(NNPA)—It’s a smaller world than you think, especially if you are a member of Facebook, according to researchers at the University of Milan.

According to their analysis of Facebook’s database, the average number of acquaintances separating us from someone we already know is 4.74, not the six degrees of separation dramatized by a film and play of the same name.

by Melissa Jones

(NNPA)—Cynthia Baldwin, general counsel at Pennsylvania State University, sits in the middle of a proverbial firestorm.

Former defensive coordinator Gerald “Jerry” Sandusky was arrested on Nov. 5 on allegations of child rape that span 15 years.

The major players are well known. Sandusky, Penn State icon and longtime coach Joe Paterno, former athletic director Tim Curley, former vice president of finance and management Gary Schultz, former president Graham Spanier and Mike McQueary, the only known witness to the rape allegations.

IN MIDDLE OF STORM—Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice and Penn. State General Counsel Cynthia Baldwin is the only high ranking official involved in the scandal who is neither male nor White. (Courier Photo/File)

Baldwin is the only high ranking official involved in the scandal who is neither male nor White.

by Freida Frisaro

MIAMI (AP)—The family of a Florida A&M University drum major who died in what authorities suspect was a hazing incident will sue the school, an attorney said Nov. 25.

The family of Robert Champion, 26, spent the holiday weekend planning Champion’s funeral, attorney Christopher Chestnut said.

FINAL PERFORMANCE—Robert Champion, second from right, a drum major in Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 band, and others perform during halftime of a football game Nov. 19 in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/The Tampa Tribune, Joseph Brown III)

The Atlanta resident was found on a bus parked outside an Orlando hotel Nov. 19 after the school’s football team lost to rival Bethune-Cookman. Police said Champion, a clarinet player who recently was named drum major, had been vomiting and complained he couldn’t breathe shortly before he collapsed.

The cause of Champion’s death hasn’t been determined. Preliminary autopsy results were inconclusive, and a spokeswoman with the Orange County medical examiner’s office said it could take up to three months to learn exactly what killed him.

For the week of Dec. 3-9

December 3

1847—Frederick Douglas and Martin R. Delaney establish “The North Star” and it goes on to become a major anti-slavery newspaper.

1922—Ralph Gardner is born in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a pioneer chemist whose research into plastics led to the development of so-called hard plastics and aided product developments in the petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries.

THOMAS HEARNS

1982—Thomas “The Hit Man” Hearns defeats Wilfredo Benitez for the WBC Junior Middleweight boxing title. Hearns becomes the first person to win boxing titles in five different weight classes.