Allow me a moment to shoot some fish in a barrel.

Former Timberwolves point guard and current Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested by the FBI on Thursday as part of a federal investigation into illegal gambling that snared more than 30 people for alleged crimes ranging from rigged poker games to trading inside NBA information with sports bettors.

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier also was arrested, accused of trading inside NBA information with bettors and at least once “manipulating his performance” in a game to benefit sports bettors.

It’s juicy stuff, but does this really surprise anyone? Pro sports leagues, and some individual franchises, can’t hoover money from legal sportsbooks fast enough.

It seems there isn’t an ad break in a Vikings, Timberwolves or Wild game that doesn’t include at least one spot for DraftKings or FanDuel. The Wild and Wolves are televised by FanDuel Network, and the Wild play in Grand Casino Arena. Athletes are told not to get involved in sports betting, but the sponsorship money suggests that comes with a wink.

That might sound unfair, but NFL players aren’t told they can’t eat at Chili’s or buy a Chevy Silverado.

Sports gambling remains illegal in Minnesota, despite several legislative attempts to change that — most recently last spring. Locals can get around that, to an extent, through online prediction markets. But Minnesota is an outlier here, and as was the case with those stubborn Sunday blue laws, sports gambling will eventually win out in Minnesota.

Even the NCAA is reading the Zeitgeist; on Nov. 1, it will begin allowing athletes and athletic department staff members to bet on professional sports. The consortium of college athletics programs still won’t allow athletes or staff to bet on college sports, or share information with bettors. So, you know, no issues here. Don’t be surprised if the last bastion of amateurism (lolz) signs on with a deep-pocketed sportsbook by next summer.

It’s probably better than private equity, which big-time college programs that sponsor football appear to be considering to help fund the $20.5 million they can, and will, pay student-athletes. This is a terrible idea. It will be less than a full academic year before some young analyst from Duke who goes by “Big Brains” tells the boss it’s imperative that Wassamada U sells off its baseball and softball stadiums.

Billups’ arrest wasn’t sports-related; the Trailblazer’s coach is accused of being involved with rigged poker games tied to organized crime. Not a great look for the NBA. Even worse is the idea that Rozier faked an injury to affect the outcome of a game when he was with the Charlotte Hornets.

The concern around sports gambling has always been the potential for fans to assume many games are fixed, and therefore their favorite teams are not worth their time, fealty or money. But fantasy football propped up the NFL through rough times, and the leagues are not unaware of the role sports betting plays in their ratings.

If people begin doubting the integrity of the contests, there will still be plenty to bet on. Fantasy fans will sit through a Cardinals-Panthers game to see if the tight end catches a touchdown pass; imagine if there was real money on the line?

Consider a not-too-distant future when you can wager a prop bet on which players are most likely to miss three layups, fumble at the goal line or leave early with a mysterious injury. Serious bettors don’t have an emotional stake in which team wins; can the NBA, NFL, NHL and NCAA survive if their fan bases join them?

Crawling into bed with legal sports books doesn’t guarantee these leagues will be overrun by gambling scandals. But it does send a message, to fans and players, that betting on them is a large, and growing, part of the reason they exist.

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By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA, Associated Press

President Donald Trump approved major disaster declarations for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe late Wednesday, while denying requests from Vermont, Illinois and Maryland and leaving other states still waiting for answers.

The decisions fell mostly along party lines, with Trump touting on social media Wednesday that he had “won BIG” in Alaska in the last three presidential elections and that it was his “honor” to deliver for the “incredible Patriots” of Missouri, a state he also won three times.

The disaster declarations authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support recipients with federal financial assistance to repair public infrastructure damaged by disasters and, in some cases, provide survivors money for repairs and temporary housing.

While Trump has approved more disaster declarations than he’s denied this year, he has also repeatedly floated the idea of “phasing out” FEMA, saying he wants states to take more responsibility for disaster response and recovery. States already take the lead in disasters, but depend on federal assistance when the needs exceed what they can manage alone.

Trump has also taken longer to approve disaster declaration requests than in any previous administration, including his first, according to an Associated Press analysis.

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Approvals fell mostly along party lines

The states approved for disaster declarations include Alaska, which filed an expedited request after experiencing back-to-back storms this month that wrecked coastal villages, displaced 2,000 residents and killed at least one person. Trump approved a 100% cost share of disaster-related expenses for 90 days.

North Dakota and Nebraska will also receive public assistance for August severe weather, and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota was approved for both public and individual assistance for a June storm that felled thousands of trees across its tribal lands.

