PHOTOS: Ones to watch in the 2018 Winter Olympics

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Adam Rippon performs during the men's short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018. Rippon, an athlete to watch at the 2018 Winter Olympics, is considered the first openly gay U.S. athlete to qualify for the Winter Olympics.

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Credit: Tony Avelar/AP

Nathan Chen poses after winning the men's skate event at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, California, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018. Chen’s second straight win at the nationals earned him a spot on the 2018 Olympic team, making him a figure skater to watch at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

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Bobsledder Aja Evans poses for a portrait during the Team USA Media Summit ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games on September 25, 2017 in Park City, Utah. Evans is competing for gold after winning the bronze medal in the 2014 Sochi Games.

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Half pipe snowboarder Chloe Kim is among the athletes to watch at the 2018 Winter Olympics Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She is making her debut at the games.

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Olympic figure skater Bradie Tennell speaks during a break in practice at Twin Rinks Ice Pavilion in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. Tennell is among the athletes to watch at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She secured her spot on the U.S. team by winning gold the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

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Karen Chen poses after finishing third at the women's free skate event at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, California, Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. The bronze medal win earned her a spot on the U.S. Olympics team this year. Chen is among the athletes to watch at the Pyeongchang, South Korea, Winter Olympics.

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Snowboarder Shaun White is attempting to be the sport’s first three-time gold medalist at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, making him an athlete to watch. White left the 2014 Sochi Games with no medal, pulling out of one event and finishing fourth in the other.

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In this March 1, 2015 file photo, Kelly Clark, poses for a photograph after competing in a World Cup halfpipe snowboard event in Park City, Utah. The 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics will be Clark's fifth Olympics, which makes her the only snowboarder to accomplish that feat. She’s an athlete to watch at the games.

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Becca Hamilton and Matt Hamilton of the United States deliver a stone in the Curling Mixed Doubles Round Robin Session 1 during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. The brother-sister duo could potentially play in two separate Olympic tournaments. They are the first U.S. Olmypic mixed doubles curling team and will later compete with the U.S. men's and women's curling teams.

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Bobsledder Elana Myers Taylor poses for a portrait during the Team USA PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics portraits on April 27, 2017 in West Hollywood, California. After winnning the silver medal in 2014 and the bronze medal in 2010, Taylor is aiming for gold at the 2018 Games.

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In this Sept. 26, 2017, file photo, United States Olympic Winter Games slopestyle skier Nick Goepper poses for a portrait at the 2017 Team USA Media Summit in Park City, Utah. Goepper is an athlete to watch at the 2018 Winter Olympics, having last competed at the 2014 games, where he took home the bronze medal.

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World Cup skiier Lindsey Vonn is an althete to watch at the 2018 Winter Games. She could become the oldest woman to win an Olympic Alpine medal at age 33.

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Maame Biney celebrates victory in the Women's 500 Meter A Final for a spot on the Olympic team during the 2018 U.S. Speedskating Short Track Olympic Team Trials at the Utah Olympic Oval on December 16, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Biney, who is competing in her first Olympics, is the first African-American woman to represent the U.S. in Olympic speed skating.

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Credit: Jean-Christophe Bott/AP

Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States stands in the finish area during the second run of the women's slalom race at the Alpine Skiing World Cup in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018. Shiffrin is an athlete to watch at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She could be come the first skier to repeat as an Olympics slalom gold medalist. She won gold at the 2014 games.

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Ice Hockey player Jordan Greenway poses for a portrait during the Team USA Media Summit ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games on September 25, 2017 in Park City, Utah. Greenway makes history in the games as first African American ever to compete for the U.S. in ice hockey since the games started in 1920.

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Credit: Kathy Willens/AP

Sister and brother ice-dancing team Alex and Maia Shibutani pose for photographs wearing Team USA's Opening Ceremony uniforms for the upcoming Winter Olympics, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018, in New York. The pair, among athletes to watch at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, competed at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

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Snowboard slopestyle gold medalist Jamie Anderson smiles at the Winter X Games, Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, in Aspen, Colorado. Anderson is an athlete to watch at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. She took home the gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

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Freeskier Gus Kenworthy is an athlete to watch at the 2018 Winter Olympics. He previously competed in the 2014 Winter Games, taking home a silver medal.

