(NEW YORK) — WNBA star Brittney Griner, who’s been detained in Russia since February and is facing nine years in a Russian prison, has been transferred to a penal colony.
The move was decried by White House officials.
“Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement early Wednesday. “As the Administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the President has directed the Administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony.”
Griner’s lawyers said in a statement that she was transferred on Nov. 4 from a detention center in Iksha. She’s now on her way to a penal colony in an undisclosed location.
“We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination,” the lawyers, Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, said in a statement. “In accordance with the standard Russian procedure the attorneys, as well as the U.S. Embassy, should be notified upon her arrival at her destination.”
The White House said it had made a “significant offer” to Russian officials to “resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens.”
“In the subsequent weeks, despite a lack of good faith negotiation by the Russians, the U.S. Government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with the Russians through all available channels,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
She added, “The U.S. Government is unwavering in its commitment to its work on behalf of Brittney and other Americans detained in Russia — including fellow wrongful detainee Paul Whelan.”
Griner, a 31-year-old Houston native who plays professional basketball for the Phoenix Mercury, was detained on Feb. 17 at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Khimki as she returned to Russia to play during the WNBA’s offseason after she was accused of having vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in the country.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Vegas 4, Toronto 3 (OT)
NY Islanders 4, NY Rangers 3
Montreal 4, Detroit 2 (SO)
Arizona 4, Buffalo 1
Philadelphia 5, St. Louis 1
New Jersey 3, Calgary 2
Vancouver 6, Ottawa 4
Edmonton 3, Tampa Bay 2
Winnipeg 5, Dallas 1
Seattle 5, Nashville 1
LA Kings 1, Minnesota 0
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Washington 108, Charlotte 100
Houston 134, Orlando 127
Detroit 112, Oklahoma City 103
Indiana 129, New Orleans 122
Philadelphia 100, Phoenix 88
Atlanta 117, Milwaukee 98
Portland 110, Miami 107
Chicago 111, Toronto 97
Boston 109, Memphis 106
New York 120, Minnesota 107
Denver 115, San Antonio 109
Dallas 96, Brooklyn 94
Golden State 116, Sacramento 113
Utah 139, LA Lakers 116
LA Clippers 119, Cleveland 117
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Boston 3, St. Louis 1
NY Islanders 4, Calgary 3 (OT)
Washington 5, Edmonton 4
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Baltimore 27, New Orleans 13
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
North Carolina 69, UNC-Wilmington 56
Gonzaga 104, North Florida 63
Houston 83, N. Colorado 36
Kentucky 95, Howard 63
Baylor 117, MVSU 53
Kansas 89, Omaha 64
Duke 71, Jacksonville 44
Creighton 72, St. Thomas (MN) 60
Arkansas 76, N. Dakota St. 58
Tennessee 75, Tennessee Tech 43
Texas 72, UTEP 57
Indiana 88, Morehead St. 53
TCU 73, Ark.-Pine Bluff 72
Auburn 70, George Mason 52
Villanova 81, La Salle 68
Arizona 117, Nicholls 75
Virginia 73, NC Central 61
Alabama 75, Longwood 54
Michigan 75, Fort Wayne 56
Illinois 87, E. Illinois 57
Dayton 73, Lindenwood (Mo.) 46
Texas Tech 73, Northwestern St. 49
UCLA 76, Sacramento St. 50
San Diego St. 80, Cal St.-Fullerton 57
Oregon 80, Florida A&M 45
(HOUSTON) — Thousands of Houston Astros fans are expected to line the streets of downtown Houston on Monday as the city celebrates the 2022 World Series champions with a parade.
The parade will begin at 1 p.m ET and travel down Smith Street, beginning at the intersection with Preston Street and ending at the intersection with Taum Street.
#WorldSeries parade will be tomorrow at 12pm‼️
Please utilize @METROHouston or ride share to get to the Parade. Services from @METROHouston will be free tomorrow. ⚾️⚾️🥳🥳
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Cleveland 114, LA Lakers 100
Toronto 113, Chicago 104
Memphis 103, Washington 97
Utah 110, LA Clippers 102
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Toronto 3, Carolina 1
Detroit 3, NY Rangers 2 (OT)
Florida 5, Anaheim 3
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Cincinnati 42, Carolina 21
Detroit 15, Green Bay 9
Jacksonville 27, Las Vegas 20
LA Chargers 20, Atlanta 17
Miami 35, Chicago 32
Minnesota 20, Washington 17
NY Jets 20, Buffalo 17
New England 26, Indianapolis 3
Seattle 31, Arizona 21
Tampa Bay 16, LA Rams 13
Kansas City 20, Tennessee 17 (OT)
(LA PLATA, Md.) — A Maryland homeowner returned from work to find five people dead in his house in what police said was a quadruple murder-suicide.
