Genaro C. Armas

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Joe Paterno’s family released its response to Penn State’s report on the Jerry Sandusky scandal Sunday, attacking Louis Freeh’s conclusion that the coach hid sex abuse allegations against his longtime assistant.0

In a report commissioned by the family, former U.S. Attorney General and Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh said the investigation by former FBI director Freeh resulted in a “rush to injustice.” That report, authorized by the university, found that Paterno and three former administrators covered up child sexual abuse allegations against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Those findings last July were unsupported by the facts, said the family critique released.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — From bumper stickers to signs posted by a few businesses to the occasional T-shirt, reminders of Joe Paterno sprinkle Happy Valley.

Most cues are subtle enough to make an outsider look twice. Like the decals with the outline of the bespectacled Paterno’s distinctive face, or the shirt with the image of the longtime Penn State coach’s trademark look of rolled-up khakis and sneakers.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — After having its reputation tarnished by a child sexual abuse scandal, Penn State wants to become a national leader in researching and preventing such abuse and sees a conference it’s hosting this weekend as a major step toward that goal.

Organizers of the three-day gathering called “Child Sexual Abuse Conference: Traumatic Impact, Prevention and Intervention,” hope the event sheds more light on a problem that gained national attention after former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested on child sex abuse charges last November.

Utah kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart and retired boxing champ Sugar Ray Leonard, both of whom endured child sex abuse, are the featured speakers at a conference that also will include academic and clinical experts on child molestation and trauma.

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Lawyers for one of Jerry Sandusky’s adopted sons said the man has told authorities the former Penn State assistant football coach abused him.

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Defense attorneys in Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse trial suggested in their questioning Tuesday that investigators shared details among accusers, planting the seeds of the alleged victims’ evolving accounts of abuse.

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Two more accusers took the stand at Jerry Sandusky's sex-abuse trial Thursday, one of whom said the former Penn State assistant football coach called himself the "tickle monster" before embracing him in a shower and another who said he was distraught that the two lost touch.

The second man, now 25, said he loved Sandusky and that he viewed him as a father figure, but that he became angry with Sandusky because he never reached out to him after the witness was sent out of the area to live in a group home.

"He just forgot about me, like I was nothing," said the man known in court documents as Victim 3. "I would pray he would call me and maybe find a way to get me out of there ... but it never happened."

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- A school guidance counselor initially didn't believe the abuse claims brought by one of Jerry Sandusky's alleged victims because the former Penn State assistant football coach was considered to have "a heart of gold," the accuser told jurors Tuesday.

The teen, labeled Victim No. 1 by a grand jury, tearfully recounted repeated instances of Sandusky kissing him, fondling him and oral sex, mostly in the basement of Sandusky's State College home during sleepovers.

Now 18, the witness recounted an early encounter that escalated to oral sex.

"I spaced," the alleged victim said. "I didn't know what to do with all the thoughts running through my head, I just kind of blacked out and didn't want it to happen. I froze."