RENO, Nev. (AP) - A former Harrah’s employee has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of raping another worker.
Stacy Dingman is the former director of hotels at Harrah’s and one of nine defendants named in the lawsuit filed last month in Washoe County District Court. The suit also accuses managers of the hotel-casino at Lake Tahoe of covering up the alleged sex assault.
She also said she is the former best friend of the woman who claims Roethlisberger raped her at the hotel-casino during an annual celebrity golf tournament in July 2008.
Dingman said in her motion that the lawsuit is baseless and that she has been dragged into it without justification.

By Rob Maaddi, AP Sports Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Michael Vick is back in the NFL. When he finally gets in a game, it might be at a new position.
Looking to add a new dimension to their offense, the Philadelphia Eagles gave Vick a one-year deal with an option for a second year. Vick wasn’t brought in to compete with five-time Pro Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb for a starting job, but the two could end up on the field together.
“He’s an unbelievable athlete, both running the ball and throwing it,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “I’ll think of something for him.”
The most likely scenario would be for the Eagles to use Vick in a variation of the Wildcat offense that the Miami Dolphins made popular last season. Vick also is familiar with the West Coast offense, though he ran a different version with Atlanta than the one Philadelphia uses.
“He can definitely make a lot of plays,” Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown said.
The deal was announced during Thursday night’s preseason opener against New England. Suddenly, no one cared about Tom Brady’s first game in 11 months.
The 29-year-old Vick, once the NFL’s highest-paid player, has been out of action since 2006. The former Falcons star was convicted in August 2007 of conspiracy and running a dogfighting ring, and served 18 of a 23-month sentence in federal prison. He also was suspended indefinitely by the NFL.
“I’m a believer that as long as people go through the right process, they deserve a second chance,” Reid said. “He’s got great people on his side; there isn’t a finer person than Tony Dungy. He’s proven he’s on the right track.”
Commissioner Roger Goodell conditionally lifted Vick’s suspension on July 27, allowing him to sign with a team, practice and play in the last two preseason games. Once the season begins, Vick can participate in all team activities except games, and Goodell said he would consider Vick for full reinstatement by Week 6 (Oct. 18-19) at the latest.
The Eagles reached the NFC championship game last season under McNabb, but are still looking for their elusive first Super Bowl win.
McNabb has led the Eagles to five NFC title games and one Super Bowl appearance in the last eight years and was rewarded with a $5.3 million raise in the offseason. The Eagles tore up his old contract with two years remaining, and gave him a new deal worth $24.5 million over the next two seasons.
Philadelphia is a surprise landing point for Vick. It was among 26 clubs that said there was no interest in him, but that may have changed when backup Kevin Kolb strained a knee ligament earlier this week. Kolb’s injury isn’t serious and he’s expected to return next week. The Eagles also have veteran A.J. Feeley.
“There won’t be a quarterback controversy,” Reid said.
Reid consulted with McNabb before signing Vick, who went to three Pro Bowls in six seasons with the Falcons.
“I pretty much lobbied to get him here,” McNabb said. “He’s no threat to me, not for Kolb. We had the opportunity to add another weapon to our offense.”
When news of Vick’s signing circulated in the press box during the first half of the Eagles’ preseason opener against the Patriots, even the team’s public relations staff seemed surprised.
The crowd quickly caught on at Lincoln Financial Field. Fans standing on the concourse were in disbelief. One guy wondered how quickly he’d be able to buy a Vick jersey. Another asked if this was a joke.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Michelle Harlan, a mother attending her first NFL game with a young son.
In a “60 Minutes” interview set to air Sunday, Vick accepted blame for not stopping the illegal dogfighting operation he bankrolled.
Vick said he feels “some tremendous hurt behind what happened.”
He said he should have taken “the initiative to stop it all … I didn’t.”
Asked if he was more concerned about his playing career or the dogs he hurt, Vick replied, “Football don’t even matter.”
The animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wasted no time reminding people exactly what Vick had done.
“PETA and millions of decent football fans around the world are disappointed that the Eagles decided to sign a guy who hung dogs from trees. He electrocuted them with jumper cables and held them under water,” PETA spokesman Dan Shannon told The Associated Press.
“You have to wonder what sort of message this sends to young fans who care about animals and don’t want them to be harmed.”
Reid believes most Eagles fans will accept Vick.
“This is America. We do make mistakes,” Reid said. “This situation is a chance to prove he’s doing the right things. He’s been proactive speaking across the country.”
Since Reid became the head coach in 1999, the Eagles have avoided players with character issues. The lone exception came in 2004 when Philadelphia acquired wide receiver Terrell Owens. That move paid off when Owens helped lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl in his first season. But T.O. quickly wore out his welcome, criticizing management over a contract dispute and feuding with McNabb. He was released midway through the 2005 season.
The Eagles must be hoping they won’t regret this one.
—
AP Sports Writers Hank Kurz Jr. in Richmond, Va., Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis and AP writer Dan Robrish in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Amtrak is suspending service into and out of its station in downtown Pittsburgh during the Group of 20 economic summit.
Spokeswoman Tracy Connell says passengers will not be able to book trips that begin or end in Pittsburgh from Sept. 24-26. The G-20 gathering of major world economic leaders is scheduled for Sept. 24-25 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center a few blocks away from the train station.
Amtrak trains will still pass through Pittsburgh during that time. And passengers on those trains will be allowed to transfer to connecting trains, as long as they don’t leave the station’s platform.
It’s unclear whether Port Authority of Allegheny County buses and trains will travel downtown during the summit. Spokesman Jim Ritchie says that is still being discussed.

