MISSISSIPPI – A leader from the United Cajun Navy, who was involved in the search for Nolan Wells, reported that the waters near where the teen’s body was discovered are infamous for dangerous “washing machine” currents. He also noted that the water conditions on the day Wells disappeared were far from safe.

Eighteen-year-old Wells vanished on July 4 following a boating excursion with friends to Horn Island, a barrier island along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. After an extensive search by crews, a National Park Service ranger found Wells’ remains on the island’s northwestern edge on July 6.

Wells’ friends had returned to the mainland earlier that afternoon without him. According to Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter, investigators suspect Wells voluntarily stayed behind on the island. It wasn’t until later that evening that Wells’ mother was informed by one of his friends about his disappearance, prompting her to contact law enforcement.

The body of Wells was discovered between Horn Island and the neighboring Ship Island in an area locals refer to as a “washing machine” due to its perilous rip currents. Brian Trascher, Vice President of the United Cajun Navy, shared this information with News Media, while authorities have informed the Associated Press that there is no suspicion of foul play.

“Yeah, there is some kind of nickname for it, and it’s because they’ve had a lot of drownings in that area and on that island. And to the west, there’s Ship Island, just another few miles to the West. And in between those two islands, there’s a strong divergent occurrence,” Trascher said. “And that area is called the washing machine by locals.”

Based on conversations with people who were on Horn Island on July 4, Trascher said the rip current that day was “extremely strong,” adding that the water off the island’s northwest tip can go from shallow to deep in just a few steps.

While Wells knew how to swim and swam regularly, Trascher said a strong rip current can overpower even an experienced swimmer, especially if panic, sun exposure or alcohol are factors.

Trascher said one of the biggest unresolved questions in Wells’ death is what happened between when he was last seen, around 4 or 4:30 p.m. on July 4, and when his body was found, calling it a “gaping hole” that still needs to be answered.

“I’ve heard virtually no explanation, no eyewitness accounts. Nobody seemed to see him after that… there don’t seem to be any photographs or videos of him after that time. So what happened? It wasn’t dark yet. There was still a lot of people on the island… why did he just vanish and show up dead two days later?” Trascher said. “That is a question that needs to be asked. And I’m not suggesting that means that there was foul play involved. I’m just saying that there is a gaping hole in the story that needs to filled.”

During a Wednesday news conference, attorney Ben Crump revealed that an area of “red discoloration” was found on Wells’ head, but said Dr. Roger Mitchell, who performed an independent autopsy, couldn’t come to a conclusion on a cause or manner of death “pending further investigation.” An official autopsy into Wells’ death hasn’t been completed.

When asked by News Media about the case, forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden said the head injury doesn’t point to foul play.

“So that could be from bumping into something in the water. There’s a lot of debris in the water, for example. It depends how deep it is, but it’s describing a really superficial impact that could have happened before death or after death,” Baden said. “What he’s describing is a minor injury that could be… totally innocent.”

Without having additional information, Mitchell wrote in his report that he couldn’t rule out the possibility that “non-accidental factors contributed to or caused the death.”

A tragic drone strike by Russian forces in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region claimed the lives of three individuals, as reported by local administrators on Saturday. On the same note, Romania intercepted and brought down a drone violating its airspace, marking the second occurrence in a span of just two days.

Oleh Hryhorov, the head of the Sumy region, disclosed that the drone assault ignited a significant blaze at a “civilian facility.” The casualties were identified as drivers employed by Nova Poshta, a private Ukrainian postal and courier service.

Meanwhile, a separate Russian drone strike targeted a shopping mall in Zaporizhzhia, located in southeastern Ukraine, late Friday evening. The attack resulted in a fire engulfing an area of 500 square meters and left several people injured, according to regional leader Ivan Fedorov.

Further intensifying the conflict, a large-scale Russian offensive on Friday targeted a location near Kyiv associated with a defense industry event. This attack tragically led to the deaths of at least 10 people and injured nearly 100 more.

