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Today is Tuesday, Jan. 6, the sixth day of 2026. There are 359 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Jan. 6, 2005, former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was indicted on murder charges 41 years after three civil rights workers were killed in Mississippi. (Killen was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison; he died in prison in 2018.)

Also on this date:

In 1919, former President Theodore Roosevelt died in Oyster Bay, New York, at age 60.

Related Articles

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• Record $9.6 million fine for Third Coast after substantial oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
• Big Tech’s fast-expanding plans for data centers are running into stiff community opposition
• Edith Renfrow Smith, part of Northwestern’s ‘SuperAgers’ study, dies at 111
• Hyundai and Boston Dynamics unveil humanoid robot Atlas at CES

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of “Four Freedoms” — human rights worthy of defending universally: freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God in one’s own way, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

In 1974, year-round daylight saving time began in the United States on a trial basis as a fuel-saving measure in response to the OPEC oil embargo. The country, however, returned to standard time in October, effectively ending the experiment.

In 1982, truck driver William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles of 10 of the “Freeway Killer” slayings of young men and boys. (Bonin was later convicted of four other killings; he was executed in 1996.)

In 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg by an assailant at Detroit’s Cobo Arena; four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan’s rival, Tonya Harding, went to prison for their roles in the attack. (Harding pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution but denied any advance knowledge about the assault.)

In 2021, supporters of President Donald Trump, fueled by his false claims of a stolen election, assaulted police and stormed into the U.S. Capitol to interrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, forcing lawmakers into hiding. A Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by police as she tried to breach a barricaded doorway inside the Capitol. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, injured while confronting the rioters, suffered a stroke the next day and died from natural causes. Congress reconvened hours later to finish certifying Biden’s victory. In January 2025 — on the first day of his second term — Trump granted blanket clemency to more than 1,500 people convicted or awaiting trial or sentencing for Jan. 6 offenses.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson, who played Mr. Bean, is 71.
• Golf Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez is 69.
• TV chef Nigella Lawson is 66.
• Football Hall of Famer Howie Long is 66.
• Football Hall of Famer Charles Haley is 62.
• Actor Norman Reedus is 57.
• TV personality Julie Chen Moonves is 56.
• Actor Eddie Redmayne is 44.
• Actor-comedian Kate McKinnon is 42.
• Businessman Eric Trump is 42.
• Entrepreneur and yoga instructor Hilaria Baldwin is 42.

A pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Fort Lauderdale on Monday night, police said.

A man was walking in the 400 block of West Sunrise Boulevard about 8 p.m. when a car hit him and drove away, Fort Lauderdale Police spokesperson Sgt. Patrick O’Brien said in a statement. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers did not immediately have any information about the car.

Westbound traffic on West Sunrise Boulevard was being diverted northbound on North Andrews Avenue late Monday.

This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.

Nobody was likely happier about Kahmel Johnson’s recent commitment to UCF than his mother, Jesika.

“My momma was going crazy. She was crying and [was emotional],” Johnson shared with the Sentinel on Sunday, just hours after he signed with the Knights from the transfer portal.

It’s a homecoming, of sorts, for the 6-foot-2, 200-pound defensive back, who hails from Jacksonville, where he excelled at football and track and field at Riverside High School before leaving the state to play at Wayne State College, a Division II school in Nebraska.

Johnson is coming off a breakout season with the Wildcats, earning a spot on the first-team, All-NSIC after totaling 37 tackles and 3 interceptions for a team that finished 7-4 and was the runner-up to Augustana University in the South Division of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

The redshirt freshman entered the transfer portal in November and it wasn’t long before he was on UCF’s radar.

“I took a visit to South Dakota State before visiting UCF,” said Johnson, who also received offers from several Group of Five schools. “I took my visit to UCF and I was the first one there. It felt good because I would be down the street from Jacksonville [and my family].

“The support system that I have in Florida is just unmatched. Money can’t really buy that.”

