Former Denver Broncos kicker Brandon McManus, who sits at No. 2 on the team’s all-time scoring list, has had a civil lawsuit brought against him and the Jacksonville Jaguars, alleging sexual assault on the part of McManus. Two women who worked as flight attendants filed the lawsuit during a flight to London.

The Jaguars played two games in London last season against the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills. 

The alleged incident took place on September 28, 2023. The women seek $1 million in damages and have asked for a jury trial. Both women have been removed from the core staff for Jaguars’ flights due to mental anguish and humiliation, which was a big accomplishment for both of them, according to this report from Michael Di Rocco of ESPN. 

The Broncos parted ways with McManus last May. He was signed by the Jaguars two days later and spent the season there, making 30 of 37 field-goal attempts and all 35 of his extra points. But the Jaguars chose not to re-sign him this offseason. 

Statement from the Jaguars on the lawsuit against the organization and Brandon McManus: pic.twitter.com/XluxxBfMbd

— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) May 28, 2024

McManus is currently with the Washington Commanders after signing with them as a free agent in March. McManus, not his agent Drew Rosenhaus, has made a statement on this situation thus far. The Commanders released the following statement, per DiRocco’s report. 

“Earlier today, we were made aware of the civil lawsuit filed on May 24 against Brandon McManus. We take allegations of this nature very seriously and are looking into the matter. We have been in communication with the League Office and Brandon’s representation, and will reserve further comment at this time.”

More on this situation as it develops. 

The Los Angeles Lakers will almost certainly make a trade this offseason that attempts to prolong their championship window with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. With some valuable assets that could help bring back a third star next to those two, the Lakers have some options this summer. 

The same few names are regularly listed as the potential star options for Los Angeles this summer, but speaking recently with Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports, one NBA executive proposed a much more unexpected trade.

According to Deveney, an Eastern Conference executive named Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. as the type of player the Lakers should target.

“If they want to get better, that is who they’d go after,” the Eastern Conference GM reportedly told Heavy Sports. “They need a gunner who is not afraid to shoot and they’d be much better off if he can be a 3-4 like LeBron, if he is not a size mismatch. A knockdown shooter who creates space, that’s the first step to getting them back to contender status again.”

The Lakers are very familiar with Porter, having faced him in the playoffs each of the last two seasons. Porter was incredible in this year’s opening round against Los Angeles, helping his Nuggets secure a five-game series win.

While Los Angeles would certainly benefit from a player like Porter, it seems unlikely Denver moves him, much less to a conference rival.

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The Denver Art Museum’s new “Biophilia” gives people what they want in an art exhibition these days: multi-sensory objects that come in blazing colors, that light up before the eyes, that change shape and stature in response to the movement of whatever body is in the room.

It is an interactive and high-tech affair, and about as far away from a traditional display of pretty pictures hanging on a gallery wall as you can get. “Biophilia” is a cool show that might make for a swell outing on a hot summer day.

Consider the installation “Meadow,” created by the Dutch design team Drift, for which “advanced robotics and complex software create a field of blooms in perpetual motion.” The piece consists of a few dozen pendant lamps, shaped like fluffy flowers, whose fabric petals open and close in a speeded-up rhythm meant to mirror the change from day to night.

Low, flat sofas are placed strategically on the gallery floor, directly beneath the piece, and visitors can lie on their backs and stare up at the light show hanging from the ceiling.

The point: to reflect and reconnect with nature, according to the museum’s signage. Thus, “Meadow” is right in line with “Biophilia’s” overall theme of demonstrating how designers and artists respond to nature.

As a concept for an exhibition, that is not deep and it is not new. Nature has always been a dominant theme in design, probably the most persistent source of inspiration that ever existed, and there is millennia-long tour through the history of art, textiles, fashion and furniture to prove the point.