In a dire warning during his Friday night address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cited intelligence reports indicating Russia’s preparations for a substantial missile attack on Ukraine. He suggested that such an assault could occur within the next 48 hours, escalating concerns amidst the ongoing conflict.

Meanwhile, Romania’s defense ministry said Saturday its forces “safely shot down” a drone breaching its airspace in an “unpopulated area” near the Ukrainian border.

Writing on Facebook, Romanian President Nicușor Dan said the drone was “shot down by a Romanian pilot from an F-16 aircraft.”

Saturday’s interception came after a drone was shot down around Padina, northeast of the Romanian capital, Bucharest, on Friday.

A series of drone incursions from both Russia and Ukraine have hit Romania and other NATO members since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In June, a Ukrainian maritime drone that was being used in the war exploded at the Black Sea port of Constanta, while three other sea drones exploded outside the port. No one was hurt.

A month earlier, a Russian drone that was part of an attack on Ukraine went astray and struck an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people.

In a turn of events that left attendees at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner both surprised and intrigued, Donald Trump made headlines with a quip linking CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins to the well-known transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Trump, who often finds himself at odds with Collins during press conferences at the Oval Office, seized the opportunity Friday night to draw parallels between her and Mulvaney, weaving this comparison into his commentary.

“I thought Kaitlan had really hit the big time with a major new sponsorship,” Trump remarked with evident humor directed at Collins.

“But then I had to let her know it wasn’t her face on the Bud Light can—it was Dylan Mulvaney,” he added, stirring laughter and some murmurs from the crowd.

The remark alluded to a significant slump in Bud Light’s sales in 2023, following a marketing campaign featuring Mulvaney. The campaign was particularly notable as it celebrated her first full year since transitioning, which involved sharing personalized beer can imagery.

The promotion detonated a backlash that quickly grew into a full-scale boycott, fueled by conservative outrage which was amplified across social media and right-wing news outlets.

Trump ripped into the campaign at the dinner Friday night. 

‘Dylan Mulvaney cost Bud Light $35 billion in market cap,’ he said. ‘That was the worst commercial ever made, by the way, for those few people that want to hear that. Most people don’t care, but I would. I wouldn’t want to hire Dylan anytime soon.’

‘Think of it. They hired Dylan Mulvaney, and their market cap has gone down by $35 billion. Who wrote that commercial?’

However, it wasn’t Trump’s only remark about the CNN host in his roast-laden speech at the Waldorf Astoria, especially after she received a journalism award from the WHCA. 

‘I want to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award. It was all about me. It was a fake, she shouldn’t get the award, it was a fake. But I didn’t mind,’ he riffed.

Trump then repeated a previous criticism of Collins – that she allegedly does not smile.

‘She’s a young, attractive woman, but she never smiles. I said, ”Kaitlan do you ever smile? Smile!’ You have a nice position, you’re at CNN fake news. You should be a happy person.” So smile, Kaitlan! Just smile.’ 

When approached for comment by The Daily Mail, a spokesperson for CNN defended Collins. 

‘Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional, trusted journalist being honored tonight for her depth of knowledge and the context she provides to audiences all over the world,’ they said. 

‘She reports every day from the White House and the field with real strength and tenacity and skillfully brings that reporting to the anchor chair and CNN platforms every day. We stand by her to the fullest extent.’

The White House said Friday that President Donald Trump’s first-ever White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech would be, in part, ‘vicious.’

And as the night wore on, it indeed lived up to that billing, as the commander-in-chief used his remarks both to praise, and at times, to excoriate some of the biggest names in Washington’s press corps and beyond. 

In addition to Collins, Trump leveled barbs towards California Governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Bruce Springsteen and Rosie O’Donnell, among many, many others.

The dinner was rescheduled after the original event on April 25 was dramatically canceled when bullets rang out in the dining hall as a gunman opened fire outside. 

The glitzy event took place with heightened airport-style security in the Waldorf Astoria hotel, a venue that holds about 700 people, instead of the larger Washington Hilton where the previous event was held.

