Louisville, Ky. — Artwork showing Muhammad Ali in a classic pose, in white trunks and red boxing gloves, was stolen from an exhibit while it was open to the public at the Muhammad Ali Center. Surveillance cameras recorded the brazen theft, and a manhunt was under way for a suspect.

The signed print of a painting by LeRoy Neiman, valued at $5,000, was taken around 1 p.m. EDT Saturday, Louisville police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said on Tuesday. He said investigators were trying to locate “a person of strong interest.”

The signed artwork was displayed in the Ali Center’s LeRoy Neiman Gallery when it was taken. The center in Ali’s hometown of Louisville showcases his career as a three-time heavyweight boxing champion and the humanitarian causes he fought for throughout his adult life.

The center promotes six core principles Ali espoused — confidence, conviction, dedication, giving, respect and spirituality.

Ali died in June at age 74 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Ali Center spokeswoman Jeanie Kahnke said it was the first time an exhibit piece had been stolen from the downtown center.

Youth SportsNY Top Court: League Not at Fault for Brawl

Albany, n.y. — A local youth hockey association is not responsible for a brawl that erupted among spectators at a 2006 tournament for 13-year-olds, the state’s highest court ruled on Tuesday.

The lawsuit was filed by Raymond Pink, who received a head injury in the melee following the game between teams from Rome and Whitestown. He had argued that the Rome Youth Hockey Association failed to enforce a “zero tolerance” policy on violence in the stands.

The court ruled, however, that the hockey association could not have foreseen the incident. The man who struck Pink later pleaded guilty to assault.

“The criminal assault … was not a reasonably foreseeable result of any failure to take preventative measures,” the court ruled.

In its decision, the Court of Appeals granted the hockey association’s motion for summary judgment, ending the case.

CollegesNCAA, UNC at OddsOver Academic Scandal

Chapel Hill, n.c. — The NCAA says North Carolina’s argument that the governing body lacks jurisdiction in the school’s ongoing multi-year academic case is “without merit.”

In a Sept. 19 filing released by the school on Tuesday, the NCAA enforcement staff pushed back against the school’s procedural arguments in response to five serious charges by saying they lacked merit. UNC had argued there was an expired four-year statute of limitations and that a March 2012 ruling in an earlier case should have precluded some of the current charges.

UNC had also argued that some material from an outside investigator’s report into academic irregularities on the Chapel Hill campus shouldn’t be used because interviews weren’t performed to NCAA protocols.

The school is scheduled to appear before an infractions committee panel in Indianapolis on Friday in what amounts to a pretrial hearing.

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