Yesterday's primary election turned out to be a little more exciting than I thought. Sure, Rick Santorum took away some of the fun by dropping out of the race about two weeks ago, and MITT ROMNEY celebrated his five-state sweep by giving a speech from a sixth state. Even so, there was plenty to talk about, especially since some who were in ended up being out.

Election night coverage by my station focused on a couple of races in which the campaign ads started off positive but went negative pretty quickly.

One of those races was in the reconfigured 17th Congressional District. Democrat Rep. Tim Holden wanted an 11th term in Congress. But, to get that, he would have to fend off a primary challenge from attorney MATT CARTWRIGHT. The newly redrawn district still includes Holden's home county of Schuylkill, but it now runs through the Democratic strongholds of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, places where Cartwright is a familiar name because of all those commercials his law firm runs.

I thought this could get messy for Holden, and it did. He had some positive ads on the air for about a week, then quickly went negative by trying to link the lawyer and his previous campaign contributions to Luzerne County's so-called "Kids for Cash" scandal. Cartwright countered those ads and fought back with his own negative spots that tried to associate Holden, a "Blue Dog" Democrat with the Republicans.

Given Cartwright's name recognition in the revamped district and the overall friendlier tone of his ads, I thought he had a chance to defeat Holden. So, I wasn't surprised when, on Election Night, Cartwright won. What did surprise me was by how much. Cartwright won by close to 10,000 votes - a 14% margin. Holden never really got close. So, Holden is out, and Cartwright is in - if he can defeat Republican challenger LAUREEN CUMMINGS in November.

Another race we followed closely was the GOP race in the 29th state senate district, which is concentrated in Schuylkill County. Dave Argall, a former state rep who made the jump to the senate by winning a special election in 2009, is running for his first full term. He faced a primary challenge from coal company owner Brian Rich. This race also got a lot of air play with Rich trying to paint Argall as a Harrisburg insider and Argall trying to paint Rich as unethical. There were some positive ads, too. Rich used the buzzwords "job creator" while Argall promised he would support legislation to repeal property taxes (which sounds great until you start to wonder what the lawmakers will come up with to replace them).

Anyway, Argall v Rich looked to be another close one, but Argall got an early lead and never gave it up. He won by almost 2,000 votes, a margin of 53%-47%. Closer than Holden/Cartwright, but not as close as I thought. So, Argall is still in, but in November, he'll have to fend off a challenge from Democrat TIM SEIP, a former state rep. I guess I give the early edge to Argall, if for no other reason than that the district has been held by a Republican forever. But, I expect Seip to be a worthy opponent, so, you never know.

Entries on the "out" list include two current state reps from the Scranton area. In the 112th District, Democrat Ken Smith lost by about 300 votes to KEVIN HAGGERTY. 300 votes may not seem like a lot, but it translates to about three percentage points. Smith's financial problems have been well-publicized (including by the news organization that I work for), but he ran a positive ad for a few days leading up to the election and made the race close. He's talked of asking for a recount, but I think 300 votes is a lot to overcome. There were no Republicans on the ballot, so, for all intents and purposes, Smith is out and Haggerty is in. (Update on 4/28: A count of the write-in votes showed that Ray Nearhood won a spot on the GOP ballot. So it will be Haggerty v. Nearhood in November)

In the neighboring 113th, the lone candidates on the ballot were again two Democrats. Incumbent Kevin Murphy and county prison employee MARTY FLYNN. For largely logistical reasons, I didn't pay a lot of attention to this race in my election coverage planning, but I admit I didn't really think it was one I needed to plan for. Well, surprise! At the end of the night, Flynn had won by, again, a margin of roughly 300 votes.

Neither candidate did any TV advertising (at least not that I noticed). But, Murphy took a hit the weekend before Election Day when the local paper revealed (after checking out a tip from a Flynn supporter) that Murphy did not actually have the college degree he claimed he did. In the article, Murphy admitted that he didn't actually have a diploma in his possession, but he said he thought he had earned his degree because the school keeps sending him letters asking for money. He called his claims that he had his degree an honest mistake and went on to say that he expected to have the matter cleared up quickly. Did the oversight cost Murphy the election? No idea, but it probably didn't help. So now, again for all intents and purposes, Murphy is is out and Marty is in like Flynn (sorry, couldn't resist).

