Pennsylvania
Villanova hero in 2016 national title game sues NCAA for money he could have made
Kris Jenkins, who made the winning shot for Villanova in the 2016 college basketball championship game, is suing the NCAA and six conferences to recoup income he contends he would have earned if athletes at the time were not barred from making money from their name, image and likeness. Jenkins is among 350 current and former athletes who opted out of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement with the NCAA that’s on the cusp of final approval. Some opt-outs have filed lawsuits to pursue lost income on their own. NCAA athletes weren’t allowed to make NIL money until July 2021.
Kris Jenkins, who made the winning shot for Villanova in the 2016 college basketball championship game, is suing the NCAA and six conferences to recoup income he contends he would have earned if athletes at the time were not barred from making money from their name, image and likeness.
Jenkins is among some 350 current and former athletes who have opted out of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement with the NCAA that’s on the cusp of final approval. Some of the opt-outs have filed lawsuits to pursue lost income on their own.
NCAA athletes weren’t allowed to make NIL money until July 2021. The so-called House settlement would provide back pay for athletes dating back to 2016, with the amount for each generally determined by sport and how much the athlete played. Jenkins played at Villanova from 2013-17 and in his last two seasons started 72 of 76 games and averaged 13 points per game.
Attorney Kevin T. Duffy Jr. of Greenwich, Connecticut, filed Jenkins’ lawsuit Saturday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. It requests a jury trial and compensation for Jenkins to be determined at trial. The NCAA declined to comment.
According to the lawsuit, Jenkins is entitled to a share of the largesse associated with Villanova winning the national title on his buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
As a result of that shot, the lawsuit says, the NCAA reportedly paid the Big East $19.1 million to distribute among its member schools; the athletic department received a $22.6 million gift, largest in program history; and the athletic program generated $11.4 million in revenue and fully funded its non-revenue sports.
The lawsuit notes alumni donations increased 27% in 2016, enrollment increased and that the publicity value of winning the title was about $250 million and about $1 billion if the value of the game broadcasts were factored in.
The lawsuit says because of the NCAA’s restraints on athlete compensation, Jenkins was denied a share of game telecast revenue and compensation he would have received for media broadcast uses of his NIL (“BNIL”) as well as income he would have earned for his NIL from third parties for use in video games and other opportunities, including marketing, sponsorship, social media, branding and promotional and other NIL deals.
The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference were named as defendants, the lawsuit said, because each participated with the NCAA in the “collusive restraint of trade and other violations of law alleged in this Complaint.”
Maine
State sues Trump administration over funding freeze after transgender athletes dispute
SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) — Maine officials sued the administration of President Donald Trump on Monday to try to stop the government from freezing federal money in the wake of a dispute over transgender athletes in sports.
Trump and Maine, which is controlled by Democrats, are in the midst of a weeks long dispute about the Title IX anti-discrimination law and the participation of transgender students in high school sports. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said earlier this month that the U.S. Department of Agriculture was pausing some funds for Maine educational programs because of what she described as Maine’s failure to comply with the Title IX law.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey filed a complaint in federal court on Monday that described the pause as “illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed.” The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order preventing the USDA from withholding money until a court is able to hear the case.
In a statement, Frey said, the president and his Cabinet “secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the president that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.”
The child nutrition program of the Maine Department of Education is unable to access several sources of funding at the moment because of the funding pause, Frey said. The money is used to feed children in schools, childcare centers and after-school programs and is also used to benefit disabled adults in congregate settings, he said.
The lawsuit states that the child nutrition program received or was due to receive more than $1.8 million for the current fiscal year. Prior year funds that were awarded but are currently inaccessible total more than $900,000, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit also says that the program was anticipating about $3 million that is typically awarded every July for summer meal program sponsor administration and meal reimbursement.
USDA officials did not return a request for comment.
Rollins said in a letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills on April 2 that the state “cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated.” The letter said the funding pause did not impact federal feeding programs.
“In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX’s protection of female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males,” Rollins’ letter said.
