struggling

Dodgers lose to Arizona

From Maddie Lee: It’s no secret that the Dodgers haven’t played their best baseball over the last nine days. But during their 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, they exacerbated the trend.

Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski remained in a rut, giving up four runs (three earned) in 3⅓ innings. The two-run homer he surrendered to Diamondbacks switch hitter Ketel Marte in the first inning was the ninth home run he has given up in three starts.

Before his recent struggles, Wrobleski hadn’t surrendered more than three homers in a three-game span this season.

He left a fastball belt-high to Marte, who entered Sunday with a .913 OPS against left-handed pitchers. Marte lined it into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen in the left-field corner.

After Wrobleski’s last start, manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers (70-48) would look into whether the left-hander might be tipping pitches, but he said before the game Sunday that those suspicions seemed “unfounded.”

“I’m just not good enough right now,” Wrobleski said. “It’s kind of what it comes down to. It’s really frustrating. Execution just hasn’t been as good. I feel like [Sunday] just wasn’t good enough. And, again, I’ve got to be better. … I’m not the type to give up. So I’m ready to bear down. This is kind of where you can go two ways, and I’m excited to keep working, and I’m excited for my next one.”

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Shaikin: The Shohei Ohtani Economy: A two-mile ride to Dodger Stadium, for $85

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Angels routed by Marlins

Kyle Stowers tripled, singled and drove in two runs before exiting because of left hamstring discomfort in the fifth inning, and the Miami Marlins beat the Angels 12-3 on Sunday.

Griffin Conine homered twice and Javier Sanoja had two singles and three RBIs for the Marlins. Miami’s Otto López had two infield singles, giving him 46 multi-hit games.

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Angels box score

MLB standings

Davante Adams focuses on improving Rams

From Gary Klein: A few hours after their season-ending defeat in the NFC championship game last January, the Rams boarded a plane for their flight home from Seattle.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford was seated a row in front of veteran receiver Davante Adams, who once again had fallen just short of finally reaching the Super Bowl.

“He’s turning around, he’s looking at me, like, ‘I’m sorry, man, I wanted that for you so bad,’” Adams recalled. “Not for him, but he wanted it for me.”

Adams, 33, is expected to get another shot at playing on the NFL’s biggest stage.

The star-studded Rams are favored to not only play in but win Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.

Since the Green Bay Packers selected him out of Fresno State in the second round of the 2014 draft, Adams has played in and lost five NFC championship games, including last season’s 31-27 defeat by the eventual Super Bowl-champion Seahawks.

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Speedy rookie Brenen Thompson could spark Chargers

From Joaquin Ruiz: Chargers rookie wide receiver Brenen Thompson said he doesn’t love zipping around.

“To be fair, I really hate running,” Thompson, a former track star, said. “But I’m really good at it.”

Thompson has proven that so far in Chargers training camp, sprinting around defenders and maximizing his 5-foot-9, 170-pound frame in passing drills.

His speed and do-it-all attitude have made him one of Justin Herbert’s favorite targets, including on deeper routes, over the last two weeks.

“He’s going to be very good,” Herbert said of Thompson. “We saw it early on that he was going to be. He’s skilled. He’s fast. He’s going to make a lot of plays for us. So, I’m really excited about him.”

Added Thompson: “I know my speed is pretty much unmatched when I step on the field, and that’s something I take strong confidence in.”

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USC’s Gary Patterson has some things to prove

From Ryan Kartje: As an aspiring young quarterback at Muleshoe High in the early 2000s, Lincoln Riley attended a football camp at Texas Christian University, run by a coach known even then as a mastermind of defense, a man whose ideas and 4-2-5 scheme would one day be disseminated across college football.

Gary Patterson had just been elevated from defensive coordinator to head coach at TCU, a job he would occupy for the next two decades. Around the same time, his staff saw something in Riley. They talked briefly about giving him a shot at safety on Patterson’s vaunted TCU defense.

“Needless to say,” Riley told The Oklahoman in 2018, “it didn’t turn out.”

But a quarter-century after first crossing paths at that camp, it’s now the young quarterback giving the old ball coach a chance to prove himself.

When USC announced it was hiring Patterson as Riley’s defensive coordinator in January, ears perked up across college football. On one hand, Patterson, 66, is a freshly minted College Football Hall of Famer and one of the great defensive minds of the modern era. On the other hand, he hasn’t led a college football team since 2021, when he was forced out at TCU, and a lot has changed in the sport since. Not to mention it’s been more than 25 years since Patterson last served as a coordinator.

Those were fair concerns, considering all that’s riding on Riley getting it right with Patterson, his third defensive coordinator in five seasons. But after seven months with him on the job, you won’t find anyone at USC — players, coaches or administrators alike — with an ounce of distress over Patterson’s stamina.

“I think I would have had more reservations had I not known him,” Riley said. “But that fire still burns very, very hot.”

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Sparks lose to Golden State

From Marisa Ingemi: Coming off their best win of the season in Minnesota on Thursday, the Sparks didn’t have much of that same energy to start their first home game since the trade deadline.

The fourth quarter, though, looked a lot like the best basketball they’ve played all season.

The Sparks came out flat and gave up 29 first-quarter points from the Golden State Valkyries in an 84-78 loss Sunday, their eighth in the last 10 games. They made it a game in the fourth with a 16-5 run but were too far back and it took just a couple of Valkyries shots to put the game out of reach.

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Sparks box score

WNBA standings

Angel City draws with Seattle

The Seattle Reign and Angel City played to a 2-2 draw after visiting Angel City (7-7-4) rallied late in the second half Sunday.

With Angel City down 2-1 in the 72nd minute, Evelyn Shores — who entered as a substitute in the 69th — played a long ball to Prisca Chilufya, who also entered in the 69th. Chilufya finished with ease.

The Reign (7-7-4) fell behind in the 32nd minute when 20-year-old Angel City defender Gisele Thompson got around Seattle’s defense and slotted a shot past goalkeeper Claudia Dickey.

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Angel City summary

NWSL standings

This day in sports history

1900 — The first Davis Cup is held with the United States beating Britain, 3-0.

1949 — Ezzard Charles knocks out Gus Lesnovich in the eighth round at Yankee Stadium in his first world heavyweight title defense.

1975 — Jack Nicklaus wins the PGA Championship for the fourth time with a two-stroke victory over Bruce Crampton and Tom Weiskopf.

1980 — Jack Nicklaus wins his fifth PGA Championship with a record score of 274, seven strokes ahead of Andy Bean.

1984 — The US beats Spain 96-65 to win the men’s basketball gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics; future ‘dream team’ members Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin star.

1984 — The much anticipated matchup between American world champion Mary Decker and South African Zola Budd in the women’s 3000-meter race at the Los Angeles Olympics ends in controversy. Just past the midpoint of the race, Decker steps on Budd’s heel, causing Budd to stumble and Decker to trip over Budd. Budd gets back into the race and Decker goes down with an injured thigh. Romania’s Maricica Puica, who had set the fastest time in 1984, wins the race and Budd finishes seventh.

