CARSON CITY, Nev. — A lawyer for several Lake Tahoe hotel employees named in a civil suit that accuses Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of rape said Monday the lawsuit and timing of events are the "cold, calculated vengeance of a woman scorned."

Margo Piscevich, in a motion filed in Washoe District Court in Reno, further argues that the woman's affidavit, filed last week, is "nothing more or less than media grandstanding" and should be stricken from the court record.

In the same filing, she opposed an earlier motion by the woman's lawyer, Cal Dunlap, to amend his suit to name Harrah's corporate entity as a defendant.

CHICAGO — President Barack Obama's absence at next month's vote to award the 2016 Olympics would be noticed, IOC member Dick Pound said Monday. But he's not sure how it would affect Chicago's chances to bring the Summer Olympics back to the United States for the first time since 1996.Chicago is in a tight contest with Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo, and the presence of world leaders has been instrumental in the most recent votes.Obama has been an ardent supporter of his adopted hometown's bid for the Olympics, videotaping four messages for IOC members in recent months. But he called IOC president Jacques Rogge — personally — last week to say his priority right now must be the fight to reform the health care system.The White House is sending first lady Michelle Obama, a Chicago native who is wildly popular in her own right, to Copenhagen ahead of the Oct. 2 vote.