Tensions between Maine and the Trump administration have simmered since February when Trump threatened to pull funding from Maine if the state does not comply with his executive order barring transgender athletes from sports. Mills, who was present at the White House for a meeting of governors, told the president: “We’ll see you in court.”
The Trump administration has vowed to cancel more federal funding if Maine does not bar transgender athletes from sports participation soon.
New York
Mezzo-soprano sues Metropolitan Opera over her dismissal after giving birth
Mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili sued the Metropolitan Opera and her union, alleging the company unlawfully terminated her contracts because of a vocal issue that developed after she gave birth.
She also accused the union of failing to pursue a grievance against the company.
In a complaint filed March 27 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the 40-year-old singer from the European nation of Georgia said the Met owed her more than $400,000 from canceled agreements to appear in Verdi’s “Aida” and “Don Carlo,” Bizet’s “Carmen” and Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda” from 2022 through January 2025. She made her Met debut in 2011 and has sung about 60 performances with the company.
Rachvelishvili said in the lawsuit that she “was temporarily limited in her very highest vocal range as a result of giving birth,” but has since recovered. She said the Met told her agent on Jan. 28, 2023, that it was canceling “future engagements due to an alleged deterioration of vocal quality.”
Rachvelishvili’s lawsuit also said the American Guild of Musical Artists told her lawyer it would not pursue a grievance or seek arbitration over an alleged breach of contract.
In the lawsuit, first reported by the website Slipped Disc, the singer said the Met violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and restrictions involving pregnancy discrimination under the New York Human Rights Law. She said the Met and AGMA violated their collective bargaining agreement and that the company breached her individual contracts.
“It is important to note that the `pay or play’ provision of the AGMA agreement required the Met to pay out her contracts regardless of whether or not the company ultimately used her,” said Len Egert, Rachvelishvili’s attorney. “She went on to sing leading roles in Berlin and Athens, as well as other major venues, with much success during the same period as the cancelled Met performances.”
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian scheduled a pretrial conference for July 1.
The Met declined to comment, citing the litigation. The AGMA did not immediately respond for a request for comment.
Nevada
Sex abuse trial of former ‘Dances with Wolves’ actor is again postponed
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The sex abuse trial of former “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse in Nevada has again been postponed.
A judge on Monday moved the start of the trial in state court in Las Vegas to Aug. 4. The 48-year-old had been scheduled to stand trial next week on charges that he sexually abused Indigenous women and girls for years in the Las Vegas area.
Craig Mueller, Chasing Horse’s lawyer, said in a motion filed Friday that he needs more time to prepare and interview witnesses. It’s the latest in a series of delays since Chasing Horse was arrested and indicted in early 2023.
Chasing Horse has pleaded not guilty to 21 felonies, including sexual assault of a minor under 16, kidnapping and producing and possessing videos of child sexual abuse. If convicted of the sexual assault charges, he could face decades or life in prison.
After starring as Smiles A Lot in the 1990 Oscar-winning film “Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse began promoting himself as a self-proclaimed Lakota medicine man while traveling around North America to perform healing ceremonies, authorities have said. He was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.
Prosecutors say Chasing Horse used his position to gain access to vulnerable women and girls for decades until his arrest near Las Vegas. He has been jailed ever since, but criminal proceedings were at a standstill for more than a year while Chasing Horse challenged his original indictment.
It was eventually dismissed after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors had abused the grand jury process when they provided a definition of grooming as evidence without any expert testimony. The high court’s order, however, left open the possibility for charges to be refiled, and prosecutors quickly took their case before another grand jury.
Chasing Horse was again indicted in October. The indictment added new allegations that he filmed himself having sex with one of his accusers when she was younger than 14. Prosecutors have said the footage, taken in 2010 or 2011, was found on cellphones in a locked safe inside the North Las Vegas home that Chasing Horse is said to have shared with five wives, including the girl in the videos.
His case has been unfolding at the same time lawmakers and prosecutors around the U.S. are funneling more resources into cases involving Native women, including human trafficking and killings.