In the race for another state house seat based in Lackawanna County, a politico who tried to get back in the game is out. I'm talking the 115th District, where former county commissioner Randy Castellani squared off against landscaper FRANK FARINA. Castellani had the backing of outgoing State Rep. Ed Staback, who's held the seat for more than three decades. But, Farina seems to have pulled off the upset, winning by just over 100 votes. What made the difference? A co-worker seems to think that people haven't forgotten that Castellani quit as a commissioner to take a job with the state. Is it a coincidence that the home page of Farina's website contains the promise, "I'll never quit working for you." I haven't heard anything definite about a recount here, but I won't be surprised if there is one. At any rate, at this point, it appears as though Farina is in and will move on to November, where he'll face Republican THERESA KANE.

Another Kane, this one a Democrat, has managed to make it into November. In what I think is a somewhat surprising victory, KATHLEEN KANE of Lackawanna County, defeated Patrick Murphy in the race for PA Attorney General. Kane will now face DAVID FREED, a DA from the Harrisburg area, in November.

This was another tough one to figure. Conventional wisdom had Murphy winning. But, Kane got her name out there last fall when she appeared on various national newscasts to provide some expert insight into the Jerry Sandusky case. Kane specialized in handling child abuse and sexual assault cases when she worked for the Lackawanna County DA's office. She touted that experience in her TV ads. Murphy, on the other hand, emphasized his military service and his experience as a military prosecutor. Both camps kept things positive. In the end, Kane won by around 40,000 votes, a margin that she said surprised even her. So, Murphy is out and Kane is still in with a chance to be Pennsylvania's first elected female Attorney General.

One more race worth mentioning is the GOP contest for US Senate. Incumbent Democrat BOB CASEY had a primary opponent but dispatched him easily. Casey didn't even hang around his hometown of Scranton after voting in the morning. He went right back to Washington, DC. The Republican side featured five candidates, but played out as a three-man race. Steve Welch had a fair amount of money and the endorsement of Governor Corbett; TOM SMITH had a lot of money; and Sam Rohrer had a familiar name a good ground game. Rohrer never did any TV advertising, but Welch and Smith were always on - mostly fighting over which of these former Democrats had turned into the most conservative conservative. The final results: Smith, Rohrer, Welch. So, Corbett's candidate is out, Smith is in, and Casey will have an opponent in the fall who's not afraid to spend money - even if it's his own.

Take those races, mix in a race for president, and the general election in November should be a good one.

Yesterday, April 5, was a big news day. The leading GOP presidential contender, MITT ROMNEY, paid a visit to Wyoming County; the SWB YANKEES opened their season against the LEHIGH VALLEY IRON PIGS; the PHILADELPHIA PHILLES opened their season against the Pittsburgh Pirates; and, last but not least, JERRY SANDUSKY had a pretrial hearing in Centre County court (you didn't think this would be a Sandusky-less post, did you?).

I missed a good bit of all that news because I was busy getting things organized for our coverage of the upcoming primary election. But, on the face of it, the thing that seemed as though it would be the most exciting turned out to be the least exciting. And, I'm not talking about Mitt Romney.

No, Thursday's hearing in the Sandusky case proved to be the very definition of anticlimactic. At first, it seemed like there could be some key developments in the case. The judge was expected to hear arguments and possibly rule on several motions - including one to dismiss the charges - and Sandusky was expected to be there. The hearing was supposed to last into the afternoon. With so much going on, what could a news station do but send two reporters and order satellite time?

But, the hearing ended almost as soon as it started. Sure, Sandusky showed up, but that was about the only thing that went as planned. Sandusky's lawyer withdrew most of the motions, so there really wasn't much for anyone to do after that except go home and wait for more motions to be filed sometime later.

Later will actually have to be pretty soon, though, because the judge seems to be holding to the recently revised trial date of June 5. The original trial date was May 14, but I never thought that would happen. Despite what this judge says now, I'm also not convinced that the trial will start on June 5. In fact, I'm still not convinced that there's even going to be a trial. What I am sure of is that Sandusky's lawyer is continuing his strategy of doing whatever it takes to keep Sandusky out of jail for as long as possible.

