Newsmakers

Selected The Indiana Fever’s Tamika Catchings was selected the WNBA’s most valuable player for the first time on Thursday. The versatile 32-year-old forward, who was MVP runner-up in 2009 and 2010, averaged 15.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals this season. Indiana finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. Catchings had 21 of 40 first-place votes, while Connecticut’s Tina Charles and Chicago’s Sylvia Fowles were tied for second with six first-place votes. Seattle’s Sue Bird and Minnesota’s Lindsay Whalen followed in the voting.

Suspended Philadelphia Flyers forward Jody Shelley has been suspended for the remainder of the preseason and the first five games of the regular season for his hit on Toronto’s Darryl Boyce. Brendan Shanahan was busy Thursday in his first season as the NHL’s dean of discipline. He also suspended Calgary forward Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond for the rest of the preseason and the Flames’ first game of the regular season for hitting Vancouver forward Matt Clackson from behind on Tuesday.

Ruled A federal appeals panel in Trenton, N.J., ruled that former track and field standout Carl Lewis should be removed from a state Senate ballot because he does not meet the New Jersey’s four-year residency requirement.

Arrested NBA veteran Marcus Camby, who played last season with the Portland Trail Blazers, is free on bond after police in suburban Houston arrested him on a charge of marijuana possession. Camby was in a Porsche pulled over Monday for what police called an equipment violation.

Died Former Tulsa linebacker George Clinkscale died Wednesday after taking part in an unsanctioned boxing match. He was 24. Joe Miller, the director of the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission, said Clinkscale took part in the bout at a Tulsa-area church. Miller says witnesses described Clinkscale becoming ill during the fight and he was taken to a local hospital, where he died. Clinkscale was a linebacker for the Golden Hurricane from 2005-2009.