In a haunting incident that has left a Michigan community in shock, authorities are probing potential foul play after a tragedy struck a family home. Eight individuals, tragically including six children, were discovered dead inside a house engulfed in flames on Friday. Some of these victims suffered gunshot wounds, adding a grim layer to the unfolding investigation.

The unsettling event caught the attention of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office, which promptly initiated an investigation into these suspicious deaths. This came in the wake of a house fire in Grand Haven Township, where responders were confronted with the heart-wrenching sight of multiple fatalities.

Authorities have revealed that all eight victims, who are believed to be members of the same family, include six children aged between 5 and 15 years and two adults in their 40s. The devastating loss has left the community reeling as they grapple with the scale of the tragedy.

As the investigation continues, officials believe the entire family resided in the home. Efforts are underway to formally identify each of the deceased as investigators work tirelessly to uncover the truth behind this devastating incident.

The Grand Haven Fire Department initially responded to reports of the smell of smoke in the area between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Friday, but firefighters were unable to locate a fire.

Just before 11:45 a.m., deputies and firefighters returned after receiving reports of white smoke coming from a home in the 14900 block of Riverside Trail.

After extinguishing the fire, emergency crews discovered the eight victims inside the residence.

The sheriff’s office said investigators later determined that at least some of the victims had been shot.

Authorities said the investigation remains active and additional information is expected following the completion of the victims’ autopsies.

Sheriff’s detectives are investigating alongside arson investigators with the Michigan State Police.

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat facing reelection, finds her campaign’s spending habits under scrutiny after revelations show expenditures nearly tripled earnings in the second quarter of 2026. As her team shelled out over $7.4 million during this period, prominent Arizona GOP activist Tyler Bowyer criticized the governor, comparing her fiscal approach to that of a “drunken sailor” managing a faltering campaign.

Financial records accessed by Fox News Digital reveal that Hobbs’ campaign commenced the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) Q2 filing period with approximately $7.18 million available. During this time, they managed to raise around $2.64 million, spent more than $7.44 million, and concluded the quarter with just $2.38 million remaining.

The bulk of this spending was directed towards boosting her campaign’s communication strategy, including TV, advertising, and consultancy firms. This financial strategy has provided Republicans with new material to critique as Hobbs navigates a closely contested gubernatorial race in a pivotal battleground state.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Tyler Bowyer, COO of Turning Point USA and a former Maricopa County GOP chair, expressed concerns. “She’s spending like a drunken sailor. And drunken sailors typically don’t spend smart,” he commented. Bowyer argues that heavy investment in consultants and media suggests that there is “not a lot of organic energy behind the campaign.”

Bowyer further elaborated that this spending pattern is indicative of a broader issue confronting Democrats in Arizona and nationwide. He noted that an incumbent Democrat in a battleground state who spends more than what is raised poses “a huge problem.”

Among those problems, Bowyer argued, is a spending strategy focused heavily on paid media and consultants rather than grassroots energy.

He pointed to what he described as “a whole lot” of spending on consultants, TV and paid messaging, noting, “these are not real grassrootsy types of moves,” and arguing that campaigns with less organic support often struggle down the stretch.

Hobbs, who narrowly won the governor’s office in 2022 against then-Republican challenger Kari Lake, is seeking reelection in a state expected to be one of the most closely watched political battlegrounds of the 2026 cycle. 

She won her uncontested primary Tuesday and will advance to the general election to take on Trump-backed Republican nominee Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who beat out several opponents to win his Tuesday primary.

Biggs’ campaign also seized on Hobbs’ spending earlier this month, accusing the incumbent governor of “lighting” $7.4 million “on fire” and highlighting what it described as a 281% Q2 burn rate.

“While Andy Biggs’ campaign is floundering and stuck defending his decision to side with a pedophile cult over protecting women and children, we’re proud of the strong support we’ve received from grassroots donors in all 15 Arizona counties,” Hobbs campaign manager, Nicole DeMont, told Fox News Digital in response to the criticism about the governor’s spending numbers.

