odds

In 2019, a Sudanese team of jiu-jitsu athletes set out on an extraordinary quest: to travel by land from Sudan to Kenya, despite having no funding and limited resources, to compete in the LionHeart Nairobi Open.

Together members of the Muqatel Training Center for martial arts travelled across three countries, carrying not just their hopes and dreams, but the spirit of a revolution that reshaped Sudan.

Journey to Kenya is a documentary short about resilience, unity and determination — a powerful reminder that dreams can transcend borders.

A film by Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmed, produced by In Deep Visions.

LONDON — With receiver Puka Nacua out for their game on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, the Rams are counting on Davante Adams, Tutu Atwell and Jordan Whittington.

Adams, a three-time All-Pro in his first season with the Rams, has been targeted 55 times. He has 26 catches for 396 yards and three touchdowns.

Adams and quarterback Matthew Stafford have connected on several dynamic plays, but their timing remains a work in progress.

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Gary Klein reports from Rams practice at Camden Yards in Baltimore as the team prepares for its London game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“It’s not how I drew it up as far as efficiency goes,” Adams said. “I think we both would’ve liked to be a little bit more efficient, but I know for myself over the last few [games], just based off how we started, [there’s been] a little bit of pressing.”

Stafford put the onus on himself.

“There’s been some good ones,” he said. “There’s been some missed ones. I would take the majority of the blame on a lot of those and just give him a better chance on a couple.”

Adams rose to stardom while playing eight seasons with Aaron Rodgers with the Green Bay Packers. But that connection also took time, Adams said.

“It definitely didn’t start off the first couple years, let alone the first couple of games the way that we got going,” Adams said. “Not that we have another 10 years to go, but it takes time. It’s not easy.

“Puka and Matthew have been playing together for years now and they have a little better understanding of where one another is going to be, what to expect, and just making it work. It’s been a few where there’s really no excuse for me or him. We just have to put it together.”

Atwell will be back after sitting out last Sunday’s victory over the Baltimore Ravens because of a hamstring injury. Atwell has four catches on nine targets, including one for a long touchdown.

But he said he was not concerned about targets as much as affecting the game in other ways. The speedy threat opens opportunities for Nacua, Adams and others.

“Every opportunity we’ve given him, he’s seized it,” Stafford said. “I don’t see anything different happening. If he gets more opportunities in this game, I have a ton of trust in him.”

The Rams are playing an opponent on Sunday that will be without its star quarterback and other noteworthy starters.

Sound familiar?

A week after the Rams lost to the seemingly undermanned San Francisco 49ers, they will travel to play the Lamar Jackson-less Baltimore Ravens and M&T Bank Stadium. It’s the start of an extended road trip that will see the Rams remain in Baltimore to prepare for their Oct. 19 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.

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Gary Klein breaks down what to expect from the Rams as they prepare to face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday before flying to London ahead of their Week 7 contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“You can never go into a game and be like, ‘Oh man, we’re about to walk over somebody,’” Rams defensive lineman Kobie Turner said. “It’s all NFL guys. You don’t bring your A-game for one time and you’re going to get cooked.”

The Rams found the hard way in a 26-23 overtime defeat by the 49ers. Backup quarterback Mac Jones carved up the defense with quick passes that staved off the pass rush and challenged linebackers and defensive backs.

Jackson is out because of a hamstring injury, so Cooper Rush is expected to start.

“You have to remind yourself it’s any given Sunday,” safety Quentin Lake said. “You’re sometimes like, ‘Oh man, Lamar’s out or whoever their top-tier players are.’ But now the guys coming in are even more hungry because they have to prove themselves. They’re going to give it their all and they have nothing to lose.”

The last time the Rams visited M&T Bank Stadium, they lost when the Ravens returned a punt for a walk-off touchdown.

Special teams are once again an issue for the Rams.

They have had four kicks blocked this season, including an extra-point attempt in the loss to the 49ers.

There’s a reason for the fearsome redistricting fight raging across America. It’s about Democrats trying to rein in Donald Trump and his rogue-elephant regime.

Or, if you’re the country’s aspiring strongman, it’s about avoiding accountability and sanction.

That’s why Trump and fellow Republicans are trying to rig the midterm election, by gerrymandering congressional lines in hopes of boosting the GOP’s chances of keeping its tenuous hold on the House past 2026.

California Democrats are seeking payback by redrawing the state’s congressional lines in hopes of swiping five or more GOP-held seats. Voters will have their say on the matter Nov. 4, when they decide Proposition 50.

Of course, there are two branches of Congress. Why, then, is there so much focus on the House? Simply put, it’s because of the steep odds Democrats face trying to win control of the Senate, which are somewhere between slim and none — with slim last seen cinching his saddle before cantering out of town.

Let’s take a moment for a quick refresher.

Every two years, all 435 House seats are on the ballot. Senate terms are staggered and run six years, so roughly a third of the chamber’s 100 seats are up for a vote in each federal election. In 2026, there will be 35 Senate contests.

Most won’t be remotely competitive.

In fact, more than two dozen of those races are effectively over before they begin, given the advantage one party holds over the other. Mississippi, for instance, will send a Democrat to the U.S. Senate the day that Delaware elects a Republican; both will occur right after Trump and Adam Schiff get inked with matching “I Love L.A.” tattoos.

That leaves nine Senate races that are at least somewhat competitive. Of those, three are considered toss-ups: open-seat contests in Michigan and North Carolina and the race in Georgia, where Democrat Jon Ossoff is seeking a second term.

Democrats need to gain four seats to take control of the Senate, meaning even if they win all three of those even-steven races — which is far from certain — they still need to successfully defend seats in Minnesota and New Hampshire and pick up at least one other GOP-held seat.

That’s where the going gets tough.

Kamala Harris won Maine, which suggests Republican Susan Collins could be vulnerable. But the five-term senator has repeatedly managed to hang on, even in good Democratic years.

The three other races are tougher still.

Ohio used to be a major Midwestern battleground, but it’s grown solidly Republican. Democrats landed their prized recruit, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who narrowly lost his 2024 reelection bid and may be the only Democrat with a realistic shot at the seat. Still, he’s facing an uphill fight in the special election against Republican Jon Husted, an ex-lieutenant governor who was appointed to replace Vice President JD Vance.

