(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Houston 9, Boston 1 (Houston leads series 3-2)
NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Atlanta 9, LA Dodgers 2 (Atlanta leads series 3-1)
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Chicago 94, Detroit 88
Charlotte 123, Indiana 122
Washington 98, Toronto 83
Philadelphia 117, New Orleans 97
Memphis 132, Cleveland 121
Minnesota 124, Houston 106
New York 138 Boston 134 (2OT)
San Antonio 123, Orlando 97
Utah 107, Oklahoma City 86
Denver 110, Phoenix 98
Sacramento 124, Portland 121
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Philadelphia 6, Boston 3
St. Louis 3, Vegas 1
TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Appalachian St. 30, Coastal Carolina 27
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Chicago 4, Cincinnati 3
CF Montreal 1 Orlando City 1 (Tie)
New York City FC 1, Atlanta 1 (Tie)
New England 3, DC United 2
Miami 3, Toronto FC 0
Los Angeles FC 3, FC Dallas 2
Minnesota 3, Philadelphia 2
Columbus 1, Nashville 1 (Tie)
LA Galaxy 3, Houston 0
Seattle 1, Colorado 1 (Tie)
Vancouver 3, Portland 2
San Jose 4, Austin FC 0
(NEW YORK) — After several months of confidential negotiations, the NFL and attorneys for former players have reached an agreement that will end the controversial practice of race-norming in the league’s landmark concussion settlement program.
The deal, which was filed under seal but obtained by ABC News on Wednesday, also outlines a process for reevaluating past claims for compensation that may have been affected by race-based adjustments to cognitive test scores, which sources familiar with the matter say could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional payouts to former players and their families.
Following an ABC News investigation earlier this year, which uncovered emails and data suggesting that the league’s protocols made it more difficult for Black former players to qualify for compensation, the federal judge overseeing the program ordered the NFL and attorneys for former players into mediation to “address the concerns” about the use of race-norming.
The judge later granted a petition to intervene from attorneys for two Black former players, Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, who had filed a lawsuit challenging the terms of the original settlement.
Both the league and the class counsel for former players initially defended the practice but ultimately reversed course and sought to reform the program in the face of mounting public pressure and scrutiny.
Spokespersons for the NFL and the attorneys for former players have not responded to requests for comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Houston 9 Boston 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final L.A. Dodgers 6 Atlanta 5
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Milwaukee 127 Brooklyn 104
Final Golden State 121 L.A. Lakers 114
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Buffalo 5 Vancouver 2
Final San Jose 5 Montreal 0
Final SO Dallas 2 Pittsburgh 1
Final Florida 4 Tampa Bay 1
Final Washington 6 Colorado 3
Final New Jersey 4 Seattle 2
Final Detroit 4 Columbus 1
Final Nashville 2 Los Angeles 1
Final N-Y Islanders 4 Chicago 1
Final OT Minnesota 6 Winnipeg 5
Final Edmonton 6 Anaheim 5
(NEW YORK) — Family members of a former NHL player who had cocaine and fentanyl in his system when he died are now speaking out to warn people about the risks of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid.
Jimmy Hayes, a 31-year-old father of two who played seven seasons in the NHL, was found dead at his home near Boston on Aug. 23.
His death was ruled accidental.
“I hope getting Jimmy’s story out there can save someone’s life,” Hayes’ father, Kevin, told the Boston Globe. “If this can save someone from the pain, great. It’s just so sad. I pride myself on being pretty mentally strong. I’m a street guy. But there’s just no formula for this. You have a beautiful, all-American boy who made a terrible mistake and it cost him his life.”
Hayes’ wife, Kristen, told the Boston Globe she was “completely shocked” that her husband’s death was drug-related, telling the newspaper, “I was so certain that it had nothing to do with drugs. I really thought it was a heart attack or anything that wasn’t that [drugs].”
Hayes was a Boston native who played over 300 games in the NHL for four different teams. His dad Kevin told the Boston Globe that Hayes came to him over a year ago and told him he was “hooked” on pain pills, and later sought treatment.
“So he gets help and everything was on the path to recovery, I thought,” said Kevin. “But this [expletive] is so powerful.”
