Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — FOOTBALL Belichick fined 50K

The NFL fined New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick $50,000 and Washington Redskins assistant Kyle Shanahan $25,000 on Wednesday for their conduct toward replacement officials. The fines come as the league and its referees’ union are meeting amid reports they are close to ending the lockout of the regular officials. Belichick grabbed an official’s arm at the end of Sunday night’s game after the Ravens kicked a winning field goal. Shanahan was cited by the league for “abuse of officials” in Washington’s loss to Cincinnati. Also, the NFL said Baltimore Ravens Coach John Harbaugh won’t be fined for making contact with a game official during Sunday’s 31-30 victory over New England. Ray Anderson, the NFL’s vice president of football operations, said Harbaugh did not violate the rule regarding abuse of officials.

The Oakland Raiders have bolstered their struggling pass rush by signing defensive end Andre Carter. The Raiders released offensive lineman Joe Barksdale on Wednesday to make room for Carter on the roster. Carter is entering his 12th season in the NFL. In 163 career games with San Francisco, Washington and New England, Carter has 76 sacks. That’s the eighth most among active players. Carter had 10 sacks last season for the Patriots before suffering a season-ending injury to his left quadriceps last December.

BASKETBALL Phoenix wins WNBA’s top pick

The Phoenix Mercury won the WNBA draft lottery Wednesday night and earned the right to choose Baylor center Brittney Griner with the top pick next year. Chicago will pick second and Tulsa third. Washington, which had theworst record in the league will pick fourth. The Mystics (5-29) had a 44 percent chance to win the top pick. The Mercury (7-27) had the second worst record in the league and a 28 percent chance of getting the No. 1 choice. The 6-foot-8 Griner, The Associated Press women’s college basketball player of the year, guided Baylor to a national championship and 40-0 record. Griner headlines a really talented class. Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne led the nation in scoring last season and is a versatile 6-foot-5 guard who can score from almost anywhere on the court. Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins has guided the Irish to the past two national championship games and is one of the most followed female athletes on Twitter.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Darrell Arthur will be out up to six weeks after breaking the top of the fibula in his left leg preparing for training camp. The Grizzlies announced the injury Wednesday. Arthur had been practicing withMemphis opening training camp Monday, and the break described as a small, non-displaced fracture in the head of his left fibula was diagnosed after a magnetic resonance imaging earlier this week. Arthur missed last season after tearing his right Achilles tendon last December. He set a career high averaging 9.1 points in the 2010-2011 season.

TENNIS Sharapova advances

Two-time champion Maria Sharapova overpowered Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-6 (5) Wednesday to advance to the Pan Pacific Open quarterfinals in Tokyo. The second-seeded Russian was coming off a tough, three-hour victory over British qualifier Heather Watson on Tuesday, while Safarova advanced to the third round on a walkover.Sharapova coasted through the first set and led 3-0 before Safarova mounted a comeback, breaking Sharapova three times to take a 6-5 lead. Sharapova broke Safarova in the final game to force a tiebreaker, which she won with an ace after 1 hour, 43 minutes. Sharapova will face Sam Stosur in the quarterfinals. The eighth-seeded Australian beat Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-4, 7-5.

Gael Monfils played another strong match in his return from a knee injury, beating South African qualifier Kevin Anderson 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 Wednesday to reach the second round of the Thailand Open in Bangkok. Monfils came back last week from nearly four months out with a right knee injury and reached the semifinals in Metz in his French homeland. On Wednesday, he blew a 3-1 lead in the third set. Anderson went ahead 5-4, but Monfils won the last three games to move on. Top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia was first into the quarterfinals after beating Japanese qualifier Hiroki Moriya 6-4, 6-4.

BASEBALL Ex-Rangers owners settles two lawsuits

DALLAS - Former Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks has settled a pair of lawsuits related to a failed multimillion-dollar development project near Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

The lawsuits were brought by companies involved in the plans for a 75-acre shopping and restaurant district dubbed GloryPark Town Center. It was envisioned as a destination for visitors to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and neighboring Cowboys Stadium, as well as a draw outside of games.

After several years of work, Hicks had to place the project on hold in 2008 because of problems with financing.

The two lawsuits sought more than $21 million in restitution for already completed work as well as damages. The lawsuits accused Hicks of not being clear about financing problems while work was being done and not following through with a commitment to transfer land for the project, land now used as parking lots for Rangers games.

Hicks once also owned the NHL’s Dallas Stars and the Liverpool soccer team of the English Premier League. Financialproblems eventually forced the Dallas developer to sell all three teams.

His attorney, Lewis LeClair, confirmed the GloryPark settlements Wednesday but declined to comment on details.

“Tom Hicks is trying to move on from the Texas Rangers and get things cleaned up,” LeClair said. “He’s satisfied with the settlement.”

One lawsuit, brought by the architecture firm RTKL Associates and construction company VCC, was dismissed Sept. 4 following a settlement, according to online court records. RTKL and VCC said they worked on the rezoning necessary for the city of Arlington to approve GloryPark as well as two parking garages for the development.

The other lawsuit, brought by developer Steiner & Associates, was settled earlier this month, an attorney for Steiner said. That lawsuit sought more than $14 million in restitution for work that wasn’t reimbursed.

Under Hicks’ ownership, the Rangers filed for bankruptcy two years ago and have since been sold to a group that includes Nolan Ryan.