Hot USA News

#Breaking Saturday Sports: Andrew Luck, Tyler Skaggs A tragic death and a surprise retirement are shaking faith in football while upstarts are playing legends in tennis. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with ESPN's Michele Steele. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Autopsy Of Los Angeles Angels Pitcher Tyler Skaggs Reveals Opioids And Alcohol The Skaggs family released a statement suggesting that an Angels employee may have supplied the pitcher with the drugs that killed him. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Ex-MLB Players Octavio Dotel, Luis Castillo Cleared Of Drug Ring Allegations The former major leaguers headlined a list of suspects named in a huge drug trafficking bust by Dominican authorities. But a judge says there's not enough evidence. Dotel still faces a weapons charge. Read more on NPR

#Breaking At The U.S. Open, The Ball's In Their Court — And It's Their Job To Pick It Up With such proximity to world-class professional tennis, many ballpersons return to the tournament in New York year after year. But they have to pass tryouts first. Read more on NPR

#Breaking USWNT Star Carli Lloyd Invited To Play In NFL Pre-Season Game USWNT soccer star Carli Lloyd was invited to play in an NFL pre-season game after nailing a 55-yard field goal during a Philadelphia Eagles practice. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Whatever Happened To ... The 101-Year-Old Champion Runner From India? Man Kaur has earned dozens of gold medals in the 100-plus category (although often she is the only competitor in that bracket). How's she doing at 103? Read more on NPR

#Breaking Behold: The Blooper Burger. Your Arteries Will Clog Just Thinking About It The Blooper Burger is a monstrous sandwich sold at Atlanta Braves games, and it has developed a cult following. The four cheeseburger patties is just the start of this $26 ballpark standout. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Share The Road: How Cities Can Keep Cyclists Safe What challenges do cities face in trying to make their streets safer for cyclists? Read more on NPR

#Breaking Serena Williams Beats Maria Sharapova In U.S. Open's 1st Round NPR's David Greene talks to Courtney Nguyen, a tennis reporter and co-host of the No Challenges Remaining podcast, about the start of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Ultrarunners Compete To See Who Can Log The Most Miles Over 6 Days Around 150 elite ultrarunners from across the world are in Milwaukee this week to clock as many laps during a six-day period as possible, with runners expected to reach upwards of 600 miles. Read more on NPR

#Breaking New Statue At U.S. Open Honors African-American Tennis Pioneer Althea Gibson She was the "Jackie Robinson of tennis," said Billy Jean King as the first African-American player and champion in international tennis. She later integrated women's professional golf. Read more on NPR

#Breaking NFL Still Reeling From Andrew Luck's Retirement Announcement At Age 29 NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Deadspin columnist Drew Magary about Andrew Luck, star quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts, announcing he is ending his NFL career at age 29. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Althea Gibson Honored With A New Statue At The U.S. Open Althea Gibson broke the color barrier in U.S. professional tennis when she competed at the U.S. National Championships in 1950. A new statue honors this as well as her many other accomplishments. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Struggling With Injuries, Indianapolis QB Andrew Luck Calls It Quits NPR's David Greene talks to Stephen Holder of The Athletic about Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, who stunned the NFL when he announced he's retiring just weeks before the regular season started. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Colts Star Andrew Luck Stuns NFL Fans With Retirement Announcement NPR's Michel Martin speaks with The Nation's Dave Zirin about Andrew Luck's surprise retirement from the NFL. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Basketball Recruit On Leaving Mali NPR's Leila Fadel talks to top college basketball recruit N'Faly Dante, who left Mali, and his mother, to pursue his hoop dreams in the U.S. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Saturday Sports: College Football, Carli Lloyd Football season is nearly here, and the Cleveland Browns are looking good. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Attendance Drops For College Football Thousands of fans may tailgate in college football stadium parking lots, but fewer are making it into the stands. What's leading to drops in attendance even as the sport's popularity is strong? Read more on NPR

#Breaking Tide Rolls Back In: Alabama Hopes To Not Squander Last Year's Championship 'Failure' Clemson walloped the University of Alabama in college football's national championship last season. Now perennial powerhouse Alabama is trying to learn from the loss. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Opinion: Jay-Z Can't Roc With The NFL Unless Kaepernick Gets A Seat At The Table There's still room for Roc Nation's controversial NFL partnership to do impressive work — as long as the black billionaire behind it makes room for the struggle already in progress. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Howard University Receives Donation From NBA Star To Start Golf Team NBA star Steph Curry is the man behind one of the biggest charitable gifts in Howard University history. The money will fund Division 1 golf teams for men and women at the school for the next 6 years. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Weekend Games Will Decide Little League World Champions The world's top 11 and 12-year-old baseball players are battling it out in South Williamsport, Pa., in the Little League World Series Championship. Winners will be decided on Saturday. Read more on NPR

