NEW YORK (AP) — San Diego Padres dynamo Fernando Tatis Jr., one of the brightest, freshest stars in all of Major League Baseball, was suspended 80 games on Friday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.
MLB said Tatis tested positive for Clostebol, an anabolic steroid. Tatis said he accidentally took a medication to treat ringworm that contained the banned substance.
The penalty imposed by MLB was effective immediately, meaning the shortstop — who had been out the entire season because of a broken wrist but was expected to return to the playoff-contending Padres next week — cannot play in the majors this year.
Tatis will miss the remaining 48 regular-season games this year and the first 32 next year. Any postseason games the Padres play this year would count toward the 80 that Tatis must sit out.
Tatis, who signed a $340 million, 14-year contract before the 2021 season, became one of the most prominent players ever penalized for performance-enhancing drugs, along with Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and others. MLB said the suspension also will knock Tatis of playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.
Flashy at the plate and in the field, Tatis was an All-Star last season when he led the National League with 42 home runs. He was lined up to soon rejoin the Padres to boost a lineup that recently added star outfielder Juan Soto.
In a statement released by the players’ union, Tatis said he was “completely devastated” and apologized to Padres management, his teammates, MLB and “and fans everywhere for my mistake.”
“It turns out that I inadvertently took a medication to treat ringworm that contained Clostebol,” he said. “I should have used the resources available to me in order to ensure that no banned substances were in what I took. I failed to do so.”
“I have no excuse for my error, and I would never do anything to cheat or disrespect this game I love,” he said.
Freddy Galvis and Dee Gordon are among the major leaguers previously suspended for using Clostebol, which can be used for ophthalmological and dermatological use. It is also banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and Olympic gold medal winning cross-country skier Therese Johaug was suspended in 2016 after testing positive for it.
Johaug, one of Norway’s most decorated female cross-country skiers, tested positive for the steroid clostebol. The Norwegian ski federation said the drug came from a lotion given to her by team doctor Fredrik Bendiksen to treat sunburn on her lips during high-altitude training in Italy in August.
Tatis was seventh player suspended this year under the major league drug program. Thirty-three have been suspended under the minor league drug program.
Players who test positive for PEDs are ineligible for the postseason that year.
The son of a former big leaguer, Tatis made his MLB debut in 2019 and quickly became a smash hit. He has a career .965 OPS and has played shortstop and in the outfield.
Tatis became one of the biggest MLB players suspended for PEDs since testing with penalties started in 2004, joining Rodriguez (2014 season), Ramirez (50 games in 2009 and 100 games in 2011), Robinson Canó (80 games in 2018 and 2020 season) and Miguel Tejada (105 games in 2013).
Tatis had been on the injured list this season after breaking his left wrist — the accident is believed to have been in December in a motorcycle accident in the Domincan. He had surgery in mid-March.
On Aug. 6, Tatis began a minor rehabilitation assignment with Double-A San Antonio. He was 2 for 9 with a double and a triple in four games.
“We were surprised and extremely disappointed to learn today that Fernando Tatis Jr. tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Prevention and Treatment Program and subsequently received an 80-game suspension without pay,” the Padres said in a statement. “We fully support the program and are hopeful that Fernando will learn from this experience.”
The Padres traded for Soto earlier this month in hopes of making a run deep into October. They had hoped a roster that included Soto, Tatis and fellow slugger Manny Machado could give them a better chance at the first World Series championship in team history — now, they’ll have to make that try without one of those key pieces.
Tatis won’t be able to play for the Dominican Republic in the WBC next March. Dominican fans had been salivating at the prospect of a bruising lineup that included Tatis, Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Rafael Devers and José Ramírez.
The penalty will cost Tatis about $2.9 million.
Tatis will forfeit $1,510,989 of his $5 million salary this year, covering the final 55 days and 48 games of the season. He will lose approximately $1.39 million of his $7 million salary for the first 32 games of next season, with the exact number to be determined by how many days he misses.
“There is nowhere else in the world I would rather be than on the field competing with my teammates,” Tatis said. “After initially appealing the suspension, I have realized that my mistake was the cause of this result, and for that reason I have decided to start serving my suspension immediately. I look forward to rejoining my teammates on the field in 2023.”
“I have taken countless drug tests throughout my professional career, including on March 29, 2022, all of which have returned negative results until this test,” he said.
The penalty was announced shortly before the Padres played at Washington. San Diego began the day at 63-51 and holding the final of the three NL wild-card spots.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hundreds of people from across the U.S. came to Indianapolis to mark the 18th anniversary of the Gatumba massacre.
