It’s a fact that Brady’s Buccaneers and Rodgers’ Packers are staring down 3-5 after Week 8 of the current NFL season. The Buccaneers lost a third consecutive game Thursday night at home to the Ravens. The Packers are huge underdogs Sunday night on the road vs. the Bills. Tampa Bay would be at best limping into the NFC playoffs as the fourth-seeded first-place team in the weak South, while Green Bay would be out of the postseason trailing Minnesota by at least 2....

Those direct payments are one area of new pandemic response legislation where the Trump administration and Democratic leaders have found common ground. However, disagreements on a number of other issues, including funding for state and local governments, prevented a deal from coming together, and on Thursday the Senate adjourned for its August recess. Standing in the way of an agreement is about a trillion dollars. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Thursday that Democrats offered to come down $1 trillion if the Trump administration came up by $1 trillion....

In the first and only debate between Reagan and Carter, the Republican challenger posed the question to voters, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” He went on to win the election in a landslide victory of 51 percent to 41 percent, and 40 years later, two other men vying for the White House will go head to head in a debate during an election year when the economy is at the forefront of the election....

France Football reported that PSG offered Areola extended terms beyond the 2019 expiry of his existing deal and the 24-year-old turned down the offer. Le Parisiens 9/2 for CL glory That speculation led to Areola being linked with the likes of Juventus and Newcastle United, but the keeper - currently on international duty for France’s World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Belarus - has been quick to insist the stories are not true....

After Argentina’s shock defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia, Lionel Messi stepped up and helped his side to a redemption victory against Mexico. His breathtaking strike in that game means he has scored in seven consecutive games for his country. Poland and their talisman, Robert Lewandowski, both scored their first goals of the tournament as they brought Saudi Arabia back down to earth with a 2-0 win. With neither side’s fate sealed, this first vs second clash should be a hotly contested affair....

Because, y’know, why not? So much will change between now and the start of next season, of course, but here’s a look at how we at Sporting News — with the leading influence from college basketball guru Mike DeCourcy — think teams stack up right now, based on which players we think will make the jump to the NBA and which players will return to college. We’ll adjust our Top 25 rankings along the way, as decisions are made and transfers are announced....

Bars and restaurants in Arizona reopened in May, but some establishments had not been enforcing social distancing protocols. Arizona began experiencing more positive cases of the virus after the state’s stay-at-home orders expired in May. With Monday’s executive order, Arizona joins Florida, California and Texas in taking a step back and closing some businesses. “We can’t be under any illusion that this virus is going to go away on its own,” Ducey said during a Monday press conference....

The 182 cases were flagged for demonstrating problems evident enough that they warranted further investigation. Only four charges have been filed in relation to the cases, while nobody has been convicted and no votes were found to have been counted twice, the Associated Press reported. The final and approved results show that Biden received 10,400 more votes than Trump in the county, where 3.4 million total were cast, the Associated Press reported....

McCain and Flake were censured for their criticisms of former President Donald Trump and support of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden in the 2020 election cycle, while Ducey was censured for using emergency orders to restrict business activity amid the pandemic. All three resolutions passed by a considerable margin. The move merely represents symbolic disapproval of the three notable Republican members in the state, but also highlights the worsening divisions within the party between Trump loyalists and those who have broken from him....

“It’s far too early to call the election in Arizona,” Ducey tweeted early Wednesday, “Election Day votes are not fully reported, and we haven’t even started to count early ballots dropped off at the polls. In AZ, we protected Election Day. Let’s count the votes—all the votes—before making declarations.” Senior adviser of President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, Jason Miller, also chimed in on the prediction, saying it was “WAY too soon to be calling Arizona....

The number of new daily coronavirus cases continues on an upward trend. On Wednesday, Arizona reported 1,827 new cases, bringing the total count to 40,924 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The day before, the state reported 2,392 new cases, a record single-day high since the outbreak began. ICU bed capacity in Arizona has reached an all-time high of 83 percent. Wednesday’s hospitalization count of 1,582 COVID-19 patients was 62 percent higher than any single day of hospitalizations before June....

