Gov. Tim Walz has put the Minnesota National Guard on notice in the event of unrest following the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

Walz says he’s issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard in the event of civil unrest. It’s a first step that alerts 13,000 guard members that they may need to be called upon in the event of an emergency.

Addressing reporters on the situation during a Wednesday briefing, Walz said he supported the rights of demonstrators but urged them to engage in peaceful protest.

“What we’re seeing is the consequences of governance designed to generate fear, headlines and conflict,” Walz said. “It’s governing by reality TV, and today, that recklessness cost someone their life.”

He added: “We won’t let them tear us apart. We’ll not turn against each other. To Minnesotans, they say this, I feel your anger. I’m angry. They want a show. We can’t give it to them.”

Like a number of other Democrats in Minnesota, Walz called for federal law enforcement authorities to leave the state.

“I have a very simple message, we do not need any further help from the federal government,” he said. “To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem: you have done enough.”

Meanwhile, state Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson urged “safe and lawful” protests and warned that actions like blocking freeways or damaging property could result in fines and arrest.

“We fully expect that the community will want to peacefully demonstrate their anger or frustration. Minnesota residents and visitors have the right to peacefully demonstrate,” Jacobson said. “Our focus is keeping demonstrators, community members, drivers and law enforcement safe, especially during moments of heightened tension or uncertainty.”

Reactions

A number of statements via social media and email from politicians ranged outrage over ICE’s actions and presence in the Twin Cities to support for federal law enforcement.

President Donald Trump, in a social media post, described the victim as a “professional agitator” and said video of the incident shows the ICE agent acting in self-defense.

“Based on the attached clip, it’s hard to believe he’s still alive” Trump said. He went on to blame “The Radical Left” for threatening law enforcement.

State Attorney General Keith Ellison, in a statement, said he was “very angry.”

“Like so many Minnesotans, I’m heartbroken. I’m also angry. Very angry. For weeks, we’ve watched the Trump administration deliberately brutalize our communities, and now an ICE agent has fatally shot one of our neighbors,” Ellison said. “The president is deliberately weaponizing the federal government against the people of Minnesota to inflict pain and instill terror. We must stand up to this horrendous injustice, and in doing so, we must not stoop to Donald Trump’s level. We’re right to be heartbroken and angry, but we cannot give Donald Trump the excuse he wants to continue escalating this violence against Minnesotans.”

Ellison said residents should “protest peacefully, organize your communities, and stand up for one another. I will continue to do everything in my power to oppose this brutality, ensure justice is served, and keep Minnesotans safe. Right now, I think nothing would keep Minnesotans safer than seeing ICE leave our state, and take their chaos, pain, and violence with them.”

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, in a statement, said the incident was “the result of the administration sending federal agents onto our streets against the wishes of local law enforcement, including our respected (Minneapolis) Police Chief Brian O’Hara. We need full transparency and an investigation of what happened, and I am deeply concerned that statements made by (the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) do not appear to reflect video evidence and on-the-ground accounts. While our immigration enforcement should be focused on apprehending and prosecuting violent criminals to make our communities safer, these ICE actions are doing the opposite and making our state less safe.”

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat from St. Paul, called on ICE agents to leave the state.

“ICE must immediately cease and desist their actions in Minnesota to allow state and local law enforcement officials to restore order, prevent further violence, and conduct a full, independent, and transparent investigation into ICE’s actions and conduct which caused this horrific shooting,” McCollum said. “Minnesotans are justified in their anger. As Minnesotans, we demand accountability and justice. We have a fundamental right to express our first amendment freedoms through peaceful protest. We must not fall into Trump’s trap of division and violence. We can show the world the best of Minnesota values – our compassion, our respect for the dignity of each of our neighbors, and our belief in justice for all.”

In a social media post U.S. Tom Emmer, a Sixth District Republican, posted on X his support for federal law enforcement.

“I pray that every federal law enforcement officer on the ground in Minnesota right now remains safe as they carry out their vital mission. Tim Walz and Jacob Frey are cowards who are inciting violence to distract from their own failures. It’s dangerous. Stay safe, @ICEgov.”

St. Paul mayor, others

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her said in a social media post that she was monitoring the situation in Minneapolis.

“My heart is broken for the victim, their family, and our community as a whole,” Her said. “I join Mayor Frey in demanding that ICE leave our cities immediately before they cause any further harm.”

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL- St. Paul, in a statement, said she was “devastated and furious.”

“A weak president sent ICE agents to Minnesota to sow chaos without regard for human life, and today’s killing is the predictable outcome,” Murphy said. “This federal government is using violence to force us into fearful silence and compliance, and a woman is dead because of it. ICE should never have been in Minnesota, and they need to leave now.

“I denounce these actions, and I will fight with all I have for our freedom and safety. I urge us all, even as we feel our rage and our grief, to remain calm; more innocent people cannot be hurt. We demand accountability — and the truth — from the President, Secretary Noem, ICE officials, and those involved in the shooting.”

Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, in a statement, said “peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and must be protected, but endangering law enforcement officers is never acceptable.”

Johnson added: “I offer my condolences to the family grieving the loss of a loved one and urge everyone to step back, de-escalate, and let investigators fully examine the facts of what occurred.”

David Titus, Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association’s interim executive director, said the association stands “firmly behind law enforcement officers, accountability under the law, and the safety of every Minnesota community.

“Irresponsible, reckless rhetoric from political leaders attacking law enforcement has real and dangerous consequences for officers on the street,” he said in a statement. “When officers are vilified, demonized, or used as political props, it fuels hostility, emboldens bad actors, and puts lives directly at risk.”

A motorist fatally shot by an immigration officer in Minneapolis is at least the fifth person to die since the Trump administration launched its aggressive immigration crackdown last year.

The Department of Homeland Security said the woman killed Wednesday was trying to run over officers with a vehicle. But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said video of the incident showed it was reckless and unnecessary.

Last September, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in suburban Chicago shot and killed a Mexican man during a traffic stop.

Two men have died after being struck by vehicles while fleeing immigration authorities — one in California and another in Virginia. In July, a California farmworker fell from a greenhouse roof and broke his neck during an ICE raid.

Minneapolis Public Schools will be closed Thursday and Friday “due to safety concerns related to today’s incidents around the city,” the district announced Wednesday night after a fatal ICE shooting earlier in the day in Minneapolis.

Minnesota Public Radio received a report that armed U.S. Border Patrol officers entered Minneapolis Roosevelt high school property during Wednesday’s dismissal period.

All district programs, activities and athletics were also cancelled. The district won’t move to e-learning, as that is only allowed in cases of severe weather.

The district said it will collaborate with the city on “emergency preparedness and response.”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday sought to assert its control over Venezuelan oil, seizing a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announcing plans to relax some sanctions so the U.S. can oversee the sale of Venezuela’s petroleum worldwide.

Trump’s administration intends to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following its ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid. Besides the United States enforcing an existing oil embargo, the Energy Department says the “only oil transported in and out of Venezuela” will be through approved channels consistent with U.S. law and national security interests.

That level of control over the world’s largest proven reserves of crude oil could give the Trump administration a broader hold on oil supplies globally in ways that could enable it to influence prices. Both moves reflect the Republican administration’s determination to make good on its effort to control the next steps in Venezuela through its vast oil resources after Trump pledged the U.S. will “run” the country.

Vice President JD Vance said in an interview the U.S. can “control” Venezuela’s “purse strings” by dictating where its oil can be sold.

“We control the energy resources, and we tell the regime, you’re allowed to sell the oil so long as you serve America’s national interest,” Vance said in an interview to air on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

The vice president added, “And that’s how we exert incredible pressure on that country without wasting a single American life.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that the oil taken from the sanctioned vessels seized in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea would be sold as part of the deal announced by Trump on Tuesday under which Venezuela would provide up to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S.

Venezuela’s interim authorities “want that oil that was seized to be part of this deal,” Rubio told reporters after briefing lawmakers Wednesday about the Maduro operation. “They understand that the only way they can move oil and generate revenue and not have economic collapse is if they cooperate and work with the United States.”

Trump spurs speculation about his plans for Greenland, Cuba and Colombia after capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro

Seizing 2 more vessels

U.S. European Command said on social media that the merchant vessel Bella 1 was seized in the North Atlantic for “violations of U.S. sanctions.” The U.S. had been pursuing the tanker since last month after it tried to evade a blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed U.S. forces also took control of the M Sophia in the Caribbean Sea. Noem said on social media that both ships were “either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it.”

The two ships join at least two others that were taken by U.S. forces last month — the Skipper and the Centuries.

The Bella 1 had been cruising across the Atlantic nearing the Caribbean on Dec. 15 when it abruptly turned and headed north, toward Europe. The change in direction came days after the first U.S. tanker seizure of a ship on Dec. 10 after it had left Venezuela carrying oil.

When the U.S. Coast Guard tried to board the Bella 1, it fled. U.S. European Command said a Coast Guard vessel had tracked the ship “pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court.”

As the U.S. pursued it, the Bella 1 was renamed Marinera and flagged to Russia, shipping databases show. A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, said the ship’s crew had painted a Russian flag on the side of the hull.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had information about Russian nationals among the Marinera’s crew and, in a statement carried by Russia’s state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti, demanded that “the American side ensure humane and dignified treatment of them, strictly respect their rights and interests, and not hinder their speedy return to their homeland.”’

Separately, a senior Russian lawmaker, Andrei Klishas, decried the U.S. action as “blatant piracy.”

The Justice Department is investigating crew members of the Bella 1 vessel for failing to obey Coast Guard orders and “criminal charges will be pursued against all culpable actors,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said.

