California
Rams receiver sued for alleged antisemitic remark and biting a woman
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Star Los Angeles Rams receiver Puka Nacua has been sued for assault and battery by a woman who says he made an antisemitic statement and bit her on the shoulder on New Year’s Eve.
The civil lawsuit was filed this week in Los Angeles, according to TMZ. The suit also cites gender violence and negligence.
Plaintiff Madison Atiabi and her attorney, Joseph Kar, claim Nacua made an antisemitic exclamation that emotionally distressed her when they were together in Century City. She says Nacua bit her and left teeth marks on her shoulder when they were in a van together later in the night, and she claims Nacua also bit her friend’s thumb.
Nacua’s attorney, Levi McCathern, has already strongly denied Nacua made any antisemitic statements. He described the bites as “horseplay.”
Nacua had previously issued an apology last December after performing a gesture that plays upon antisemitic tropes while appearing on an internet livestream.
Florida
Brother and sister are charged after an explosive device was found outside an Air Force base
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A man who fled to China and his sister have been charged after an explosive device was left outside a gate at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa this month.
Alen Zheng, 20, and Ann Mary Zheng, 27, were charged Wednesday in separate federal indictments. The sister is in custody, while the brother has fled, according to a social media post by FBI director Kash Patel.
Alen Zheng is charged with of attempting to damage government property, unlawfully making a destructive device and possessing an unregistered destructive device. The indictment specifically mentions the package found at MacDill.
Ann Mary Zheng is charged with witness tampering and being an accessory after the fact in Alan Zheng’s case.
A suspicious package was found outside MacDill on March 16, prompting the FBI to investigate. The U.S. Central Command is located at MacDill and is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of South Asia. MacDill is one of the U.S. bases that has been on heightened alert since the war in Iran began.
Another man was arrested earlier this week on charges of making threatening phone calls to the base days after the device was discovered, though investigators haven’t accused that caller of planting any devices. There was no immediate connection between the caller and the Zhengs.
West Virginia
Quadruple amputee cornhole player waives extradition hearing in fatal shooting case
CHARLOTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A professional cornhole player who’s also a quadruple amputee waived his right to an extradition hearing on Thursday, as authorities seek to move him from Virginia to Maryland, where he faces charges of fatally shooting a passenger in the front seat of a car he was driving during an argument.
Dayton James Webber, who is in police custody, took part in a court hearing in Charlottesville, Virginia, through a video call, wearing a bright green jumpsuit.
Alexander Goodman, Webber’s attorney, declined to comment. It’s unclear when Webber will return to Maryland.
Webber was arrested and charged as a fugitive from justice by police in Albemarle County, where police arrested him after the shooting in Charles County, Maryland, on Sunday night.
Webber, 27, was featured by ESPN in 2023 in a story of inspiration, noting he rode dirt bikes, wrestled and played football before becoming a professional cornhole player. In the same year, he wrote an essay for the Today show about how he became a professional competitor.
Webber allegedly shot Bradrick Michael Wells, 27, of Waldorf, after a heated argument, according to police charging documents.
Maryland police say Webber pulled over after the shooting in La Plata, Maryland, and asked two passengers in the back of the car to help pull the victim out, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office said. The witnesses refused, got out of the car and flagged down police officers.
Webber fled with the victim still in the car, the sheriff’s office said. Two hours later, a resident in Charlotte Hall, about a 10-mile (16-kilometer) drive away, reported a body in a yard. Officers found the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Indiana
DraftKings says it has used ‘March Madness,’ for 5 years in response to NCAA complaint
DraftKings has been using “March Madness” and other familiar terms to refer to the NCAA Tournament for more than five years and has the legal right to do so, the sportsbook said in a court filing Wednesday in response to a complaint filed by the NCAA last week.
The NCAA is seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to stop DraftKings from using registered trademarks associated with its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
The complaint for trademark infringement, filed in the Southern District of Indiana, requests that DraftKings stop using “March Madness,” “Final Four,” “Elite Eight” and “Sweet Sixteen” and variations of those terms to promote its business.
In its response, DraftKings described those terms as “the universally recognized names for the tournaments and their rounds, used by millions of college basketball fans, journalists, and participants in the sports-betting ecosystem. They are the same words used by other online sportsbooks, who have not been singled out by the NCAA’s fevered complaint.”
DraftKings said the NCAA had asked for the restraining order “based on a contrived and manufactured ‘emergency,’” and it noted that the NCAA has a commercial agreement with a company whose business is providing in-game data to sportsbooks.
The NCAA said it actively avoids any appearance of affiliation with gambling and said in the complaint that DraftKings’ use of the terms confuses customers by making it appear the NCAA is on board.
DraftKings said its use of the terms is protected under the First Amendment, arguing the NCAA’s trademark claim would fail on the merits.
“No trademark gives any organization the right to monopolize the language fans, players, journalists, and sportsbooks use every day to accurately refer to college basketball tournaments,” the company said in a statement.