With the hearing out of the way, I went back to focusing on election preps. One of the most interesting primary races looks to be in the 17th Congressional District where incumbent Democrat TIM HOLDEN is facing a strong challenge from attorney MATT CARTWRIGHT. Holden, a "blue dog" from Schuylkill County, has been in office for 20 years. In 2002, after redistricting, he went up against another incumbent, Republican George Gekas, and surprised a lot of people, I think, by winning. Now, the lines have been redrawn again, and Holden again finds himself in unfamiliar territory. Schuylkill County is still in the 17th, but now the district includes large chunks of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, where Cartwright has some name recognition.

Both candidates started advertising a couple weeks ago. Cartwright showed some humor when he used his initial ad to introduce himself and his family. Holden stood around with guys in hard hats and touted his accomplishments. But, Holden has now gone negative and, as some other bloggers have pointed out, that's often a sign that a candidate is in trouble. On the other hand, candidates wouldn't "go negative" if it didn't work. I think it will be interesting to see if it works this time. In November, the winner will face the GOP candidate, LAUREEN CUMMINGS of Old Forge.

Another interesting race looks to be in the 112th State House district in Lackawanna County. Incumbent Democrat KEN SMITH is being challenged for a second time by KEVIN HAGGERTY. Smith won two years ago. Since then, his family-owned restaurant, which had already been sold to a bank at a sheriff's sale, has now reopened under new ownership, and Smith has been criticized for failing to pay back loans. The money issues didn't hurt Smith in 2010. It will be interesting to see if 2012 will be different.

2012 will be different in NEPA due to the fact that it won't have a AAA baseball team. The SWB Yankees will play all of their games on the road while PNC Field gets renovated. A lot of those games will be played in upstate New York, which prompted the temporary rebranding of the team as the Empire State Yankees. That name change only served to increase speculation that the team would never come back to the area. But, just today, Lackawanna County officials announced they are close to finalizing a deal that will keep the team in NEPA for at least the next 30 years.

Finally, the Phillies opened the season with a win at Pittsburgh. A win is a win, and it's always nice to start the season with a W. But, I'm a little concerned that it took Roy Halladay pitching a two-hitter over 8 innings to get the win. The Phils offense managed to push just one run across the plate. The Phils pitching was good last year and, if the first game is any indication, it may have to be even better this year. I think they have a good shot at topping 100 wins again, but they're going to have to score more than 100 runs to get them.

In the month or so since I last posted, there have been several developments in the child sex abuse case involving former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

The status of the case thus far is that a) the trial is scheduled to start May 14 in Centre County Court; b) a jury from Centre County will hear the case; c) the conditions of Sandusky's house arrest have been relaxed; d) the prosecution filed PAPERS containing more information about Sandusky's alleged assaults; and e) the defense wants even MORE information revealed.

Developments a, b and c came about following a hearing on February 10. The hearing didn't take all that long, and the judge made his rulings a few days later. Basically, he gave the defense pretty much everything they wanted - although he did stipulate that he would revisit the idea of bringing in a jury from outside Centre County if it proves too difficult to pick one from Centre County.

I also don't think the judge granted Sandusky everything he wanted in terms of easing the conditions of his house arrest. But, the judge is allowing Sandusky to have supervised contact with his grandchildren, a limited number of people can visit him at his house, and Sandusky is allowed to leave his house to meet with his lawyer. Considering what he's accused of, I think the fact that he's not in jail already is a pretty big bonus. But, maybe that's just me.

As far as the date of the trial is concerned, the judge set a date of May 14. That seems rather soon, so I wasn't surprised when the defense requested that it be pushed back until July. I was surprised, however, when the judge refused the request. Clearly this judge is not messing around.

So far, the defense seems willing to play this thing out as long as it can. For example, Sandusky gave up his right to a preliminary hearing, but he did so at the last minute, when lawyers, potential witnesses and media from all over were already in place and prepared for the hearing to proceed. I still believe that, in the end, Sandusky will cut a deal with prosecutors. But, so far, both sides are denying any talk of a plea bargain, so I don't expect one to come until just before - or maybe even during - the trial.