“The Department of Justice is monitoring several other vessels for similar enforcement action — anyone on any vessel who fails to obey instructions of the Coast Guard or other federal officials will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Bondi said on X.

The ship had been sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024 on allegations of smuggling cargo for a company linked to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

Easing some sanctions to sell Venezuela’s oil

The Trump administration, meanwhile, is “selectively” removing sanctions to enable the shipping and sale of Venezuelan oil to markets worldwide, according to an outline of the policies published Wednesday by the Energy Department.

The sales are slated to begin immediately with 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil. The U.S. government said the sales “will continue indefinitely,” with the proceeds settling in U.S.-controlled accounts at “globally recognized banks.” The money would be disbursed to the U.S. and Venezuelan populations at the “discretion” of Trump’s government.

Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA said it is in negotiations with the U.S. government for the sale of crude oil.

“This process is developed under schemes similar to those in force with international companies, such as Chevron, and is based on a strictly commercial transaction, with criteria of legality, transparency and benefit for both parties,” the company said in the statement.

The U.S. plans to authorize the importation of oil field equipment, parts and services to increase Venezuela’s oil production, which has been roughly 1 million barrels a day.

The Trump administration has indicated it also will invest in the electricity grid to increase production and the quality of life for people in Venezuela, whose economy has been unraveling amid changes to foreign aid and cuts to state subsidies, making necessities, including food, unaffordable to millions.

Meanwhile, Trump abruptly changed his tone about Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Trump said Wednesday that they had exchanged a friendly phone call and he had invited the leader of the South American country to the White House. Trump had said earlier this week that “Colombia is very sick too” and accused Petro of ”making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”

Ships said to be part of a shadow fleet

Noem said both seized ships were part of a shadow fleet of rusting oil tankers that smuggle oil for countries facing sanctions, such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran.

After the seizure of the now-named Marinera, which open-source maritime tracking sites showed was between Scotland and Iceland earlier Wednesday, the U.K. defense ministry said Britain’s military provided support, including surveillance aircraft.

“This ship, with a nefarious history, is part of a Russian-Iranian axis of sanctions evasion which is fueling terrorism, conflict, and misery from the Middle East to Ukraine,” U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said.

The capture of the M Sophia, on the U.S. sanctions list for moving illicit cargos of oil from Russia, in the Caribbean was much less prolonged.

The ship had been “running dark,” not having transmitted location data since July. Tankers involved in smuggling often turn off their transponders or broadcast inaccurate data to hide their locations.

Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document that at least 16 tankers had left the Venezuelan coast since Saturday, after the U.S. captured Maduro.

The M Sophia was among them, Madani said, citing a recent photo showing it in the waters near Jose Terminal, Venezuela’s main oil export hub.

Windward, a maritime intelligence firm that tracks such vessels, said in a briefing to reporters the M Sophia loaded at the terminal on Dec. 26 and was carrying about 1.8 million barrels of crude oil — a cargo that would be worth about $108 million at current price of about $60 a barrel.

Lawless reported from London.

Some 500 people gathered around “The Triumph of the Human Spirit” in Foley Square Wednesday night to protest the Minneapolis shooting of Renee Nicole Good.

Protestors chanted “Say her name: Renee Nicole Good” just hours after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers opened fire at close range on the 37-year-old mother as she attempted to flee in a car.

President Trump claimed that Good, whom he called a “professional agitator,” attempted to run the agents down with her car and that officers fired in self-defense.

“What happened in Minneapolis was unbelievable,” Jordan Harald, 57, a retired film industry worker from Manhattan, told a Daily News reporter at the protest. “It’s critical that we’re here. What our country is doing is abhorrent and untenable. We have to fight and stand strong.”

The crowd chanted “We want ICE off our streets,” “No Justice no peace“ and “ No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA” as protesters marched around Foley Square and streets surrounding the nearby US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building at 26 Federal Plaza.

“I’m here to support the movement,” said Carlos Bogaert, 34, a bike messenger from Queens. “I’m a proud immigrant from the Dominican Republic and I’m really frustrated about what happened in Minneapolis.

“It didn’t seem like she was endangering the agents. It was an injustice,” Bogaert said.

Some New Yorkers spoke out against U.S. adventurism in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were snatched in a military operation. They are currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

“What they did in Venezuela is illegal,” said Mattias Rich, a 32-year-old waiter from Brooklyn. “It was basically a kidnapping. I understand Venezuelans don’t like Maduro. But this is no way to handle it.”

A banner strung across the crowd read: “the fascist Trump regime must go”

“This is a symbol,” said Jessica Bloom, 68, a social worker from Manhattan. “We’re grieving the death of Renee Nicole Good. They were totally out of control. She was just scared.”

Some 500 people gathered around “The Triumph of the Human Spirit” in Foley Square Wednesday night to protest the Minneapolis shooting of Renee Nicole Good.

Protestors chanted “Say her name: Renee Nicole Good” just hours after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers opened fire at close range on the 37-year-old mother as she attempted to flee in a car.

President Trump claimed that Good, whom he called a “professional agitator,” attempted to run the agents down with her car and that officers fired in self-defense.

“What happened in Minneapolis was unbelievable,” Jordan Harald, 57, a retired film industry worker from Manhattan, told a Daily News reporter at the protest. “It’s critical that we’re here. What our country is doing is abhorrent and untenable. We have to fight and stand strong.”

The crowd chanted “We want ICE off our streets,” “No Justice no peace“ and “ No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA” as protesters marched around Foley Square and streets surrounding the nearby US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building at 26 Federal Plaza.

“I’m here to support the movement,” said Carlos Bogaert, 34, a bike messenger from Queens. “I’m a proud immigrant from the Dominican Republic and I’m really frustrated about what happened in Minneapolis.

“It didn’t seem like she was endangering the agents. It was an injustice,” Bogaert said.

Some New Yorkers spoke out against U.S. adventurism in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were snatched in a military operation. They are currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

“What they did in Venezuela is illegal,” said Mattias Rich, a 32-year-old waiter from Brooklyn. “It was basically a kidnapping. I understand Venezuelans don’t like Maduro. But this is no way to handle it.”

A banner strung across the crowd read: “the fascist Trump regime must go”

“This is a symbol,” said Jessica Bloom, 68, a social worker from Manhattan. “We’re grieving the death of Renee Nicole Good. They were totally out of control. She was just scared.”

By MICHAEL BIESECKER and JIM MUSTIAN The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The woman shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday was Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who had recently moved to Minnesota.

She was a U.S. citizen born in Colorado and appears to never have been charged with anything involving law enforcement beyond a traffic ticket.

In social media accounts, Macklin Good described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom.” She said she was currently “experiencing Minneapolis,” displaying a pride flag emoji on her Instagram account. A profile picture posted to Pinterest shows her smiling and holding a young child against her cheek, along with posts about tattoos, hairstyles and home decorating.

Her ex-husband, who asked not to be named out of concern for the safety of their children, said Macklin Good had just dropped off her 6-year-old son at school Wednesday and was driving home with her current partner when they encountered a group of ICE agents on a snowy street in Minneapolis, where they had moved last year from Kansas City, Missouri.

Video taken by bystanders posted to social media shows an officer approaching her car, demanding she open the door and grabbing the handle. When she begins to pull forward, a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots into the vehicle at close range.

In another video taken after the shooting, a distraught woman is seen sitting near the vehicle, wailing, “That’s my wife, I don’t know what to do!”

Calls and messages to Macklin Good’s current partner received no response.

Trump administration officials painted Macklin Good as a domestic terrorist who had attempted to ram federal agents with her car. Her ex-husband said she was no activist and that he had never known her to participate in a protest of any kind.

He described her as a devoted Christian who took part in youth mission trips to Northern Ireland when she was younger. She loved to sing, participating in a chorus in high school and studying vocal performance in college.

She studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Virginia and won a prize in 2020 for one of her works, according to a post on the school’s English department Facebook page. She also hosted a podcast with her second husband, who died in 2023.

Macklin Good had a daughter and her son from her first marriage, who are now ages 15 and 12. Her 6-year-old son was from her second marriage.

Her ex-husband said she had primarily been a stay-at-home mom in recent years but had previously worked as a dental assistant and at a credit union.

Donna Ganger, her mother, told the Minnesota Star Tribune the family was notified of the death late Wednesday morning.

“Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” Ganger told the newspaper. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”

Ganger did not respond to calls or messages from the AP.

___

Mustian reported from New York.

For the second time in as many years, the Detroit Lions are in the market for a new offensive coordinator.

The team announced Tuesday evening it’s planning to part ways with John Morton, who was hired last offseason, lost his play-calling duties halfway through the year, and wasn’t retained at season’s end.

After the Lions‘ offensive dysfunction (as well as a really bad defense) contributed to missing the playoffs, the stakes for Dan Campbell’s next hire could not be higher. While OC Ben Johnson was a massive hit, Campbell’s other two hires, Morton and Anthony Lynn, were flops.

Let’s take a look at some potential candidates for the Lions’ vacant OC job.

Todd Monken, former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator

Ravens coach John Harbaugh was fired on Tuesday after 18 seasons, likely leaving Monken without a job. The Athletic reported on Tuesday night that part of the reason for Harbaugh’s dismissal was his unwillingness to let Monken go. Monken was the OC for the last three seasons, when Baltimore’s offense was consistently one of the most explosive in the league — albeit with a much different quarterback than Detroit in the speedy, shifty Lamar Jackson.