The Charles County Sheriff’s office said officers responded to a residential home in La Plata, Maryland, on Friday to find the homeowner at the front door and two women and three men dead, with trauma to their bodies.
Preliminary investigation revealed the suspect, 28-year-old Andre Sales, entered the house and killed his ex-girlfriend, 21-year-old Sara Mann; her brother, 18-year-old Kai Mann; their mother, 48-year-old Sommaly Mann; and another man who was inside, 23-year-old Javon Watson.
According to police, Sales, who resides at a different residence, then shot himself with a gun.
Two young children who were initially unaccounted for were later found safe and unharmed at a different location.
Police said investigators and forensic personnel are still processing evidence and interviewing family and friends to establish a motive.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore will perform autopsies to confirm the exact cause of death for each individual, police said.
Earlier, police had said the incident appears to be isolated to the residence.
(NEW YORK) — Every year, there’s a new story about someone crawling, being lifted, or not even making it to the finish line of a marathon.
And every year, as spectators watch in awe as thousands of athletes run a grueling, painful 26.2 miles in the TCS New York City Marathon, they may be asking themselves: Why do people choose to do this?
ABC News went to the professionals to ask why they put their bodies through this –if not for the grand prize and title at the end.
When asked “Why do people do this?,” Tatyana McFadden, a five-time TCS New York City Marathon champion and 20-time Paralympic medalist, said she asks herself the same thing.
“When it’s so tough, you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, why did I put my body through this?'” she said to ABC News. Many of the runners are running with a charity or fundraiser, she pointed out, meaning the connection to the race can be much deeper than a personal achievement. “It’s very emotional … Everyone is running for something, running for some cause.”
Zackary Harris, the inaugural nonbinary division winner in the race’s history, said they love the way it challenges their body and mind. They sometimes have to literally yell at themselves to keep their “feet up, head up” to make it through the race even when their body wants to stop.
“Running a marathon puts every single facet in your mind to its ultimate test, like, your body is pushed to its limits, your mind is pushed to its limit,” Harris said to ABC News. “Throughout the course, you’re having all these internal struggles with yourself. But then once you finally get to the finish line, it’s like this sense of pure accomplishment that I don’t think get happens in a lot of other athletic events.”
Daniel Do Nascimento, an Olympian and Americas’ marathon record-holder from Brazil, told ABC News that he never thought initially he’d be breaking records, let alone running for two hours directly.
“I thought I’d run for an hour, and then I did another hour … and I felt so good,” Do Nascimento said. That rhythm grew, until he ran with the best in the world and broke the Americas marathon record in 2022. It made him feel powerful, he told ABC News.
For Matt Llano, the first openly gay American professional runner, the sport is all about perseverance and community.
“You see just so many stories of triumph, and people who’ve gone through so many different things to get there on that day,” Llano said to ABC News, describing the tearful, jubilant joy of people as they collapse crossing the finish line, or throw their hands up and cheer. “It just makes you think back on your own journey and what you have overcome to get to that starting line. Everybody has something, whether they think they do or not.”
Llano said that the running community plays a key role in his love for the sport, and the growing inclusivity within it is a bright spot for him to connect with other athletes — The NYC Marathon has been deemed a “safe space” for LGBTQ runners.
For non-professionals, who spend lots of time icing and massaging out their soreness before and after the marathon, the question of “why” may still be hanging in the air.
11-time-marathon-runner and psychology professor Glenn Geher told ABC News that though the reasons for racing are different for everyone, there are some common threads that weave all marathon runners together.
Firstly, the “runner’s high” is no myth as the hormonal aspect of marathon running plays a big role in why people feel compelled to join in. Running is known for giving athletes a rush of endorphins, and crossing the finish line of an hourslong race can be described by some as euphoric.
That feeling of pure achievement after months of training is undeniable and the hoards of spectators cheering certainly helps, Geher said.
“In reality, completing a marathon is not the impressive part (although it is the glorified part),” he said. Instead, he applauds the hours and hours of training that builds up into the final race day. “Effectively training for a marathon is really what’s impressive — and that end of things often goes unseen.”
Geher added that completing a marathon is also a way to socially signal one’s traits on dedication, discipline and time management — all required for getting through a successful race.