The “pedophile cult” reference appeared to point to a recent Hobbs campaign digital ad that accused Biggs of “protecting predators,” citing his opposition to a bill addressing Arizona’s rape-kit backlog and his vote against releasing the Epstein files.

“We’re going to continue using those resources to reach Arizonans across the state in both English and Spanish through face-to-face conversations, community organizing, and on their TVs, local radio stations, and digital platforms.”

But, aside from whether Hobbs is earning grassroots support, Bowyer also cast Hobbs’ burn rate as part of a broader problem for the Democratic Party, arguing that the party is spending aggressively to keep pace with Republicans heading into the midterms even though Democrats are the party out of power in Washington and would typically expect the president’s party to face tougher headwinds.

He added that Hobbs’ cash position matters beyond her own campaign because Arizona does not have a Senate race this cycle to help drive Democratic fundraising and turnout infrastructure.

“If the governor doesn’t have money, then a lot of candidates down ballot won’t have a ton of money,” he said, arguing Democrats often rely on federal races as a “crutch” to support campaigns lower on the ticket.

Meanwhile, Bowyer said the race should also matter to conservatives outside Arizona because the state is expected to remain central to the 2028 presidential map.

He argued that Republicans need to invest now in battleground states like Arizona to build the organization, funding and “boots on the ground” needed for the next White House race.

“Right now, we’re in the battle of our lives for what 2030 and beyond will look like,” Bowyer said. “People are totally underestimating what this country will look like if the Democrats win the presidency in 2028 and hijack the census process and redistricting.”

“We may look back at 2026 and realize that was the pivot point where we saved America ahead of 2028, or we lost America for good.” 

Five months have passed since the United States, under the leadership of President Trump and alongside Israel, initiated a military campaign targeting Iran.

However, tangible successes seem elusive. The Trump administration faces mounting frustration as Iran continues to demonstrate resilience. Allies in the Gulf region and beyond express growing concern, the global economy is under strain, gasoline prices in the U.S. are on the rise, and Trump’s approval ratings are in freefall, reflecting widespread discontent.

The conflict commenced with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes against Iranian targets at the end of February, with Trump boldly asserting that victory would be swift. The initial strategy aimed to humble the Iranian government, potentially unseating it, dismantling its missile and drone stockpiles, and halting its nuclear weapon ambitions indefinitely.

Approaching the 150-day milestone since February 27, when Trump initiated Operation Epic Fury, the goals remain unfulfilled. While Iran’s infrastructure has sustained damage, its government remains defiantly intact and even more staunchly resistant than before.

Though Iran’s military capabilities have been somewhat impaired, the threat remains palpable as it continues to deploy missiles and drones, posing ongoing challenges to American military presence and its allies in the region.

Tehran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons has suffered serious setbacks. But it still has the capability to start all over again should it be so minded.

No progress has been made, on the battlefield or in ceasefire talks, to ensure Iran renounces its nuclear ambitions, supposedly the fundamental reason for starting the war in the first place.

Now Iran has something perhaps even more precious than the Bomb, something it did not possess before war broke out: a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the global economy’s most crucial chokepoint, through which so much oil, gas, fertiliser and other essential commodities used to flow before hostilities broke out. Tehran’s refusal to give up control of this vital waterway is the main reason all peace efforts to date have floundered.

The war isn’t just consuming Trump’s presidency. It’s taking its toll on the President himself. During a recent meeting in the Oval Office, he ranted against Iran’s leaders, calling them ‘scumbags’ and ‘lunatics’ in an expletive-ridden diatribe. There is growing concern for his physical health and mental stability.

‘Donald is deteriorating before our very eyes,’ I was told in Washington this week by a close confidant who sees him regularly. ‘His physical and mental health is in decline. Those around him don’t know what to do about it. It can only get worse. He’s 80 – and it’s showing.’

But it’s not just age – or the decline in cognitive capabilities that can afflict those entering their ninth decade. Trump is lashing out at all and sundry in frustration at the lack of any good options now facing him.

