(CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Thursday the White House will host the “Patriot Games,” a competition with young athletes from across the county, as part of the celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary next year.

“In the fall, we will host the first ever Patriot Games, an unprecedented four-day athletic event featuring the greatest high school athletes — one young man and one young woman from each state and territory,” Trump said.

Democrats have mocked the athletic competition online, comparing it to “The Hunger Games,” a dystopian young adult novel and popular movie franchise in which children are forced to fight to the death in televised arenas.

The president revealed the plans for the Patriot Games in a video announcement from Freedom 250, which was launched Thursday. It is a “a national, non-partisan organization leading the Administration’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday,” according to a news release.

Trump previously previewed the competition in July, saying at the time it would be televised and led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.

During the video, Trump also highlighted his plans to begin construction soon on a new arch monument in the nation’s capital.

“We are the only major place without a triumphal arc. A beautiful triumphal arc, one like in Paris, where they have the great, a beautiful arc. They call it the Arc de Triomphe, and we’re going to have one in Washington, DC, very soon,” Trump said.

A UFC fight on the South Lawn is another of Trump’s ideas for the 250th celebration and will take place on his birthday, June 14.

“On Flag Day, we will have a one-of-a-kind UFC event here at the White House. It’ll be the greatest champion fighters in the world, all fighting that same night. The great Dana White is hosting, and it’s going to be something special,” Trump said.

Trump has long touted his desire to shape the nation’s 250th celebrations. In the past year, the Trump administration has moved quickly to align federal funding with the president’s anniversary priorities, and agencies have followed suit.

The Department of Agriculture, for instance, has embraced the president’s Great American State Fair initiative. The idea was first floated by Trump on the campaign trail in 2023, and it asks states to compete to have their fair chosen by Trump as the “most patriotic.”

Meanwhile, the White House is conducting a sweeping review of the Smithsonian Institution and has demanded the 250th content at the nation’s largest museum complex renews national pride.

This story has been updated with additional details.

The-CNN-Wire

™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.

Chinese sportswear manufacturer ANTA Group has announced the continuation of its three-year philanthropic alliance, known as the ‘Moving for Change’ partnership, with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). This follows an initial phase in which the corporate entity contributed $1.5 million in financial aid and over 1.2 million units of apparel and sporting goods to displaced youth populations in several African nations.

The ‘Moving for Change’ corporate social responsibility initiative is designed to support UNHCR’s Sports for Protection programming and Primary Impact education initiative. The first focuses on utilizing structured sports activities for child protection and psychosocial support, while the second aims at sustaining primary education in refugee settings by funding teachers and essential learning materials.

ANTA Group reports that these combined efforts have reached an estimated 300,000 children and adolescents to-date.

Image Credit: UNHCR/Eric Bakuli

The California Department of Education is requiring the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District to follow state law in another clash over transgender athletes in youth sports in the state. 

Currently, student-athletes in Tahoe Truckee Unified play sports in Nevada because of how close they are. But Nevada now bans transgender athletes in girls’ sports, which is against California state law. 

So after decades of playing in Nevada, California’s Department of Education is requiring the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District to compete in California to comply with state laws that allow student athletes to compete based on their gender identity.

David Mack is the co-founder of Tahoe Pride and describes the new youth sports divide in the Tahoe region.

“So no one’s happy, it’s really sad, it’s quite tragic in that way,” Mack said. “People feel really upset that the school moved so fast on this. They feel blindsided, they feel not listened to, and then other people, like the trans kids, are getting steamrolled over like they’re not recognized in this argument.”

Nevada state lawmakers passed a law in April requiring a mandatory physical signed by a doctor to deem the athlete male or female based on their birth sex. 

“This is a politically manufactured issue to try to divide people,” Mack said. 

The Tahoe Truckee Unified School District is responding to the California Department of Education with a solution that the district legally join the California Interscholastic Federation in 2026, but continue to play in the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association through 2028.

When asked if transgender athletes would be able to compete while operating in the NIAA, the district said it’s “still in the early stages of this transition, and many details are still being developed.”

In an October letter addressed to the California Department of Education, the school district’s attorney, Matthew Juhl-Darlington, said the Tahoe Truckee Unified is “not aware of any transgender youth who have expressed interest in participating in its 2025-2026 athletic programs.”

“While the NIAA recently updated its polices to define ‘male’ and ‘female’ based on sex assigned at birth and not as reflected in an individual’s gender identity, as required under California law, the District is interpreting and implementing this policy in a manner consistent with California’s legal requirements,” Juhl-Darlington said in the letter. 

California Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley is opposed to the state order, arguing the weather conditions in Tahoe need to be considered.

“So in order to compete in a California league, you have to deal with this snowy weather and the travel dangers and so forth,” Kiley said.

The school board was expected to explain its solution to both join California’s CIF while playing in the NIAA through 2028 to parents and students Wednesday night at a board meeting.

So far, the California Department of Education has not said if it will accept this as a solution.

QUINCY (WGEM) – Quincy University has to pay a $5,000 fine and spend two years on probation after the NCAA issued sanctions tied to more than 120 ineligible student-athletes who were allowed to play for the school.

The problem first surfaced in August 2024 when staff preparing the men’s and women’s soccer roster lists discovered three players had not received the required amateurism certification. That same day, another school alerted QU’s athletics office that a transfer student from Quincy also lacked the certification. The athletic office then launched a broader review.

What began as a handful of missing documents quickly grew. The department found potential eligibility problems for 95 student-athletes during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. In November 2024, the department self-reported the findings to the NCAA and cooperated with an investigation.