Johnson joins a UCF secondary that returns starters in cornerbacks Antione Jackson and Jayden Bellamy and safeties Demari Henderson and Braeden Marshall. New defensive backs coach Will Johnson and defensive coordinator and safeties coach Alex Grinch will oversee the unit.

“The coaching staff made me feel at home,” said Johnson. “They’re going to push me, but they’re going to be a good support system as well. Teach me a lot and push me to a place that I feel like I need to be for UCF.”

Although Johnson predominantly played as a free safety at Wayne State, he is confident that he can take on nearly any role in the secondary.

“I really do believe I can play anywhere on the field,” he said. “I learned the position well and I’ll excel anywhere because I’m a real elusive guy. I can do pretty much anything on the field, but I love safety, whether it’s playing safety, boundary, or free, it doesn’t really matter. I can play nickel, too. That’s something Coach Grinch also told me. He sees me excelling in all three of those positions.”

For now, Johnson is excited about the possibilities in front of him at UCF. That includes playing in front of his family and friends. He is also engaged and has a 5-month-old son, Kahmel Jr., which provides even more incentives for this season.

Still, there is plenty to work on through spring and fall camps.

“I’ve got three years of eligibility still, so I’m trying to put in as much work as I can all around,” said Johnson, who knows he has plenty to improve on. “I’m a pretty explosive athlete as I am right now, but I think I can become way more explosive. I think I can definitely improve.”

Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com

PHOENIX — The Miami Hurricanes are going up against a top-10 offense in Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff semifinal, but luckily for UM, some key players may be able to bounce back from injury in time for the game.

Miami listed cornerback OJ Frederique Jr. as probable and cornerback Damari Brown and defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. as questionable on Monday evening’s initial availability report for the Fiesta Bowl. All three have been important parts of the defense this season.

UM coach Mario Cristobal said Saturday that all three players were “progressing at a pretty good rate.”

Wide receiver Daylyn Upshaw and linebacker Malik Bryant were listed as out. Defensive lineman Cole McConathy was listed as questionable.

Frederique and Moten both suffered their injuries during the Miami win over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Moten suffered an apparent ankle injury and did not return to the game. Frederique left the game with an apparent leg injury after trying to defend a pass to Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.

Frederique was on crutches during the postgame celebration; Moten was not. In a video shared on TikTok by The Athletic’s Chris Vannini, Cristobal asks Moten how his ankle is, and Moten said he did not care because UM won.

Moten, a Cardinal Gibbons alumnus, has been an integral part of the Hurricanes’ defensive line this season. He has 25 tackles with five tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. Pro Football Focus gives him a 78.2 defensive grade.

Frederique, a St. Thomas Aquinas alum, was a freshman All-American last year. He missed Miami’s last five games of the regular season but returned for the playoffs. He has 17 tackles with five pass breakups, and PFF gives him 60.7 grade this season.

Brown has not played since the regular season ended. Brown has 24 tackles and one pass deflection, and he has earned a 75.9 defensive grade from PFF.

Here is the Hurricanes’ complete initial injury report:

OUT

LB Malik Bryant; WR Daylyn Upshaw.

QUESTIONABLE

DB Damari Brown; DL Ahmad Moten Sr.; DL Cole McConathy.

PROBABLE

DB OJ Frederique Jr.

By PATRICK WHITTLE

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — One of the world’s rarest whale species is having more babies this year than in some recent seasons, but experts say many more young are needed to help stave off the possibility of extinction.

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The North Atlantic right whale’s population numbers an estimated 384 animals and is slowly rising after several years of decline. The whales have gained more than 7% of their 2020 population, according to scientists who study them.

The whales give birth off the southeastern United States every winter before migrating north to feed. Researchers have identified 15 calves this winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.

That number is higher than two of the last three winters, but the species needs “approximately 50 or more calves per year for many years” to stop its decline and allow for recovery, NOAA said in a statement. The whales are vulnerable to collisions with large ships and entanglement in commercial fishing gear.