The ancestral war dance, or challenge, by the Maori people of New Zealand received a mixed reaction there, and a petition was started to stop Arizona from doing the dance after a video of Ngati Toa’s doing the dance went viral. Doing the dance before sporting events was popularized by the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby team. MORE: Week 5 Pac-12 Power Rankings | Our weekend picks “The Arizona football program has a strong lineage of Polynesian student-athletes, and in 2009, a group of players wished to share this aspect of their culture with their teammates and community,” Arizona said in a statement, via the New Zealand Herald....

MORE: NBA Draft: early entry list | Draft lottery odds | Tyus Jones enters draft “I put a hell of a lot of thought into coming back,” Johnson said at his press conference, which was streamed online. “It took a lot of thought, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to make the right decision. I put a lot of hard thought into it. For me to do what I have to do, I thought this was the best decision....

The Line: Utah -4, Total: 54 Line movement: The Wynn opened Utah -3 on Sunday night but moved to -3.5 within a few hours of early wagering. Other shops opened -3.5 and went to -4. For updated spreads and totals from around Las Vegas, visit our live odds page. Trends that matter: Arizona is 1-4 ATS in its last five games overall….Utah is 8-1 ATS in its last nine games against a team with a winning record…....

The footage, filmed by Phoenix, Arizona, resident Greg Conn, shows the moments after the argument between the two women broke out at a Superpumper gas station on Saturday, June 6. In the video, a white woman claims she is a manager of the gas station and tells the other woman, identified by Fox 10 Phoenix as Karina Rodriguez, that she needs to leave, while telling her “we will not serve you....

“Nobody wants to be the one who is known as the only or the last state to not pass hate crimes legislation,” Jim Hendren, a Republican-turned-independent state senator in Arkansas, told Newsweek. Arkansas, South Carolina and Wyoming are the only states in the nation with no laws on the books to impose tougher penalties on criminals who target victims because of their race, gender, and other protected qualities. Georgia was also on the list up until last June, when Governor Brian Kemp signed a statewide hate crime statute....

Angela Morris opted against vaccinations for herself and her daughter, Caia Morris Cooper, citing misinformation. But after contracting the virus and being hospitalized for 14 days at a pediatric hospital, Caia remains severely ill and is able to breathe only with the help of a ventilator. “It’s heartbreaking. I wish I would’ve made better choices for her,” Morris told KTHV on Wednesday. “I just want people to get their kids their shots....

On Monday, Bielema revealed that the senior back will miss the entire season with the left foot injury. MORE: Road to 2015 playoff | SN Top 25 | HAYES: Bielema has Hogs believing big Williams injured the foot in Saturday’s scrimmage. Williams led the Razorbacks in rushing last season with 1,190 yards and 12 scores. Along with Alex Collins, the two formed one of the nation’s best 1-2 running back punches in the country....

The area in south-eastern Europe has been the subject of conflict for decades between the two countries, which were both part of the Soviet Union until the bloc’s collapse in 1991. Armenia’s Defense Ministry said it downed two Azerbaijani helicopters, with Azerbaijan accusing Armenia’s army of attacking civilians and warning that Armenia is “preparing for a new act of aggression and war.” On Sunday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed that martial law has been declared in the country and urged those in the Nagorno-Karabakh region to seek refuge in shelters, Reuters reported....

His decision came down to his two in-state finalists, according to JC Shurburtt of 247Sports.com. Here's our quick-hit breakdown of his game. MORE: Bowl gallery | Top plays of 2013 | SN All-Americans | Go Big Recruiting Scouting Report Bryce Dixon, TE (6-4, 220) Ventura (Calif.) St. Bonaventure Committed to: USC What stands out: Fluidity, route-running, tremendous hands. What needs development: Strength, in-line blocking. What happens next: More jumbo WR than TE, Dixon will be a factor in the pass game early....