The Ravens had a top-two rushing offense in all three seasons under Monken and finished No. 1 in total offense in 2024. Monken, 59, has further experience as an OC with the Georgia Bulldogs (2020-22) — with whom he was a two-time national champion — the Cleveland Browns (2019), and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2018).

The one thing Monken’s candidacy lacks is a connection to Campbell, which, in this process, matters a lot. But given the desperation to get things back on track, perhaps his ample play-calling experience will lessen that concern.

Zac Robinson, Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator

Robinson’s future is in flux after Atlanta cut ties with general manager Terry Fontenot and coach Raheem Morris on Sunday night. He spent two seasons with the Falcons, overseeing a unit that finished sixth and 14th in total offense while being hampered by a quarterback controversy featuring a late-30s Kirk Cousins coming off a torn Achilles and 2024 first-round pick Michael Penix Jr.

Robinson, 39, doesn’t have a prior working relationship with Campbell, but he does have one with quarterback Jared Goff, which could help bridge that gap. Robinson overlapped with Goff in the Los Angeles Rams organization for two seasons (2019-20), including one as an assistant quarterbacks coach. Robinson spent five total seasons in L.A. under coach Sean McVay, including two as the passing game coordinator and head quarterbacks coach.

During his playing career as a quarterback, Robinson spent half the 2010 season with the Lions but never saw a snap.

Brian Daboll, former New York Giants head coach

Daboll, a former Michigan State grad assistant (1998-99), won five Super Bowls over two stints as an assistant with the New England Patriots (2000-06, 2013-16). He also won a national championship with Nick Saban as Alabama’s OC and quarterbacks coach (2017) before landing a job with the Buffalo Bills (2018-21) as an OC, where he was credited with helping kickstart quarterback Josh Allen’s career.

His candidacy doesn’t suffer from a lack of familiarity. Daboll, 50, interviewed Campbell for his first full-time NFL coaching gig with the Miami Dolphins in 2011, which resulted in a classic Campbell story about the Lions coach slamming chairs and hitting walls in hopes of landing the job. It is, however, hurt by questions about the culture he established during his time as Giants coach (2022-25). He was fired in November after posting a 20-40-1 record.

David Blough, Washington Commanders assistant quarterbacks coach

Blough, a former quarterback, spent two stints with the Lions after going undrafted out of Purdue in 2019 and has had a quick rise in the coaching profession since retiring in 2023. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday night, just hours after Morton was let go, that Blough was on Detroit’s radar.

He’s one of the more inexperienced options on the list, with no play-calling experience on his resume. His only two seasons in coaching have come as an assistant quarterbacks coach for the Commanders, and at just 30 years old, he’s a year younger than Goff. But his first season as a coach was spent working with the 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year, quarterback Jayden Daniels, and his one season with Goff in Detroit as a player (2021) likely established a good baseline for their potential working relationship.

Declan Doyle, Chicago Bears offensive coordinator

Doyle, 30, is one of the hottest young names in the coaching profession. After beginning his coaching career as a student assistant at Iowa, he was hired by Payton in 2019 to be an offensive assistant in New Orleans (2019-22), where he overlapped with Campbell for two seasons.

Doyle rejoined Payton as a tight ends coach in Denver for the 2023 and 2024 seasons and got his big break this past offseason when Ben Johnson took a chance on him as the new OC in Chicago. He wasn’t in a play-calling role, so if the Lions intend to have Doyle do that, they’d be able to poach him without issue. But like Blough, calling plays is something he’s never done before, so it’d be a bit of a gamble.

Pete Carmichael, Denver Broncos senior offensive assistant

Given some of Carmichael’s parallels to Morton — both in their mid-50s, both connections from back in the Saints days, both most recently worked in Denver under Sean Payton — I don’t know if Carmichael’s hiring would satisfy the fanbase, but one thing Carmichael has that Morton didn’t is 15 years’ worth of OC experience in New Orleans (2009-2023). Which kind of counts for a whole lot.

For the most part, Carmichael, 54, didn’t call plays in New Orleans until after Payton was gone, so he’s not a flawless candidate. But he’s certainly experienced in the role at large, which could help him get on the same page with Campbell quickly.

Thomas Brown, New England Patriots passing game coordinator and tight ends coach

A few years ago, Brown was thought of as one of the league’s top up-and-coming offensive minds. After three seasons with the Rams as an assistant head coach and position coach (2020-22), one of which overlapped with Goff, he became the Carolina Panthers’ OC in 2023. He was named the league’s No. 2 OC in an NFL Players Association survey, but left during a regime change the following offseason.

He worked with Caleb Williams as the Bears’ passing game coordinator in 2024 and was promoted to OC and interim head coach as Chicago cleaned house midseason. This past season, Brown, 39, worked as the passing game coordinator for a revitalized Patriots offense featuring quarterback Drake Maye playing at an MVP level.

Kliff Kingsbury, former Washington Commanders offensive coordinator

Kingsbury, one of the few candidates on this list with head coaching experience, went through the highest of highs and lowest of lows over his two seasons with the Commanders, who are letting him go after a disappointing 5-12 season. Kingsbury called the offense that led Washington to an NFC Championship appearance and Daniels to the 2024 Rookie of the Year, but the offense fell apart in 2025 as Daniels was plagued by injuries.

Kingsbury, 46, doesn’t really seem like a match for Detroit on the surface. Not only is he missing a connection to Campbell, but he runs an Air Raid offense and most of his notable successes — Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, and Daniels — have been mobile quarterbacks. Still, he has a ton of play-calling reps under his belt and could be a high-ceiling option.

Internal candidates

Hank Fraley, Lions offensive line coach

Fraley has been with the Lions since 2018, when he joined the staff of then-OC Jim Bob Cooter as an assistant offensive line coach. After he became the head position coach in 2020, the Lions’ offensive line gained a reputation as one of the best in the league, with players like Penei Sewell, Frank Ragnow and Taylor Decker reaching All-Pro and Pro Bowl levels.

Fraley, 48, interviewed for the Seattle Seahawks’ vacant OC job last offseason, but wound up returning to Detroit, where he had the title of run game coordinator added to his plate. One could argue his resume was stronger a season ago; following Ragnow’s retirement, the Lions’ offensive line was their most inconsistent unit, and Detroit’s run game took a significant step back. Still, Fraley is a highly respected coach who could soon earn a bigger role.

Scottie Montgomery, Lions wide receivers/assistant head coach

Montgomery has coached running backs and wide receivers for the Lions, and while it certainly helps that each unit is packed with talent, both reached a consistent level of excellence under his tutelage. The rushing tandem of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery was elite in 2023 and 2024; as the wide receivers coach this past season, he led a unit that featured two receivers who finished in the top nine in receiving yards.

Montgomery, 47, has been an offensive coordinator at two of his college jobs, Duke (2013-15) and Maryland (2019-20). In between, he served as the head coach at East Carolina (2013-15). Montgomery is a sharp, detail-oriented coach who could help refine Detroit’s attention to detail, which was sorely lacking in 2025.

Q: We have a third bathroom in our finished basement that has a stall shower. My brother-in-law says it’s only considered a half-bath because it doesn’t have a bathtub. Is he correct?

A: Your brother-in-law is wrong. Bathrooms go by the number of fixtures. A bathroom with a sink and a toilet is a two-fixture bath, which is also referred to as a half-bath or a lav. A full bath has a sink, toilet, and either a bathtub or shower, or both, so it can be either a three- or four-fixture full bath.

Home maintenance tip

Are you losing up to 25% of your heat because you don’t have $40 to $80 worth of insulation in your basement? Having been in literally over a thousand homes over the years, I get to observe a lot of things. One thing I have noticed, especially in homes built before the 1980s, is the lack of insulation around the rim joist in the basement. That is where all the joists rest on top of the basement wall. If you see insulation, you’re good, but if you see bare wood, you’re losing money out of your pocket every minute during the cold weather here in Michigan.

The fix is simple: buy a roll or two of insulation and cut pieces to fit up in all of the cavities. (If you have bay windows or kitchen sinks that are in a bay with plumbing pipes, then consult with a professional on the correct way to insulate the bay.) It’s a good idea to wear gloves, long sleeves, safety glasses and a face mask when handling insulation. You can take it a step further and seal all the joints with a foam sealant first before adding the insulation. I recommend consulting your home improvement store or a contractor/handyman as to the best way to go about it for your home. As long as you do something, you will start saving money right away.

Market update

November’s market update for Macomb County and Oakland County’s housing market (house and condo sales) is as follows: In Macomb County, the average sales price was up by almost 3% and Oakland County’s was up by more than 2%. Macomb County’s on-market inventory was down by almost 2% and Oakland County’s was up by almost 4%. Macomb County’s average days on market was 35 days and Oakland County’s was 32 days. Closed sales in Macomb County were up by almost 3% and were down by almost 9% in Oakland County. (All comparisons are month to month, year to year.)

By the long-standing historical definition from the National Association of Realtors, which has been in existence since 1908, a buyer’s market is when there is a seven-month supply or more of inventory on the market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers is when there is a six-month supply of inventory. A seller’s market is when there is a five-month or less supply of inventory. Inventory has continued to stay low. In November, the state of Michigan’s inventory was at 2.6 months of supply. Macomb County’s inventory was at 2.4 months of supply and Oakland County’s inventory was at 2.3 months of supply. By definition, it’s still not close to a buyer’s market.

Steve Meyers is a real estate agent/Realtor at Realty Executives Home Towne in Shelby Township. He can be contacted with questions at 586-997-5480 or emailed at Steve@MeyersRealtor.com. You can also visit his website at  AnswersToRealEstateQuestions.com.

