decision in full.
The officials said that they had been largely confident that the Supreme Court would hand down a favorable decision. Ruemmler had been telling aides for months that she believed the law would be upheld and that Chief Justice John Roberts would be in the majority. But those same officials acknowledged that they were surprised the individual mandate wasn't upheld under the commerce clause, which they thought was a strong enough legal theory.
They declined to concede that as a political matter, the Affordable Care Act remained a loser. One top official predicted that the country would be hesitant to re-litigate a debate that has now gone on for three years, in both political and legal theaters.
The president, they said, will begin arguing that the health care bill included a major tax cut, in the form of credits that individuals would receive to help purchase coverage. He will also make the case for greater flexibility within the law by attempting to move forward the date by which states can opt out of its coverage requirements, provided they meet minimum guarantees. Finally, the officials noted, the president faces a Republican opponent who, earlier in his career, trumpeted the very same policy prescriptions in his home state.

Britney Spears Hair, Bandage Dress Are Totally Stunning (PHOTOS)

When Britney Spears came onto the scene in 1998, she was the hottest thing around. Girls wanted to look like her, guys wanted to look at her... and, well, everyone's parents were hoping to thwart all efforts on both counts. (Our mothers were certainly not fans of the naughty schoolgirl look.)
But despite her teen idol past, we sometimes forget: Britney Spears is still really hot. "The X Factor" judge gave us a good reminder on Wednesday when arriving to her new show's season two auditions in sunny Providence, Rhode Island. Wrapped in a red bandage dress, Britney flashed that smile to cheering fans while sporting a subtle yet glamorous makeup job: clean, smoky eyes and a pretty pink lip.
As for her hair, it's never looked better: bright, smooth, wavy and totally under control (which is not necessarily the norm).
Also, check out the engagement bling on that left hand.
Seriously, guys, Brit is gorgeous! Check out the 30-year-old pop star-turned-reality judge below.
PHOTOS:



See how far Britney's come:

Queen Elizabeth shakes hands with ex-IRA chief

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By Conor Humphries and Ivan Little

BELFAST | Wed Jun 27, 2012 8:38am EDT

(Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth shook the hand of former IRA guerrilla commander Martin McGuinness for the first time on Wednesday, drawing a line under a conflict that cost the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians, including that of her cousin.
The meeting with McGuinness, who is now the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, comes 14 years after the Irish Republican Army ended its war against British rule in the province, and is one of the last big milestones in a peace process whose success has been studied around the world.
The queen met McGuinness, Northern Ireland's Unionist first minister Peter Robinson and Irish President Michael D.Higgins for just under 10 minutes behind closed doors in a theatre in a leafy suburb of Belfast cordoned off by hundreds of police.
McGuinness shook the hand of the queen a second time as she left the theatre, this time in front of television cameras, but unlike other guests chose not to bow his head.
The queen's bright green outfit appeared to have been chosen with Ireland's national color in mind, and McGuinness wished a smiling monarch well in Irish, saying "Slan agus beannacht", which he told her means "Goodbye and god speed".
There has been scattered opposition to the gesture of reconciliation from dissident Irish militants and from some of the IRA's victims. But the vast majority of the province's politicians backed the meeting, the first between the queen and a top member of the IRA or its former political wing, Sinn Fein.
"Today is a huge event and it is, in a sense, the ultimate handshake," John Reid, British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2001 to 2002, told the BBC.
"On all sorts of levels this is a hugely significant step but it is only one more step in a long process. This may take generations - to get back to absolute reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland."
FRIENDLY TERMS
McGuinness has long been on friendly terms with the fiery anti-Catholic Unionist leader Ian Paisley, who sat with him in a power-sharing provincial government.
The queen regularly meets senior Unionist politicians, Protestants who want Northern Ireland to stay inside the United Kingdom, but not Sinn Fein - the largest party representing Catholic nationalists who want a united Ireland.
McGuinness is a hero to Republican hardliners, but has long been a hate figure to Unionists, many of whom harbor deep suspicions about his past.
He admits he was on the front line in the war with British forces, including on Bloody Sunday in 1972, when troops shot dead 13 unarmed protesters, but says he never killed anyone.
A British report said that McGuinness probably was armed with a submachinegun on Bloody Sunday, but did nothing to provoke the massacre. He has said he left the IRA in 1974, but most historians believe he was active for most of its campaign.
For the queen and Prince Philip, who also shook McGuinness's hand, the Northern Ireland conflict had a personal edge.
The queen's cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was also Philip's uncle, was killed by the IRA in 1979 with three others, including his 14-year-old grandson, when his boat was blown up while he was on holiday in Ireland.
More than 1,000 members of the British security forces were among 3,600 people killed during the 30 years of the "Troubles".
McGuinness told the queen that he agreed with comments she made last year that all victims of the conflict should be remembered, according to a source who was at the meeting.
"STILL A REPUBLICAN"
McGuinness said on Tuesday that, while he represented people who had been badly hurt by British state violence, he was also big enough to understand that the queen and other families in Britain had also lost loved ones.
Asked by reporters after the meeting if his convictions had changed, he said he was "still a Republican".
Sinn Fein, which has become increasingly popular south of the Irish border as the main party opposing an EU/IMF bailout, is keen to bolster its image as a mainstream party and distance itself from a violent past that alienates many southern voters.
It still wants a referendum on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of Britain, but in the short term its aim is to be in government north and south simultaneously.
Only last year, Sinn Fein rejected invitations to attend events during the queen's landmark visit to the Irish capital Dublin, the first by a British monarch since the republic won independence from Britain in 1921.
Some Republicans branded McGuinness a traitor for meeting a queen who is also commander-in-chief of Britain's armed forces.
"People are not unhappy that someone is shaking her hand, just not him. He's a hypocrite," said Martin, a 42-year-old unemployed man who said he and his friends had got criminal records defending their neighborhood in working-class Belfast.
"He sent people out to fight. To die. And now he's putting on a suit and shaking her hand? I don't want war (but) this shouldn't have happened till the next generation."
With splinter groups continuing to attack British targets, security forces say the risk of an attack is at its highest level since the Good Friday peace agreement was signed in 1998.
Nine police suffered minor injuries on Tuesday night when they were pelted with petrol bombs and other missiles.