Hayes is the latest well-known celebrity to die with fentanyl in his system.
The singer Prince fatally overdosed on fentanyl in 2016.
“The Wire” actor Michael K. Williams died in September of a drug overdose which included fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, heroin and cocaine.
In February, Dr. Laura Berman, a nationally known relationship and sex expert, shared a warning for parents when her 16-year-old son died after taking what she described as fentanyl-laced Xanax from a person he allegedly met on Snapchat.
What to know about the dangers of illicitly manufactured fentanyl
In the United States, illicitly manufactured fentanyl is the primary driver of the significant increases in drug overdose deaths in recent years. More than 93,000 people died of a drug overdose last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In September, the country’s top law enforcement officials announced the seizure of more than 1.8 million counterfeit pills during a coordinated series of law enforcement raids throughout the country since early August.
The pills are often made to resemble real prescription opioid medication like Oxycontin, Vicodin and Xanax or stimulants like Adderall, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Most are made in Mexico, with China supplying the chemicals.
“We cannot stress enough the danger of these counterfeit pills,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said at a Sept. 30 press conference. “We’re seeing these pills being illegally sold in every state in the United States. They are cheap, they are widely available, they can be purchased online and on social media — so through people’s phones, and they’re extremely dangerous.”
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is used frequently in medical settings. Developed for the pain management treatment of cancer patients, it is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the DEA.
“It is a very good and effective medicine at relieving pain in appropriate quantities managed by anesthesia,” said Dr. Kimberly Sue, medical director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition and an addiction specialist at Yale University. “What we’re seeing in the opioid overdose deaths in this country is related to fentanyl that is obtained outside of the context of medical prescriptions, usually on the street.”
In the case of an overdose death, fentanyl can cause a person to stop breathing, according to Sue.
Sue said that when people take medications that are not prescribed to them, they are playing “Russian roulette,” given the prevalence of illicitly manufactured fentanyl on the streets today.
“In the case of a pill that you buy off the street, people should assume there is fentanyl present even if it is labeled as some other medication,” she said. “I’ve taken care of many patients who think they’re buying an oxycodone or heroin and there’s nothing in it. It’s just fentanyl.”
Sue stressed that there are now resources like fentanyl test strips, which identify the presence of fentanyl in unregulated drugs, and naloxone, a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose, that can help save people’s lives.
“These are really tragic deaths because they are preventable,” said Sue. “I tell my patients, ‘You have to use all these strategies to try to stay alive and keep your friends alive.'”
If you or someone you love is in need of help, call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit HERE to reach SAMHSA’s 24-hour helpline that offers free, confidential treatment referral and information about mental and/or substance use disorders, prevention and recovery.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Quinn Owen and Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Atlanta 5, LA Dodgers 4 (Atlanta leads series 2-0)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Ottawa 3, Dallas 2
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Jacksonville 23, Miami 20
Baltimore 34, L.A. Chargers 6
Cincinnati 34, Detroit 11
Green Bay 24, Chicago 14
Indianapolis 31, Houston 3
Kansas City 31, Washington 13
LA Rams 38, NY Giants 11
Minnesota 34, Carolina 28 (OT)
Arizona 37, Cleveland 14
Dallas 35, New England 29 (OT)
Las Vegas 34, Denver 24
Pittsburgh 23, Seattle 20 (OT)
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Chicago 80, Phoenix 74
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
New York 1, New York City FC 0
Vancouver 2, Sporting Kansas City 1
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE SCOREBOARD
NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
LA Dodgers 2, San Francisco 1 (LA wins 3-2)
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PRESEASON
Atlanta 127, Miami 92
Brooklyn 107, Minnesota 101
Denver 113 Oklahoma City 107 (OT)
Sacramento 116, LA Lakers 112
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Buffalo 5, Montreal 1
Ottawa 3, Toronto 2
Columbus 8, Arizona 2
Florida 5, Pittsburgh 4 (OT)
Dallas 3, NY Rangers 2 (OT)
Carolina 6, NY Islanders 3
Tampa Bay 7, Detroit 6 (OT)
Final Seattle 4 Nashville 3
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 28, Philadelphia 22
(WASHINGTON) — Four elite gymnasts are calling on Congress to dissolve the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s board of directors, alleging the body fostered a culture of abuse and ignored serial sexual abuse by Larry Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics team doctor.