Rams receiver sued for alleged antisemitic remark and biting a woman
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Star Los Angeles Rams receiver Puka Nacua has been sued for assault and battery by a woman who says he made an antisemitic statement and bit her on the shoulder on New Year’s Eve.
The civil lawsuit was filed this week in Los Angeles, according to TMZ. The suit also cites gender violence and negligence.
Plaintiff Madison Atiabi and her attorney, Joseph Kar, claim Nacua made an antisemitic exclamation that emotionally distressed her when they were together in Century City. She says Nacua bit her and left teeth marks on her shoulder when they were in a van together later in the night, and she claims Nacua also bit her friend’s thumb.
Nacua’s attorney, Levi McCathern, has already strongly denied Nacua made any antisemitic statements. He described the bites as “horseplay.”
Nacua had previously issued an apology last December after performing a gesture that plays upon antisemitic tropes while appearing on an internet livestream.
Florida
Brother and sister are charged after an explosive device was found outside an Air Force base
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A man who fled to China and his sister have been charged after an explosive device was left outside a gate at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa this month.
Alen Zheng, 20, and Ann Mary Zheng, 27, were charged Wednesday in separate federal indictments. The sister is in custody, while the brother has fled, according to a social media post by FBI director Kash Patel.
Alen Zheng is charged with of attempting to damage government property, unlawfully making a destructive device and possessing an unregistered destructive device. The indictment specifically mentions the package found at MacDill.
Ann Mary Zheng is charged with witness tampering and being an accessory after the fact in Alan Zheng’s case.
A suspicious package was found outside MacDill on March 16, prompting the FBI to investigate. The U.S. Central Command is located at MacDill and is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of South Asia. MacDill is one of the U.S. bases that has been on heightened alert since the war in Iran began.
Another man was arrested earlier this week on charges of making threatening phone calls to the base days after the device was discovered, though investigators haven’t accused that caller of planting any devices. There was no immediate connection between the caller and the Zhengs.
West Virginia
Quadruple amputee cornhole player waives extradition hearing in fatal shooting case
CHARLOTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A professional cornhole player who’s also a quadruple amputee waived his right to an extradition hearing on Thursday, as authorities seek to move him from Virginia to Maryland, where he faces charges of fatally shooting a passenger in the front seat of a car he was driving during an argument.
Dayton James Webber, who is in police custody, took part in a court hearing in Charlottesville, Virginia, through a video call, wearing a bright green jumpsuit.
Alexander Goodman, Webber’s attorney, declined to comment. It’s unclear when Webber will return to Maryland.
Webber was arrested and charged as a fugitive from justice by police in Albemarle County, where police arrested him after the shooting in Charles County, Maryland, on Sunday night.
Webber, 27, was featured by ESPN in 2023 in a story of inspiration, noting he rode dirt bikes, wrestled and played football before becoming a professional cornhole player. In the same year, he wrote an essay for the Today show about how he became a professional competitor.
Webber allegedly shot Bradrick Michael Wells, 27, of Waldorf, after a heated argument, according to police charging documents.
Maryland police say Webber pulled over after the shooting in La Plata, Maryland, and asked two passengers in the back of the car to help pull the victim out, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office said. The witnesses refused, got out of the car and flagged down police officers.
Webber fled with the victim still in the car, the sheriff’s office said. Two hours later, a resident in Charlotte Hall, about a 10-mile (16-kilometer) drive away, reported a body in a yard. Officers found the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Indiana
DraftKings says it has used ‘March Madness,’ for 5 years in response to NCAA complaint
DraftKings has been using “March Madness” and other familiar terms to refer to the NCAA Tournament for more than five years and has the legal right to do so, the sportsbook said in a court filing Wednesday in response to a complaint filed by the NCAA last week.
The NCAA is seeking an emergency temporary restraining order to stop DraftKings from using registered trademarks associated with its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
The complaint for trademark infringement, filed in the Southern District of Indiana, requests that DraftKings stop using “March Madness,” “Final Four,” “Elite Eight” and “Sweet Sixteen” and variations of those terms to promote its business.
In its response, DraftKings described those terms as “the universally recognized names for the tournaments and their rounds, used by millions of college basketball fans, journalists, and participants in the sports-betting ecosystem. They are the same words used by other online sportsbooks, who have not been singled out by the NCAA’s fevered complaint.”
DraftKings said the NCAA had asked for the restraining order “based on a contrived and manufactured ‘emergency,’” and it noted that the NCAA has a commercial agreement with a company whose business is providing in-game data to sportsbooks.
The NCAA said it actively avoids any appearance of affiliation with gambling and said in the complaint that DraftKings’ use of the terms confuses customers by making it appear the NCAA is on board.
DraftKings said its use of the terms is protected under the First Amendment, arguing the NCAA’s trademark claim would fail on the merits.
“No trademark gives any organization the right to monopolize the language fans, players, journalists, and sportsbooks use every day to accurately refer to college basketball tournaments,” the company said in a statement.