This year’s number is encouraging, but the species remains in peril without stronger laws to protect against those threats, said Gib Brogan, senior campaign director with environmental group Oceana. The federal government is in the midst of a moratorium on federal rules designed to protect right whales until 2028, and commercial fishing groups have pushed for a proposal to extend that pause for even longer.

There is still time left for more baby whales to be born this winter, but 50 is not a reasonable expectation because of a lack of reproductive females in the population, Brogan said.

“We’re not going to be able to calve ourselves to recovery,” Brogan said. “We also need to be doing more to tackle the two primary causes of right whale deaths, being entanglement in fishing gear and being hit by boats.”

The whales have fared better than last winter, when they gave birth to only 11 calves, according to NOAA data. The whales have reached 20 calves only twice since 2010, and they gave birth to no calves in a disastrous 2018 season. The whales are less likely to reproduce when they have suffered injuries or are underfed, scientists have said.

The whales were hunted to the brink of extinction during the era of commercial whaling and have been federally protected for decades. They remain in a crisis at the moment because there have been more deaths than births in the population in the past decade, NOAA said in its statement.

By BRUCE SCHREINER

President Donald Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela has emerged as a flash point in the closely watched Republican primary campaign between Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a long-running Trump antagonist, and retired Navy SEAL officer Ed Gallrein, who has the president’s backing.

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Massie, showing his non-interventionist leanings, fired off a series of social media posts criticizing the military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro and removed him from the South American country.

“Wake up MAGA,” Massie wrote. “VENEZUELA is not about drugs; it’s about OIL and REGIME CHANGE. This is not what we voted for.”

The congressman claimed that Trump wrongly circumvented Congress when ordering the attack.

“In the Constitution, the Founders vested war making power in Congress, not the Executive branch,” he wrote.

Gallrein responded that Massie had “shown his true colors” by criticizing the military operation.

“This operation sends a clear message: the United States will not allow rogue regimes to enable criminal networks or use oil and other resources to fuel our global adversaries,” Gallrein said on social media. “Holding bad actors accountable is how we restore law and order, deter aggression, and protect American families.”

Gallrein added that American intervention “opens the door to a new chapter for the people of Venezuela — one defined not by decades of oppression, but by the possibility of peace and prosperity.”

He is Trump’s choice to challenge Massie, a maverick who has had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. The primary election in May will test Trump’s hold over Republican politics. The sudden emergence of Venezuela as an issue will test the president’s ability to hold together his coalition during a challenging election year for Republicans that could be defined by domestic concerns like health care and affordability.

The libertarian-leaning Massie has won reelection by lopsided margins since entering Congress in 2012 — even when he incurred Trump’s wrath.

The military action in Venezuela is the latest example of Massie standing up to Trump.

The congressman opposed the massive tax breaks and spending cuts package last year that Trump calls “beautiful” but Massie says will grow the national debt and hurt the economy. Massie said the president lacked authority to attack Iran’s nuclear sites without congressional approval. And Massie was at the forefront of efforts to force the public release of case files on the sex trafficking probe into the late Jeffrey Epstein.

In his bid to unseat the congressman, Gallrein has the president’s vaunted political operation on his side, and a super PAC launched by Trump aides has run ads attacking Massie. But he will confront an entrenched, well-funded incumbent in Massie.

Trump on Monday reiterated his support for Gallrein on his social media platform and urged other Republicans to stay out of the May primary.

“I have heard that there are other Candidates exploring a run for this seat, but I am asking all MAGA Warriors to rally behind Captain Ed Gallrein, the Candidate who is, far and away, best positioned to DEFEAT Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the beautiful Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Trump said.

So far, at least two Democrats have filed to run for the congressional seat stretching across northern Kentucky, along with a third Republican besides Massie and Gallrein. The eventual Republican nominee will be heavily favored in a district last represented by a Democrat two decades ago.