1995 — Michael Bradley, a third-year pro without a tour victory, shoots a record-tying 63 in his first PGA round to lead the PGA Championship.

1996 — Cigar’s bid for a 17th straight victory ends when longshot Dare and Go passes the super horse in the upper stretch and pulls away to win the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Cigar, 3 1-2 lengths behind Dare and Go, fails to break a tie with Citation for the record winning streak by a North American-based horse this century.

2008 — In Beijing, Michael Phelps begins his long march toward eight gold medals by winning the 400-meter individual medley in 4:03.84 — smashing his own world record. The U.S. women’s 400-meter freestyle relay team, anchored by 41-year-old Dara Torres, takes the silver behind the Netherlands’ Olympic record effort. It’s the 10th medal of Torres’ career.

2008 — Ireland’s Padraig Harrington rallies from three shots behind to win the PGA Championship, closing with a 4-under 66 at Oakland Hills to become the fourth player to win the British Open and PGA in the same year. Harrington, the first European to win consecutive majors, closes out Sergio Garcia with a 15-foot par on the 18th for a two-shot victory.

2012 — The United States wins the women’s 4×100-meter track relay in a world-record time of 40.82 seconds to give the Americans their first Olympic victory in the event since 1996. Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter combine for a perfect trip around the track that ends a string of disappointments for the U.S. in the marquee relay.

2012 — Maurice Purify catches a record seven touchdown passes and the Arizona Rattlers win the Arena Bowl with a 72-54 win over the Philadelphia Soul.

2014 — Rory McIlroy wins his second straight major championship and fourth of his young career, rallying on the back nine in the PGA Championship. The tournament finishes in near-darkness at Valhalla Golf Club, with the final two groups essentially morphing into a foursome as they race to beat nightfall. McIlroy rallies from a three-shot deficit at the turn, to shoot a 3-under 68 to beat Phil Mickelson by one stroke. McIlroy finishes at 16-under 268.

2016 — Daryl Homer becomes the first American to win an Olympic silver medal in men’s individual sabre in 112 years.

2016 — Kristin Armstrong wins the road cycling individual time trial, finishing with a time of 44:26.42 for her third consecutive gold in the Olympic event.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1901 — Frank Isbell of the Chicago White Sox set an AL record by stranding 11 teammates on the basepaths.

1944 — Charles “Red” Barrett of the Boston Braves threw only 58 pitches to beat the Cincinnati Reds 2-0 in a nine-inning game.

1957 — Mickey Mantle became the first player to clear the center-field hedge at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium when his 460-foot homer hit the base of the scoreboard. The Yankees beat the Orioles, 6-3.

1969 — Cesar Tovar of Minnesota broke up the second no-hit bid against the Twins by a Baltimore pitcher. Tovar singled with no out in the ninth off Mike Cuellar. Earlier in the year, Tovar singled with one out in the ninth to spoil Dave McNally’s bid.

1971 — Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins hit his 500th home run in the first inning off Baltimore’s Mike Cuellar to become the 10th player to hit 500 or more in a career. Killebrew also hit No. 501 off Cuellar but the Orioles won 4-3.

1981 — Major league baseball resumed play after a two-month strike. In the St. Louis Cards-Phillies game at Philadelphia, attended by 60,561 fans, Pete Rose broke Stan Musial’s NL hit record when he singled for his 3,631st hit. It came off Mark Littell in the eighth inning.

1987 — Philadelphia’s Kevin Gross was ejected in the fifth inning after umpires discovered a strip of sandpaper glued to the heel of his glove to scuff balls. The Phillies had a 4-2 lead over the Chicago Cubs. Gross would be suspended for 10 games the next day.

1995 — Ball Night at Dodger Stadium turned into the first forfeit in the majors in 16 years. The Dodgers forfeited a game to the St. Louis Cardinals after fans threw souvenir baseballs onto the field three times. The game was called with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

2003 — Atlanta Braves shortstop Rafael Furcal turned the 12th unassisted triple play in major league history against the St. Louis Cardinals. With runners on first and second in the fifth inning, Furcal made a leaping grab of pitcher Woody Williams’ liner. The runners were going, and Furcal stepped on second base to double up Mike Matheny before tagging out Orlando Palmeiro.

2004 — Barry Bonds became the first player in major league history to hit 30 home runs in 13 consecutive seasons, hitting a solo shot off John Grabow in the seventh inning of San Francisco’s 8-7 loss to Pittsburgh. Bonds has now hit 30 homers in 14 seasons, one shy of Hank Aaron’s record.

2006 — Boston’s Curt Schilling tied the AL record by allowing 10 extra-base hits in a 5-4 loss to Kansas City. Schilling gave up nine doubles and a home run, matching the mark set by Washington’s Dale Gear in 1901 and equaled by Cleveland’s Luis Tiant in 1969.

2009 — Troy Tulowitzki had five hits, hit for the cycle and had a career-high seven RBIs to help Colorado beat the Chicago Cubs 11-5.

2018 — Kole Calhoun and Justin Upton hit two-run homers, Albert Pujols reached another milestone and the Angels rallied past Oakland for 4-3 win. With a single in the sixth inning, Pujols recorded his 1,000th hit with the Angels. He became the ninth player all-time with at least 1,000 hits in each league after getting 2,073 with St. Louis.

2018 — The Orioles’ awful season continues as they blow an early 8-3 lead against Boston to lose, 19-12. This puts them 46 1/2 games back of the division-leading Red Sox, with 46 games remaining, meaning they are mathematically eliminated. It matches the earliest date this has happened in baseball history, set by the 1932 Red Sox and copied by the 1962 Mets, two notoriously awful teams, and the 46 games left to play at the time of elimination is a new record in the divisional era.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Central Gaza – Sahar al-Bardini prepares breakfast for her three children in a tent at the al-Zawaida camp in central Gaza. She watches them eat but is already worried about finding their next meal.

The 35-year-old is the sole breadwinner for six-year-old Omar, four-year-old Sama and Mahmoud aged three since her husband was killed in Israeli shelling of northern Gaza three years ago.

Like many families in Gaza, they are struggling with soaring food prices, largely due to Israel’s long-running siege, with concerns that the population could be plunged into famine again.

During last year’s famine, the whole family – Omar and Sama in particular – suffered from a lack of food and vital nutrients. Eggs and vegetables were difficult to find in markets and when available, almost impossible to afford.

Even though the family can eat more regularly today, they still only have one meal a day. Omar and Sama’s bodies are still counting the cost of the months of famine between August and December 2025.

“Omar and Sama became very weak during the famine and lost a lot of weight. Even after food became more available, it took them around six months to gradually regain their health and weight,” she told Al Jazeera.

“My biggest fear is that my children will become weak again. I want to see them healthy, but the food they need isn’t easy for me to provide every day.”

