GREEN MAG

The Memphis Grizzlies are trading Jaren Jackson Jr. and three other players to the Utah Jazz for four players and three future first-round draft picks,ESPN's Shams Charania first reported.

In addition to Jackson, the Jazz will receive John Konchar, Jock Landale and Vince Williams Jr., while the Grizzlies' return is Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang and three future first-round draft picks.

With the trade, the Grizzlies nowhave 12 first-round picks in the next seven years, a number exceeded by only the Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder. Utah will trade its most favorable 2027 first-round pick (the Jazz also have picks from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves), the Lakers' 2027 first-round pick and the Suns' 2031 first-round pick to the Grizzlies,per reports.

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In moving on from Jackson, the Grizzlies have also created a massive trade exception of $28.8 million for the team. That's the largest trade exception in NBA history, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN. Jackson is making $23.4 million this season.

Jackson, 26, is a two-time NBA All-Star and a former Defensive Player of the Year. He is averaging 19.2 points — his fewest in the past three seasons — while making 35.9 percent of his 3-pointers this season.

The Grizzlieshad been fielding offers for point guard Ja Morant, but the market for Jackson was unsurprisingly more robust. Jackson's trade figures to be the first step in a potential massive rebuild for the franchise. This year's NBA Draft is expected to be strong, and Memphis figures to only solidify its lottery standing with Jackson no longer on the roster.

Utah could now choose to build around Jackson, Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen with more moves possible ahead of Thursday's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A total of 367 3-year-olds have been made eligible to compete in this year's Triple Crown series during the early nomination period.

Each of the horses was nominated through a $600 payment to compete in the Kentucky Derby on May 2, Preakness at Laurel Park on May 16 and Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on June 6.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has nominated 31 horses, followed by two-time Triple Crown winner Bob Baffert (23), Chad Brown (22), Brad Cox (21) and Japan's Daisuke Takayanagi (14).

Among the international nominees are 37 horses from Japan. Eleven fillies were nominated as well.

Horses that were not nominated to the Triple Crown series by the early deadline of Jan. 26 can make a late payment of $6,000 through April 6 to become eligible.

AP horse racing:https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing

The Buffalo Billsfired Sean McDermott, who returned the franchise to prominence and guided seven straight double-digit win seasons,only to promote Joe Brady from offensive coordinator to head coach.

The decision raised eyebrows far beyond western New York.

Bills general manager Brandon Beane apparently wasn't surprised. Beane, who also received a promotion followingthe Bills' AFC divisional-round exit, was prepared for "the outside" to question the anointment of a 36-year-old Brady, the executive revealedin an interview with Go Long.

"F*** the outside," said Beane, now also the Bills' president of football operations, via Go Long. "It's about the right selection for this team. And if we win, they'll love it. It's the same thing I said when I took Josh Allen. If I'm wrong, the moving company will be at my house. So, I understand. And I'm not going to have regret of choosing someone to appease the outside if I thought it should have been something different. If I'm wrong, I'll f***ing take my job and f***ing go home.

"I don't want to be wrong — see him go somewhere else — when my gut told me it was Joe Brady. I'm never going to do that."

Beane added, per Go Long: "I would love for everyone to cheer every move, but it's not about winning the press conference. It's about winning games over there."

[Get more Bills news: Buffalo team feed]

Even before the Bills gave Brady the nod,they lost a press conference. Beane was part of it, as he sat beside team owner Terry Pegula on Jan. 19. They fielded questions about the state of the franchise, and, more notably, the reasoning for McDermott's dismissal.

Pegula referenced a "playoff wall" that he felt the Bills hit under McDermott. And he defended Beane, pinning Buffalo's much-maligned decision to select former Michigan State and Florida State receiver Keon Coleman in the second round of the 2024 draft on the coaching staff.

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Coleman has struggled to fulfill expectations during his first two seasons in the league, and Pegula noted that Beane was "being a team player" when the Bills made that pick.

Since, Pegula has been criticized heavily, and so has Beane, especially aftera video circulated on social media showing Beane's interest in Coleman as a prospect during the pre-draft process.

In the aftermath of that PR nightmare, Coleman'sreceived support from not only Brady but also quarterback Josh Allen.

Brady will be tasked with maximizing Coleman, if he remains on the roster, and finding a way to get Allen over the hump in the postseason.

But Beane's roster construction will stay under the microscope, as it's been scrutinized for years now, and not just regarding the receiver position.

How he handles this offseason will be watched closely. The same goes for the approval rating of Brady's promotion to head coach.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Immigration officers with guns drawn arrested activists who were trailing their vehicles on Tuesday in Minneapolis, while education leaders described anxiety and fear in Minnesota schools from the ongoing federal sweeps.

Immigration Enforcement Minnesota

Both are signs that tension remains in the Minneapolis area after the departure ofhigh-profile commanderGreg Bovino of U.S. Border Patrol and the arrival of Trump administration border czar Tom Homan, which followed thefatal shootingof protester Alex Pretti.

"There's less smoke on the ground," Gov. Tim Walz said, referring to tear gas and other irritants used by officers against protesters, "but I think it's more chilling than it was last week because of the shift to the schools, the shift to the children."

At least one person who had an anti-ICE message on clothing was handcuffed while face-down on the ground. An Associated Press photographer witnessed the arrests.

ICE agents are changing their tactics

Federal agents in the Twin Cities lately have been conducting more targeted immigration arrests at homes and neighborhoods, rather than staging in parking lots. The convoys have been harder to find and less aggressive. Alerts in activist group chats have been more about sightings than immigration-related detainments.

Several cars followed officers through south Minneapolis after there were reports of them knocking at homes. Officers stopped their vehicles and ordered activists to come out of a car at gunpoint. Agents told reporters at the scene to stay back and threatened to use pepper spray.