In Iowa, where Republican Joni Ernst is retiring, GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson starts out the favorite in another state that’s grown increasingly red. (Hinson, a USC grad and former KABC-TV intern, has taken to trash-talking the Golden State — “I don’t want to see the country look like California” — because that’s what Republicans do these days.)

Which leaves Texas, land of shattered Democratic dreams.

It’s been more than three decades since the party has won a statewide election. Ever since, Democrats have insisted this is the year they’d end their losing streak.

They’ve tried various approaches. A “dream team” that consisted of a slate of Black, white and Latino nominees. A ticket topped by political celebrity Wendy Davis, of filibuster fame. An out-of-nowhere phenom by the name of Beto O’Rourke. All failed.

This time, Democrats are hoping for an assist from the GOP.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn is seeking his fifth term and faces the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, in a primary that’s already grown fierce and ugly.

Paxton is MAGA down to the soles of his feet, which would normally give him a big advantage in a GOP primary. But his history — allegations of bribery and corruption, an impeachment trial, a messy divorce — have left him in bad odor with many Republicans.

The GOP’s Senate campaign committee and Majority Leader John Thune have aggressively thrown their weight behind Cornyn, though Trump has so far remained neutral.

Democrats would love to run against Paxton, given polls suggesting a competitive race if he’s the nominee. First, though, they’ll have to sort out their own primary.

Supporters cheer as state Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) kicks off his campaign for U.S. Senate at Centennial Plaza in Round Rock on Sept. 9.

(Mikala Compton/The Austin American-Statesman / Getty Images)

Colin Allred, the former NFL linebacker who lost in November to Ted Cruz, is running again and faces James Talarico, a state representative and seminarian from the Austin area, who’s became an online sensation with his godly persona and viral take-down of conservative pieties. O’Rourke also hasn’t ruled out another try for Senate.

Garry Mauro, a Democrat and former Texas land commissioner, is clear-eyed in assessing his party’s prospects.

“If you run on the right issues and don’t leave yourself a crazy radical … then I think you have a real chance of building a winning race,” he said. But “to say this isn’t a leaning-R state would be Pollyannish, and I’m not Pollyannish.”

Which means counting on the Lone Star to deliver a Democratic-run U.S. Senate is a bit like trusting a drunken gambler to preserve and protect your rent money.

That’s why Democrats are betting the House in hopes of corralling Trump.

GIRLS are aloud and making us proud!

OK, no more nostalgia about 1990s ‘Girl Power,’ but the times they are a-changing and then some.

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The Red Roses blossomed last weekend as the England women’s rugby team won the World Cup in front of a record 82,000 Twickenham full-house.

That came hot on the heels of our Lionesses’ back-to-back European Championships successes and proves that women’s sport is here to stay.

Rewind two or three decades and women, when mentioned in the same breath as football, was something approaching a dirty word. Just look at the history books.

In 1921 there were over 150 women’s football clubs playing games in front of 40,000-plus gates.

So what did the FA do? They banned it, saying it was “unsuitable for females.”

It only took nearly five decades for the FA to change their minds and growth in the women’s game in the 70s and 80s was slow.

In fact, the national team had to wait until 1998 to have its first full time coach, Hope Powell.

The 2012 London Olympics handed the women’s game a massive boost. TeamGB were watched by over 70,000 at Wembley against Brazil and footie for females was finally freed.

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Last year, an FA study revealed a 56 percent rise in the number of women and girls playing football in the previous four years.

The number of registered female football clubs has more than doubled in the last seven years and just look at crowds in the WSL.

Seven seasons ago the highest gate at any game was 2,648 for Chelsea against Manchester City. Last season it was nearly 57,000 for the North London derby.

A new sponsorship deal with Barclays is worth £15million a year and WSL clubs’ revenues soared 34 percent in 2023-24 alone. So from the grassroots all the way up, women’s football is on the up.

Thankfully, that kind of progress is being repeated in other sports and not just rugby, where there has been significant growth in recent years to the tune of a 60 percent rise in registered players since 2017.

What about cricket? Our girls took a pasting against the Aussies, but the World Cup is upon us with England aiming for a fifth title.

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In other sports, women do us proud. From netball’s Jade Clarke to tennis star Emma Raducanu, to athlete Keely Hodgkinson and world champion boxer Lauren Price… the list is long and shows just how women are flourishing.

Having said that, I was stunned to read that middle-distance runner Georgia Hunter Bell still worked full-time in tech sales just a few months before winning a bronze at last year’s Paris Olympics.

I cannot imagine a male elite athlete doing the same.

Georgia won silver at the World Championships last month and hopefully being a 24-7 athlete will help her go one better next time.

I’m obviously aware of the lack of female representation in the corridors of power within football and other sports, but I hope that is slowly changing.

Both the FA and PL chairs are women — Debbie Hewitt and Alison Brittain — and are doing a fine job.

Right now, though, I’d rather concentrate on the progress that has been made in a relatively short time.

The WSL is in rude health and will get bigger and better, underlining the fact that we, as a nation, are leading the way in the men’s and women’s game.

We should celebrate that because ‘girls just wanna have fun’.

The Rams shut down Saquon Barkley. They neutralized Jonathan Taylor.

Now here comes Christian McCaffrey.

On Thursday night, the Rams’ defense gets another opportunity to prove it should be regarded among the NFL’s best when the San Francisco 49ers and their multidimensional star running back visit SoFi Stadium.

The injury-riddled 49ers (3-1), with victories over the Seattle Seahawks (3-1) and Arizona Cardinals (2-2), are in first place in the NFC West. The Rams (3-1) can move into first place with a victory in the division opener.

A key will be giving McCaffrey the same treatment Barkley received in a crushing defeat by the Philadelphia Eagles, and that Taylor endured during the Rams’ victory over the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday.

Barkley, the reigning NFL offensive player of the year, gained only 46 yards in 18 carries. Taylor, the NFL’s leading rusher, gained 76 yards in 17 carries.

McCaffrey is averaging 56.3 yards rushing and 76.3 yards receiving per game. But the Rams are well-acquainted with his breakaway threat.

“He’s a fast dude who can bounce it outside,” Rams edge rusher Jared Verse said. “He can run downhill, he can make you pay if you leave even the smallest crease just like we faced the past two weeks.

“I think the biggest threat that he adds is his ability to receive, like he’s leading them in receptions for a reason. He’s leading them in yards for a reason. He’s a dangerous back when you get to it.”

Since the 49ers outbid the Rams to acquire McCaffrey at the trade deadline in 2022, McCaffrey has played against the Rams twice.

