Sports briefs
In the NFL
A grand jury in Nevada has indicted New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara, Cincinnati Bengals newly acquired cornerback Chris Lammons and two others on two criminal counts in connection with an alleged beating at a Las Vegas nightclub last February.
The Clark County grand jury handed up the indictment in Las Vegas on Wednesday on the same two battery charges prosecutors filed last year against the NFL players and two other men.
The indictment means the case can go directly to trial in district court without a preliminary hearing. No trial date has been set.
In the NHL
U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh was named executive director of the NHL Players’ Association on Thursday, putting an experienced union leader and the former Boston mayor in charge at a time of growing revenues in hockey and with collective bargaining talks a few years away.
The NHLPA said its executive board with representatives from all 32 clubs unanimously approved Walsh’s appointment. Walsh will begin his new role in mid-March, succeeding longtime executive director Don Fehr, who had been in the job for more than a decade.
Walsh, 55, said in a statement that by accepting this offer he’s committing to do all he can to advocate on players’ behalf.
- The Detroit Red Wings have signed defenseman Olli Maatta to a two-year, $6 million extension to keep him under contract through the 2024-2025 season.
Maatta has five goals and 17 points this season, his first with Detroit, entering Thursday night’s game in Calgary. The 28-year-old Finn previously played for Pittsburgh, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Jury: NCAA not liable in death
An Indiana jury has found the NCAA not liable in the death of a former Grand Valley State quarterback whose widow accused the college sports governing body of failing to warn college athletes about the risks of head injuries while playing football.
A Marion County jury agreed Wednesday with the NCAA’s arguments that Cullen Finnerty’s death did not result from a concussion he suffered while playing for the Michigan college or smaller blows to the head during his playing days, but from other health problems and addictions, ESPN reported.
Finnerty won three Division II national championships as the starting quarterback for Grand Valley State in the early 2000s. He died in May 2013 at age 30 after going missing while on vacation with his wife’s family.
An autopsy found that chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE – a disease caused by concussions and repeated blows to the head – was a contributing factor in Finnerty’s death.