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Jury finds ex-NY trooper guilty of manslaughter in 2020 chase that killed 11-year-old

By
The Associated Press
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KINGSTON, N.Y. (AP) — A former New York state trooper accused of ramming his vehicle into an SUV during a high-speed chase leading to the death of an 11-year-old girl was convicted of manslaughter Friday at his second trial.

Prosecutors say Christopher Baldner rammed the SUV twice on the New York State Thruway, causing it to lose control and flip over. Eleven-year-old Monica Goods, who was in the SUV, was killed in the December 2020 crash. Baldner’s attorneys said the accident occurred after the SUV cut the trooper off as he pulled alongside during the pursuit.

A jury acquitted Baldner of murder and reckless endangerment charges in November, but they deadlocked on a second-degree manslaughter charge. Judge Bryan Rounds declared a mistrial and a second trial on the lone remaining charge began last month.

Assistant State Attorney General Jennifer Gashi told jurors during Baldner’s latest trial that he chose to “recklessly use his patrol car as a weapon” during the chase north of New York City. Defense attorney Anthony Ricco argued it was the driver of the SUV — Monica’s father, Tristin Goods — who acted recklessly and caused her death, according to the Daily Freeman.

Baldner pulled Tristin Goods over for speeding on the highway near Kingston the night of Dec. 22, 2020. Goods, his wife and two daughters were heading north from New York City to visit family.

Baldner and Goods argued, and the trooper pepper-sprayed the inside the vehicle. Goods drove off and Baldner pursued.

Defense attorneys said Goods collided with Baldner’s trooper car twice during the pursuit. An accident reconstruction expert for the defense testified that Goods lost control of the SUV when he overcorrected after “a very minor impact,” the newspaper reported.

The ex-trooper retired in 2022 after almost 20 years with the state police.

Radko Gudas faces up to a 5-game suspension for kneeing and injuring Auston Matthews

By
The Associated Press
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NEW YORK (AP) — Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas faces a suspension of up to five games for his knee-on-knee hit that injured Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews.

Gudas is having a hearing Friday with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. Because the hearing is a conference call and not “in-person” — now on Zoom — the league cannot suspend Gudas for more than five games.

With just over four minutes left in the second period of the teams’ game Thursday night, Gudas’ left knee made contact with Matthews’ left knee and sent the 28-year-old American star to the ice in pain.

Gudas was given a 5-minute major penalty and ejected. Matthews needed assistance from an athletic trainer and a teammate to leave the rink, and he did not return.

Toronto coach Craig Berube called it a dirty play, and forward Matthew Knies said Gudas has “done a few of those before in his career.” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville defended Gudas, saying there was no premeditation and that it was the result of reflexes.

Gudas, a 35-year-old bruising defender who is 6-foot and 208 pounds, was also involved in the play that knocked Canada’s Sidney Crosby out of the Olympics, while representing Czechia. He was not penalized, and opponents did not publicly take issue with Gudas’ role in the situation.

Although not a repeat offender under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, which counts supplemental discipline over the past two years, Gudas has a long rap sheet from his decade-plus NHL career. He was suspended four times between 2015-19: three games for an illegal check to the head, six for interference, 10 for slashing and two for high-sticking.

With those added up, Gudas has been suspended for 21 games and docked $751,360 in salary. He’ll forfeit roughly $20,800 for each game he is suspended this time, up to a maximum of $104,167 if he gets five.

Matthews last month captained the U.S. to its first men’s hockey gold medal at the Olympics since 1980. The Arizona native is in his 10th season in the league and leads the Maple Leafs in goals with 27.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Radko Gudas faces up to a 5-game suspension for kneeing and injuring Auston Matthews

By
The Associated Press
-

NEW YORK (AP) — Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas faces a suspension of up to five games for his knee-on-knee hit that injured Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews.

Gudas is having a hearing Friday with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. Because the hearing is a conference call and not “in-person” — now on Zoom — the league cannot suspend Gudas for more than five games.

With just over four minutes left in the second period of the teams’ game Thursday night, Gudas’ left knee made contact with Matthews’ left knee and sent the 28-year-old American star to the ice in pain.

Gudas was given a 5-minute major penalty and ejected. Matthews needed assistance from an athletic trainer and a teammate to leave the rink, and he did not return.