I guess what really fascinates me about the case is this: if the defense really does plan to take the case to trial, just what kind of defense are they trying to set up? After the hearing in February, Sandusky spoke for about five minutes outside the courthouse. It was a rather rambling statement dealing partly with his displeasure about being under house arrest. Sandusky expressed how unfair he felt it was that he couldn't go outside and throw biscuits to his dog.

The bizarre nature of the statement is in line with other ODD THINGS that Sandusky said in earlier interviews. The things he has said have been so strange and so poorly spoken that I - and, I'm sure, others - have wondered if Sandusky has some kind of mental issue. His lawyer, however, says no. He admits that Sandusky is taking medication but says that it's not for any kind of mental problem. (Of course, I suppose Sandusky could have a mental condition that he's "not" taking medication for.)

So, then, what is going on here? We have what appears to be a paradox: a man who spent his life surrounded by academia, yet who, on the face of it, at least, seems to have no comprehension of the trouble he is in. Can his denial be that deep, or did he manage to fool a lot of people for a lot of years about just how smart (or not) he really is?

The Patriot-News in Harrisburg recently published THIS article which asks that very question. The prevailing theory seems to be that Sandusky is a smart guy who, for some reason, believes that it's OK to shower with boys. And, when he says stuff that most people find outrageous, well, that's just Jerry being Jerry.

Unfortunately for Sandusky, "Jerry being Jerry" isn't likely to work as a defense strategy during a trial where alleged victim after alleged victim will come forward to tell their stories.

We're now back to where we started. What, exactly, is the defense strategy here? If you, as Sandusky's attorney, really do plan to take the case to trial, why do you keep letting him speak - especially if you're going to admit that he doesn't have any mental issues? Conversely, if you intend to plead out the case, why not just do it as quietly as possible?

The only thing that makes sense here, I think, is that the defense is doing everything it can to keep Sandusky out of prison for as long as possible. The more Sandusky talks, the more difficult it probably becomes to find jurors who either haven't heard what he's said or who can remain objective about it. So, perhaps the trial gets delayed if a jury can't be found in Centre County.

(I should point out that at the hearing on Feb. 10, it was the prosecution that initially asked for the change of venire. The defense countered with an argument in favor of having a jury from Centre County hear the case. Usually, those roles are reversed and it's the defense that pushes for an outside jury if it believes a local jury can't be fair. As I said earlier, the judge ruled for the defense and said every effort would be made to get a jury from Centre County. If the defense secretly suspects that won't be possible, then you can count asking for it as a delaying tactic)

Or, perhaps regardless of the medication issue, the defense will use Sandusky's statements as evidence that he's not mentally competent. In which case he might end up in an institution of some sort instead of a correctional facility.

In either case, whatever happens, it looks as though Sandusky's lawyer is determined to let Jerry be Jerry for as long as he possibly can.

It's been about six weeks since my last entry, and I blame the news. There's been too much of it lately, and it doesn't seem likely to stop anytime soon.

First, I should note that I was right on the money with my prediction that "occupy" would be the American Dialect Society's "Word of the Year" for 2011. It really was a no-brainer. No other word came close to rising to the level of wide-spread prominence that "occupy" enjoyed month after month. But, now, I get the feeling that "occupy" and its corresponding movement are losing their luster. The fascination has worn off. Once you've been named WOTY, there's no place to go but down. It's too early to tell what word might occupy the top spot in 2012, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open for likely contenders.

Secondly, in some personal news, I've (finally) started going to the gym again. I decided that I needed someone to kick my ass into shape, so I joined NEPA CROSSFIT in Wilkes-Barre. The workouts are tough, but the toughest part may be getting up at 4:45AM in order to attend a 6AM class. I'm still the new kid on the block, but I'm already feeling better.

As for the actual news that has occupied so much of my time of late, the bulk of it has concerned the sex abuse scandal involving Jerry Sandusky and Penn State University. In early December, both Sandusky and two Penn State officials had preliminary hearings. Then, Joe Paterno announced he had lung cancer. Then, just last week, Paterno died, which triggered almost a full week of team coverage.

One of the most bizarre reactions to Paterno's death came from Sandusky (and his lawyer, Joe Amendola). On the day Paterno died, Sandusky put out a statement through Amendola which began with the words, "It's a sad day!" First off, it was totally inappropriate for Sandusky to put out a statement of any kind. But, then, to issue one that included an exclamation point? What the hell?!?