The commemoration of those killed is held every year to honor the ethnic Congolese refugees killed in the east African country of Burundi. In 2004, at least 152 Congolese civilians were killed by members of the Forces for National Liberation, and another 106 were wounded at a Gatumba refugee camp.
“We do this every year so we can raise awareness and seek justice. Because what happened in 2004 is still happening today,” said Espy Nasezerano, Chairwoman for the Gatumba Refugees Survivors Foundation.
More events are scheduled Saturday, including a memorial gathering at the 91st Street Christian Church. Mayor Joe Hogsett and Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears are scheduled to attend.
HARDINSBURG, Ind. (WISH) – Two people were arrested Thursday afternoon after leading Indiana State Police on a high-speed pursuit that ended with a crash, and an ensuing foot chase, according to police.
State police say troopers observed an SUV on U.S. 150 in Washington County travelling at a high rate of speed. When a trooper attempted to stop the car, which was travelling at 73 mph in a 55-mph zone, the vehicle kept going. The driver then led troopers on a pursuit through Washington and Orange counties’ roads, reaching 90 mph while approaching oncoming traffic.
At the intersection on State Road 66 near Hardinsburg in Washington County, the driver of the SUV failed to negotiate the intersection and crashed off the east side of the highway, according to police.
The driver and passenger fled the crash on foot but were soon located and taken into custody with the help of Indiana Department of Natural Resources conservation officers and a police dog named Smoke.
The driver was identified as Donald Bruce Roberts, 52, of Corydon.
The passenger was identified as Chloe Madison Elliott, 25, also of Corydon.
Both were taken to an area hospital with minor injuries. Upon their release from the hospital, they were taken to the Washington County Jail.
(CNN) — Photos taken at the scene of the fatal helicopter crash that killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others were shared by a Los Angeles County firefighter during the cocktail hour at an awards ceremony a month after the crash, according to witness testimony.
On Wednesday, the trial was launched for a federal civil lawsuit filed by Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, which claims that photos from the January 2020 crash were shared by county fire and sheriff’s department employees in settings irrelevant to the investigation, including at a bar.
Former emergency medical technician and wife of a Los Angeles firefighter, Luella Weireter, testified in court on Friday that during the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California’s Golden Mike awards in February 2020, she saw LA County firefighter Tony Imbrenda share photos of Bryant’s remains and other images from the crash site with ceremony attendees.
Many firefighters attended the media event, which was also honoring fire department public information officers for their work informing the public about wildfires.
After a small group of people at her table convened to look at images on a cell phone, in what Weireter characterized as being like a party trick, she testified about seeing one firefighter break away from the group, saying, “I can’t believe I just looked at Kobe’s burnt up body and now I’m about to eat.”
After that comment, Vanessa Bryant could be seen in the courtroom with her head in her hands, rocking back and forth, crying.
Weireter is the cousin of Keri Altobelli, who, along with her husband John and daughter Alyssa, also perished in the helicopter crash.
About two weeks after the awards ceremony, Weireter drove to a county fire station in Malibu and filed an official complaint with a battalion chief, she testified. That same day, the LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone called her to follow up.
On Thursday afternoon, Vanessa Bryant walked out of court during testimony that described photos taken at the scene of the crash. She became emotional when Victor Gutierrez, a bartender, was asked if he had seen the body of her daughter, Gianna Bryant, in the images. Gutierrez had been describing what he saw in the photos shown by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy at a bar on a prior date.
Bryant cried, stood up and her attorney asked the presiding judge permission for Bryant to leave the courtroom.
Bryant did not return for the remainder of Gutierrez’s testimony, which continued with a series of surveillance clips from the bar he was working at on January 28, 2020 — two days after the crash and a month before the awards ceremony. Gutierrez described wincing at the photos and then admitted to telling the condition of the victims’ bodies to five sets of people.
The trial is expected to last about two weeks and witnesses will likely include Vanessa Bryant and LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. The suit, which was filed in September 2020, seeks undisclosed damages and claims civil rights violations, negligence, emotional distress and violation of privacy.
A jury of six women and four men was selected for the case. They include a nun, someone who works in TV production for NBC Universal, a college student, a real estate investor, a pharmaceutical researcher, a computer science professor and a restaurant host.
(CNN) — The Justice Department removed 11 sets of classified documents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence while executing a search warrant this week for possible violations of the Espionage Act and other crimes, according to court documents unsealed and released on Friday.
The property receipt, which was also released on Friday, for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home shows that some of the materials recovered were marked as “top secret/SCI” — one of the highest levels of classification.