Toronto coach Craig Berube called it a dirty play, and forward Matthew Knies said Gudas has “done a few of those before in his career.” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville defended Gudas, saying there was no premeditation and that it was the result of reflexes.

Gudas, a 35-year-old bruising defender who is 6-foot and 208 pounds, was also involved in the play that knocked Canada’s Sidney Crosby out of the Olympics, while representing Czechia. He was not penalized, and opponents did not publicly take issue with Gudas’ role in the situation.

Although not a repeat offender under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, which counts supplemental discipline over the past two years, Gudas has a long rap sheet from his decade-plus NHL career. He was suspended four times between 2015-19: three games for an illegal check to the head, six for interference, 10 for slashing and two for high-sticking.

With those added up, Gudas has been suspended for 21 games and docked $751,360 in salary. He’ll forfeit roughly $20,800 for each game he is suspended this time, up to a maximum of $104,167 if he gets five.

Matthews last month captained the U.S. to its first men’s hockey gold medal at the Olympics since 1980. The Arizona native is in his 10th season in the league and leads the Maple Leafs in goals with 27.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Radko Gudas faces up to a 5-game suspension for kneeing and injuring Auston Matthews

By
The Associated Press
-

NEW YORK (AP) — Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas faces a suspension of up to five games for his knee-on-knee hit that injured Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews.

Gudas is having a hearing Friday with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. Because the hearing is a conference call and not “in-person” — now on Zoom — the league cannot suspend Gudas for more than five games.

With just over four minutes left in the second period of the teams’ game Thursday night, Gudas’ left knee made contact with Matthews’ left knee and sent the 28-year-old American star to the ice in pain.

Gudas was given a 5-minute major penalty and ejected. Matthews needed assistance from an athletic trainer and a teammate to leave the rink, and he did not return.

Toronto coach Craig Berube called it a dirty play, and forward Matthew Knies said Gudas has “done a few of those before in his career.” Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville defended Gudas, saying there was no premeditation and that it was the result of reflexes.

Gudas, a 35-year-old bruising defender who is 6-foot and 208 pounds, was also involved in the play that knocked Canada’s Sidney Crosby out of the Olympics, while representing Czechia. He was not penalized, and opponents did not publicly take issue with Gudas’ role in the situation.

Although not a repeat offender under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, which counts supplemental discipline over the past two years, Gudas has a long rap sheet from his decade-plus NHL career. He was suspended four times between 2015-19: three games for an illegal check to the head, six for interference, 10 for slashing and two for high-sticking.

With those added up, Gudas has been suspended for 21 games and docked $751,360 in salary. He’ll forfeit roughly $20,800 for each game he is suspended this time, up to a maximum of $104,167 if he gets five.

Matthews last month captained the U.S. to its first men’s hockey gold medal at the Olympics since 1980. The Arizona native is in his 10th season in the league and leads the Maple Leafs in goals with 27.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

‘Complete absurdity:’ Usyk hits out at softening stance toward Russian athletes, plans Fury fight

By
The Associated Press
-

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — The world of sport appears to be softening the hardline stance it took when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Russian athletes are back competing under their own flag at the Paralympics. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the international ban on Russian soccer teams “has not achieved anything.” And his counterpart at the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry, insists all athletes should be allowed to “compete freely.”

Oleksandr Usyk remains as resolute as ever.

“My opinion has not changed — this should not be happening,” the Ukrainian heavyweight world boxing champion told The Associated Press. “People who support the killing of others, the bombing of civilian cities, hospitals, schools, and everything else should not have the right to take part in the Olympic Games.”

Usyk has been a defiant symbol of his country’s strength during the conflict, establishing himself as the most dominant heavyweight of his era. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers in history as a unified champion at two weights.

He proudly wraps himself in his country’s flag after each win — a show of solidarity toward his compatriots fighting on the home front.

No surprise, then, that he has strong views on Russia’s readmission to the world of elite sport.

The Russian national anthem has rung out at gold medal ceremonies at the Paralympics in Milan Cortina for the first time in more than a decade.

Russian athletes have previously been allowed to compete as as individual neutral athletes during the ban. But a speech by Coventry, the new IOC president, during the Winter Olympics last month was widely interpreted as paving the way to Russia taking part in the Los Angeles Summer Games in 2028.

