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SafeSport Center ‘in potential crisis’ according to panel’s survey of Olympic system

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:12 GMT

A wide-ranging survey into the state of the U.S. Olympic system leveled criticism at the U.S. Center for SafeSport, with a draft report concluding that feedback collected about the 6-year-old agency “paints a picture of a center in potential crisis.”SafeSport Center CEO Ju’Riese Colon was among the Olympic leaders who testified Wednesday at a hearing held by the Congressionally appointed Commission on the State of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics that produced the survey — a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press — that will be used to craft recommendations for possible changes to the Olympic system.Colon painted an overall positive picture of the Denver-based center that Congress formed in 2017 to deal with abuse allegations in Olympic sports. She pointed to the 1,900 people who have been sanctioned and listed on the center’s disciplinary database. “And we have pioneered a shift to a safer sports culture over the last six years,” she said at the hearing in Washington.H...

Pennsylvania inmate escaped by climbing up a wall and over razor wire, prison official says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:12 GMT

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — Convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante was able to escape a prison yard in suburban Pennsylvania last week by climbing up a wall and over razor wire, officials said at a news conference Wednesday.Howard Holland, the acting warden of the prison, said there was a guard in an observation tower who has since been put on administrative leave. Two suburban Philadelphia school districts remained shuttered and one of the nation’s premier botanical gardens was closed Wednesday as authorities worked to flush out the fugitive.Cavalcante, 34, has been spotted five times since he escaped Thursday from the Chester County Prison. The most recent sighting came Monday night at Longwood Gardens, where trail surveillance video captured him walking through the area with a duffel bag, backpack and hooded sweatshirt he apparently stole while on the run. That sighting led officials to move the search area farther south on Tuesday after they determined that Cavalcante had likely slip...

Bryant Gumbel’s ‘Real Sports,’ HBO’s longest-running show, will end after 29 seasons

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Bryant Gumbel’s “Real Sports” newsmagazine on HBO will end its run after 29 seasons on the air, the network said on Wednesday.The show has been like a “60 Minutes” of sports, taking a look at social and economic issues beyond the games, and has won 37 Sports Emmy Awards. Gumbel, 74, won a lifetime achievement award at the Sports Emmys earlier this year.During one season for which “Real Sports” won a Peabody Award, some of its stories included looks into football head injuries and athletes who came out as gay, as well as investigations into the hazing death of a college drum major and a deadly plane crash involving a pro hockey team in Russia.“We’ve had the opportunity to to tell complex stories about race, gender, class, opportunity and so much more,” Gumbel said. “Being able to do so at HBO for almost three decades has been very gratifying. I’m proud of the imprint we’ve made, so I’m ready to turn the page. Although goodbyes are never e...

Freddie Mercury bangle sets record for rock star jewelry in auction of his prized possessions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:12 GMT

LONDON (AP) — A Victorian-style silver snake bangle Freddie Mercury wore with an ivory satin catsuit in the “Bohemian Rhapsody” video sold Wednesday for the highest price ever paid at auction for a piece of jewelry owned by a rock star as the late Queen front man’s most prized possessions were sold, Sotheby’s said.The bracelet went for 698,500 pounds ($881,000) — 100 times its estimated low price — as the singer and songwriter’s flamboyant stage costumes, handwritten drafts to hits such as “We are the Champions” and the baby grand piano he composed Queen’s greatest hits on went up for sale.The item broke a record set when John Lennon’s leather and bead talisman sold for 295,000 pounds ($368,000) in 2008, Sotheby’s said.The auction opened with the sale of the graffiti-tagged door to the garden of Mercury’s home rapidly blowing past the high estimate of 25,000 pounds ($31,250) projected before the sale. The green door covered in hand-painted love notes fr...

Court overturns stay granted to Quebec judge in wife’s killing, orders case to resume

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:12 GMT

MONTREAL — Quebec’s Court of Appeal has overturned a stay of proceedings granted to a retired Quebec judge whose 2012 conviction for fatally shooting his wife was reversed by the federal justice minister.The province’s highest court has ruled that the case against 88-year-old Jacques Delisle should return to Quebec Superior Court, where he was facing a new murder trial.Delisle’s lawyers had argued successfully before Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-François Émond that a retrial would be impossible because of serious errors in a Crown expert’s pathology report and unreasonable delays in the case.The Crown announced it would appeal the stay just weeks later in April 2022, and today’s Appeal Court ruling agrees that the lower court judge erred in granting the stay.Delisle, who sat on the Quebec Court of Appeal before his retirement, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Marie Nicole Rainville, and was sentenced to life in pri...