Villanova hero in 2016 national title game sues NCAA for money he could have made
Kris Jenkins, who made the winning shot for Villanova in the 2016 college basketball championship game, is suing the NCAA and six conferences to recoup income he contends he would have earned if athletes at the time were not barred from making money from their name, image and likeness. Jenkins is among 350 current and former athletes who opted out of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement with the NCAA that’s on the cusp of final approval. Some opt-outs have filed lawsuits to pursue lost income on their own. NCAA athletes weren’t allowed to make NIL money until July 2021.
Kris Jenkins, who made the winning shot for Villanova in the 2016 college basketball championship game, is suing the NCAA and six conferences to recoup income he contends he would have earned if athletes at the time were not barred from making money from their name, image and likeness.
Jenkins is among some 350 current and former athletes who have opted out of a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement with the NCAA that’s on the cusp of final approval. Some of the opt-outs have filed lawsuits to pursue lost income on their own.
NCAA athletes weren’t allowed to make NIL money until July 2021. The so-called House settlement would provide back pay for athletes dating back to 2016, with the amount for each generally determined by sport and how much the athlete played. Jenkins played at Villanova from 2013-17 and in his last two seasons started 72 of 76 games and averaged 13 points per game.
Attorney Kevin T. Duffy Jr. of Greenwich, Connecticut, filed Jenkins’ lawsuit Saturday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. It requests a jury trial and compensation for Jenkins to be determined at trial. The NCAA declined to comment.
According to the lawsuit, Jenkins is entitled to a share of the largesse associated with Villanova winning the national title on his buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
As a result of that shot, the lawsuit says, the NCAA reportedly paid the Big East $19.1 million to distribute among its member schools; the athletic department received a $22.6 million gift, largest in program history; and the athletic program generated $11.4 million in revenue and fully funded its non-revenue sports.
The lawsuit notes alumni donations increased 27% in 2016, enrollment increased and that the publicity value of winning the title was about $250 million and about $1 billion if the value of the game broadcasts were factored in.
The lawsuit says because of the NCAA’s restraints on athlete compensation, Jenkins was denied a share of game telecast revenue and compensation he would have received for media broadcast uses of his NIL (“BNIL”) as well as income he would have earned for his NIL from third parties for use in video games and other opportunities, including marketing, sponsorship, social media, branding and promotional and other NIL deals.
The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference were named as defendants, the lawsuit said, because each participated with the NCAA in the “collusive restraint of trade and other violations of law alleged in this Complaint.”
Maine
State sues Trump administration over funding freeze after transgender athletes dispute
SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) — Maine officials sued the administration of President Donald Trump on Monday to try to stop the government from freezing federal money in the wake of a dispute over transgender athletes in sports.
Trump and Maine, which is controlled by Democrats, are in the midst of a weeks long dispute about the Title IX anti-discrimination law and the participation of transgender students in high school sports. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said earlier this month that the U.S. Department of Agriculture was pausing some funds for Maine educational programs because of what she described as Maine’s failure to comply with the Title IX law.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey filed a complaint in federal court on Monday that described the pause as “illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed.” The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order preventing the USDA from withholding money until a court is able to hear the case.
In a statement, Frey said, the president and his Cabinet “secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the president that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.”
The child nutrition program of the Maine Department of Education is unable to access several sources of funding at the moment because of the funding pause, Frey said. The money is used to feed children in schools, childcare centers and after-school programs and is also used to benefit disabled adults in congregate settings, he said.
The lawsuit states that the child nutrition program received or was due to receive more than $1.8 million for the current fiscal year. Prior year funds that were awarded but are currently inaccessible total more than $900,000, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit also says that the program was anticipating about $3 million that is typically awarded every July for summer meal program sponsor administration and meal reimbursement.
USDA officials did not return a request for comment.
Rollins said in a letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills on April 2 that the state “cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated.” The letter said the funding pause did not impact federal feeding programs.
“In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX’s protection of female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males,” Rollins’ letter said.
