Ingested Articles

 A former Phoenix politician already in prison on a six-year sentence for operating an illegal adoption scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands was ordered to serve another five years behind bars for defrauding Arizona’s Medicaid system in a scam to get taxpayer-funded health coverage for the birth mothers. Paul Petersen, a Republican who was Maricopa County’s elected assessor for six years and worked as an adoption attorney, on Friday received the second of three sentences. His five-year Arizona punishment is to be served after he completes his six-year federal sentence in Arkansas. No sentencing date has been scheduled for Petersen’s convictions in Utah.

Lucas Williamson scored 21 points in a dynamic performance by the defensive whiz, All-America forward Cameron Krutwig added 10, and eighth-seeded Loyola Chicago beat No. 9 seed Georgia Tech 71-60 on Friday to mark a triumphant return to the NCAA Tournament. Loyola advanced to play top-seeded Illinois on Sunday. Jordan Usher scored 15 points, Michael Devoe had 14 and Jose Alvarado 13 for the Yellow Jackets, who were forced to play without ACC player of the year Moses Wright after the big man tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week.

A Russian man has pleaded guilty to offering a Tesla employee $1 million to cripple the electric car company’s plant in Nevada with ransomware in an extortion scheme. Cybersecurity experts on Friday called the case exceptional because of the risks Egor Kriuchkov took trying face-to-face bribery instead of an internet hack from afar. Kriuchkov pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Reno. His attorneys declined Friday to comment. Kriuchkov said in September he knew the Russian government was aware of his case, but prosecutors didn't allege ties to the Kremlin. The FBI said the plot was stopped in August before any damage happened.

Players like UCLA's Dominique Darius are not only gaining a head start and valuable experience in their college basketball careers as early enrollees out of high school, they have been counted upon to help women's teams across the country keep their seasons going when players are held out for COVID-19 protocols. Now, some will make their March Madness debuts on the stage in the NCAA Tournament. At Oregon State, the Hemisfair Region eighth-seeded Beavers are getting a boost from Talia von Oelhoffen. Saylor Poffenbarger is doing the same for Connecticut, the River Walk Region No. 1 seed and second seed overall.

Aaron Wise is making PGA National look easy. Wise shot his second consecutive round of 6-under 64 on Friday, moving to 12 under through two rounds of the Honda Classic. His 128 is the lowest 36-hole score at PGA National since the tournament moved there 15 years ago — and marks the first 36-hole lead of Wise’s PGA Tour career. He had a pair of eagles to highlight the day, his first two of 2021, and is three shots clear of Brandon Hagy (62) and first-round leader Matt Jones (70).

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson has been sued by four more women who accuse him of sexual assault and harassment. The lawsuits were filed Thursday night. They came hours after the NFL said it was investigating earlier allegations by three massage therapists who said the 25-year-old quarterback sexually assaulted them during massages. Watson has broadly denied that he acted inappropriately. He said in a Tuesday statement that he looks forward to clearing his name. His attorney on Friday called the claims “meritless.” The women are all represented by Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee. At a Friday news conference, Buzbee said he expects to file more lawsuits and his firm is vetting additional claims from women.

Rick Pitino’s return to the NCAA Tournament is not some feel-good tale of redemption, no matter how others might try to portray it. Same goes for all those other coaches and players who got second, third, even fourth chances to make up for their transgressions _ or, even worse, have them shoved under a rug that no one is ever supposed to go looking for. The bottom line: Just because you have a penchant for winning, that doesn’t make you a winner.

Kentucky All-American Rhyne Howard can see the San Antonio River Walk bustling with life from the window of her hotel overlooking the city's iconic tourist destination. Hundreds of people _ a high percentage not wearing masks _ enjoying the restaurants, bars and shops lining the river. Such is life in Texas, where the governor has lifted his previous mask order and thrown open business “100 percent” if they so choose. Things are starting to loosen up. People are getting out, even as many businesses are still requiring customers to wear masks.

He is known as the Da Crazy Hawaiian and he just might be the future of slap fighting in the United States. His real name is Layne Kailiilauokekoa Viernes and he has has dished out the fiercest open-hand smacks in the United States in his bid to be the most punishing slapper in slap fighting. Viernes has joined the SlapStrike roster and will appear as a guest Saturday on the promotion’s “The War from Warsaw” pay-per-view event in Poland. His goal is to fight Vasily “Dumpling” Kamotsky, the big Russian universally recognized as the greatest slap fighting champion.

There are no Ivy League teams in the college basketball postseason. The conference didn’t play this season because of the coronavirus pandemic. But the league is still being represented in the NCAA Tournament on both the men’s and women’s sides. Some of the nation’s top teams have Ivy grad transfers making significant contributions, which is another indication of how much the conference has improved in recent years on the basketball court.

A woman who currently works in the office of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has told The New York Times that he looked down her shirt and made suggestive remarks to her and another aide. Alyssa McGrath said in a story published Friday that Cuomo called her beautiful in Italian and asked why she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. McGrath is the first current aide to come forward publicly on the mounting allegations of sexual misconduct. A lawyer for Cuomo tells the Times that the governor has indeed used Italian phrases like “ciao bella" and greeted people with hugs and a kiss and dismissed the behavior as unremarkable if old-fashioned.

Justin Smith had 29 points and 13 rebounds, and Arkansas shut down high-scoring Colgate to open the NCAA Tournament with an 85-68 win. The 14th-seeded Raiders had upset pickers out of their seats early in the South Region opener with a slew of 3-pointers and a 16-2 run to go up 14. The No. 3 Razorbacks restored some bracket order with a 19-0 run spanning halftime and scored 10 straight points late to start pulling away. The Razorbacks, at times, just snatched the ball right out of the Raiders’ hands to set up shots in transition, scoring 34 points off Colgate’s 22 turnovers.