The new year is only a few days old, but Sponge is looking at plowing its way through a busy year ahead.

The Detroit band — whose gold-certified 1994 debut album “Rotting Pinata” launched the hits “Plowed” and “Molly (16 Candles”) — has an abundant schedule of shows already on tap, including the ’90s Cruise later this month with Sugar Ray, Tonic, Smash Mouth and others. Come July, Sponge will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its second album, “Wax Ecstatic,” and sometime this year, it will be releasing a new set, “Enclosing,” that frontman and co-founder Vin Dombroski says will likely be the band’s last.

“We’ve done many records,” explains Dombroski, citing listening habits and marketplace trends as reasons for a re-think. “It’s nice to talk about ‘a record’ … but everybody goes to YouTube and listens online. We sell some records at the shows, but I scratch my head and go, ‘Why am I even putting the effort into making a full-length record?’

“I’ll release songs, sure,” adds Dombroski, who describes “Enclosing” as “really dark.” “Nowadays, if you want content, just release a song. Why wait? But as far as a full-length album, I really have no more motivation to do it.”

Dombroski says Sponge hasn’t started thinking about “Wax Ecstatic’s” anniversary, but anticipates doing something to commemorate the album. Sponge also has its annual Bus Tour in St. Clair Shores set for March 28, and while he did not anticipate the band’s longevity, Dombroski is certainly happy to still be at it all these years later.

“I remember playing ‘Plowed’ the first time at the Ritz in Roseville, before anything was going on, and we got a really good reaction and thought, ‘Right, this one’s a keeper,'” says Dombroski, who recently released a single, “Maggot Wind,” with the Lucid, an all-star band he’s also part of. “Radio still plays it, and ‘Molly’ and sometimes others. We’re fortunate to have songs in movies sometimes, all kinds of stuff.

“It’s really the willingness of the guys in the band to get in the van and keep doing it. A lot of bands won’t do it like that anymore. We pretty much have this all down. Everybody gets along really well. They’re talented guys and decent people. I’m willing to do it, of course, but without the guys being good people and feeling the same way, I couldn’t do it.

Sponge performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10 at The Roxy, 401 Walnut Blvd., Rochester. 248-453-5285 or theroxyrochester.com. Sponge also performs with Everclear on March 18 at District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte. Doors at 7 p.m. district142live.com.

Other music events of note this weekend (all subject to change) include …

FRIDAY, JAN. 9

• Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah lays down the law at 8 p.m. at Sound Board in the MotorCity Casino Hotel, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit. 800-745-3000 or soundboarddetroit.com.

• Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble comes home to launch its latest tour with four shows — at 7 and 9 p.m. each night — through Saturday. Jan. 10 at the Blue Llama Jazz Club, 314 S. First St., Ann Arbor. 734-372-3200 or bluellamaclub.com.

• The Detroit Symphony Orchestra plays along with a screening of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” at 7:30 p.m. at Orchestra Hall, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-576-5111 or dso.org.

• Eclectic New York singer and songwriter Nellie McKay performs for Friday Night Live! at 7 p.m. at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-833-7900 or dia.org.

• Vocalist Lexie Blue sings at 8 p.m. at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion. 248-783-7105 or 20frontstreet.com.

• Trumpeter Trunino Lowe blows his horn through Saturday, Nov. 10 at the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, 97 Kercheval, Grosse Pointe. 313-882-5399 or dirtydogjazz.com.

• The Detroit Jazz Project takes over at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. at Cliff Bell’s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit. 313-961-2543 or cliffbells.com.

• Eastside Elvis & the Motor City Mafia shake it up at 8:30 p.m. at the Cadieux Cafe, 4300 Cadieux Road, Detroit. 313-882-8560 or cadieuxcafe.com.

• Penarth, the Walk Talkers and the Mansion triple-bill at 7 p.m. at the New Dodge Lounge, 8850 Jos Campau, Hamtramck. 313-638-1508 or thenewdodgelounge.com.

• Adjust the Sails, Dear Cincinnati, Hummus Vacuum and Loudfoxcult pile up at 8 p.m. at the Lager House, 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit. 313-500-1475 or thelagerhouse.com.

• Reverend Robert Jones and Todd Albright team up at 7:30 p.m. at the Trinity House Theatre, 38840 W. Six Mile Road, Livonia. 734-436-6302 or trinityhousetheatre.org.

• That Arena Rock Show does just that at District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte. And Rush Experience will create its own kind of arena rock experience there on Saturday, Jan. 10. Doors at 7 p.m. both nights. district142live.com.

• Blues guitarist Duke Tumatoe squeezes into The Ark for an 8 p.m. show. 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. 734-761-1800 or theark.org.

• Virtual: Depeche Mode’s concert film “M,” which debuted at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival and had a limited run in theaters in October, premieres on Netflix.

SATURDAY, JAN. 10

• The Detroit Symphony Orchestra Pops plays “Total Eclipse of the Charts: ’80s Chart Toppers” at 8 p.m. and again at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11 at Orchestra Hall, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit. A “Total Eclipse of the Chart: Afterdark” dance party takes place at 10 p.m. Saturday in The Cube. 313-576-5111 or dso.org.

• Performance artist Satori Circus presents Lads Insane: A Musical Celebration of David Bowie to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the British music icon’s death at 8 p.m. at the Tangent Gallery/Hastings Street Ballroom, 715 E. Milwaukee St., Detroit. tangentgallery.com.

• Albany punk rockers State Champs visit the Majestic Theatre, 4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Doors at 6 p.m. Real Friends, Driveways and Summerbruise are also on the bill. 313-833-9700 or majesticdetroit.com.

• Michigan music mainstay Joe Hertler performs a solo acoustic show at 8 p.m. at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion. 248-783-7105 or 20frontstreet.com.

• Singer-songwriter and comedian Kristin Key takes the stage at 8 p.m. at the Flagstar Strand Theatre, 12 N. Saginaw St., Pontiac. 248-309-6445 or flagstarstrand.com.

• Never The Crash, The Lion Within, Allen Pond and other bands perform as part of the Rise from the Ashes Benefit concert for those affected by the Sto-Away Self Storage fire in November in Rochester Hills. The show starts at 2 p.m. at the Diesel Concert Lounge, 33151 23 Mile Road, Chesterfield Township. 586-933-3503 or dieselconcerts.com.

• Detroit’s Lager House hosts Darkness on the Edge of Corktown 3, with more than 30 local artists playing tribute to Bruce Springsteen, at 8 p.m. Proceeds go to the Motor City Mitten Mission. 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit. 313-500-1475 or thelagerhouse.com.

• Problems, Deadbeatdad, Origami Phase and Seanni B rock hard at 7 p.m. at the Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff, Hamtramck. 313-462-4117 or sanctuarydetroit.com.

• Bassist Gwenyth Hayes leads her band at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. at Cliff Bell’s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit. 313-961-2543 or cliffbells.com.

• Singer-songwriters Tom Alter, Bob Sky Young and Mary Hartman get together at 7:30 p.m. at the Trinity House Theatre, 38840 W. Six Mile Road, Livonia. 734-436-6302 or trinityhousetheatre.org.

• Popular local cover bands the Mega 80’s and the Square Pegz square off in an 80’s vs. 90’s show at the Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Doors at 7 p.m. 248-544-1991 or themagicbag.com.

• Hotel California — The Original Eagles Tribute takes it to the limit at the Emerald Theatre, 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens. Doors at 7 p.m. 586-630-0120 or theemeraldtheatre.com.

• The Loving Touch hosts a Broadway Rave. 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Doors at 7 p.m. 248-820-5596 or thelovingtouchferndale.com.

• Popular local singer-songwriter Jill Jack holds her annual Birthday Bash at 8 p.m. at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. 734-761-1800 or theark.org.

• Virtual: The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series presents “The Stars of I Puritani” in theaters worldwide. metopera.org for theaters and showtimes.

SUNDAY, JAN. 11

• R&B singer Carl Thomas croons at 7:30 p.m. at Sound Board in the MotorCity Casino Hotel, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit. 800-745-3000 or soundboarddetroit.com.

• Dan Devins and the Blues Delegation play at a 3 p.m. matinee at the Cadieux Cafe, 4300 Cadieux Road, Detroit. 313-882-8560 or cadieuxcafe.com.

• Trumpeter Mason Bays closes the weekend at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Cliff Bell’s, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit. 313-961-2543 or cliffbells.com.

• Ember & Ash, the duo of the Ragbirds’ Erin Zindle and Native Howl’s Alex Holycross, burns at 7:30 p.m. at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. 734-761-1800 or theark.org.

• Ann Arbor trio the Triumvirate starts at 6 p.m. at the Blue Llama Jazz Club, 314 S. First St., Ann Arbor. 734-372-3200 or bluellamaclub.com.

By ISABEL DEBRE and MEGAN JANETSKY, Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In his celebratory news conference on the U.S. capture of Venezuelan strongman leader Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump set out an extraordinarily forthright view of the use of U.S. power in Latin America that exposed political divisions from Mexico to Argentina as Trump-friendly leaders rise across the region.

“American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again,” Trump proclaimed just hours before Maduro was perp-walked through the offices of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New York.

The scene marked a stunning culmination of months of escalation in Washington’s confrontation with Caracas that has reawakened memories of a past era of blatant U.S. interventionism in the region.

Since assuming office less than a year ago — and promptly renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America — Trump has launched boat strikes against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean, ordered a naval blockade on Venezuelan oil exports and meddled in elections in Honduras and Argentina.

