Three men who collapsed and died while competing in a half-marathon were healthy and experienced runners, but to varying degrees, friends and family of the men said Monday.

A newspaper says Detroit police have little to show for at least $18.5 million spent since 2001 to equip patrol cars with video cameras.

Not only did the Detroit Lions feast upon the Washington Redskins on Sunday, but the Tigers sit atop the American League’s Central Division. The Tigers’ run for the pennant prompted Sports Illustrated to credit the team with lifting a sagging city’s spirits. Humans cannot live without clichés. Winning teams make fans feel better; they sometimes boost community morale. The glory years of the Steel Curtain, for instance, lent Pittsburgh a modicum of relief from decades of industrial decline. The football Steelers proved no substitute for jobs in mills, however; despite four Super Bowls in six years, Pittsburgh’s slide persisted. The Steelers have won two more Super Bowls since, yet despite pockets that appeal to observers such as ourselves the golden age has passed and will not return.

What happens in Detroit does not stay in Detroit. The auto industry’s woes have consequences for the entire country, as Central Virginia learned this week. On Thursday, Chrysler announced the closing of Airport Chrysler Jeep in Henrico and Pearson Dodge in Chesterfield. Yesterday General Motors said it will close dealerships, too. The local consequences were not known by Editorial deadlines. Previously, Ford idled an assembly plant in Norfolk.

65-year-old political novice swept incumbent Ken Cockrel Jr. from office yesterday to become Detroit’s third mayor in less than a year.

Dave Bing says he does not have a master’s degree and received his undergraduate degree 29 years later than he had claimed.

During the 1950s, the Detroit Lions won three NFL championships. Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Lou Creekmur, and others confronted the Cleveland Browns in gridiron Armageddons. Subsequent Lions teams did not attain similar glory, but the franchise boasted legends such as Joe Schmidt, Night Train Lane, and Yale Lary. Deep in the long ago we attended a Thanksgiving Day game against the Oakland Raiders, sat directly behind a post, could not see a thing, and had a blast.

Economist George Hoffer says money isn’t the most important part of the bailout package that Congress and the White House have proposed for the U.S. automobile industry. The $15 billion in loans for two automakers would be a fraction of what the industry needs to survive, while the power of a proposed “car czar” is the most critical piece of the package, said Hoffer, a professor at VCU and an expert in transportation issues who has studied and written about the auto industry since the 1960s.