In a CBS 21 News exclusive into the Harrisburg financial crisis, CBS 21 News has learned that the United States Justice Department is conducting a wide-ranging criminal investigation into financial transactions during the administration of former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed.

From the PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW: Wagner on Thursday called on lawmakers to bar the Penn State president from sitting on the board and to make the governor a non-voting member of the board. Wagner said the changes are needed to alleviate concerns about potential conflicts…

…First, with respect to the 1998 incident, the Freeh Report says that several authorities promptly investigated and reviewed the matter, including the Department of Public Welfare, the University Police Department, the State College police, and the local district attorney’s office. Freeh Report at 42-47. A “counselor” named John Seasock issued a report that found “no indication of child abuse.” Freeh Report at 42-46. Mr. Seasock interviewed the alleged victim and determined that “there seems to be no incident which could be termed as sexual abuse, nor did there appear to be any sequential pattern of logic and behavior which is usually consistent with adults who have difficulty with sexual abuse of children.” Freeh Report at 44 (quoting Mr. Seasock’s 1998 evaluation of the alleged victim). The Freeh Report adds that Mr. Seasock “couldn’t find any indication of child abuse.” Freeh Report at 45.

From CAPITOL WIRE: …Opening arguments and some witness testimony highlighted the first day of the trial before Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson, who will rule on whether to delay implementing the law until after the Nov. 6 general election. While Simpson’s ruling is eagerly awaited by both sides, whichever side loses is expected to swiftly appeal to the state Supreme Court.

From the NEW YORK TIMES / AP: Penn State faced the threat of a four-year ban on playing football before the NCAA imposed sanctions this week over the school’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal, a university spokesman said Wednesday.

While challenges to states’ Voter ID law have been making similar headlines in Florida and Texas, this is the first time the Justice Department may challenge a voter ID law in a state not required by the 1965 Voting Rights Acts to get federal preclearance for changes to its voting laws. Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department can look into allegations of voter disenfranchisement…

From the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: State attorneys defending the new voter ID law at a hearing beginning Wednesday will present no evidence that in-person electoral fraud is likely to occur this November without the law, according to a document signed earlier this month.

The NCAA wasn’t fair, said Samuel Fredman, an 88-year-old lawyer and retired judge, who graduated with the class of 1942. “There was no due process. You’re entitled to a hearing. Sixty million dollars is a lot of money.”

From NEWSMAX: … Unfortunately, this new efficiency has been outmatched by a deepening of the Postal Service’s predicament. Over the past five years alone, mail volume has fallen more than 20 percent, and revenue has declined 12 percent. The post office lost $25 billion from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal year 2011.

SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE Editorial: …Remarkably, nothing in the NCAA’s own bylaws authorize the action it took Monday. Rather than conducting its own investigation, which would allow an opportunity for the subject institution to present a defense, the NCAA ruled summarily after investing itself with the power to do so. In doing so, it responded to public emotion rather than to the mission for which it was created.

….The whole shameful affair was, instead, neither a football offense nor, strictly speaking, the NCAA’s affair. No quarterback received a SUV of suspicious provenance, no unfair on-field advantage was gained, and for all the shameful evasions of Paterno and the rest, no one ever actually cheated…