Anyway, back to the news. The week of Paterno death coverage concluded this past Thursday with "A Memorial for Joe," the public memorial held at the Bryce Jordan Center. My station was among those that aired it live, starting at 2PM. The whole week had been grueling, and I think everyone in the newsroom looked at this memorial as one last push. Get through this, and then we can take a breather.

But, no.

About 2:30 on Thursday afternoon came word that another local icon had died. Dr. Joseph Mattioli, the founder of Pocono Raceway, passed away. While not as well-known as Paterno, Mattioli certainly made his mark and his death required coverage, too. That coverage extended over the weekend and into today, when funeral services were held.

The funeral for Doc Mattioli might have been the top story except that today was also the day that two former Lackawanna County commissioners were sentenced on federal corruption charges. Their sentencings (Robert Cordaro, 11 years; AJ Munchak, 7 years) involved live cut-ins during the early afternoon and team coverage during the newscasts.

Dare I say, the next week or so looks kind of slow. At least until February 10, when Sandusky may be back in court for a hearing on his bail conditions. Seems he's not happy with the terms of his house arrest. Considering the charges against him, I think he's fortunate to be in his own house at all.

I feel like I'm a little behind schedule with this post, but time marches on, and on January 6, 2012, the fine members of the AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY will meet in Portland, Oregon to choose the 2011 Word of the Year (WOTY). You can read the complete schedule HERE.

You may recall that I correctly PREDICTED (OK, I flat-out guessed) that the 2010 WOTY would be "app." You couldn't turn around without hearing the phrase "there's an app for that." The word was everywhere. If only there had been an app to make it go away ...

Anyway, since I'm on a one-year hot streak, I'll have a go at picking the 2011 Word of the Year. I don't have a lot of thoughts about it, but I think there's one obvious choice: the word "occupy." The movement to Occupy Wall Street as a protest against corporate power and greed spread to cities all across the US. There is even a small group of people that has occupied Scranton by camping out for months on Courthouse Square. As far as I know, however, no one has tried to Occupy Wilkes-Barre. (insert joke here)

The movement itself has gotten a lot of media attention as the longevity of the protests has increased and as attempts to move protesters have sometimes become violent. Because the Occupy movement is so high-profile, the word "occupy" has naturally been adapted for use in areas that have nothing to do with the movement itself. For example, when the company I work for installed a computer program called Opus, signs reading "Occupy Opus" appeared in the newsroom during the training process.

So, I feel that "occupy" has a good chance of occupying the top spot in the WOTY contest. Nothing else is really coming to mind.

If you want to submit a nomination for the 2011 Word of the Year, you can do so by emailing woty@americandialect.org, tweeting to the Twitter user name @americandialect or using the hashtag #woty11, or they can be posted on our FACEBOOK PAGE.

May the best word win!

Jerry Sandusky isn't doing himself any favors. Neither is his lawyer.

Sandusky is the former Penn State defensive coordinator accused of sexually molesting young boys. The grand jury presentment outlines 40 counts involving eight boys (now adults). A ninth boy (now an adult) claims he was also molested by Sandusky and is filing a civil suit. News reports today indicated a 10th accuser was ready to come forward. My guess is he won't be the last.

Next week, Sandusky is scheduled for his preliminary hearing at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte. So many media plan to attend that the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters is helping to arrange parking for satellite trucks and a lottery is being held to determine which reporters get to sit in the courtroom and which ones will be relegated to an "overflow room." Indications are that all eight accusers mentioned in the presentment are prepared to testify and face cross-examination by Sandusky's attorney, JOSEPH AMENDOLA. The hearing has the potential to last for several days.

Now, if I were Amendola, my strategy would be to keep Sandusky as out of sight as possible. I, Amendola, would speak for him. But, I'm not Joe Amendola, and he doesn't seem to share my thinking. No. He allowed Jerry Sandusky to do a phone interview with Bob Costas - in fact, he offered Costas the chance to talk with Sandusky - and allowed that interview to be broadcast nationally. Then, incredibly, he recently allowed Sandusky to sit down with a reporter from the New York Times and he allowed that interview to be videotaped.