A federal judge last month putlimits on how officerstreat motorists who are following them but not obstructing their operations. Safely following agents "at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop," the judge said. An appeals court, however, set the order aside.

Bovino, who was leading immigration enforcement in Minneapolis and other big U.S. cities, left town last week, shortly after Pretti's death became thesecond local killingof a U.S. citizen in January.

Homan, who was dispatched to Minnesota to succeed Bovino, haswarned that protesterscould face consequences if they interfere with officers.

Operation Metro Surge affecting schools

Walz and education leaders held a news conference to say the presence of immigration officers is frightening some school communities. Brenda Lewis, superintendent of Fridley Public Schools in suburban Minneapolis, said she's been followed twice by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents since speaking publicly on Jan. 27 and that school board members have had ICE vehicles outside their homes.

Lewis, a U.S. citizen, said she's seen SUVs with tinted windows, multiple masked people inside and out-of-state license plates. She goes on neighborhood patrols near schools with a security guard.

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"Students are afraid to come to school, parents are afraid to drop them off," Lewis said. "Staff are coming to work wondering if today will be the day something happens in one of our buildings."

She said Fridley, which has Somali and Ecuadorian families, has added security, adjusted drop-off procedures and increased mental health support. Tracy Xiong, a social worker in the Columbia Heights district, said she's been coordinating grocery deliveries to school families and finding volunteers to drive children.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE about the arrests in south Minneapolis and the concerns of educators.

Grand jury seeks communications, records

Meanwhile, Tuesday was the deadline for Minneapolis to produce information for a federal grand jury. It's part of a U.S. Justice Department request for records of any effort to stifle the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Officials have denounced it as a bullying tactic.

"We have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, but when the federal government weaponizes the criminal justice system against political opponents, it's important to stand up and fight back," said Ally Peters, spokesperson for Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat.

She said the city was complying, but she didn't elaborate. Other state and local offices run by Democrats were given subpoenas, though it's not known whether they had the same deadline. People familiar with the matter have told the AP that the subpoenas arerelated to an investigationinto whether Minnesota officials obstructed enforcement through public statements.

No release for man in Omar incident

Elsewhere, a man charged with squirting apple cider vinegar on Democratic U.S. Rep.Ilhan Omarwill remain in jail. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Schultz granted a federal prosecutor's request to keep Anthony Kazmierczak in custody.

"We simply cannot have protesters and people — whatever side of the aisle they're on — running up to representatives who are conducting official business, and holding town halls, and assaulting them," Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Bejar said Tuesday.

Defense attorney John Fossum said the vinegar posed a low risk to Omar. He said Kazmierczak's health problems weren't being properly addressed in jail and that his release would be appropriate.

Raza reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. AP reporters Ed White in Detroit and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed.

By Arasu Kannagi Basil and Saeed Azhar

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs' top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler accepted gifts from late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and advised him on how to address press inquiries regarding his crimes, according to ​a Reuters review of emails among millions of documents the U.S. Department of Justice released last week.

Ruemmler, who was ‌also White House counsel during the Obama administration, referred to Epstein in emails as "Uncle Jeffrey" and received gifts from him including wine and a handbag, the documents ‌show.

Ruemmler had a large number of communications with Epstein from 2014 to 2019, even after the disgraced financier's 2008 guilty plea for procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution, the documents showed.

These communications included advising Epstein on how to respond to a media query in 2019 concerning the alleged special legal treatment he received because of his connections, the emails show.

"I was a defense attorney when I ⁠dealt with Jeffrey Epstein," Ruemmler said in ‌a statement on Tuesday. "I got to know him as a lawyer and that was the foundation of my relationship with him.

"I had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal conduct on his part, and I did ‍not know him as the monster he has been revealed to be," she continued. "These decade-old private emails you are selectively referencing and pruriently reporting on have nothing to do with my work at Goldman Sachs."

Goldman spokesperson Tony Fratto said in an email that Epstein often offered unsolicited favors and ​gifts to many business contacts.

Goldman has backed Ruemmler in the past, with CEO David Solomon calling her "an excellent general counsel."

Fratto has ‌said Goldman understood the nature of Ruemmler's prior job as a white-collar defense lawyer, and was satisfied after conducting its own diligence.

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RUEMMLER RECEIVED GIFTS FROM EPSTEIN, DOCUMENTS SHOW

The newly released documents provided more details about Epstein's ties to prominent people in politics, finance and academia, both before and after his 2008 guilty plea.

Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges in July 2019. He died in his Manhattan jail cell the following month, in what New York City's chief medical examiner called a suicide.

In 2018, a third party, whose name the ⁠government redacted, emailed Ruemmler to say that Epstein wanted to buy a ​band for her Apple Watch.

"I love the Hermes one!" she responded. "If truly okay ​with him to do the Hermes, I would love the 40 mm, stainless Hermes with bleu indigo swift leather double tour."

In 2019, she thanked Epstein for more gifts.

"Am totally tricked out by Uncle Jeffrey today! Jeffrey ‍boots, handbag, and watch!" Ruemmler wrote.

Bloomberg and ⁠the Financial Times earlier reported on the email exchanges.

In another set of emails from 2016, Epstein asked Ruemmler what Donald Trump, who later became U.S. president, should say when asked questions about him.

Ruemmler responded that Trump should say: "I knew Epstein ⁠professionally and always had positive dealings with him. I don't know anything about his personal legal issues other than what I have read in public reports, ‌and therefore don't have any comment."

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru and Saeed Azhar in New York; Additional ‌reporting by Jonathan Stempel, Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Lisa Shumaker)