Le Journal

The 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship is headed to Indiana. Top-seeded Indiana won its first ever football championship on Monday, outlasting the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes 27-21 in a game that started murky but ended in a thriller. Things started relatively slow for both sides, as Indiana took just a 10-0 lead into halftime with Miami’s offense getting nothing going on the ground or over the top. But, as usual in low-scoring college first halves, the script flipped in the final two quarters. Miami woke up to put the pressure on the Hoosiers, but Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza stepped up and Hurricanes QB1 Carson Beck couldn’t. Beck had the chance to deliver a game-winning drive, but forced a deep pass that was picked off. Indiana held on 27-21, winning the program’s first ever football title in its debut appearance while Miami’s wait since 2001 persists, despite being at home in Hard Rock Stadium. Let’s analyze the game further with winners and losers: MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL COVERAGE College Football Dec 19, 2025 Who has the most College Football Playoff appearances, championships? NCAA Football Dec 9, 2024 These schools have the most Heisman Trophy winners in college football history College Football Dec 6, 2025 Indiana had the most losses in college football history. Now it's a championship contender. WINNER: Fernando Mendoza, Indiana The Heisman winner and potential No. 1 pick had all the eyes on him tonight. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but he displayed the grit and poise needed at the next level. Mendoza threw for 186 yards on 16 of 27 completions, while also rushing for the key 12-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. He’ll still need to polish his game more to truly thrive in the NFL, especially if the Las Vegas Raiders believe he’s the QB1 that can elevate their trajectory. But for now, he can bask in the moment. LOSER: Carson Beck, Miami On the other hand, it was a slightly different story for Miami’s QB1. Carson Beck, 23, could’ve had his moment to change the narrative on his college career — and boost his potential draft odds in the process. He overcame a slow start and displayed much better command in the second half, finishing with 232 passing yards and a touchdown on 19 of 32 completions. But the lone pick might just summarize his five-year collegiate run best — a competitive college option but not at the level required to win the majors. WINNER: Mark Fletcher Jr., Miami Most eyes were on Mendoza’s legitimacy to go No. 1, but Miami had an opportunity to show off some of its skill players as well. Malachi Toney, a rising 18-year-old wideout, seized his moments and will be one to watch for the future. Junior running back Mark Fletcher Jr. also stood out, and he could even be NFL ready if he declared. Fletcher Jr. reflected Miami’s stagnant offense in the first half but helped open it up in the second, ending the game with 112 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries. He enjoyed a career-best 57-yard run, also the second-longest touchdown in a BCS final. LOSER: Third-down efficiency Indiana’s defense ranked among the top in several defensive statistics this season, and getting off the field on third downs was a major reason why. The Hoosiers at one point limited Miami to being 0-for-6 on third downs. Miami finished with a 3-for-11 rate, while Indiana went 6-for-15. Miami’s defense delivered an underrated performance, but Mendoza helped chip at the margins where Beck couldn’t. Had the Hurricanes improved their rate in the first half, apart from the doinked field-goal try, this could’ve been a different ball game. WINNER: Curt Cignetti, Indiana In an era where there’s a power vacuum at the college football summit, Indiana might have something brewing. The Hoosiers are far from a football powerhouse, but they’ve flipped from being terrible to national champs in two years under Curt Cignetti. The 64-year-old is revered by his players and has built a sturdy culture beyond Mendoza,…

Families danced, sang to old school classics, and shouted in excitement during the City of Dallas’ Martin Luther King Day Celebration on Monday. After the kickoff ceremony, dance performances followed on a shutdown MLK Blvd, setting the stage for the 2026 City of Dallas MLK Parade. The event was hosted and produced by the nonprofit H.E.L.P. (Hope Encourage Love Protect). The theme of this year’s event was “Marching in Unity with Purpose.” Organizers told NBC 5 that as the gathering grows each year, its mission remains the same: Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, his legacy and bringing communities together. According to H.E.L.P, there were over 200 entries for the parade. Those entries included floats, dance teams, cultural organizations, first responders, youth groups, civic partners, historically black sororities and fraternities and others. “In the current climate, I would say we have experienced a lot of sadness, heartbreak… a lot of anxiety,” Gregory Harrington with H.E.L.P said. “So, if we can have one day, where you can put all your troubles away…and you can just come out and enjoy your next-door neighbor, the person down the street, somebody you don’t know… this is why we do it…bringing us together and working in unity. Because that is the ideology of Mr. Martin Luther King.” The parade showcased efforts to honor Dr. King’s dream of a more harmonious society. “We like to celebrate all people,” Harrington said. “We believe we do this for all, not just for one culture.”