“I work with a lot of people in different contexts and different groups. You want people who are diligent, you want people who are hardworking, you want people who are gonna … ‘go the extra mile.’ Marathon finishers fit all those details in a very profound way,” Geher said.
Runners may also be inclined to run a marathon because, evolutionarily, walking or running long distances is in our blood, Geher said.
“Everyone was [nomadic,] and while nomads don’t run marathons, it is not uncommon for a nomadic group to travel as far as 20 miles in a day,” Geher, who specialized in evolutionary psychology, said. “Especially when [humans were] hunters, they weren’t faster than a lot of the game that they were chasing ,right? They had more endurance. So it does seem like to some extent long distance running, maybe not marathon running per se, but long distance running does seem to have a long history in the human evolutionary experience.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Houston 3, Philadelphia 2 (Houston leads 3-2)
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Orlando 130, Golden State 129
Denver 122, Oklahoma City 110
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Detroit 3, Washington 1
Vegas 5, Ottawa 4
Boston 5, NY Rangers 2
Carolina 4 Tampa Bay 3 (SO)
Seattle 4, Minnesota 0
Winnipeg 3, Montreal 2 (OT)
NY Islanders 5, St. Louis 2
Chicago 2, Los Angeles 1 (OT)
Nashville 4, Calgary 1
New Jersey 4, Edmonton 3
Vancouver 8, Anaheim 5
Dallas 7, Arizona 2
Florida 4, San Jose 3 (SO)
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Philadelphia 29, Houston 17
(NEW YORK) — Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving has been suspended without pay for at least five games after promoting a film that contains “deeply disturbing antisemitic hate,” the team announced Thursday.
“We were dismayed today, when given an opportunity in a media session, that Kyrie refused to unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs, nor acknowledge specific hateful material in the film,” the Nets said in a statement. “This was not the first time he had the opportunity — but failed — to clarify.”
The decision comes a week after Irving tweeted a link to the 2018 movie “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” on Amazon Prime Video. The synopsis states that the film, based on a 2015 book of the same name, “uncovers the true identity of the Children of Israel.” Several Jewish rights organizations, including the American Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League, have denounced the film as antisemitic.
The Nets said it has spent the last several days working with Irving to “help him understand the harm and danger of his words and actions, which began with him publicizing a film containing deeply disturbing antisemitic hate.”
Speaking with reporters earlier Thursday, Irving, who has since deleted his original tweet, said he takes responsibility for posting about the film.
“I didn’t mean to cause any harm,” Irving said. “I’m not the one that made the documentary.”
When asked whether he had any antisemitic beliefs, Irving responded, “I don’t know how the label becomes justified because you guys ask me the same questions over and over again. But this is not going to turn into a spin-around cycle — questions upon questions.”
He continued, “I told you guys how I felt. I respect all walks of life and embrace all walks of life. That’s where I sit.”
When pressed to answer yes or no to that question, he said, “I cannot be antisemitic if I know where I come from.”
In announcing his suspension, the Nets said Irving’s “failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and constitutes conduct detrimental to the team.”
“Accordingly, we are of the view that he is currently unfit to be associated with the Brooklyn Nets,” the statement continued. “We have decided that Kyrie will serve a suspension without pay until he satisfies a series of objective remedial measures that address the harmful impact of his conduct and the suspension period served is no less than five games.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, also pushed back against Irving’s latest comments.
“The answer to the question ‘Do you have any antisemitic beliefs” is always ‘NO’ without equivocation,” Greenblatt said on Twitter. “We took @KyrieIrving at his word when he said he took responsibility, but today he did not make good on that promise. Kyrie clearly has a lot of work to do.”
Earlier Thursday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement that he was disappointed that Irving “has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize.”
Irving has maintained that he never meant to hurt anyone. On Wednesday, he and the Nets announced that each of them will donate $500,000 to the Anti-Defamation League.
“I oppose all forms of hatred and oppression and stand strong with communities that are marginalized and impacted every day,” Irving said in a statement announcing his donation. “I am aware of the negative impact of my post towards the Jewish community and I take responsibility. I do not believe everything said in the documentary was true or reflects my morals and principles. I am a human being learning from all walks of life and I intend to do so with an open mind and a willingness to listen. So from my family and I, we meant no harm to any one group, race or religion of people, and wish to only be a beacon of truth and light.”