The search warrant identifies three federal crimes that the Justice Department is looking at as part of its investigation: violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal handling of government records. The inclusion of the crimes indicates the Justice Department has probable cause to investigate those offenses as it was gathering evidence in the search. No one has been charged with a crime at this time.
The warrant receipt didn’t detail the subject of these classified documents but did note that federal agents seized just one set marked “top secret/SCI.”
Agents also took four sets of “top secret” documents, three sets of “secret” documents, and three sets of “confidential” documents, court documents show.
In total, the unsealed warrant shows the FBI collected more than 20 boxes, as well as binders of photos, sets of classified government materials and at least one handwritten note.
The warrant, which has been unsealed and released publicly following a federal judge’s order on Friday, was obtained by CNN ahead of its release. The moment marks an unprecedented week that began with the search — an evidence-gathering step in a national security investigation.
Search warrant reveals new details about scope of FBI probe
While details about the documents themselves remain scarce, the laws cited in the warrant offer new insight into what the FBI was looking for when it searched Trump’s home, an unprecedented step that has prompted a firestorm of criticism from the former President’s closest allies.
The laws cover “destroying or concealing documents to obstruct government investigations” and the unlawful removal of government records, according to the search warrant released Friday.
Also among the laws listed is one known as the Espionage Act, which relates to the “retrieval, storage, or transmission of national defense information or classified material.”
All three criminal laws cited in the warrant are from Title 18 of the United States Code. None of them solely hinge on whether information was deemed to be unclassified.
One of the less-sensitive items taken from Trump’s resort, according to a the property receipt, was a document about pardoning Roger Stone, a staunch Trump ally who was convicted in 2019 of lying to Congress during its probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Trump pardoned Stone before leaving office, shielding Stone from a three-year prison term.)
It’s unclear how the Stone-related document seized during the search is tied to the broader criminal probe into Trump’s potential mishandling of classified materials.
During the search, FBI agents also recovered material about the “President of France,” according to the warrant receipt.
FBI agents searched ’45 Office’ at Mar-a-Lago
The court documents released Friday also offer new details about the search itself and revealed that FBI agents were only allowed access to specific locations within Mar-a-Lago as they combed Trump’s resort residence for potential evidence of crimes.
The judge authorized the FBI to search what the bureau called the “45 Office,” an apparent reference to Trump’s place in history as the 45th President.
Agents were also permitted to search “all other rooms or areas” at Mar-a-Lago that were available to Trump and his staff for storing boxes and documents.
“The locations to be searched include the ’45 Office,’ all storage rooms, and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by FPOTUS and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate,” the warrant says, using the acronym “FPOTUS” to refer to the Former President of the United States.
The FBI’s warrant application to the judge specifically said that federal agents would avoid areas being rented or used by third parties, “such as Mar-a-Lago members” and “private guest suites.” Trump owns the sprawling estate, and it is his primary residence as well as a members-only club and resort.
“It is described as a mansion with approximately 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms, on a
17-acre estate,” FBI agents told the judge in their application, describing the Mar-a-Lago property.
Trump did not oppose release of search warrant
The FBI search at the resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday was followed by days of silence from the Justice Department, as is the department’s normal practice for ongoing investigations.
Then on Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the department had moved to unseal the search warrant and two attachments, including an inventory list, but also stressed that some of the department’s work must happen outside of public view.
“We do that to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations,” Garland said, while explaining that he would not provide more detail about the basis of the search.
Trump said in a late-night post on his Truth Social platform Thursday that he would “not oppose the release of documents,” adding: “I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents.”
The court had instructed the Justice Department to confer with Trump about its request to unseal the warrant documents from the FBI search and to tell the court by 3 p.m. ET Friday if he opposes their release.
Trump’s team had contacted outside attorneys about how to proceed, and the former President’s orbit was caught off guard by Garland’s announcement.
In a pair of posts to Truth Social following Garland’s statement, Trump continued to claim that his attorneys were “cooperating fully” and had developed “very good relationships” with federal investigators prior to Monday’s search at Mar-a-Lago.
“The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it,” Trump said. “Everything was fine, better than most previous Presidents, and then, out of nowhere and with no warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided, at 6:30 in the morning, by VERY large numbers of agents, and even ‘safecrackers.'”
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Drum Corps International World Championship has returned to Indianapolis with 35 drum corps marching for first place as they take over Lucas Oil Stadium this weekend.
The preliminary round of 35 was Thursday, as bands started performing as early as 10 a.m., and as late as 11:30 p.m. Semifinals begins Thursday at 1 p.m., and then Finals kick-off Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Friday night from 5-10 p.m., DCI will host a free ‘celebration of music education’ on Monument Circle, leading up to the Championship Finals where the remaining bands will battle for the crown.
