How in the world did Penn State allow assistant coach Jerry Sandusky to molest children—sometimes on its grounds—for 11 years without notifying authorities? That's the question the institution hired former FBI director Louis Freeh's consulting firm to investigate in-depth. This morning, Freeh's task force released its independent review—which is just as damning as you can imagine, saying that all the key people, Paterno included, "repeatedly concealed critical facts" to protect the institution rather than the victims. Here are the key findings from the executive summary:

You might have missed this, what with it being Super Tuesday and all, but yesterday, “Ohio Gov. John Kasich said thanks but no thanks to immediate federal disaster relief Saturday, even as governors in Indiana and Kentucky welcomed the help.”

John Kasich is in a bit of a bind. The Ohio governor is, on the one hand, the tough Republican who tried to bring right-to-work legislation to Ohio and reduce government spending. He's also the guy whose efforts to limit collective bargaining got knocked down by Ohio voters. Partisan divides seem to be growing in the Buckeye State. All of which was likely on his mind when Kasich gave his State of the State address today. The governor opted to give the speech at a school rather than at the state capitol, where it's traditionally given. It wasn't the only unusual choice of the day.

I should have posted this poem in October. But since I'm on a football jag now, here's a famous poem about what young men are channeling when they play football. Written in 1964, it includes some offensive language from its era. But I love this poem and have known it by heart for decades.

Autumn Begins in Martin's Ferry, Ohio

--James Wright

In the Shreve High football stadium,
I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville,
And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood,
And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel,
Dreaming of heroes.

In February, Shirley Sherrod filed a complaint against Andrew Breitbart, initiating a defamation lawsuit over the release of an edited video that portrayed her as racist and caused her to lose her job. When the full video was released, it became apparent that her speech was actually about racial tolerance, and the administration apologized to her for the error. In April, Breitbart officially responded, predictably, with a motion to dismiss the case. What's surprising is one of the arguments Breitbart used to get the case thrown out.

The fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which now has almost 100 employees, just announced a new employee: Former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, whom you may remember from the robo-signing fiasco: He was one of the first state attorneys general to take mortgage servicers to court for attempting to foreclose on borrowers without legal standing. Now, Cordray will head the enforcement division of the CFPB's implementation team, the group of Treasury officials, headed by Elizabeth Warren, currently preparing the CFPB for the full assumption of its authorities in July.

One of the this year's most under-covered stories is the impact that redistricting will have on national politics next year. As states reapportion their congressional geography, state legislatures and governors will have a chance to shape both the national legislature and the composition of parties, for better or worse -- and see the results last a decade. Reports this morning suggest that Democratic gubernatorial candidates in critical states like Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania aren't putting themselves in a position to win, which spells bad news for the future.