More than 32,000 ordered to flee Colorado wildfire

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WOODLAND PARK, Colo. (AP) – A towering wildfire jumped firefighters' perimeter lines and moved into the city of Colorado Springs, forcing frantic evacuation orders for more than 32,000 residents, including the U.S. Air Force Academy, and destroying an unknown number of homes.

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  By Galon Wampler, AP
  The Waldo Canyon Fire moves into subdivisions in Colorado Springs on Tuesday.

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By Galon Wampler, AP

The Waldo Canyon Fire moves into subdivisions in Colorado Springs on Tuesday.

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Heavy smoke and ash billowed from the foothills west of the city as the Waldo Canyon Fire became the top challenge for the nation's firefighters.

"It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine," Gov. John Hickenlooper said after flying over the fire late Tuesday. "It's almost surreal."

With flames cresting a ridge high above its campus, the Air Force Academy told more than 2,100 residents to evacuate.

Elsewhere, fleeing residents covered their faces with T-shirts and bandanas to breathe through the smoke.

Throughout the West, firefighters have toiled for days in searing, record-setting heat against fires fueled by prolonged drought. Most, if not all, of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana were under red flag warnings, meaning extreme fire danger.

The nation is experiencing "a super-heated spike on top of a decades-long warming trend," said Derek Arndt, head of climate monitoring at the National Climatic Data Center.

In central Utah, authorities found one woman dead Tuesday when they returned to an evacuated area, marking the first casualty in a blaze that consumed at least two dozen homes. Sanpete County sheriff's officials said they hadn't identified the victim.

The cause of the Waldo Canyon Fire remained under investigation.

In northern Colorado, another fire has destroyed 257 homes, authorities said. That fire was triggered by lightning June 9.

NFL rookies schooled on concussions during seminar, part of program during 4-day symposium

Tony Gutierrez, File/Associated Press - FILE - In this May 4, 2012, file photo, Dallas Cowboys’ Morris Claiborne (24) walks the field during NFL football rookie camp at the team’s training facility in Irving, Texas. As part of a symposium designed to ease their transition as pros, NFC rookies attended a seminar on health and safety hosted Monday, June 25, by Cleveland Browns team physician Dr. Mark Schickendantz. Schickendantz spoke on a number of topics, including concussions and potential long-term effects of head injuries, which have become a major focus for the league in recent years.

AURORA, Ohio — Flanked by the shining helmets of all 32 NFL teams, the head physician for the Cleveland Browns warned some of the league’s rookies about the dangers of concealing head injuries and concussions.
“Don’t try to hide it,” Dr. Mark Schickendantz cautioned. “A little ding is not just a little ding.”

As part of a four-day retreat designed to ease their transition from college athletes to paid professionals, NFC rookies attended a seminar on health and safety Monday hosted by Schickendantz, one of many speakers who will address the first-year players on a variety of topics during the league’s rookie symposium, now in its 15th year.
Shickendantz touched on a number of health issues ranging from banned substances to heat and hydration during his Power Point presentation.
He spent a significant portion of his discussion dealing with concussions, a subject at the forefront of league matters the past two years. Shickendantz began by explaining that the players will have to undergo a preliminary base test during training camp, and he outlined the necessary steps they’ll have to follow if they sustain a head injury.
Shickendantz emphasized the league was only interested in the players’ well-being.
“Our only agenda is your health and safety,” he said. “It’s about you, not about us.”
Dallas Cowboys rookie cornerback Morris Claiborne found the session informative and helpful. While most players don’t consider head injuries on the field, Claiborne said any outside discussion on potential long-term effects of head injuries are sobering.
“You think about it when you’re sitting in here,” Claiborne said afterward outside one of the conference rooms at The Bertram Hotel. “Being a football player, once you’re on the field, you don’t think about getting concussions or stuff like that. It’s very important.
“It could be the difference between life or death. If you feel symptoms or those kind of things, you need to tell someone.”
The issue of players hiding their symptoms from trainers and team doctors has been one of the league’s major obstacles in trying to improve safety and minimize health risks.
In a series of interviews about head injuries with The Associated Press in December, 23 of 44 NFL players — slightly more than half — said they would try to conceal a possible concussion rather than pull themselves out of a game.
Claiborne said he’s never been faced with the dilemma of whether to cover up an injury. But he won’t take any chances if he’s ever confronted in the future.
“I really haven’t been in that situation,” said Claiborne, who has a 2-year-old son. “I know if I ever were, I would let someone know. You want to play and you want to get back in there, but if you get in there and you take another hit you might never play again. It’s important to let someone know and check you out.”
NFC rookies began their orientation program on Sunday, and before they’re dismissed on Wednesday following a trip to the nearby Pro Football Hall of Fame, the players will listen to speakers address subjects in panels entitled “Athletes for Hope: Professional and Social Responsibility,” ‘’Are You Bigger Than The Game?” and “How To Be A Professional.”
Among the scheduled speakers are Michael Vick, Adam “Pacman” Jones and Michael Irvin, all of whom experienced off-field troubles. Some of the other former players to share their experiences are Carl Eller, LaVar Arrington and Antonio Freeman, who is also facilitating discussion among the rookies.
“We want to find out what they want to get out of this symposium, what they want to get out of the game,” said Freeman, a wide receiver for eight seasons with Green Bay. “I shared my goals with them, some of my accomplishments, some of my trials and tribulations to get here, some of my struggles as a rookie. We’re here to help them.”
Freeman has been impressed with the attitude of the league’s newest players.
“They are very engaged,” he said. “They’re excited. They’re nervous, which is expected, but the excitement overtakes the nervousness. We’re just trying to get these guys to understand that we’re not telling you what not to do. We’re just trying to tell you the things that we did that made us successful. We don’t want to lose the kids by saying, ‘Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t.’ You lose so many kids with that message.”
Once the NFC rookies complete their symposium, the AFC picks will attend from Wednesday through Saturday.

