Like the headline says, a high up LDS leader was excommunicated.
I've never heard of the guy before. I'm hardly an expert on general authorities. I don't think he was excommunicated though-it simply says he was released from his callings. I don't know the details of what happened and you don't either.
The church is in a tough place with this. It wants to publicly address issues of misbehavior among it's members, in particular it's higher ups and especially among the really top people. Obviously it still has rules to follow. Unless the public is in immediate danger you can't tell everyone what the guy did. I don't even want to take a guess it at, and I would argue that you shouldn't either.
That doesn't mean it can not be talked about or mentioned. The reality is that things like this have to be mentioned. We all know that scandals can cause huge damage to religions and religious leaders. It's best not to cover anything up unless it is deeply private and personal and would cause damage to innocent parties.
Excommunication is a severe punishment, and also a confusing one. Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church back during the beginnings of the Protestant reformation, but I'm not sure he cared that much. If you no longer think the church is true or want to live by it's rules, than being told you are no longer a member shouldn't bother you. I think excommunication bothers the members more than it bothers the person being excommunicated.
This story is sort of sad all around.
It's interesting to thing that people seem to believe that being in the church makes you perfect. this is not news. Throughout it's history, the church has excommunicated many people, some publicly and some not. Thomas b. marsh, oliver cowdery, were from the first presidency! That people are surprised that the church is full of actual people with frailties is strange part. It's like this thing about people people being surprised that there are people that say 'nay' on church sustaining in general conference. It was common in the early days of the church to have lots of nay's to the sustainings. It's only in recent history that there have not been 'nay's. People seem to forget that being in the church does not make you perfect. The Lord warns in the scriptures that if the prophet ever went against his will, he would be removed as well. So no one is above the law of the Lord.
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