The hardliners in Tehran are now so cocky they even rebuffed a secret US attempt to get the peace process back on track this week.

So the White House is dialling up the rhetoric – Trump is said to be in ‘revenge mode’ – and the President himself sounds ever more bellicose, saying on Thursday that he was ‘close’ to deciding on a ‘massive attack’.

Even senior aides in the White House don’t know what this would mean. The number of influential voices in Washington who think even ramped-up air strikes –as I write, we’ve just had the 14th consecutive night of renewed US attacks on Iran – will cow Iran into submission are now passing few. In truth, nobody around Trump really knows what to do next – or what he will do.

This week two new intelligence reports landed on their desks to add to their despair – which was further increased by their fear that the President has given them scant attention. Their contents were certainly unlikely to improve his mood.

The first, based on analysis from various US intelligence agencies and drawn together by the CIA, concluded that the Iranian regime would not be cajoled into rejoining peace talks by ramping up US air strikes. The US, it said, had underestimated Iran’s ‘staying power’ – that hitting Iran harder was unlikely to make it more ‘compliant’.

The risk now was ‘indefinite limbo’ between peace and war. In other words a stalemate, yet another low-level ‘forever war’ which Trump was elected to avoid.

Or more bluntly, in the terminology used during the Vietnam War almost 50 years ago, a quagmire.

The second intelligence report, involving US and Israeli intelligence, was even more depressing. Drawing on extensive satellite imagery, it revealed that Iran was rebuilding its devastated missile and drone bases far more quickly than either the US or Israel had anticipated.

Missile arsenals were being reconstituted inside mountains. Bridges, ports and military production facilities were being repaired with speed. Even the northern supply lines through which Russia channelled aid to Iran – and which Israel thought it had disrupted – had been ‘restored’. Iran, Israeli intelligence reported, had shown an ‘impressive ability to reconstitute its military capabilities.’

The sound of war drums is once again emanating from the White House. The media is being briefed on the renewed ‘surge’ of US forces to the Gulf. There are already 17 US warships in the region, including two aircraft carrier strike groups and a marine corps expeditionary group.

They are being joined by more fighter jets and special forces. Bombers stationed at US bases in America and Britain are back on high alert. Even 150 medics have been rushed to a base in Germany which deals with Middle East casualties. All told, including US bases in the region, deployments for the launch of the war back in February plus the latest top-ups, America now has more than 50,000 troops in the region.

But for what purpose? This week in America I listened to several influential figures close to Trump mull over the options. The assumption was that some sort of ground incursion was inevitable. That is certainly the new vibe coming out of Washington.

They talked of seizing Iranian territory on the northern shores of the Gulf to wrest control of the Strait of Hormuz from Tehran. They raised the prospect, again, of invading Kharg Island, from which Iran dispatches most of its oil exports.

There was, thankfully, no talk of a full-scale attack along the lines of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Iran is four times bigger than Iraq, with a much larger population, a disciplined, well-armed 190,000- strong guard bolstering the regime and terrain tailor- made for guerrilla war. No conceivable US deployment could suppress Iran for long.

But there was, much more worryingly, talk of using tactical nuclear weapons to ‘send a message’ to Tehran and ‘concentrate its mind’ on peace. This took me aback.

‘Do that,’ I snapped ‘and you destroy America’s reputation and standing for the rest of the century. You’ve also paved the way for President Putin to do the same in Ukraine.’

I was met with silence. There is much desperate talk in Trump circles these days. As it happens, I do not believe Trump will resort to nuclear weapons. I’m not even sure he will embark on a major ‘boots on the ground’ escalation, even if that is the growing consensus in Washington. US forces could certainly take Kharg Island. But then what? They’d be sitting ducks for Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Occupying the north side of the Strait of Hormuz would be a far bigger task, requiring more troops than America is currently assembling in the region. The topography lends itself to Iranian guerrilla attacks. Ships transiting the Strait would still be vulnerable to missile and drone attacks launched from further inland.

