SMITH COUNTY – Our news partner, KETK, reports that two people have been arrested following a Saturday morning morning murder in Smith County.
According to the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, they received a 911 call around 2 a.m. on Saturday after a person reported seeing a man lying on the side of the road in Flint. Further information revealed the man had been shot.
When deputies, arrived the victim, James Littlejohn, 39, was unresponsive. EMS transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The victim’s body was taken to the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas for an autopsy. An investigation was launched immediately and authorities learned that the suspect, John Floyd McDaniel, 55, was in the back passenger seat of a vehicle driven by Ashley Kate Joiner. Continue reading Two arrested in Smith County shooting
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The operator of the Keystone oil pipeline restarted the system Monday after a spill onto farmland in North Dakota last week shut down the line.
South Bow said it was watching inclement weather conditions before beginning “a carefully controlled restart” that will include 24/7 monitoring, reduced operating pressures, cleanup of the site and compliance with federal regulators’ requirements. The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said South Bow restarted the pipeline at a reduced pressure.
The failed section was dug out and replaced and will be taken to a metallurgical lab in Houston for testing, while the repaired pipeline will be tested at different pressures to ensure its integrity, PHMSA said.
The agency’s investigation is ongoing. It is unclear what caused the spill.
The company said it has finished all repairs, inspections and testing at the spill site. PHMSA said it signed off on the company’s restart plan.
South Bow also said it will put certain pressure restrictions on the pipeline’s Canadian sections, and has shared those details with Canadian regulators.
The company’s update did not mention a cause of the spill, though the company said it would share investigation findings when available. An employee heard a “mechanical bang” and shut down the pipeline within two minutes, a state spill response official previously said.
The spill is estimated at 3,500 barrels, or 147,000 gallons. Vacuum trucks had recovered 1,170 barrels of crude oil, or 49,140 gallons, as of early Friday, according to PHMSA.
The spill occurred in a field north of Fort Ransom, North Dakota, a tiny town in a forested area known for scenic views and outdoor recreation.
The 2,689-mile (4,327 kilometers) Keystone Pipeline carries crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas.
The pipeline was shut down from Alberta to points in Illinois and a liquid tank terminal Oklahoma, though the line remained open between Oklahoma and Texas’ Gulf Coast, according to a map from South Bow.
Lower oil prices due to tariff issues helped mute challenges from the pipeline shutdown on gas prices, though diesel prices could still inch up, said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president for energy and innovation at the University of Houston.
Gas prices have fallen in almost every state in the last week due to the oil price drop resulting from the tariff and trade war concerns, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, which tracks gas prices.
“I wouldn’t have expected this to really have much of an impact anyway, but with oil prices actively having plummeted over the last week, yes, I would say that the decline was more than offset,” he said.
House of the Dragon star Emma D'Arcy is set to star opposite Tom Cruise in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s untitled upcoming film. D'Arcy confirmed the news to Deadline, saying in a statement, “I’m delighted to be working with such extraordinary and exacting artists as Alejandro and Tom. They are the masters of their craft, and witnessing them in combination has been a privilege.” The film is set to premiere Oct. 2, 2026 ...
The Oscar-winning film The Brutalist is set to stream on Max starting May 16 and will air on HBO linear May 17 at 8 p.m. ET. The film follows the story of an architect who escapes post-World War II Europe and arrives in America to start a new life. It won three Oscars earlier this year, including best actor for star Adrien Brody ...
Ahead of its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May, a teaser trailer has been released for Ari Aster's new film, Eddington. The film takes place during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and stars Joaquin Phoenix as a small-town sheriff in Eddington, New Mexico, engaged in a standoff with the town's mayor, played by Pedro Pascal. It does not yet have a release date ...
(MUSCAT, Oman) -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced that the second round of indirect talks with the United States are expected to take place in Oman on Saturday, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
An Iranian delegation had arrived in Oman's capital, Muscat, last Saturday to meet with U.S. officials for "indirect talks" about Tehran's nuclear program, Iranian state-owned news agency IRIB reported.
The White House confirmed that President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff spoke directly with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as part of "very positive and constructive" talks.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted to their telegram channel Saturday that the talks ended after two and a half hours. It says the two parties "exchanged the positions of their respective governments" on Iran's nuclear program and on sanctions.
There had been speculation that the second round of talks would be held in a European country.
ABC News' Morgan Winsor and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.
(COPENHAGEN, Denmark) -- One of the Americans detained for nearly two weeks in Denmark over an alleged assault against an Uber driver while visiting Copenhagen on their college spring break said he was "shocked" that he and his friend were arrested and maintained that they are innocent.