In 2022, he rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown, caught eight passes — including one for a touchdown — and passed for a touchdown in the 49ers’ 31-14 victory.

In 2023, he rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown in a 30-23 victory for the 49ers.

“We know they’re going to target him,” Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula said. “He’s going to be the focal point of their offense and it’s just a huge challenge.”

McCaffrey, however, will be operating in an offense that will be without key several players because of injuries.

Quarterback Brock Purdy and receivers Ricky Pearsall, Jauan Jennings and Jordan Watkins will not play. Star tight end George Kittle remains on injured reserve for at least one more game.

Mac Jones will start in place of Purdy.

Released by Arsenal as a youth player, Burgess went to university before he was offered a trial at Championship side Middlesbrough during his second year of study.

He earned a two-year professional contract, but was encouraged by then-manager Tony Mowbray to continue his education.

“It was something you couldn’t turn down,” he said of his first professional deal. “So I took it and finished my degree at Teesside University. They allowed me to transfer my first two years.

“Mowbray told me to make sure I finished it because the contract was a foot in the door, not a guaranteed career. I listened to his words and thankfully, I’ve been able to carve a career out with the game as well.”

Burgess enjoyed spells in League One with Peterborough and Portsmouth, before taking the plunge with a move to Belgium in 2020.

And, remarkably, he is not the only English centre-back who has swapped life in the third tier for a crack at the Belgian top flight.

Defensive partner Ross Sykes was picked up from Accrington Stanley in 2022 after Union “took a chance” on him.

The pair went on to help Union win their first league title in 90 years last season after Sykes, like Burgess, overcame adversity in his formative years.

Sykes may be 6ft 5in now, but he was previously released by Burnley because he was deemed to “too small” as a kid.

It ended up proving a turning point in his career.

“I didn’t want to keep going with academy football,” he said after he was let go at the age of 11. “But my mum and dad persuaded me to go on trial at Accrington Stanley one or two weeks later. I didn’t look back after that.”

Sykes and Burgess have gone on to make 318 appearances between them for Union on a journey that has taken the Belgian league leaders to Europe’s top table for the first time.

And Union’s 3-1 win against PSV in their first Champions League fixture did not come as a surprise to Sykes last month because his side are “not afraid to come up against anyone”.

Burgess certainly looked at home at Europe’s top table. The Union captain was rated 9.39 out of 10 by BBC Sport readers, finishing the match as the top-ranking player.

An Englishman who has only played one league game in the top two tiers of English football might not seem the most obvious to lead a European campaign – but Union have always taken the road less travelled.

“It’s a club built on the profile of bringing youngsters through from unknown leagues,” Burgess explains. “We have players from the Estonian, Latvian, Croatian, Austrian leagues and Union will give them a chance to shine if they see potential.

“My role is to help them and keep demanding high standards and usher them through, and then they get big moves all over Europe, which is a pleasure to see.”

Four of Europe’s Ryder Cup heroes will be in action at this week’s Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, headed by defending champion and three-time winner Tyrrell Hatton.

And you can bet your life they will get a much better reception from the fans than they did from the loud-mouthed yobs who hurled abuse at them at Bethpage Black.

Luke Donald’s team were certainly heroes as far as this column is concerned.

Tommy Fleetwood, another of the players teeing it up this week, was a 12-1 winner in the top points scorer market, and the 15-13 scoreline was also tipped here at 12-1

Justin Rose going out first in the singles, having been highlighted at 18-1, was the icing on the cake. Cameron Young also finished joint top in the USA points list with Xander Schauffele, having been advised at 25-1.

So the big question now is where do we “reinvest” the winnings, to try to keep the mood of celebration going?

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Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2025 betting tips

Hatton seems an obvious starting point, given his incredible record in this event. 

In his last seven starts here, he has posted a couple of runner-ups as well as his three victories. And his worst finish was a share of 15th. So 7-1 looks reasonable.

Hatton is second favourite behind world No 7 Fleetwood, who has finished second here twice, and was third 12 months ago.

He is a general 6-1, with European team-mates Matt Fitzpatrick and Robert MacIntyre next on the list at around 10-1 and 12-1 respectively.

But the Ryder Cup was such a draining experience that I am reluctant to side with any of that quartet at short prices. They have earned a bit of down time, and may not be quite as focused on this event as usual.

Marco Penge, who was a bit unlucky not to get a wild card for Bethpage after winning twice this year, looks attractively priced at 20-1.

Penge missed the cut here last year – but that was largely due to a calamitous opening round of 75 at Carnoustie, where he had a NINE and a seven on the back nine.

That can happen at the toughest course on the planet. And the big-hitting Englishman bounced back well with rounds of 69 and 70 at Kingsbarns and St Andrews.

He is a much more accomplished player now, and is second only to Rory McIlroy on the current DP World Tour money list. He could easily go one better than his runner-up finish at the hotly-contested Scottish Open three months ago.

I also like the chances of another monster hitter, Rasmus Neergard-Petersen, who is a best priced 25-1. He seemed to thrive on the links when finishing joint fourth last year.

Previous form in this event is invaluable, so 40-1 shot Haotong Li also comes into the reckoning. His share of seventh last year was his second top ten here, and a tie for fourth at this year’s Open confirmed his love of links golf.

Among the longshots, the 80-1 about Laurie Canter and Peter Uhlein deserves a second look, while improving Frenchman Tom Vaillant looks over-priced at 150-1. The same thing applies to 200-1 shot Brandon Robinson-Thompson.

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Sanderson Farms Championship betting tips

The only Ryder Cup golfer playing in the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi is another European, Rasmus Hojgaard.

He had a tough debut at Bethpage, losing both his matches. So despite a couple of runner-up finishes in his last four starts, I’m not tempted by the 33-1 on offer.

But I am keen on the 33-1 available for Mackenzie Hughes. The Canadian won here in 2022, finished top ten last year, and arrives on the back of a share of seventh in the Procore, where ten of the US Ryder Cup team were in action. 

Emilian Grillo did even better at the Procore, finishing tied fourth. He also also played well in Jackson in the past. So he is another 33-1 shot on the shortlist.

Michael Thorbjornsen is starting to justify the hype after a stellar college career, and 25-1 looks fair. Do not get him confused with Thorbjorn Olesen – but 50-1 for the former Ryder Cup man means he might be worth backing too!