She said athletes should not by held back “by the politics or divisions of their governments.”

Her comments appear to be the direction of travel in the world of sport.

In an interview with Sky News last month Infantino said world soccer’s governing body FIFA should “definitely” look at lifting its ban on Russia.

The 39-year-old Usyk says sport should continue to take a stand.

“The Olympic Games were created as games of peace,” he said. “But now someone who kills on another person’s orders and launches missiles at another country is allowed to take part in sport — that is complete absurdity.

“If somebody is even following the orders of his commander-in-chief to go and fight, then they cannot also go to sports competitions and represent their country there. Let them continue being a soldier. Because in the evening they are killing, and in the morning they compete as athletes. That simply doesn’t add up.”

The undefeated Usyk returns to the ring against kickboxer Rico Verhoeven in Egypt on May 23.

Further down the line he wants a trilogy fight with Tyson Fury – who recently announced his comeback from retirement – having already beaten the British boxer twice.

“In my head, Tyson Fury, it’s the last dance,” he said.

Both fights with Fury were in Saudi Arabia, which has established itself as a stage for elite sport, such as F1, tennis and the soccer World Cup in 2034.

The Iran war, however, has caused disruption in the Middle East.

Iran has made retaliatory strikes in the region and there is uncertainty over whether a soccer match between Argentina and Spain in Qatar later this month can go ahead amid the widening crisis.

An ATP Challenger Tour tennis event in the United Arab Emirates was canceled after players fled the court when a nearby oil terminal was reportedly hit by a drone attack.

“Given the situation currently unfolding in the world, my task is simply to be ready for what I am preparing for,” said Usyk, regarding fighting again in Saudi Arabia. “Then the organizers will decide where it can be held — where they can stage this show so that it is safe for all participants and spectators.”

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Associated Press reporter Illia Novikov in Kyiv contributed to this report.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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AP Sports: https://apnews.com/sports

WNBA and the players’ union return to CBA talks after a 16-hour marathon session

By
The Associated Press
-

NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA and its players’ union were back negotiating for a new collective bargaining agreement Friday for the fourth straight day, hours after a 16-hour marathon session ended.

The two sides have spent nearly 40 hours discussing a new CBA since first getting together in-person Tuesday — the day the league had said there would need to be at least a handshake agreement for the season to start on time.

Thursday’s long session spent more time focused on other items besides revenue sharing — the biggest sticking point between the two sides — according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.

The union leadership left negotiations early Friday morning around 3 a.m. EDT and the league departed soon after. They were back talking again by 11 a.m.

Revenue sharing has been the biggest difference on the two sides.

In the final proposal from Wednesday night, the league increased its salary cap offer for the first year to $6.2 million — up from $5.75 million in previous negotiations, a different person familiar with the talks told The Associated Press. That person also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Wednesday that the last proposal from that night was a “real historic and transformational deal” for the players.

“Huge gains and salaries, benefits, everything you’re seeing, but beyond that when you see the whole thing, huge, huge benefits,” she said. “We’re proud of the deal we have on the table. I think it’s, again, huge gains for the players, while again, balancing that with the health of the league.”

Last year, the salary cap for each team was $1.5 million. Average player salaries were $120,000, and that figure stands to increase to $570,000 in the first year and $850,000 by the sixth year, according to one of the people. The maximum salary in the first year would be more than $1.3 million and nearly $2 million by the final year.

The league had said that at least a handshake agreement on a labor deal would need to be done by Tuesday to start the season as scheduled. Union president Nneka Ogwumike said Wednesday night the union never saw the deadline from two days ago as a real thing.

“We haven’t ever really considered that as a timeline that’s been something to prioritize on our side, because we have always been negotiating in good faith,” she said.

When a deal is reached in principle, the league has said it would need a few weeks to finish off the CBA. After that work is done, the expansion draft for new franchises in Portland and Toronto would be held sometime between April 1-6, according to a timetable obtained by the AP.

Free agent qualifying offers, including franchise player tags, would be sent out April 7-8. Teams would then have three days to negotiate with the more than 80% of players who are free agents. The signing period would take place from April 12-18.