"We were both just very shocked about the fact that we were being arrested over this incident," Owen Ray told "Good Morning America" on Monday, hours after he and his friend were freed. "We had done nothing wrong," Ray added.
Ray, a 19-year-old studying at Miami University in Ohio, and his unnamed friend were detained at Copenhagen Airport on April 1 over an alleged dispute with an Uber driver the night prior, Jordan Finfer, a U.S.-based attorney for Ray's family, told ABC News. Local police detained them while they were heading home after deeming them "flight risks," claiming they were planning to run from the incident, he said.
In an account relayed to Finfer, who then shared the details with ABC News, Ray said he and his friend realized they had entered the wrong address for their destination -- and the Uber driver allegedly refused to take them anywhere else.
Ray said they decided to cancel their Uber and left the vehicle. Then, after they walked a few blocks, the Uber driver pulled up, got out of the car and "started yelling at us, thinking he hadn't been paid for the Uber, but in fact, he had been paid for the Uber," Ray said.
"He then got in our faces and was saying, 'I'm gonna call 10 guys,'" Ray said.
"We said, 'We've done nothing wrong. We've done nothing wrong.' He then started an altercation with us," Ray said.
"The safety of everyone who uses the Uber app is a top priority, and we take reports of violence very seriously," an Uber spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News on Sunday. "Any additional questions about the investigation should be directed to the Danish police," the statement added.
Copenhagen police said the two students were charged with common assault.
Following his arrest, Ray said he thought he would be able to explain to a judge what happened and be released.
"But then we went to the judge, and we were actually told that we would be imprisoned in a Danish prison for 10 days," he said.
Ray said he wasn't able to make a phone call for 36 hours after his arrest and didn't know if his parents even knew where he was.
"I was initially very worried about making sure that I could get into contact," he said.
He said he was able to text his mother from a phone at court, and she ended up flying to Denmark.
"I was very relieved to have heard that she was able to do that, and thankful that she was able to," Ray said. "I'm very thankful to my family and everyone else who's been supporting me throughout this situation."
Ray said it also helped that he and his friend had each other while detained.
"We read books, we played cards, we played chess and luckily we were able to get through it in a good mental state," he said.
Their initial 10-day, pre-trial detention amid the investigation into the incident was subsequently extended until April 24, a Copenhagen police spokesperson told ABC News.
Ray said his Danish attorney filed an appeal last week, and the judge ruled in their favor on Monday, releasing them.
The teen said Danish authorities have their passports and they have to check in with police daily until they get an update on the case. He said he believes they are waiting for either the investigating authorities to drop the case or for a trial date to be set.
Ray said he and his friend are in a good mental state, and that he plans to maintain a positive attitude about the ordeal while hoping for it to be resolved soon.
"I just hope that Denmark and the legal authorities here are able to -- and the U.S. government can help us and do what they can to help us be released by Easter, so I can be home with my family," Ray said.
"I think the best case would be for the Danish police and the prosecutor to drop the case at this point, because we're completely innocent, and for them to return us our passports and allow us to head back to the United States," he said.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday that they are "aware of media reports of two U.S. citizens detained in Denmark. Staff at our embassy in Copenhagen are providing consular assistance."
"The Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad," the statement continued. "Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment."
(WASHINGTON) -- Lawyers for Meta told a federal judge on Monday that the social media company founded by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is not a monopoly, countering a landmark lawsuit brought against it by the Federal Trade Commission accusing the tech giant of gobbling up its competitors to corner the market.
"Meta has no Monopoly,” Mark Hansen, an attorney for the company argued in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., as the trial got underway.
The case marks the first significant opportunity for President Donald Trump's administration to follow through on the president's campaign promise to take on Big Tech.
In court filings, the FTC argued that Meta purposefully and illegally undercut smaller rivals to "neutralize perceived competitive threats."
The FTC lawsuit, originally filed in 2020 when Meta went by Facebook, alleges that the company bought Instagram and WhatsApp to establish an illegal monopoly.
"Unable to maintain its monopoly by fairly competing, the company’s executives addressed the existential threat by buying up new innovators that were succeeding where Facebook failed," the FTC's attorneys wrote in the court documents.
FTC lawyers called Zuckerberg as their first witness on Monday. Zuckerberg faced questions about his company’s inner workings and how it has evolved in recent years to respond to competition from other social media platforms.
If Meta loses, the lawsuit could force a dismantling of the company by forcing it to break off the two apps, Instagram and WhatsApp, it purchased over a decade ago.
Meta’s legal team argued in court that the case centers on broader “industry issues" -- not just issues concerning Meta. They claimed that many of Meta’s innovations and acquisitions were in response to moves by "peer" tech companies.