Beau Hossler is another 50-1 chance worth considering, and I haven’t lost faith completely in USPGA runner-up Davis Riley despite a bunch of missed cuts. 

At 150-1 he could be worth a small interest. David Lipsky was a big disappointment at the Procore, but two third places in his previous five starts suggests he is another 150-1 shot to think about.

Remember to gamble responsibly

A responsible gambler is someone who:

• Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
• Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
• Never chase their losses
• Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry, or depressed
• Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
• Gamble Aware – www.gambleaware.org

Find our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices here.

For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk

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The NFL always provides surprises.

Who could have predicted the Rams would lose to the defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles when the Eagles blocked a potential winning field-goal attempt on the final play and returned it for a touchdown?

Now the Rams face something else completely unexpected: The unbeaten Indianapolis Colts.

When the schedule was announced last spring, the Colts looked like a relatively easy matchup for the Rams sandwiched between games against the Eagles and a Thursday night game against the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers.

But energized by quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Jonathan Taylor, the Colts will arrive at SoFi Stadium with one of the NFL’s top offenses and an unblemished record after victories over the Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans.

Jones, 28, has been the biggest surprise.

After six seasons with the New York Giants and a short stint late last season with the Minnesota Vikings, Jones has been outstanding for the Colts.

He has passed for three touchdowns, with no interceptions, and has rushed for three touchdowns.

“Going from the Giants, where he did well for certain years and then kind of fell off and then came back,” Rams safety Quentin Lake said. “You’re looking at a quarterback that has nothing to lose because people already wrote him off.”

The Colts also rank seventh in total defense.

The Rams welcome the opportunity to play another tough opponent after the stunning loss to the Eagles.

“When you go from tough challenge to tough challenge, from the Eagles to a team that is red-hot… you can still keep your intensity rather than going into a game where it’s like a team coming in 0-3 or 1-2,” Lake said.

The winless New York Giants used a first-round pick on Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart, and Sunday they’ll get a first regular-season glimpse at that investment.

It’s a rough way to start for the rookie, who will face a swarming defense and an undefeated opponent.

The 22-year-old Dart replaces the struggling Russell Wilson and takes over an offense that has scored fewer than 10 points in two of three games. Dart looked good in the preseason with three touchdowns and no interceptions but has played just six snaps in real games and has yet to attempt a pass.

The Chargers (3-0) are rolling, having won three consecutive AFC West games with outstanding play from Justin Herbert and six-time Pro Bowl receiver Keenan Allen, who has caught a touchdown pass in all three of those games. Receiver Quentin Johnston, once plagued by drops, has emerged as a sure-handed deep threat.

Not since 2002 have the Chargers gotten off to a 4-0 start.

How the Chargers can win: Pile the game on the inexperienced shoulders of Dart. Put him in third-and-long situations and force him to throw (but watch for an early deep shot). The Giants struggle to stop the run, so cut loose Omarion Hampton and let Herbert scramble for a couple first downs. Take the crowd out of the game ASAP.

How the Giants can win: Herbert got beat up by Denver last week (five sacks), so something is going on with pass protection, especially if guard Mekhi Becton isn’t in there. The Giants (0-3) need their front four to create a rush so they can drop seven defenders. Don’t let Herbert beat them with his legs. Keep Dart in third-and-manageable.

The series kicked off this weekend with the highly anticipated launch show, with the celebrities meeting their professional partners for the first time

Strictly Come Dancing is back on our screens with a bang after an epic launch show which saw this year’s batch of famous faces paired up with their professional partners.

Viewers tuned in to see the 15 celebrities meet their dance partners as well as perform in a huge group dance for the very first time as the real competition begins next week.

However, before this year’s crop even shows off their dance moves or lack of, two celebrities have already secured a huge advantage. The bookies have declared which contestants are favourites to win and there’s two that are at the top of the list, according to Paddy Power.

Currently, Emmerdale star and late entrant, Lewis Cope is leading the pack with a bookies odds of 12/5 and just behind him is Love Island winner Dani Dyer, who is on 7/2 at the time of writing.

Rounding out the top five are model Ellie Goldstein with 6/1, social media sensation George Clarke at 9/1 and Gladiators star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey.

READ MORE: Strictly Come Dancing star Vicky Pattison admits filming launch show was ‘worst experience’READ MORE: Strictly Come Dancing star La Voix’s life including TV career and real name

On the other end and currently the least favourites to win are former rugby ace Chris Robshaw and Lorraine showbiz correspondent Ross King, who have outside chances of winning at 100/1.

This makes these two contestants favourites to leave the show first, with Ross at 5/2 to exit the show first, with Chris at 3/1.

During the launch show, the first pairings unveiled were Lewis with Katya Jones, Dani with Nikita Kuzmin, Ross and Jowita Przystal, Chris and Nadiya Bychkova and Drag Race UK’s La Voix with Aljaz Skorjanec.

The next to be revealed were Vicky Pattison and Kai Widdrington, Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe, Ellie and Vito Coppola, Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon plus Karen Carney and Carlos Gu.

The final matches were confirmed as Harry and Karen Hauer, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Lauren Oakley, George and Alexis Warr, Stefan Dennis and Dianne Buswell as well as Thomas Skinner and Amy Dowden.

Following the announcement, many fans sadly predicted Ross would be first out as one said: “Poor Jowita out first.” Another added: “Sorry Jowita, it’s an early exit for you this year.”

Eagle-eyed viewers also revealed they think they’ve spotted early signs of tensions between one celebrity and their dance partner. The Apprentice 2019 star Thomas was paired with Welsh beauty Amy but viewers are convinced the two will clash.

Eyebrows were raised when show hosts Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly introduced the coupled up dancers and interviewed them about their early experiences together. Talking to Thomas and Amy in the green room, Claudia asked the former Apprentice hopeful what his dream Strictly breakfast would be.

He replied: “The best breakfast. We’re going down Deano’s cafe, nice and early, before we get started, get spicy Korean noodles, with chicken breasts and poached eggs and a little bit of Tabasco sauce.

He continued: “Or, if you don’t fancy that, we can have the sunshine chicken curry with the round chips.”

But fans noticed that Amy didn’t look convinced by Thomas’s suggestion, commented that they would beed to dance some of their routines close together, and remarked: “I really hope your food doesn’t repeat on you whilst you dance.”