Through a combination of tariffs, sanctions and military force, he has pressured Latin American leaders to advance his administration’s goals of combating drug trafficking, halting immigration, securing strategic natural resources and countering the influence of Russia and China.

The new, aggressive foreign policy — which Trump now calls the “Donroe Doctrine,” in reference to 19th-century President James Monroe’s belief that the U.S. should dominate its sphere of influence — has carved the hemisphere into allies and foes.

“The Trump administration in multiple different ways has been trying to reshape Latin American politics,” said Gimena Sanchez, Andes director for the Washington Office on Latin America, a think tank. “They’re showing their teeth in the whole region.”

Reactions to US raid put regional divisions on display

Saturday’s dramatic events — including Trump’s vow that Washington would “run” Venezuela and seize control of its oil sector — galvanized opposite sides of the polarized continent.

Argentine President Javier Milei, Trump’s ideological soulmate, characterized one side as supporting “democracy, the defense of life, freedom and property.”

“On the other side,” he added, “are those accomplices of a narco-terrorist and bloody dictatorship that has been a cancer for our region.”

Other right-wing leaders in South America similarly seized on Maduro’s ouster to declare their ideological affinity with Trump.

In Ecuador, conservative President Daniel Noboa issued a stern warning for all followers of Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s mentor and the founder of the Bolivarian revolution: “Your structure will completely collapse across the entire continent.”

In Chile, where a presidential election last month marked by fears over Venezuelan immigration brought down the leftist government, far-right President-elect José Antonio Kast hailed the U.S. raid as “great news for the region.”

But left-wing presidents in Latin America — including Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, Chile’s Gabriel Boric and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro — expressed grave concerns over what they saw as U.S. bullying.

Lula said the raid set “an extremely dangerous precedent.” Sheinbaum warned it “jeopardizes regional stability.” Boric said it “violated an essential pillar of international law.” Petro called it “aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America.”

Trump has previously punished or threatened all four leaders for failing to fall in line with his demands, while boosting and bailing out allies who show loyalty.

The attack recalls a painful history of US intervention

For Lula — among the last surviving icons of the so-called “pink tide,” the leftist leaders who dominated Latin American politics from the turn of the 21st century — Trump’s military action in Venezuela “recalls the worst moments of interference in the politics of Latin America.”

Those moments range from American troops occupying Central American and Caribbean nations to promote the interests of U.S. companies like Chiquita in the early 1900s to Washington supporting repressive military dictatorships in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay to fend off Soviet influence in the 1970s.

The historical echoes in Maduro’s downfall fueled not only harsh condemnations and street protests among Trump’s left-wing opponents but also uneasy responses from some of his close allies.

Usually effusive in his support for Trump, President Nayib Bukele was oddly quiet in El Salvador, a nation still scarred by a brutal civil war between a repressive U.S.-allied government and leftist guerillas. He posted a meme mocking Maduro after his capture Saturday, but expressed none of the jubilation seen from regional counterparts.

In Bolivia, where old anti-American dogmas die hard due to memories of the bloody U.S.-backed war on drugs, new conservative President Rodrigo Paz praised Maduro’s removal insomuch as it fulfilled “the true popular will” of Venezuelans who tried to vote the autocrat out of office in a 2024 election widely seen as fraudulent.

“Bolivia reaffirms that the way out for Venezuela is to respect the vote,” Paz said.

His message didn’t age well. Hours later, Trump announced he would work with Maduro’s loyalist vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, rather than the opposition that prevailed in the 2024 election.

“The Trump administration, it appears at this point, is making decisions about the democratic future of Venezuela without referring back to the democratic result,” said Kevin Whitaker, former deputy chief of mission for the State Department in Caracas.

When asked Sunday about when Venezuela will hold democratic elections, Trump responded: “I think we’re looking more at getting it fixed.”

As the right rises, Trump puts enemies on notice

The Trump administration’s attack on Venezuela extends its broader crusade to assemble a column of allied — or at least acquiescent — governments in Latin America, sailing with the political winds blowing in much of the region.

Recent presidential elections from Chile to Honduras have elevated tough, Trump-like leaders who oppose immigration, prioritize security and promise a return to better, bygone eras free of globalization and “wokeness.”

“The president is going to be looking for allied and partner nations in the hemisphere who share his kind of broader ideological affinity,” said Alexander Gray, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington research institute.

Those who don’t share that ideology were put on notice this weekend. Trump said Cuba’s Communist government “looks like it’s ready to fall.” He slammed Sheinbaum’s failure to root out Mexican cartels, saying that “something’s going to have to be done with Mexico.” He repeated allegations that Petro “likes making cocaine” and warned that “he’s not going to be doing it very long.”

“We’re in the business of having countries around us that are viable and successful, where the oil is allowed to really come out,” he told reporters Sunday on Air Force One. “It’s our hemisphere.”

DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press writers Maria Verza in Mexico City and Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.

DETROIT — Nick Marsh won’t be coming back to Michigan State after exploring his options in the transfer portal. Instead, he’ll play for a budding Big Ten power in Indiana.

Marsh committed to the Hoosiers Sunday after a visit to Bloomington, Ind., on Saturday. The rising junior wideout led the Spartans in receiving each of his first two seasons with 100 career receptions for 1,311 yards and nine touchdowns. In 2025, he set career highs in receptions (59), yards (662) and touchdowns (six).

Marsh was one of the earliest Spartans to enter the portal after the firing of Jonathan Smith and hiring of Pat Fitzgerald within two days of the end of the season. He joins the Hoosiers as the Big Ten champions ready for a College Football Playoff semifinal bout with Oregon, who the Hoosiers beat 30-20 on the road Oct. 11.

Michigan State also made its first adds in the transfer portal Sunday: offensive tackle Ben Murawski, who played for left tackle for Connecticut this past season and also has experience at left guard; and cornerback Tyran Chappell, who was a standout for Houston Christian in 2025.

Murawski, a 6-foot-7 and 335-pound Pennsylvanian, was one of PFF’s highest-graded run blockers and played for an offensive line that allowed just 16 sacks on the season, 17th best among all Football Bowl Subdivision schools.

There have been 41 Michigan State players have entered the transfer portal since it opened Friday, the latest addition being reserve cornerback Anthony Pinnace III. A whopping 11 of those players were offensive linemen, including left tackle Stanton Ramil, guards Gavin Broscious and Kristian Phillips, and right tackle Ashton Lepo, who all started at least one game. Fitzgerald changed offensive line coaches from Jim Michalczik, who came in under Smith, to Nick Tabacca, a longtime Wake Forest assistant who coached MSU center Matt Gulbin there before the NFL draft prospect came to East Lansing in 2025.

“Nick Tabacca is an established coach who has consistently demonstrated the ability to get the most out of his players and build a cohesive and effective offensive line,” Fitzgerald said in a statement Friday. “He cultivated one of the best O-lines in the ACC during his time at Wake Forest and has coached numerous players who have gone on to the NFL.”

The Spartans did secure the return of 2024 FCS All-American right tackle Conner Moore, as well as reserve linemen Andrew Dennis and Antonio Johnson, who all publicly announced their returns.

Murawski was a second-team Group of Five All-American as selected by HERO Sports, one of six Huskies to make the cut as Jim Mora’s Huskies went 9-4 with a loss to Army in the Fenway Bowl. Mora left for Colorado State before that game, and UConn hired Toledo coach Jason Candle to lead the program.

For years, Michigan State’s offensive line has struggled to assert itself, especially in the past two years under Smith. In 2025, Michigan State allowed 37 sacks, 12th most in the FBS, and carved the way for just 122.8 rushing yards per game, ranking 109th in the country.

Behind the offensive line, Michigan State’s other big position loss to the portal was among its defensive backs, especially its corners. The Spartans lost 10 defensive backs to the portal, returning just two cornerbacks, NiJhay Burt and Dorian Davis, with game experience that added up to 18 snaps in 2025. Burt was a senior in 2025 but played just three games and has a redshirt year to use.

The addition of Chappell is a big one for the secondary. He had four interceptions and 11 passes defended for Houston Christian this past season as his team went 2-10 in the Football Bowl Subdivision’s Southland Conference despite his strong play. Chappell is a product of Denton, Texas, and Ryan High School, the same program as Chance Rucker, a redshirt sophomore who entered the portal this offseason.

Texas is a particularly strong recruiting zone for Fitzgerald. Of 428 freshmen recruits to his Northwestern program across 17 years, 44 came from Texas, third-most behind Illinois (108) and Ohio (62).

Chappell will be coached by Hank Poteat, the former Iowa State cornerbacks coach who joined Fitzgerald’s staff formally on Friday. He won a Super Bowl with New England in 2005 and has coached corners at the FBS level since 2011.

“He won a Super Bowl ring and knows what it takes to succeed at the highest level,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m looking forward to him bringing that mindset to our defense on a daily basis.”

In the wake of a disappointing end to the 2025 season, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell has been consistent about two things when it comes to this upcoming offseason:

Changes are coming and he will be looking at everything.

Where are those changes most likely to occur? More importantly, how can the Lions (8-8) get back into the playoffs in 2026? Here’s a look at the three biggest issues facing the Lions entering the offseason, and how they can overcome them to become a contender once again.

Fix the offensive line

The Lions always expected to lose offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn at some point. They did not expect to lose All-Pro center Frank Ragnow to sudden retirement when they did, and the lack of preparedness to tackle that scenario would hang over the entire season like a dark cloud.