During Monday's court proceedings, Meta’s lawyers said the company has been “pro-competitive,” arguing the government “doesn’t want to talk about” TikTok, a rival that they contend “rocked the world," and sent Meta into "a crisis.”
In opening statements, Meta’s lawyers claimed that "consumer welfare" is not the central issue in the case.
The company said it had to adapt after TikTok’s explosive growth during the pandemic.
"Meta didn’t even have a short-form video feature" when TikTok was launched in 2016 by the Chinese technology company ByteDance, Meta's lawyers argued.
Meta’s legal team added that many creators were initially skeptical of Instagram Reels, a product launched in response to TikTok, because short-form videos tended to monetize significantly less than longer traditional videos.
The social media company's lawyers pointed to other platforms adapting short-form videos like YouTube shorts, Snapchat, X (formerly known as Twitter) and LinkedIn as examples of similar responses to TikTok’s success. Meta, they said, had to “move with the times or end up like MySpace," the now-defunct social media site that dominated the industry two decades ago.
Meta's lawyers also cited a 2021 Meta outage, during which users turned to other platforms. TikTok saw an 11% increase in users and YouTube gained 8%, Meta’s lawyers argued, presenting the figures as proof that competitors have substantial influence. They added that Meta accounts for less than 20% of total time spent on social media platforms.
Much of Zuckerberg’s early testimony Monday focused on the Facebook News Feed and how users interact with friends, something he said has shifted as people moved from desktop computers to mobile devices.
He acknowledged that the emphasis on friendship had declined as users began to share content differently. He noted that by 2018, there was growing discourse over whether time spent on social media was beneficial.
"The friend part has gone down quite a bit, it's still something we care about,” Zuckerberg testified. However, he added that friendship is now "one part of what we do."
Later Monday, the FTC lawyers questioned Zuckerberg about his company's acquisition of Instagram. The deal occurred after Facebook’s own camera app, Snap, failed to compete, the government's lawyers noted.
In emails from February 2012 read in court by the FTC lawyers, Zuckerburg wrote, "Snap might be a good first step but we’d be very behind in both functionality and brand core use cases of Facebook will develop in the mobile world, which is really scary and we might want to consider paying a lot of money for this."
When questioned about the 2012 Instagram purchase, Zuckerberg said his company had just gone public and had the capital. He characterized the email as an example of his desire to do a build-versus-buy analysis.
When asked about his "scary" remark, Zuckerberg testified that he “read this as trying to analyze, I think, where the value is with Instagram."
"Some of the stuff is simply hypothetical, that this could potentially be scary. I’m not sure if I read this as I was really scared at the time," Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg said that when he wrote the email, he was thinking about whether it was the best approach to buy Instagram.
"By this point, I was leaning toward we should buy them if we could,” he testified.
Shortly after the conversation in February 2012, Meta bought Instagram in April for $1 billion.
In a statement released on Monday, Meta said, "The evidence at trial will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp compete with Chinese-owned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage and many others."
The company added, "More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the Commission’s action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final. Regulators should be supporting American innovation, rather than seeking to break up a great American company and further advantaging China on critical issues like AI."
Zuckerberg is expected to return to the witness stand on Tuesday.
(NEW YORK) -- The sequel to the biggest victory of the #MeToo era starts Tuesday when disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein is retried in New York for alleged sex crimes.
It could take five days to seat a jury, Judge Curtis Farber has said.
A jury in the same courthouse convicted Weinstein in 2020 of sex assault before New York's highest court overturned the conviction, deciding the judge had improperly allowed certain testimony from women whose accusations were not part of the criminal charges.
His attorneys have said they hope a changing political climate could make the outcome of Weinstein's second New York trial different than the first.
Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty to all charges, including a new allegation from a woman who came forward after his conviction.
One of the women alleged Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in 2006. A then-aspiring actor alleged she was raped in 2013. The new accuser alleged Weinstein forced oral sex on her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2006.
The defense accused prosecutors of withholding the new accuser's account as a hedge, but prosecutors denied that, and the judge declined to dismiss the case.
The alleged victims who testify will no longer be referred to as survivors after the judge granted a defense request to call Weinstein's accusers complaining witnesses. They are expected to testify under their real names.
Farber granted a request from the Manhattan district attorney's office to call a witness who is an expert on the psychological effects of rape.
The decision to re-try Weinstein fell to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who reconfigured the way his office handles sex crimes. The Special Victims Division has successfully prosecuted a man who raped two young women at knifepoint after responding to their online advertisements for commercial sex, a man who raped a cleaner in the building where he worked as the superintendent and a man who sexually abused two children living in the shelter where he worked.