Thomas then suggested he would be able to freshen his breath with chewing gum before they needed to dance closely. But viewers were convinced they could smell friction between the pair.

Taking to X, one shared a screenshot of Amy’s distressed expression that she pulled when Thomas was describing his dream breakfast. They wrote: “Oh Amy you poor thing getting put with skinner.”

And another shared a similar screenshot and wrote: “Amy Dowden’s face speaking for everybody at the same time… #Strictly #TomSkinner.”

The Rams are off to a great start — but now comes the big test.

The defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles, like the Rams, are 2-0.

Sunday’s game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia will be the Rams’ third opportunity in less than a year to show they can beat a team that ended their 2024 season with a defeat in an NFC divisional-round game.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and a defense that has surrendered only one touchdown helped the Rams to victories over the Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans.

The Eagles feature running back Saquon Barkley — the reigning NFL offensive player of the year — quarterback Jalen Hurts, one of the NFL’s best offensive lines and a defense led by tackle Jalen Carter. They have defeated the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs.

Barkley rushed for more than 200 yards and scored on two long touchdown runs in each of the Eagles’ victories over the Rams last season.

The Rams added lineman Poona Ford and linebacker Nate Landman in the offseason to improve the run defense.

Rams coach Sean McVay is 1-5 against the Eagles. He will once again scheme against Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

“Is this a great challenge? You’re damn right it is,” McVay said, adding, “They’ve gotten after us. They’ve gotten the results that they wanted. You can see it’s a combination of a lot of great things that they have going there. … Let’s go swing and see what happens.”

A couple of former University of Oregon quarterbacks square off Sunday in a pivotal AFC West matchup. It’s Justin Herbert of the Chargers and Bo Nix of the Denver Broncos, both backed by talented defenses.

The Chargers are making their season debut at SoFi Stadium, and they already have two big pelts to hang on the wall. They’ve beaten Kansas City and Las Vegas, and against Denver are looking to sweep their first half of AFC West games. Last season, in the debut of Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton with their respective teams, the Chargers swept the Broncos.

“Obviously, his success speaks for itself both at the NFL level and college level,” Payton told reporters this week of Harbaugh. “I was excited that he got a job in our league, but not so much in our division.”

How the Chargers can win: Get another strong performance from Herbert. Spread the ball around to exploit soft spots in Denver’s secondary. Put the clamps on a Broncos ground game and in particular former Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins. So far, the Chargers rank eighth in run defense.

How the Broncos can win: Win on early downs so they can avoid third-and-five (or longer) situations. Establish the run to set up the play-action passing game. Finish stronger — Denver has tended to fade late in games. Make the Chargers one-dimensional; they’ve had a hard time establishing the run.

The analysis looked at departure data for six of the biggest airlines – British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Tui and Wizz Air – between May 2024 and April 2025. They show that all of the airlines were less punctual now than before the pandemic in 2019

The worst offending airlines for delays have been revealed amid an industry-wide slipping of standards.

Take-offs within 15 minutes of planned departure times are down significantly pre-Covid compared to now for almost all major airlines flying through UK airspace, according to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data.

There are several factors in play, including a rise in the number of flights taking off, airspace restrictions as a result of military conflicts and issues with air traffic control (ATC) staffing.

Which? studied checked departure data for six of the biggest airlines – British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Tui and Wizz Air – between May 2024 and April 2025. They show that all of the airlines were less punctual now than before the pandemic in 2019.

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Out of the six big UK airlines, Tui was the worst for punctuality according to the analysis, with the lowest average percentage of on-time departures. Back in 2019, an average of 67.2 per cent of Tui’s departures were on time, but by 2024–25, that had slipped to 59.2 per cent.

Second-worst for punctuality for the time period Which? looked at was Wizz Air. Its average on-time rate was already as low as 66.8 per cent back in 2019, and by 2023 it had plummeted to 55.6 per cent. In 2024–25 it now has fewer delays with 66 per cent, almost back to its pre-pandemic level.

It’s a similar story for Ryanair, whose average on-time departures were at 77.8 per cent in 2019 but fell to 63 per cent by 2022, only recovering to 66.5 per cent by 2024–25.

easyJet’s punctuality was 70.6 per cent in 2019 but dropped to 67.8 per cent in 2024–25, while the CAA data also showed a decline in Jet2’s punctuality. In 2019 departures punctuality was 81.8 per cent, and in 2024–25 was 68 per cent.

British Airways’ punctuality was at 71.5 per cent in 2019, and as high as 75.8 per cent the year before. By 2024–25 it had fallen to 68.7 per cent.

Some airlines are blaming air traffic control (ATC) for these delays. In May, Ryanair launched a website called ‘Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight’, along with a ‘League of Delays’ claiming to expose the worst ATCs across Europe for delays ‘due to mismanagement and staff shortages from January to May 2025’.

Eurocontrol, which speaks for the European network of air traffic controllers, admitted that in some parts of the network, the number of ATC officers is 10–20 per cent lower than would be needed to manage the demand.

The UK’s own ATC body, NATS (formerly known as National Air Traffic Services), said that it is “fully staffed and operating normally”.

Any other air traffic control delays are only exacerbated by other factors at play. Some parts of the airspace, through which major airlines fly, are closed off for military or geopolitical reasons.

Eurocontrol has said that the crisis in the Middle East has led to traffic becoming unevenly spread – after already losing 20 per cent of airspace following the war in Ukraine. Those complexities add to an already expanding ATC workload. Airport capacity is another issue.

And while delays are worsening, airlines are putting on record numbers of flights. Although Ryanair hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels of punctuality, it scheduled 162,411 flights in 2024, according to CAA data – 24,192 more than in 2019. Wizz Air put on 29,325 flights in 2024, up 3,534 from the 25,791 it flew in 2019.

A spokesperson for easyJet said: “easyJet always does all possible to get our customers to their destinations on time and minimise any delays despite flying in some of the most congested airspace in the world.”

A spokesperson for Tui said: “Punctuality is super important to us and has highest priority but there is one topic even more important: to operate each and every flight and to not cancel any flight. That’s what we do at TUI because we have holidaymakers onboard which we want to fly to their destination and also back.

“So, sometimes we have flights delayed by a couple of hours because we need to get a replacement aircraft ready. But for guests the good news is: their flight isn’t cancelled and they can still fly. Other airlines have or use the possibility to cancel flights which then would also not be part of the delay statistics anymore.

