Governor Corbett sues NCAA over Penn St. sanctions

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett announced his plan to sue the NCAA over sanctions imposed against Penn State after the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

The Republican governor held a news conference on Penn State’s State College campus to announce the filing in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg.

The university agreed to the sanctions in July. They included a $60 million fine that would be used nationally to finance child abuse prevention grants. State and federal lawmakers have raised objections to the money being spent outside Pennsylvania.

Sandusky is a retired Penn State assistant football coach who was found guilty of sexually abusing boys. He’s serving 30 to 60 years in prison, though he maintains his innocence.

In announcing the news conference, Corbett, a Republican, did not indicate whether his office coordinated its legal strategy with Democratic state Attorney General-elect Kathleen Kane, who is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 15.

Kane ran on a pledge to investigate why it took state prosecutors nearly three years to charge Sandusky. Corbett was the attorney general when that office took over the case in early 2009 and until he became governor in January 2011.