Off the wire

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Sandusky loses pension

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has lost a legal battle to restore his $4,900-a-month pension, a benefit that was canceled two years ago after he was sentenced for child molestation. The State Employees’ Retirement Board’s 122-page opinion, made public Friday, determined Sandusky remained a Penn State employee after his announced retirement in 1999, meaning his abuse of children fell under a 2004 state law that added sexual offenses against students to the crimes that trigger forfeiture. Sandusky attorney Chuck Benjamin said he planned to file a challenge to the decision in court. The decision went against the recommendation in June by a hearing examiner who said Sandusky had already retired by the time the Pension Forfeiture Act was expanded. Six sex crimes against two children met standards of the forfeiture law, the board said. The board said Sandusky, through his former charity the Second Mile, continued to work in an outreach capacity for Penn State after 2004, appearing at golf tournaments that university alumni, boosters and athletics officials attended. Sandusky, 70, is serving a decades-long sentence and appears likely to die in prison. His wife, Dottie Sandusky, would have been in line to continue collecting 50 percent of his pension upon his death, but the opinion also denied her survivorship benefits. “I think that for the SERS to say that Jerry somehow remained a Penn State employee after he retired from Penn State and went to work for (the Second Mile) is ridiculous and ignores reality,” Dottie Sandusky said in an email to the AP.

Tom Herman said he embraces the challenge of the Houston Cougars when he was introduced as their new football coach, but first he paid tribute to his former boss and mentor, Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer. At an introductory news conference Friday, Herman said Meyer taught him the importance of competing every day in everything, the importance of a coach earning the trust of his players and “that the toughest-coached team always has a chance to win the game, regardless of talent.” The Cougars “have a ton of talent,” and the Cougars “will recruit some of the finest talent in the state of Texas,” Herman promised. “We will be exciting to watch,” he assured. First, though, Herman said he needed to bring about a collective change in attitude. “We have a long way to go, but the expectations have been set very high, and should be. We’ve got a long way to go, let me reiterate that. We’ve got some culture things to change.” The former Ohio State offensive coordinator agreed to a five-year, $6.75 million contract to succeed fired Tony Levine.

SOCCER

Redacted report coming

FIFA said on Friday that it would release a redacted version of the full report compiled by Michael J. Garcia, the former chief investigator for the governing body’s ethics committee, who spent more than a year digging into allegations of corruption in the World Cup bidding process. Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, announced the decision at a news conference in Morocco, at which he also said that the 2018 World Cup would take place in Russia as planned and that the 2022 event would remain in Qatar because there were no legal grounds for a revote. Blatter had been one of the primary figures to oppose the release of the report. But, speaking Friday after a meeting of FIFA’s executive committee, he said, “We have always been determined that the truth should be known.” The report will be redacted to protect certain measures of privacy and will not be released until it can be ensured that the investigations into some of the individuals found to have committed ethics violations are closed. Garcia resigned from his position Wednesday after conflicts with Hans-Joachim Eckert, the German judge who was his judiciary counterpart on the ethics committee. The divide stemmed, in large part, from Garcia’s frustration over Eckert’s summary of the ethics report, which was initially the only aspect of the investigation that was required to be made public. In his summary, Eckert said the violations that Garcia had found were small in scope, and he recommended that the matter be closed. Garcia, a former federal prosecutor, disagreed with that assessment of his work and resigned after losing an appeal he had filed with FIFA’s appeals committee.

FOOTBALL

Another Rice video out

A video released Friday shows Ray Rice’s then-fiancee crying and kissing him while they are both handcuffed and being taken to jail by police officers after Rice punched her in a casino elevator. The video was obtained by ABC News through a public records request filed with the New Jersey Gaming Enforcement Division. Rice’s attorney fought to keep the video from being released but lost. The video shows Janay Palmer— now married to the former Baltimore Ravens running back — crying and being comforted by officers or security officials at the Revel casino early on the morning of Feb. 15. An officer walked a handcuffed Rice toward an elevator, pulling Rice’s sweatshirt hood over his head. Palmer, also handcuffed, appeared to be crying as another officer led her behind Rice. Both of them were placed in an elevator with several officers. Rice and Palmer moved their heads together as if they were talking. Palmer leaned in and appeared to kiss Rice before they are escorted out of the elevator. ABC said the total length of the video is about 45 minutes long. The network released excerpts that last about 2 1/2 minutes. TMZ first published video of the punch. In September, a law enforcement official showed The Associated Press multiple videos from the casino the night Rice was arrested. Those videos included security cameras from inside and outside the elevator and two cell phone videos that included some audio as staff members and others tried to assist Palmer. None of the videos shown to the AP included the newly released footage obtained by ABC. The videos were shown to the AP on condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to release them. Rice was charged with assault, and entered an intervention program to have the charges dropped. Charges against Palmer were dropped for a lack of evidence. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell initially suspended Rice for two games. After the video of the punch became public, Goodell changed the suspension to indefinite and the Ravens released Rice. An arbitrator later ruled in favor of Rice and threw out the indefinite suspension, freeing Rice to play again. No team has signed Rice and it’s unclear if a team will take him on for next season.

CYCLING

Armstrong partners settle

Two of Lance Armstrong’s longtime business partners have agreed to pay the federal government $500,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former teammate, Floyd Landis. Notice of the agreement with Bill Stapleton, Armstrong’s longtime agent, and Bart Knaggs, one of Armstrong’s business partners, was filed this week in federal court documents. They also have agreed to pay Landis’ attorney, Paul Scott, $100,000. Landis sued Armstrong and others in 2010, accusing them of doping offenses and defrauding the government over the U.S. Postal Service’s sponsorship of Armstrong’s team. The government in 2013 joined the lawsuit against Armstrong and is seeking up to $100 million in penalties, but hadn’t joined the case against Stapleton and Knaggs. The government must still approve the proposed settlement. The lawsuit against Armstrong continues.

HOCKEY

Maatta has mumps

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta is the latest NHL player to be diagnosed with mumps. The Penguins announced the diagnosis Friday morning. He is currently on injured reserve due to an undisclosed injury. Robert Bortuzzo and goaltender Thomas Greiss were also tested for the virus, but those results came back negative. Bortuzzo is also on injured reserve due to an undisclosed injury. With Greiss returning to practice Friday at Consol Energy Center, the Penguins assigned goaltender Jeff Zatkoff to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

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