The Los Angeles Dodgers are distributing $1 million to 1,000 immigrant families affected by recent ICE raids.
The donation follows criticism of the Dodgers for their initial silence on the raids and for denying ICE access to Dodger Stadium parking lots.
The funds are being distributed through the California Community Foundation’s LA Neighbors Fund, which has raised $2.6 million from over 200 donors.

The Los Angeles Dodgers offered no timeline on June 20 when they announced they had committed $1 million ‘toward direct financial assistance for families of immigrants impacted by recent events in the region.’

Almost eight weeks later, with protests over the Dodgers’ response to the immigration raids having ended, a non-profit group working with the team provided new details.

The $1 million will be distributed to 1,000 households, each which will receive $1,000 by the end of the month, according to California Community Foundation (CCF), a philanthropic organization in Los Angeles.

‘The Dodgers’ generous gift of $1 million to the CCF LA Neighbors Fund will provide relief to 1,000 Los Angeles households struggling to meet their basic needs due to the immigration raids,’ CCF said in a statement provided to USA TODAY Sports. ‘Each will receive $1,000 in direct cash relief, delivered before the end of August 2025, as cash cards through trusted community partners in partnership with the City of Los Angeles.’

The Dodgers did not immediately respond to requests for comment USA TODAY Sports submitted by text message.

Since June 6, ICE and CBP have made more than 4,200 arrests in the Los Angeles area, according to Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin.

‘We will continue to enforce the law and remove the worst of the worst,’ McLaughlin told USA TODAY Sports by email.

The Dodgers, who have enjoyed longtime support from the Latino community, were criticized for failing to address the immigration crackdown for two weeks prior to announcing the commitment of $1 million.

The day before the announcement, the team said that it had denied ICE agents access to parking lots at Dodger Stadium. Until that point, the Dodgers had issued no statement related to the raids that triggered sometimes-violent protests downtown.

‘What’s happening in Los Angeles has reverberated among thousands upon thousands of people, and we have heard the calls for us to take a leading role on behalf of those affected,’ Dodgers president Stan Kasten said in a statement at the time of the announcement. ‘We believe that by committing resources and taking action, we will continue to support and uplift the communities of Greater Los Angeles.’

Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, in a June 21 news release about the team’s commitment, thanked the Dodgers ‘for leading with this action to support the immigrant community of Los Angeles.’

That same day, however, protesters returned to Dodger Stadium and at least two held signs that read, ‘Dodgers want you to shut up for $1 million.’

Others criticized the Dodgers for not giving more.

More than 200 donors, including the Dodgers, have helped raise $2.6 million for the CCF LA Neighbors Fund, ‘which will provide additional resources to the City of LA’s assistance program as well as nonprofit organizations providing direct aid to people across the County who are in need as a result of the ongoing raids,’ according to the statement CCF provided USA TODAY Sports.

(This story has been updated with new information.)

Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon has reached a deal to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers from the estate of Paul Allen.
Sportico reported that the ownership group includes Blue Owl Capital co-president Marc Zahr and Portland-based Sheel Tyle, co-CEO of Collective Global.
In May 2025, Allen’s estate officially put the Blazers on the market, saying proceeds would be used for philanthropy.

Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon has reached a deal to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers from the estate of Paul Allen, a person with knowledge of the agreement confirmed to USA TODAY Sports.

The person requested anonymity they were not authorized to speak publicly until the team makes an announcement.

The sale price is not yet available.

Allen died in 2018, and in 2023, Jody Allen, Allen’s sister and chairperson of the Blazers, Seattle Seahawks and trustee of the Allen estate, said, “As we’ve stated before, neither of the teams is for sale and there are no sales discussions happening.

‘A time will come when that changes given Paul’s plans to dedicate the vast majority of his wealth to philanthropy, but estates of this size and complexity can take 10 to 20 years to wind down. There is no pre-ordained timeline by which the teams must be sold. Until then, my focus – and that of our teams – is on winning.”

In May 2025, the estate officially put the Blazers on the market, saying proceeds would be used for philanthropy.

Last season, the Blazers were 36-46 under coach Chauncey Billups, who received an extension in the offseason. Veteran All-Star guard Damian Lillard signed a deal with the Blazers in the offseason after spending the past two seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Shohei Ohtani hit into a triple play and hit a go-ahead home run in the same game.
Ohtani’s home run was his 43rd of the season, putting him second in MLB.
The Dodgers and Padres are now tied for first place in the NL West.