A fundraiser is coming up for Steve McMichael, which was inspired by a fan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:12 GMT

GRIFFITH, Ind. — There is another effort to aid "Mongo" as he continues to battle ALS, and this one comes from those who rooted him on while he wore the orange and blue for the Bears. It's something very personal for Brandon Hiatt, a fan of Steve McMichael and a podcast host who has been doing what he can to help the former defensive tackle who is a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist. "I was like, 'I wanna help this guy out, let's do something,'" said the resident of Northwest Indiana, who is helping to organize an event Friday to raise money for the McMichael family as part of an effort that's been going on the last year.This fundraiser takes place at Bridges Scoreboard at 121 North Griffith Blvd. in Griffith, Indiana, with the event slated to begin at 6 p.m. with tickets costing $50. All proceeds will go to the McMichael family as he continues to fight ALS. Steve McMichael named a Pro Football Hall of Fame Seniors Committee finalist It's an event that continues what has been a ...

Naked man enters two homes, fights with homeowners in Colorado

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:12 GMT

EDGEWATER, Colo. (KDVR) — Home security cameras captured the end of a bizarre crime spree in Edgewater, Colorado, where police say a naked man forced his way into two homes and physically fought with the people who live there.Edgewater Police were called to the 2200 block of Gray Street around 4:20 p.m. on Monday. Teen arrested at Denver high school wasn’t expelled in past gun case “Our officers were like, their day was ending, it was almost like the end of shift change, and then in one fell swoop you’re chasing a naked man down an alley,” Edgewater Police Chief Eric Sonstegard said.The incident reportedly started a few minutes earlier in front of a home on the same block.“My wife had just walked out of the house. She was getting in her car and she noticed this man wearing nothing but a trash bag,” Andrew Speake said. “He walked up to our front door, tried to enter. I thought it was my wife so I went to answer. By that time he was walking around the fence to our backyard so I appr...

ATCEMS responding to rollover in West Lake Hills, traffic delays expected

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:12 GMT

WEST LAKE HILLS, Texas -- Austin-Travis County EMS is currently on the scene of a single-vehicle rollover in West Lake Hills, the agency confirmed on Twitter.At approximately 1:40 p.m., medics responded to the rollover at 2900-3115 Bee Cave Rd in West Lake Hills. Medics said one patient is involved and is pinned in their vehicle. Extrication is currently in progress.Traffic delays are expected in the area, medics said.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

'Everybody deserves to hear the truth': 6th Street mass shooting suspect testifies in murder trial

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:12 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — "I was just scared...I didn't want to go to jail," De'ondre White, on trial for murder told a courtroom on Wednesday. White is accused of firing at least eight times into a large crowd, killing an innocent bystander, Douglas Kantor in June 2021. This incident is now referred to as the Sixth Street mass shooting. Kantor was in town celebrating his recent grad-school graduation. White took the stand, as the final witness in a two-week trial on Wednesday. He admitted to trying to get away with firing into the crowd, even fleeing the scene and hiding his phone and gun after. However, White maintains he was mixed up with a person who had, "beef," with people from "Stretch Gang," a well-known group that promotes violence in Killeen. White testified someone from the gang, in a ski mask approached him and his friends and started to pull out a gun. “I was just trying to shoot at a downward position, I wasn’t trying to shoot in the center in...My sole focus was just on the dud...

Travis County's mental health authority could get outside money to offset staff cuts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:12 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- At a Central Health board meeting Wednesday, members could vote to shuffle roughly $7 million in funding from its reserve fund to Integral Care -- Travis County's largest mental health provider -- in an attempt to offset recently announced staff cuts. The amendment to Central Health's budget, which is expected to be approved Wednesday, comes from former Austin City Council Member Ann Kitchen who now sits on both the Integral Care and Central Health boards. "I anticipate that Central Health will give appropriate consideration to this immediate issue. I encourage the Board of Managers to support this need now," Mayor Kirk Watson posted in his latest newsletter. To remedy a roughly $22 million shortfall in federal and state funding next fiscal year, Integral Care is slashing nearly 10% of its staff positions, some of which are vacant, a board meeting Thursday revealed.The Integral Care board signed off on a budget Aug. 31, which includes eliminating 115 positions. Of t...