Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
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Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
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Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
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Duke rape investigation May 9: More on the Duke report that claims Durham police said the alleged victim first claimed she was raped by 20 men but later changed her story. MSNBC-TV's Dan Abrams talks with the report's co-author, a reporter, analyst Susan Filan, former prosecutor Norman Early and an attorney. |
DURHAM, N.C. - City officials defended on Tuesday how the police department handled a woman’s allegations that she was raped at a party thrown by Duke University’s lacrosse team.
Mayor Bill Bell said nothing suggests that officers haven’t vigorously investigated the case. His comments followed a report released by Duke on Monday concluding the university was slow to respond to the allegations partly because city police initially said the accuser “kept changing her story and was not credible.”
“If they just walked away from it and hadn’t attempted to pursue further investigation then that might merit some indication that they weren’t taking it seriously,” Bell said. “But as far as I know, they’ve been trying to investigate and get information.”
However, Bell still directed the city manager to ask police about the report, saying specifics were needed about what officers were involved and what they said.
The day after the March 13 team party where a 27-year-old black woman claimed she was raped, Durham police told campus officers that “this will blow over,” the report said. The woman initially told police she was raped by 20 white men, then said she was attacked by three, the report said.
Police told Duke officers that if any charges were filed, “they would be no more than misdemeanors,” the report said.
But more than a month after the party, a grand jury indicted two team members on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual assault. District Attorney Mike Nifong has said he hopes to charge a third person.
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The report — commissioned by Duke’s president and prepared by two former heads of universities — does not say who at the Durham Police Department cast doubt on the accuser’s complaint.
One of the report’s authors, Julius Chambers, said the committee that prepared the report made no independent effort to speak with Durham police, and relied on material provided by campus officers.
Nifong and Durham police declined to comment Tuesday, but city manager Patrick Baker said police considered the allegations serious.
“It would seem to me if the state of mind of the Durham Police Department was going to be articulated in a report, you would probably want to speak with the Durham Police Department,” Baker said.
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Defense attorneys jumped on the report’s details, calling the police’s apparent questions about the accuser’s credibility consistent with their investigation of her background, which includes a previous allegation of rape that did not lead to any charges.
But Scott Berkowitz, president of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, a victim-rights group, said the first police officers to speak with a rape victim often don’t have the training and experience needed to accurately judge the merits of a complaint.
“It’s important to note that once the experienced folks got there and started investigating this, they found her story credible and concluded that a violent crime took place,” he said.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) - As the glow fades from the Giants' Super Bowl triumph, some New York sports fans are tuning in to basketball and hockey, with the Rangers in first place and the Knicks' overnight sensation, Jeremy Lin, sparking "Lin-sanity.''
Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
