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Auto Racing • After more than six weeks in limbo, NASCAR star Tony Stewart finally got the news he had been hoping for.
A grand jury that heard testimony from more than two dozen witnesses, including accident reconstruction experts and drivers, and looked at photographs and video decided against bringing criminal charges against Stewart for the death of 20-year-old sprint car driver Kevin Ward Jr. during an Aug. 9 race at night.
That doesn't mean it's over.
A few hours after Ontario County District Attorney Michael Tantillo announced the grand jury's decision in this upstate New York hamlet, the Ward family indicated in a statement read over the telephone by sister Kayla Herring that they will seek civil damages in the young driver's death.
Suns secure Bledsoe for 5 years, $70M
NBA • The Phoenix Suns and point guard Eric Bledsoe have reached agreement on a five-year, $70 million contract, capping a long, sometimes-tense negotiation to keep him in the desert.
The deal Wednesday is considerably more than the four-year, $48 million the Suns initially offered but well below the five-year, $80 million-plus maximum contract Bledsoe's agent, Rich Paul, sought for the restricted free agent.
The sides didn't budge in the negotiations until talks finally progressed in the last few days. Bledsoe faced an Oct. 1 deadline to sign a $3.7 million qualifying offer to play for the Suns this season, then become an unrestricted free agent.
"I learned long ago that it doesn't matter how stormy the sea is as long as the ship comes in, and today we are thrilled that the ship has come in and Eric will remain a Sun for a long time," Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby said in a statement. "He will be an integral part not only of our basketball team, but our Phoenix community."The Suns see Bledsoe as a critical part of their double point-guard system. He missed much of last season after undergoing his second surgery to repair a meniscus in his right knee.
—From wire reports