“And, one important point: within our overall fleet of 130 airplanes we have about 11 spare airplanes – the highest number we ever had and which helps us to keep a network alive without cancellations.

“So yes we want to be more punctual but we also keep our credo to never cancel, which is the even more important topic for our holiday guests.”

A spokesperson for Wizz Air said: “At Wizz Air, every minute matters, and that’s why we are committed to ensuring our customers reach their destinations as smoothly and as promptly as possible. Some delays are outside of our control, and we do whatever we can to avoid cancellations. Our completion rate (meaning completing the flights we schedule) was one of the best in the entire industry in 2024 at 99.4% – and that has increased to 99.9% for flights from the UK between January and April this year. While we know delays are frustrating and we always try our best to avoid them, we would rather delay than cancel a flight, as we know how important it is for our passengers to reach their destinations.

“Our on-time performance (flights arriving when they are scheduled to) continues to improve. From 2022 to 2024, our on-time performance for flights from the UK improved by more than 20%. We were also named the UK’s second-most punctual airline in Cirium’s 2024 On-Time Performance Review, achieving a 70.54% on-time arrival record. The percentage of delayed flights is also decreasing year-on-year. In particular, longer delays are a rare occurrence, with just 1% of flights from the UK in 2025* delayed for three hours or more.

“The facts speak for themselves, and this progress reflects the effort and investment we have made in improving our service, which is a daily focus for us. But we know there is more work to be done. Punctuality is a key priority of our Customer First Compass – a £12 billion framework to ensure we can deliver the best possible service for our customers. As part of this, we are enhancing the resilience of our operations to minimise cancellations, reduce delays and provide fast solutions in the event of a disruption.”

British Airways and Ryanair did not comment.

Fresh off a toppling of Kansas City, the Chargers make their second stop on their whirlwind tour of the AFC West to face another familiar foe.

It’s Jim Harbaugh versus Pete Carroll, a coaching rivalry that began when Harbaugh was at Stanford and Carroll was at USC, and continued with Harbaugh at the San Francisco 49ers and Carroll at the Seattle Seahawks.

“You’d be friends,” Harbaugh said. “You’d be almost like brothers if it wasn’t for being on opposite sidelines. It’s the kind of guy you’d send a Christmas card to, but you don’t, because you’re too busy trying to scratch each other’s eyeballs out. Nature of the business. Dog-eat-dog.”

Like the Chargers, the Raiders opened with a win on the road, a 20-13 victory at New England.

The Las Vegas defense clamped down in that one, allowing the Patriots just 60 yards on the ground and a four-of-14 performance on third downs.

Geno Smith threw for 362 yards in his Raiders debut, and rookie Ashton Jeanty ran for his first NFL touchdown.

Tight end Brock Bowers had five catches for 103 yards before leaving the game with a banged-up knee.

How the Chargers can win: Get to Smith, who was sacked four times in the opener. Don’t allow him the time to complete those deep passes. Get a command performance from that array of receivers who put on a show in Brazil. Let Justin Herbert keep the Raiders’ defense honest by tearing off an off-schedule run or two.

How the Raiders can win: Put the ball in the hands of Bowers, providing he’s back up to full speed. Get a breakout game from Jeanty, who did score against the Patriots but only averaged two yards per carry. Take advantage of a reshuffled Chargers offensive line, something the Chiefs couldn’t do.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford, the linchpin to the Rams’ aspirations for another Super Bowl appearance, emerged largely unscathed from a season-opening victory over the Houston Texans, but another great challenge awaits the offensive line Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

Left guard Steve Avila is doubtful because of an ankle injury and right guard Kevin Dotson will be playing through an ankle issue.

Not great news for a group that must contain Titans defensive end Jeffery Simmons.

“He is really disruptive,” Stafford said of Simmons, who sacked Stafford three times in a Rams defeat in 2021, “gets off on the count, physical, fast and plays with a nasty streak.”

To reinforce the line and help establish the rushing attack, coach Sean McVay could deploy multiple tight ends.

The Rams’ defense faces quarterback Cam Ward, the top pick in the NFL draft.

Ward completed 12 of 28 passes for 112 yards in a 20-12 defeat by the Denver Broncos. He was sacked six times.

“He didn’t play bad last week,” Rams edge rusher Byron Young said. “He looked pretty comfortable back there even though he got sacked a few times. He was handling himself pretty well. … He knows what he’s doing. Even though he’s a rookie, he’s definitely somebody you can’t sleep on.”

If the Rams pass rush wants to christen itself as the NFL’s most ferocious, the Houston Texans could offer a prime chance to showcase its “dangerous” capabilities.

The offensive line has been a significant concern for the Texans, to the point where coach DeMeco Ryans is tired of talking about it. Despite quarterback CJ Stroud being sacked 52 times last season (third most in the NFL), Houston wasn’t necessarily able to improve the unit, especially after trading blindside protector Laremy Tunsil to Washington.

The mostly fresh-faced starting five will be tasked with staying in front of a Rams pass rush contingent that enters the season ranked sixth in the NFL by Pro Football Focus.

Jared Verse, Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske and Byron Young could create significant issues for Stroud, and Poona Ford could be the missing ingredient the Rams need to shore up their defensive front to create even more problems for opposing offenses.

Stroud isn’t the only one facing a tough pass rush. Matthew Stafford and his recovering back will be tested against a Houston defense that racked up 49 sacks (fourth in NFL) and 19 interceptions (second) last season.

The 37-year-old quarterback didn’t practice until late into training camp, but Stafford and coach Sean McVay have said they are confident everything will be normal.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST boss Nuno Espirito Santo and West Ham’s Graham Potter are joint-favourites to be the first Premier League managerial casualties of the 2025/26 season.

That’s according to bookmaker talkSPORT BET, who’ve updated their betting markets after more twists and turns in the Premier League sack race.

Find The Sun’s betting publishing principles here

Next Premier League Manager To Leave

talkSPORT BET odds

• Nuno Espirito Santo – 11/8
• Graham Potter – 11/8
• Keith Andrews – 12/1
• Ruben Amorim – 12/1
• Daniel Farke – 16/1

Here, SunSport takes a closer look at the leading contenders – and who’s most likely to get the boot first.

Nuno Espirito Santo – 11/8

Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo remains firmly in the frame to be the first Premier League manager axed this season, amid ongoing uncertainty at the City Ground.