Their plight comes as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned last week that Gaza faces a severe food emergency that could develop into another famine.

Justin Brady, head of OCHA in Palestine, warned that 67 percent of Gaza’s population was suffering from food insecurity. More than 200,000 people – around 10 percent of Gaza’s population – were living in conditions that usually precede a formal famine declaration by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

In the area where Sahar lives, community kitchens have become the main source of food for many families. The meals they serve – mostly rice and other basic ingredients, but very rarely meat – are enough to stave off starvation, but children still lack essential nutrients and protein that are essential for growth.

“The meal fills their stomachs, but it doesn’t contain everything a child’s body needs to be properly nourished and regain strength,” Sahar said. “The children need a more varied diet – they need eggs, vegetables, fruit, meat and other things. I try to provide whatever I can but my means are limited.”

With little money, Sahar makes the most of any food vouchers or assistance she receives, but it is never enough. That means prioritising the family’s most urgent needs which begin with food, followed by clothes, medicine and then other basic necessities for the youngsters.

“When I receive food vouchers, I try to make the most of them. Everything is expensive, and I’m carrying the responsibility of three children on my own,” she said.

Shimaa, 25, was unable to find enough milk for her two-year-old daughter, Selina, during the last famine, so was forced to find any alternative to fill her stomach.

“I tried to feed her whatever I had. Sometimes I gave her lentils instead of milk because I didn’t have milk to give her,” she told Al Jazeera. “I work day and night so I can provide her with food and everything she needs – everything I do is so I can see her in better health.”

Still, the family struggle to afford enough money for food and so Selina remains weak and severely malnourished.

“Even after the famine eased, its effects didn’t go away for my daughter,” Shimaa said. “I’m worried about her and I’m trying to do everything I can to help her get better.”

Nutrition specialist, Dr Ghada Jibril, said the current food crisis has forced parents to rely on rice and lentils to feed their infants. While they contain some nutrients, it means a gap in kid’s diets, particularly for those who starved during the famine.

“A child who has experienced severe malnutrition needs a period of regular nutrition and follow-up care to regain their weight and resume healthy growth,” Jibril said.

“The end of acute hunger does not mean that the effects of malnutrition disappear immediately. Children need a varied diet, not simply enough food to fill their stomachs – protein, iron, vitamins and minerals are essential for growth, brain development and a strong immune system. Recovering from malnutrition takes time, appropriate food and follow-up care.”

St Helens interim head coach Eamon O’Carroll told BBC Radio Merseyside:

“There were far too many times when we were shooting ourselves in the foot and putting some pressure on ourselves. We’re clearly not at that level at the moment where we seem to handle that the way we’d like to or how we have in the past.

“We’ve got some young boys in there who may have got exposed at times. They will be better for this experience – I’m really proud of the young lads – but at the minute we seem to be swapping one of our younger lads for another younger lad.

“We’re then automatically asking a lot of some of our senior boys.

“I think you can see where we are at with that at the minute.”

[On play-off qualification] “It’s going to be a difficult one for us to achieve, but it’s not unachievable.”

Hull FC interim head coach Andy Last told Sky Sports:

‘It feels absolutely fantastic. I just want to dedicate that to the supporters who have stuck by us and turned up in big numbers. It was great to get a win for them.

“There were some parts of the performance I was really pleased with and some parts of the game we still need to improve [such as] individuals’ decision-making, but I’m not going to take anything away from tonight.

“To get a win at St Helens, I’m really, really pleased.’

St Helens: Welsby; Douglas, Sailor, Davies, Murphy; Robertson, Hastings; Suluka-Fifita, Humphreys, Walmsley, Keeley, Wright, Shorrocks.

Interchanges: Host, Whitby, Evans, Matagi.

Hull FC: Moy; Barron, Hardaker, Briscoe, Martin; Arthur, Sezer; Ese’ese, Bourouh, Hill, Batchelor, O’Neill, Bell.

Interchanges: Cust, Aydin, Romano, Wood.

Referee: Liam Rush.

A stuggling family was given a much needed lifeline from a millionaire couple

A struggling family couldn’t hide their emotions after a wealthy couple gave them a fresh start.

They felt like they’d “won the lottery” after the wealthy pair cleared their £6,000 worth of debt and handed the father a chance to pursue his dream of breaking into property development.

The emotional moment happened during an episode of Rich House, Poor House, which originally aired in 2024. At the time, viewers were joined by Kev and Emma Wing, along with their twins Mollie and Peyton, who live in a two-bedroom rented house in Derbyshire.

Seeing how the top 1% live, they swapped lives for a week with world champion football freestyler Liv Cooke and her partner Gal Ozery, who split their time between a lavish manor house in Lower Bagthorpe, Nottinghamshire, and Los Angeles.

The two families couldn’t be more different as the Wings live on a mere £78.25 a week after bills and with money short, meanwhile enjoyed Liv and Gal enjoy the high life with a generous £2,000 budget at their fingertips.

During the swap, the Wings, who are a football-mad family, splashed nearly £1,000 on souvenirs at their beloved Derby County shop and Kev got behind the wheel of a £195,000 Lamborghini.

And his aspiring Lioness daughters received coaching from Ryan Hopper, who works with professional players including Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot.

While Liv and Gal enjoy wealth far beyond the Wings’ wildest dreams, they lack the one thing Liv yearns for most – children. Liv said: “Having a child and making our family unit is the only thing we’re missing.”

Things then took a turn when the couple were left stunned to discover that the Wings had no savings whatsoever and were £6,000 in the red.

Liv, who amassed her wealth through property development, and Gal, who heads up a company supplying private jets and luxury watches to ultra-wealthy clients, were keen to help the family so they decided to offer them a much needed lifeline.

Liv told the couple: “We’ve seen the sacrifices that you two have made for the girls and you’ve got a beautiful life. We’ve decided that we’d like to pay off that debt for you and give you that chance.”

Kev and Emma broke down in tears as Gal continued: “We hope that this makes you feel like every day when you get up, you’re excited for the day and you’re ready to build.”

Emma whipped away her tears as she replied: “I’ve got nothing to say other than thank you so much.” The generosity didn’t stop there as the millionaire pair wanted to help Kev pursue his dreams of getting on the property ladder.

Liv turned to Kev and said: “If you do want to pursue your interest in property, I’d be more than happy to train you up… we can do it slow, we can do it alongside your job so there’s no risk there but if we can get you in that market, getting on the ladder, I think that would be the real life-changing thing.”

Visibly moved said: “It does feel now like we’ve won the lottery.” His favourite part of the lifestyle swap was spending time with his family, adding: “It’s like Christmas every day.”

You can catch up on Rich House, Poor House on Channel 5.

A day after general manager Raegan Pebley was fired, the Sparks were in Atlanta and seemingly still focused on trying to reach the playoffs this year.

The suggestion that Pebley’s removal was a sign that the team is performing poorly didn’t sit well with coach Lynne Roberts.

