Weiss, Weir Suddenly Give U.S. Medal Hopes

American men’s medal hopes, a long shot after qualifying, soared after Tuesday’s short program at the World Figure Skating Championships in Dortmund, Germany.

Michael Weiss and Johnny Weir both jumped into the top six after Canadian Emanuel Sandhu fell out of contention.

Russian Evgeni Plushenko re-established his superiority after losses to Brian Joubert at the European Championships and Sandhu at the Grand Prix final.

Runner-up Joubert is still within striking distance entering Thursday’s final free program, but Sandhu is practically out of it after falling once and popping his combination into only a double jump.

German Stefan Lindemann was third and Swiss Stefane Lambiel was fourth. Weiss and Weir followed.

After a shaky start earlier this week, U.S. champion Weir, 19, pulled himself together and skated an error-free short program.

Weiss, the 27-year-old three-time U.S. champion who finished second to Weir this year, landed a quadruple toe loop on two feet before hoisting himself back into the air for a triple toe loop.

The women begin today.

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Jurisprudence

The judge in the Jayson Williams manslaughter trial refused to drop the charges against the former NBA player in Somerville, N.J., saying the prosecution had offered enough evidence for it to go on.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman let stand the aggravated manslaughter, reckless manslaughter and six other charges resulting from the February 2002 shooting death of chauffeur Costas “Gus” Christofi in Williams’ home.

Former Alabama football coach Mike Price is suing the university’s president over actions that led to his dismissal after a visit to a strip club.

The suit, filed Monday in state circuit court in Tuscaloosa, Ala., accused Robert Witt of fraud and misrepresentation and asked for a jury to decide on a monetary award.

Price has sued Sports Illustrated and writer Don Yaeger, claiming he was libeled and slandered by a story detailing Price’s actions the night he visited a strip club in Pensacola, Fla., in April 2003.

Linebacker Willie Williams, Miami’s top football recruit, turned himself in to police on a felony charge of illegally setting off fire extinguishers and was released on $5,000 bond, his attorney said.

Williams also faces two misdemeanor charges from the same visit, for hitting a man at a bar and grabbing a woman against her will. No bond was required for those charges. Miami has suspended the processing of Williams’ admissions application.

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Pro Football

Jacksonville signed cornerback Juran Bolden and linebacker Greg Favors, a starter for Carolina’s Super Bowl team. Bolden played in Atlanta last season.

Guard Kelvin Garmon agreed to a three-year contract with the Cleveland Browns. Garmon played in San Diego last season.... The Atlanta Falcons signed receiver Dez White to a two-year, $2-million contract. White played for Chicago last season.

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Soccer

Kaka scored two goals, including one during first-half injury time, to lead defending champion AC Milan to a 4-1 victory over visiting Deportivo La Coruna of Spain in a first-leg quarterfinal European Champions League game.

AC Milan, which beat Italian league rival Juventus to win last season’s title, also got goals from Andriy Shevchenko and Andrea Pirlo.

Walter Pandiani gave Deportivo a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute, but Kaka’s goal late in the first half tied the score.

In another Champions League quarterfinal, FC Porto of Portugal got goals from Deco and Ricardo Carvalho in a 2-0 victory over visiting Lyon of France.

Today, English Premier League rivals Chelsea and Arsenal will play in another quarterfinal, as will Real Madrid and Monaco.

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Miscellany

New Jersey boxing regulators rejected the claim by welterweight Ricardo Mayorga that mistakes by referee Tony Orlando cost him his world titles in a Dec. 13 majority decision for Cory Spinks in Atlantic City. Mayorga complained that Orlando mistakenly ruled Spinks slipped on at least two occasions, costing him points.

Libby Ludlow won her first national title with a victory in the giant slalom and Julia Mancuso got a record fifth medal with a second-place finish at the U.S. Alpine Championships in Girdwood, Alaska.

Mancuso was second in the GS, slalom, super giant slalom and the downhill.

She won the title in the combined, which includes the downhill and slalom for her only gold of the week.

Four other skiers had won four medals in past competitions.

Channel 5 has not renewed the contract of weeknight sports anchor Tony Hernandez, who has been at the station since 1998 and has been in the Los Angeles market since 1979.

No replacement was announced and he will work at the station until April 16.

HBO has signed Roy Jones Jr. as a boxing commentator to fill the vacancy left by George Foreman.

Jones, 35, will continue his boxing career.

Philip Dunn, a 2000 Olympic medalist, qualified for the Athens Games by finishing the 50K in 3 hours 59 minutes 12 seconds at the IAAF Race Walk Championships in Tijuana, beating the Olympic ‘A’ standard qualifying time of four hours. He needed to meet the standard after finishing third at the Olympic trials in February.

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Sound and Vision columnist Mike Penner is on assignment.