On Saturday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: The Israel-Hamas cease-fire has entered a second day. USA TODAY Investigative Reporter Chris Quintana explains how an administrator at a Christian college kept his job despite sexual misconduct allegations for over a decade. New York's Adult Survivors Act expires - but not before thousands of lawsuits. There's a salmonella outbreak linked to cantaloupe. USA TODAY NBA Reporter Jeff Zillgitt talks about the opening of a new LeBron James museum in the basketball star's hometown.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Saturday, November 25th, 2023. This is The Excerpt. Today, the latest from the Israel-Hamas cease-fire, plus how an administrator at a Christian college kept his job despite sexual misconduct allegations. And LeBron James is getting a museum.

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The second day of a cease-fire continues today with Hamas expected to swap more hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Both sides have agreed to release women and children. And Israel has agreed to extend the pause in fighting by one day for every 10 additional hostages Hamas releases. Hamas captured around 240 people last month. Hostages released yesterday included 13 Israelis, 10 Thai nationals, and one Filipino citizen. According to a spokesman for Qatar, a key mediator in the agreement no US citizens were in the released group. The Palestinian prisoners released were made up of 24 women, including some convicted of attempted killings of Israeli forces.

And 15 teenagers jailed for offenses like throwing stones. Meanwhile, despite the truce, Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians yesterday and injured 11 others as they moved toward the main combat zone in northern Gaza, despite warnings from the Israeli army to stay put. Still a respite from weeks of attacks is mostly being felt in Gaza. And rocket fire from Hamas into Israel has also fallen silent on the first day of the cease-fire, which is expected to run at least through Monday. More than 200 trucks of badly needed supplies, including fuel, were delivered into Gaza. You can follow along with the cease-fire throughout the weekend on usatoday.com.

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An administrator at a Christian college was accused of sexual misconduct for over a decade while keeping his job. I spoke with USA Today investigative reporter, Chris Quintana to learn more. Chris, thanks for hopping on.

Chris Quintana:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Chris, who is Keith Anderson and what's he been accused of?

Chris Quintana:

Yeah, so Keith Anderson is a longtime administrator at Liberty University. He's currently listed on their website as the Executive Director of Student Health and Wellness, but prior to that he was the Dean of students from 2007 to 2014. We've also learned that he was referenced in a leaked Education Department report as someone who engaged in a series of disturbing behaviors that could have posed a threat to students. So he is not named in that report, but we were able to piece together details from the leak to Education Department reports, a lawsuit filed by some survivors of sexual violence at Liberty, and interviews with former students and employees who led us to the identity.

Taylor Wilson:

Just how much trauma do survivors say they've experienced here?

Chris Quintana:

I mean, obviously the fact that they're suing in the first place is a lot of trauma and damage, and some of the folks there talk about how they were chased off from this place that they really loved and wanted to work. I also spoke with a person who was a student employee in the Dean of Students' office in 2013, and she had a skirt that kind of went down to her knee, but I guess when she sat down, it went above her knees. This dean of students at the time, called her out on it and she said she felt so humiliated, she felt like a sinner, like she was leading someone down the path away from God. And she said it took her like half a decade to look back at this incident and it sort of feel differently about it and she doesn't feel that way anymore, but it lingers with people for a long time.

Taylor Wilson:

What is the school's role in all this?

Chris Quintana:

The Education Department is investigating specifically how the school has complied with the Clery Act, which requires universities to report crime on their campuses. But it's also about are they warning students about potential dangers on campus? So the federal government is investigating along a couple of tracks, but some of them are that the university's policies made it such that students were afraid to report their sexual assault because they wouldn't be believed or they would have to go through just this long and intensive process. But there are also concerns about if Liberty was keeping these records, if it had deleted some of them. So that's what the investigation is looking at and that is still ongoing.

Taylor Wilson:

Many of the women involved are suing the original attorney in the civil case, Jack Larkin. Can you help us understand this suit a little bit, Chris?

Chris Quintana:

Yeah. And understanding this suit might explain why we don't hear from some of the Jane Does in these conversations. They say that they were pressured to settle with liberty, not against their will, but just that they didn't receive the entirety of what settling with this institution might mean. So they said that they didn't get a ton of legal advice from Larkin regarding the settlement. In some cases, they didn't realize that settling would limit their ability to talk about what happened to them, and that was really frustrating for many of them mentioned in the civil suit because they wanted to talk about what happened.

Taylor Wilson:

Some students want to see more than just this potential fine that I mentioned for Liberty, what's next for the school and might this incident help hold other institutions more accountable going forward?

Chris Quintana:

I think what we're still waiting for now is the Education Department to put out its final report and define associated with that. The survivors I've talked to are worried that a financial penalty won't do a whole lot to an institution like Liberty that has a large endowment, and then they do kind of want to see more oversight from the federal government, whether that's in a Title IX investigation and that's the anti-discrimination law focused on gender or the university help more to account for students who are currently there.

