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This Thursday, Penn State University will release an independent report on the sex-abuse scandal that has rocked the institution and its football program.

After allegations of child abuse surfaced against Jerry Sandusky, the university appointed Judge Louis Freeh to look into how the university handled the case. The university and its leaders including former legendary football coach Joe Paterno have been criticized for what has been characterized as slow action.

President Obama campaigned in Iowa on Tuesday, promoting his plan to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for those who make under $250,000 a year — but not for more wealthy Americans.

Republican Mitt Romney was in another swing state, Colorado, hitting a new Republican charge that some of Obama's policies have helped create jobs overseas at the expense of the domestic job market.

According to several news report, Google and the Federal Trade Commission are close to reaching an agreement over charges of a privacy breach.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the tentative deal would have Google pay $22.5 million over charges that it bypassed the privacy settings of users of Apple's Safari web browser.

The Journal reports:

Back in the day, Madrid's Palace Hotel was Ernest Hemingway's old haunt, or at least the bar was. Now, rooms at the posh hotel just down from the famed Prado Museum go for up to $6,000 a night. And gathering in its lobby these days? An altogether different type of foreigner: the kind in expensive suits.

"Probably they are institutional investors, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds," says Federico Steinberg, an economist at Madrid's Elcano Institute.

There's a lot of cash around the world, he says, and a lot of people looking for bargains.

Native Americans and Pilgrims were onto something when they turned to cranberries as an infection fighter. American settlers believed the bitter food could stave off scurvy. But there's more than just Vitamin C in this indigenous berry.

Nearly 31 years after he was convicted of rape and armed robbery, Kirk Odom on Tuesday all but won his fight to be declared an innocent man.

The Justice Department filed court papers saying, "There is clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Odom is innocent of the charges for which he was convicted," and apologized for the "terrible injustice."

Every time there's been a bout of severe weather, like the heat wave in the northeast, the wild fires in the west and flooding across the U.K, the talk, naturally, turns to climate change.

The big question: How much does global warming have to do with severe weather?

What do you think makes a better city? Do you like a mix of old and new on the same block?

Several urban thinkers joined us for a discussion on Twitter, including Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution, Carol Coletta of ArtPlace America, writer and blogger Aaron Renn, The Atlantic Cities editor Sommer Mathis and Diana Lind of Next American City.

Bernard Farrell obsesses over every bite he eats, every minute of exercise he gets, and everything that stresses him out. And, more than anything else, Farrell obsesses over his blood sugar.

He has to. Farrell, 55, has Type 1 diabetes.

"Pretty much everything affects our blood sugar," says Farrell, of Littleton, Mass.

Two doctors and a trainer affiliated with seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong have received lifetime bans from the sport because they failed to contest allegations that they violated doping bans.

The former members of the U.S. Postal Service Pro-Cycling Team — Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral, cycling team doctor, Dr. Michele Ferrari, cycling team consulting doctor, and Jose "Pepe" Martí, cycling team trainer — were charged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency at the same time they announced charges against Armstrong.

It seems that North Korea's young leader may have reconnected with an old love.

If you're planning a wedding, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has some advice for you. Really.

Leave it to the public health gurus to turn a day that's supposed to be one of the happiest in people's lives into a lesson in preparing for a real-life nightmare.

Just check out the "CDC's Wedding Day Survival Guide," featuring tips like this:

Many students in American classrooms don't feel challenged enough. That's according to new analysis of federal data (pdf) conducted by the Washington think tank American Progress.

The organization, which promotes "progressive ideas and action," came to that conclusion when it analyzed surveys given to students by the Department of Education for its National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Transcript

MARIA HINOJOSA, HOST:

I'm Maria Hinojosa, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. Michel Martin is away. Coming up, we look at a growing trend: moms starting their own businesses. It can come with more flexibility, but there are also emotional and financial risks. We talk to a group of mom-preneurs, and that's just ahead.

Transcript

MARIA HINOJOSA, HOST:

We turn now to Nancy Northup. She's the president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the Jackson Women's Health Organization in court. This is the only abortion clinic in Mississippi, and it might have to close its doors if a new law there is upheld. If it closes, Mississippi would be the only state with no working abortion clinic. She joins me from her office in New York City. Nancy, welcome to TELL ME MORE.

NANCY NORTHUP: Thank you.