In the interview with Bob Costas, Sandusky said he regretted showering with young boys. Then, he was asked directly if he is sexually attracted to young boys. Instead of quickly and emphatically answering, "No!" Sandusky paused, repeated the question and then said that he enjoyed being around young boys but wasn't sexually attracted to them." Not exactly a convincing denial.

Sandusky flubbed the answer again when the NYT interviewer asked almost the exact same question. This time, Sandusky elaborated further by saying that he is attracted to young people and old people - at which point his lawyer can be heard off-camera saying, "but not sexually attracted." Sandusky then said no, he was not sexually attracted to young people, but he enjoyed being around them. Again, not exactly a resounding denial. You can watch the interview below.



I think what came through clearly in the NYT interview is that Jerry Sandusky is not a well-spoken man. He does not express himself well verbally. I guess X's and O's are his thing, not words. My suspicion is that his vocabulary isn't very large and, after listening to the interview, I can see where he would relate best to the young and the old as they are likely less intellectually challenging than someone in their prime years. In fact, after hearing Sandusky speak, I wonder how he survived for so many years on a college campus. You would think that he would have at least picked up some of the academic verbage and speech patterns along the way.

Sandusky and his lawyer must have had hours of conversation before that first interview with Bob Costas. I can't believe his lawyer thought it was a good defense strategy to let a man with Sandusky's speaking skills (or lack thereof) do an interview on national TV. And, then, after seeing how that went over, I can't believe he let Sandusky do another high-profile interview!

If I'm Sandusky's lawyer, there's no way I let him do a third interview. But, I'm not Sandusky's lawyer.

First off, let me say that I am not a graduate of Penn State University. However, that doesn't mean that I'm not aware of what "Penn State" means.

I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania and have rooted for Penn State football since as far back as I can remember. When the Nittany Lions won the national championship in 1982, I think I received a commemorative mug and T-shirt as Christmas presents. Once, when I went to softball camp there during high school, I was on the same indoor practice field where Joe Paterno was leading the Nittany Lions through practice. For a time, I considered going to college at Penn State. In my professional career, I've always worked at television stations that provided a lot of coverage to Penn State football. And, recently, I've been a guest speaker for some journalism classes at the main campus.

So, even though I'm not a Penn State graduate, I've always been aware of the university and what it - and the football program, the school's crown jewel - stand for: class, pride, and a reputation beyond reproach.

Those qualities are just some of the reasons why the scandal that has exploded in the wake of the child sex abuse charges against former PSU defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is so shocking. Every single element of this story is horrible. For a university with, basically, a lily-white reputation, this is as black as it can get.

The GRAND JURY PRESENTMENT is simply awful to read. The allegations against Sandusky are terrible in their own right. Just as awful, however, is the inaction of people who were in a position to act in a way that perhaps could have prevented some of these crimes from happening. The saying is that the cover up is worse than the crime. In this case, however, they are both absolutely horrible.

In the days since the scandal broke, many questions have been asked. Why didn't anyone call the authorities? Should the university have fired Joe Paterno? There are other questions, and there will be more, but these seem to be the main ones. How could so many people in authority have had at least some inkling that something wrong was happening and have responded by doing little more than nothing?

These questions are why the university's Board of Trustees had no choice but to fire Joe Paterno (of course, they handled it all wrong, but that's a separate issue). Any number of people could have - and should have - notified the authorities about the suspected child sexual abuse by Sandusky. But, Paterno is the one who definitely needed to do it. He notified folks up the chain at the university. But, when they did nothing of consequence, Paterno apparently let the matter drop. It doesn't seem as though he followed up at all. Paterno may have fulfilled his legal responsibility, but he failed in his moral responsibility.

Penn State is a university known around the world for its football program. Joe Paterno is the face of that program and, therefore, the face of the university. In his time as head coach, Penn State never had an NCAA violation. He coached players who then sent their sons and grandsons to play for him. But, when it came time to speak up against one of his coaches, to speak up for the alleged victims, he failed. Joe Paterno is Penn State. And, he failed to live up to the values that he and the school represent. And, that why Joe had to go.

I'll conclude by saying that, even though Paterno and president Graham Spanier are gone, and two other PSU officials face charges, I don't believe for one minute that this scandal is anywhere close to being over. The Penn State community may have tried to start healing, but I think there are still more band-aids to be ripped off.