Shohei Ohtani had an adventurous few innings in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 7-6 extra-innings loss to the Angels in Anaheim on Tuesday, Aug. 12.

In the sixth inning, Ohtani hit into a triple play. Three innings later, Ohtani hit a go-ahead home run, his 43rd of the season.

With Miguel Rojas on second base and Dalton Rushing on first, Ohtani hit a liner up the middle that shortstop Zach Neto snagged. Neto then forced out Rojas at second and threw to first base to catch Rushing scrambling back to the bag.

The third triple play of the 2025 season was the Angels’ first triple play since Aug. 18, 2023 and the eighth in franchise history.

With the score tied at 5-5 entering the ninth inning, Ohtani led off the inning with a home run off of Angels closer (and former Dodger) Kenley Jansen. Ohtani has hit home runs in four consecutive games.

The Dodgers called on Alex Vesia to close out the game, but a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Nolan Schanuel scored Luis Rengifo to tie up the game. The Angels held the Dodgers scoreless in the top of the 10th inning, and then won the game when Jo Adell’s single scored the ‘ghost runner’ Taylor Ward.

Ohtani takes the mound Wednesday as the Dodgers will look to avoid a series sweep against the Angels. A three-game losing streak by the Dodgers has allowed the San Diego Padres to move into a first-place tie atop the NL West. The Dodgers host the Padres for a three-game series this weekend.

2025 MLB home run leaders

Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners — 45
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers — 43
Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies — 42
Aaron Judge, New York Yankees — 38
Eugenio Suárez, Seattle Mariners — 37

The Pohlad family, owners of the Minnesota Twins, have decided against selling the team.
Instead, they will accept minority investments from two groups.
This decision comes after the family initially explored selling the team 10 months prior.

The owners of the Minnesota Twins said Wednesday they will not explore a sale and the team will remain under family control.

The Pohlad family instead says they have agreed in principle to take on minority investment from two different groups, just 10 months after announcing plans to sell the franchise.

‘After a detailed and robust process, our family will remain the principal owner of the Minnesota Twins,’ the family said in the statement. ‘To strengthen the club in a rapidly evolving sports landscape – one that demands strong partnerships, fresh ideas, and long-term vision – we are in the process of adding two significant limited partnership groups, each of whom will bring a wealth of experience and share our family values.’

The family has owned the team since 1984, when Carl Pohlad bought the team for $44 million from Calvin Griffith, and the Pohlad children inherited the Twins upon his death in 2009. Pohlad’s grandson, Joe, is the team’s executive chair.

The Twins are valued at $1.5 billion, according to Forbes Magazine, which ranks 23rd out of 30 MLB teams. Their 2025 payroll sits at $142,762,022, with their highest-paid player this season being pitcher Pablo López, who is making $21.75 million.

Minnesota is 56-63 and currently in fourth place in the American League Central. At the trade deadline, the team went into fire sale mode, trading 10 players, including shortstop Carlos Correa, who was sent to the Houston Astros, and relief pitcher Jhoan Duran, who was shipped off to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Two-time U.S. Open winner Venus Williams received a wild-card invitation to play in women’s singles, tournament officials announced Wednesday.

Williams, 45, will make her first appearance at Flushing Meadows since 2023, when she lost in the first round to Greet Minnen. She hasn’t won a singles match at the U.S. Open since 2019, and will be the oldest singles player at the tournament since Renée Richards in 1981, who competed when she was 47.

The seven-time major singles champion had already received a wild-card entry by the U.S. Tennis Association for the mixed doubles competition, which starts Aug. 19. Williams has 14 women’s doubles and two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles in her career.

After not appearing on tour in nearly 16 months, Williams played at the D.C. Open last month and won her first match, beating fellow American Peyton Stearns, who is 22 years younger than her, in straight sets, becoming the oldest player to win a WTA Tour-level singles match in more than 21 years. She also won a doubles match at the tournament.

At the U.S. Open, she will pair with Reilly Opelka in the mixed doubles tournament. The singles match begins Aug. 24.

There are two ways to look at this sexy and potentially salacious gambling story mere days from the start of the college football season. 

One, Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer gambled on sports, despite his public denial.

