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Former Penn State Coach Joe Paterno Has Cancer

Joe Paterno's son said his father has lung cancer, but that it was treatable.

The AP reports:

Scott Paterno says in a statement provided to The Associated Press by a family representative that the 84-year-old Joe Paterno is undergoing treatment and that "his doctors are optimistic he will make a full recovery."

Paterno, the long time coach for Penn State's football team and the winningest coach in Division I history, was fired last week amid allegations that his assistant coach Jerry Sandusky had been sexually abusing boys for more than a decade. Paterno was criticized for failing to do more to stop the abuse, but Paterno was never criminally charged and Sandusky says he's innocent.

We'll have more on this story as it develops.

Update at 4:36 p.m. ET. His Diagnosis:

The Patriot-News reports that Paterno was "diagnosed after being hospitalized last Saturday, during the game against Nebraska."

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Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.