Trump denied four requests, including Maryland’s appeal for reconsideration after the state was denied a disaster declaration for May flooding that severely impacted the state’s two westernmost counties.

Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, denounced the decision in a statement Thursday, calling the final denial “deeply frustrating.”

“President Trump and his Administration have politicized disaster relief, and our communities are the ones who will pay the price,” said Moore. The state has been supporting impacted individuals itself, deploying over $450,000 for the first time from its State Disaster Recovery Fund.

Maryland met the conditions necessary to qualify for public assistance, according to a preliminary damage assessment, but Trump, who has the final decision on the declarations, denied the state’s July request. Maryland appealed in August with further data showing the counties experienced $33.7 million in damage, according to the state, more than three times its threshold for federal assistance.

Trump also denied Vermont a major disaster declaration for July 10 floods after the state waited over nine weeks for a decision. The damages far exceed what some of the small towns impacted can afford on their own, said Eric Forand, Vermont’s emergency management director.

“It’s well over the annual budget or two years’ budget (of some towns), to fix those roads,” Forand said.

The other denials included an application from Illinois for individual assistance for three counties impacted in July by severe storms and flooding, and one from Alaska to rebuild a public safety building that burned in a July electrical fire.

Asked why the states were denied, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him.” She said Trump was “ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”

Assistance granted after weekslong wait

Several states and one tribe still await decisions on their requests.

Not knowing whether public assistance is coming can delay crucial projects, especially for small jurisdictions with tight budgets, and sometimes leaves survivors without any help to secure temporary housing or repair homes now too dangerous to live in.

Before its approval Wednesday, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe was straining to cover the costs of clearing thousands of trees felled across its reservation by a June thunderstorm. As a tribe, it is entitled to apply for assistance independently of the state where it is located.

The tribe had spent about $1.5 million of its own funds so far, said Duane Oothoudt, emergency operations manager for the Leech Lake Police Department.

The tribe was “doing a lot of juggling, using reserve funding to operate and continue paying our contractors,” Oothoudt said just hours before being notified of the disaster declaration, nine weeks after submitting the request.

With federal funding approved for both public and individual assistance, Oothoudt said Thursday his one-man emergency management department would focus on helping survivors first.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “People were hurt by the storm.”

Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Russian military planes briefly violated Lithuania’s airspace Thursday evening, the Lithuanian president said, condemning what he called a blatant breach of the territorial integrity of his European Union and NATO-member country.

Lithuania’s foreign ministry planned to summon Russian Embassy representatives in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius to protest the violation, President Gitanas Nausėda said in a post on the social media platform X.

“This is a blatant breach of international law and territorial integrity of Lithuania,” Nausėda wrote on X. “Once again, it confirms the importance of strengthening European air defence readiness.”

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There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

Baltic nations already have been on heightened alert over neighboring Russia’s aggression on Ukraine. And in recent weeks, a series of mysterious drone incidents and airspace violations by Russian war planes have fueled concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be testing NATO’s defensive reflexes.

Some leaders have accused Putin of waging a hybrid war in Europe. Moscow denies probing NATO’s defenses.

The Lithuanian armed forces said in a statement that about 6 p.m. local time on Thursday, two Russian military aircraft flew into Lithuanian airspace for about 765 yards, The SU-30 aircraft and IL-78 refueling aircraft flew away after roughly 18 seconds.

The Lithuanian armed forces believe the military planes might have been conducting refueling exercises in the neighboring Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Two Spanish fighter jets, which had been doing NATO air policing missions, were scrambled and flew out to the area.

Earlier on Thursday, Nausėda attended a summit at the European Council building in Brussels where EU leaders endorsed a plan to ensure that Europe can defend itself against an outside attack by the end of the decade. The plan is dubbed Readiness 2030.

NEWARK, N.J. — A glance at the Wild roster will tell you that when backup goalie Marc-Andre Fleury retired earlier this year, Jesper Wallstedt took his place in the Minnesota crease. But Fleury’s jokes and pranks also kept light-hearted off the ice.

Tough guy winger Marcus Foligno has taken that position.

Philadelphia Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers, left, and Minnesota Wild’s Marcus Foligno, right, fight during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)

A case in point came on the team’s recent road trip. At a hotel in Dallas, one night around bedtime, Foligno took the time to call every member of the team, on speaker, with a camera recording it all, to wish each of them a good night. The teammates’ reactions varied from sincere thanks, to confusion, to insider knowledge that a prank must be in the works.

