HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — All-Star guard Jackie Young signed a contract extension through 2025 with the Aces on Saturday, the latest move by two-time defending champion Las Vegas to solidify its roster beyond this season.
Point guard Chelsea Gray signed an extension Tuesday that also takes her through the 2025 season. Two-time WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson also is under contract through that year. Kelsey Plum is signed through this year.
Young was second-team all-league selection last season. The year before she was named the WNBA's most improved player. She made the All-Star team the past two seasons, shooting more than 43% from 3-point range each season.
Last season, Young averaged a career-high 12.8 points.
She is one of three No. 1 overall picks on the roster. Wilson and Plum are the others.
“Jackie Young is a force to be reckoned with in the WNBA and one of the most dynamic shooting guards in the world,” Aces general manager Natalie Williams said in a statement. “Signing Jackie to an extension through 2025 was absolutely a priority for us. Watching Jackie’s growth, I believe she could be vying for that MVP title this season.”
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
FILE - Las Vegas Aces' Jackie Young (0) brings the ball down the court during the first half in Game 3 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series against the New York Liberty, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, in New York. The Aces signed guard Young to contract extension through 2025, the team announced Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
BERLIN (AP) — German authorities closed down Munich airport temporarily on Saturday after six climate activists broke through a security fence and glued themselves to access routes leading to runways, officials and local media reported.
The activists from the group Last Generation were protesting flying, the most polluting form of transportation, said the German news agency dpa.
Police have detained the six.
Incoming flights had to be diverted to other airports, an airport spokesperson said. After a couple of hours, the airport's two runways were reopened though some disruptions to flight schedules may happen, a statement on the airport’s official website said.
Last Generation posted on social media platform X, accusing the German government of “downplaying” the negative effects of flying on the environment instead of “finally acting sincerely.”
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser slammed the protests and called for them to stop. “Such criminal actions threaten air traffic and harm climate protection because they only cause lack of understanding and anger,” she wrote on X.
Fraser also applauded police efforts to bring order back to the airport and called for airport safety measures to be checked.
The general manager of the German Airports Association Ralph Beisel sharply criticized the climate activists’ actions.
“Trespassing the aviation security area is no trivial offense. Over hundreds of thousands of passengers were prevented from a relaxed and punctual start to their Pentecost holiday,” he told dpa.
Beisel also called for harsher penalties for activists who break into airports.
Climate activities blocked flights at Hamburg and Duesseldorf airports for several hours in July.
In January, Last Generation — known for gluing themselves to streets to block traffic which has infuriated many Germans — said it would abandon the tactic and move on to holding what it calls “disobedient assemblies.” Their actions have been widely criticized, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz described them as “completely nutty.”
Climate activists lie on a access road for runways at the Munich airport, Germany, Saturday, May 18, 2024. German officials and local media reported say authorities closed down Munich airport temporarily after six climate activists broke through a security fence and glued themselves to access routes leading to runways. The activists from the group Last Generation were protesting flying, the most polluting form of transportation, said the German news agency dpa on Saturday. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP)