Fixing the NFL rookie symposium Workshop designed to prep drafted players for life in the pros

The league was treating us like high school kids and we weren't falling for it. It was just one of the many exercises we took part in at the NFL's rookie symposium in California, a four-day workshop designed to prep drafted players for life in the pros.
There were large group sessions on finances, proper behavior in public and lessons from former players. Most of the rookies were fighting to stay awake, counting the days until they went home.
The league used scare tactics, role-play sessions and even marched two beautiful women up on stage who revealed they were HIV positive.
I thought it was a bust.
What has the league done to structure this year's symposium, underway in Aurora, Ohio, to meet the needs of today's player? Plenty, according to Troy Vincent, the NFL's vice president of player engagement.
The former five-time Pro Bowl cornerback is leading the conference this week and is stressing a new format.
"We divided the participation level in half," said Vincent. "Three hundred kids in the room with the air conditioning on? It doesn't work. It's not a learning environment.
"I'm now dealing with less than 140 per session. Now when I get them into those breakout sessions, I'm dealing with 20-25 guys."
The players' attendance is now divided by conference (NFC: Sunday-Wednesday, AFC: Wednesday-Saturday) and will focus on four main areas of education: NFL history, experience, player expectations, professional and social responsibility.
But how do you draw (and maintain) the attention of close to 300 players, many of whom come to the symposium carrying a sense of arrogance and entitlement?
Former Packers and Jaguars defensive end Aaron Kampman says it is all about attitude.
"As a young player, I thought (the symposium) was great. But the attitude of the player has to be right. Personally, the best way I have found to get through to a player is to show him that you genuinely care. You can't fake it."
The symposium will again feature multiple speakers this week. Adam "Pacman" Jones, Terrell Owens, Hardy Nickerson, LaVar Arrington, Michael Vick and others will share their stories.

"Adam has a story I don't have," Vincent said. "I'm also bringing success stories. We are trying to cover the whole 360-degree environment of the National Football League.
"This is no longer a three-day orientation of what not to do. Absolutely not. We are going to talk about this NFL experience. Adam brings a testimony. Michael Irvin brings a testimony. Aeneas Williams, Hardy Nickerson, Ross Tucker. We have a variation of different people from different walks of life."
Vincent remains sold the new format will indeed cater to the rookies that want to get the most of the symposium.
"Keep the game plan simple, coach and let's just play," said Vincent. "Don't give them a whole lot. Give them what they need to be productive professionals."
But is it enough to make a difference, keep players out of trouble off the field and actually teach them how to be pros in just four days?
"I want to hold them all accountable," said Vincent. "The days are over when you're going to say a kid 'did not know.' ...This stuff is in your face. No such thing as 'I didn't know.' Nope, you choose not to."
Special contributor Matt Bowen, who played at Glenbard West and Iowa, spent seven seasons in the NFL as a strong safety.