US forces might then be enticed to go after these sites. That’s how you get suckered into a morass. It’s striking that current US reinforcements to the region do not include a big increase in troop numbers, which a major land attack would require. That’s one reason I remain sceptical of a major ground incursion. The other is US domestic politics.

It took six years for the Vietnam war to become as unpopular as Trump’s war on Iran has become in under six months. Vietnam hit a net approval rating of minus 30 per cent after six years and a mounting death toll with no end in sight. Trump’s war already has the same negative approval rating – and that’s without a monstrous bodybag count.

So far only 18 US military personnel have lost their lives in the current war. Each one, of course, a personal and family tragedy. Even so, it is already the most unpopular war since US polling began. It benefits from not a scintilla of bipartisan support. It has a net approval rating of minus 84 per cent among registered Democratic voters and minus 52 per cent among independents.

Surprisingly, it still enjoys a 72 per cent approval rating among Maga Republicans, despite their contempt for ‘forever wars’. But over half are only ‘somewhat’ supportive rather than ‘strongly’. I would expect that tepid support to evaporate if pictures of bodybags started to dominate broadcast news.

The war has already taken its toll on Trump’s popularity. Almost two-thirds of voters disapprove of his handling of the war, with only a third approving. More than

60 per cent don’t expect any truce he makes with Iran to hold. Almost 80 per cent want him to end the war now. Trump’s overall job approval rating is now under 40 per cent and falling. Iran has proved to be a major drag on his standing. His approval rating on perhaps the most important political metric of all – his handling of the economy – is under water at below 30 per cent.

Much of that reflects the fact petrol prices at the pump are now over $4 a gallon again, which especially hurts Americans now that the summer driving season is underway. Petrol prices dropped when the ceasefire was agreed and it looked like the Strait of Hormuz was open again for business. Now they could be heading for $5 or more – a prospect that terrifies Republican Party managers in the run up to early November’s mid-term congressional elections, when Trump’s control of the House and Senate is at stake.

The resumption of hostilities has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. Shipping there has all but halted since July 15. So oil prices have started to soar again.

The benchmark price of Brent crude oil hit $100 a barrel on Thursday. It’s likely to go even higher. This week, urged on by their Iranian paymasters, Houthi rebels in the Yemen hit two Saudi tankers loaded with crude and oil products in the Red Sea.

The Saudis have been piping oil to Yanbu, a port on the Red Sea, to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. If this escape route is now in jeopardy then oil prices will spike much further.

In fact, it is not the price of crude that is the real worry. It is the price of the products refined from it – diesel, petrol, jet fuel. All three are already spiking. Jet fuel, for example, at around $150 a barrel in Europe and America, is now almost twice what it was before this misbegotten war began.

The global economy is now on the brink of a major energy squeeze. It has been staved off to date because major economies such as America, China, Japan and South Korea drew on their strategic oil reserves.

Ways round the Strait of Hormuz (like that pipeline to Yanbu) were used. China cut its crude oil imports by almost two-fifths. All these buffers have now been exhausted.

Nor is the problem just Trump’s Iranian adventure. That has reduced the supply of refined products by around 3million barrels per day (b/d) from the Gulf, on which Europe depends for diesel and jet fuel. On top of that Ukrainian drones have taken out another 2million b/d of Russian refining capacity while China has cut back on its export of refined products, perhaps by another 3million b/d to conserve its own supplies.

It amounts to a triple whammy for the global economy, a perfect storm – and a harbinger of severe shortages of vital refined products to come, which is as yet only vaguely understood.

If, as is the talk in Washington, Trump starts to bomb Iranian power plants and civilian infrastructure – and Tehran inevitably retaliates by hitting the pipelines, ports and even desalination plants of the Gulf States (which depend entirely on these plants for water) – then the word ‘morass’ will not do justice to what’s in store for us during the second half of this year.