“I don’t think we underachieved last year and this year is still going,” Roberts said in Atlanta on Monday before the team’s loss to the Dream. “For where we want to get, that’s not where we want to be, but we tripled our win total in my first year — that’s not underachieving. We haven’t hit our stride, we’ve been injured all year. Hopefully we get [Kelsey Plum] and Cam [Brink] back. Our system is designed around KP. I’m not close to thinking we are underachieving.”

Pebley and the rest of the Sparks’ organization signaled a clear intention to compete this season, signing veterans Nneka Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler in the offseason, signing Dearica Hamby to a three-year deal and trading for Ariel Atkins.

The Sparks’ Rae Burrell protects the ball under pressure the Chicago Sky’s Natasha Cloud at Crypto.com Arena on July 10.

(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)

They are still in the playoff race midway through the season, but have the second-worst defensive rating in the WNBA and sit a game below the postseason cutoff line.

They have competed without Plum, their top scorer, for 12 games and former No. 2 overall pick Brink during the past nine contests.

But even with their struggles, culminating in an 82-64 loss to Seattle on July 6, the Sparks responded well with consecutive home wins against Indiana and Chicago. After those games, Roberts seemed to think the team was moving in the right direction, but team owners made a major change.

The Sparks have a decision to make about how hard they want to push the rest of this season as the team flirts with missing the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season. With the trade deadline on Aug. 2, they could make some moves to improve this season or sell off their veteran assets and attempt to rebuild again.

The Sparks haven’t made the playoffs since 2020 and have made some controversial moves while trying to snap out of the slump.

In addition to the questionable trade of 2024 fourth overall pick Rickea Jackson to Chicago for veteran Atkins this offseason, Pebley traded the picks that would become Storm post duo Awa Fam and Dominique Malonga for Plum and Kia Nurse. In her sole season with the Sparks, Nurse averaged 7.6 points per game.

Pebley also traded the No. 8 pick in 2024 (that later was used to draft Alissa Pili) to Chicago for Julie Allemand and Li Yueru, then lost Allemand in the expansion draft. Yueru was sent to Seattle in the Plum trade and is now playing with Dallas. The Sparks’ 2025 first-round draft pick Sarah Ashlee Barker was left unprotected and went to Portland in the expansion draft.

The Sparks waived their top pick in this year’s draft, Ta’Niya Latson, after barely playing, and she has gone on to join Las Vegas. Sania Feagin, a 2025 first-round draft pick, was waived and signed with Portland.

Most of those moves, though, came after the Sparks lost the top spot in the 2025 draft lottery to Dallas, which selected Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 pick. Before the lottery result, it seemed like the Sparks — who went 8-32 in 2024 before that draft — were lining up for a youth movement led by Brink and Bueckers. A lineup of those three, a healthy Feagin, Barker and Allemand would be an entirely different kind of team.

Once that failed, they focused on adding veterans who could win now and have only managed modest improvement.

The Sparks have their next two first-round draft picks and four players still on rookie contracts after this season (Brink, Chance Gray, Kate Martin and Pili). Brink is their lone lottery pick left from their disappointing past six seasons. (Pili was a top-10 pick, but she has struggled to stay on a WNBA roster and just signed a player developmental contract with the Sparks this month.)

Pebley told The Times in an interview on Friday that she was open to making moves to compete at the deadline this year.

Players on the Sparks’ bench celebrate during a win over the Chicago Sky at Crypto.com Arena on July 10.

(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)

“We are in a space where we are here to win,” she said. “This is a city that wants to win. We have an ownership that wants to win. You see what they’re doing with the Lakers. You see what they’ve done already with the Dodgers. … We have to always continue to invest in the roster. We have a responsibility to always listen and be aware of what’s out there.”

A league source not authorized to discuss trade conversations publicly told The Times that Pebley had been aggressive ahead of the deadline, and now teams are unsure what approach the Sparks will take moving forward.

“I found out when everybody else did,” Roberts said of Pebley’s firing. “It was a surprise. She’s a good friend of mine. I think the tone is set that we need to keep building and get the Sparks back to where they have been. That’s been the tone. Raegan did some great things for our org in that regard and improved a lot of things. That work can’t go undenied. It’s full-steam ahead and I’m focused on what I can do.”

It would be difficult to move some of their heftier contracts, especially since WNBA teams cannot take on more salary than their remaining cap space allows in a trade. Hamby, 32, is signed for two more years for more than $1 million per season. Atkins is also signed for two years at $1 million-plus and is having a career-worst offensive season, shooting 36.4% with 8.7 points per game.

Wheeler, 35, has another year left on her deal, but a $625,000 cap hit for a player who would be a backup point guard on most teams is a tough sell.

Plum and Ogwumike are on expiring deals, and the Sparks’ most valuable roster asset, Rae Burrell, is a restricted free agent, but one of the few young players left on the Sparks’ roster.

The Sparks have a limited $86,000 in cap space, too, so if they decide they want to buy at the deadline, they have to find a way to clear space.

They enter the trade deadline period in a difficult spot as a team in purgatory that just fired its general manager.

Yet what they decide to do in the next month might be the most clearest sign of their ambition and hope for the future.

Sacramento — New spending on school construction tends to be reliably popular when proposed in California ballot measures.

According to the League of California Cities, voters approve about 80% of bond measures for local school districts — even though state rules require 55% support on a measure for it to pass. The last four statewide school bond measures were approved by voters. And nearly 6 out of 10 likely voters back the idea of a new school bond on the ballot, according to an October poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Yet Proposition 51, the $9-billion school bond measure on next week’s ballot, is struggling, according to PPIC polls from the last two months. In both polls, Proposition 51 stood below majority support, and such numbers put the measure at risk of a rare failure, said Mark Baldassare, PPIC’s president and CEO.

“It’s not where we would expect it would be,” Baldassare said.

Beyond the general popularity of schools, Proposition 51 has many of the advantages that come alongside successful campaigns.

The state Democratic and Republican parties, business and labor groups and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and other major politicians are part of a broad coalition in favor. Those supporters, primarily developers, contractors and others who regularly promote school facility construction, have raised $12 million for the campaign, compared with nothing for opponents.

And schools across the state need more money. Schools should be spending between $4 billion and $8 billion a year on building replacement and upgrades, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, and the state pot of money to pay for these fixes has run dry.

Still, there are plenty of explanations for Proposition 51’s troubles. Most notably, unlike the past, support isn’t universal among major interests. Lawmakers put the four previous statewide school bonds on the ballot themselves. This time, after negotiations with Gov. Jerry Brown and legislators failed, backers gathered signatures for an initiative. Brown hasn’t spent much time campaigning against Proposition 51, but when asked, he’s criticized it as too large and inefficient.

“This has been a funding area that has had very strong bipartisan support for decades,” said Jeff Vincent, deputy director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities + Schools. “We are now at a place in California where that is not the case.”