Tensions between Maine and the Trump administration have simmered since February when Trump threatened to pull funding from Maine if the state does not comply with his executive order barring transgender athletes from sports. Mills, who was present at the White House for a meeting of governors, told the president: “We’ll see you in court.”
The Trump administration has vowed to cancel more federal funding if Maine does not bar transgender athletes from sports participation soon.
New York
Mezzo-soprano sues Metropolitan Opera over her dismissal after giving birth
Mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili sued the Metropolitan Opera and her union, alleging the company unlawfully terminated her contracts because of a vocal issue that developed after she gave birth.
She also accused the union of failing to pursue a grievance against the company.
In a complaint filed March 27 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the 40-year-old singer from the European nation of Georgia said the Met owed her more than $400,000 from canceled agreements to appear in Verdi’s “Aida” and “Don Carlo,” Bizet’s “Carmen” and Ponchielli’s “La Gioconda” from 2022 through January 2025. She made her Met debut in 2011 and has sung about 60 performances with the company.
Rachvelishvili said in the lawsuit that she “was temporarily limited in her very highest vocal range as a result of giving birth,” but has since recovered. She said the Met told her agent on Jan. 28, 2023, that it was canceling “future engagements due to an alleged deterioration of vocal quality.”
Rachvelishvili’s lawsuit also said the American Guild of Musical Artists told her lawyer it would not pursue a grievance or seek arbitration over an alleged breach of contract.
In the lawsuit, first reported by the website Slipped Disc, the singer said the Met violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and restrictions involving pregnancy discrimination under the New York Human Rights Law. She said the Met and AGMA violated their collective bargaining agreement and that the company breached her individual contracts.
“It is important to note that the `pay or play’ provision of the AGMA agreement required the Met to pay out her contracts regardless of whether or not the company ultimately used her,” said Len Egert, Rachvelishvili’s attorney. “She went on to sing leading roles in Berlin and Athens, as well as other major venues, with much success during the same period as the cancelled Met performances.”
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian scheduled a pretrial conference for July 1.
The Met declined to comment, citing the litigation. The AGMA did not immediately respond for a request for comment.
Nevada
Sex abuse trial of former ‘Dances with Wolves’ actor is again postponed
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The sex abuse trial of former “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse in Nevada has again been postponed.
A judge on Monday moved the start of the trial in state court in Las Vegas to Aug. 4. The 48-year-old had been scheduled to stand trial next week on charges that he sexually abused Indigenous women and girls for years in the Las Vegas area.
Craig Mueller, Chasing Horse’s lawyer, said in a motion filed Friday that he needs more time to prepare and interview witnesses. It’s the latest in a series of delays since Chasing Horse was arrested and indicted in early 2023.
Chasing Horse has pleaded not guilty to 21 felonies, including sexual assault of a minor under 16, kidnapping and producing and possessing videos of child sexual abuse. If convicted of the sexual assault charges, he could face decades or life in prison.
After starring as Smiles A Lot in the 1990 Oscar-winning film “Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse began promoting himself as a self-proclaimed Lakota medicine man while traveling around North America to perform healing ceremonies, authorities have said. He was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.
Prosecutors say Chasing Horse used his position to gain access to vulnerable women and girls for decades until his arrest near Las Vegas. He has been jailed ever since, but criminal proceedings were at a standstill for more than a year while Chasing Horse challenged his original indictment.
It was eventually dismissed after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors had abused the grand jury process when they provided a definition of grooming as evidence without any expert testimony. The high court’s order, however, left open the possibility for charges to be refiled, and prosecutors quickly took their case before another grand jury.
Chasing Horse was again indicted in October. The indictment added new allegations that he filmed himself having sex with one of his accusers when she was younger than 14. Prosecutors have said the footage, taken in 2010 or 2011, was found on cellphones in a locked safe inside the North Las Vegas home that Chasing Horse is said to have shared with five wives, including the girl in the videos.
His case has been unfolding at the same time lawmakers and prosecutors around the U.S. are funneling more resources into cases involving Native women, including human trafficking and killings.
