AP Sports

US government agrees to $138.7M settlement over FBI’s botching of Larry Nassar assault allegations

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is paying a $138.7 million to settle more than 100 claims that it badly mishandled allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016. It was a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue preying on victims before his arrest. Nassar worked at Michigan State University and at USA Gymnastics. He’s serving decades in prison for assaulting female athletes, including Olympians. For more than a year, FBI agents in Indianapolis and Los Angeles had knowledge of allegations against Nassar but apparently took no action.

LeBron James rants at NBA’s replay center for calls, Lakers lose on buzzer-beater, trail Denver 2-0

DENVER (AP) — LeBron James’ anger boiled over after the Los Angeles Lakers’ latest loss to the Denver Nuggets. His anger wasn’t centered on the Lakers and blowing a 20-point lead in the second half or at Jamal Murray’s game-winning buzzer beater to give Denver a 101-99 win. No, James was upset about the NBA’s replay center reversing a foul call on the Nuggets in the second half. James said Michael Porter Jr. clearly hit D’Angelo Russell in the face and that the call shouldn’t have been reversed. The Lakers are down 2-0 with the series heading to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday.

NFL draft has been on tour for a decade and the next stop is Detroit, giving it a shot in spotlight

DETROIT (AP) — The NFL draft has taken the show on the road for a decade, giving cities around the country a chance to be in the spotlight. Detroit is on the clock. The Motor City was once one of the nation’s largest and most powerful cities and has bounced back from filing for bankruptcy in 2013. Fans driving and flying into town from the league’s other 31 teams will see signs of progress from the symbolic to the significant. In the heart of downtown, the NFL’s three-day draft will begin Thursday night.

Police clear out a migrant camp in central Paris. Activists say it’s a pre-Olympics sweep

PARIS (AP) — French police have evicted migrants from a makeshift camp in Paris a few steps away from the Seine River. It’s the latest operation in what aid groups call a campaign of “social cleansing” ahead of the Summer Olympics. Around 30 teenage boys and young men from West Africa were awakened by police officers and urged to pack their tents and belongings. The operation came days after police carried out a large-scale eviction at France’s biggest squatter camp. Such evictions happen every spring. But aid groups say these efforts are intensifying ahead of the Olympics. Paris police say the operation was carried out for security reasons.

Analysis: Golf has two dominant forces in Scheffler and Korda. It didn’t happen overnight

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Golf had been missing a truly dominant player. And now all of a sudden it has two of them in Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda. But this didn’t happen overnight. Scheffler has 10 victories in the last 26 months. Two of them are from the Masters. He is approaching a full year at No. 1 in the world. Korda started to soar in 2021 when she won her first major and was No. 1 in the world and claimed Olympic gold. But she had a blood clot in 2022 and a back injury in 2023 that slowed her momentum.

Caitlin Clark is set to sign a new Nike deal valued at $28 million over 8 years, reports say

Caitlin Clark appears to be on the cusp of setting another record. The most prolific scorer in NCAA Division I history and No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft is preparing to sign a second contract with Nike, this one paying $28 million over eight years and coming with a signature shoe. The Wall Street Journal and The Athletic reported the pending deal, citing unnamed people familiar with the negotiations between the sportswear giant and Clark’s agents. Excel Sports Management, which represents Clark, and Nike did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Olympic gold medalist Allisha Gray hopes to be part of US 3×3 team in Paris Games

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Allisha Gray is glad to be back playing 3×3 with an eye towards being a member of the team at the Paris Olympics this summer. She’s the only player returning from the foursome that took home the gold at the Tokyo Games three years ago. That was the inaugural appearance of the sport at the Olympics. Gray was one of eight players selected from the 15-person training camp over the weekend to participate in a 3×3 tournament in Springfield, Massachusetts at The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. She’s on a team with Dearica Hamby, Cameron Brink and Linnae Harper. The other U.S. team in the tournament features Cierra Burdick, Rhyne Howard, Lexie Hull and Hailey Van Lith.

Paris mayor is confident that water quality will allow Olympic swimming in the River Seine

PARIS (AP) — Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said she is confident water quality will be up to the Olympics standards this summer. She said she’ll be be swimming there, possibly alongside President Emmanuel Macron. The Seine River is the venue for marathon swimming at the Games and the swimming leg of the Olympic and Paralympic triathlon. An environmental group recently denounced the river’s poor water quality. Hidalgo mentioned new facilities that have been specially built to clean up the Seine. She said she invited top officials, including Macron, to swim in the Seine at an event dubbed “the big dive” to be staged at the end of June or beginning of July.

Legendary rugby league star Wally Lewis appeals for concussion and CTE awareness support

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A legendary rugby player has cited the fear and anxiety that has invaded his life among the reasons for urging the Australian government to fund support services and education about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Wally Lewis was known as “The King” when he played rugby league for Queensland state and Australia in the 1980s. He made an appeal on behalf of the Concussion and CTE Coalition for millions of dollars in funding during a National Press Club address Tuesday. The 64-year-old Lewis said he’s living with probable CTE, which he described as a type of dementia associated with repeated concussive and sub-concussive blows to the head. Lewis says “The fear is real.”

NFL teams often misfire on drafting QBs. But how often do they fail? And why?

NFL teams are using premium draft picks on quarterbacks at an increasingly high rate. The draft this weekend is slated to be the eighth in the past nine years with at least three QBs taken in the first round. That will match the number of times that happened in the first 38 years of the common draft era. But finding a capable starter is still essentially a coin-flip proposition. Half of the first round QBs from 2011 until 2022 left their original teams without reaching the relatively low bar of receiving a second contract.