Brown and others have questioned how state school bond money gets spent. They argue that the program unfairly benefits larger, more affluent districts. The cash is available to local districts that already have funding to match the state dollars and is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Last month, outgoing state Sen. Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) urged her Facebook followers to vote against Proposition 51, saying that voters should hold out for a better measure sponsored by the Legislature in coming years. Hancock served on the board that hands out the bond money and, in an interview, described the spending process as overly complex and cumbersome. She said she had to fight those rules to get a school in her district funds for earthquake safety.

“I think we can do a better bond with more money going in a simple, direct way for our schools,” Hancock said.

PPIC’s polls show similar drops across voters of all income and education levels and ethnicities when asked about Proposition 51 compared with the generic school bond measure. Proposition 51’s official summary, which appears on voters’ ballots, states that the measure will raise $9 billion and cost $17.6 billion to pay off over 35 years. Those big numbers could be keeping Proposition 51’s polling low, Baldassare said.

“I would have to think it has something to do with the size of the bond and the impact on the budget,” he said.

Erin Shaw, spokeswoman for the Yes on 51 campaign, said aspects of the PPIC polls look good for her side. The October poll has the measure leading — 46% to 41% — and there are plenty of undecided voters.

Shaw said the campaign expects the results could track with previous state school bond measures, the lowest of which passed with just 50.9% of the vote in 2004.

“We have had a strong campaign in which we have been able to garner a significant amount of broad and bipartisan support for the measure,” Shaw said.

She noted that local districts have bond measures of their own on ballots — 184 of them that aim to raise $25 billion statewide — and believed voters ultimately will link their desire to repair their local schools with money from the state.

liam.dillon@latimes.com

Follow me at @dillonliam on Twitter

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When the first three people fell sick on Thursday, June 11, residents of Doron Baga were unsure what was happening. The symptoms – vomiting, diarrhoea, and weakness – were familiar enough in a rural community where access to healthcare is limited, and illnesses are often treated at home or by local patent medicine vendors. However, as more people began showing the same signs, and deaths followed within days, concern spread across the community.

Ahmadu Haruna watched the disease move rapidly through his household. He is the community leader of Randa, an area within Doron Baga, a fishing and farming community on the shores of Lake Chad, less than three kilometres from Baga town in Kukawa Local Government Area (LGA) of Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. 

He lives in a large compound that houses nearly 150 people, including his four brothers, their wives, children, and grandchildren. Within seven days, he said, at least 20 people living in his compound became ill. Seven died. “It started with three people,” Ahmadu recalled. “One of my brother’s children and another brother’s wife were the first to be infected.”

As cases multiplied, residents began drawing connections to reports they had been hearing from Maiduguri, the state capital, where a cholera outbreak had already overwhelmed health facilities and infected thousands. “We knew it was cholera because the symptoms matched what we heard on [the radio] about the outbreak in Maiduguri,” said Bashir Suleiman, a resident. “The people there were vomiting and having diarrhoea, and that was exactly what we were seeing here.”

The outbreak has unsettled Doron Baga, a community that has spent the last six years rebuilding after it was displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency. Residents were officially resettled in September 2020 by the state government. Many residents say that returning home symbolised the beginning of recovery. Families rebuilt their houses, fishermen returned to the lake, and farmers reclaimed their fields. Gradually, life appeared to be returning to normal. The cholera outbreak, however, has revealed how incomplete that recovery remains. 

Cholera, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), is “an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae”.WHO), is “an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae”.

The disease is not new to communities along the Lake Chad shoreline. In 2018, the Borno State Ministry of Health recorded 502 cases and one death across Baga, Doro, and Kukawa wards. Doro accounted for the highest burden, with 254 reported cases. Response efforts at the time involved the Ministry of Health, WHO, and the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA). Six years later, residents of Doron Baga say many of the conditions that enable cholera transmission remain unresolved.

Access to healthcare remains limited, many households depend on self-built water sources, and sanitation challenges persist in parts of the community.

Unlike many urban households, Ahmadu’s home is a large family compound that functions almost like a small settlement. At its centre is a manually operated hand pump, and near the entrance sits an open well. Built by the family years ago, the two sources continue to supply most of the household’s water needs. “Our main source of drinking water is the hand pump and the open well,” Ahmadu told HumAngle.

The compound also relies on pit latrines. Each household maintains its own facility, while another serves as a communal latrine for residents and visitors. 

The source of the infection has not been established. But in a compound where dozens of people share water sources and common spaces, many residents may have been exposed to the same source of contamination. The outbreak also comes during the rainy season, a period when cholera cases often increase as flooding and runoff can contaminate drinking-water sources.

From Maiduguri to Lake Chad

The outbreak that has now reached Doron Baga began hundreds of kilometres away in Maiduguri, where it was first detected in early May. Health authorities had reported more than 2,700 suspected cases and 39 deaths across eight LGAs by mid-May, with Maiduguri Metropolitan Council recording the highest burden.

The spread, according to the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), overwhelmed treatment facilities, prompting an emergency response from the state government and humanitarian organisations. 

As the days went by, the numbers continued to climb. By June 7, Borno had recorded 7,850 suspected cases and 74 deaths across 14 local government areas, according to figures cited by MSF and state health authorities. MSF alone said it had treated 7,439 patients between May 1 and June 7. 

To contain the outbreak, the Borno State Ministry of Health and Human Services said it is implementing emergency health measures, improving sanitation, and increasing public awareness. In addition, humanitarian organisations such as MSF and Save the Children have activated emergency responses that include cholera treatment centres, oral rehydration points, surveillance, hygiene promotion campaigns, and water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions. MSF expanded treatment capacity in Maiduguri and opened additional cholera treatment units as admissions surged. 

At the height of the outbreak, between June 5 and 7, MSF reported treating as many as 500 patients in a single day. Another organisation, Save the Children, said it was responding to more than 7,000 suspected cases reported across the state. The Nigerian Red Cross also supported awareness campaigns, case management, community sensitisation, and emergency response activities. 

For weeks, the outbreak appeared largely concentrated in and around Maiduguri and other major population centres. Then it reached Doron Baga.

The unfinished work of recovery

As cases spread through Doron Baga, residents and health workers say longstanding challenges in healthcare, water access, sanitation, and public infrastructure have complicated efforts to contain it. 

Many residents did not consider the local health facility a realistic option. When HumAngle asked why his family did not immediately seek treatment at the hospital, Ahmadu laughed. “Hospital?” he asked. “Do you expect us to take our sick relatives to a hospital without doctors and drugs?”

Residents say the Doron Baga Primary Healthcare Centre suffers from chronic shortages of personnel and medicines. “There are no staff, too,” Bashir said. “Those coming from Baga don’t spend more than an hour.” As a result, many families depend on patent medicine stores as their first source of treatment.

The nearest alternative is Baga town, but the cost of transportation, combined with the expense of purchasing prescribed medicines, often places formal healthcare beyond the reach of many households. “We usually take sick relatives to Baga,” Ahmadu said. “However, we did not take these ones there because it is expensive.”