Hooters-style restaurants experiencing a mini-boom

NEW YORK (AP) -- The waitresses at Twin Peaks wear skimpy plaid tops that accentuate their chests. In case you didn't catch the joke, the chain's logo is an image of two pointy, snow-capped mountains. And the sports bar doesn't stop there: It promises "scenic views."
Twin Peaks owner Randy DeWitt downplays all of that and insists that the appeal of the restaurant goes beyond the obvious. Hearty meals and a focus on making customers feel special, he says, are what really keeps them coming back.
"We believe in feeding the ego before feeding the stomach," he says. Or as the website of the mountain lodge-themed restaurant states, "Twin Peaks is about you, 'cause you're the man!"
Twin Peaks is part of a booming niche in the beleaguered restaurant industry known as "breastaurants," or sports bars that feature scantily clad waitresses. These small chains operate in the tradition of Hooters, which pioneered the concept in the 1980s but has struggled in recent years to stay fresh.
Instead of relying on lust alone, the new crop of restaurants is growing by offering new themes (rustic lodges and Celtic pubs) and varied menus (think: pot roast and shepherd's pie instead of just burgers and wings). In other words, they're hoping maybe people really are coming in for the food.
The nation's top three "breastaurant" chains behind Hooters each had sales growth of 30 percent or more last year, according to Technomic, a food industry research firm. They still represent less than 1 percent of the nation's top restaurants, but the upstart chains are benefitting as other mid-priced options like Applebee's and Bennigan's have experienced declines during the economic downturn.
"The younger crowds want to go to a newer place, not where mom and dad took them," says Darren Tristano, an analyst at Technomic.
Tovan Adams says he frequents Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery in Tempe, Ariz., where waitresses wear matching tartan mini-skirts and bras that fit in with the restaurant's Celtic theme. He even brings his daughters, ages 6 and 9, with him for lunch.
"If you come in the evening, you'll see a lot of kids here," says Adams, an electric engineer who likes the menu's variety. "Everyone's still got their clothes on. If you go to the beach, it's a lot worse than being here."
Lynette Marmolejo, a college admissions worker, dropped in at the Tilted Kilt for the first time recently. She likes that the restaurant is dominated by the "corporate crowd" rather than the "college crowd." And she says the half-dressed waitresses don't bother her.
"Prices and the food — if those are good, I don't care what anybody's wearing," Marmolejo says.
Tilted Kilt, which serves dishes such as shepherd's pie and "Irish nachos" (potato chips instead of corn tortillas), had annual sales of $124 million last year, reflecting growth of 33 percent, according to Technomic. And by the end of this year, the company expects to have 95 locations, up from 57 at the end of last year.
That growth is one reason Tilted Kilt CEO Rod Lynch, bristles at the "breastaurant" moniker. He says the word implies that the company's success is based purely on sex appeal. To the contrary, he says his customers — about three-quarters of whom are men and of the average age of 36 — consistently say the experience is about far more.
Tilted Kilt doesn't go so far to call itself a family restaurant. But Lynch understands the risks of crossing a certain line.
"We want to be very PG-13," he says. Its "class in all things" motto also means servers can't have tattoos, piercings or dyed hair.
Rose Dimov, a 22-year-old waitress at Tilted Kilt, says her job is no different from any other waitressing gig; make guests feel special and ensure they have a good time. As an aspiring ballroom dancer, she also says she's not fazed by the revealing outfit that comes with the job.
"Going to a restaurant should be an experience," Dimov says. "We're entertainers."
Although the name might suggest otherwise, the owner of Mugs N Jugs in Clearwater, Fla., says his place also is like any ordinary restaurant with entertainment. Sam Ahmad says his game room, pool table and karaoke are why 40 percent of his customers are families.
Sales at the restaurant grew to $3 million in 2008, from $700,000 in 1998, Ahmad says, but have since declined because of the recession. After selling a second location to a franchisee last year, Ahmad is looking to find others who want to open franchise locations under the Mugs N Jugs banner.
As for the tank tops and shorts the waitresses wear, Ahmad says they don't reveal too much. And those photos on the Mugs N Jugs website showing waitresses leaning over a pool table? Ahmad explains they are purely for marketing purposes.
"They're at an angle because they're at a pool table," he says. "When you're in the restaurant, you won't see that. She'll be standing."
Taking a cue from its much smaller rivals, Hooters is also making changes.
The company opened its first location in 1983 in Clearwater, Fla., with waitresses sporting the now famous tiny orange shorts and tight white tank tops. The chain grew rapidly at first but has struggled in recent years. Sales have fallen steadily since peaking in 2007 at $960 million, as the menu and decor grew stale.
Last year, a group of private investors bought the chain of 365 restaurants and decided to try to revive the business. In February, Hooters opened a renovated location in Atlanta to showcase its new look with upgraded TVs, an outdoor bar and a covered patio. Remodeling is slated for another six to eight restaurants this year.
In April, Hooters also beefed up its menu with items that include a Baja burger, buffalo chicken sliders and a spinach and shrimp salad. The idea is to offer dishes that draw new customers, says David Henninger, Hooters' chief marketing officer. Currently, more than three quarters of Hooters customers are male, with an average age of 45.
As part of the effort to improve its image, Henninger says Hooters is looking to showcase the life stories of its servers, many of whom are studying to go on to professional careers.
"The public can be misinformed about what we do," says Henninger, who was hired this year. "They jump to their own conclusions."
Without explaining how, he says the "curious" name of the restaurant could easily be misinterpreted. He says that the name is "part of the fun" and is about being "in on the joke."
No matter how hard they try to open their doors to a broader audience, Hooters and its rivals remain the subject of criticism. "If it's an adult entertainment business, that's fine," says Mona Lisa Wallace, president of the San Francisco chapter of the National Organization for Women. "Where they're crossing the line is when they expose young children to the objectification of women."
Not every chain is defensive about the reputation of breastaurants.
At Twin Peaks, based in Addison, Texas, sales last year grew 35 percent to $44 million from the previous year, according to Technomic. Owner DeWitt touts the 22-restaurant chain's amenities but is under no illusions about the main attraction.
Waitresses, for instance, vary their costumes for special occasions. Around the holidays, servers dress up like Santa's little helpers. Around Easter, they dress up like bunnies.
The owner of Tilted Kilt is just as frank. "We hire only spectacular talent," Lynch said. "They have to fit into that costume."