I end where I started: Trump has no good options. If he tries to slink away from the mess he’s created, all the vainglorious rhetoric he can muster will not hide the fact that he has presided over the greatest humiliation of America in modern times. But if he doubles down and recklessly raises the stakes with a major military escalation, he risks merely making matters worse – for him, for his party, for America, for the Gulf, for the global economy, for us.

Trump’s war on Iran is now at risk of defining his presidency just as the Vietnam war defined Lyndon Johnson’s all those years ago. It is not a legacy any president should wish to emulate. But, through a mixture of stupidity and bravado, Trump looks like doing exactly that. We will all be the poorer for it.

CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago is set to host the All-Star Game, welcoming the league’s elite athletes to the Windy City.

Showcasing top-tier talent, this illustrious event shines a spotlight on the league’s standout figures. Despite the absence of Chicago Sky players on the All-Star lineup, the city offers a myriad of activities celebrating the league and the greatness of women’s sports.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

Angel Reese, who once played for the Chicago Sky and now suits up for the Atlanta Dream, has earned a spot as an All-Star Reserve. Meanwhile, Caitlin Clark from the Indiana Fever has secured her place as a starter.

Fans are eagerly gearing up long before the exciting tip-off, as the WNBA’s All-Star Weekend kicks into high gear.

A lively crowd filled Wintrust Arena for Friday’s action-packed WNBA Skills Challenge, showcasing a vibrant enthusiasm that many say illustrates the tremendous progress women’s sports have made recently.

Several fans pointed to the contrast between this year’s event and previous years, describing a sold-out arena and growing enthusiasm around the league.

“It’s crazy how it’s sold out now, and like a couple years ago, it was like barely filling,” fan Elise Brown said.

Fans said the event highlighted the increasing popularity of women’s sports and the impact athletes are having on younger generations. Azzi Fudd’s performance, which earned her the 3-point championship, served as inspiration for some young attendees.

“When I was like watching her shoot, and I was like, wow, I wanted to be like that because like I used to play basketball, but I had quit because of like I thought I was bad and stuff. And then like watching her, I was like, okay, I can revisit that moment,” fan Khloe Jointer said.

Others said the event represented more than competition on the court.

“Just seeing strong women do what they do, be themselves, and be supported and loved for it is incredible,” fan Hannah Moore said.

The event drew longtime WNBA supporters as well as newer fans, with many describing the Skills Challenge as a must-see experience.

Taking center court at McCormick Place is WNBA Live, an interactive fan festival featuring special appearances and more.

“You want to pick up a ball and shoot, if you want to take photo ops, if you want customized merch, there is so many different things that fans can do here” said Amanda Allhouse, WNBA senior director.

This is the second time Chicago has hosted the game.

Like in past years, along with the premier event, the goal is to deliver an unforgettable fan experience.

“I just love basketball in general so seeing all of it and playing, it’s fun to me,” fan Jimmy Hanson said. “Any kind of basketball skill is great.”

Earlier in the week, Mayor Brandon Johnson provided 500 children with tickets to attend the festivities. He said the effort aligns with broader investments aimed at encouraging participation in sports.

“Those tickets, as well as the investments that we’re making in our park districts to encourage our young ladies, our young women to become more involved in sports,” Johnson said.

Fans said the increased attention on women’s sports is long overdue.

“Everyone watches women’s sports. They say it for a reason. So, we’re here. We’re finally getting the attention we deserve,” fan Queenie Dominique said.

The weekend’s excitement extended beyond Wintrust Arena. Players also had the opportunity to practice at the Obama Presidential Center, where former President Barack Obama made a surprise appearance.

“All of you are extraordinary and I could not be bigger fans. The way the game has been going lately, the way it’s been picking up, and people paying attention to your excellence, I think, has been something for basketball fans generally, a sight to see,” Obama said.

For many fans, the sold-out crowd and high-profile attention signal continued growth for the league and women’s sports overall.

Asked where that momentum goes from here, Brown offered a simple answer, saying, “Nowhere but up.”

The weekend’s events continue with the WNBA All-Star Game scheduled to take place at the United Center at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.