By JOSH FUNK

Pipeline safety regulators on Monday assessed their largest fine ever against the company responsible for leaking 1.1 million gallons of oil into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana in 2023. But the $9.6 million fine isn’t likely to be a major burden for Third Coast to pay.

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This single fine is close to the normal total of $8 million to $10 million in all fines that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration hands out each year. But Third Coast has a stake in some 1,900 miles of pipelines, and in September, the Houston-based company announced that it had secured a nearly $1 billion loan.

Pipeline Safety Trust Executive Director Bill Caram said this spill “resulted from a company-wide systemic failure, indicating the operator’s fundamental inability to implement pipeline safety regulations,” so the record fine is appropriate and welcome.

“However, even record fines often fail to be financially meaningful to pipeline operators. The proposed fine represents less than 3% of Third Coast Midstream’s estimated annual earnings,” Caram said. “True deterrence requires penalties that make noncompliance more expensive than compliance.”

The agency said Third Coast didn’t establish proper emergency procedures, which is part of why the National Transportation Safety Board found that operators failed to shut down the pipeline for nearly 13 hours after their gauges first hinted at a problem. PHMSA also said the company didn’t adequately assess the risks or properly maintain the 18-inch Main Pass Oil Gathering pipeline.

The agency said the company “failed to perform new integrity analyses or evaluations following changes in circumstances that identified new and elevated risk factors” for the pipeline.

That echoed what the NTSB said in its final report in June, that “Third Coast missed several opportunities to evaluate how geohazards may threaten the integrity of their pipeline. Information widely available within the industry suggested that land movement related to hurricane activity was a threat to pipelines.”

The NTSB said the leak off the coast of Louisiana was the result of underwater landslides, caused by hazards such as hurricanes, that Third Coast, the pipeline owner, failed to address despite the threats being well known in the industry.

A Third Coast spokesperson said the allegations were a shock because the company “consistently meets or exceeds regulatory requirements across our operations.”

“After constructive engagement with PHMSA over the last two years, we were surprised to see aspects of the recent allegations that we believe are inaccurate and exceed established precedent. We will address these concerns with the agency moving forward,” the company spokesperson said.

The amount of oil spilled in this incident was far less than the 2010 BP oil disaster, when 134 million gallons were released in the weeks following an oil rig explosion, but it could have been much smaller if workers in the Third Coast control room had acted more quickly, the NTSB said.

By SARAH RAZA

A Minnesota hotel that wouldn’t allow federal immigration agents to stay there this month is apologizing and saying the refusal violated its own policies. The Department of Homeland Security had accused the global Hilton hotel chain of a “coordinated” effort to refuse service to its employees.

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Hilton and local operators of the Hampton Inn Lakeville property released statements within hours apologizing and said the messages refusing to serve agents who were focused on immigration enforcement didn’t reflect their policies.

In a social media post, DHS posted screenshots of a message sent Friday from a Hilton email address saying that immigration agents would not be allowed to stay at the hotel about 20 miles south of Minneapolis, and that their reservation was canceled.

“When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously CANCELLED their reservations,” DHS said in the post, accusing Hilton Hotels of deliberately undermining and impeding law enforcement from enforcing immigration laws.

Hampton Inn locations are under the Hilton brand, but a Hilton representative said the property is independently operated. The majority of Hampton Inns are owned and operated by franchisees.

“We have been in direct contact with the hotel, and they have apologized for the actions of their team, which was not in keeping with their policies,” the statement said.

Everpeak Hospitality, the hotel operators, said in a statement that the cancellation was inconsistent with their policy.

“Everpeak Hospitality has moved swiftly to address this matter as it was inconsistent with our policy of being a welcoming place for all,” the company said in a statement. “We are in touch with the impacted guests to ensure they are accommodated. We do not discriminate against any individuals or agencies and apologize to those impacted.”

By MARC LEVY

SPRING CITY, Pa. (AP) — Tech companies and developers looking to plunge billions of dollars into ever-bigger data centers to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing are increasingly losing fights in communities where people don’t want to live next to them, or even near them.