Obama ad slams Romney as "Outsourcer-in-Chief"

(CBS News) President Obama's re-election campaign is slamming Republican Mitt Romney as the potential "Outsourcer-in-Chief" in a trio of new ads to run in swing states.
The new Obama ads respond to Romney's own series of swing state ads, in which the presumptive Republican presidential nominee promises to create jobs and stand up to China. After playing a clip of the Romney ads, the Obama spot counters the claims by pointing to a Washington Post report that suggested Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney founded, played a large role in developing the trend of outsourcing American jobs overseas.
In the ad tailored for the state of Virginia, a narrator caps off the 30-second spot by asking, "Does Virginia really want an Outsourcer-in-Chief in the White House?"
Similar ads are running in Iowa and Ohio. At the end of the Ohio version, the narrator says, "Romney's never stood up to China. All he's ever done is send them our jobs."
The Romney campaign argues that the Washington Post story ignores some important nuance - such as the difference between "offshoring" and "outsourcing," or the expansion into export markets -- but the Obama campaign is ignoring whatever difference there may be. In fact, at a campaign event Monday, Mr. Obama mocked the Romney campaign for trying to make a distinction between the terms.
"They tried to clear this up by telling us there's actually a difference between 'outsourcing' and 'off-shoring,'" Mr. Obama said at the Massachusetts campaign event, eliciting laughter from his supporters. "That's what they said. You cannot make this stuff up."
The president continued, "Now, what Governor Romney and his advisers don't seem to understand is this: If you're a worker whose job went overseas, you don't need somebody trying to explain to you the difference between outsourcing and offshoring. You need somebody who's going to wake up every single day and fight for American jobs and investment here in the United States... Governor Romney's commitment to outsourcing is not just part of his record, it's part of an overall economic vision that he and Republicans in Congress want to implement if they win this election."
Vice President Joe Biden today will campaign in Waterloo, Iowa, and the Obama campaign tells CBS News that he will continue the attack on Romney's alleged record as an outsourcer.
Mr. Obama's remarks came a day after Ronmey adviser Eric Ferhnstrom appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" and explained the difference between "offshoring" and "outsourcing." "There's a very simple difference between outsourcing and offshoring," he said. "Outsourcing is what the Obama campaign does when they hire an outside telemarketing vendor to provide telemarketing services... Offshoring is the shipment of American jobs overseas and in that Washington Post story... there are no examples of jobs being taken from the United States and shipped overseas. What you have are companies that are expanding into new markets. We should be encouraging that not attacking it."
Calling the Post story a "shoddy piece of journalism," Ferhnstrom said, "The jobs that were cited by the Washington Post and which the Obama administration is now attacking were created to support exports overseas. When companies like Coca-Cola, for example, build a bottling plant in China so they can sell more soft drinks to the Chinese, we should be applauding that, because that type of entrance into new markets is what makes our companies stronger, more profitable, and more successful."

News Corp. is considering splitting into two companies, separating its publishing assets from its entertainment businesses. WSJ's Bruce Orwall reports. Photo: Getty Images

News Corp. NWSA +7.99% is considering splitting into two companies, separating its publishing assets from its entertainment businesses, say people familiar with the situation.
The split would carve off News Corp.'s film and television businesses, including 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox broadcast network and Fox News channel from its newspapers, book publishing assets and education businesses. News Corp.'s publishing assets include The Wall Street Journal, the Times of London and the Australian newspaper, as well as HarperCollins book publishing. If a separation occurs, the publishing company would be far smaller than the entertainment company.

Associated Press

News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch.

A final decision on the split hasn't been made. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has previously opposed such a move, which has been discussed internally for several years, say people familiar with the situation. Mr. Murdoch has recently warmed to the idea, said one person familiar with the situation.
The idea under consideration isn't expected to change the Murdoch family's effective control of any of the businesses, exercised through the family's roughly 40% voting stake in News Corp. The idea is similar to the split of Viacom Inc. VIAB -0.04% into two companies in 2006, when CBS was carved off as a separate company. In that break up, Viacom's controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone ended up with control of both companies.

Consideration of the restructuring at News Corp. comes in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at the company's British newspaper operations. That scandal has so far resulted in the closure of the News of the World tabloid and the resignation of several senior executives, and prompted News Corp. to abandon a bid for shares it doesn't already own in the U.K. satellite-TV operator British Sky Broadcasting PLC. BSY.LN +1.52%
In light of the scandal, the U.K. communications regulator has been reviewing whether BSkyB, which is 39%-owned by News Corp., is a "fit and proper" holder of a broadcasting license. Mr. Murdoch's son James, who has been criticized for his handling of the phone-hacking affair, gave up his chairmanship of BSkyB but remains on the board.
A split of News Corp.'s businesses would be welcomed by outside investors who are more interested in News Corp.'s television and film assets than its slow-growing publishing businesses. The entertainment assets make up by far the bulk of the company, contributing three-quarters of the $25.34 billion in revenue for the first nine months of the fiscal year. Those assets accounted for roughly 90% of the operating profit in that period.
In the nine months through March, News Corp.'s various segments together had operating profit of $4.2 billion, of which the publishing division contributed $458 million.

Enlarge Image

News Corp.'s stock price has outperformed several other big media companies in the past 12 months, at least in part because of significant increases in stock buybacks since last summer. News Corp. shares closed down 28 cents at $20.08 in Nasdaq trading on Monday.Chase Carey, News Corp.'s chief operating officer, said on an investor call in May that he was aware some shareholders favored a spinoff of the newspaper assets. At the time, Mr. Carey said management and the board had discussed the idea but didn't have plans to pursue it. Mr. Carey has long been thought to be more interested in a spinoff than Mr. Murdoch.