Weinstein, who has appeared in court in a wheelchair, sued New York City over his treatment and questioned whether he would live through a second trial while incarcerated in the "hellhole" of Rikers Island.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nolan Arenado homered and Brendan Donovan went 4 for 4, helping Sonny Gray and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 8-3 on Monday night.
Arenado also doubled twice and scored two runs in the opener of a three-game series. Donovan extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Gray (3-0) pitched seven scoreless innings. He allowed three hits, struck out four and walked one.
The Cardinals have won Gray’s last eight home starts dating to last season.
Astros left-hander Framber Valdez (1-2) was tagged for seven runs — six earned — in four-plus innings. Five of the 10 hits he allowed were doubles.
Arenado hit a solo drive off Luis Contreras in the eighth. It was his second homer of the season.
The Cardinals broke it open with three runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth.
Pedro Pagés hit a two-run double to make it 3-0 in the fourth. Nolan Gorman’s sacrifice fly extended the lead to 7-0 in the fifth.
Donovan scored twice and drove in a run. He is batting an NL-high .391.
Houston’s Jeremy Peña hit a three-run homer off Roddery Muñoz with two outs in the ninth.
Key moment
Arenado drove in the first run in the fifth. He fouled off four straight offerings in a 10-pitch at-bat before ripping an RBI double to left.
Key stat
Gray set the tone when he retired Jose Altuve, Isaac Paredes and Yordan Alvarez in order in the first inning. The Astros’ only hit off Gray through five was catcher Yainer Diaz’s infield single in the second.
Up next
Astros right-hander Hunter Brown (1-1, 2.00 ERA) starts on Tuesday night. Right-hander Erick Fedde (1-1, 4.50 ERA) makes his fourth start for the Cardinals.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — From the moment they heard their names called out by Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred, Paul Skenes and Henry Davis were destined to make history.
When it finally happened on Monday night in Pittsburgh’s 10-3 win over Washington, the first battery comprised of players taken with the top overall pick in the draft just kind of shrugged.
“All records are meant to be broken, right?” Skenes said. “It’s cool.”
And also overdue.
While Skenes, selected first overall in 2023, has been a sensation from the moment he stepped onto the mound at PNC Park for the first time 11 months ago, Davis, the top pick in 2021, remains very much a work in progress.
It’s telling of the wildly different trajectories of their respective careers that the history Skenes and Davis made in front of just over 10,000 fans on a windy spring night was unintentional.
Davis, recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis over the weekend after starting catcher Joey Bart experienced back issues, wasn’t in the initial lineup and only entered the game after Endy Rodriguez sustained a cut on his right index finger just two batters into the top of the first.
Enter Davis, who quickly trotted onto the field, slipped a mask over his head and took a glimpse at the wristband that detailed Skenes’ game plan. It was hardly the first time Davis had caught Skenes, just the first time that it truly mattered.
There appeared to be few hiccups between them. Skenes navigated six innings with relative ease, six days removed from the shakiest start of his still-young career. Mixing and matching a half-dozen pitches, Skenes retired 15 of 16 at one point, including a pair of groundouts against Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews that gave Skenes short-term bragging rights over his former LSU teammate.
Skenes made it a point to credit Davis, whose slow defensive development at one of the game’s most demanding positions has been one of the main reasons why he has spent most of the last two years bouncing between the majors and the minors.
“(Henry) can call a game,” Skenes said after improving to 2-1. “He was prepared. It’s not a surprise. I’ve been with him for the better part of two years now. You want to see why he’s the type of player he is, you don’t have to look very far. For him to come into a tough situation, call the game and catch as well as he did says a lot about it.”
Preparation is never the issue with Davis, who tends to bury himself in his work. Yet that work has not led to results. Davis entered Monday hitting just .188 in 101 games, and his inability to establish himself as an everyday player nearly four years after being drafted is symbolic of a franchise, that for all of its considerable young pitching talent, has been unable to identify and develop position players.
Pittsburgh’s lineup against Washington’s Brad Lord consisted of just three players who the club drafted or signed and then nurtured to the big leagues. And two of them — Andrew McCutchen and Adam Frazier — are on their second tour with the club after spending a portion of their careers elsewhere.
Skenes was paying Davis a compliment when he said most of Davis’ teammates don’t consider him a “1-1,” baseball code for going first overall. Skenes meant that the quiet way Davis carries himself runs in stark contrast to his draft profile.