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Communities across the United States are reading about — and learning from — each other’s battles against data center proposals that are fast multiplying in number and size to meet steep demand as developers branch out in search of faster connections to power sources.

In many cases, municipal boards are trying to figure out whether energy- and water-hungry data centers fit into their zoning framework. Some have entertained waivers or tried to write new ordinances. Some don’t have zoning.

But as more people hear about a data center coming to their community, once-sleepy municipal board meetings in farming towns and growing suburbs now feature crowded rooms of angry residents pressuring local officials to reject the requests.

“Would you want this built in your backyard?” Larry Shank asked supervisors last month in Pennsylvania’s East Vincent Township. “Because that’s where it’s literally going, is in my backyard.”

Opposition spreads as data centers fan out

A growing number of proposals are going down in defeat, sounding alarms across the data center constellation of Big Tech firms, real estate developers, electric utilities, labor unions and more.

Andy Cvengros, who helps lead the data center practice at commercial real estate giant JLL, counted seven or eight deals he’d worked on in recent months that saw opponents going door-to-door, handing out shirts or putting signs in people’s yards.

“It’s becoming a huge problem,” Cvengros said.

Data Center Watch, a project of 10a Labs, an AI security consultancy, said it is seeing a sharp escalation in community, political and regulatory disruptions to data center development.

Between April and June alone, its latest reporting period, it counted 20 proposals valued at $98 billion in 11 states that were blocked or delayed amid local opposition and state-level pushback. That amounts to two-thirds of the projects it was tracking.

People opposed to a data center proposal at the former Pennhurst state hospital grounds talk during a break in an East Vincent Township supervisors meeting, Dec. 17, 2025, in Spring City, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)

Some environmental and consumer advocacy groups say they’re fielding calls every day, and are working to educate communities on how to protect themselves.

“I’ve been doing this work for 16 years, worked on hundreds of campaigns I’d guess, and this by far is the biggest kind of local pushback I’ve ever seen here in Indiana,” said Bryce Gustafson of the Indianapolis-based Citizens Action Coalition.

In Indiana alone, Gustafson counted more than a dozen projects that lost rezoning petitions.

Similar concerns across different communities

For some people angry over steep increases in electric bills, their patience is thin for data centers that could bring still-higher increases.

Losing open space, farmland, forest or rural character is a big concern. So is the damage to quality of life, property values or health by on-site diesel generators kicking on or the constant hum of servers. Others worry that wells and aquifers could run dry.

Lawsuits are flying — both ways — over whether local governments violated their own rules.

Big Tech firms Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Facebook — which are collectively spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers across the globe — didn’t answer Associated Press questions about the effect of community pushback.

Microsoft, however, has acknowledged the difficulties. In an October securities filing, it listed its operational risks as including “community opposition, local moratoriums, and hyper-local dissent that may impede or delay infrastructure development.”

Even with high-level support from state and federal governments, the pushback is having an impact.

People listen during an East Vincent Township supervisors meeting where an agenda item involved a data center proposal at the former Pennhurst state hospital grounds, Dec. 17, 2025, in Spring City, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)

Maxx Kossof, vice president of investment at Chicago-based developer The Missner Group, said developers worried about losing a zoning fight are considering selling properties once they secure a power source — a highly sought-after commodity that makes a proposal far more viable and valuable.

“You might as well take chips off the table,” Kossof said. “The thing is you could have power to a site and it’s futile because you might not get the zoning. You might not get the community support.”

Some in the industry are frustrated, saying opponents are spreading falsehoods about data centers — such as polluting water and air — and are difficult to overcome.

Still, data center allies say they are urging developers to engage with the public earlier in the process, emphasize economic benefits, sow good will by supporting community initiatives and talk up efforts to conserve water and power and protect ratepayers.