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Teen charged in senior skip day crash that killed classmate

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What a catch! Florida fisherman reels in giant 121-pound catfish

Florida fisherman Joel Singletary reeled in the granddaddy of all catfish. >> Read more trending news Singletary caught the 121-pounder April 11 on the Choctawhatchee River, which flows into the sunshine state from Alabama. The white-bellied fish, which weighs more than 1.7 times the current record of 69.5 pounds for a catfish caught in Florida, put up quite a fight as Singletary was reeling it in, according to officials with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. When the fisherman felt the giant fish nibbling on his trotline, he suspected he was in for a battle. “I was shocked. I didn’t think I could get him in the boat,” he told the NWF Daily News. “The adrenaline took over.” Since it was caught on a trotline, the catch does not qualify as a state record, but remains an impressive feat nonetheless, FWC officials wrote on the agency’s Facebook page. Originally found in the Escambia and Yellow rivers in northwest Florida, blue catfish are now found in the Apalachicola and Suwannee rivers, too. The fish prefers larger rivers with clearer, swifter currents. Singletarry told the NWF Daily News that after he caught the cat, he had to concoct a system of pulleys to yank it out of the boat. Once out, he strung it up and filleted it. Some went to his neighbors, some to a weekly fish fry and the rest was planned for a weekend party. >> Related: Bear kills dog, seriously injures another in Florida subdivision As for missing his chance in the record book, Singletary isn’t too concerned and told NWF Daily he’ll be back out on the waters and not soon enough. “Oh yeah, I was very impressed,” he told the NWF Daily. “It won’t be a record ... but that’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience holding that in your hands.”
Acuna, Albies homer as Braves win 7-4, drop Reds to 5-20

Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies, the two youngest players in the major leagues, both homered and combined for five RBIs to lead Atlanta over the Cincinnati Reds 7-4 Thursday and give the Braves a split of the four-game series. Acuna became the youngest player in the major leagues Wednesday at 20 years, 128 days, and went 1 for 5 in his debut. He led off the second inning Thursday with a home run five rows deep into the left-field upper deck against Homer Bailey, singled in the sixth and hit a tiebreaking double off Wandy Peralta (1-1) in the eighth following Freddie Freeman's third double of the game. Albies, a 21-year-old who made his debut last August, hit a two-run homer in the fifth for a 4-0 lead and added an RBI double in the ninth. Sam Freeman (1-1) retired all four batters he faced, and Arodys Vizcaino pitched a one-hit ninth for his second save. Cincinnati dropped to 5-20 for the first time in franchise history. Every Atlanta starter except catcher Kurt Suzuki had at least one hit, including pitcher Sean Newcomb. Newcomb gave up four runs, five hits and three walks in six innings. He allowed just two hits through four innings, but Cincinnati tied the score in a four-run fifth that included Joey Votto's three-run homer. Votto has homered in three straight games for the sixth time. Bailey allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings. TRAINER'S ROOM Reds: 3B Eugenio Suarez was activated from the 10-day DL after recovering from a broken right thumb sustained April 8 when he was hit by a pitch from Pittsburgh's Jameson Taillon. ... The Reds selected the contract of INF-OF Rosell Herrera from Louisville (IL) and pptioned OF Phillip Ervin and INF Cliff Pennington to Louisville. UP NEXT Braves: RHP Julio Teheran (1-1) is to start Friday at Philadelphia. Reds: Cincinnati opens a three-game road on Friday at Minnesota. RHP Luis Castillo (1-3) is slated to open Friday when the Reds play at Minnesota's Target Field for the first time. ___ More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
What's your emergency? 911 a different call for black, white