Residents’ complaints come despite years of government investments aimed at improving healthcare services in the area. During a visit to Baga in July 2023, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum ordered the rehabilitation of the Baga General Hospital and Doro Primary Healthcare Centre. Residents confirmed that the rehabilitation was carried out.

More recently, in May, Kukawa Local Government Chairperson, Mustapha Kukawa, distributed drugs to healthcare facilities across the LGA and warned against the diversion or mismanagement of medical supplies. At the state level, the Executive Secretary of the Borno State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (BOSCHMA), Saleh Abba, said on June 4 that the agency had disbursed more than ₦400 million to 171 primary healthcare centres and nine secondary health facilities providing free treatment to vulnerable persons across Borno.

Yet residents of Doron Baga say shortages of staff and medicines persist, raising questions about the extent to which investments in infrastructure, medical supplies, and healthcare financing are translating into accessible services in some resettled communities.

Their concerns reflect a broader pattern documented across conflict-affected communities in Borno. In 2023, HumAngle reported that residents of Kirawa, a resettled border town in Gwoza LGA, frequently crossed into neighbouring Cameroon to access healthcare services. In 2024, residents of Baga and Dalori, another resettled community in the Konduga LGA, similarly complained about inadequate drug supplies and limited healthcare services. That same year, a Premium Times investigation found that despite significant investments in rehabilitating primary healthcare facilities across rural Borno, many communities continued to struggle with staffing shortages and inadequate medicines.

Together, these accounts suggest that while reconstruction has improved physical infrastructure in many communities, ensuring consistent access to healthcare workers, medicines, and essential services remains a challenge in parts of the state.

Faced with these realities, many residents turn to informal healthcare providers. One of them is Kasim Muhammad Auwal, a patent medicine vendor and community health worker who has operated in Doron Baga since the community was resettled.  

“I have recorded 40 cases so far,” Kasim said. “Most have recovered. Four have died.”

Kasim holds a diploma in community health from the College of Health Technology in Maiduguri and believes that sanitation may also be contributing to the outbreak. “One major thing I have observed is increasing open defecation in the community,” he said. “This, I suspect, is the leading cause.”

According to him, the practice is particularly common among children, residents living on the outskirts of the settlement, and visiting fishermen from neighbouring communities.

Public health research supports concerns about the relationship between water, sanitation, and cholera transmission. The WHO identifies contaminated drinking water and inadequate sanitation as major drivers of cholera outbreaks, while studies have linked unprotected wells and poor sanitation practices to increased infection risks. 

Like Ahmadu’s household, many residents rely on self-built infrastructure, including open wells and manually operated pumps, to meet their daily water needs. Although these sources may serve communities for years, they can become significant public health risks during disease outbreaks. Studies consistently show that communities dependent on untreated water and limited sanitation infrastructure face a higher risk of waterborne diseases.

As cases spread through the community, humanitarian organisations also began carrying out preventive measures. Residents said volunteers from the Nigerian Red Cross and other organisations had conducted sensitisation campaigns, educating households about cholera symptoms, hygiene practices, and ways to reduce transmission.

A Red Cross volunteer in Kukawa confirmed that awareness activities were ongoing in the community but declined to comment officially, saying he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the organisation.

As of June 23, residents said new suspected cases were still being recorded in the community and that additional deaths had occurred in recent days, indicating that the outbreak had not yet been fully contained. They also said at least 11 patients were receiving treatment at the Doro Primary Healthcare Centre. HumAngle could not independently verify a community-wide death toll.

For many residents, the persistence of new cases points to challenges that extend beyond emergency response efforts. Community leaders like Ahmadu say the conditions facing Doron Baga are rooted in a longer history of conflict, displacement, and uneven recovery.

The community was among several settlements around Lake Chad that were emptied by years of insurgency before residents gradually returned under the state’s resettlement programme. Yet rebuilding communities after conflict involves more than restoring security. Across Borno State, reconstruction projects have frequently been disrupted by insecurity, while healthcare, water, and sanitation infrastructure have not recovered at the same pace as population returns.

Studies of recurrent cholera outbreaks in northeastern Nigeria have identified weak water infrastructure, sanitation gaps, poverty, displacement, and fragile health systems as recurring risk factors. Researchers argue that outbreaks often reveal deficiencies that remain hidden until disease transmission occurs.

In Doron Baga, the current outbreak has done exactly that.

AS the biggest heart-throb on the planet, Harry Styles is the last person you’d expect to be ringing in New Year alone.

But the pop superstar has revealed how he “shut out” the world after struggling to live up to the “perfect” image his fans projected on to him.

In a candid new interview, the 32-year-old, who kicked off a record-breaking 12-night run at Wembley Stadium on Friday, said: “I was supposed to spend New Year’s with friends and I landed in Italy and felt really unwell, so I just went home.

“And I woke up and I had this kind of beautiful New Year’s by myself. I was feeling the most alone I’d felt in a really long time, but in the most beautiful way. I didn’t feel lonely at all.”

Harry added that he became a “hermit” after his last tour ended in 2023.

Flying into Italy for a “quiet time”, he rejected all invites as he ­recuperated from the gruelling Love On Tour series of live shows.

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In an interview on the Q With Tom Power podcast, Harry said: “I was just feeling myself kind of shut out from a lot of the world.

“I think I got used to saying no to invites from friends and maybe a weekend trip or a birthday party or something.

“I just got used to, you know, if I have a week at home, I don’t want to go somewhere else for three days. I just want to stay home.

“And when I got to Italy and was in this quiet place, I felt like, ‘OK, if I’m going to spend all this time out here and I’m going to keep ­saying no to everything, I’m just going to shut myself off from the world’.”

Harry released his latest album — Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally — in March and it immediately shot to No1 in the charts.

And his Together, Together tour is currently making history at London’s Wembley.

But the As It Was singer admits that he struggled to live up to his fans’ adoring perception of him, saying: “I had this relationship with my own image where people had this projected version of me that was perfect.

“And when the standard you hold yourself to is this perfect person, it’s impossible not to feel like you’re falling short.”

He confessed that any criticism could take a devastating toll, saying: “If you don’t feel great about yourself and someone says you’re terrible, it’s like the claw is in and it’s ripping you.

“But if you have a more solid sense of yourself, you can hear those things and it doesn’t destroy you in the same way.”

It is a frank admission from a man who has conquered the world of pop, and America, after spending half his life in the glare of the global spotlight.

Harry was 16 when he stepped on to The X Factor stage in 2010, where music mastermind Simon Cowell grouped him with four other hopefuls to form One Direction.

What followed was global ­hysteria. And as the breakout star of the record-breaking boy band, Harry was propelled from a quiet Cheshire upbringing into a whirlwind of stadium tours and platinum records.