Training camps would open the next day and the season would be able to start on May 8.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

German museum celebrates famed Japanese artist Kusama in vast new exhibit

By
The Associated Press
-

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — A mirror room dappled with colored dots. Contorted, bright sculptures of flowers on a rooftop at the foot of Cologne’s famed cathedral. A vast showroom with giant octopus-like tentacles that offer up a mesmerizing meander through space and obstacles.

The renowned Museum Ludwig in the western German city is celebrating its 50th anniversary by opening a nearly five-month exhibit on Saturday, with more than 300 works of the famed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

The trek through the time and transformation of the now nonagenarian artist assembles works ranging from her first drawing in the mid-1930s to a newly commissioned “Infinity Mirror Room” made for the show.

Kusama, who turns 97 this month, has become a social media sensation with her use of bright colors and oozy shapes that reflect her feeling of awe about life. Her own life carried her from patriarchal postwar Japan to New York to the Flower Power and anti-Vietnam war movements in the 1960s. She returned home to Japan in 1973.

Curator Stephan Diederich says the exhibit, which runs through Aug. 2, is “very diverse, wide-ranging, and depicts an immensely rich, creative life spanning more than eight decades, still looking ahead.”

Works include her series “My Eternal Soul, 2009-2021,” including a patchwork of paintings, to “The Universe as Seen from the Stairway to Heaven” — made of mirror, glass and acrylic sheet. The museum entrance hosts her widely-recognized 2009 “Pumpkin” of fiber-reinforced plastic and polyurethane paint, belonging to Museum Voorlinden in the Netherlands.

The rooftop display features painted-bronze sculptures “Flowers That Speak All about My Heart Given to the Sky” from 2018, and “I’m Here, but Nothing,” whose origins date back to 2000, involves fluorescent stickers and ultraviolet fluorescent lights illuminating a room of household objects.

“Kusama is undoubtedly one of the most significant artists of our time,” he said. “Her mirror rooms, balloon installations and polka dots have achieved cult status and are now iconic.”

Her multifaceted works often relate to the world of nature. She grew up in the greenhouses and fields of her family’s enormous seed nursery in Matsumoto, Japan. When Kusama was young, she began having vivid hallucinations, some of which involved polka dots or flowers spreading around her. She has fought through existential anxieties.

“In my more than 70 years as an artist, I have always been in awe of the wonder of life,” she said in a statement. “More than anything, this strong sense of the life force in artistic expression is what has supported me and gave me power to overcome feelings of depression, hopelessness and sadness.

“I have been guided by my belief in this power,” Kusama said.

Diederich said that Kusama has been living in relative seclusion in a Tokyo clinic for years, and communicated “indirectly” with the curatorial team. She still works every day, “as far as her health allows” and has taken an active interest in the show, he said.

US job openings rise to a better-than-expected 7 million despite sluggish labor market

By
The Associated Press
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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. job openings rose to nearly 7 million in January, better than expected at a time when the American labor market has looked sluggish.

The 6.95 million job postings in January were up from 6.55 million in December, the Labor Department said Friday. That was higher than economists had forecast.

Layoffs fell slightly and the number of Americans quitting their jobs — a sign of confidence in their prospects — slipped modestly.

In the hiring boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns, job openings peaked at a record 12.3 million in March 2022.

The American job market is sputtering. Last month, employers cut 92,000 jobs. In 2025, they added fewer than 10,000 jobs a month, weakest hiring outside recession years since 2002.

The U.S. economy has been resilient in the face of President Donald Trump’s import taxes and deportations. But the Commerce Department reported Friday that economic growth slowed sharply in the last three months of 2025 — to 0.7%, half its initial estimate of fourth-quarter growth and down from a strong 4.4% advance in the third quarter.

The war in Iran has also created considerable uncertainty over the economic outlook.

Ryan Coogler aware of potential Oscar history ahead but focused on ‘Sinners’ team before ceremony

By
The Associated Press
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ryan Coogler understands what Sunday night could mean for Oscar history. He’s just not dwelling on it.

Instead, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker is looking forward to spending one more night with his “Sinners” collaborators who helped bring the film to life.

Coogler could become the first Black filmmaker to win best director in the Academy Awards’ nearly century-long history. While speaking before the eighth annual Macro Pre-Oscars party Thursday night in Los Angeles, he said he’s trying to stay present as the ceremony approaches.