As if to almost prove the point, while Skenes talked, he wore a suit and addressed a dozen reporters, answering questions on everything from the black-and-gold necklaces McCutchen gifted to the team to the way he channeled his girlfriend — LSU gymnast/influencer Livvy Dunne — while somersaulting to avoid a collision with Washington’s Nasim Nunez at third base.
About 20 minutes after Skenes left the clubhouse, Davis emerged in a casual grey long-sleeved shirt and green pants, the necklace from McCutchen still in place after one of the better days of his professional career.
He spoke politely in short, measured sentences. Wearing the necklace as “fun.” Being at the ready is something every catcher who’s not in the lineup does. Monday night just happened to be his turn.
“So just being ready to jump in and know what (Skenes) wanted to do and be on his page pretty quickly, that was the goal,” Davis said.
Davis cleared that goal. Now comes another far more important one: take the opening that the injuries to Bart and Rodriguez have created and run with it.
The Pirates are scuffling. Fan unrest and highly visible missteps by the organization off the field have bubbled up in lockstep with a less-than-stellar product on it, creating an environment where it feels like general manager Ben Cherington and manager Derek Shelton — both in year six — are on the clock.
Pittsburgh bet big on Davis. That bet has not paid off yet. No one is more aware of that than the soft-spoken catcher who is now linked with Skenes in a far more real way than the number next to their name in the draft.
“It was cool to get the opportunity,” Davis said. “Glad we got a win. It’s great.”
PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Suns have parted ways with veteran coach Mike Budenholzer following one dismal season that featured a fast start before a maddening slide out of postseason contention for a high-priced roster that included Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
The Suns made the unsurprising announcement on Monday, one day after the franchise finished with a 36-46 record which put them 11th in the Western Conference.
They lost nine of their last 10 games, failing to qualify for the play-in tournament.
“Competing at the highest level remains our goal, and we failed to meet expectations this season,” the team’s short statement said. “Our fans deserve better. Change is needed.”
The 55-year-old Budenholzer was hired in May, replacing Frank Vogel, who also had a one-year tenure that ended in disappointment. Coach Bud — an Arizona native — won an NBA title with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, beating the Suns in six games in the Finals, and the hope was he could finally bring a championship to the desert.
He didn’t even come close.
The season started with optimism after the Suns jumped to an 8-1 record, but Durant went down with a calf strain that knocked the team into a tailspin. Even after the 15-time All-Star returned to the lineup a few weeks later, Phoenix was never able to recapture its early momentum.
Budenholzer couldn’t seem to settle on a regular playing rotation with rookies Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro playing big minutes one night before being benched the next. Veteran center Jusuf Nurkic had an awful start to the season — and complained about a lack of communication with Budenholzer — before being traded to the Charlotte Hornets.
Booker and Durant stayed relatively healthy for most of the season, but Beal had constant injury issues and missed more than 20 games in the regular season for a sixth straight year.
The Suns tried to retool at the trade deadline, but Beal’s no-trade clause and the team’s salary cap status above the second apron made making any major moves difficult.
Budenholzer’s departure likely signifies major upcoming roster upheaval for a team that’s underachieved for three straight seasons. Owner Mat Ishbia has deep pockets and a desire to win, but almost every move he’s made since taking over the team in February 2023 has backfired.
Budenholzer has a 520-363 career record over 11 NBA seasons with the Hawks, Bucks and Suns.
ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher is the lone survivor of the influx of French players who have dominated the top of the last two NBA drafts.
Risacher and the Hawks will play at Orlando on Tuesday night in the NBA play-in tournament. Risacher was still a teen when he became the second straight French player to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft, following San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama in the 2023 draft.
Another French player, Alex Sarr, was the No. 2 overall pick by the Washington Wizards in last year’s draft, adding an exclamation point to the impact of the French influence on the league. Washington finished last in the Eastern Conference.
San Antonio also missed the postseason, finishing 13th in the West, so Wembanyama’s season would be over even if he had not been diagnosed with a season-ending right shoulder ailment in February.
Wembanyama was enjoying another big season after winning NBA rookie of the year in a unanimous vote last season. The Hawks are pushing Risacher to be recognized as the league’s top rookie this year, though San Antonio’s Stephon Castle is the favorite for the award at the BetMGM Sportsbook. Risacher and Sarr could finish in the top three of the voting.
Risacher, who celebrated his 20th birthday on April 8, endured inconsistencies that could be expected of any young player. He finished strong, winning rookie of the month honors in February and March while helping the Hawks overcome the loss of another rising star, Jalen Johnson, to season-ending shoulder surgery in late January.