He then defied the odds to build a critically acclaimed solo career, with hits such as Watermelon Sugar, and a £235million fortune, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

But during his period of isolation in Italy, Harry realised that avoiding the downsides of global fame also meant missing the best parts of life.

He added: “You can sit at home and think it’s hard for me to do these things — people are looking at me, taking pictures. But when you shut out those things that might be negative, you also shut out a ton of ­positive things.

“If you think it’s hard to go to a bar and hang out with friends because people might act a certain way, there are also incredible people you could meet in that bar that you’re shutting out.”

Taking his own advice and stepping back into the world clearly paid off.

It was during this period that Harry met his fiancée, US actress Zoe Kravitz.

The couple, who began dating in late 2025, are reportedly planning a small wedding in London this winter.

Harry also said that he has spent the past two years learning to love himself and accept that ­he can make mistakes.

He said: “I’m still figuring a bunch of stuff out and it’s OK to have a little self-compassion around making mistakes. For a long time, I struggled to admit when I’d made a mistake because the reward when you meet people’s expectations is so loud and shiny.”

Ultimately, Harry believes that taking a step back from the spotlight saved him.

He reflected: “Having time to sit at home and be bored and really look at the emotions I was feeling allowed me to lean into them instead of being afraid of them.

“And it means I’m now in a much healthier place than I was last time I was putting music out.”

Now back on the road, he wants his latest dance-pop record to be less about his personal life and more about his fans’ experiences.

He said: “With this record, I want the listener in the front seat and I’m in the seat behind you.

“It’s not really about me or what clubs I’m going to or who I’m hanging out with — it’s about you having your own experience.”

Ariana risk for musical

RUMOURS are sweeping theatreland that Ariana Grande is set to drop out of musical Sunday In The Park With George.

The singer was due to appear opposite her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey at London’s Barbican Centre next summer, but ticket sales have been delayed until autumn.

I’m told that bosses have also met with actresses who could step in to replace Ariana, who last week kicked off her energetic Eternal Sunshine Tour.

A source said: “Ariana has a lot on her plate and there are concerns she is over-subscribed.

“It’s too risky to start flogging tickets until it’s all locked down. It will be a demanding production with eight shows a week.”

In the last few years, Ariana has transformed herself into a fully-fledged actress as Glinda in the Wicked films.

She will appear in the 13th series of American Horror Story and will voice a character in the 2028 animation Oh, The Places You’ll Go!.

Ariana, whose tour includes a ten-night residency at London’s O2 Arena in August, said: “I’m very excited to do this small tour. But I think it might not happen again for a long, long time.”

I hope we do get to see her treading the boards . . . 

Wa-Haye David

DAVID HAYE is on dating site Raya “looking for a third” for a throuple with him and girlfriend Sian Osborne.

The ex-boxer posts with a tux snap: “I’m a selfish p***k, nothing is ever good enough. I always want more, rarely satisfied. But I’m working on it.”

THE Isle of Wight Festival kicks off on Thursday with some surprises in store.

As well as headliners Calvin Harris, The Cure and Lewis Capaldi, chief John Giddings says: “We’ve introduced new areas, the Last Chance Saloon, our country music destination, and new onsite pub Wild Horses.”

John also revealed that Sir Paul McCartney had the craziest rider.

He said: “We had to track down a nail technician to apply acrylic nails to strengthen his fingernails for playing acoustic guitar.

“And Jay Z wanted somewhere private to have dinner with Beyonce, so we ended up hosting them in the Boat Museum and our caterers took care of it.”

This week who would I…

Snog

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NEW biometric checks for UK travellers at European borders may not “stabilise” for another two years, officials have warned.

The new EES system has caused chaos and long queues at airports with no plans to relax the checks during the busy summer period.

The Entry Exit System (EES) involves people from third-party countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and photographs taken to enter the Schengen Area.

This Area consists of 29 European countries, mainly in the EU, and around 1,700 border crossing points requiring the use of EES.

For most UK travellers, the process is done at foreign airports with the digital record being kept for three years.

The airline body International Air Transport Association recently warned border queues could reach six hours this summer.

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Airports in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy have been reported to be among the worst affected.

This comes after more than 100 easyJet passengers missed a flight from Milan Linate to Manchester in April because of delays at passport desks caused by the ramping up of EES.

Uku Sarekanno, deputy executive director of EU border agency Frontex, said some member states are “struggling” to adopt the new system.

During a summit of travel industry leaders organised by Abta in Westminster, Sarekanno said: “We expect that the situation will stabilise in one or two years.

“The most challenging part is the first enrolment, that is the moment where fingerprints and facial images will be taken.

“If a person is visiting the EU again (within three years), they don’t have to go through the same process, so they can have a more fast track of entry.”

Experts say queues are going to get even worse for British holiday makers this summer with queue times potentially stretching to as much as six hours.

This will be the first summer since the full introduction of the new Entry/Exit System (EES) across Europe, where passengers have to register their fingerprints and have their photo taken.

According to The Times, Rafael Schvartzman warned that the EES systems are being operated differently between airports, which is causing the problem.

Schvartzman said: “What we are seeing is a very hard risk of really challenging times or waiting times, talking about expectations of three, four, five, six hours which is unacceptable.

“We know for a fact there are many cases where people have lost flights or their connectivity.”

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

Thesun.co.uk is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.

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WNBA games are being officiated differently this season and it’s been a struggle for the Sparks to adapt.

After complaints about the league being too physical last season, the WNBA created a task force of coaches and general managers to develop more consistent officiating.

Foul calls have been up so far this season, with officials focused on freedom of movement or letting offensive players move without being knocked away from the ball.

“It’s hard, especially when you’ve been playing for a certain way for a long time and then having to switch it up more often, in my opinion, as a defender, but it just is what it is,” Sparks guard Ariel Atkins said. “So, yeah, you just have to adjust.”

Across the league, teams are averaging 20.9 fouls per game. Last season, it was 17.5 per game. The Sparks are fouling 22.0 times per contest, the fifth most in the WNBA.

The Connecticut Sun led the WNBA last season with 19.6 fouls per contest. In 2026, 10 of the 15 teams are averaging more than 20 fouls against them per contest.

“I’m cool with it, as long as it’s called the same for 40 minutes, like both ways,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “I think the officials have been given a tough task that’s hard, but I think they’ve done a decent job of being pretty consistent with it. Players, coaches, you just have to adjust, and I think the one thing that I’d like to see us get better at is just [being] not so reactive, just have a little more toughness, in terms of not responding. That’s how they’re going to call it — we got to move on to the next play.”

The increase in calls seems to have given teams more room to score, as intended, despite more starts and stops to game flow.

Entering Sunday, four teams had offensive ratings more than 110 after Minnesota’s 109.5 was the best in the league in 2025. Indiana leads the league in pace at 99.50 after the Sparks led the league last season at 96.84. Five teams are working at a pace of 97 or higher, which would have placed last year’s Sparks at sixth.

One of the Sparks’ offseason priorities was improving their league-worst defense, but that’s been more difficult than ever with how the game is being called.

