A report from the Charlottesville Daily Progress showed that employees at the Virginia Dept. of Alcohol Beverage Control "received more than $50,000 in gifts and entertainment from the alcohol industry" from '08-11, including tickets to NASCAR races and Redskins games. State records show that ABC employees "accepted nearly $7,000 in NASCAR tickets from whiskey giant Crown Royal over a two-year period." Virginia Public Access Project data shows delegate DAVID TOSCANO has "received about $800 from the University of Virginia for football and concert tickets since 2008, among other gifts" (AP, 8/6).
BRAIN STUDY: A Loyola Univ.-Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study "casts doubt on the idea that football players are suffering the degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, but the findings still show an elevated risk of cognitive problems later in life." The study surveyed "hundreds of ex-NFL players over the age of 50" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 8/8).
OVERWORKED & UNDERPAID: A class action lawsuit filed yesterday in a Manhattan federal court by JOHN CHEN, a volunteer at the '13 MLB All-Star Game, claims the league "violated federal and state minimum wage laws by failing to pay more than 2,000 volunteers." Chen is "seeking lost wages and urging a judge to order the league to stop soliciting and accepting work from unpaid volunteers." The lawsuit claims federal and state minimum wage laws "were violated when the league recruited volunteers" to operate 40 attractions from July 12-16 in conjunction with the ASG. The lawsuit noted that volunteers for the event, which "charged adult attendees $35 and children age 2 and older $30, were given a shirt, a cap, a cinch drawstring backpack, free admission for the volunteer and one guest along with a water bottle and a baseball." The suit added that the volunteers "were given a chance to win one pair of tickets if they worked three shifts at any of the All-Star events" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/8).
NAMES: A new play, called "THE LOCKOUT: A MUSICAL," hits the stage in Chicago next week. It is an NBA lockout-themed comedy based on "the joys of the millionaires and billionaires arguing over how to divide up the fans' money in 2011" (NBCSPORTS.com, 8/6)....Russian boxer DENIS SHAFIKOV has signed with Top Rank, and the "first fight of the new deal will mark his American debut" when he takes on SANTOS BENAVIDES of Nicaragua on Aug. 17 in Laredo, Texas (ESPN.com, 8/7)....UFC fighter RONDA ROUSEY has "just started negotiations to join the cast" of "FAST & FURIOUS 7" (VARIETY.com, 8/7)....Construction is "set to begin on the first of several Northeast Florida PDQ restaurants" planned by Patriots QB TIM TEBOW (JACKSONVILLE.com, 8/6)....Bears coach MARC TRESTMAN paid $2.94M "for a newly built six-bedroom mansion" in Winnetka, Ill. (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 8/8)....NFL free agent KIRK MORRISON bought a home in Beverly Hills for $1.1M (LATIMES.com, 8/7).