Or two: somewhere in these amber waves of grain and purple mountains of majesty, is a Texas fan who spent time investigating the rival team’s quarterback, found his Venmo account, saw the alleged “inside jokes” and dumped them in the social media world of shoot first, aim second. 

And away we go. 

“My previous Venmo descriptions did not accurately portray the transactions in question,” Mateer wrote on X. “But were instead inside jokes between me and my friends.”

Which, of course, means absolutely nothing in the social media sewer of guilty until we say you aren’t.

We don’t know if Mateer gambled on college games, and was twice dumb enough to pay off bets via Venmo with memo lines that read – I swear I’m not making this up – “sports gambling.”

We don’t know, and frankly the NCAA will never know unless the benefactor of those two Venmo payments (“Richard Roaten”) drops dime.

Or maybe – and I’m just spitballing here – Mateer and his friends played a stupid joke as freshmen, and word eventually got out. Because if there is no there there, the exposure of it all is the story here.

The Iron Bowl. The Egg Bowl. The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. 

Welcome aboard, Red River Rivalry. You’ve finally earned your SEC stripes. 

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a wonderful day in the neighborhood, won’t you be my … rival. 

To be fair to the SEC, this fun OU/Texas sideshow less than two weeks from the start of the season doesn’t hold a candle to Harvey Updyke and “I got too much Bama in me.”

Or Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer refusing to attend SEC media days for fear of being served legal papers from a hoity-toity attorney who just happened to be a huge Alabama fan. 

The visual of media hovering around a speaker phone to hear Fulmer say he can’t discuss legal proceedings gave new meaning to media days carnival.

Or a fired Tennessee assistant coach faxing ball plays to Florida coach Ron Zook days before the annual rivalry game. 

Or Hugh Freeze’s – ahem – exposed log of calls to ‘massage therapists.’

All of those wild and true stories originated and were exposed, in one form or another, from the rival school. Or in Updyke’s case, from sheer stupidity. 

Which brings us all the way back to Mateer. You’d have to be pretty dumb to not only gamble on games, but pay off bets using one of the world’s largest payment apps. With, you know, a memo explaining exactly what you did. 

Because when you’re balancing your checkbook (Google it, kids), you need to know where that cash went.

“I have never bet on sports,” Mateer wrote on X. “I understand the seriousness of the matter but recognize that, taken out of context, those Venmo descriptions suggest otherwise. I can assure my teammates, coaches and officials at the NCAA that I have not engaged in any sports gambling.”

There, that should do it. Especially considering the NCAA’s ever-evolving stance on gambling, once the ultimate sin of amateur sports. 

That’s sarcasm, everyone. 

Because now you can gamble on your phone inside stadiums during games. Heck, LSU and Caesar’s Sportsbook signed a multiyear sponsorship agreement in 2021 for – again, I swear I’m not making this up – naming rights to the Caesar’s Sportsbook Skyline Club at Tiger Stadium, and signage displayed throughout the stadium. 

The SEC just last year began distributing weekly injury reports for games because, you know, fans need the info.

So yeah, if Mateer did gamble on games (allegedly), you better believe they’re going to throw the book at him, baby. But have no fear, Netflix will turn it into a three-part series glorifying the unfairness of it all, so Mateer will at least recoup some of the lost wages. 

And somewhere above the fruited plain, from sea to shining sea, a Texas fan will get a 10-gallon belly laugh. 

Then take the Longhorns and lay the points in the Red River Rivalry. 

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

The Minnesota Lynx clinched a WNBA playoff berth, their 14th in 15 seasons.
Minnesota currently holds a six-game lead in the league standings despite star Napheesa Collier’s absence due to injury.
The Lynx are on a five-game winning streak and have won nine of their last 10 games.

The Minnesota Lynx hold a six-game lead in the WNBA standings and, even though they weren’t in action Tuesday night, they became the first in the league to clinch a playoff spot.

With the Indiana Fever’s 81-80 loss to the Dallas Wings, the Lynx nabbed their 14th playoff bid in the past 15 seasons. They have won four titles, the last coming in 2017.

Lynx All-Star Napheesa Collier, the favorite for MVP, hasn’t played since Aug. 2 because of an ankle injury. Despite that, Minnesota is on a five-game winning streak and 9-1 in its past 10 games.

The Lynx made the Finals in 2024, losing to the New York Liberty. Minnesota’s next two games are against the Liberty, on Aug. 16 and 19.