Max Christie scored a season-high 26 points, Cooper Flagg had 18 in his first pro game at Madison Square Garden and the Dallas Mavericks rolled to a 114-97 victory Monday over the New York Knicks, who were booed frequently in the first half while falling behind by 30. The Knicks lost their fourth straight and ninth in 11 games, even with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart back from ankle injuries to return them to full strength. The Mavericks, meanwhile, are missing numerous injured players but the ones who did suit up ran the Knicks off the floor in the first half to win their third straight game. Flagg had missed the previous two, both victories over Utah, with a sprained left ankle. The No. 1 pick also had seven rebounds, while Naji Marshall scored 18 points. Karl-Anthony Towns had 22 points and 18 rebounds for the Knicks, and Brunson also had 22 points. Mitchell Robinson had 12 points and 15 rebounds. The Knicks won the NBA Cup in December and were 23-9 entering their final game of the month. They have fallen to 25-18 and entered play Monday in third place in the East in coach Mike Brown’s first season. The Mavericks raced to a 16-4 lead that New York cut to 31-22 after one quarter despite missing all nine 3-point attempts. Flagg scored the Mavericks’ first seven points of the second quarter, and a 13-0 run gave Dallas a 51-31 lead. Towns then scored five straight, but on the next possession was called for a flagrant foul for kicking Dwight Powell in the groin area while attempting a shot. Marshall later scored nine straight points to make it 72-43 before Christie’s 3 made it a 30-point blowout. The boos began during the onslaught in the second and rang out once more as the Knicks walked to the locker rooms down 75-47. Up next Mavericks: Host Golden State on Thursday. Knicks: Host Brooklyn on Wednesday. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued legal guidance on Monday morning, declaring many diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in public and private spaces unconstitutional. For several years, Republican state lawmakers have pushed to phase out diversity programs in state government. Now, the private sphere may be next. On Monday, people attending the Martin Luther King Jr. Parade celebrated gains made after the Civil Rights Movement, such as affirmative action and diversity recruitment and hiring efforts. “You have people who don’t know the whole background story to that. So why take it away? That’s something we need,” said Gregory Harrington in an interview at the parade. “It helped with education. It educated our people more,” said Jeanine Robinson. Also on Monday morning, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton laid out a 74-page memo arguing that those very programs were unconstitutional and constituted race-based discrimination. It supported Governor Greg Abbott’s earlier efforts to end the practice of boosting contracts to Black, Hispanic, and women-owned businesses through the Historically Underutilized Business Program. “There is a prohibition in the Constitution to discriminate on the basis of race or sex. And that doesn’t mean that if you’re Black or Hispanic or a woman or a man or white or whatever, you’re going to be denied access,” said Gov. Abbott in an earlier interview with NBC DFW. But Paxton also went further, stating that race-based hiring, promotion, mentoring, and training programs may also violate state and federal law. He wrote: “The race- and sex-based public sector preferences discussed in this opinion cannot survive strict scrutiny and are therefore unconstitutional. Furthermore, a large body of DEI practices in the private sector triggers liability…” “The opinion also poses a real threat to the corporate community by inviting lawsuits and unwarranted hostility toward institutions that have attempted, however imperfectly, to broaden opportunity in workplaces that still do not reflect full equality for Black and Brown Americans,” wrote Gary Bledsoe, President of the Texas NAACP, responding to the AG memo. “We’ve never lived in a colorblind society, and you can’t ignore color,” said Texas Rep. Venton Jones, D – Dallas. Monday afternoon, Jones told NBC DFW he sees this as a signal that Attorney General Paxton may soon launch lawsuits against private companies. “And this isn’t the first signal. This is a string of examples since I have been elected, indicating that there is a ramping up of policies that are becoming more and more discriminatory,” said Jones. Arthur Fleming, the former president of the NAACP in Dallas, said some of the diversity programs, both public and