PHOTO COURTESY OF BLEACHER REPORT
MIAMI CB MALEK YOUNG NEEDS CAREER-ENDING NECK SURGERY
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) – Miami cornerback Malek Young’s football career is over. The Hurricanes announced Sunday that a neck injury Young sustained during last month’s Orange Bowl against Wisconsin will require career-ending surgery to repair. Young will remain on scholarship for the remainder of his academic career. Miami did not reveal the specifics of his injury.”After discussions with my family and the UM medical staff we have determined that my football career should come to an end,” Young said in a statement released by the university.”I look forward to getting healthy, working toward my degree and continuing to support my teammates, as I know they will continue to support me.’ Several players and coaches posted public messages of support on social media after learning of the decision. Young finished his sophomore season with 43 tackles and two interceptions for Miami, which finished 10-3 and won the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division title. Young appeared in all 13 games and was the first player to wear the Hurricanes’ famed”Turnover Chain,” one of college football’s top phenomenon this past season and was presented to Miami defenders who recorded akeaways.
Young was hurt early in the Orange Bowl, though the severity of whatever happened was not apparent at the time. He was on the field as part of Miami’s kick coverage team to open the game and played the first defensive serie
SESSIONS INTERVIEWED BY MUELLER TEAM IN RUSSIA INVESTIGATION
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interviewed for hours last week in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday. He’s the highest-ranking Trump administration official and first Cabinet member known to have submitted to questioning. The interview came as Mueller investigates whether President Donald Trump’s actions in office, including the firing of FBI Director James Comey, constitute efforts to obstruct the FBI probe into contacts between his 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump’s own lawyers are discussing the prospect of an interview with the president himself, and White House officials state publicly that they anticipate a resolution soon to the investigation. The questioning of the country’s chief law enforcement officer is a reflection of investigators’ continued interest in whether the president took steps to improperly obstruct justice. That question has been at the heart of the investigation for months as agents and prosecutors have questioned multiple current and former White House officials. Sessions himself is seen as a potentially important witness given his direct involvement in the May 9 firing of Comey. The White House initially said the termination was done on the recommendation of the Justice Department and cited a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that faulted Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation as justification.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BT.COM
SOUTH AFRICAN JAZZ MUSICIAN HUGH MASEKELA DIES AT 78
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Legendary South African jazz musician and anti-apartheid activist Hugh Masekela has died at the age of 78 after a decade-long fight with cancer, according to a statement from his family on Tuesday.Often called the “ Father of South African jazz,” Masekela died in Johannesburg after what his family said was a “protracted and courageous battle with prostate cancer.” Masekela was a rare artist who succeeded in fusing politics with his music, making his songs and performances compelling and timeless. Trumpeter, singer and composer Masekela, affectionately known locally as “Bra Hugh,” started playing the horn at 14. He quickly became an integral part of the 1950s jazz scene in Johannesburg as a member of the band the Jazz Epistles and a member of the orchestra in the groundbreaking jazz opera, “King Kong.” In the 1960s he went into exile in the United Kingdom and the United States, using his music to spread awareness about South Africa’s oppressive system of white-minority rule. He scored an international number one hit in 1968 with “Grazing In The Grass.” Masekela spent time in both New York and Los Angeles, performing at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival with some of the era’s most iconic musicians, including Janis Joplin, Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix. He collaborated with many musicians including Herb Alpert and was married to South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba for two years. In the 1980s Masekela appeared with Paul Simon and several other South African musicians as part of the “Graceland” album tour. Many of his compositions were about the struggle for majority rule and full democratic rights in South Africa. Masekela’s catchy upbeat 1987 song “Bring Him Back Home” calling for Nelson Mandela’s release from prison became an international anthem for the anti-apartheid movement. Masekela returned to South Africa in 1990 after Mandela was freed and the African National Congress party was unbanned. He released over 40 albums and toured in South Africa and internationally until late in 2017.
A GRAMMY CURSE? MILLI VANILLI’S FAB MORVAN, REFLECTS
NEW YORK (AP) — Winning the best new artist Grammy is a goal for most breakthrough performers, but for some of its recipients, it can create pressure to match previous success or surpass it. That’s why some feel that winning the award is a slight curse. The Recording Academy has been known for picking the wrong best new artist winner over the years. Some of the world’s greatest musicians have lost the award, including Elton John, Elvis Costello and the Dixie Chicks.
Taylor Swift lost, too, though it was understandably to Amy Winehouse. But other choices will surprise you — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis not only beat out Kendrick Lamar, but they won over Ed Sheeran. But sometimes the Grammys gets it right: The Beatles, Bette Midler, Mariah Carey, John Legend and Adele are some of the superstars who have picked up the honor, and have followed up their wins with impressive work.