When last we spoke, the Phillies were finished, the Eagles were terrible and the Flyers were off to a good start. One month later, the team that sent the Phillies packing is the World Series champion, the Eagles are still terrible (witness today's come from ahead loss) and the Flyers aren't as good as those first three games led me to believe. I think pitchers and catchers report in about three months, so I'm looking forward to that.

A lot of other stuff has happened, too.

Election night came and went on November 8th. We reported results from 145 races around the viewing area and around the state. Our live efforts were focused on Luzerne and Lackawanna counties as there weren't that many contested races of note outside the metro. Of the races we highlighted, the most interesting one proved to be the race for District Attorney in Luzerne County. It went down to the wire, but upstart Republican newcomer Stefanie Salavantis scored a narrow victory over incumbent Democrat Jackie Musto Carroll. Salavantis won despite the fact that she's not quite 30 years old and despite the fact that she has never come close to prosecuting a case. Salavantis had money behind her (I received at least two fliers which were paid for the the state GOP) and I think Musto Carroll was hurt by the so-called "Kids for Cash" scandal that has left many voters feeling the need to clean house at the courthouse. The Salavantis campaign took full advantage of this sentiment.

The repercussions of the outcome in the DA's race are already being felt. Notorious murder suspect Hugo Selenski was FINALLY scheduled to go on trial the week after the election (which would be this week) for the murders of a pharmacist and his girlfriend. They disappeared in, I think, 2000, and their remains were among those found in Selenski's backyard in 2003. Musto Carroll planned to prosecute the case herself and Selenski planned to act as his own attorney. But, the day after the Salavantis victory, Selenski asked for a delay so he could hire an attorney to represent him. Now the trial is delayed until sometime next year - at the earliest.

Another race of note took place in Northumberland County, where the three commissioners (two Democrats and a Republican) were on the ballot. Also running were a second Republican and an Independent. What made this race interesting is that the two Democrats do not get along and their battles have been well publicized. Consequently, they did not run as a team. Neither did the two GOP candidates. In this race, it was every man for himself. In the end, one of the incumbent Democrats won re-election, the Republican newcomer won a seat, and the Independent candidate also won a seat. It's the first time in the county (and maybe in the state) that there are no majority commissioners. It will be interesting to see if the configuration can restore civility and be effective.

Friday night, I went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra with my mother and sister. My sister has seen them several times before, but it was a first for my mother and me. I think my mother got it right when she summed up the performance by saying that the technical aspects of the show - and there were many - were better than the music.

Of course, the election and just about everything else that happened this past week or so has been overshadowed by the child sex abuse scandal surrounding Penn State University and its former football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. It's so big and so far-reaching that it deserves a separate post. So, that's what I'll give it.

It's a Saturday afternoon in mid-October and, right about now, I should be getting ready to watch the Phillies continue their post-season run. Except that they're not in the playoffs anymore, so I'm not watching anymore.

The Phils were unceremoniously bounced from the playoffs in Round 1 by the St. Louis Cardinals. Yes, the same Cardinals that only got into the playoffs because the Phillies ended the regular season by sweeping the Atlanta Braves. If the Braves had managed to win just one of those final games against the Phillies, the Braves would have been in, the Cardinals would have been out, and maybe the Phillies' playoff fate would have turned out differently. I guess we'll never know.

As it stands now, the Cardinals have a good shot at winning the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers and moving on to the World Series. Since neither of those teams is the Phillies, I don't really care.

The Phils had an outstanding regular season. You may recall THIS post from back in April. I predicted that the Phillies would win 104 games during the regular season. They ended up winning 102, the most of any Phillies team in history. They could easily have had more than 102 wins - more than 104, in fact - if they hadn't gone on an eight-game losing streak in the final couple of weeks. No matter. The record-setting season did not end with a World Series championship, so how many games the 2011 Phillies won doesn't really matter because they didn't win when it counted.

Why didn't they win? For one thing, they didn't hit when it counted. The bottom third of the lineup managed just a few (and by "few" I mean two or three) collective hits during the five-game series with the Cardinals. Placido Polanco, the #7 hitter, left several runners stranded during the series. I know he was hurt, but he wasn't even making productive outs. Neither was the #8 hitter, Carlos Ruiz. Hunter Pence, who was hailed as the "missing piece" when he was brought over in a trade in late July, managed only a few hits during the series. He also missed opportunities to drive in runs. And, lest we forget Ryan Howard. He had a big home run in the first game, then struck out almost every at bat after that. So, no, the Phillies didn't hit when it counted.