#Breaking In Soccer's Equal Pay Suit, A May 2020 Trial Is 'Good Overall,' Says Alex Morgan The co-captain of the World Cup-winning U.S. Women's National Team says the earlier-than-expected trial date for the team's gender discrimination lawsuit won't be a distraction for players. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Native American Tribes Say Indian Horse Relays Are America's First Extreme Sport One of the ways Native tribes in the West celebrate their history and culture is through annual summer horse races. They're known as Indian Relays, and tribes call them America's first extreme sport. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Indian Relay Celebrates History And Culture Through Horse Racing One of the ways Native tribes in the West celebrate their history and culture is through annual summer horse races. They're known as Indian Relays, and tribes call them America's first extreme sport. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Ex-MLB Players Luis Castillo, Octavio Dotel Linked To Alleged Dominican Drug Lord The Dominican attorney general said Tuesday that the former professional baseball players supported a drug running and money laundering network led by César Emilio Peralta. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Barbershop: Jay-Z Partners With NFL NPR's Michel Martin talks about the new partnership between the NFL and Jay-Z's Roc Nation with professor Chenjerai Kumanyika, political consultant Dru Ealons and NPR hip-hop writer Rodney Carmichael. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Saturday Sports: Women's Soccer Team, Jay-Z This week talks between U.S. Soccer and 28 female players broke down. Also, Jay-Z signed a deal with the NFL to be the league's "live music entertainment strategist." Read more on NPR

#Breaking German Group Aims To Use Soccer To Empower Female Athletes A German group gets women from around the world to play soccer — something that's not so easy for those coming from Iran and other places where it's considered a male pastime. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Where Talks Stand Between The U.S. Women's National Team And U.S. Soccer NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Sports Illustrated reporter Grant Wahl about the latest in U.S. women's soccer players' lawsuit to secure equal pay. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Why Antonio Brown Has Missed Most Of Training Camp With The Oakland Raiders NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with The Athletic's Lindsay Jones about Oakland Raiders receiver Antonio Brown and his off-season complications. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Sherm Poppen, Grandfather Of Snowboarding, Dies At 89 Sherm Poppen didn't become wealthy off of his invention, the Snurfer. But Poppen, who died recently at 89, is widely considered the grandfather of the multi-billion dollar snowboard industry. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Simone Biles Becomes First Woman To Land Triple-Double In Competition NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with NBC Sports reporter Nick Zaccardi about Simone Biles landing a triple twisting double somersault at the U.S. Gymnastics Championship. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Simone Biles Lands Historic Triple-Double, Earns 6th U.S. All-Around Gymnastics Title The reigning world champion is the first woman to stick the landing after two flips and three full twists. Biles also made history by performing a double-double dismount off the balance beam Friday. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Simone Biles Wins 6th U.S. Women's Gymnastics Title After a historic triple-double flip in the floor exercise, Simone Biles collected her sixth title Sunday in Kansas City, Missouri. The Olympic champion is preparing for the 2020 games. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Simone Biles Continues To Break Records Simone Biles became the first person in history to land a double twisting, double somersault in competition at the U.S. Gymnastics Championship. Read more on NPR

#Breaking 'Baby Shark' Takes Hold At Nationals Park Fans of the Washington Nationals have a new reason to watch: they can enjoy a "Baby Shark" attack every time Gerardo Parra comes to bat, when the infectious children's song starts playing. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Former NFL Player Chris Borland Asks Catholic Church To Take Stand On Gun Control Former NFL player Chris Borland grew up Catholic in Dayton. He talks with host Sacha Pfeiffer about his call for the church to take a stronger stand for gun control and against white supremacy. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Saturday Sports: Yankees, Simone Biles NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer talks about the growing role of personal politics in sports and more with Howard Bryant of ESPN. Read more on NPR

#Breaking MLB's Yankees And White Sox To Play At 'Field Of Dreams' Farm For one night, big leaguers will play baseball at the Iowa farm that was made famous in the beloved film Field of Dreams. Read more on NPR

#Breaking After World Cup Win, Other U.S. Women's Sports Leagues Ask, 'What About Us?' Will latest U.S. victory in the Women's World Cup lead to a surge of popularity in other women's pro sports leagues? Executives and players hope so. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Opinion: Speeding Up Baseball To Save It Sports commentator Mike Pesca wonders whether Major League Baseball will modernize to attract a young audience, and how it will keep them for life. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Women's World Cup Bump — Short-Lived Or Longer? After the excitement and thrill of the U.S. victory in the Women's World Cup, attention shifts back to the NWSL — the 7-year-old pro league in the U.S. Will the enthusiasm lead to sustained interest? Read more on NPR

#Breaking This Time, Franky Zapata Makes It Across The English Channel On A Hoverboard Nobody else has ever tried to cross the body of water by hoverboard, which is powered by a backpack full of fuel. The last time he tried, he plunged into the sea. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Saturday Sports: Yankees And Red Sox, Concussions In Football Scott Simon talks with Howard Bryant about the Red Sox and the Yankees battling this weekend, the Astros, and the death of an NFL great that's renewing concern about concussions. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Philadelpha Phillies Sue To Keep Beloved 'Phanatic' Mascot From Free Agency The Phanatic was created 41 years ago to help entertain Phillies fans. Now a dispute about the genesis of its creation and licensing rights threatens the mascot's future. Read more on NPR

#Breaking United Kingdom's Fort William FC Finally Wins A Match It took nearly two years, and plenty of bad results, but Fort William FC, perhaps the worst soccer team in the United Kingdom, finally won a match. Read more on NPR