Florida Sentinel Bulletin

HACKENSACK, NJ — A judge on Friday rejected former NFL star Lawrence Taylor’s attempt to have the news media barred from court proceedings involving him and the mother of a 12-year-old girl he fathered, but has never met.

Ebony Washington of Secaucus is seeking to have child support payments increased for her daughter, who has been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Taylor has filed a cross-claim to have the amount reduced. The child currently receives $456 per week, according to Washington’s attorney, Debra Weisberg.

Taylor’s attorney, James Key Jr., said the former New York Giants linebacker has never missed a support payment and that news stories have portrayed him.

NEW YORK — Braylon Edwards has been a star for the New York Jets, and he wants to keep it that way.

Edwards, a free agent, emphasized Monday that he wants to stay with the team, and he said he believed the interest was mutual.

Edwards had 53 catches for 904 yards and seven touchdowns in his first full season with the Jets after they traded for him in October 2009. He made a key catch to set up the Jets’ game-winning field goal over the Indianapolis Colts in the final minute of this year’s AFC wild card playoff game.

Free agents have been in limbo this offseason as the NFL and the players’ union try to negotiate a new contract. Teams and players are waiting to see what a new agreement might look like.

Edwards, 28, said he’d spoken recently to Jets coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum, conversations he described as just catching up.

Police said they pulled Edwards over in Manhattan around 5 a.m. Sept. 21 because his luxury SUV’s windows were too dark. Officers said his blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit.

He denies driving drunk. He’s challenging the basis for stopping him, the reliability of the test and other aspects of the case. Frankel told a court Monday he planned to file more papers contesting the breath tests.

A judge didn’t rule Monday on any of Edwards’ arguments. He’s due back in court May 16.

Olivia Vigil, 11, will have quite the story to tell people when she gets older: she got to play computer games with superstar Miami Heat player LeBron James.

Walking into a room filled with kids screaming from excitement, James donated 59 new computers to the Northwest Girls and Boys Club in Miami. The donation is part of a partnership between the LeBron James Family Foundation and Hewlett Packard to donate 1000 computers to Boys and Girls Clubs all across the country.

“I can remember [when] I was in junior high school or elementary. Not even a professional athlete, but if anybody would have came in and donated 1000 computers to our school we would have been so excited, we would have never forgot that moment,” James said. “To be able to do that for these kids its some thing they won’t ever forget. “I’m humbled [that] I’m in a position to do this.”

James donated more than just new computers. The Club also got a makeover complete with a new media, art and game room with a Foosball table. One student even won a room makeover from a random drawing.

“I really appreciate how the game room looks, the movie room, and I don’t know what the art room looks like but I think it’s going to be a very nice room,” Vigil said. “I would say thank you very much and give him a big hug.”

NEW YORK — Former New York Giants Super Bowl star Plaxico Burress is to get out of prison in June, after officials agreed Friday to shave about three months off his time behind bars in a gun case.

A committee of prison-system staffers decided Burress was eligible for time off for good behavior, so he can be freed after serving about 21 months of his two-year sentence, system spokeswoman Linda Foglia said.

With Burress’ release date now set for June 6, his agent and lawyer said he’s looking to return to football — and a number of teams are looking at him.

“He’s counting the hours,” lawyer Peter M. Frankel said. “He’s extremely positive.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has ruled that Burress would be reinstated and eligible to sign with a team upon completing his sentence. While the league and players are locked in negotiations that have cast a shadow of uncertainty over the sport’s next season, Frankel and Burress agent Drew Rosenhaus said several teams had expressed interest in the receiver.

“The future is very bright for Plaxico,” Rosenhaus said in an e-mail.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — Michael Vick is making plans to get ready for next season despite the NFL’s labor situation.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Pro Bowl quarterback says he’ll work out with some of his teammates on their own if there’s a lockout. The league and the players’ union agreed Friday on a seven-day extension of the collective bargaining agreement.

“Wherever we agree to be collectively. It may be Florida, it may be Hawaii. We’ll get our work in,” Vick said. “Being on the same page, timing, which is very important. I think everybody has to be on one accord, all thinking the same. Practice and film study are important, but just familiarizing ourselves with each other, that’s going to be big for us.”

Vick was in Atlantic City to receive the Maxwell Award for outstanding professional player. Eagles coach Andy Reid also was to be honored as the outstanding coach in a Friday night ceremony.

Vick, who signed a one-year contract with the Eagles after being designated the franchise player, said a long-term deal hasn’t been discussed yet. However, it’s likely that would happen once the new CBA is agreed upon.

Sophomore forward, Brandon Davies, is averaging 11 points and 6 rebounds for BYU’s highly ranked basketball team.

When the word got out that he was suspended, rumors began to fly and suspicions of drug violations, conduct or academics were all named as possible reasons.

Brandon, however had sex with his girlfriend and told his team and school officials on Monday. At Brigham Young University, the students make a commitment to abstain from things like alcohol, coffee, tea and most importantly, pre-marital sex.

The Mormon school has an Honor Code that demands regular church attendance and places their values higher than a basketball tournament appearance.

Though coach David Rose said he was surprised and he believes the suspension that will stop Davies from participating in any more games this season will be lifted, he does stand behind the decision.

LOS ANGELES — Former Oakland Raider Anthony Wayne Smith appeared in court Friday to face a murder charge in the 2008 beating and shooting death of a man in northern Los Angeles County, authorities said.

Smith, 43, of Fontana, who played defensive end for the Raiders in Los Angeles and Oakland from 1991 to 1998, is one of three men charged in the killing.

Smith was arrested and was being held on $1 million bail.

Maurilla Ponce, 31, was beaten and shot several times on Oct. 7, 2008 in Lancaster, and his body was dumped near the Antelope Valley poppy fields some 11 miles away.

After a Sheriff’s Department investigation of more than two years, a felony complaint naming Smith was filed.

HACKENSACK, NJ — Former NFL star Lawrence Taylor is in a New Jersey courtroom Friday to try to keep the media out of a dispute between him and a woman who bore his child.

An attorney for the former New York Giants linebacker is seeking to bar reporters from future hearings in the child support case involving Taylor and Ebony Washington.

Attorney James Key says in court papers that Taylor isn’t behind on payments. Key says the dispute is over Taylor’s attempt to reduce his payments.

In January, Taylor was sentenced to six years’ probation after he admitted paying a 16-year-old runaway for sex.

Taylor led the New York Giants to Super Bowl titles in 1987 and 1991.

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears have restructured Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers’ contract to create more salary-cap room for next season.

Peppers signed a six-year deal worth potentially $91.5 million a year ago, was due a $10.5 million roster bonus for next season. Instead, the team exercised its right to convert that money into a signing bonus and prorate it over the remaining years of his contract, which runs through the 2015 season.

That saves roughly $8 million in cap space for next season, giving the Bears more room to bring in free agents and retain their own.