PROFILES » promoted violent play that led to their injuries.d

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Gov. Nikki Haley can watch the University of South Carolina Gamecocks from a free luxury football suite only if she is conducting state business, the State Ethics Commission decided Wednesday.The commissions advisory opinion is a revision from last September, when the board unanimously said the university can continue its longstanding practice of providing free tickets to the box to whoever occupies the governors mansion, calling it a gift to the office rather than Haley herself.While last falls opinion said state business -- such as courting company executives or hosting out-of-state dignitaries -- should be a priority for the 16 tickets, it allowed for personal use.A caveat we put in the opinion recognized that sometimes there wont be a big company youre trying to woo to South Carolina thats going to need these tickets, said agency attorney Michael Burchstead, referring to a paragraph that read, in part, we are not advocating for the tickets to go to waste.Commissioner Frank Grimball said hes concerned about weakening state ethics law thats specifically meant to limit lawmakers entertainment by lobbyists, especially since the suites perks include free food and drinks. He said others may take advantage of the exception.The issue is that the tickets value far exceeds legal limits on how much agencies that lobby state government can individually give elected officials. Those limits are $60 daily and $480 dollars yearly. State law provides an exception for events directly related to state or local economic development.I think our job is to protect the act, Grimball said. Why not direct the governor to follow the act?He cast the lone no for the revised opinion, which limits the boxs use to state-related purposes.Grimball called that wording too vague and argued unsuccessfully that the tickets should be used only for economic development.How much the gift is worth is unknown.USC spokesman Wes Hickman has said the university cant put a price tag on the tickets, provided for decades, because the governors office has a private suite on a level otherwise reserved for news media, the visiting athletic director and others who dont pay.Haley spokeswoman Chaney Adams said the governor personally attended two of six home games last year and three of seven in 2014.Like previous administrations, Adams said, Haley has used the suite for state business because theres no better way to showcase the great things going on in our state.Haley attorney Butch Bowers, who had no objection to the revised opinion, said the box is sometimes used for state business without Haley attending. But the governors office couldnt detail who has used the suite.The opinion is limited to Gamecocks football tickets. The school also provides the governors office four season tickets to mens basketball games.Clemson University, Haleys alma mater, provides the perk differently.Clemson board members and others individually provide the governor a football suite to the Tigers home games. Haley listed the worth of each of the 10 suites as $3,200 in her 2016 statement of economic interest, submitted in March. Officeholders are required to list gifts, their value and who gave them in the annual disclosure. T. J. Watt Steelers Jersey . The injury bothered Bledsoe in the Suns victory over the Clippers on Monday and he sat out the teams home loss to Memphis on Thursday night. Dermontti Dawson Steelers Jersey . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. 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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has once again maintained that there is not enough data yet to draw conclusions about the link between sports-related concussions and long-term brain degeneration.This came in a 24-page letter Bettman wrote to U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal that was posted on The New York Times website Tuesday night, answering a series of questions put to him by the Connecticut Democrat on the NHLs stance on concussions and the brain disease chronic traumatic encephelopathy (CTE).[T]he science regarding CTE, including on the asserted link to concussions ... remains nascent, particularly with respect to what causes CTE and whether it can be diagnosed by specific clinical symptoms, Bettman wrote in the letter to Blumenthal.Bettman said the NHL and the players associations medical advisory consultants will continue to closely monitor the ongoing research into brain damage, but he emphatically argued that the research to this point has established no causal link between CTE and concussions in team sports generally, much less in NHL hockey.If that [medical] consensus changes, so, too, will my answers, he added.The NHL is currently facing a class-action lawsuit filed by 105 former NHL players who allege it had the resources to better prevent head trauma, failed too properly warn players of such risks and promoted violent play that led to their injuries.ddddddddddddThe plaintiffs primary request is medical monitoring for the roughly 4,800 living former players, plus additional unspecified relief. There is no dollar figure on the lawsuit, but the NFLs pending $1 billion concussion settlement with retired players could provide a benchmark.Bettman, who was deposed for testimony last year, has said the lawsuit is without merit. The leagues first attempt to dismiss the claims was denied last year by U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson. There is another pending motion for dismissal, based on an argument that the issues should be addressed through collectively bargained arbitration instead of court.Bettman angered many former players last May with comments following the death of former NHL defenseman Steve Montador at age 35. Montador suffered from CTE. His family filed a lawsuit against the league that was recently consolidated with this case.From a medical and scientific standpoint, Bettman said then of the purported link between concussions and CTE, there is no evidence yet that one leads to the other. ' ' '