private, were intended to help white women along with black and Hispanic Texans. He argues that this action will encourage people to only rely on their own race for support and business. “The fact that we had diversity benefited everybody, the city, everybody. So going against that, it’s going to hurt a lot of people,” said Fleming. Texans will find out the full scope of this legal guidance in the weeks and months ahead. There was also a political element to the opinion on Monday. Paxton is in a competitive race with Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary. Cornyn used to be the Texas Attorney General. Online Paxton wrote his opinion overruled “a flawed opinion from then-AG Cornyn that allowed DEI to flourish.” In response, Sen. Cornyn wrote: “You’d think a competent Attorney General would know that what I issued more than 25 years ago was a retraction of incomplete guidance due to litigation, not an “opinion.” There’s nothing for him to overturn because nothing was issued, so this is yet another waste of time and taxpayer dollars by the TX AG, showboating for attention.”

Two men were arrested in connection to a deadly home invasion in New Jersey that occurred nearly a decade ago. Kevin D’Costa, 45, of Irvington, New Jersey, and Daemen Hodge, 32, of Browns Mills, New Jersey, were both arrested and charged in the 2016 murder of Norman Mosley, 37, in Pemberton Township, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office announced on Jan. 19, 2026. On Sept. 25, 2016, shortly before 10 p.m., Norman Mosley was inside the trailer he lived in with his girlfriend along Alfred Drive in the Hilltop Mobile Village in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township. As Mosley and his girlfriend were inside, two masked men broke into the trailer, police said. A struggle ensued, leading to shots being fired, according to investigators. Mosley was then shot twice. His girlfriend took him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead about an hour later. Investigators determined he died from gunshot wounds to the head and chest. During the investigation, which lasted for several years, officials eventually identified Kevin D’Costa and Daemen Hodge as suspects in Mosley’s murder. Part of the collected evidence also included gloves that were found on the road. Advancements in forensic technology allowed enhanced DNA testing to be conducted on the gloves and the test results showed DNA from D’Costa, Hodge and Mosley, officials said. While D’Costa and Hodge had already been named as suspects at that point, the DNA evidence bolstered the case and allowed investigators to secure homicide warrants, officials said. D’Costa was served with his warrant in December 2025 inside the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, New Jersey, where he was in custody on unrelated charges. Hodge was arrested on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, at his girlfriend’s home in Bordentown Township, officials said. He was lodged in the Burlington County Jail pending an appearance in Superior Court. Both D’Costa and Hodge are charged with murder, robbery, conspiracy, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and certain persons not to possess firearms. Officials said the case will be prepared for presentation to a grand jury for a possible indictment. After the murder, Anthony Luyber, who was a lead detective with the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office (BCPO) at the time, spoke with Mosley’s mother, Tamara Burrows, promising her he would continue to vigorously investigate the case until the people responsible for her son’s killing were brought to justice. During the investigation, Burrows repeatedly told Luyber – who is currently the BCPO Chief of Detectives – that she was praying for the investigators in the case. “Nine years after Mosley’s life was taken during the home invasion, her prayers have come true. Mrs. Burrows now has justice for her son,” a BCPO spokesperson wrote. Officials said Mosley’s family never lost hope throughout the investigation that his murder would be solved. They also said the family and their supporters regularly attended candlelight vigils for crime victims, carrying banners and wearing shirts with Mosley’s picture. “We drew strength from the family’s support as we continued to investigate this case,” Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia Bradshaw said. “It was uncharacteristic and greatly appreciated. We will continue our tenacious investigative approach to find those who commit violent crimes and hold them accountable for the carnage they have caused.”