Detroit’s run game was consistently inconsistent. The Lions ran for under 100 yards in seven of 16 games — they had just eight such instances over the last three seasons combined — and lost all seven of those contests. While the pass protection was nothing to write home about for most of the season, the Lions’ deficiencies on the ground robbed them of their identity, which left them up creek without a paddle when adversity struck in the back half of the season. As the Lions’ season fell apart, their offense merely tried to hold on for dear life to make up for a subpar defense, rather than dictate the terms of engagement, as we’ve grown accustomed to seeing.

“It’s always been a big emphasis every single week, the run game and trying to get it going,” Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said this week. “And sometimes you get behind the eight ball, and you’ve got to throw it, and sometimes you don’t get the right looks, and sometimes we just aren’t executing. We all have our hand in all of this, so it’s just a little bit of everything. It’s frustrating.”

This can partially be attributed to a lack of detail throughout the entire offense — more on that later — but generally speaking, the absence of Ragnow was the critical factor in Detroit’s shortcomings. He retired after the draft and most prime free-agent windows, when other teams had already settled their rosters, which forced the Lions to play a past-his-prime Graham Glasgow at the position.

If the Lions want to take a legitimate swing at solving these problems for 2026, general manager Brad Holmes will have to get aggressive in luring in a veteran center to take over the role. Before Detroit’s season finale at Chicago, Campbell was asked how critical it is to get the run game back on track next season: “It’s everything,” he said. “It’s everything.”

Setting aside the on-field results of last season, there’s even more urgency this upcoming offseason: Glasgow, and potentially reliable left tackle Taylor Decker, seem to be inching toward retirement.

It’s always possible that Holmes seeks a solution through the draft, and the Lions should absolutely exhaust those options. But given their insistent stance against drafting for need, it doesn’t seem likely that’s a position they’ll put themselves in. Several interesting options are set to become free agents this offseason, such as Baltimore’s Tyler Linderbaum and Buffalo’s Connor McGovern. But if the Lions can’t reel in one of the big fish — it seems unlikely that either player will be allowed to walk to free agency — Holmes will have to look at the trade market.

Given how open Decker has been about his potential retirement, I don’t think the Lions will be unprepared to attack his departure. But they don’t currently have anybody on the roster that you’d feel comfortable with tabbing as a starter going into the offseason — former fourth-round pick Giovanni Manu has not shown enough to be in that conversation yet — so they’ll probably have to make a significant effort to bring in a veteran there, as well.

No matter what happens with the veteran acquisition process, the Lions will have to begin restocking the offensive line cupboard with higher-floor pieces than they currently have on the roster. Tate Ratledge and right tackle Penei Sewell are the only linemen to be picked by Holmes before Day 3 of the draft.

Of course, player acquisition is never easy. But Holmes has mostly done a good job of bringing in the right veterans to supplement his roster over the years, and solving that problem this offseason is still a fairly realistic outcome.

Refresh the defense

The Lions’ defense completely fell apart at the hands of explosive plays down the final stretch of the season. Injuries to the Lions’ secondary didn’t help, especially when one of those players (Kerby Joseph) is one of the most feared middle-field coverage defenders in the league, and the other (Brian Branch) is a Swiss Army Knife whose location must be identified before every play. Detroit has allowed 56 pass plays of 20-plus yards this season, fourth-most in the league entering Week 18.

That said, the Lions actually got decent play from reserves such as Thomas Harper and Avonte Maddox — plus a healthy front seven — so not all the blame falls on attrition.

Of the 11 highest-paid pending free agents on the Lions’ roster, 10 of them are defensive players, and six of them play on the defensive line. Three of those defensive linemen — Josh Paschal, Marcus Davenport and Levi Onwuzurike — were injury-prone gambles that didn’t work out.

Though defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said he “doesn’t see drastic change” coming to the scheme, the impending turnover should help the Lions reimagine how they want this to look.

And no matter what the sack numbers say, the Lions need help affecting the quarterback. Detroit has the fifth-slowest time to pressure (2.86 seconds) in the NFL, and it was painfully obvious as one quarterback after another — a group that includes Giants third-stringer Jameis Winston — tore up the Lions’ defense.

It’s expected that Tyleik Williams and Alim McNeill will be the starting defensive tackles next season, meaning the signings there will largely be for depth. The Lions would surely like to bring back edge defender Al-Quadin Muhammad, who has 11 sacks, but he might’ve priced himself out of a return, especially considering that Detroit did not trust him against the run. There will still be a need for a starting defensive end to play opposite Aidan Hutchinson, which could be solved via a strong draft class at that position.

In the secondary, Detroit’s biggest offseason hurdle will be seeing through the cloudy injury statuses that dim the group’s future. Branch’s Achilles injury could cost him significant time next season, and Joseph couldn’t deliver a positive update on the status of his knee injury when asked earlier this season, saying, “You don’t fix it. Just keep the faith.”

The Lions invested heavily in cornerback D.J. Reed last offseason (three years, $48 million) and likely won’t be making any major moves with him, after he appeared to be limited by his hamstring injury after coming off of injured reserve. Their other starting cornerback, Terrion Arnold, ended the season on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, but he showed positive strides before being placed on the shelf.

In an ideal world, former second-round pick Ennis Rakestraw could take over the starting nickel cornerback job next season, allowing Detroit to shed some salary by letting Amik Robertson walk in free agency. But with Rakestraw unable to stay healthy for the second year in a row and Branch’s outlook uncertain, Detroit will probably look into bringing Robertson back to compete for the starting nickel job.

All of this is to say that the Lions’ best chance at fixing the defense starts up front, where they’ll have ample opportunity to reshape what this team looks like.

Find a new offensive play caller

While both of the Lions’ new coordinators struggled at various points this season, it seems likely that Sheppard’s job is safer than Morton’s. Sheppard’s personnel and scheme was inherited, and Campbell has invested a lot into his development as a coach. Plus, as a more offensive-minded coach, Campbell could be slower to make sweeping changes on the defensive side of the ball. And then there’s the tangible act of Morton actually having play-calling duties taken away from him at the season’s midway point.

Campbell said the primary reason for taking over play-calling was that Morton wasn’t able to bring his vision to life, but there was a Johnson press conference answer that went viral this week and was a good reminder of what else Detroit was missing offensively: Accountability. Asked about a red-zone sequence gone wrong, Johnson immediately took responsibility for how things ended.

“That field-goal drive, once we got in the red zone, I wasn’t very happy with how I called that,” Johnson said, putting the failure squarely on his own shoulders.

This was something Morton never did. Now, there were probably plenty of times where something that went wrong was actually the fault of the players and their execution. But the fact that the offensive coordinator is constantly pointing that out publicly instead of offering any sort of self-reflection probably didn’t sit well with players who’ve played in prolific offenses over the last few years.

Not to mention, a lack of thoughtfulness regarding the problems probably made it difficult to actually solve them. If and when the Lions move on from Morton, the next candidate should have two main qualities: Accountability and attention to detail.

Until the coaching carousel starts to spin next week, we won’t have much clarity on the options for a potential Morton replacement. Campbell essentially has two options for how he’ll proceed: He can either try to find another play-calling coordinator so that he can continue to focus on the bigger-picture in-game duties, or lean into being a play-calling head coach and supplement his staff to make up for the game management aspects.

Judging by how reluctant he’s been to do the play-calling, it seems like a safe bet that Campbell will try to bring in another play-caller. But on the flip side, two of Campbell’s three offensive-coordinator hires have been legitimate disasters, so not only is there a concern that he’ll get the next hire right, but there’s also the worry that any quality hire will eventually be poached as a head coach, starting the process over again. Becoming a play-calling head coach could give Detroit the best chance at long-term stability.

CHICAGO — If this is it for Dan Skipper, he wouldn’t change a thing.

Skipper, who has spent the better part of his nine-year career with the Detroit Lions, is unsure of his future beyond Sunday’s victory over the Chicago Bears. Skipper, with tears in his eyes, told reporters in the locker room at Soldier Field that he’s dealing with issues related to his lower back “that might push me out.”

Asked if the decision regarding retirement will be his or instead left up to the doctors he plans to soon meet with, Skipper, 31, said “it’s a little bit of both.” The 6-foot-9 offensive tackle added: “You start getting some pretty intense surgeries — I’m old, tall. So, we’ll see what happens.”

A fan favorite as Detroit’s swing tackle and a key piece in the team’s jumbo package, Skipper has carved out a role for himself with the Lions. He was at the heart of a controversial ruling against the Dallas Cowboys two years ago, when officials ruled he reported eligible, making teammate Taylor Decker, who caught what first appeared to be the go-ahead 2-point attempt with less than 30 seconds remaining, an ineligible receiver.

Skipper’s standing as a folk hero has only grown since. Since that moment in Dallas, fans at Ford Field have cheered for Skipper every time he checks in and the referee announces he’s reported as an eligible receiver. Skipper and his teammates often have to wave their arms up and down, reminding the crowd to be quiet while quarterback Jared Goff is relaying play calls in the huddle.

“Finding a way to just stick around and stick in and finding a home and (having) guys that appreciate you, a place to take you in. It’s a special place,” Skipper said of his career, reflecting on his time in Detroit. “It’ll always hold a place in our heart. We had a kid born here. My boys know the damn fight song.”

Skipper said there were moments he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to physically make it through this season, and that he owes his availability to Detroit’s medical team: “I’ve just never had a ‘quit’ bone in me. I don’t know, maybe that would’ve saved me at some point,” Skipper said. “You just find a way to play through it for the guys next to you, for your family, for everyone else. You just give it everything you’ve got each week.

