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Penn State to Pay Victims: Associated Press: “Penn State said Monday it is paying $59.7 million to 26 young men over claims of child sexual abuse at the hands of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The school said 23 deals are fully signed and three are agreements in principle, but it did not disclose the names of the recipients. The school faces six other claims, and the university says it believes some of those do not have merit while others may produce settlements. … The settlements have been unfolding since mid-August, when attorneys for the accusers began to disclose them. Penn State has not been confirming them, waiting instead to announce deals at once.”
Where the Cash Comes From: Penn State press release: “The settlement amounts will not be funded by student tuition, taxpayer funds or donations, according to officials. The University maintains various liability insurance policies, which the University believes cover the settlements and defense of claims brought against Penn State and its officers, employees and trustees. Expenses not covered by insurance are expected to be funded from interest revenues related to loans made by the University to its self-supporting units.”
It’s Monday, October 28th, welcome to the Slatest PM. Follow your afternoon host on Twitter at @Dan_Gartland, and the whole team at @Slatest.
The Slatest: Federal Judge Blocks Key Parts of Texas’ New Abortion Law
U.S. Strike Kills Two Suspected Al-Shabab Militants: CBS News: “A United States military strike hit a vehicle carrying senior members of an al Qaeda-linked militant group in Somalia on Monday, killing at least two people including the group’s top explosives expert, a militant and a government intelligence official said. The strike was carried out by the U.S. military as opposed to the CIA, CBS News correspondent David Martin reports. An al-Shabab member who gave his name as Abu Mohamed said one of those killed was al-Shabab’s top explosives expert, known as Anta. He said a drone fired at the car in Somalia’s Middle Juba region. It was not clear how Mohamed would know it was a drone strike, except that he said no attack helicopters were seen.”
The Slatest: Did the NSA Keep Obama in The Dark About Its Spying on World Leaders?
The Filibuster Wars Return: USA Today: “Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says he’ll block a vote on President Obama’s nominees until the White House provides more information about the survivors of last year’s deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya. Graham, a vocal critic of what happened at Benghazi, posted on Twitter that he’ll block ‘every appointment’ from getting a vote in the U.S. Senate. … Graham’s threat comes a day after CBS’ 60 Minutes aired a report that included an eyewitness account from a former British soldier.”
Weigel: What Did We Learn From the 60 Minutes Benghazi Report?
The Latest Glitch: Reuters: “The website at the center of the U.S. healthcare reform law was back up Monday after a data center outage prevented Americans from enrolling in subsidized health insurance, the latest technical problem to plague the online insurance exchanges. The outage, which started before dawn on Sunday, affected not only the federal government’s online exchange, HealthCare.gov, but also those run by 14 states and the District of Columbia, the Department of Health and Human Services said. HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters said on Monday the website itself as well as a crucial piece of Obamacare … were both back online as of 7 a.m. EDT after being restored late Sunday and tested overnight.”
The Slatest: Will the Sequester Cost The Pentagon’s “Yoda” His Job?
The Tiananmen Crash: New York Times: “A sport-utility vehicle crashed into pedestrians and caught fire on Monday alongside Tiananmen gate in Beijing, killing five people, including the driver and two passengers, and wounding 38 others, according to the Beijing police and the state-run Xinhua News Agency. The gate, at the south end of the Forbidden City, is the symbolic center of political power in China, adorned with the image of Mao Zedong. The gate and the adjoining Tiananmen Square have been the center of political protest in the past, most notably the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations that were put down by force. There was no immediate indication of whether the episode was an accident or a deliberate attack. Shortly after noon, the vehicle turned onto a sidewalk alongside Chang’an Avenue, which runs between the iconic gate and Tiananmen Square, and hit tourists and police officers before slamming into a fence abutting a stone bridge and catching fire, the police said in a statement posted to their Sina Weibo microblog.”
Future Tense: San Francisco Startup Claims Artificial-Intelligence Breakthrough
Michael Jackson’s Doctor Out of Jail Early: NBC Los Angeles: “Conrad Murray was released from jail at midnight Monday after serving a sentence for administering a fatal dose of the anesthetic propofol to pop superstar Michael Jackson at the singer’s rented Holmby Hills estate. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for Jackson’s June 25, 2009, death at age 50. The singer was in Southern California rehearsing for his never-realized “This Is It” concert series at London’s O2 Arena. The coroner’s office determined that Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication.”
That’s all for today. See you back here tomorrow. Until then, tell your friends to subscribe or simply forward the newsletter on and let them make up their own minds.