They also didn't pitch well enough when it counted. Cliff Lee blew a 4-0 lead in Game 2, and Roy Oswalt couldn't hold up his end of the deal in Game 4. Roy Halladay won Game 1 and limited the Cardinals to just one run in Game 5, but the Phillies couldn't score any runs for him. The Doc was in, but even he couldn't cure the Phillies' hitting woes.

Normally, now that (my) baseball season is over, I would turn my attention to football and the Philadelphia Eagles. Over the summer, a series of high-profile free-agent signings led to the Eagles being dubbed a "dream team." But, five games into the season, the Eagles are 1-4 and the dream has turned into a nightmare. The offense is generally OK, but the defense can't tackle anyone and they can barely stop anyone from scoring, especially in the fourth quarter.

So, since the Phillies are finished and the Eagles aren't worth watching right now, I am moving on to hockey. The Philadelphia Flyers made some controversial moves during the off-season, namely, trading away their captain and another top offensive player. But, they also made some key signings, including a top goalie and veteran Jaromir Jagr. Three games in, the Flyboys are 3-0 and looking good. I think the Flyers may turn out to be Philadelphia's REAL dream team.

A few more thoughts on the September floods, the ones caused by rain from Lee; the ones that brought flooding to communities all along the north branch and the west branch of the Susquehanna River; the ones that would have wiped out much of Wilkes-Barre, Kingston and Forty Fort had it not been for a levee that was higher than generally known.

To recap: The levee at Wilkes-Barre is widely known to protect up to 41', which is just slightly higher than the level the river reached during the Agnes flood of 1972. In reality, there are a few extra feet on top of that, so the levee really offers protection up to 44'.

During Lee, the original projected crest of 30' at Wilkes-Barre suddenly jumped to a projected crest of 38'. After that, it rose in smaller increments, settling at a projected crest of 40.9' and prompting the evacuation of areas affected by Agnes.

On the evening of Thursday, September 8, the river level at W-B seemed to level off at approx. 38.5'. Officials, however, held off on declaring that the river had crested. Early Friday morning, they finally announced a crest of 38.8'.

Later that afternoon, however, they announced that that initial crest figure was inaccurate. The river at W-B actually crested, they said, at 42.66', a figure higher than Agnes. So, Lee was now a storm of historic proportions.

Why the misinformation? At first, the officials said that the river gauge had malfunctioned due to all the water pressure. Only later did they learn - along with the rest of us - that the gauge worked properly, but it just wasn't capable of measuring anything much beyond 38'. The plan now is to replace that gauge with one that will read up to 48 or 49'. God help us if we ever have a flood where the water gets THAT high.

Let's leave aside the question of why no one in authority in Luzerne County seemed to know that the gauge wouldn't measure a river level much higher than 38'. Installing a gauge like that in an area where the water has already risen well above that level once before doesn't seem to make much sense. But, that's not the issue I want to address right now.

Rather, I want to know what would have happened if there HAD been a river gauge capable of higher readings. What would have happened HAD people in Luzerne County (and, I suppose, in other communities) realized just how high the river was? What if they HAD known from the beginning that this was going to be worse than Agnes?

As it was, with people believing that 40.9' was as high as the river would get, evacuations seemed to go mainly without incident (other than the traffic jams you might expect). Maybe most people, like me, believed the river would actually crest lower than that 40.9' projection. Anyway, I didn't get a sense of widespread panic, at least not from people in communities protected by the levee.

But, what if the river gauge had been capable of accurately measuring river levels? When people checked the river levels on the web, they would have seen a crest well above projections, rather than one that seemed to level off below projections. Under that scenario, what would have happened? Would people have tried to rush home to save more of their possessions? Would more people have tried to leave, perhaps going on to roads that would suddenly be swamped by rising water? Would there have been general panic and civil unrest?

I don't know. But, with a new river gauge on the way, if something like Lee (or worse) ever comes along, I guess we'll find out.