The top 3 finishers of the preliminary round of the World Class division Thursday were the Blue Devils of Concord, California, with a high score of 97.450, the Boston Crusaders with a second-place score of 96.500, and the Bluecoats, of North Canton, Ohio, with a third-place score of 95.700.
(CNN) — The FBI sought to locate classified documents related to nuclear weapons, among other items, when agents searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, this week, people familiar with the investigation told The Washington Post.
The people did not offer additional details to the Post about “what type of information the agents were seeking” or whether any such documents were recovered, according to the paper.
The revelation adds key context to the Justice Department’s extraordinary decision to search the home of a former president.
As CNN previously reported, the criminal investigation started with concerns about missing documents raised by the National Archives, which made a criminal referral to the Justice Department upon discovering highly sensitive documents among the materials retrieved from Mar-a-Lago in January. The 15 boxes contained some materials that were part of special access programs (SAP), a classification that includes protocols to significantly limit who would have access to the information, according to a source familiar with what the Archives discovered in the boxes. That led to FBI interviews with aides to grand jury subpoenas to this week’s court-authorized search and seizure of documents.
Though Attorney General Merrick Garland has declined to share specific details about the search, he said Thursday that he “personally approved” the decision to seek a warrant for the search of Trump’s Florida home.
“The department does not take such a decision lightly. Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken,” Garland said in a news conference.
The attorney general also said that the Justice Department had filed a request in court that the search warrant and property receipt from the search be unsealed.
Trump and his legal team have not yet reached a decision on how to respond to the Justice Department’s motion, a source familiar with their thinking told CNN.
Since the search, top congressional Republicans have rushed to Trump’s defense, casting the move as politically motivated. The former President has denied all wrongdoing, claiming the investigation is intended to derail his potential bid to return to the White House.
In a pair of posts to Truth Social following Garland’s statement, Trump continued to claim that his attorneys were “cooperating fully” and had developed “very good relationships” with federal investigators prior to Monday’s search at Mar-a-Lago.
The search warrant had been authorized by a federal court, Garland said.
“It is a federal crime to remove classified documents wrongly. And so if you are filling out that affidavit and you have to list the crime, you can list that as the crime,” said Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor and a CNN senior legal analyst, following the search warrant.
(AP) — Bill Russell’s No. 6 jersey is being retired across the NBA, a first for the league.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced Thursday that the number worn by the 11-time champion, civil rights activist and person good enough to have been enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach was being permanently retired by all 30 teams.
“Bill Russell’s unparalleled success on the court and pioneering civil rights activism deserve to be honored in a unique and historic way,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “Permanently retiring his No. 6 across every NBA team ensures that Bill’s transcendent career will always be recognized.”
Players who currently wear No. 6 — including the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James — may continue doing so. But the number cannot be issued again, the league said.
All NBA players will wear a patch on the right shoulder of their jerseys this season, the league said, and every NBA court will display a clover-shaped logo with the No. 6 on the sideline near the scorer’s table.
The Boston Celtics have “separate and unique recognition for him on their uniforms” planned, the NBA said.
Russell died on July 31 at the age of 88. He was the most prolific winner in NBA history, an 11-time champion during a 13-year career — winning the last two of those titles as a player-coach — and the first Black coach in any of the major U.S. pro sports to win a championship.
He marched with Martin Luther King Jr., stood with Muhammad Ali and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
And having his number retired leaguewide puts him in a very exclusive club.
Major League Baseball permanently retired No. 42 — in honor of Jackie Robinson, who broke the big league’s color barrier — with the understanding that those who were wearing that number could continue to do so. Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees was the last in the majors to wear No. 42, doing so through his final season in 2013.
The NHL, upon Wayne Gretzky’s retirement in 1999, said his No. 99 would be retired leaguewide in honor of that sport’s all-time scoring leader.
And now, Russell gets the same treatment. It also seems fitting that he and Robinson — both barrier-breakers — are linked again. Russell called Robinson a hero, once saying that “he showed me the way to be a man in professional sports.”
Robinson, clearly, held Russell in high esteem as well. Rachel Robinson, his widow, asked Russell to be a pallbearer at her husband’s funeral in 1972.
“This is a momentous honor reserved for one of the greatest champions to ever play the game,” NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio said. “Bill’s actions on and off the court throughout the course of his life helped to shape generations of players for the better and for that, we are forever grateful. We are proud to continue the celebration of his life and legacy alongside the league.”