INDIA AND CANADA DEFEND FREE TRADE AS US IMPOSES TARIFFS
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump approved new tariffs on imports, the leaders of Canada and India come out forcefully Tuesday against a drift toward protectionism in the global economy. While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said new barriers to trade could pose a danger on a par with climate change and extremist attacks, his Canadian peer, Justin Trudeau, revealed that his country and the ten remaining members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership have revised their trade deal in the wake of the U.S.’s withdrawal. “Forces of protectionism are raising their heads against globalization,” Modi told a crowd of business and government leaders in the opening address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “It feels like the opposite of globalization is happening.” Modi’s message came hot on the heels of Trump’s signing off on the new tariffs on imported solar-energy components and large washing machines in a move he hopes will help U.S. manufacturers. Without directly referring to Trump or the U.S., Modi said the “negative impact of this kind of mindset cannot be considered less dangerous than climate change or terrorism.” He urged governments not to turn to isolation, driving home his point by quoting Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi: “I don’t want the windows of my house to be closed from all directions. I want the winds of cultures of all countries to enter my house with aplomb and go out also.” Modi’s speech to the global elite, the first time an Indian prime minister has made the opening address at the WEF, comes a year after Chinese President Xi Jinping laid out his country’s credentials as a champion of free trade and stability on the same week Trump was inaugurated president.
EX-SPORTS DOCTOR’S VICTIMS DRAW STRENGTH FROM EACH OTHER
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Clasina Syrovy would change the subject whenever someone asked if she knew former sports doctor Larry Nassar or mentioned news coverage of the unfolding scandal over his sexual abuse of young gymnasts. She didn’t want to be “another Jane Doe on the list,” said Syrovy, who competed for 15 years. She certainly didn’t want to reveal herself publicly as a victim. “But as everything unfolded before my eyes like a really bad ‘Lifetime’ original movie based on true events, I gained some courage,” Syrovy said in court Monday, confronting Nassar at his sentencing hearing. “After watching a few of my former teammates step up and say that this had happened to them also, I gained a little more.” In an extraordinary scene unfolding in a Michigan courtroom, almost 160 women and girls are coming forward — far more than originally expected — to confront the man who molested them when they were vulnerable girls told to trust the doctor who could help them achieve their dreams. Nassar, 54, has admitted sexually assaulting athletes under the guise of medical treatment when he was employed by Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, which as the sport’s national governing organization trains Olympians. He already has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for child pornography. Under a plea bargain, he faces a minimum of 25 to 40 years behind bars in the molestation case. The ultimate sentence imposed could be much higher.
PHOTO COURTESY OF RFERL.ORG
RUSSIA SAYS AHN AMONG TOP ATHLETES BARRED FROM OLYMPICS
MOSCOW (AP) — Several of Russia’s top medal hopes for next month’s Olympics, including six-time short-track speedskating gold medalist Viktor Ahn, have been barred from the Pyeongchang Games amid the country’s ongoing doping scandal. Already depleted by doping bans and forced to compete under a neutral flag, Russia now faces an Olympics without some of its top skiers, figure skaters and sliders after they failed to pass International Olympic Committee vetting. Five hockey players have also been barred, including former NHL players Sergei Plotnikov, Valeri Nichushkin and Anton Belov. The exclusions stirred renewed talk of a boycott, though Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov said Tuesday the decision to compete by athletes and officials at a meeting last month remained in force. The chairman of the Russian parliament’s sports committee, however, told The Associated Press that the country needed to “defend out honor.” “There was an attempt to take the Russian athletes’ flag, anthem, to push Russia toward a boycott … And now this is the second attempt, tyranny, an attempt to drive a wedge between athletes who had managed to keep their good name,” Mikhail Degtyarev said. “I’m not personally a supporter of a boycott. I consider it counterproductive, but we need to defend our honor.” The Russian Figure Skating Federation said the IOC was trying to provoke Russia into a boycott.
The federation said it was “deeply disappointed in this baseless IOC decision which is reminiscent of a provocation with the aim of forcing Russian athletes by any means possible to decline to participate in the games.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF POLITIFACT
JURY: EX-SHERIFF CLARKE DID NOT VIOLATE MAN’S FREE SPEECH
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke did not violate a man’s free speech with taunting Facebook posts after detaining him at an airport last year for shaking his head at Clarke while boarding a flight, a federal jury has concluded. In a civil lawsuit against Clarke, Daniel Black argued he received hateful messages and was fearful after Clarke called him a “snowflake” online and said Black “wouldn’t be around to whine” if the then-sheriff really wanted to harass him. Clarke made the comment after Black complained to the county that the sheriff had his deputies detain and question him for 15 minutes after he got off the plane in Milwaukee. Jurors deliberated nearly three hours before deciding Monday night that Clarke’s posts were not enough to chill Black’s future speech. Clarke resigned on Aug. 31 to join a political action committee that supports President Donald Trump. Black said he shook his head at Clarke last January on the flight from Dallas to Milwaukee because Clarke was wearing Cowboys gear when they were playing the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs. Black at one point became tearyeyed while testifying Monday, saying he would never file another complaint against an elected official because the incident left him so rattled. He said he sued last year because he needed “someone to say this is wrong.” Although Black was not arrested or cited, his attorneys argued that Clarke’s actions — particularly his social media taunts — were retaliatory and threatening enough to silence criticism of the sheriff. “I felt guilty, I felt scared, that I had a target on my back,”
Black testified, recalling one post in particular on the sheriff’s official Facebook site. Clarke wrote on Facebook: “Cheer up, snowflake … if Sheriff Clarke were to really harass you, you wouldn’t be around to whine about it.”
No Comment