July 25, 2025 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Trump has signed an executive order directing federal authorities to clarify whether college athletes can be considered employees of their schools. The move aims to establish clearer national standards in the NCAA’s name, image, and likeness era. The order seeks to address the chaotic landscape of college sports, where athletes can now earn income from endorsements and schools can pay them directly. Trump’s order also calls for preserving scholarships and roster spots for non-revenue sports and asks the Justice Department to protect athletes’ rights.
July 25, 2025 4:23 am
LONDON, Ontario (AP) — An Ontario judge has acquitted five former members of Canada’s world junior hockey team in their sexual assault case, saying the complainant’s allegations lacked the credibility needed to justify the charges. Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia said Thursday that prosecutors could not meet the onus of proof for the charges against Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube and Callan Foote. All five players had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault in the encounter that took place in a London, Ontario, hotel room in the early hours of June 19, 2018.
July 24, 2025 2:42 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Spencer Horwitz hit his first career grand slam and Bailey Falter matched a career-high with eight strikeouts to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-1 win and sweep of the Detroit Tigers. Horwitz drove a two-out cutter from Troy Melton 416 feet to center-field to make it 5-0. Andrew McCutchen opened the scoring in the first with his ninth homer of the season. Bryan Reynolds led off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly from Oneil Cruz in the third inning. Matt Vierling provided Detroit’s lone run with a single in the seventh that scored Spencer Torkelson. (Photo: AP)
July 24, 2025 4:36 am
LATROBE, Pa. (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers have arrived at training camp with a far different team than the one that was blown out in the playoffs in Baltimore in January. Newcomers Aaron Rodgers and Jalen Ramsey are in. Stars such as Minkah Fitzpatrick and George Pickens are out following an uncharacteristically busy offseason for one of the NFL’s most stable franchises. General manager Omar Khan says the team’s performance over the past few years hasn’t been good enough and that it was time to shake things up.
July 24, 2025 4:38 am
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Bayron Matos suffered an undisclosed injury at the end of Wednesday’s practice and was flown to a hospital on a helicopter. The injury happened in the final minutes of Day 1 of the Dolphins’ training camp. The team said Matos was airlifted in stable condition. It did not release information on the injury. The 24-year-old Matos is in his second year in the NFL. He went undrafted in 2024 but signed with the Dolphins as a free agent through the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program. He has only been playing football since 2022 when he walked on at South Florida.
July 24, 2025 4:35 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) — New year, new slate, no outside noise. That’s the mantra in Happy Valley, despite James Franklin being saddled with a 4-20 mark as coach at Penn State against teams ranked in the AP Top 10. Despite his 101-42 mark at the helm, or the two College Football Playoff victories before falling to Notre Dame in last year’s national semifinal, the 53-year-old’s successes can’t seem to outweigh the narrative of losing big games.
July 22, 2025 4:23 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Spencer Horwitz, Bryan Reynolds and Tommy Pham each had three hits and two RBIs, and the Pittsburgh Pirates hit eight doubles in an 8-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night. Horwitz hit a two-run double in the second inning to open the scoring. The Pirates, who had lost 11 of their previous 12 games, have taken the first two games of the series from the AL Central leaders. Reynolds had RBI singles in the third and sixth and Pham doubled in a run in the sixth as the Pirates increased their lead to 8-3. The Tigers have lost eight of their last nine games.
July 23, 2025 4:27 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Caitlin Clark missed her second straight game against New York while recovering from an injury to her right groin. The Fever’s star guard also was absent from the team’s game against the Liberty before the All-Star break. She was supposed to compete in the 3-point contest as well as Saturday’s All-Star Game, but missed both events. Clark told reporters on Saturday night that she had been getting treatment during the festivities, which took place in Indianapolis. She was injured in the final minute of last Tuesday’s victory at Connecticut.
July 23, 2025 4:25 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Venus Williams has become the oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match since Martina Navratilova. Williams delivered some of her familiar big serves and groundstrokes at age 45 while beating Peyton Stearns — a player who is 22 years younger — by a 6-3, 6-4 score at the DC Open. Tuesday night’s victory in Washington was the first for Williams in nearly two years. Navratilova was 47 in 2004 when she won for the final time. The former No. 1-ranked Williams had not played singles in an official match since March 2024 in Miami, missing time while having surgery to remove uterine fibroids.
July 22, 2025 4:30 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Skenes allowed three hits over six efficient innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Detroit Tigers 3-0. In his first outing since starting the All-Star Game for the NL, Skenes struck out six, walked one and a hit batter to pick up his first victory since late May. The 23-year-old lowered his ERA to a major league-best 1.91 as Pittsburgh responded from a weekend sweep at home by the lowly Chicago White Sox by keeping the team that entered Monday with the best record in the majors in check. The Pirates did enough against Jack Flaherty to give Skenes a bit of breathing room.
