The News

 Two dozen flower-covered Rose Parade floats were awarded honors Wednesday morning by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses.

The 2025 Rose Parade float award winners were judged in a variety of categories, including the Sweepstakes Award for most beautiful entry. The highly coveted award presented since 1924 went to the San Diego Zoo.

Float scores are based on creative design, floral craftsmanship, artistic merit, computerized animation, thematic interpretation, floral and color presentation, and dramatic impact. Judges reviewed each float at sessions before the New Year's Day parade on Colorado Boulevard.

Banners for each award winners were carried in the parade, which features nearly 40 total floats. Some are sponsored by Southern California cities and others are backed by businesses and organizations like UPS, Trader Joe's, the San Diego Zoo, Pasadena Humane, Kiwanis International and Kaiser Permanente. Universal Pictures also entered a float celebrating "Wicked" with nods to the production's star characters -- Glinda and Elphaba.

After the parade, the floats will go on display at the Floatfest at Sierra Madre and Washington boulevards, where spectators can get a close-up loo. The Floatfest will be open from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday. The Floatfest will open at 7 a.m. Thursday for seniors and people with disabilities.

Here are the 2025 award winners.

The average high-quality float costs $275,000.

Sweepstakes: San Diego Zoo

Most beautiful entry encompassing float design, floral presentation and entertainment.

Americana: ELKS U.S.A

Most outstanding depiction of national treasures and traditions.

Animation: City of Burbank

Most outstanding use of animation.

Bob Hope Humor: Boys & Girls Club

Most whimsical and amusing float.

Crown City Innovator: La Canada Flintridge

Most outstanding use of imagination, innovation and technology.

Director: Explore Louisiana

Most outstanding artistic design and use of floral and non-floral materials.

Extraordinaire: One Legacy Donate Life

Most extraordinary float.

Fantasy: City of South Pasadena

Most outstanding display of fantasy and imagination.

Founder: Downey Rose Float Assoc.

Most outstanding float built and decorated by volunteers from a community or organization.

Golden State: Sierra Madre Rose Float Assoc.

Most outstanding depiction of life in California.

Grand Marshal: Love 2 Yeu

Most outstanding creative concept and float design.

International: Coding For Veterans

Most outstanding float from outside the United States.

Isabella Coleman: City of Hope

Most outstanding presentation of color and color harmony through floral design.

Judges: The UPS Store

Most outstanding float design and dramatic impact.

Leishman Public Spirit: Cal Poly Universities

Most outstanding floral presentation from a non-commercial participant.

Mayor: City of Alhambra

Most outstanding float from a participating city.

Past President: Visit Mississippi

Most outstanding innovation in the use of floral and non-floral materials.

President: Western Asset

Most outstanding use and presentation of flowers.

Princess: City of Torrance

Most outstanding floral presentation among entries 35 feet and under in length.

Queen: Shriners Children's

Most outstanding presentation of roses.

Showmanship: Trader Joe's

Most outstanding display of showmanship and entertainment.

Theme: Pasadena Humane/Hill's Pet Nutrition

Most outstanding presentation of the Rose Parade theme.

Tournament Volunteer: Rotary

Most outstanding floral presentation of the Rose Parade Theme among floats 35 feet and under in length.

Wrigley Legacy: Kaiser Permanente

Most outstanding display of floral presentation, float design and entertainment.

The woman who was fatally set on fire in a New York City subway earlier this month has been identified as 57-year-old Debrina Kawam from Toms River, New Jersey, police said Tuesday.

Kawam was asleep on an idle F train at the Stillwell Avenue station on Dec. 22 in Brooklyn just before 7:30 a.m. when a man set her on fire and fled, according to the New York Police Department.

Police did not share any additional information about the victim. The initial release from the NYPD said she was 61, but the age was corrected in a later release.

A vigil was held for her on Thursday.

Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, a Guatemalan citizen, was arrested in connection with Kawam's murder the same day of the incident after he was caught on police body camera footage. Subway riders called 911 when they spotted him hours later and officers took him into custody.

He was indicted on four counts of murder and one count of arson on Friday, per prosecutors. A grand jury indictment was announced in court on one count of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.

The first-degree murder charge carries the possibility of life without parole. Zapeta-Calil appeared in Brooklyn court Tuesday and was remanded back into custody.

 Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency as gang violence in the Caribbean nation continues to escalate.

Jimmy Carter, who served a single full presidential term without the chance to appoint a Supreme Court justice, nonetheless left behind an incomparable judicial legacy.

He was the first president to significantly diversify the lower federal courts by appointing female and minority judges — a point that the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg often touted.

Carter named Ginsburg to an important Washington-based US Court of Appeals in 1980, which positioned her for eventual elevation to the Supreme Court.

His presidency was the first during which women made up a significant number of confirmed circuit and district court nominees, according to a Congressional Research Service compilation of judicial appointments. During his one-term presidency, 41 of his appointees were women.

Women made up 12 of his 59 circuit court appointees and 29 of his total 203 district court appointees. Until Carter’s tenure, only two women had ever been named as circuit court judges and six as district court judges.

“Once Carter appointed women to the bench in numbers, there was no turning back,” Ginsburg, who died in 2020, declared in one speech.