There have been more than 250 players in NBA history to wear a No. 6 jersey, including 24 who did so in at least one game last season — most notably, James, who has alternated between 6 and 23 throughout his NBA career.
Nobody has worn No. 6 for the Celtics since Russell’s final season, 1968-69.
Russell is one of 12 players currently enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame who wore No. 6 at at least some point in their careers. The others: Julius Erving, Patrick Ewing, Ben Wallace, Don Barksdale, Chuck Cooper, Larry Costello, Tom Gola, Cliff Hagan, Alex Hannum, Buddy Jeanette and Neil Johnston.
(CNN) — The Pentagon announced Monday that the US has sent anti-radar missiles for Ukrainian aircraft to target Russian radar systems, marking the first time the Defense Department has acknowledged sending the previously undisclosed missile to Ukraine.
Colin Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy, said at a press briefing that the US had sent “a number” of the missiles without specifying how many the US has provided or when they were sent. Kahl did not explicitly say what type of anti-radiation missile was sent.
A defense official told CNN the type of missile sent was the AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM).
Produced by Raytheon, HARMs have a range in excess of 30 miles, according to the US Air Force, making them one of the longer-range weapons the US has provided to Ukraine. The missiles can be used to target Russian anti-aircraft radar systems, such as the S-400, which have made it very difficult for the Ukrainian Air Force to operate over large swaths of Ukrainian airspace. The missiles can also target Russian counter-battery radars, which Russia uses to target Ukrainian artillery.
Kahl said the missiles had been sent over “in recent [Presidential Drawdown Authority] packages,” but the five most recent packages, dating to July 1, make no mention of HARMs.
“In the near term, we’ve been doing lots of things to make Ukraine’s existing air force stay in the air and be more capable,” Kahl said.
He pointed to the spare parts for Mig-29s that the US helped send into Ukraine to keep the Soviet-era fighter jets flying. Kahl then mentioned the missiles, saying they “can have effects on Russian radars and other things.”
The Ukrainians have not publicly acknowledged receiving or using HARMs.
In recent days, open source reports have shown the remains of what appear to be the fin of a HARM missile that targeted a Russian position in Ukraine.
Kahl announced the missiles in a briefing about the Pentagon’s latest $1 billion weapons package for Ukraine, the largest package of US weapons to date.
The package was focused on supplying ammunition for some of the key weapon systems the US has sent to Ukraine. That includes the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which the Ukrainian military has effectively used to target Russian command posts, ammo depots, and more, as well as the M777 howitzers that have been a critical part of the fight in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Russia, Kahl said, has had approximately 70,000-80,000 casualties of war, including killed and wounded in action, so far in the conflict.
“That number might be a little lower, little higher, but I think that’s kind of in the ballpark,” he said. He also added that Russia has lost between 3,000-4,000 armored vehicles.
With this latest package, the US has committed to sending Ukraine a total of $9.1 billion in security assistance since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in late February.
(AP) — Actor Ezra Miller has been charged with felony burglary in Stamford, Vermont, the latest in a string of incidents involving the embattled star of “The Flash.”
In a report Monday, Vermont State Police said they responded to a burglary complaint in Stamford on May 1 and found several bottles of alcohol were taken from a residence while the homeowners weren’t present. Miller was charged after police consulted surveillance footage and interviewed witnesses.
The police report said Miller was located shortly before midnight Sunday and was issued a citation to appear for arraignment in Vermont Superior Court on Sept. 26.
The felony charge adds to Miller’s mounting legal woes and reports of erratic behavior. The 29-year-old actor was arrested twice earlier this year in Hawaii, including for disorderly conduct and harassment at a karaoke bar. The second incident was for second-degree assault.
The parents of 18-year-old Tokata Iron Eyes, a Native American activist, also earlier this year filed a protection order against Miller, accusing the actor of grooming their child and other inappropriate behavior with her as a minor from the age of 12. Tokata Iron Eyes recently told Insider that those allegations were false.
Attorneys for Miller didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the Vermont felony charge or the protection order related to Tokata Iron Eyes.
After appearing in several films for Warner Bros. and D.C. Films as the Flash, Miller stars in the upcoming standalone film “The Flash,” due out in June 2023. Though Warner Bros. last week axed the nearly completed “Batgirl” film, the studio has suggested it remains committed to releasing “The Flash.”
In an earnings report last week, David Zaslav, chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery referenced “The Flash.” “We have seen ‘The Flash,’ ‘Black Adam’ and ’Shazam 2. We are very excited about them,” said Zaslav. “We think they are terrific, and we think we can make them even better.”
Representatives for Warner Bros. didn’t respond to messages Monday.