Jim Valvano is a winner. Plain and simple. He won at basketball. He won friends. Someday, he’ll get what he would probably consider his biggest victory when the cure for cancer is found. MORE: SN’s All-American team | NCAA Tournament predictions Valvano won and he had fun doing it. That enthusiastic, full-of-life personality showed itself as early as third grade, when he showed the nuns in his school his impression of comedian Jimmy Durante who, like Valvano, had a big nose....

The passing of the College Basketball Hall of Famer was announced by Kentucky’s John Calipari, as well as the Kentucky men’s basketball team: MORE: Gesture from Purdue fans to Florida State’s grieving RayQuan Evans shows hoops world can be a lovely place Hall, a native of Cynthiana, Ky., was a former Kentucky basketball player; he was a member of Adolph Rupp’s 1948-49 national championship team before transferring to play at Sewanee....

“I’m praying the verdict is the right verdict—the evidence is overwhelming in my view,” Biden told reporters Tuesday, without elaborating on what he believes would constitute the “right” verdict. Biden spoke to Floyd’s family Monday evening, after the jury had been sequestered to begin deliberations. “They’re a good family, and they’re calling for peace and tranquility no matter what that verdict is,” Biden said. Chauvin faces charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death while in police custody....

On Sunday, Belarusian flight controllers told pilots of a Ryanair plane that there was a bomb threat against passenger planes made by the Palestinian militant organization Hamas. The flight, originating from an Ireland-based airline, was headed from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania. Belarusian controllers told the plane to land in Minsk. A military MiG-29 fighter jet then intercepted the flight to ensure its cooperation. Pratasevich was arrested after the plane landed....

“We must meet this moment as the United States of America. If we do that, I guarantee you we will not fail,” Biden said in the nearly 20-minute address after he was officially sworn into office. “I promise you, I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.” Trump chose not to attend Biden’s swearing-in ceremony, instead traveling to Florida where he will live post-presidency....

Biden suffered a string of losses in the first three early-voting states to Senator Bernie Sanders, and a few lackluster debate performances helped to cause his poll numbers in South Carolina—where he has a substantial ground game—to collapse. However, after the Nevada caucuses cemented Sanders’ front-runner status, Biden’s polling in South Carolina began to soar once more. In a recent Emerson survey, the former vice president is up 16 points over Sanders....

Biden was visiting St. Paul in the final days leading up to the hotly-contested presidential election on November 3. As he began discussing the wearing of masks at the rally, Trump supporters began blasting their horns, which was met with an angry outburst by Biden who said: “Dr. Fauci called for a mask mandate last week. This isn’t a political statement like those ugly folks over there, beeping the horn....

Biden is favored to win over President Donald Trump—75-25—in Nebraska’s 2nd congressional district, according to an election simulator maintained by FiveThirtyEight. Fifty-four percent of the forecast is based on polls and 46 percent relied on other factors, including previous voting patterns and demographics of the region. Biden’s poised to win the popular vote in the district, according to the stimulator, with 51.6 percent of the vote compared to Trump’s 47 percent....

Biden and Senate Democrats have confirmed eight judges already, including a potential Supreme Court pick, Ketanji Brown Jackson, to federal appeals courts. There are already over 30 other judicial nominations pending with more than 100 openings available. Comparatively, the Republican Senate had confirmed only four judges nominated by Trump, including Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. For Obama and Bill Clinton, no judges had been confirmed by the end of July at the start of their administrations....

Much of the ongoing political debate about lowering the country’s exorbitant drug prices has focused on whether Congress will authorize Medicare to use its purchasing power to negotiate more reasonable pharmaceutical prices. In the meantime, though, Becerra’s office has the power to license patented pharmaceutical products made with federal funding. In July, lawmakers sent a letter to Becerra’s office calling on the secretary to examine making use of these so-called “march-in” rights to control drug pricing....