GROVE CITY, Pa. (AP) - Police have charged a western Pennsylvania man with drunken driving twice in a little more than two hours.
Police in Hermitage say 31-year-old Donny Clark, of Grove City, was first stopped Wednesday at 11:31 p.m. after someone reported a reckless driver.
Police say Clark was released to the custody of a friend who was supposed to drive him home but, instead, apparently drove Clark back to his vehicle. The same officer stopped and charged Clark when he saw him driving at 1:39 a.m. Thursday.
Police did not immediately say if Clark’s friend may face charges. The Associated Press could not locate a listed phone for Clark or an attorney for him in online court records.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Hundreds of millions of dollars in tuition grants for Pennsylvania college students is stuck in limbo because of a six-week-old state government budget impasse.
That means an anticipated 172,000 students do not know exactly how much money they will receive from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.
Republican legislators are advocating $386 million, while Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell wants $460 million in grants.
Last year, the agency distributed $407 million, down from a record $454 million the year before, although that figure was pushed up by income from the student-loan agency.
The maximum individual grant award is $4,120.
For now, Penn State and many other schools say they will front the students’ grant money for the fall semester if the budget is not finished by then.

By Kasey Jones, Associated Press Writer
BALTIMORE (AP) - Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps was not injured when the SUV he was driving collided with another car in Baltimore, but the other driver was taken to a hospital.
Police said Friday they had no updates on the woman who was driving the other car. She was described as “shaken up” and taken to a hospital as a precaution after the crash Thursday night. Cindy Rivers, a spokeswoman for the University of Maryland R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, said she could not provide any information without the woman’s name, which has not been released.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Phelps has been interviewed by police and alcohol was not a factor. No citations were issued and the accident was being investigated, with a report perhaps available Friday, Guglielmi said.
There is a traffic light at the intersection, but when asked for details about how the crash occurred and whether anyone was at fault, police said they were still investigating.
Two passengers in Phelps’ Cadillac Escalade were not injured, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
The other car was a Honda Accord.
Phelps’ SUV had a crumpled hood and was on a tow truck. The gray Accord had considerable damage on the front driver side.
Phelps won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. Most recently he earned five golds and a silver over eight days at the world swimming championships earlier this month.
Phelps has had brushes with the law in the past. USA Swimming suspended him earlier this year for three months after a British tabloid published a photo of him using a marijuana pipe. The Richland County, S.C., sheriff’s office investigated the photo but found there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Phelps.
In an earlier incident, Phelps pleaded guilty to driving while impaired shortly after he won six golds and two bronzes at the 2004 Athens Olympics. A Maryland state trooper had pulled him over after Phelps ran a stop sign. He was sentenced to 18 months’ probation.
John Cadigan, a senior coach with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, one of two swim clubs operated by Phelps and his coach, said he hadn’t talked to Phelps about the crash Friday and didn’t know anything more than what was in the media.
Cadigan said Phelps is not scheduled to be back in practice there until next week, but didn’t say whether he would be at the club on Friday.
—-
Associated Press Writer Aaron Morrison contributed to this story.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The number of people filing for their first week of unemployment benefits in Pennsylvania dropped to its lowest level in nine months.
The state Department of Labor and Industry said 29,600 people filed for benefits in the week ending Aug. 1, the latest statistics available.
That’s the lowest since the week ending Nov. 1.
Still, that’s 40 percent higher than last year at the same time, when fewer than 21,200 people filed initial claims.
All told, more than 520,000 people filed for benefits in Pennsylvania during the week ending Aug. 1. That’s about 1 in every 12 people in the state’s work force.
Pennsylvania now offers up to 79 weeks of jobless benefits. Since December 2007, Pennsylvania has lost more than 180,000 jobs, or one in every 32 jobs.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The state Board of Education on Thursday approved proposed new tests to measure Pennsylvania students’ competence to graduate from high school.
The 14-2 vote clears the way for months of regulatory review of the proposed Keystone Exams, including scrutiny by the Legislature, where critics still could block the new requirements if they can muster majority support in both houses.
The Keystone Exams, developed after two years of discussion and revision, would replace the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests now administered in the 11th grade.
Students would take the exams on specific subjects as they complete their course work throughout their high school years - generally grades nine through 12. The scores would count as at least one-third of their final grade.
Proponents say the Keystones would more effectively measure student progress toward meeting statewide academic standards, reducing district-to-district discrepancies evident under the present system, while allowing local districts to substitute their own tests with state approval.

ZELIENOPLE, Pa. (AP) - Firefighters have spent the night battling a major fire at a western Pennsylvania warehouse that stores commercial lighting fixtures, especially those used in horticulture.
The fire at the Plant Growers Workshop in Zelienople was reported about 11 p.m. Wednesday.
As many as 14 fire companies have been called to the scene and the fire burned so brightly that crews eventually decided to let it burn itself out. Fire crews are still on the scene.
The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined. One firefighter has been treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, but no other injuries have been reported.
The warehouse is near Routes 68 and 528.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Pennsylvania is considering exporting prisoners to Michigan.
The Detroit News reports that Pennsylvania Secretary of Corrections Jeffrey Beard has spoken three times with Michigan Corrections Director Patricia Caruso about the possibility.
Spokesman Russ Marlan says Michigan asked all 50 states in March if they were interested in sending prisoners to the cash-strapped state.
In June, Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm made a formal offer to California to take some of that state’s prison inmates. And last month, the Obama administration said it was considering moving terrorism suspects now detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a maximum security state prison in Standish.