We could start, late in the game, with the flowery patterns of medieval tapestries; stop randomly at the flowery patterns of wallpaper created by still-adored British designer William Morris in the 19th century; and complete the trip right where “Biophilia” picks it up, with the display of a pair of flowery, runway-ready gowns by Iris van Herpen, one of the brightest stars of the fashion world right now.

What is closer to new is the use of technology in the creation and display of many works. Clothing designers used to rely on silk and wool, products manufactured by animals themselves. Van Herpen’s dresses are made from laser-cut Mylar and cotton that has been “heat-bonded onto organza.” The dresses are a marvel — bouncy, sexy, comfy and lighter-than-air. This show could use more of them.

“Biophilia,” organized by the museum’s design curator Darrin Alfred, has a variety of objects on its checklist. There are bowls, tables, sofas and chandeliers in the mix. Fans of what museums used to commonly call decorative arts will find plenty to like, as well as familiar materials, in the show’s inclusion of delicate marble “Tau” vases, by the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid; or in Czech designer David Valner’s “Fungus” vases, made from glass.

There are also wool rugs from Argentinian weaver Alexandra Kehayoglou that resemble topographical maps of threatened land in the Amazon forest; and a bight, red leather “Bulbo” chair, formed into a flower bud, from Brazilian brothers Humberto and Fernando Campana.

But visitors are more likely to fixate on the digital, or interactive, attractions, and those are the stars of this show. That includes the 2020 piece “Flowers and People — A Whole Year Per Hour,” by the art collective TeamLab, which formed in Tokyo. The work is a six-channel, digital projection of an animated field of pink and yellow petals that float across the gallery wall. It comes with instructions for viewers: “Stand still at a certain distance and the flowers grow more abundantly — move around, and they fade.”

Again, the purpose is quite simple, and even hackneyed, suggesting that humans and nature are inseparable. The piece does not break any artistic or intellectual ground, but it is thrilling to look at, and to play with.

Where “Biophilia” succeeds best is in ambition. Curator Alfred has a handle on the international design scene and brought in some of the most respected, and in-demand, global names. In addition to van Herpen and Drift, there are “Remolten” stools and tables, from the Chilean design firm gt2P, made from local volcanic rock that has been pulverized and used as a ceramic glaze.

There is Spanish designer Nacho Carbonell’s “One-seater Concrete Tree,” a table-lamp combo that visitors can actually sit in (and take photos); a petal-covered “Hortensia” armchair by Argentine artist Andrés Reisinger, who is known best for his digital works; and a model of Beijing-based MAD Architects’ urban design masterpiece, the Nanjing Zendai Himalayas Center, a set of sky-scraping buildings whose silhouettes come together to resemble a mountain landscape.

MAD is the same firm that designed One River North, the new residential building — with the giant canyon cut into its facade — that just opened in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood, and that gives the exhibition a local hook.

In the same vein, there is an impressive architectural model of Populus, the building — designed by Chicago’s Studio Gang — that is currently going up next to Denver’s Civic Center, that resembles the trunk of an aspen tree. The model offers new insight to anyone who is curious about the thinking behind the structure.

Art exhibitions that attempt to show new technologies are difficult to pull off. Technology changes so quickly now that even relatively new works lack an edge. The pendant light-based “Meadow,” for example, was made way back in 2017 and it already feels like an old-school classic, rather than something new.

In that way, new is a lot to ask for here — maybe too much, if you want to be fair. But “Biophilia” delivers in other ways.

Design shows that cover so much ground rely on good taste to come together, and this outing has a lot of that on display — for example, Mathieu Lehanneur’s “50 Seas” ceramic plates, whose blue-ish color palette borrows from the world’s great oceans; or Marc Fish’s “Ethereal Double Console” table, which lives up to its name by appearing practical but lighter than air.

It comes together as a grand effort, a treat for local audiences who want to beat the heat and be around some cool stuff.

IF YOU GO

“Biophilia: Nature Reimagined” continues through Aug. 11 at the Denver Art Museum. Info: 720-865-5000 or denverartmuseum.org.

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