Hours after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit's failed drug test was confirmed by a second sample requested by trainer Bob Baffert, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: Medina Spirit could become the second horse in Kentucky Derby history to be disqualified for a failed drug test, the Times notes. Hours after the confirmation, Churchill Downs suspended Baffert for two years, effective immediately.
The NFL on Wednesday pledged to halt its decades-old use of "race-norming" — a practice that assumes Black players have a lower baseline level of cognition — in its near-billion-dollar concussion settlement, AP reports.
Why it matters: The use of "race-norming" meant that Black players had to show a larger cognitive decline to qualify for the settlement. The NFL said Wednesday that it will also review previous scores for potential race bias.
Tennis player Naomi Osaka's withdrawal from the French Open sparked conversations on the mental health pressures athletes face and the obligations leagues may or may not have to accommodate them.
Why it matters: In a profession built on powering through mental and emotional adversity, Osaka is just one example of how athletes are increasingly addressing the lack of mental health accommodations like they might for physical injuries, experts say.
Driving the news: Osaka, a four-time major champion and No. 2-ranked player, pulled out of the French Open on Monday amid controversy over her decision to not attend press conferences at the tournament. She wrote in a statement that she experiences "huge waves of anxiety" before meeting with reporters and has "suffered long bouts of depression."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday signed a bill into law that would bar female transgender students from women's sports.
Why it matters: Florida is the eighth state so far this year to block trans student athletes from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity, per ACLU data. A record number of bills targeting trans youth have been introduced by Republican lawmakers.
Naomi Osaka pulled out of the French Open on Monday amid controversy over her decision to not participate in press conferences at the tournament.
Catch up quick: Osaka announced last week that she would skip the media sessions, saying, "I've often felt that people have no regard for athletes mental health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one."
Fanatics, Galaxy Digital, and Gary Vaynerchuk have set up and invested in Candy Digital, a new company focused on sports-related non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with a debut deal with Major League Baseball.
Why it matters: NFTs saw an explosion in mainstream popularity in recent months thanks to a new twist on sports trading cards popularized by Dapper Labs' NBA Top Shots digital collectibles of basketball content.
