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🤔 Can’t attend your local town meetings but want to keep tabs on what’s happening? Sign up for the new Centre Documenters newsletter. Centre Documenters recruits, trains, and pays local citizen Documenters to attend and document government meetings in six undercovered townships across Centre County — Benner, College, Gregg, Halfmoon, Snow Shoe, and Spring. This initiative keeps taxpayers like you informed about your elected leaders and their decisions. Centre Documenters is a partnership between News Lab at Penn State and Spotlight PA. |
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| Inside this edition: Penn State redesigned its misconduct reporting website, how forest fragmentation affects Lyme disease cases, and a free Spotlight PA event on the election results and what they mean for the future of the state. |
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 | Screenshot via Penn State website |
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Penn State redesigned its internal misconduct reporting website this summer in an effort to ease the process and encourage people to speak up about potential issues, a university spokesperson wrote in an email to Spotlight PA.
“The new design, which coincides with a more streamlined email message on resources for reporting, which goes out to everyone at Penn State at the beginning of each semester, more clearly assists and directs community members in how, where and to report,” the spokesperson wrote.
Spotlight PA asked to interview a Penn State employee about the updated webpage, but the university declined the request.
The spokesperson told Spotlight PA the redesign began in mid-May and was launched July 19.
Penn State’s timeline mirrors that of an investigation by Spotlight PA and the Centre Daily Times into the university’s system of compliance offices and reforms implemented in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
The newsrooms engaged with Penn State’s communications office about the story from April to June, then published the project July 19.
The investigation detailed rampant distrust in the university’s internal reporting systems and revealed how the unit Penn State created to hold itself to the highest ethical standards struggled to handle behavior it was designed to prevent for nearly two years.
The report also noted that the public has limited insight into how Penn State’s ethics office functions. Information about the unit’s effectiveness has previously been delivered to university trustees behind closed doors, as previously reported by Spotlight PA.
That could change. In August, the university announced that Tabitha Oman, Penn State’s chief ethics and compliance officer, as well as general counsel, was creating a process to share outcomes from the ethics office with the university community. A news release from that time said the project would be finished in early 2024.
The university spokesperson told Spotlight PA the project remains on schedule, and that there are no additional updates at this time.
— Wyatt Massey, Penn State investigative reporter |
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As a nonprofit, Spotlight PA’s unique investigative and public-service journalism depends on your support. Make a tax-deductible gift to Spotlight PA today and it will be DOUBLED thanks to a generous matching grant.
Thank you to the 420 people who have given so far, including Cyrus W., who said, “Journalism like that exhibited in the story on DuBois, PA is crucial to democracy, good citizenship, and accountable governance.”
Join Cyrus and make a tax-deductible gift now »
You can also give via PayPal or Venmo, or send a check to: Spotlight PA, PO Box 11728, Harrisburg, PA 17108. |
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» Companies behind Mariner East II pipeline paid $42 million in pollution fines to Pennsylvania
» Spending on Pa. Supreme Court race broke records, set precedent for outside influence
» Democrats continue advancing gun control as advocates call for Pa. Senate to take up bills
» As partisan tensions thaw in Harrisburg, Pa. lawmakers eye unfunded housing, school priorities
» Pa. leads the nation for Lyme disease cases. Development in forests boosts the risk
» ‘Hectic from the get-go’: How a new polling place chief in Pennsylvania navigated his first election
UPCOMING EVENTS
» RESULTS REVIEW: Join us, the New Pennsylvania Project, and Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts TONIGHT from 6-7 p.m. ET for a Q&A on the election results and what they mean for the future of the state. Register for the event here and submit your questions to events@spotlightpa.org. |
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November in Tioga State Forest, photographed by Mike Glass.
Want to be featured here? Send your best local pics to talkofthetown@spotlightpa.org. |
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Want us to list your event? Send it to us.
» Nov. 16: Downtown State College, in Centre County, celebrates the start of the holiday season with Light Up Night.
» Nov. 16-19: The Altoona Community Theatre —which is celebrating its 75th season — performs Clue: On Stage at the historic Mishler Theatre in Blair County.
» Nov. 17-19: Victorian Christmas in Williamsport, Lycoming County, features an artisan market, home and historic building tour, and more.
» Nov. 18: Vendors sell their creations at Galeton’s 42nd annual Christmas Craft Bazaar in Potter County.
» Nov. 18: Twisted Vine Winery hosts Mom Prom to benefit the Kane Area Community Center in McKean County.
» Nov. 19: Lock Haven, in Clinton County, hosts its annual tree lighting ceremony. |
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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.
C A U S E
Good luck!
Last week’s answer: Dice
Congrats to Florence V., who will receive Spotlight PA State College swag. Others who answered correctly: Elizabeth B., Martha D., Susan N., Don H., Rena Z., Leslie B., Linda A., Carol G., Leann T., and Amy Z.
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Do you have events, community shoutouts, questions about our region, or tips on stories that we should pursue? Email our team.
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