Denver Post

The NBA is using All-Star weekend in Denver to introduce new security guidelines for all its arenas, in hopes of preventing a repeat of the brawl between players and fans in Auburn Hills, Mich., earlier this season. Among the new guidelines announced yesterday will be a ban on alcohol sales during the fourth quarter, a 24-ounce limit on the size of alcoholic drinks and a limit of two alcoholic drinks per customer. Designated-driver programs will be required at each arena. The new security measures are mandatory for all 30 teams.

The parents of a transgender first grader filed a civil rights complaint today in Colorado after the child's school barred their daughter from using the girls' lavatory. Coy Mathis, 6, had attended Eagleside Elementary School south of Colorado Springs since 2011. The child's parents say Coy was born male but as soon as Coy could talk insisted she was a girl, according to the Denver Post . Coy, who is the first of three triplets, dresses as a girl. Her siblings, parents, fellow students and school staff use female pronouns when referring to her. That was not sufficient for Fountain-Fort Carson school district officials.

Toronto Maple Leafs coach and general manager Pat Quinn said yesterday he's not eager to re-enter talks that could bring Eric Lindros to Toronto. A meeting is scheduled today in Toronto between the Lindros camp and Flyers general manager Bob Clarke in an attempt to move the restricted free agent. Lindros said earlier this season that Toronto was the only team he wanted to play for before expanding his choices at the March trade deadline to Detroit, Washington and St. Louis.

A family friend of the Kennedys says he is wracked by guilt because he threw the last pass to Michael Kennedy, who slammed head first into a tree and died during a football-on-skis game, the Denver Post reported yesterday. Blake Fleetwood, who said he has skied with the Kennedys for more than 20 years, told the newspaper he passed the foam football to Kennedy, who was ahead of everybody and looking back for a pass. "I've been very wracked about this, the guilt," he said. "I have this majestic view of Michael going out for a pass.

Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C., publisher of The Inquirer and Daily News, has hired Colorado media executive Eric J. Grilly as president of its Philly.com online businesses. Grilly, 36, has been the top online executive and a senior vice president at MediaNews Group Inc., of Denver, a 54-newspaper chain. He also previously held an online job with the McClatchy Co. "All the action is at the local level," Grilly said in an interview yesterday. He said the national spotlight in the media business is on Philadelphia and its local ownership group, which is attempting to capture advertisers and readers as they migrate from newspapers to Web sites.

A freshman Colorado congressman who claimed the blogosphere contributed to the recent demise of a Denver newspaper was quick to apologize for his bone-headed gaffe. At a convention of bloggers in Colorado, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Polis posed and answered his own question: "Who killed the Rocky Mountain News?" which closed last week. "We're all part of it, for better or worse, and I argue it's mostly for the better. . . . The media is dead, and long live the new media," Polis said.

Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen has sent a letter to season-ticket holders explaining why the organization had to trade Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears. Bowlen preached a message of team unity in the e-mail, reiterating that he and new coach Josh McDaniels had reached out many times to Cutler, who didn't respond to their overtures to repair the strained relationship. Bowlen, who remained largely silent during the six-week rift that ended with Thursday's blockbuster trade, wrote: "It has never been about one player and it never will be. " He added that anybody who puts himself above the team gets a ticket out of town.

Nick Van Exel and team officials will meet today to discuss the possibility of a trade, which Denver Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said might not happen. Van Exel, frustrated by an 0-4 road trip capped by Saturday's 109-99 loss to Cleveland, said he was tired of losing and asked to be traded. Vandeweghe told the Denver Post he plans to keep Van Exel and "take it as a challenge to make him happy. " Van Exel, 30, is averaging team bests of 25.1 points per game and 6.7 assists for the 7-13 Nuggets.

Vince Carter will replace Kobe Bryant on this summer's U.S. Olympic qualifying team, two international basketball sources said yesterday. Bryant officially withdrew from the team Thursday because of shoulder and knee surgery, although it had been known for almost a month that he would not participate. Bryant still plans to play for the U.S. team at the 2004 Olympics if the Americans qualify. Carter will play in the Tournament of the Americas qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico, Aug. 20 to 31. Training camp opens Aug. 10 in New York.

The Denver Nuggets are considering offering a tryout this week to former NBA rebounding champion Dennis Rodman. "We might bring him in for a day for a tryout," general manager Kiki Vandeweghe told the Denver Post for a story yesterday. "We're just looking around. We've kind of kicked the idea around a little bit. " Rodman, 42, hasn't played in the NBA since the 1999-2000 season with the Dallas Mavericks. But the Nuggets are looking for another veteran big man, and the 6-8 Rodman has played on five championship teams.