“As far his work ethic, his passion, his competitiveness, he’s got an approach to the game that’s reflective of his character and not of his age,” coach Quin Snyder said of Risacher after Sunday’s 117-105 win over Orlando to close the regular season. “I think because of that we’ve just seen steady progress throughout the course of the year.”
Risacher (6-foot-9, 215 pounds) started 73 games and averaged 12.6 points and 3.6 rebounds and finished second on the team, behind top scorer Trae Young, with 122 3-pointers.
“I feel like I was just lucky to be on the court every single night and be able to learn, be able to make mistakes,” Risacher said. “I feel like that’s why I’m not the same player I was when I got here, just because I was able to be on the floor and make mistakes and learn from my teammates.”
Risacher topped NBA rookies by scoring more than 30 points in three games, including two in the final nine games of the regular season. He scored a season-high 38 points in a 133-109 win at Brooklyn on Thursday night.
Risacher’s 35.5% shooting on 3-pointers supported the catch-and-shoot potential which helped make him the top pick, and his quickness and athleticism enable him to create shots.
“Zach is very, very aggressive and he’s very smart,” Young said. “I mean, there’s a lot of guys that are tall and athletic and skilled, but there’s not a lot that have all three combined with smartness. And he has all three. He’s just very young right now and he’s kind of light.”
Young said Risacher has “the brightest future of any rookie that I’ve seen this year. … He’s rookie of the year, I think.”
The 7-foot Sarr, 19, averaged 13 points and 6.5 rebounds. He became the third rookie in NBA history to record at least 100 blocks, 100 assists and make at least 100 3-pointers. The others were Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren last season.
Washington coach Brian Keefe said Sarr improved through his rookie season.
“You can see him attacking more and more, and he’s getting more comfortable with that,” Keefe said. “You can see some of the finishing is improving, see some of his left-hand finishing improving. Want him to be aggressive. That’s the most important thing. Get aggressive, attack the rim. That’s what we’ve wanted him to do, and he’s showing some growth there here at the end of the year.”
Keefe said Sarr has “gotten better month to month, week to week, game to game.”
Among other players from France still playing, Minnesota center Rudy Gobert is in his 12th season. Another veteran, Nicolas Batum, plays for the Los Angeles Clippers. Detroit’s Killian Hayes was born in the United States and raised in France.
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AP Sports Writer Noah Trister contributed to this report.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans fired basketball operations chief David Griffin on Monday, ending a six-year chapter during which the club drafted former Duke superstar Zion Williamson but still struggled to win consistently with three different coaches.
Griffin, whose title was executive vice president of basketball operations, leaves his post one day after a 115-100 loss to Oklahoma City that extended the injury-plagued club’s season-ending skid to seven games.
“This was a difficult decision, but one that I feel is necessary at this time to bring a fresh approach to our front office and build a culture that will deliver sustainable success,” Pelicans owner Gayle Benson said in a written statement.
The Pelicans’ 21-61 record — fourth worst in the NBA this season — was the franchise’s second-worst mark since arriving in New Orleans in 2002 and worst since the 2004-05 season, when the club, then called the Hornets, went 18-64.
But the Pelicans’ failures this season — their first in the past four without a postseason berth — appeared less tied to the level of talent on the roster than the health of all of their starters and even prominent reserves.
Injuries were so rampant that Griffin never got to watch top players on the team he assembled last summer all play together under the direction of Willie Green, the coach he hired four years ago.
Green’s future remains uncertain and could be decided by Griffin’s yet-to-be-named replacement. A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed Monday that the Pelicans have had discussions to gauge Louisiana native Joe Dumars’ interest in the job, a detail first reported by ESPN. Dumars is a former NBA executive of the year and currently an executive vice president in the league office. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither side announced the talks publicly.
“I haven’t had any discussions, any talks yet,” Green said Sunday when asked about his future with the club. “I didn’t do great. I have to take full ownership of where we are as a team. We failed. I failed.”
But Green said he hoped that the club’s evaluation of him would include the previous three seasons, when New Orleans qualified for the Western Conference play-in and twice advanced to a first-round playoff series.
“I think that’s important. You try to look at the body of work,” Green said. “But I didn’t give myself this job. I had to be chosen for this position, and I’m grateful.”
Green succeeded Stan Van Gundy, who was fired in 2021 after just one non-playoff season. Van Gundy was hired in 2020 after Griffin fired Alvin Gentry, a coach he inherited in 2019 and kept in place for one campaign that also ended short of the postseason.
This season, Williamson missed 52 games because of several injuries, his hamstring strain being the worst of them.
Starting guard Dejounte Murray — seen as the club’s highest-profile acquisition last offseason — missed 51 games because of hand and Achilles injuries.