“You’ve often said that more cops clearly mean less crime. Do you still believe that?” ABC News moderator George Stephanopoulos asked Biden. “Yes, if in fact they’re involved in community policing, not jump squads,” the Democrat replied. “For example, when we had community policing from the mid ’90s until Bush got elected, what happened? Violent crime actually went down… remember the significant rise in violent crime that was occurring in the late ’80s into the ’90s, it went down and fewer African Americans were arrested,” he explained....

The so-called Presidential Predictor, which is based on how the S&P 500 performs in the final three months before an election, has correctly called 20 out of the last 23 presidential winners, for an 87 percent accuracy rate, and has gotten the next occupant of the White House right in every presidential election year since Ronald Reagan won a second term in 1984. “It’s not a statistically significant sample, as any statistician would tell you,” says Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for CFRA....

The estimated savings are based on Biden fulfilling his pledge to stop building the wall immediately upon taking office, according to a Wednesday report from The Washington Post. As of December 7, contractors have built 423 miles of the wall, a key Trump 2016 campaign promise, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Army Corps spokeswoman Raini Brunson told the Post that commanders met with Biden’s transition team last week to discuss the wall, while declining to “speculate on what the final cost estimates for undelivered work” would be or what actions the Biden administration “may or may not take....

Trump has already acknowledged Exotic. In an April press conference, the president seemed to brush off a reporter’s question about pardoning Exotic by claiming he’d “look into it.” But the new video makes a formal request. “This will be a case of redemption. Justice must be served,” said Eric Love, Exotic’s new executive manager. “President Trump, we are asking you today: Please free Joe Exotic. He’s absolutely not guilty. We’re gonna be able to prove that....

Their solution, as coach John Harbaugh announced Thursday, is to stay out west between games each time. Makes sense — except, most likely, to a player’s wife, as Joe Flacco pointed out. MORE: Teams with the toughest road to the playoffs | Division-by-division AFC predictions “She probably is going to be in for it a little bit,’’ said Flacco of his wife, Dana, who would be taking care of their three sons, all 3 years old or younger (including one who turns five months old next week), while Joe is on the road....

Request denied. “Tuesday, I came into his office,” Rodriguez said, per ESPN.com. “He told me what the plan was, and I said, ‘Well, any chance I could play third base on Friday?’ He just said no.” A-Rod seems to be taking the denial in stride. MORE: How did the Yankees fare at the 2016 trade deadline? “It was a fun request, and I don’t have any problem with Joe saying no on that,” he said....

The Chicago manager on Sunday sarcastically railed against the rule, which dictates a double play occurs if a player slides too far past a bag. MORE: Derek Holland, Todd Frazier pull out their best Enzo and Big Cass impression Gotta say, this is some grade-A passive aggression by Maddon, following Ian Happ’s slide on Saturday that got the Cardinals out of a jam in the fifth inning. You can see why Maddon might be frustrated, as he said yesterday that the slide rule has no place in the game....

The Democrat-controlled House approved a bill on May 19 to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. As the bill moves to the Senate, Democrats need the support of 10 Republican Senators to ensure it reaches a filibuster-proof majority. “A bipartisan commission to investigate the events of that day has passed the House of Representatives with a bipartisan vote and is a critical step to ensuring our nation never has to endure an attack at the hands of our countrymen again,” the two senators said in a joint statement....

A Manchin spokesperson told Newsweek the senator met privately with Texas state Senators Royce West and José Menendéz; and Texas state Representatives Chris Turner; Nicole Collier, who is the chairwoman of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus; and Jessica Gonzalez, the vice chairwoman of the Texas House Elections Committee. Manchin had missed a meeting earlier this week with the Democratic state lawmakers, who are in Washington, D.C. this week to advocate for voting reform bills....

Legendary quarterback Joe Montana reached out to Gallimore via Twitter on Friday night to congratulate the Oklahoma product on his selection and offer some words of advice. “Believe me, being the 82nd pick in the draft ain’t so bad,” he wrote." But, don’t let where you were chosen define you - be a sponge, soak up everything. Work hard and when your chance comes, show ‘em what you can do!...