“I knew something was up,” Wild rookie defenseman Zeev Buium said a few days later, after the “goodnight buddy” video was posted on social media. “I didn’t know he was making a TikTok, but I knew something was going on.”

As he gets used to life in the NHL, Buium was one of many Wild players who acknowledged a player like Foligno — deadly serious on the ice, the class clown off it — is an important part of any team.

“You see that with a lot of the bigger, tougher guys who are so scary on the ice, and then off the ice they’re like a teddy bear. You see that with Moose,” Buium said. “He lights up every room he comes in, and I feel very lucky to have a guy like him on my team my first year in the league. I’ll look back in 20 years and say, ‘I had Marcus on my team,’ and tell stories.”

Family business

Marcus was born into pro hockey. His father Mike played more than 1,000 games for a quartet of teams. His older brother Nick is a mainstay with the Chicago Blackhawks. And when they visited Madison Square Garden recently, Foligno wore a sticker on his helmet in honor of his great uncle, legendary New York Rangers goalie Eddie Giacomin, who died last month.

“I think a lot of people don’t know the relationship and that my mom’s uncle is Eddie Giacomin,” Foligno said later. “Everyone talks about my dad, but we’ve got a lot of bloodlines on the other side, too. So, every time I play in New York, I think when I stepped in MSG for my first game, you look up, you see the Giacomin banner and Uncle Eddie’s been at a lot of games.”

It’s been a challenging fall for the Folignos, first with Giacomni’s passing then with Nick taking a leave of absence from the Blackhawks in October to be with his 12-year-old daughter as she battled a health issue. Things are better now, Marcus said, admitting that he and big brother are in communication daily, and visit each other’s homes when the Wild play in Chicago and when the Blackhawks come to Minnesota.

“We’re super close. Nick’s my best friend, and he’s my brother,” Marcus said. “We talk every day, we text and there’s not a day that goes by that we don’t talk to each other. We have three kids each, and they love each other, cousins, and it’s been a special relationship for sure.”

Taking, and giving, a licking

In a 3-1 win by the Wild in Manhattan, perhaps the biggest thing Rangers fans got to cheer that night came at the end of the second period, when Foligno was leveled with an open-ice check by New York defenseman Braden Schneider, snapping Foligno’s stick in half. More accustomed to being on the giving side of big hits, Foligno bowed his head and acknowledged that in a physical game like the NHL, it’s OK to receive now and then.

“I got caught. I normally don’t get caught, and I try to be a skilled player in certain situations. But he baited me great,” Foligno said, acknowledging that a video of the hit made the rounds among the players’ group text chain. “Hey, I’ve hit many guys, and it’s one of those where you just tip a cap and say, ‘I wasn’t injured, it was all good.’ Just laugh it off and get back out there and take another run at each other.

“We’d rather have hits like that than the other way, with an elbow or something involved. It’s all good, and don’t complain.”

When teammates get hit, Foligno is usually the first one over the boards to defend them, unafraid to drop the gloves when it is called for, as he has done once already this season. Wild fans fondly remember about this time four years ago, when Foligno and Winnipeg’s Brenden Dillon threw hands in a game in St. Paul and Foligno left his skates to deliver what became known as the “Superman punch.”

Fun is a good thing

Contrasting the fisticuffs with off-ice humor is by design. The players almost all are making multiple millions a season to play a children’s game invented to help pass the time in the winter. But NHL franchises are billion-dollar businesses, and the pressure to deliver is real. Supplying a mental break from that pressure was Fleury’s role, and it’s been handed down to Foligno.

“It’s just a long season, right? It’s just so many ups and downs. I’ve always been a guy like that,” Foligno said. “You bring in a guy like Flower, and he does that stuff and it makes it fun and before you know it, everyone’s enjoying themselves and trying to bring a team together. It’s always good to keep things light.

“It’s such a stressful, high end, pressure game we play, and when you don’t get results, you think the sky’s falling down.”

After their first handful of games, the sky is definitely not falling on the Wild (3-4-1). But there is work to do in terms of consistency and cohesiveness. On the ice, Foligno offers a consistent game, manning the wing on the third line and sending the constant message that you could meet his fists at any moment. Off the ice, there is always a smile, as he works to bring that cohesiveness — one joke or prank at a time — to a team still learning how to play together.

“He’s a leader for our team, but he does it in his own way,” coach John Hynes said. “On the ice, we know the physicality and the details he plays with, and what he brings to our team from an emotional standpoint. But I think off the ice, he’s such a good leader. He’s got a great personality, he’s talkative, he gets along with everybody, and that’s what you need. He brings a lot of energy to the team, on and off the ice.”

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