“Some weeks are all right, and some weeks you can’t f—— move. It just felt like, as it went on, you start not being able to move and it’s frustrating and it’s hard. You’re like, man, stuff that you have been able to do for a long time, you can’t anymore. It sucks. But it’s just part of the aging process of being here and being hurt and everything else. I … owe a lot of it to the training staff.”

An undrafted free agent in 2017 who initially signed with the Cowboys out of Arkansas, Skipper began his first stint with the Lions in September 2017. He’d go on to make pit stops with various teams — the Denver Broncos (2018), New England Patriots (2018-19) and Houston Texans (2019) — before returning to the Lions for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Skipper was briefly with the Las Vegas Raiders (2021) and Indianapolis Colts (2023) over the next five years, but each of his 16 career starts (all since 2022) have come with Detroit, where he’s been since 2023.

The Lions (9-8) capped their season by walking off the Bears, as Jake Bates connected on a 42-yard field goal as time expired, with Skipper blocking on the play. Detroit missed the playoffs after beginning the season with Super Bowl aspirations, but Sunday’s result in Chicago secured the Lions their fourth consecutive campaign above .500, something that hadn’t been done in more than 50 years.

Skipper has 68 appearances in his career. All but three of those have come with the Lions.

“If this is it,” Skipper said, “no regrets.”

Who do the Detroit Lions play in 2026?

With the Minnesota Vikings beating the Green Bay Packers on Sunday — a result that means Detroit will finish last in the NFC North — we now know the full answer to that question.

The Lions are set to play nine games at home and eight on the road next season, though one of those home contests will likely be played overseas; Detroit has been told its going to play internationally, but the location and opponent has not been announced.

Six of the Lions’ 2026 games will come against NFC North rivals, of course. They’ll also play the NFC South and AFC East. Finishing last in the NFC North in 2025 secured the Lions a fourth-place schedule, meaning their remaining three opponents in 2026 are the Tennessee Titans, New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals. Had the Lions finished third, their remaining opponents would’ve been the Indianapolis Colts, Washington Commanders and one of the San Francisco 49ers or Los Angeles Rams.

Nine of Detroit’s upcoming 14 opponents in 2026 finished this season with a record under .500. For comparison, four of Detroit’s foes in 2025 finished 2024 with a record under .500.

Lions’ 2026 opponents

Home: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans

Away: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Miami Dolphins

CHICAGO — Richard Silva grades the Detroit Lions in their 19-16 win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

Quarterback

Jared Goff had a stellar first half, completing 19 of his 28 attempts for 205 yards and a touchdown. The Lions leaned on their passing attack early — only 10 of Detroit’s 39 plays in the first half were rushes — and Goff rose to the occasion, orchestrating drives of 35, 55, 71 and 76 yards before intermission, and the 35-yarder put the Lions in position to score at the end of the second quarter. Goff was not as prolific in the second half, and he made a critical mistake when he tried to shove a pass into tight coverage that was picked off by safety Kevin Byard. Grade: B

Running backs

It wasn’t a dominating outing for either Jahmyr Gibbs or David Montgomery, but the duo combined for an above-average rate of 4.5 yards per carry, and it tacked on 46 yards in the receiving game. Gibbs found the end zone on a Texas route, beating linebacker T.J. Edwards for a 15-yard touchdown. Montgomery was helpful on Detroit’s second possession of the third quarter, accounting for 32 yards on a drive that resulted in the Lions taking their largest lead. Grade: B-

Wide receivers/tight ends

This game, despite the absence of stakes, certainly seemed to mean something to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who finished with 139 yards on 11 catches. St. Brown benefitted from a large target share (35.7% of Goff’s attempts went in St. Brown’s direction), but he was also fairly explosive, notching seven receptions of 10 or more yards, including a 30-yarder to put Gibbs in position to score two plays later. Jameson Williams was solid with the ball in his hands (46 of his 74 yards came after the catch), and Kalif Raymond and Isaac TeSlaa chipped in a combined 70 yards. Grade: A

Offensive line

There were certainly negative moments — Goff’s first sack was due to subpar protection from Christian Mahogany and Chris Hubbard, and Graham Glasgow was beaten by defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. on the quarterback’s second — but the offensive line largely held up well, especially without Penei Sewell. Hubbard got the start in Sewell’s place at right tackle, and he was able to get out in space effectively on a couple outside runs, as well as on a screen pass to Williams that went for 12 yards. The unit was flagged once, and the call (a holding penalty on Tate Ratledge) was questionable. Grade: B-

Defensive line

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was only sacked once and wasn’t consistently moved off his spot, though the general lack of pressure didn’t sting the Lions until the fourth quarter. That was partly due to the opponent’s own issues — drops and misfires were issues for Chicago — but also because of Detroit’s run defense; running backs D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai combined for 54 yards on 16 rushes. The Lions’ offense deserves a hat tip for limiting Swift and Monangai, as the visitors at Soldier Field dominated time of possession, recording a 10:30 advantage. Aidan Hutchinson, who was impactful as a run defender, extended his career-high sack total (14.5). Grade: B

Linebackers

Linebackers looked to be at fault on a couple notable plays, including Williams’ touchdown pass to tight end Colston Loveland that tied the score with fewer than six minutes remaining. The rookie got lost in coverage, and either Derrick Barnes or Malcolm Rodriguez didn’t pick him up. Barnes had a massive play earlier in the game (a fourth-down pass breakup against Loveland), but he was also run at on multiple occasions, and he struggled to hold the edge. The Lions put Rodriguez in a difficult position when they left him as the only defender in coverage over the middle of the field on a late third-and-long, but he was slow to react to Loveland, who crossed his face for the first down. Grade: D

Secondary

Avonte Maddox snatched his first interception in more than three years, boxing out receiver D.J. Moore on a deep ball launched to the opposite side of the field. That was before the fourth quarter, when Williams heated up and completed nine of his 13 throws for 123 yards and two touchdowns, as well as posting a couple of 2-point conversions. Chicago’s first touchdown was against zone coverage, so it’s difficult to discern who was directly at fault. Amik Roberston was the closest defender, but it appeared Maddox might have been out of position. Grade: B-

Special teams

Jake Bates made his first two field goals (from 30 and 34 yards) before missing a 53-yarder as time expired in the first half. He redeemed himself at the buzzer, connecting on a 42-yarder for the win. Raymond had a fine showing as a punt returner (an average of 11 yards on three tries), and punter Jack Fox averaged 46.5 yards on his two attempts. Grade: A

Coaching

How the Lions handled their second-to-last drive was baffling, and that’s being polite. Following an encroachment penalty on the Bears that gave the Lions a fresh set of downs, Detroit proceeded to pass the ball three consecutive times. On first down, an incompletion stopped the clock. On second down, Goff was flagged for intentional grounding. On third down, he tossed an interception. The Lions were running the ball well, and there was no reason to go away from it at that point. It didn’t end up mattering, but the sequence was quite questionable. Grade: C

By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press Business Writer

President Donald Trump’s plan to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry and ask American companies to revitalize it after capturing President Nicolás Maduro in a raid isn’t likely to have a significant immediate impact on oil prices.

Venezuela’s oil industry is in disrepair after years of neglect and international sanctions, so it could take years and major investments before production can increase dramatically. But some analysts are optimistic that Venezuela could double or triple its current output of about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day to return to historic levels fairly quickly.

“While many are reporting Venezuela’s oil infrastructure was unharmed by U.S. military actions, it has been decaying for many many years and will take time to rebuild,” said Patrick De Haan, who is the lead petroleum analyst at gasoline price tracker GasBuddy.

American oil companies will want a stable regime in the country before they are willing to invest heavily, and the political picture remained uncertain Saturday with Trump saying that the United States is in charge — while the current Venezuelan vice president argued, before Venezuela’s high court ordered her to assume the role of interim president, that Maduro should be restored to power.

“But if it seems like the U.S. is successful in running the country for the next 24 hours, I would say there would be a lot of optimism that U.S. energy companies could come in and revitalize the Venezuelan oil industry fairly quickly,” said Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group.

And if Venezuela can grow into an oil production powerhouse, Flynn said “that could cement lower prices for the longer term” and put more pressure on Russia.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said oil companies are “going to go in and rebuild this system.”

A major shift in oil prices wasn’t expected because Venezuela is a member of OPEC, so its production is already accounted for there. And there is currently a surplus of oil on the global market.

The price of U.S. crude oil lost 23 cents early Monday to $57.09 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 18 cents to $60.57 per barrel.

Proven reserves

Venezuela is known to have the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves of approximately 303 billion barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That accounts for roughly 17% of all global oil reserves.

So international oil companies have reason to be interested in Venezuela. Exxon Mobil didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. ConocoPhillips spokesperson Dennis Nuss said by email that the company “is monitoring developments in Venezuela and their potential implications for global energy supply and stability. It would be premature to speculate on any future business activities or investments.”

Chevron is the only one with significant operations in Venezuela, where it produces about 250,000 barrels a day. Chevron, which first invested in Venezuela in the 1920s, does business in the country through joint ventures with the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA.

“Chevron remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets. We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations,” Chevron spokesman Bill Turenne said.

But even with those massive reserves, Venezuela has been producing less than 1% of the world’s crude oil supply. Corruption, mismanagement and U.S. economic sanctions saw production steadily decline from the 3.5 million barrels per day pumped in 1999 to today’s levels.

The problem isn’t finding the oil. It’s a question of the political environment and whether companies can count on the government to live up to their contracts. Back in 2007, then President Hugo Chávez nationalized much of the oil production and forced major players like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips out.

“The issue is not just that the infrastructure is in bad shape, but it’s mostly about how do you get foreign companies to start pouring money in before they have a clear perspective on the political stability, the contract situation and the like,” said Francisco Monaldi, who is the director of the Latin American energy program at Rice University.