The 51-year-old lit the fuse last week by admitting his relationship with owner Evangelos Marinakis has “changed” – and that they’re “not as close” as they once were.

Tensions are understood to stem from the club’s summer transfer dealings, now overseen by Edu, with Nuno reportedly frustrated at being sidelined from key recruitment decisions.

Forest have splashed more than £150million on seven new signings – including Omari Hutchinson, Dan Ndoye, Arnaud Kalimuendo and James McAtee – but Nuno still wants more, including a new goalkeeper and two full-backs.

Despite the growing pressure, Nuno has insisted he won’t walk away – but notably refused to guarantee he’ll still be in charge by the end of the transfer window on September 1.

He had been as short as 1/2 to be the first top-flight boss shown the door, but has drifted to 11/8 following a crisis emerging at West Ham.

2

Graham Potter – 11/8

West Ham’s Graham Potter is now level with Nuno at 11/8, having shortened from 3/1 earlier in the week after a horror run of results.

His miserable week hit a new low on Tuesday when the Hammers were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Wolves, conceding twice in the final eight minutes in a 3-2 defeat – with Jorgen Strand Larsen bagging a brace.

The full-time whistle saw tempers boil over, with captain Jarrod Bowen confronting a furious supporter during heated post-match scenes.

That came on the back of a 5-1 thrashing by Chelsea at the London Stadium and an opening-day defeat to newly-promoted Sunderland.

Potter’s numbers make grim reading – just five wins in 22 matches since replacing Julen Lopetegui in January, with 12 defeats and a return of 0.95 points per game – the worst record of any manager in West Ham’s history.

The Hammers must now pick themselves up ahead of a weekend trip to face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, before clashes against Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Everton and Arsenal.

2

What happened last season?

A total of eight Premier League managers were shown the door last season, with Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag the first to go in October.

Steve Cooper’s short-lived stint at Leicester came to a sudden end in November, before Wolves and Southampton parted ways with Gary O’Neil and Russell Martin on the same December afternoon.

Julen Lopetegui and Sean Dyche followed in January, their departures announced less than 24 hours apart. In April, Ivan Juric became the second Southampton manager to be sacked during the 2024–25 campaign.

Despite ending Tottenham’s 17-year trophy drought, Ange Postecoglou was the final manager to leave his post, dismissed in June after overseeing the club’s worst-ever Premier League finish – 17th.

About the author

James Anderson

James Anderson is a Betting & Gaming Writer at The Sun. He is an expert in sports betting and online casinos, and joined the company in November 2020 to work closely with leading bookmakers and online gaming companies to curate content in all areas of sports betting. He previously worked as a Digital Sports Reporter and Head of Live Blogs/Events at the Daily Express and Daily Star, covering football, cricket, snooker, F1 and horse racing.

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Kyiv, Ukraine – Nadiya escaped the rapists and killers only because her father hid her in a haystack amidst the shooting, shouting and bloodshed that took place 82 years ago.

“He covered me with hay and told me not to get out no matter what,” the 94-year-old woman told Al Jazeera – and asked to withhold her last name and personal details.

On July 11, 1943, members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA), a nationalist paramilitary group armed with axes, knives and guns, stormed Nadiya’s village on the Polish-Ukrainian border, killing ethnic Polish men and raping women.

“They also killed anyone who tried to protect the Poles,” Nadiya said.

The nonagenarian is frail and doesn’t go out much, but her face, framed by milky white hair, lights up when she recalls the names and birthdays of her grand- and great-grandchildren.

She also remembers the names of her neighbours who were killed or forced to flee to Poland, even though her parents never spoke about the attack, now known as the Volyn massacre.

“The Soviets forbade it,” Nadiya said, noting how Moscow demonised the UIA, which kept fighting the Soviets until the early 1950s.

Nadiya said her account may enrage today’s Ukrainian nationalists who lionise fighters of the UIA for having championed freedom from Moscow during World War II.

After Communist purges, violent atheism, forced collectivisation and a famine that killed millions of Ukrainians, the UIA leaders chose what they thought was the lesser of two evils. They sided with Nazi Germany, which invaded the USSR in 1941.

In the end, though, the Nazis refused to carve out an independent Ukraine and threw one of the UIA’s leaders, Stepan Bandera, into a concentration camp.

But another UIA leader, Roman Shukhevych, was accused of playing a role in the Holocaust – and in the mass killings of ethnic Poles in what is now the western Ukrainian region of Volyn and adjacent areas in 1943.

Genocide?

Up to 100,000 civilian Poles, including women and children, were stabbed, axed, beaten or burned to death during the Volyn massacre, according to survivors, Polish historians and officials who consider it a “genocide”.

“What’s horrifying isn’t the numbers but the way the murders were carried out,” Robert Derevenda of the Polish Institute of National Memory told Polskie Radio on July 11.

This year, the Polish parliament decreed July 11 as “The Volyn Massacre Day” in remembrance of the 1943 killings.

“A martyr’s death for just being Polish deserves to be commemorated,” the bill said.

“From Poland’s viewpoint, yes, this is a tragedy of the Polish people, and Poland is fully entitled to commemorate it,” Kyiv-based analyst Igar Tyshkevych told Al Jazeera.

However, rightist Polish politicians may use the day to promote anti-Ukrainian narratives, and a harsh response from Kyiv may further trigger tensions, he said.

“All of these processes ideally should be a matter of discussion among historians, not politicians,” he added.

Ukrainian politicians and historians, meanwhile, call the Volyn massacre a “tragedy”. They cite a lower death toll and accuse the Polish army of the reciprocal killing of tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians.

In post-Soviet Ukraine, UIA leaders Bandera and Shukhevych have often been hailed as national heroes, and hundreds of streets, city squares and other landmarks are named after them.

Evolving views and politics

“[The USSR] branded ‘Banderite’ any proponent of Ukraine’s independence or even any average person who stood for the legitimacy of public representation of Ukrainian culture,” Kyiv-based human rights advocate Vyacheslav Likhachyov told Al Jazeera.

The demonisation backfired when many advocates of Ukraine’s independence began to sympathise with Bandera and the UIA, “turning a blind eye to their radicalism, xenophobia and political violence”, he said.

In the 2000s, anti-Russian Ukrainian leaders began to celebrate the UIA, despite objections from many Ukrainians, especially in the eastern and southern regions.

These days, the UIA is seen through a somewhat myopic prism of Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia, according to Likhachyov.