A split would be a big change for Mr. Murdoch, who built News Corp. into a media conglomerate from a single Australian newspaper he inherited in the 1950s. Until the 1980s his focus was on expanding internationally in newspapers, moving to Britain in the late 1960s with the purchase of the News of the World and the London Sun, and then expanding into the U.S. in the early 1970s.
While News Corp. continued to expand in newspapers, as recently as 2007 buying Dow Jones, the focus of the company shifted toward film and television since the 1980s purchase of the 20th Century Fox film studio and a group of TV stations that formed the basis of the Fox broadcast network. News Corp. later started cable channels such as Fox News that now generate much of the company's earnings.
Mr. Murdoch personally has remained a big fan of the newspaper business. When the London Sun recently launched a Sunday edition, Mr. Murdoch spent time in London helping with preparations.

US STOCKS-Futures edge up after sell-off; Spain eyed

Short-term Spanish yields rise after auction
* Case Shiller housing data, consumer confidence on tap
* Futures up: Dow 35 pts, S&P 1.2 pts, Nasdaq 10.5 pts
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, June 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday, indicating the S&P 500 may rebound from sharp losses in the prior session, but gains were muted after a Spanish bill auction met with falling demand.
Stocks fell on Monday to put the S&P 500 near break-even for June, as investors saw little reason to be optimistic about a European Union summit this week.
Spain's short-term borrowing costs nearly tripled at auction when the country sold 3.08 billion euros of its short-term debt, as the Treasury paid the highest rates to sell the paper since November.
Finance chiefs of the euro zone's four biggest economies will hold last-minute talks in Paris on Tuesday evening to discuss managing the crisis in the short term and proposals for closer long-term fiscal and banking integration in preparation for the summit later in the week.
According to a document prepared for the meeting, European leaders will discuss specific steps toward a cross-border banking union, closer fiscal integration and the possibility of a debt redemption fund.
"The market is going to pay attention and listen to any chatter that comes out over the next couple of days about what they think is going to come out of the summit," said Ken Polcari, managing director at ICAP Equities in New York.
"We are stuck in this predicament because the market is waiting for some real catalyst to push it one way or the other."
European shares were up slightly, with the FTSEurofirst 300 index adding 0.1 percent.
Cyprus became the latest euro zone member to ask for an aid package on Monday, adding to concerns about European leaders' ability to handle the crisis.
S&P 500 futures rose 1.2 points and were slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 35 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 10.5 points.
Economic data on tap includes S&P/Case Shiller Home Price indexes for April, at 9 a.m. (1300 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey expect the seasonally adjusted 20-city index to rise 0.4 percent versus a 0.1 percent increase in the previous month.
At 10 a.m. (1400 GMT), the Conference Board releases its June consumer confidence report. Economists in a Reuters survey expect the main index to read 63.5 compared with 64.9 in May.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is thinking of splitting into two companies, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
Asian shares fell as investors remained skeptical that the EU summit would yield any substantive measures to solve the region's protracted debt crisis, now in its third year.

Centre County Correctional Facility / AP Photo

Juror: No Doubt on Sandusky’s Guilt

One of the jurors who voted to convict former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky said on Sunday that he is “confident” he made the right decision. Joshua Harper said he did not see any sign of regret as the verdict was announced—which proved to Harper that Sandusky “knew it was true.” “It was just eye-opening on all the things that happened because we got a whole lot of detail on what Sandusky was doing,” said Harper, a Penn State graduate. Meanwhile, residents of Happy Valley, the area where Penn State is located, said it will take “years” to recover from the trauma of  Sandusky’s scandal. “The damage is done,” said one resident, Rick Scott. “It’s like a scar. It will be there forever.”

Read it at The New York Times

Egypt on high security ahead of vote results

Egypt was on high alert Sunday ahead of the official announcement of the country's new leader, the Associated Press reports. The country's top elections commission official has said Egypt will release results from its presidential election today.
From the AP:

Authorities deployed extra security forces in Cairo streets and near key state institutions and police were ordered to "confront with firmness" any violation of the law just hours ahead of the official announcement of Egypt's highly disputed presidential election results.

The June 16-17 runoff vote between the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohammed Morsi and ousted leader Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, left Egyptians with nerve-wrecking uncertainty as both candidates claimed victory and the results were delayed.

Both candidates have rallied supporters to the streets in a show of strength amid speculations about last-minute backdoor deals between the powerful ruling generals and the rising Islamists over power-sharing arrangements.

Anticipation was high and there were fears violence could break out after Sunday's announcement.

Authorities deployed extra security forces in Cairo streets and near key state institutions and police were ordered to "confront with firmness" any violation of the law just hours ahead of the official announcement of Egypt's highly disputed presidential

CAPTION

By Daniel Berehulak, Getty Images

election results.

The June 16-17 runoff vote between the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohammed Morsi and ousted leader Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, left Egyptians with nerve-wrecking uncertainty as both candidates claimed victory and the results were delayed.

Both candidates have rallied supporters to the streets in a show of strength amid speculations about last-minute backdoor deals between the powerful ruling generals and the rising Islamists over power-sharing arrangements.

Anticipation was high and there were fears violence could break out after Sunday's announcement.

Protest in Tahrir Square as Egypt waits for president

1 of 15. Protesters demonstrate at Tahrir Square in Cairo June 22, 2012.