Recounting the earlier resistance to women on the bench, Ginsburg added that when former President Harry Truman, who served from 1945 to 1953, broached the possibility of a woman on the court, justices reportedly said a woman justice “would make it difficult for (the other justices) to meet informally with robes, and perhaps shoes, off, shirt collars unbuttoned and discuss their problems and come to decisions.”

In addition to the 41 women judges Carter named to the federal judiciary, he appointed a record 57 people of color to the bench, including those who would become prominent federal appellate judges such as Leon Higginbotham, on the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit; Amalya Kearse, on the New York-based 2nd Circuit; and Damon Keith on the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit.

This 1995 photo shows Leon Higginbotham, who President Jimmy Carter appointed to the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit in 1977. 

Civil rights advocates praised Carter’s work for bringing diversity to the bench. But it was also in the words of Sherrilyn Ifill, Howard University law professor and former NAACP Legal Defense Fund director, “important for improving the legitimacy and quality of judging.”

Carter downplayed his role in the barrier-breaking pattern, saying, “The nation was ready for it.”

Yet, Carter never garnered the opportunity to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. He is the only one-term president who finished a full term without an appointment. His emphasis on appointing female and minority judges, however, may have added to the pressure on Ronald Reagan when he was running against Carter in 1980 to vow to appoint the first woman to the Supreme Court.

Reagan made the vow in October 1980, telling an audience in Los Angeles, “One of the first Supreme Court vacancies in my administration will be filled by the most qualified woman I can find.”

At the time, Carter dismissed the promise as a cynical ploy for votes, saying, “Equal rights for women involves more than just one job for one woman.”

A few months after Reagan claimed the White House in 1981, he made good on his promise and nominated Sandra Day O’Connor.

The second woman, named by President Bill Clinton in 1993, was Ginsburg, Carter’s earlier appellate court choice.

 The Miami Dolphins downgraded quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to doubtful for Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns with a hip injury.

Tagovailoa initially suffered the injury during the Dolphins' loss to the Houston Texans in Week 15, but he was able to finish the game and play in the team's win over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 16.

He downplayed the injury earlier this week, describing it as typical wear and tear at this point of the season.

"I mean, it's good. It's just like anyone else on the team and anyone else around the league," Tagovailoa said Thursday when asked how his hip felt. "You get banged up little bit towards the ending of the year, so just got to take care of that."

Tagovailoa was limited in every Dolphins practice this week and was initially listed as questionable to play Sunday.

Tagovailoa suffered a compound hip fracture during his final season at Alabama in 2019 that put his playing career in jeopardy.

He was cleared in time to play his rookie season; this would be the first instance of him missing an NFL game with a hip injury.

The next two weeks are critical for the Dolphins, who can secure a third consecutive playoff berth if they win both games, they finish with a better record than the Indianapolis Colts, and the Denver Broncos lose both of their remaining games.

If Tagovailoa cannot play Sunday, Tyler Huntley would start at quarterback for the Dolphins, with Skylar Thompson serving as the primary backup. Huntley started three games for Miami this season, resulting in a win and two losses.

In those three starts, he completed 59% of his passes for 377 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

This would be a return of sorts to Cleveland for Huntley, who signed with the Browns as a free agent in March but was released in August. Miami signed Huntley off Baltimore's practice squad in September after Tagovailoa suffered the third documented concussion of his NFL career.

 The Jeju Air plane that crashed in southwestern South Korea was a Boeing 737-800, a model that is used widely around the world.

There are about 28,000 passenger planes in service globally, according to Cirium, an aviation data provider. About 15 percent, or 4,400, are Boeing 737-800s. The plane belongs to the company’s Next-Generation 737 family of jets, the precursor to the more modern 737 Max, which was involved in two fatal accidents more than five years ago that led to a global grounding of the Max fleet.

Nearly 200 airlines use the 737-800, according to Cirium, including five in South Korea: Jeju Air, T’way Air, Jin air, Eastar Jet and Korean Air. The plane is popular in Asia, Europe and North America, and Boeing has delivered about 5,000 to customers since 1998.

“The plane in question is very safe and has a good safety record,” said Najmedin Meshkati, a professor of engineering at the University of Southern California who has studied the safety history of the Boeing 737 line.

The age of the global fleet of 737-800 planes ranges from about 5 years old to more than 27 years old. A well-maintained passenger jet can fly 20 to 30 years or even longer. According to the flight tracking website Flightradar24, the plane that crashed was 15 years old. Ryanair in Europe was the first airline to operate the aircraft, which was leased to Jeju Air in 2017 by SMBC Aviation Capital, according to Cirium.

Officials said they were investigating the cause of the crash, including the possibility that a bird strike led to a landing gear malfunction.

Boeing said in a statement on Sunday that it was in contact with Jeju Air and was ready to help the airline.

Bird strikes are not uncommon in aviation. In some cases, they have resulted in cracked windshields. Some airports deploy falcons and take other measures to keep their skies clear of birds. Muan International Airport, where the crash occurred, uses measures such as playing audio of distress calls to disperse birds as well as shooting them, according to the Korean Office of Civil Aviation.

Mr. Meshkati said that the landing gear of the 737-800 line is well designed and has a history of reliability, though poor upkeep could result in it not deploying correctly. “Maintenance is really one of the most important causes of aviation accidents,” he said.

But Mr. Meshkati and other aviation experts cautioned against rushing to judgment about such incidents. Crashes are often caused by multiple factors, which can take years to uncover through in-depth investigations.