Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was fired by the college's Board of Trustees Wednesday over a sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant coach. Thousands of students reacted violently, rampaging through downtown State College. President Graham Spanier was also removed as the university tries to stanch the bleeding over allegations that former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused eight boys over 15 years.

While President Obama has received much criticism for failing to close the Guantánamo Bay prison camp in the first year of his presidency, new classified documents released by WikiLeaks reveal the attempted dealings between the administration and other governments to try and move detainees out of the detention center. In an article in The New York Times, reporter Charlie Savage details attempted deals with Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Lithuania and Albania, among other countries.

Currently 174 inmates remain at the facility: a third of them are from Yemen.

George Steinbrenner reigned as the owner of the New York Yankees for 38 years. In that time his team won seven World Series Championships, 11 American League pennants, 16 AL-East titles. But Steinbrenner was also suspended from baseball twice, one time for life. In 1990, "The Boss" was banned for life for paying a small-time gambler who was  paid $40,000 to dig up some dirt on hall-of-famer, Dave Winfield. Steinbrenner was reinstated in 1993, and went to win five more championships.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and four other men accused in the plot will be prosecuted in federal court in New York City, a federal law enforcement official said earlier today.

Joining us to discuss the implications of this announcement on the president's promise to close Guantánamo Bay is Jonathan Mahler, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of the book "The Challenge: How a Maverick Navy Officer and a Young Law Professor Risked Their Careers to Defend the Constitution — and Won."

The first detainee from Guantanamo Bay prison to face civilian trial in the U.S. pleaded "not guilty" in a New York court on Tuesday. Ahmed Ghailani is charged with helping to coordinate the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The transfer and trial of this detainee is viewed as an important step in the Obama administration’s plan to close Guantanamo Bay. The Takeaway talks to Jonathan Mahler author of The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight over Presidential Power about what this first trial means for the nation and the detainees.

For more on the trial of Ahmed Ghailani, watch this clip from The Rachel Maddow show.

This morning President Obama will deliver what the White House is calling a major national security speech. At least part of his speech will detail his plan to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. But with Congressman, Senators and even FBI Director Robert Mueller lining up against the closure of Guantanamo, what can Obama possibly say? The Takeaway talks to Jonathan Mahler. He’s a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and author of the book The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight over Presidential Power.

When President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January, he'll take over a transformed executive branch with expanded power — more power than most presidents have had. New York Times magazine contributor Jonathan Mahler talks about what he sees as an imbalance of power between Washington's legislative and executive branches in his upcoming article about presidential power, called "After the Imperial Presidency."

The U.S. government has dismissed all charges against five prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay after the military prosecutor assigned to the cases resigned, saying the government had withheld evidence. Jonathan Mahler, author of "The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight over Presidential Power" explains what's likely to happen to the five detainees and what this means for the future of the controversial prison and court.