(NEW YORK) — The Brooklyn Nets and their all-star point guard Kyrie Irving have announced that each of them will donate $500,000 to the Anti-Defamation League after Irving tweeted a link to a film that critics say promotes antisemitic tropes.
“The events of the past week have sparked many emotions within the Nets organization, our Brooklyn community, and the nation,” the joint statement between the two parties read. “The public discourse that followed has brought greater awareness to the challenges we face as a society when it comes to combating hate and hate speech. We are ready to take on this challenge and we recognize that this is a unique moment to make a lasting impact.”
“To promote education within our community, Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets will each donate $500,000 toward causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance in our communities,” the statement continued. “The Nets and Kyrie Irving will work with ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), a nonprofit organization devoted to fighting antisemitism and all types of hate that undermine justice and fair treatment for every individual. This is an effort to develop educational programming that is inclusive and will comprehensively combat all forms of antisemitism and bigotry.”
Last Thursday, Irving tweeted a link to the 2018 movie Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America on Amazon Prime Video. The synopsis states that the film, based on a 2015 book of the same name, “uncovers the true identity of the Children of Israel.” Several Jewish rights organizations, including the American Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League, have denounced the film as antisemitic.
In the latest statement released by Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets, Irving maintained that he never meant to hurt anyone.
“I oppose all forms of hatred and oppression and stand strong with communities that are marginalized and impacted every day,” said Kyrie Irving. “I am aware of the negative impact of my post towards the Jewish community and I take responsibility. I do not believe everything said in the documentary was true or reflects my morals and principles. I am a human being learning from all walks of life and I intend to do so with an open mind and a willingness to listen. So from my family and I, we meant no harm to any one group, race or religion of people, and wish to only be a beacon of truth and light.”
The Nets and the NBA had previously released statements maintaining their intolerance for antisemitism and any form of hate speech.
Nets owner Joe Tsai said in a tweet Saturday he wants to “sit down” with Irving and ensure he understands “it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion.”
The NBA similarly said it intends to continue working with all members of the NBA community to “ensure that everyone understands the impact of their words and actions.”
However, former athletes and Jewish leaders argue the team and the league need to go a step further, calling for them to hold Irving accountable through disciplinary measures.
“I think that the Nets should have suspended him,” Jack Rosen, president of the American Jewish Congress, told ABC News. “They’re part of the problem, and they need to take action.”
Representatives for Irving, the NBA and Brooklyn Nets did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comments.
Several former professional basketball players, including Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller, have also spoken out on the controversy, denouncing Irving’s tweet. Barkley stated he believes Irving should be suspended, citing past precedent.
Then-Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo was suspended in 2015 after directing an anti-gay slur at an NBA referee. Last year, the Miami Heat’s Meyers Leonard received a $50,000 fine and was suspended for one week after making an anti-Semitic slur during a livestream while playing video games.
Irving’s teammate Kevin Durant was also fined last year for his use of homophobic and misogynistic language in Twitter messages to actor Michael Rapaport.
“We’ve suspended people and fined people who have made homophobic slurs. And that was the right thing to do. If you insult the Black community, you should be suspended or fined heavily,” Barkley said on TNT’s Inside the NBA.
“When you’re somebody as great at basketball as him, people are going to listen to what you say. I blame the NBA, he should have been suspended,” Barkley added.
Asked why Irving hasn’t been disciplined for his tweet, Nets general manager Sean Marks told reporters: “I think we are having these discussions behind the scenes. I honestly don’t want to really get into those right now…Really just trying to weigh out exactly what the best course of action is here.”
The Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based Jewish civil rights organization, initially applauded the NBA and the Nets via Twitter “for responding quickly to condemn the promotion of #antisemitic hate speech.”
ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt, who has been in ongoing conversations with the NBA, said he is looking forward to engaging Irving more on the matter.
“I think its more ignorance, not intention. But that doesn’t diminish his accountability,” Greenblatt told ABC News. “We need an ongoing process of discussion and dialogue. And I’m hoping that will happen.”
Irving has since deleted his original tweet but until the latest statement, defended his right to share the link to the documentary.
“I’m not going to stand down on anything I believe in,” Irving said during Saturday’s postgame press conference “I’m only going to get stronger because I’m not alone. I have a whole army around me.”
He noted that he is “not a divisive person when it comes to religion” and embraces “all walks of life.”
“Did I do anything illegal? Did I hurt anybody?” he added. “Did I harm anybody? Am I going out and saying that I hate one specific group of people?”
He confirmed he watched the film but denied endorsing it and said he shared the link after finding the movie during an internet search.