Herb Jones, recognized as one of the NBA’s top defensive players, missed 62 games with repeated right shoulder injuries.
High-scoring wing Brandon Ingram, who began this season unhappy about the lack of a contract extension he sought, appeared in just 18 games with New Orleans because of an ankle injury before he was traded to Toronto in February.
Trey Murphy III missed 29 games with multiple injuries.
Griffin, who did not speak with media on Sunday, joined the Pelicans in 2019. Shortly afterward, the Pelicans won the NBA’s draft lottery, giving them the opportunity to draft Williamson, the consensus top overall prospect that year.
But what appeared to be good fortune at that time in retrospect looks more like a curse.
Plagued by injuries, Williamson has missed 258 out of 472 regular-season games since he was drafted — and has never appeared in a postseason game.
The Pelicans have a regular season record of 209-263 since Griffin arrived and drafted Williamson, and the club lost both of the first-round playoff series it reached during that period.
This season’s record also was the Pelicans’ worst since Benson’s late husband, Tom, bought the club in 2012.
Those results have left an air of uncertainty around the coming Pelicans offseason — not just for the front office and coaching staff.
“We truly don’t know who’s going back. I’m just trying to be honest with you,” Murphy said. “Nobody is safe.”
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Three-time All-Pro Patrick Peterson announced his retirement on Monday as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, where he spent the first 10 of his 13 NFL seasons as one of the league’s elite cornerbacks.
The 34-year-old Peterson was honored at the team’s practice facility with a highlight video and tributes from several former teammates, including receiver Larry Fitzgerald and quarterback Carson Palmer.
“My career’s here,” Peterson said. “It lives here. It was a no-brainer for me to come back here and retire a Cardinal.”
Peterson had a difficult departure from the franchise following the 2020 season, signing with the Minnesota Vikings when he didn’t get the contract he wanted from the Cardinals. But the cornerback eventually made amends with team owner Michael Bidwill, and the two shared the stage together on Monday.
“It wasn’t the greatest departure, but at the end of the day, this is where my legacy is, this is where my legacy started,” Peterson said.
The No. 5 overall pick in the 2011 draft out of LSU, Peterson made an immediate impact as a rookie and was a Pro Bowl selection in each of his first eight seasons. He would be a key part to the team’s “No Fly Zone” of the mid-2010s that included Tyrann Mathieu, Tony Jefferson, Jerraud Powers, Rashad Johnson, Justin Bethel and Deone Bucannon.
Peterson had a quick response when asked how he would like to be remembered.
“As a fierce competitor,” Peterson said. “A guy who not only brought joy to the game, but had the opportunity and ability to uplift his teammates.”
He was also a special teams standout early in his career, returning four punts for touchdowns as a rookie, which tied an NFL record.
After his decade with the Cardinals, Peterson spent two seasons with the Vikings and last played in the NFL in 2023 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He finished his career with 652 tackles and 36 interceptions — including at least one in all 13 seasons.
Peterson said he’s enjoyed the past year away from the game, spending more time with his family and golfing with friends. Now he’s ready for the next phase of his career, which he hopes will be in the media world.
“I want to get behind the camera and express my thoughts,” Peterson said. “Being able to give the fans, the viewers, something they may not know about the game. That’s what I want to do because I still love the game dearly.”
West Virginia has the best overall and road records in Division I baseball, and the Big 12-leading Mountaineers are doing it with a first-year coach and a No. 1 pitcher who spent his first four seasons at a Division II school in Illinois.
The Mountaineers have won 10 straight and their 30-4 record gives them a .882 winning percentage, which ranks ahead of Arkansas’ .865 (32-5). Their three-game weekend sweep at Houston made them 18-1 on the road.
“I think this school and the state take a lot of pride in grit, and they take a lot of pride in having no excuses and showing up regardless of situation and battling through adversity,” coach Steve Sabins said. “Whether it’s weather-related or public perception-related or anything else, being able to go do hard things is what the program is built on. No secret sauce.”
The offense is more productive than a year ago, when the Mountaineers went 36-24 and made a super regional. There’s a .300 hitter in every spot in the order, led by Skylar King’s team-best .377, and the Mountaineers have stolen 86 bases and have six players with at least eight.
Pitching has been a pleasant surprise. All three weekend starters and a reliever — not to mention shortstop JJ Wetherholt, the No. 7 overall pick — were taken in the Major League Baseball amateur draft.
“If you go to a super regional and have the best year in program history and lose 75% of your pitching, West Virginia has not traditionally been a program that has bounced back year to year and continued to build,” Sabins said. “We have the opportunity to do that.”
