Morning 4 is a quick roundup of stories we think you should know about to start your day. So, let’s get to the news.
What Dan Campbell said to Vikings coach after Detroit Lions beat them in biggest game of season
Dan Campbell had a message for the coach of the Minnesota Vikings after the Detroit Lions beat them for the second time in the biggest game of this NFL season.
The Lions and Vikings met on Sunday Night Football with the NFC North title and No. 1 playoff seed on the line. Both teams were 14-2, but the loser was doomed to settle for a wildcard spot and a road playoff game.
It was close for the better part of three quarters, but the Lions came out on top, thanks to a herculean defensive effort and back-to-back-to-back touchdown drives in the second half.
Is the Boy Governor actually buried in Capitol Park?
Before Lansing was chosen as Michigan’s capital, our Capitol Building used to stand in Detroit, roughly where State Street and Grand River Avenue meet Griswold Street.
The area is now home to Capitol Park, a small triangle of land that’s been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1999, as are nearly every building surrounding it. It currently features a dog park, a large “WE (heart) DET” sign, picnic tables and a statue of Stevens T. Mason, also known as the “Boy Governor.”
This weekend marks 182 years since Mason died.
Biden is traveling to New Orleans following the French Quarter attack that killed 14 and injured 30
President Joe Biden is taking a message to the grieving families of victims in the deadly New Year’s attack in New Orleans: “It takes time. You got to hang on.”
Biden on Monday will visit the city where an Army veteran drove a truck into revelers in the French Quarter, killing 14 and injuring 30 more. It’s likely to be the last time Biden travels to the scene of a horrific crime as president to console families of victims. He has less than two weeks left in office.
It’s a grim task that presidents perform, though not every leader has embraced the role with such intimacy as the 82-year-old Biden, who has experienced a lot of personal tragedy in his own life. His first wife and baby daughter died in a car accident in the early 1970s, and his eldest son, Beau, died of cancer in 2015.
“I’ve been there. There’s nothing you can really say to somebody that’s just had such a tragic loss,” Biden told reporters Sunday in a preview of his visit. ”My message is going to be personal if I get to get them alone.”
Spirit of Detroit wears Lions jersey as team begins another playoff run
The spirit is alive in Detroit as the Lions clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC for the first time in franchise history after defeating the Minnesota Vikings Sunday night 31-9.
The Spirit of Detroit, the beloved Downtown Detroit statue—a historic Woodward Avenue landmark located at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center—is now celebrating the win and wishing the team luck as it flaunts its giant Honolulu Blue jersey. It began wearing it in the early hours on Jan. 6, 2025 (Victory Monday).