Taylor Wilson:

Chris Quintana is an investigative reporter for USA Today. Important work here, Chris, thanks for coming on and discussing it.

Chris Quintana:

It's a pleasure to be on here and we're going to continue following this story, especially as the Education Department finishes its report. We'll be there.

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Taylor Wilson:

New York's Adult Survivors Act was set to expire yesterday, the legislation that gave victims of sexual abuse a one-year window for claims that would otherwise be barred by time limits. As a result, a slew of complaints and lawsuits were filed in its final days. Figures, including Sean Diddy Combs, Jamie Foxx, Axl Rose, Russell Brand and more, were sued for sexual assault ahead of the deadline. But not all the suits were against entertainment figures. The large majority were filed against the state, New York City and local counties and involve allegations of abuse at state prisons and local jail systems. The act signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in November of last year, was modeled after a previous New York law offering people abuse as children a temporary window to file claims. One of the first Adult Survivors Act cases filed after the window opened was against former President Donald Trump. His accuser, Writer E. Jean Carroll, was awarded $5 million after Trump was found liable for the 1996 sexual abuse. Trump has denied the allegation. In all, more than 2,500 lawsuits were filed under the law.

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The Centers for Disease Control announced yesterday that two people have died and 28 others have been hospitalized in a Salmonella outbreak linked to cantaloupes. The Food and Drug Administration advises consumers and businesses to check the cantaloupes they have to see if they've been recalled. If yes, they're advised to throw them away and sanitize any surfaces that may have been contaminated. The outbreak has been reported in 32 states and Minnesota has the largest number of sick people with 13 of the 99 cases reported nationwide. You can find a list of the companies for calling their cantaloupe with a link in today's show notes.

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Basketball Superstar LeBron James is getting a special museum in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. I caught up with USA Today NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt for more. Jeff, thanks for hopping on The Excerpt.

Jeff Zillgitt:

Yeah, glad to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

So Jeff, let's just start here. What is this LeBron James Museum?

Jeff Zillgitt:

So look, it's dedicated to all things LeBron James based in Akron, Ohio at the 330 House. Just sort of a landmark building in Akron, but it also has sort of become the home base for LeBron to do a bunch of things through his LeBron James Family Foundation charity. The school that he has is just right down the street from where this building is, starts in his earliest childhood days to places he lived and places he played basketball at Parks. And it entails a wide range of things that covers LeBron James' life.

Taylor Wilson:

This has been described as being dedicated to LeBron. So what was the impetus behind this, Jeff? Who made this happen?

Jeff Zillgitt:

I think it would be the people at the LeBron James Family Foundation. LeBron has wanted to help put Akron further on the map. I remember after the Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA finals, people at the LeBron James Family Foundation reached out and wanted a bunch of copies of USA Today's paper from the next day that had a picture of LeBron on the cover, celebrating winning the championship, bringing a title home to Cleveland. And so I think they've been collecting lots of material, whether it be game wear and jerseys from the teams he's played for, including St. Vincent-St. Mary, where he went to high school in Akron, Ohio, which is also not far from where this actual museum is.

Taylor Wilson:

Jeff, you mentioned this is in Akron in his hometown. For folks around the country who want to come in and visit, what do they need to know?

Jeff Zillgitt:

First of all, there is a fee to get into the museum, as much proceeds after they're paying employees and everything is to go to the LeBron James Family Foundation and go right back into the building that's helping people find work, find housing, the work they're doing with the Kids in school. [inaudible 00:10:03] Foundation started out very small. It started out as just a bikeathon just to get kids interested in being in school and then it grew that they're giving away scholarships and then starting a elementary school to help children and families who really need a little extra attention when it comes to that area of their lives. And then there's a interactive portion of this as well. Self-guided tours, being able to watch things, being able to use screens to look at different areas of LeBron's life or research a part, whether it's LeBron's Olympic career, his MBA career, his St. Vincent-St. Mary career. I think there's a recreation of the house at Spring Hill or apartment at Spring Hill that he lived in, and that's the name of his entertainment enterprise. It's Spring Hill. I think by the end of it, whenever LeBron decides to end his basketball career, that's where that part of it will end. But I think it will continue with everything he does after that as well and they'll keep adding to that museum.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Jeff Zillgitt covers the NBA for USA Today. Thank you, Jeff.

Jeff Zillgitt:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. Be sure to stay tuned tomorrow and I'll be hosting a special episode of The Excerpt focused on bison and the return to indigenous lands, restoring long held traditions. You can find the episode right here on this feed. And if you like this show, be sure to drop us a rating and review on your favorite podcast app. This is The Excerpt from USA TODAY.

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