Friday night starter Griffin Kirn (4-0, 3.74 ERA) transferred in after four seasons at Division II Quincy. The left-hander’s fastball is only in the low 90s, but he mixes in a changeup and devastating slider, and two summers in the Cape Cod League built his confidence and eased concerns about whether he could be effective in Division I.
“I told my pitching coach my first start of the year in pregame bullpen that I can’t believe I’m here,” Kirn said. “It was a who-would-have-thought kind of thing. I’m grateful for it. I can’t ask for a better situation.”
Gavin Van Kampen (2-0, 5.63) has been the Saturday starter after working out of the bullpen last season. Kent State transfer Jack Kartsonas (3-1, 2.22), coming off summer arm surgery, made his first start Sunday and gave up two hits over seven shutout innings against Houston. Tarleton State transfer Reese Bassinger (3-0, 2.34, 5 saves) has been a revelation as the closer.
The Mountaineers host seventh-place Cincinnati this weekend, and only two series remain against teams in the upper half of the Big 12.
In the polls
The polls got a shakeup Monday, but there is agreement on Texas as the No. 1 team.
The Longhorns (29-5) won two of three at Kentucky — they lost 5-4 in 15 innings Saturday — and have not dropped a weekend series since April 4-6, 2024.
D1Baseball.com ranks Arkansas No. 2 and Clemson No. 3. The Razorbacks (32-5) fell from the top spot after losing two of three at Georgia for their first series loss of the season. The Tigers (33-6) won two of three against Stanford at home.
Baseball America has Tennessee and Georgia second and third, respectively. The Volunteers (31-5) took two of three at Mississippi. The Bulldogs (32-6) won a series against a No. 1 team for the first time since 2021 at Vanderbilt.
Bruins leading Big Ten
Big Ten-leading UCLA is coming off a 10th straight weekend series win. The Bruins (28-7, 12-3) took two of three against Washington at home and remain percentage points ahead of Iowa (23-11, 14-4). UCLA plays a key series this weekend at third-place and Top 25 Oregon.
Seminoles bounce back
Florida State rebounded from an ugly three-game losing streak with a road sweep of Virginia Tech to stay ranked in the top 10.
The Seminoles were outscored 29-2 over the last two games against Wake Forest the previous weekend and lost a midweek game 5-4 at rival Florida. Virginia Tech managed only four runs in the three games against the Seminoles. Joey Volina, Jamie Arnold and Wes Mendes turned in strong starts.
Cleanup spot
Texas Southern’s Damian Garcia had a monster game in a 19-14 loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday. He went 6 for 6 with four homers, a double and single and eight RBIs. … Oklahoma State’s Harrison Bodendorf matched the national season high for innings pitched in a 4-2 win over Arizona. He allowed one earned run on three hits and struck out 10 in 10 innings. … Eastern Illinois beat Southeast Missouri State 6-3 in 19 innings Friday, the longest game of the season.
Former LSU receiver Kyren Lacy has died at age 24 in an apparent suicide in his car while being pursued by authorities in Houston, according to a Harris County sheriff’s report released Sunday.
Lacy already was facing criminal charges stemming from a fatal car accident in Louisiana last December that had clouded his NFL prospects.
Harris County authorities say their pursuit of Lacy late Saturday night ended when Lacy crashed. When officers approached the vehicle to extract Lacy, they say he had died in an apparent suicide, the report said.
Lacy was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders.
“We’re saddened to learn of the tragic passing of former LSU football student-athlete Kyren Lacy,” LSU said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones, as well as his former teammates and coaches impacted by his passing.”
Lacy, who led LSU in touchdowns receiving with nine last season, had declared for this month’s NFL draft. But his draft stock plummeted after his alleged involvement in an accident in that killed a 78-year-old man in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana.
Lacy, who was from Thibodaux, Louisiana, allegedly was driving recklessly — speeding and passing in a no-passing zone — when a motorist who was swerving to avoid Lacy’s Dodge Charger crashed head-on into another vehicle.
Herman Hall of Thibodaux, who was involved in a head-on crash, died after being transported to a hospital, a state police report said.
Authorities with State Police Troop C in Gray, Louisiana, said Lacy fled the scene of the accident without calling for help. Lacy was booked with negligent homicide, felony hit-and-run and reckless operation of a vehicle.
Lacy played in 12 games for LSU last season and was second on the team in catches with 58 and yards receiving with 866.
He declared for the NFL draft just days after the accident and did not play in LSU’s victory over Baylor in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 31.
SMITH COUNTY – Our news partner, KETK, reports that two people have been arrested following a Saturday morning morning murder in Smith County.
