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Shaq O’Neal offering to pay for the funeral of Georgia girl, 12, who died after a fight

VILLA RICA, Ga. (AP) — Shaquille O’Neal is offering to pay for the funeral of a 12-year-old Georgia girl who died a few days after she collapsed following a fight after school.

The former NBA superstar said he doesn’t want the family of Jada West to deal with the financial burden of a funeral while grieving for the sixth grader, who died at a hospital March 8.

“No parent should ever have to bury their child, O’Neal said in a statement, “and if there is anything I can do to ease even a small part of that burden, then it is the right thing to do.”

O’Neal’s offer was announced in a joint news release by the sheriff of Douglas County, where the fight occurred, and the sheriff of Henry County, where O’Neal owns a home and holds a position as the sheriff’s community relations chief. Both counties are in the Atlanta suburbs.

The girl’s death is being investigated by police in Villa Rica, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Atlanta. Police say Jada got into a fistfight with another girl near a neighborhood bus stop where they had been dropped off after school on March 5. She died at a hospital three days later.

Sgt. Spencer Crawford, a police spokesman, has said investigators were reviewing cellphone video of the fight posted to social media that shows Jada and another girl approach each other and begin throwing punches after the school bus leaves. The video shows the girls fall to the ground before an adult intervenes. It ends as Jada picks up her backpack and begins to walk away.

She never made it home. Sgt. Spencer Crawford, a police spokesman, has said emergency responders were dispatched on a report of “a young juvenile who was in cardiac arrest laying in the street.”

Results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death have not been released.

One of the girl’s aunts, Lindsey McClendon Pettiford, said in a social media post that Jada’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday.

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This story corrects the name of the girl who died to Jada West.

Ohio State trustees OK $100M settlement with hundreds of former students abused by doctor

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State University agreed Wednesday to pay approximately $100 million to settle legal claims from hundreds of former student athletes who said they were sexually abused decades ago by a doctor at the university. The school has fought lawsuits in federal court since 2018 brought by former student athletes against the university over its failure to stop abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss. Strauss worked at the school from 1978 to 1998 and also ran an off-campus clinic. He died in 2005. During a meeting Wednesday, the school's Board of Trustees approved a preliminary agreement with all but one of the 280 survivors with claims still involved in pending litigation. Once finalized, the settlement could mark the end of a lengthy legal battle and close a painful chapter in the school's history. “The survivors of the Strauss abuse are all Buckeyes, will always be a part of our family and our community, and I firmly believe that,” the school's president, Ravi Bellamkonda, said during the meeting. “We continue to be very grateful to them for their courage in coming forward, and reaching a final resolution is very important to us and is an important step forward.”
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