Two recent encounters at a Philadelphia Starbucks and a Pennsylvania golf club that led to allegations of racism against black patrons escalated into full-blown confrontations when people decided to call 911 to report incidents that clearly weren't emergencies. The incidents show how common it has become for people to call 911 these days to settle fairly routine disputes, serving as the catalyst in some cases for racially charged encounters involving African-Americans and minorities. In Philadelphia, a Starbucks manager punched 9-1-1 into her phone to report two black men who were waiting for a real estate meeting, prompting police to show up and arrest them. In York, Pennsylvania, white golfers called 911 amid a dispute over slow play by five black women. Previous non-emergency calls have had lethal consequences for African-Americans. Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who was playing with a pellet gun in a Cleveland park, was shot to death in 2014 by a white police officer after a man waiting for a bus called 911 to reporting a 'guy' was pointing a gun. The man also told the dispatcher that the gun might be 'fake,' but that information was not relayed to the responding officers. John Crawford III of Ohio was shopping in a Walmart in 2014 when he picked up an air rifle from a Walmart shelf. A man called 911 on him, and Crawford was killed by a police officer. In all these cases, it was the 911 call that escalated the encounters and led to criticism that Americans have become too quick to call 911 for non-emergencies. They also served as a reminder of how vastly different the decision to call 911 is for black and white Americans. 'Calling the police, for any black person, is fraught,' said Georgetown University professor Paul Butler, author of the recent book, 'Chokehold: Policing Black Men.' 'It's always a deliberate decision with a risk of a downside that could be tragic.' The National Emergency Number Association says about 240 million calls are made to 911 in the U.S. each year, mostly from cell phones. The widespread nature of mobile phones has made it much easier for people call 911, compared to the past era when they had to be near a landline. Tyler Wall, a sociology professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and co-author of 'The Police: A Field Guide,' says the increased reliance on 911 has put police in a difficult situation where they are being used to enforce racial discrimination over vague fears of a threat. 'Police then become the all-go-to resource to handle anything (businesses) don't like,' he said. 'Police are constantly on speed dial.' For many people, the decision to call the police is often motivated by a feeling of being threatened, Butler explained. But when the actions of a black person are perceived as more criminal, they can be seen as a threat even if their behavior is the same as a white person's. The combination of fear and bias can have dangerous effects for blacks — both as the subject and caller. When black people consider calling the police, there is the additional consideration of whether calling for help could also bring harm. A study published in the American Sociological Review in 2016 showed that high-profile cases of police violence could lead to black residents being less likely to report crimes. 'They know that the police are going to come in, see a black person and immediately assume the worst,' Butler said. 'The concern is that these reactions by police officers make black people reluctant to call the police, even in situations where it might be useful for the police to be involved.' Studies have shown that African-Americans are indeed less likely to call police to report a crime than whites. Still, a large majority of white and black Americans who call the police felt officers acted properly and were helpful. A 2013 Justice Department report found that for non-crime emergencies, 83 percent of blacks compared to 94 percent of whites felt police were helpful. Additionally, 88 percent of blacks compared to 96 percent of whites felt police acted properly on such occasions. LiRon Anderson-Bell said the golfing incident was a reminder that a simple call to the police is anything but for black people. 'We as a society have started to use the police as a weapon beyond a weapon,' said the 48-year-old Philadelphia mother, who is black. 'Everybody knows what that means, everybody knows what that can lead to.' Anderson-Bell said she has called the police twice in her life: Once, in her 20s, when she and a roommate believed they overheard a nearby assault on a woman. The second time was two years ago when she thought she saw a group of black teens robbing a white photographer. 'I saw the crime committed, and I hesitated,' she said. 'I was afraid for what would happen to them. They were teenage boys, they were all black ... I was conflicted.' Even before she was aware of the racial implications of calling 911, Amanda Pinney learned not to abuse the phone number at a young age, after dialing it as a child when someone set fire to something in her yard. 'Even then, they asked me if it was an emergency,' Pinney, 34, recalled. 'That, to me, instilled that calling the police was a really big deal.' She said her car was burglarized as a teenager, and officers caught the thief and recovered her belongings. When they asked if she wanted to press charges, Pinney declined. 'He was black and looked not very much older than me,' said Pinney, a white woman. 'I wasn't taught to be really careful because this could have consequences for people of color, but you're still aware that you're setting something in motion.' ___ Whack is The Associated Press' national writer for race and ethnicity. Follow her work on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/emarvelous
Sketch released of woman whose remains were found in suitcase on side of I-75

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PHOTOS: Ones to watch in the 2018 Winter Olympics

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PHOTOS: Ones to watch in the 2018 Winter Olympics

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Jamie Dupree