William World News William F. Yurasko's blog v.14 – Nats, Redskins, Capitals, D.C. life, transportation, not so much Penn State anymore,

THON 2013 total tops $12.3 million – The Collegian

Penn State Dance Marathon raised $12,374,034.46, over $1.6 million more than 2012. When I was a student, it broke $2 million and we were in amazed.
From thon.org:
The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, affectionately known as THON, is a yearlong effort to raise funds and awareness for the [...]

Penn Staters are facing yet another dark morning of the soul today. I don’t have high expectations that the Freeh report will result in anyone being exonerated, any opinions being changed and certainly not any healing. We’re still where we were in November:
I saw a girl crying tonight. When I asked why she said: “Because [...]

My COMM 320 professor at Penn State, Wayne Hilinski died over the winter; his obituary appeared yesterday in the CDT/Legacy.com. I took his advertising class, but mostly remember him from sitting out in front of Carnegie Building chatting and having fun with the journalism vs. advertising rivalry. For being on the “other side” he was [...]

PepsiCo awarded exclusive Penn State contract – CDT
The official soft drink of Penn State will remain Pepsi for another 10 years if a contract between the university and Pepsi is completed in July as expected. The details are still being worked out, but Pepsi would have continue to have exclusive pouring and vending rights on [...]

The elms in happier times
Disease claims historic Old Main elm – Penn State Live
Since the onset of elm yellows on campus in 2007, 76 trees have been lost. Add to these the number of trees killed prior and since by Dutch elm, and out of approximately 290 trees, about 100 remain.
Sigh. Another reminder that the [...]

Penn State Trustees Scorecard: 15 Attorneys, 4 Football Players, 1 Navy SEAL – statecollege.com
The formerly sleepy Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees election is going to be a big deal this year, following the scandal that Jerry Sandusky caused and administrators like Graham Spanier and Gary Schultz didn’t take at all seriously. Eighty-six candidates will [...]

THON raises record total, tops $10.6 million – The Collegian
Wow, over $10 million raised this year, even with the challenges facing Penn State now.
In its 40-year history and 35-year partnership with the Four Diamonds Fund, THON has now raised more than $88 million for the patients and research at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey [...]

I am only getting to my obituary for Joe Paterno now because I wasn’t sure what I could add to the thousands of tributes already out there. I’m going to try and fill in something that I think has been overlooked. That aspect was also a little hard to find online until late last week.
Paterno [...]

Every year, I go places and list them. The primary criteria are 1.) Having a sit-down meal 2.) spending the night in that location.
Alexandria, Va.
Arlington, Va.
Burke, Va.
Fairfax, Va.
Falls Church, Va.
Franconia, Va.
McLean, Va.
Reston, Va.
Vienna, Va.
Annapolis, Md.
Baltimore, Md.
Columbia, Md.
Crownsville, Md.
Ellicot City, Md.
Poolesville, Md.
Avalon, N.J.
Ocean City, N.J.
Stone Harbor, N.J.
Wildwood Crest, N.J.
Woodstown, N.J.
Belleville, Pa.
Burnham, Pa.
Harrisburg, Pa.
Hershey, Pa.
Hummelstown, Pa.
Lewistown, Pa.
Mercersburg, [...]

I was saddened to learn that one of my former professors, Jeanne Hall, died this past week.
Dr. Hall was a film professor — I only had her for COMM 150, the introductory film course. However, I knew her a little bit. In fact, even before I took her class, she introduced herself to me [...]