Virginia
Virginia AG settles with NCAA to protect name, image likeness rights for student-athletes
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — After a year of litigation, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and a bipartisan coalition of states reached a settlement agreement with the National Collegiate Athletic Association to guarantee student-athletes’ right to negotiate and benefit from their Name, Image and Likeness rights, or NIL.
In Jan. 2024, Miyares and other states’ attorneys generals filed an antitrust lawsuit against NCAA, which alleged that the association’s NIL restrictions “violate federal antitrust law and is harmful to current and future student-athletes.”
It came on the heels of a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision in which all sitting justices found that NCAA could not restrict an athlete’s NIL payments under antitrust law.
On Jan. 31, exactly a year after Miyares’ initial announcement, the Office of the Attorney General provided an update stating that a settlement agreement had been reached.
This settlement will “protect student-athletes’ Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights during the recruiting process.” The office added that the terms of the settlement also bar the NCAA from reinstating its “NIL Recruiting Ban.”
“Today’s agreement with the NCAA is a major step toward helping student-athletes to control their own future,” Miyares said in a press release. “We look forward to a final settlement that ensures student-athletes — just like any other American — can benefit from their talent, hard work and NIL market value.”
Alongside Miyares, the involved attorneys generals were from Tennesee, New York, Florida and the District of Columbia.
Virginia
No. 16 West Virginia closes with six straight points to edge No. 20 Kansas State, 73-69 – WV MetroNews
No. 16 West Virginia scored the final six points Friday against 20th-ranked Kansas State to earn a 73-69 victory and extend its stay at the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City.
The fourth-seeded Mountaineers trailed by two points with 1:53 remaining after the fifth-seeded Wildcats got a go-ahead second-chance basket from Kennedy Taylor.
Jordan Thomas countered with a tying bucket, though she missed the ensuing free throw that would’ve given WVU (24-6) the lead with 1:21 remaining.
JJ Quinerly then came up with a steal and drained a pull-up jumper with 45 seconds left to put the Mountaineers in front, and after Temira Poindexter missed a clean look at a go-ahead three-pointer from off the wing, WVU’s Sydney Shaw made two free throws with 11 seconds remaining to make it a two-possession game and provide the final margin.
Jordan Harrison wastes no time, from interview to celly in a flash ⚡️#Big12WBB | @Phillips66Gas pic.twitter.com/ehDqpYldZG
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 7, 2025
Kansas State (26-7) made 13-of-15 first-quarter field-goal attempts to build a 33-23 lead. Were it not for the Mountaineers making 7-of-10 shots themselves, the deficit could’ve been far greater.
“When things didn’t go our way, I was most proud that we weathered the storm and that was certainly a storm that they came out with and we couldn’t get the game slowed down,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “After the first quarter, they only scored 34 from that point on. We let our defense come through, which is what we’ve done all year.”
WVU’s deficit was 44-36 at halftime, before the Mountaineers used an 8-2 spurt over a span of 3:07 late in the third quarter to go in front 54-53 for their first lead since 5-4.
That stretch featured triples from Jordan Harrison and Shaw as well as Harrison’s second-chance bucket for the lead at the 1:10 mark of the frame.
Poindexter banked in a trey just before time expired in the third to give KSU a 58-56 lead through three.
Early in the fourth quarter, Harrison scored six points in 38 seconds on a trey and conventional three-point play, leaving the Mountaineers with a 64-60 lead with 7:02 remaining.
WVU then went more than 5 minutes without a field goal until Thomas’ tying bucket.
Quinerly led all players with 24 points. Harrison scored 19 and Shaw added 13 with three steals. All but two of Harrison’s points came over the final two quarters.
“My three kind of got me going a little bit,” Harrison said. “They started going under the screen, so seeing some threes going in, the basket started getting big and then I went back to what I do, which is getting to the basket.”
The result gives West Virginia its second NCAA Quad 1 win this season.
“We all just kind of stayed together. That’s a big part of us,” Quinerly said. “We’re going to stay together no matter what and we somehow came out with that win.”
The Mountaineers likely need at least one more victory, if not two and a conference championship, to have a realistic chance at being a top 16 team and hosting in the NCAA Tournament.
The Mountaineers await the winner of top seed and eighth-ranked TCU and No. 9 seed Colorado in Saturday’s semifinal at 4 p.m.
Taylor led KSU with 21 points and Poindexter scored 16 in defeat.
Virginia
CFO of Virginia program for children stole millions meant for injured babies and spent cash on PRIVATE JETS
A top executive defrauded his company millions of dollars that was meant to help sick and injured babies to fund his lavish lifestyle.
John Hunter Raines embezzled a total of $6.7 million over 59 transactions between January 2022 through October 2023, spending the cash on private jets, limousines and gambling debt.
The money was from the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program, designed to support the families of children born with lifelong conditions and medical defects.
In addition to hiring private jets to ferry himself, his wife and friends around, Raines, 38, spent thousands on luxury golf carts, vehicles and cryptocurrency.
At least $29,000 was paid ‘to an intimate partner’, while tens of thousands of dollars was sent to his wife’s bank account.
Raines, a father-of-three, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and money laundering and a federal judge sentenced him to nine years in prison.
‘It is easy to cast Raines’ crimes off as a fraud on an abstract program while losing sight of what the money he stole represents,’ prosecutors said.
‘The $6.7 million Mr. Raines stole would have been invested and paid out for claims in the future.’
In addition to hiring private jets to ferry himself, his wife and friends around, Raines, 38, spent thousands on luxury golf carts, vehicles and cryptocurrency
Prosecutors pointed out the money Raines stole could have funded 79 wheelchair-accessible medical vans or covered expenses for external caregivers to provide more than 270,000 hours of child care.
He was the chief financial officer for Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program from 2020 until his termination in 2023 when his crimes were uncovered.
As part of his job, he was responsible for the $700million fund, which is paid for by hospitals, insurers and physicians in an effort to provide meaningful and lasting care to children who become disabled during the birthing process.
There are roughly 300 claimants for the fund, who rely on the cashflow to cover therapies, medical bills, medications and equipment.
‘It was against this backdrop that Raines brazenly stole millions of dollars of funds for his own selfish greed,’ prosecutors told the court.
‘Raines’ actions in this case constitute a monumental betrayal of public trust. Most importantly, Raines betrayed the children who rely on the Birth-Injury Program for survival.’
The money was from the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program, designed to support the families of children born with lifelong conditions and medical defects
Raines’ attorney argued to the court that his actions were driven by ‘insatiable alcoholism and gambling.’
Prior to sentencing, Raines completed a 90 day Alcoholics Anonymous stint.
He has also been selling items from his home in an effort to pay restitution, and volunteering at his church while ‘rededicating himself as a father,’ his lawyer said.
‘He knows that the best way to set an example for his children is to take responsibility for his acts and fully commit himself to a lifetime of alcohol and gambling sobriety.’
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