Sat Jun 23, 2012 2:42am EDT

(Reuters) - Egyptians packed Tahrir Square in Cairo through the night on Saturday, waving flags and chanting for the end of military rule as they waited to know the name of the first president they have been free to choose.After a week of drama, in which the Muslim Brotherhood's hopes of victory in the presidential election were soured by the army dissolving the Islamist-led parliament and decreeing tight limits on the new head of state's powers, there was anxiety on the streets, but also some hope a compromise could be found.
With the electoral commission still not promising to give a result of last weekend's presidential run-off before Sunday, senior figures on the ruling military council and among their old enemies in the Brotherhood told Reuters they had already held talks about future constitutional arrangements this week.
In Tahrir Square, where demonstrators faced down Hosni Mubarak's police state during last year's Arab Spring and forced him from power, thousands of mainly Islamist protesters have gathered in growing numbers for several days. They were determined to see the army that pushed Mubarak aside make good on its promise to hand over to civilian government by July.
"Say it without fear, the army must leave," they chanted among hundreds of fluttering flags carrying Egypt's red, white and black colors. "Down, down with military rule!"
The ruling military body, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), made clear, however, it was not about to accede to their demands, which include reversing the dissolution of parliament and cancelling a decree by which it took legislative power for itself until a new constitution is in place.
But both sides recall the bloodshed that ravaged another North African state, Algeria, when military rulers thwarted an Islamist movement's triumph at the ballot box in the 1990s, and appear willing to renew the tentative cooperation they built up after Mubarak's overthrow and step back from an outright clash.
An Islamist insurrection in Egypt in the 1990s also cost hundreds of lives, making the Brotherhood wary of violence.
TIME FOR TALKS
Delay in the final tally of votes between Islamist Mohamed Morsy and former General Ahmed Shafik was due to many appeals being heard by the electoral commission, officials said. But it also gave more time for talks to defuse tensions.
"There has definitely been the process involved in tallying the official vote before announcing results," a senior state official familiar with the counting process told Reuters on Friday. "But there is also the politicking behind the scenes, with each side weighing up the strength of the other.
"The Brotherhood can draw millions of disciplined supporters onto the streets and the army has a mandate to ensure order."
Discussions between generals and Islamists, whose violent confrontation has marked Egypt for decades, were assuming a likelihood that Morsy will win narrowly, something electoral and army officials told Reuters seemed probable, but not certain.
"We have met with them to discuss how to get out of this crisis after parliament was dissolved and the new president's powers curbed," Khairat al-Shater, who runs the Brotherhood's finances and strategic planning, told Reuters - although he added they were some way from reaching any kind of agreement.
"The generals feel they are the proprietors of power and have not yet reached a level of real compromise," he said.
Major General Mamdouh Shaheen, a member of SCAF, confirmed the recent meetings and repeated the army's commitment to a democratic transition. But he echoed a strong statement issued by SCAF on Friday that rejected the Brotherhood's demands.
"The constitutional decree is the exclusive authority of the military council," Shaheen told Reuters.
MILITARY ORDER
In a brusque, four-minute statement read on state television as Egyptians were completing their Friday prayers, the generals stood by what critics at home and in the West have called a "soft coup" intended to prolong six decades of military rule.
"The issuance of the supplementary constitutional decree was necessitated by the needs of administering the affairs of the state during this critical period in the history of our nation," the off-screen announcer said in stiff, bureaucratic language.
The Brotherhood's candidate, Morsy, shot back that the generals were defying the will of the people and said protests would go on. But he stopped short of repeating his public claim to have already won the election, urging simply a rapid announcement of the result, and praised the army as "patriotic".
In what were menacing tones for the army's old adversary the Muslim Brotherhood, SCAF criticized its premature announcement of the election result as sowing division and said people were free to protest - but only if they did not disrupt daily life.
TAHRIR SQUARE
"This is a classic counter-revolution that will only be countered by the might of protesters," said Safwat Ismail, 43, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood on Tahrir Square.
"I am staying in the square until the military steps down."
The broad traffic intersection by the Nile in central Cairo was filled with makeshift tents offering shade by day from the scorching sun and hawkers offering an array of goods from tea to "I Love Tahrir Square" T-shirts. The crowd swelled when the heat faded, and many remained overnight, the square turning into a makeshift campground for thousands bused in from the provinces.
Mahmoud Mohammed, a bearded, 31-year-old marine engineer from Alexandria among a group from the fundamentalist Salafist movement camping on the square, insisted they were not looking for a battle, but wanted to see democracy installed.
"The people elected a parliament and they put it in the rubbish bin. We need the army to hand over," he said. "No one came here for a fight. We need democracy."
Smaller groups of secular activists joined the mainly Islamist throng. But the absence of many of the liberal urban youth who drove the early days of the revolt against Mubarak has highlighted a weariness with turmoil and a dismay at politics that have boiled down to Egypt's familiar choice between army and religion, the two best organized institutions, at the expense of candidates from the fragmented centre ground.
The decree has also given the military power to step in and force the pace of drafting a constitution, a process slowed in parliament by a lack of consensus between Islamists and other, secular parties. Some lawmakers involved were due to meet again on Saturday to try to make progress and keep control.
In a country where virtually no one can remember an election before last year that was not rigged, trust is low, not least among Brotherhood officials, many of whom, like Morsy, were jailed under Mubarak for their political activities.
The same electoral commission that handed 90 percent of a November 2010 parliamentary vote to Mubarak's supporters - a result that fuelled the protests that brought him down a few weeks later - sits in judgment on the new presidency.

