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Major League Baseball is increasing its monitoring of baseballs in an attempt to suppress any use of foreign substances by pitchers. Mike Hill, newly hired as executive vice president of baseball operations and disciplinarian, wrote that team leaders may be held responsible for violations by staff. In a two-page memo to owners, Hill outlined three new enforcement components that include gameday compliance monitors and electronics compliance officers, submission of random baseballs by umpires and equipment authenticators and a review of MLB Statcast data comparing games to pitchers' career norms.

If it seemed as if NFL teams have been shedding contracts nearly as fast as signing them in recent weeks that’s because it’s almost true. With a shrinking salary cap in a sport with few contracts that are fully guaranteed, teams have spent the weeks leading up to free agency and the first few days of the new league year getting out of deals signed in recent years when there was more money available to spend. Teams have released players with a combined total of approximately $600 million left on the deals they originally signed between the Super Bowl and the end of the first week of the league year.

The Boston Bruins are resuming practice for the first time since five players were placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol and are still scheduled to host the New York Islanders on Thursday. The development comes after David Krejci, David Pastrnak and Craig Smith were cleared after spending five days in the protocol. Jake DeBrusk and Sean Kuraly remain on the list for a seventh consecutive day. Minnesota forward Zach Parise entered the protocol, becoming the Wild’s 16th player this season to be listed. Parise’s addition increases the total to 162 players who have spent at least one day in the protocol since the season began. 

Many of the teams in the women's NCAA Tournament arrived in San Antonio with a pair of star players and several of those dynamic duos have separated themselves from the others. From Michigan’s Leigha Brown taking the scoring burden off of Big Ten player of the year Naz Hillmon to Iowa lighting up the scoreboard with the outside-inside threat of the Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano, talented teammates have stepped to deliver potent 1-2 punches and knock off feisty opponents.

Star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. was feeling better a day after coming out of a game due to discomfort in his left shoulder, leaving the San Diego Padres and their fans breathing easier. Manager Jayce Tingler says Tatis was even lobbying to get into the Padres' game against the Giants on Wednesday night. The electrifying shortstop could be back in the lineup in the next day or so. and $340 million. Tatis walked off the field a day earlier after fielding a ground ball and making a one-hop throw to first. 

College basketball long ago reached the point when a team could make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament while relying on freshmen or sophomores. But under the pressure of a win-or-go-home scenario, experience can still be an asset. Michigan senior Eli Brooks looked calm and steady in helping the Wolverines to a win over LSU in the second round. Elsewhere in this tournament, seniors like Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert, Loyola Chicago’s Cameron Krutwig and Oregon State’s Ethan Thompson have been crucial in leading their teams to the Sweet 16.

Authorities say inmates used hammers to attack prison staff members during a failed attempt to escape an Iowa prison, killing a nurse and correctional officer and severely injuring an inmate who intervened. The victims of the attack at the Anamosa State Penitentiary were identified as staff nurse Lorena Schulte, 50, of Cedar Rapids, and officer Robert McFarland, 46, of Ely. Both had worked at the prison in the city of Anamosa in eastern Iowa for more than a decade. An investigator says each died of blunt force trauma to the back of the head when they were attacked with hammers during Tuesday’s attack. Inmates Michael Dutcher, 28, and Thomas Woodard, 39, face murder and kidnapping charges.

Environmental groups have sued to preserve protections for 3.4 million acres of northern spotted owl habitat from the US-Canada border to California. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the logging protections in the last days of the Trump administration amid praise from the timber industry, but President Joe Biden has delayed implementation of the new rules. The dark-eyed owl prefers to nest in old-growth forests and received federal protections in 1990. The move  dramatically redrew the landscape for Pacific Northwest loggers and launched a decades-long legal battle. Timber groups have sued over Biden's delay in implementing the new rule.

Syracuse remains one of the few teams in college basketball that primarily plays a zone defense. The Orange’s run through the NCAA Tournament is proof it still works. Other Sweet 16 programs that once relied on the zone, such as Baylor and Southern California, have shifted away from it in recent years. The reason has a lot to do with personnel, game plans and the way the game is played itself. The 3-point shot has changed the effectiveness of zone defenses.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of American bald eagles has quadrupled since 2009, with more than 300,000 birds soaring over the lower 48 states, government scientists said in a report Wednesday. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said bald eagles,…

The jury that will decide the fate of a white former Minneapolis police officer in George Floyd's death is unusually diverse by local standards. And that’s boosting activists’ hopes for a rare conviction. According to the court, the panel of 15 includes nine people who are white and six who are Black or multiracial. If the court follows standard practice and the alternates are the last three chosen, the 12 who deliberate would be evenly split between whites and people of color. Trahern Crews, an organizer for Black Lives Matter, says it's a step in the right direction. Opening statements are Monday. 

Democrats have renewed their efforts to muscle through the largest overhaul of U.S. elections in a generation. Their drive for new voting rights legislation is setting up a fight with Republicans that could bring partisan tensions to a boil in the evenly split Senate. Both parties agree the legislation could shape election outcomes for years to come. It would strike down hurdles to voting, require more disclosure from political donors, restrict partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts and bolster election security. Republicans are uniformly opposed to the bill, making its prospects for passage difficult. But some Democrats want to pass the bill by changing Senate rules.

Tim Peel’s career as an NHL referee is over. His voice was picked up by a TV microphone saying he wanted to call a penalty against the Nashville Predators during Tuesday's game against Detroit. The league says Peel will no longer call NHL games and the integrity of the game must be intact. The 54-year-old Peel had made plans to retire next month.  Peel could be heard saying the penalty wasn't much, but he wanted to call one against Nashville. The microphone was cut off as as Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson was called for tripping. Nashville won the game 2-0.

Maryland and its offensive juggernaut are rolling fast and easy into the Sweet 16, getting 19 points from Angel Reese and overwhelming Alabama 100-64. The second-seeded Terrapins came into the women’s NCAA Tournament with the nation’s highest-scoring offense and have yet to take their foot off the gas. The Terps are averaging 99 points in their two tournament wins after scoring 91.3 per game in the regular season. Maryland hit the 100-point mark for the seventh time this season. The Terps also played aggressive, suffocating defense against the seventh-seeded Crimson Tide. Jasmine Walker led Alabama with 23 points.

MADRID (AP) — Desperate to finally put the coronavirus pandemic behind them, thousands of Spaniards lined up to get shots of AstraZeneca on Wednesday as the European country became the latest to restart use of the vaccine whose credibility has…

The family of a Black teenager who was falsely accused of stealing a woman’s cellphone in a New York City hotel last December has filed a lawsuit accusing the woman and the hotel of racial profiling. The lawsuit filed Wedneday in state court in Manhattan alleges that Keyon Harrold Jr. was “violently accosted” by 22-year-old Miya Ponsetto on Dec. 26, 2020 in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel. Ponsetto was later arrested on charges including attempted robbery. An attorney for Ponsetto says his client has not been informed of any civil lawsuit. Messages seeking comment were left with hotel officials.