Sparks forward Cameron Brink blocks a shot from Toronto’s Laura Juskaite during a game on May 15.

(Jeff Lewis / Associated Press)

“Getting used to it as a player, kind of understanding the flow of the game, that’s probably the toughest part for me,” Atkins said. “There’s no real flow or like rhythm to it, right? I’m hoping that the corner turns or we both adjust on both sides.”

The Sparks’ pace is on track to be similar to last season at 97.67 — fifth in the WNBA — through nine games. Their offensive rating of 107.9 is eighth in the WNBA, but they’ve played half of their games without league-leading scorer Kelsey Plum.

Defensively, though, they haven’t made much of an adjustment. They have a league-worst 114.1 defensive rating.

Cameron Brink’s 4.0 fouls per game are the fifth most in the WNBA, and Atkins’ 3.6 also ranks among the bottom 10 players in the league. Plum is at 3.1 just below Atkins, Dearica Hamby isn’t far behind at 3.1 and Erica Wheeler is at 2.9, giving the Sparks the most players in the league in the bottom 30 on a single team.

“It’s hard, I think, on a defensive end, especially when you’re somebody that enjoys the physicality and you like to lean into it,” Hamby said.

The Sparks already had an uphill climb to improve on the league’s worst defense, but as they continue to adjust to the way games are being officiated, it’s all the more difficult.

Add it to the list of things the 4-6 squad needs to work on to climb back near the top of the WNBA.

“I try to not center officiating as a part of my experience,” Nneka Ogwumike said. “I know it’s part of the game, and something we can’t control, but I do think we can do better in our response to it.”

Wade Meckler had quite the homecoming.

The Yorba Linda native dominated in his Angels debut, hitting a first-pitch, three-run homer off Jacob deGrom in his first at-bat and making a sensational catch in foul territory, all in the first inning, to help his hometown team beat the Rangers 9-6 on Friday night at Angel Stadium.

Meckler attended Esperanza High in Anaheim and grew up an Angels fan. After he was called up from Double-A Rocket City on Friday, Meckler finished with two hits in what was the Angels’ highest-scoring game since April 26, when they scored nine in extras against the Royals.

“Yeah, it was pretty cool,” Meckler said. “Just trying to make a play on defense. But getting your first homer up, it’s pretty hard to top that.”

In sending the 97-mph four-seam fastball from deGrom (3-4), a two-time Cy Young Award winner, 403 feet to right center, Meckler became the first Angels player to homer in his first at-bat with the team since Mike Napoli did against the Tigers in 2006.

Meckler was also the first player to hit a homer in their Angels debut since Randal Grichuk did in 2023 against the Braves.

“We know he plays the game hard,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “We’ve seen him play the game the way he does in spring training. 
So I think [Meckler’s] just a naturalist, good baseball player.”

Meckler hit .315 over 111 at-bats with the Angels in spring training, after being claimed off waivers by the franchise in January.

The 26-year-old shared pregame that he grew up rooting for classic Angels names such as Chone Figgins, Torii Hunter and Erick Aybar during the mid-to-late 2000s.

But there was another Angels player Meckler watched growing up: his new teammate, Mike Trout.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Meckler said. “You grew up watching a guy every day on TV for 10 years, and then all of a sudden, he’s a teammate. It’s pretty cool.”

Originally the Giants’ choice with the 256th pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Meckler has struggled to find his footing in the majors. However, his night couldn’t have gone much better.

Suzuki and the middling Angels, at least, would probably like Meckler to stay hot forever. After all, he earned a shot with the big-league club after hitting .343 with 34 hits and 13 RBI through 27 games with Rocket City.

“It feels good,” Meckler said. “It’s been a little bit. Spent a lot of the last couple years injured, grinding through injuries, and it feels good to be healthy and able to compete. I feel like I’m capable of competing. And obviously, it’s really cool to be in the big leagues for your childhood team as well.”

Despite entering on a three-game skid, the Angels came to play to open a three-game series against the Rangers.

Shortstop Zack Neto hit a pair of solo shots: one in the first and another in the eighth. The four-year MLB veteran is up to 12 career lead-off homers and has three in 2026.

“It was a lot of fun,” Neto said. “From one through nine, even the guys on the bench, coming in and doing their job … We had the big hit when we needed it.”

Right-handed starter Grayson Rodriguez also earned his first win of the year after tossing 5 2/3 innings of four-run ball.

In the seventh, Neto preserved the Angels’ 6-5 lead after throwing out Josh Jung at home. Neto caught a strong throw to the infield from Jo Adell after a Brandon Nimmo RBI double.

“I mean, defense wins games,” Neto said.

Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe was banged up during Jung’s play at the plate. However, he shut down any concerns after the win.

“I’ll be at the doc one more time, but I’m fine, O’Hoppe said. “It’s the same feeling that all the headshots feel like. You feel out of it and a little slow, but usually a good night’s sleep takes care of it.”

After Angel Stadium stretched, second baseman Oswald Peraza hit his sixth homer of the year, a solo shot against lefty Jalen Beeks.

Neto hit his second homer of the night in the eighth against righty Chris Martin, and first baseman Nolan Schanuel capped the Angels’ scoring with an RBI single nine pitches later.

“I felt throughout, guys were getting good at-bats,” Suzuki said. “We were getting guys on; there was a couple times we didn’t get them in, but we’re constantly getting guys in position to score.”

The Angels still hold an MLB-worst 18-34 record, but beat the AL West’s second-placed team before an announced crowd of 34,288. Fans in the right-field pavilions continued to chant “sell the team.”

The Democratic Republic of Congo has faced repeated Ebola outbreaks, but insecurity in the eastern part of the country is making this most recent outbreak difficult to control.

Neighbouring countries have already reported some cases, and the World Health Organization has said the outbreak’s real impact is yet to be seen.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has faced repeated Ebola outbreaks, but insecurity in the eastern part of the country is making this most recent outbreak difficult to control.

Neighbouring countries have already reported some cases, and the World Health Organization has said the outbreak’s real impact is yet to be seen.
Al Jazeera’s Hamza Mohamed explains.

LOVE Island stars Whitney Adebayo and Yamen Sanders have split after five months.

The pair found love in the ITV All Stars villa in South Africa in January – finishing in fifth place.

However, rumours have swirled of their break-up after the couple were navigating a long-distance relationship.

Whitney was based in the UK while American footballer Yamen was in the US.

A source told me: “Whitney and Yamen did try and put everything into their relationship.

“But it has inevitably been tough to keep up their romance long-distance.

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“Whitney has been spending more time with her girls and has been leaning on them while navigating her break-up.”

Earlier this week, Whitney was spotted on TikTok with fellow Love Island star Millie Court having a girly night in.

The pair were seen in their pyjamas clinking glasses of red wine together with the audio ‘so we’re going to heal’ playing.

Sounds like Whitney has a hot girl summer pending.