Ex-Penn St. assistant Sandusky convicted of abuse

BELLEFONTE, Pa. –  For years, the children Jerry Sandusky had preyed upon kept quiet about what the former Penn State assistant football coach did to them in echoing shower stalls, empty hotel rooms and the muffled confines of his basement bedroom.
Late Friday, after a swift trial and less than two days of deliberations, a jury issued an emphatic verdict: Sandusky was guilty on 45 counts of sexual abuse, meaning the man once considered a successor to coach Joe Paterno will likely die in prison.
The verdict is not the end of the scandal that took down beloved football coach Joe Paterno and deeply shook the state's most prominent university. It will play out for years in courtrooms and through a set of ongoing investigations.
But the trial did present one piece of finality: Sandusky was taken away in handcuffs to the county jail. Sentencing will be in about three months, but mandatory minimums will keep him behind bars for life.
"One of the recurring themes in this case was, 'Who would believe a kid?'" said Attorney General Linda Kelly. "The answer is, we in Bellefonte, Pa., would believe a kid."
Sandusky, a retired defensive coach who was once Paterno's heir apparent, showed little emotion as the verdict was read, giving his wife, Dottie, and family members a half-wave as the county sheriff led him away.
There were only three acquittals among the charges related to 10 victims, eight of whom took the stand to describe fondling, forced oral sex and anal rape. Many of the accusers testified that they had told no one of the abuse that dated as far back as the mid-1990s — not parents, not girlfriends and not police.
The accuser known in court papers as Victim 6, whose mother alerted authorities in 1998 after Sandusky took her son into a shower, broke down in tears upon hearing the verdicts in the courtroom. Afterward, a prosecutor embraced him and said, "Did I ever lie to you?"
The man, now 25, testified that Sandusky called himself the "tickle monster" in a shower assault. He declined to comment to a reporter afterward. His mother said: "Nobody wins. We've all lost."
One of the three counts for which Sandusky was acquitted concerned Victim 6, an indecent assault charge. The man testified that Sandusky had given him a bear hug in the shower but at one point he just "blacked out."
The other acquittals were an indecent assault charge related to Victim 5, who said Sandusky fondled him in the shower, and an involuntary deviate sexual intercourse charge regarding Victim 2, the boy graduate assistant Mike McQueary saw being attacked in a campus shower.
Almost immediately after the judge adjourned, loud cheers could be heard from a couple hundred people gathered outside the courthouse as word quickly spread that Sandusky had been convicted. The crowd included victim advocates and local residents with their kids. Many held up their smartphones to take pictures as people filtered out of the building.
As Sandusky was placed in the cruiser to be taken to jail, someone yelled at him to "Rot in hell!" Others hurled insults and he shook his head no in response.
Defense attorney Joe Amendola was interrupted by cheers from the crowd on the courthouse steps when he said, "The sentence that Jerry will receive will be a life sentence."
In addition to the eight who testified, there were two yet-unidentified victims for which prosecutors relied on testimony from a university janitor and McQueary, whose account of a sexual encounter between Sandusky and a boy of about 10 years old ultimately led to the Paterno's dismissal and the university president's ouster.
Sandusky did not take the stand in his own defense.
After the verdict was announced, defense attorney Karl Rominger said it was "a tough case" with a lot of charges and that an appeal was certain. He said the defense team "didn't exactly have a lot of time to prepare."
The ex-coach had repeatedly denied the allegations, and his defense suggested that his accusers had a financial motive to make up stories, years after the fact. His attorneys also painted Sandusky as the victim of overzealous police investigators who coached the alleged victims into giving accusatory statements.
One accuser testified that Sandusky molested him in the locker-room showers and in hotels while trying to ensure his silence with gifts and trips to bowl games. He also said Sandusky had sent him "creepy love letters."
Another spoke of forced oral sex and instances of rape in the basement of Sandusky's home, including abuse that left him bleeding. He said he once tried to scream for help, knowing that Sandusky's wife was upstairs, but figured the basement must be soundproof.
Another, a foster child, said Sandusky warned that he would never see his family again if he ever told anyone what happened.
And just hours after the case went to jurors, lawyers for one of Sandusky's six children, Matt, said he had told authorities that his father abused him.
Matt Sandusky had been prepared to testify on behalf of prosecutors, his lawyers said in a statement. The lawyers said they arranged for Matt Sandusky to meet with law enforcement officials but did not explain why he didn't testify.
"This has been an extremely painful experience for Matt and he has asked us to convey his request that the media respect his privacy," the statement said. It didn't go into details about his allegations.
Defense witnesses, including Dottie Sandusky, described Sandusky's philanthropic work with children over the years, and many spoke in positive terms about his reputation in the community. Prosecutors had portrayed those efforts as an effective means by which Sandusky could camouflage his molestation as he targeted boys who were the same age as participants in The Second Mile, a charity he founded in the 1970s for at-risk youth.
Sandusky's arrest in November led the Penn State trustees to fire Paterno as head coach, saying he exhibited a lack of leadership after fielding a report from McQueary. The scandal also led to the ouster of university President Graham Spanier and criminal charges against two university administrators for failing to properly report suspected child abuse and perjury.
The two administrators, athletic director Tim Curley and now-retired vice president Gary Schultz, are fighting the allegations and await trial.
The family of Paterno, who died exactly five months before Sandusky's conviction, released a statement saying: "Although we understand the task of healing is just beginning, today's verdict is an important milestone. The community owes a measure of gratitude to the jurors for their diligent service. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the victims and their families."
In a statement, Penn State praised the accusers who testified and said that it planned to invite the victims of Sandusky's abuse to participate in a private program to address their concerns and compensate them for claims related to the school.
Sandusky had initially faced 52 counts of sex abuse. Prosecutors dropped one count and the judge tossed three others during the trial, on grounds two were unproven, one was brought under a statute that didn't apply and another was duplicative.