Newsmakers

Determined The Hennepin County (Minn.) Medical Examiner on Friday ruled the death of New York Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard was an accident, due to mixing alcohol and oxycodone. The medical examiner said no other data will be released. The 28-year-old Boogaard was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment on May 13, five months after he sustained a season-ending concussion.

Hired The Golden State Warriors hired Jerry West to join the franchise’s front office in an advisory role and be a member of the executive board. The Warriors announced that West will work with the basketball operations staff and the business arm of the team. He will report directly to owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber.

Ruled A Florida appeals court has ruled against several media companies seeking to open a key pretrial hearing in the slaying of former Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor. The appeals judges sided with Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy, who closed the hearing to avoid undue publicity that might influence potential jurors.

Threatened Top-ranked golfer Lee Westwood threatened to close his Twitter account because of the amount of abuse directed at him and fellow players on the social networking site. Westwood says “idiots” are using Twitter for the wrong purpose, adding “It’s social media, not social slagging. … It’s just pathetic – it’s there to interact with people … but some always take it too far and spoil it.”

Stated The woman having an affair with Olympic marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru who was in the room with him when he fell to his death off a balcony in Nairobi, Kenya, said he did not intend to commit suicide. Jane Nduta said Wanjiru may have jumped or fallen to his death Sunday night while trying to get the key for his bedroom door from his wife, who locked Nduta and Wanjiru in the room when she found them. Nduta said the runner had consumed several beers in bars before they went back to his home.

Pledged Alabama football coach Nick Saban’s charity is pledging $50,000 to help a group that is rebuilding homes destroyed by the recent tornadoes. Nicks Kids – headed by Saban and his wife, Terry – will give the money to Project Team Up, which is aiming to rebuild some 30 homes in Holt, Ala., a town a few miles from the university that was hard hit by a tornado in April.