Indianapolis

1The 500,000th user was officially recorded on February 28. The NFHS Coach Education Program Web site was launched on January 3, 2007, with The Fundamentals of Coaching and First Aid for Coaches. Since then, the program has added 24 more courses on a variety of topics.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Backed by a tougher Indiana law, a coalition of Roman Catholic nuns has stepped up efforts to curb the sex trade during this weekend's Super Bowl.

The group, which includes the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Cleveland, has contacted hotels in Indianapolis and its environs to be on the lookout for sex trafficking and to take steps to halt it. The effort was first reported by WKYC-TV.

INDIANAPOLIS -- College athletes are outperforming other students in the classroom, and they're doing it at a record rate.

Eighty-two percent of freshman athletes who entered school in 2004-05 earned degrees within six years, according to the NCAA's newest Graduation Success Rate. The report, released Tuesday, also shows that the four-year graduation rate hit 80 percent for the first time.

Both numbers had been stuck at 79 percent.

Even the traditionally lower federal rate hit 65 percent, a record high for athletes, compared with 63 percent for all other college students The difference between the federal figures and the NCAA numbers is that the government doesn't account for transfer students, regardless of whether they graduate.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A Maryland man charged with extorting an Indiana teen into sexual favors victimized other teens in several states after he was released on bond, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Trevor Shea, 20, has agreed to plead guilty to charges of sexual exploitation of children stemming from both cases, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Prosecutors say he blackmailed and convinced 10 girls between the ages of 13 and 16 to send him sexually explicit photographs or videos.

Court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis allege that Shea coerced four girls in Florida, Kansas and Maryland into various acts after his release on bond following his initial indictment in June 2010. At the time, Shea was on home detention and being electronically monitored and had agreed not to use a computer as a term of release. He was in U.S. marshals' custody Wednesday.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The U.S. Grand Prix Racers Union wants doctors to have more discretion over motorcycle riders under the age of 18.

Parents will just have to live with it.

Stewart Aitken-Cade, the series' chief steward, said this season's biggest rules change will require injured minors to be cleared by a medical professional, instead of their parents, before they can return to competition. The move was made to avoid the appearance of parents pushing their children back to racing too soon -- though Aitken-Cade said there have been no documented instances of that happening.

"We just want to do everything we can to avoid putting us in that particular situation," he told The Associated Press. "We said, 'Let's do what we can to divert this from becoming a problem in the future.' When you look at other pro sports group, they do medical checks. We thought we should, too."