The NCAA report names former Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance Taylor Zerbe as central to the violations. Zerbe admitted to changing 74 student-athletes’ eligibility certifications and told investigators she felt overwhelmed by the workload. According to the report, she did not raise those concerns with her supervisor. Zerbe also admitted to knowing some athletes were ineligible when she altered their certification. She was not employed by QU when the problems were discovered.

QU’s internal review reached back to the 2021-22 school year, which coincided with Zerbe’s employment. That review uncovered additional violations. Overall, the NCAA says Zerbe falsified eligibility squad lists and that QU improperly certified 121 student-athletes across 17 sports.

The report details several consequences for those athletes: 93 practiced beyond the allowable 45-day period, 78 competed when they were not eligible, and 26 received financial aid while ineligible. The university also allowed 27 student-athletes to compete before their eligibility was formally reinstated, and two transfer student-athletes competed despite not meeting transfer eligibility rules.

QU and the NCAA agreed to a set of penalties intended to correct the system and increase transparency. In addition to the $5,000 fine and two-years probation, the school must tell prospective student-athletes in writing that the program is on probation and disclose the violations.

• Vacate any wins, records or participation that involved ineligible student-athletes from the time those athletes became ineligible until they were reinstated.
• Prevent head coaches from counting wins from games where ineligible athletes competed toward milestone totals (for example, a coach’s 100th win).
• Allow individuals who were eligible to keep any personal records or awards they earned.
• Undergo a comprehensive external review of certification and eligibility procedures during the probation period.

The NCAA report contains the full list of prescribed penalties.

Regarding Zerbe, the NCAA has barred her for two years from working at a member institution in any role that involves eligibility certification responsibilities.

QU declined on-camera interviews, but Athletic Director Josh Rabe told WGEM the university acted with integrity by self-reporting and taking steps to address the problem. Rabe said the department has tightened procedures and added what he called “a double-check to check the double-check.”

QU released the following statement:

Below is the full case summary:

Copyright 2025 WGEM. All rights reserved.

PRESS RELEASE

Minnesota Legislature

Rochester Delegation

  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 18, 2025  

HOUSE CONTACT:  Marlee Schlegel  

651-296-9873 or marlee.schlegel@house.mn.gov  

SENATE CONTACT: Jack Vinck

651-440-5056 or jack.vinck@mnsenate.gov 

  

Rochester DFL Legislators to Take Action on Rochester Sports Complex

Rochester, Minn – On Monday, Rochester Mayor Kim Norton vetoed the city council’s plan for a $65 million sports complex that is not reflective of the ballot initiative that funded the project in 2023. The city council is expected to overturn the Mayor’s veto at their December 22nd meeting. 

In response, the DFL Rochester delegation intends to introduce legislation to revoke authorization of the Local Option Sales Tax they previously passed into law to fund the project. The delegation released the following statement:

“Rochester residents deserve to get what they paid and voted for. The updated plan for the sports complex no longer serves the best interests of Rochester residents. Rather, it serves a narrow set of special interests and ignores the community’s need for indoor recreation space — the very reason voters approved the project in the first place.

“Both as legislators who passed the legislation that allows the complex to be funded by the Local Option Sales Tax, and as voters who were excited to support the community-oriented initiative, we feel deceived. The changes made to the project to eliminate the indoor portion of the complex also eliminates the reason that many Rochester residents supported the project.”

Not long after the ballot approval of the complex, a new cost assessment was completed. Updated estimates came back at $120 million, nearly twice the cost of the initial $65 million proposal approved by voters.

“It’s unclear to us how such an expensive oversight was made on cost — and it’s equally unclear why the city council has chosen to prioritize the outdoor complex over the part of the project that won community support in the first place. Whatever the reason, the city council should either find a way to deliver on what voters approved or bring these significant changes back to the ballot. 

“As legislators, we urge the Rochester council to change course and return to the original goal of meeting residents’ needs for indoor recreational space. After many conversations with stakeholders and community members, it is clear to us that as proposed, the project now falls outside of the parameters outlined in the original use of funds request. If the city council does not change course, we plan to introduce legislation to revoke authorization to use Local Option Sales Tax funds for the project. We remain committed to meeting the needs of our community and seeing that the residents of Rochester get what they’ve voted for, and we remain willing to work with the city council toward that goal.

“We want to see this project fully realized in a form that serves the entire community, as we were all assured it would.”

The DFL Rochester Delegation includes Senator Liz Boldon (DFL—Rochester), Representative Kim Hicks (DFL—Rochester), Representative Tina Liebling (DFL—Rochester) and Representative Andy Smith (DFL—Rochester).

###

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/Gray News) – Two children in Idaho are critically injured after a tree fell on them while they were waiting for the school bus.

The Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office said high winds caused rotten trees to fall on power lines before collapsing on the children.

The kids, both under the age of 10, and an older sibling were waiting outside for their bus when the tree collapsed. According to the sheriff’s office, the older sibling was not injured.

Aaron Hudson, the Twin Falls fire deputy chief, told KTVB first responders had to first get the kids out from the tree and downed power lines before they could prepare them for transport.

The sheriff’s office said one of the children was taken to the hospital by ambulance, while the other was airlifted.

According to Hudson, the weather conditions caused difficulties during transport. He said that it prevented the helicopter from going any further than the local hospital.

The family of the children has started a GoFundMe to help cover medical expenses.

Copyright 2025 KMVT via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.