State and National News

The NCAA laid out severe penalties against Penn State University today - in light of a child rape scandal. The school's football team has been banned from post-season play, docked scholarships, fined heavily, and stripped of past victories. Michel Martin discusses the penalties with Sports Illustrated's Pablo Torre.

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Coming up, the NCAA has leveled severe penalties against Penn State for failing to stop former assistant football coach and convicted sexual predator Jerry Sandusky. We'll have the latest on that story in a few minutes.

Getting politicians to talk about their past and most vulnerable moments is a difficult task. But one man has managed to get more than 60 prominent politicians to talk about their first campaigns. Host Michel Martin speaks with Columbia University oral historian Jeffrey Brodsky, who wrote about this project for the Washington Post Magazine.

Host Michel Martin discusses HIV and AIDS within the Latino community in the United States with Jesus Aguais of AID for AIDS International, which promotes prevention and treatment for Latin American patients. Also, Alicia Wilson, the Executive Director of La Clinica del Pueblo.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.

Penn State says it accepts the sanctions announced this morning by the NCAA. College sports' governing body announced punitive sanctions against Penn State University after the child sex abuse scandal that has tainted the reputation of the football program and the former coach, the late Joe Paterno. Penn State will be fined $60 million and lose 14 years of victories, from 1998 to 2011, among other penalties. Here's the NCAA president, Mark Emmert.

If you think you've been hearing more about product recalls lately, you have. But if "recall fatigue" is setting in, you need to shake it off for this one: Cargill Beef Solutions is announcing a recall of about 30,000 pounds of fresh ground beef from a Pennsylvania plant because of possible contamination with Salmonella Enteritidis.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

By now you may have heard the news - the NCAA, which governs college sports, has penalized Penn State University's football program for overlooking or covering up the abuse of children, the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

We're going to talk about this now with our regular sports commentator, Frank Deford, who's on the line. Hi, Frank.

FRANK DEFORD, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.

The 2012 Summer Olympics in London starts in four days with the carefully choreographed opening ceremony. But a related spectator sport is already well underway: Dissecting the economic impact of the games.

A show we did in February looked at how big an economic boost cities really get from hosting the Superbowl, and much of the same analysis is being applied to this year's games.

You have found The Torch, NPR's new blog about the London 2012 Summer Olympics. For the next three weeks, we'll bring you the big news from London, along with stories about the human side of an international mega-event.