Basketball ref sues Kentucky media company over harassment

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A college basketball referee filed a federal lawsuit against a Kentucky media company on Tuesday, accusing it of creating conditions that led to the harassment of him and his family after he worked an NCAA Tournament game between Kentucky and North Carolina in March.

In his suit, John Higgins blamed Kentucky Sports Radio for helping incite death threats that frightened him and his family and defamatory messages on social media and in phone messages that disrupted his roofing business in suburban Omaha. The harassment came after Higgins worked Kentucky's loss to the eventual champion Tar Heels in a regional final.