Inside this edition: Why Spotlight PA fought to unseal search warrants but waited to publish a story, a free event breaking down Pa.'s multibillion-dollar budget, and an opportunity to meet your Spotlight PA reporters in person.
Real quick: Spotlight PA fought to unseal search warrants involving Penn State student crime victims, but there were too many unanswered questions to rush a story once we had them.
A bit more: A story broke Friday that revealed Penn State athletes had reportedly been extorted into sending sexually explicit images and videos of themselves and others, including videos recorded inside the football team’s locker room.
Spotlight PA was part of the effort to make public details of the alleged scheme, which had been sealed by a Centre County Court of Common Pleas judge. But when we gained access to the records last week, we decided it wasn’t right to immediately publish a story. And here’s why.
The contents of the file are disturbing. The documents include intimate details about potential victims of extortion, and describe possible sexual abuse. The documents raise a host of questions not just about what occurred, but how it was subsequently handled by the university, the district attorney’s office, and other law enforcement.
Those questions required more time, reporting, and context than could be provided in the hours after we received the records Friday afternoon. So we decided not to rush to publish.
PLUS: Join us Tuesday, July 26 at 6 p.m. on Zoom for a free breakdown of Pa.'s multibillion-dollar budget and how it will impact you. Register for the event here and submit your questions to events@spotlightpa.org.
A photo of the Tioga Reservoir by local accountability reporter Min Xian. Want to be featured here? Send your best local pics to talkofthetown@spotlightpa.org.
An anagram is a word, phrase, or name formed by rearranging the letters of another. For example, "spotlight" also forms "stoplight."
Decode the anagram and send your answer to talkofthetown@spotlightpa.org. We'll shout out winners here, and one each week will get some Spotlight PA State College swag.
S O F T E R
Good luck!
Last week's answer: Garden
Winner: Brian B.
Do you have events, community shoutouts, questions about our region, or tips on stories that we should pursue? Email our team.
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and WITF Public Media.