“We make this request after years of patience, deliberation, and unrequited commitment to learn from our suffering and make amateur sports safe for future generations,” Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichols, who all testified before Congress last month about what they say were failures in the FBI’s handling of the sexual abuse case, wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders Wednesday.
“We believe the Board’s past actions demonstrate an unwillingness to confront the epidemic problems with abuse that athletes like us have faced and a continued refusal to pursue true and necessary reform of the broken Olympic system,” the letter continued.
Nassar was sentenced in 2018 to up to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal sexual conduct charges. The sentencing came after dozens of girls and women accused him of sexually abusing them.
“Since becoming aware of Nassar’s abuse, the USOPC’s top priority has been to hide culpability and avoid accountability,” the athletes wrote in their letter, claiming the board “took no investigative action whatsoever after learning that Nassar was an abuser.”
The athletes wrote that the “ecosystem” that gave shelter to the likes of Nasser “still exists,” and they took aim at officials still in positions of power at USOPC and its foundation. They asked that Congress replace the board with one that will investigate “systemic” sexual abuse; otherwise, they said, “athletes will remain at risk.”
The four women addressed their letter to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who co-sponsored a bill signed into law last year that gives Congress the power to dissolve the board.
In response to the letter, Blumenthal outlined potential next steps, saying Congress should “develop procedures to appoint a new board before dissolving the old one, and must be approved by the House and Senate before being signed by the President.”
“We’re grateful to these athletes for their continued demand for justice and accountability — a goal we share,” he said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing our work together to ensure that USOPC is held responsible for past failures.”
Olympians Biles, Raisman and Maroney, as well as world champion Nichols, testified about the abuse they suffered at the hands of Nassar during a hearing last month with the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the FBI’s handling of the sexual abuse case.
“Over the past few years it has become painfully clear how a survivor’s healing is affected by the handling of their abuse, and it disgusts me that we are still fighting for the most basic answers and accountability over six years later,” said Raisman, who cited failings by USA Gymnastics, the USOPC and the FBI.
A Department of Justice inspector general report released in July found the FBI made “fundamental errors” in its response to allegations against Nassar that were first brought to the agency in July 2015.
“We have been failed, and we deserve answers,” Biles said during her testimony. “Nassar is where he belongs, but those who enabled him deserve to be held accountable. If they are not, I am convinced that this will continue to happen to others across Olympic sports.”
Following Nassar’s sentencing in 2018, USOPC (at the time known as the U.S. Olympic Committee) penned an open letter to Team USA athletes to “tell all of Nassar’s victims and survivors, directly, how incredibly sorry we are.”
“We have said it in other contexts, but we have not been direct enough with you,” Scott Blackmun, former chief executive of the organization, wrote. “We are sorry for the pain caused by this terrible man, and sorry that you weren’t afforded a safe opportunity to pursue your sports dreams. The Olympic family is among those that have failed you.”
The entire USA Gymnastics board resigned in the wake of the sentencing, after USOPC demanded the remaining members step aside or face termination.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PRESEASON
Phoenix 119, Portland 74
Dallas 127, Charlotte 59
Orlando 103, Boston 102
Indiana 109, Memphis 107
New York 108, Detroit 100
Oklahoma City, 108 Denver 99
Utah 124, Milwaukee 120
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Toronto 2, Montreal 1
Washington 5, NY Rangers 1
Anaheim 4, Winnipeg 1
Colorado 4, Chicago 2
Edmonton 3, Vancouver 2 (SO)
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Phoenix 91, Chicago 86 (OT)
(NEW YORK) – Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Boston 6, Tampa Bay 5
Houston at Chi White Sox (Postponed)
NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Atlanta 3, Milwaukee 0
San Francisco 1, LA Dodgers 0
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PRESEASON
Toronto 107, Houston 92
Miami 104, Charlotte 103
Memphis 127, Detroit 92
Philadelphia 115, Brooklyn 104
Utah 127, New Orleans 96
Sacramento 107, Portland 93
Minnesota 128, LA Clippers 100
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Baltimore 31 Indianapolis 25 (OT)