But the infrastructure does need significant investment.

“The estimate is that in order for Venezuela to increase from one million barrels per day — that is what it produces today — to four million barrels, it will take about a decade and about a hundred billion dollars of investment,” Monaldi said.

Strong demand

Venezuela produces the kind of heavy crude oil that’s needed for diesel fuel, asphalt and other fuels for heavy equipment. Diesel is in short supply around the world because of the sanctions on oil from Venezuela and Russia and because America’s lighter crude oil can’t easily replace it.

Years ago, American refineries on the Gulf Coast were optimized to handle that kind of heavy crude at a time when U.S. oil production was falling and Venezuelan and Mexican crude was plentiful. So refineries would love to have more access to Venezuela’s crude because it would help them operate more efficiently, and it tends to be a little cheaper.

Boosting Venezuelan production could also make it easier to put pressure on Russia because Europe and the rest of the world could get more of the diesel and heavy oil they need from Venezuela and stop buying from Russia.

“There’s been a big benefit for Russia to see Venezuela’s oil industry collapse. And the reason is because they were a competitor on the global stage for that oil market,” Flynn said.

Complicated legal picture

But Matthew Waxman, a Columbia University law professor who was a national security official in the George W. Bush administration, said seizing control of Venezuela’s resources opens up additional legal issues.

“For example, a big issue will be who really owns Venezuela’s oil?” Waxman wrote in an email. “An occupying military power can’t enrich itself by taking another state’s resources, but the Trump administration will probably claim that the Venezuelan government never rightfully held them.”

But Waxman, who served in the State and Defense departments and on the National Security Council under Bush, noted that “we’ve seen the administration talk very dismissively about international law when it comes to Venezuela.”

Associated Press writers Matt O’Brien, Ben Finley, Darlene Superville and Rio Yamat contributed to this report.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and AAMER MADHANI, Associated Press

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday told reporters that U.S. officials have determined that Ukraine did not target a residence belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a drone attack last week, disputing Kremlin claims that Trump had initially greeted with deep concern.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week said Ukraine launched a wave of drones at Putin’s state residence in the northwestern Novgorod region that the Russian defense systems were able to defeat. Lavrov also criticized Kyiv for launching the attack at a moment of intensive negotiations to end the war.

The allegation came just a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had traveled to Florida for talks with Trump on the U.S. administration’s still-evolving 20-point plan aimed at ending the war. Zelenskyy quickly denied the Kremlin allegation.

Trump said that “something happened nearby” Putin’s residence but that Americans officials didn’t find the Russian president’s residence was targeted.

“I don’t believe that strike happened,” Trump told reporters as he traveled back to Washington on Sunday after spending two weeks at his home in Florida. “We don’t believe that happened, now that we’ve been able to check.”

Trump addressed the U.S. determination after European officials argued that the Russian claim was nothing more than an effort by Moscow to undermine the peace effort.

But Trump, at least initially, had appeared to take the Russian allegations at face value. He told reporters last Monday that Putin had also raised the matter during a phone he had with the Russian leader earlier that day. And Trump said he was “very angry” about the accusation.

By Wednesday, Trump appeared to be downplaying the Russian claim. He posted a link to a New York Post editorial on his social media platform that raised doubt about the Russian allegation. The editorial lambasted Putin for choosing “lies, hatred, and death” at a moment that Trump has claimed is “closer than ever before” to moving the two sides to a deal to end the war.

The U.S. president has struggled to fulfill a pledge to quickly end the war in Ukraine and has shown irritation with both Zelenskyy and Putin as he tried to mediate an end to a conflict he boasted on the campaign trail that he could end in one day.

Both Trump and Zelenskyy said last week they made progress in their talks at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

But Putin has shown little interest in ending the war until all of Russia’s objectives are met, including winning control of all Ukrainian territory in the key industrial Donbas region and imposing severe restrictions on the size of Ukraine’s post-war military and the type of weaponry it can possess.

Madhani reported from Washington.

By LISA MASCARO, Associated Press Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — Approaching the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the official plaque honoring the police who defended democracy that day is nowhere to be found.

It’s not on display at the Capitol, as is required by law. Its whereabouts aren’t publicly known, though it’s believed to be in storage.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has yet to formally unveil the plaque. And the Trump administration’s Department of Justice is seeking to dismiss a police officers’ lawsuit asking that it be displayed as intended. The Architect of the Capitol, which was responsible for obtaining and displaying the plaque, said in light of the federal litigation, it cannot comment.

Determined to preserve the nation’s history, some 100 members of Congress, mostly Democrats, have taken it upon themselves to memorialize the moment. For months, they’ve mounted poster board-style replicas of the Jan. 6 plaque outside their office doors, resulting in a Capitol complex awash with makeshift remembrances.

“On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on Jan. 6, 2021,” reads the faux bronze stand-in for the real thing. “Their heroism will never be forgotten.”

Jan. 6 void in the Capitol

In Washington, a capital city lined with monuments to the nation’s history, the plaque was intended to become a simple but permanent marker, situated near the Capitol’s west front, where some of the most violent fighting took place as rioters breached the building.

But in its absence, the missing plaque makes way for something else entirely — a culture of forgetting.

Visitors can pass through the Capitol without any formal reminder of what happened that day, when a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the building trying to overturn the Republican’s 2020 reelection defeat to Democrat Joe Biden. With memory left unchecked, it allows new narratives to swirl and revised histories to take hold.

Five years ago, the jarring scene watched the world over was declared an “insurrection” by the then-GOP leader of the Senate, while the House GOP leader at the time called it his “saddest day” in Congress. But those condemnations have faded.

Trump calls it a “day of love.” And Johnson, who was among those lawmakers challenging the 2020 election results, is now the House speaker.

“The question of January 6 remains – democracy was on the guillotine — how important is that event in the overall sweep of 21st century U.S. history,” said Douglas Brinkley, a professor of history at Rice University and noted scholar.

“Will January 6 be seen as the seminal moment when democracy was in peril?” he asked. Or will it be remembered as “kind of a weird one-off?”

“There’s not as much consensus on that as one would have thought on the fifth anniversary,” he said.

Memories shift, but violent legacy lingers

At least five people died in the riot and its aftermath, including Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by police while trying to climb through a window toward the House chamber. More than 140 law enforcement officers were wounded, some gravely, and several died later, some by suicide.

All told, some 1,500 people were charged in the Capitol attack, among the largest federal prosecutions in the nation’s history. When Trump returned to power in January 2025, he pardoned all of them within hours of taking office.

Unlike the twin light beams that commemorated the Sept. 11, 2001, attack or the stand-alone chairs at the Oklahoma City bombing site memorial, the failure to recognize Jan. 6 has left a gap not only in memory but in helping to stitch the country back together.

“That’s why you put up a plaque,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa. “You respect the memory and the service of the people involved.”

Police sue over Jan. 6 plaque, DOJ seeks to dismiss

The speaker’s office over the years has suggested it was working on installing the plaque, but it declined to respond to a request for further comment.

Lawmakers approved the plaque in March 2022 as part of a broader government funding package. The resolution said the U.S. “owes its deepest gratitude to those officers,” and it set out instructions for an honorific plaque listing the names of officers “who responded to the violence that occurred.” It gave a one-year deadline for installation at the Capitol.

This summer, two officers who fought the mob that day sued over the delay.

“By refusing to follow the law and honor officers as it is required to do, Congress encourages this rewriting of history,” said the claim by officers Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges. “It suggests that the officers are not worthy of being recognized, because Congress refuses to recognize them.”

The Justice Department is seeking to have the case dismissed. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and others argued Congress “already has publicly recognized the service of law enforcement personnel” by approving the plaque and displaying it wouldn’t alleviate the problems they claim to face from their work.

“It is implausible,” the Justice Department attorneys wrote, to suggest installation of the plaque “would stop the alleged death threats they claim to have been receiving.”

The department also said the plaque is required to include the names of “all law enforcement officers” involved in the response that day — some 3,600 people.

Makeshift memorials emerge

Lawmakers who’ve installed replicas of the plaque outside their offices said it’s important for the public to know what happened.

“There are new generations of people who are just growing up now who don’t understand how close we came to losing our democracy on Jan 6, 2021,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the Jan. 6 committee, which was opposed by GOP leadership but nevertheless issued a nearly 1,000-page report investigating the run-up to the attack and the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Raskin envisions the Capitol one day holding tours around what happened. “People need to study that as an essential part of American history,” he said.

“Think about the dates in American history that we know only by the dates: There’s the 4th of July. There’s December 7th. There’s 9/11. And there’s January 6th,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-calif., who also served on the committee and has a plaque outside her office.

“They really saved my life, and they saved the democracy and they deserve to be thanked for it,” she said.

But as time passes, there are no longer bipartisan memorial services for Jan. 6. On Tuesday, the Democrats will reconvene members from the Jan. 6 committee for a hearing to “examine ongoing threats to free and fair elections,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York announced. It’s unlikely Republicans will participate.

The Republicans under Johnson have tapped Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia to stand up their own special committee to uncover what the speaker calls the “full truth” of what happened. They’re planning a hearing this month.

“We should stop this silliness of trying to whitewash history — it’s not going to happen,” said Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., who helped lead the effort to display the replica plaques.

“I was here that day so I’ll never forget,” he said. “I think that Americans will not forget what happened.”

The number of makeshift plaques that fill the halls is a testimony to that remembrance, he said.

Instead of one plaque, he said, they’ve “now got 100.”