“I’m just trying to enjoy the days as they come, stay present in the moment,” Coogler told The Associated Press. “When Sunday comes, man, I’m pull up and enjoy celebrating all the movies that’s being celebrated here, including our own.”

For Coogler, the Oscars also mark the final stop in a monthslong journey shared with the cast and creative team behind “Sinners.”

Since early January, the group has traveled the awards circuit together, appearing at major stops including the Golden Globes,Actors Awards and NAACP Image Awards as the film built momentum ahead of the Oscars, where it’s the leading nominee with 16.

Coogler said that experience helped turn the production into something closer to a family.

“We made a big ole family,” he said. “Sunday kind of represents the last time that we all get to hang with each other in an official capacity as the ‘Sinners’ team.”

After the ceremony, those gatherings will likely become less frequent.

“The next time we see each other, it won’t be for this movie unless it’s doing like a reunion or something,” Coogler said. “I’m looking forward to hanging out with a lot of people that I love. We were able to do something very specific together.”

The cast and creative team of “Sinners” were among those honored Thursday at the Macro party, which celebrates nominees of color across the film industry.

Hosted by Macro founder and CEO Charles D. King and Chief Brand Officer Stacey Walker King, the eighth annual gathering has become a sought-after event, drawing more than 700 attendees — which included Damson Idris, Coco Jones and Janelle James.

“I could not be more excited about ‘Sinners’ nominations,” Stacey Walker King said. “I could not be more excited about the way that we’re showing up on these carpets and in these areas.”

Charles D. King said Coogler’s influence on the industry already represents a meaningful achievement.

“He’s already winning,” King said. “To be able to be this filmmaker who can inspire and entertain the world and then be acknowledged by their peers within our artistic industry is icing on the cake.”

“Sinners,” a supernatural drama set in the American South that blends historical storytelling, folklore and genre filmmaking, stars Michael B. Jordan in dual roles and continues the actor’s long creative partnership with Coogler.

Previous Black filmmakers nominated for best director at the Oscars include John Singleton, Lee Daniels, Barry Jenkins, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee.

Number on gun used in fatal Old Dominion shooting was obliterated, law enforcement official says

By
The Associated Press
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NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The shooter who opened fire in a classroom at Virginia’s Old Dominion University on Thursday in an attack being investigated as an act of terrorism had a gun with an obliterated serial number, potentially complicating investigators’ efforts to determine how the man with a previous felony conviction obtained a firearm, according to a law enforcement official.

Investigators will have to try to re-surface the number in order to trace the gun, according to the official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

The FBI identified the shooter as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Army National Guard member who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to aid the Islamic State.

Jalloh, who yelled “Allahu akbar” before opening fire, was subdued and killed by ROTC students, according to FBI officials who praised the students’ bravery for preventing further harm. The shooting killed an ROTC leader who was a professor of military science at ODU, and left two others hurt.

Jalloh had been sentenced to 11 years in prison and was released from federal custody in December 2024. He was on supervised release, which is comparable to probation.

It wasn’t immediately clear why his release from prison was moved up. Inmates can get time off their sentences for a variety of reasons, but it wasn’t immediately clear if that happened in his case.

Old Dominion University Police Chief Garrett Shelton said less than 10 minutes passed between when officers were called about a shooting in the university’s business school building and when responders determined the shooter was dead.

Lt. Col. Jimmy Delongchamp, public information officer for the U.S. Army Cadet Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, told The Associated Press that two of the people who were shot were part of the Army ROTC at ODU. ROTC is a program where students receive a scholarship to attend college while training to become commissioned officers in the U.S. military.

Voorhees University in South Carolina confirmed the victim who died was Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, the son-in-law of a Voorhees trustee.

Shah attended ODU as an ROTC student, according to his biography on the university’s website, and had returned in 2022 as a leader for the program. In the Army, Shah piloted helicopters over Iraq, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe.

The shooter also had a background in military service. Jalloh, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone, served as a specialist with the Virginia Army National Guard from 2009 until 2015, when he was honorably discharged.

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Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Michael Biesecker in Washington, Michael R. Sisak in New York City and Olivia Diaz in Richmond, Virginia, contributed.

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