Ukraine’s political establishment sees the Volyn massacre and armed skirmishes between Ukrainians and Poles as only “a war related to the Ukrainians’ ‘fight for their land’”, according to Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher at Bremen University in Germany.

“And during a war, they say, anything happens, and a village, where the majority is on the enemy’s side, is considered a ‘legitimate target’,” he explained.

Many right-leaning Ukrainian youngsters “fully accepted” Bandera’s radicalism and the cult of militant nationalism, he said.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, thousands of far-right nationalists rallied throughout Ukraine to commemorate Bandera’s January 1 birthday.

“Bandera is our father, Ukraine is our mother,” they chanted.

Within hours, the Polish and Israeli embassies issued declarations in protest, reminding them of the UIA’s role in the Holocaust and the Volyn massacre.

Far-right activists began volunteering to fight Moscow-backed separatists in southeastern Ukraine in 2014 and enlisted in droves in 2022.

“In the situational threat to [Ukraine’s] very existence, there’s no room for reflection and self-analysis,” rights advocate Likhachyov said.

Warsaw, meanwhile, will keep using the Volyn massacre to make demands for concessions while threatening to oppose Ukraine’s integration into the European Union, he said.

As for Moscow, it “traditionally plays” the dispute to sow discord between Kyiv and Warsaw, analyst Tyshkevych said, and to accuse Ukrainian leaders of “neo-Nazi” proclivities.

Is reconciliation possible?

Today, memories of the Volyn massacre remain deeply contested. For many Ukrainians, the UIA’s image as freedom fighters has been bolstered by Russia’s 2022 invasion, somewhat pushing aside reflection on the group’s role in the World War II atrocities.

For Poland, commemoration of the massacre has become a marker of national trauma and, at times, a point of leverage in political disputes with Ukraine.

In April, Polish experts began exhuming the remnants of the Volyn massacre victims in the western Ukrainian village of Puzhniky after Kyiv lifted a seven-year moratorium on such exhumations. Some believe this may be a first step in overcoming the tensions over the Volyn massacre.

Reconciliation, historians say, won’t come easily.

“The way to reconciliation is often painful and requires people to accept historical realities they’re uncomfortable with,” Ivar Dale, a senior policy adviser with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a human rights watchdog, told Al Jazeera.

“Both [Poland and Ukraine] are modern European democracies that  can handle an objective investigation of past atrocities in ways that a country like Russia unfortunately can not,” he said.

June 27 (UPI) — The Michigan legislature is nearing its July 1 deadline to approve its budget bills but the state House and Senate are at odds over anti-transgender and diversity, equity and inclusion provisions.

Earlier this month, the Republican majority in the Michigan House of Representatives passed budget bills that would penalize schools, universities and community colleges for allowing transgender girls and women to participate in girls’ and women’s sports.

Democrats, with a slim majority in the Senate, passed a different version of a budget proposal late last month. It does not include any such provisions or references to DEI initiatives and girls’ and women’s sports.

Michigan’s school aid budget bill will establish how much state funding public schools and institutions of higher learning will receive in the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1. Since the two chambers passed different versions of the bill, they must find a compromise to send a final version to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer‘s desk.

“Ultimately, education funding bills need to be passed,” Jonathan Hanson, lecturer in public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, told UPI.

“They have to work out some kind of compromise. How do you meet in the middle with respect to some of this language? It’s not immediately obvious how to compromise on those things.”

The house budget proposes withholding 20% of a school district’s discretionary funding if it is in violation of prohibitions on transgender athletes participating in female sports, having curriculum that “includes race or gender stereotyping” or funding “DEI initiatives.”

The same prohibitions apply to public universities and community colleges. Institutions in violation of these provisions could have 5% of monthly operations installments withheld by the state budget director.

The proposals cite President Donald Trump‘s executive orders “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” and “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” as supporting federal regulations.

Less than 1% of adults in the United States identify as transgender. A smaller fraction of a percent of minors identify as transgender.

Twenty-seven states have passed laws banning or restricting transgender athletes from participating in the sports that are consistent with their gender identity.

In the 2024-2025 school year, about 175,000 Michigan high school athletes participated in sports, according to the Michigan High School Athletic Association. Two transgender students held waivers to participate and both participated only in fall sports.

“It brings up a lot of ‘whys,'” Jay Kaplan, staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan’s LGBTQ+ Project, told UPI. “Why this inordinate amount of focus? Why does this seem to be a priority?”

Kaplan explained that the athletic association’s waiver system is already a mechanism meant to address concerns people may have regarding student-athlete participation.

“These budgetary provisions, they can be challenged as discriminatory,” Kaplan said. “Our message to these legislators is, ‘Do your job.’ What’s your plan for affordable housing? What’s your plan to bring more businesses to the state and improve the economy?”

The Republican sponsors of the proposals in the house, Rep. Tim Kelly and Rep. Gregory Markkanen, did not respond to requests for comment.

“Our local schools have been asking for the freedom to use state funding how they please, free of overregulation and burdensome government mandates,” Rep. Joseph Pavlov, R-District 64, said in a statement. “Now, thanks to the new budget plan House Republicans have put together, schools are getting exactly that in record amounts of funding. This will go a long way in turning around the decline in educational performance our state has seen for a long time now.”

Kaplan said the political makeup of the legislature and the governor’s office offers some assurance that provisions like the anti-trans house school budget proposal will fail in Michigan. Next year’s midterm elections will be crucial in determining if that level of assurance continues.

“We’re fortunate in Michigan,” Kaplan said. “We’ve done a lot of hard work. The LGBTQ community and allies, we’ve all worked together. Michigan has some very good policies for the LGBTQ. We have explicit civil rights for the LGBTQ. If anyone is singled out, we’re going to challenge it.”

Democrats have a 19 to 18 majority in the Senate with one seat — Senate District 35 — vacant. Whitmer, a Democrat, has the authority to call a special election for the vacant Senate seat, which she has not done.

Republicans took a 58 to 52 majority in the House in the 2024 election. Democrats held a majority in the House chamber since 2023.

Michigan will elect a new governor in 2026 as Whitmer will reach her term limit.

“What we’re seeing from the Republican side is the incorporation of national Republican policy coming from the White House regarding things like DEI initiatives and trans athletes,” Hanson said. “The fact that this is entering into state budget policies and money is tied to focusing on a minority group that is really small, it makes it seem like they’re focusing on things that aren’t really problems,”