“It’s definitely a discussion that the industry is having internally about, ‘Hey, how do we do a better job of community engagement?’” said Dan Diorio of the Data Center Coalition, a trade association that includes Big Tech firms and developers.

Data center opposition dominates local politics

Winning over local officials, however, hasn’t translated to winning over residents.

Mike Petak of Spring City gestures while speaking to East Vincent Township supervisors in opposition to a data center proposal at the former Pennhurst state hospital grounds, Dec. 17, 2025, in Spring City, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)

Developers pulled a project off an October agenda in the Charlotte suburb of Matthews, North Carolina, after Mayor John Higdon said he informed them it faced unanimous defeat.

The project would have funded half the city’s budget and developers promised environmentally friendly features. But town meetings overflowed, and emails, texts and phone calls were overwhelmingly opposed, “999 to one against,” Higdon said.

Had council approved it, “every person that voted for it would no longer be in office,” the mayor said. “That’s for sure.”

In Hermantown, a suburb of Duluth, Minnesota, a proposed data center campus several times larger than the Mall of America is on hold amid challenges over whether the city’s environmental review was adequate.

Residents found each other through social media and, from there, learned to organize, protest, door-knock and get their message out.

People opposed to a data center proposal at the former Pennhurst state hospital grounds attend an East Vincent Township supervisors meeting, Dec. 17, 2025, in Spring City, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)

They say they felt betrayed and lied to when they discovered that state, county, city and utility officials knew about the proposal for an entire year before the city — responding to a public records request filed by the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy — released internal emails that confirmed it.

“It’s the secrecy. The secrecy just drives people crazy,” said Jonathan Thornton, a realtor who lives across a road from the site.

Documents revealing the extent of the project emerged days before a city rezoning vote in October. Mortenson, which is developing it for a Fortune 50 company that it hasn’t named, says it is considering changes based on public feedback and that “more engagement with the community is appropriate.”

Rebecca Gramdorf found out about it from a Duluth newspaper article, and immediately worried that it would spell the end of her six-acre vegetable farm.

People sign in and head into an East Vincent Township supervisors meeting where an agenda item involved a data center proposal at the former Pennhurst state hospital grounds, Dec. 17, 2025, in Spring City, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)

She found other opponents online, ordered 100 yard signs and prepared for a struggle.

“I don’t think this fight is over at all,” Gramdorf said.

Follow Marc Levy on X at https://x.com/timelywriter.

Edith Renfrow Smith, the first Black woman to graduate from Grinnell College in Iowa and a longtime Chicago schoolteacher, remained mentally sharp well past 100, becoming the subject for medical researchers studying what they called “SuperAgers.”

Smith, 111, died of natural causes on Friday at the Breakers assisted living facility, where she had moved in October, said her daughter, Alice Frances Smith.

Edith Renfrow was born in Grinnell, Iowa, on July 14, 1914, the fifth of six children. Her grandparents, George Craig and Eliza Jan Craig, were born into slavery. Her father was a hotel chef.

The Renfrows were one of the only African American families in Grinnell at that time, and her parents stressed the importance of education for all of their children.

“My mother insisted that education was the only thing that could not be taken away from them,” Smith told National Public Radio’s Scott Simon in 2023.

Smith graduated from Grinnell College in 1937 — 91 years after the college was founded — with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, becoming the first Black woman ever to graduate from the small liberal arts college and the 11th Black graduate of the college to that point.

While at Grinnell, Smith met Amelia Earhart when the famed aviator visited the campus.

“She was one of the celebrities that came to Grinnell to talk to the students,” Smith told National Public Radio in 2023. “And she was just like another one of us. It was a delightful visit.”

She married Henry Smith in 1940. The couple moved to Chicago’s South Side, and Smith worked at a South Side YWCA,  at the University of Chicago and as a secretary to Ald. Oscar Stanton De Priest. She began a 22-year teaching career at Ludwig Van Beethoven Elementary School at 25 W. 47th St. on the South Side, retiring in 1976.

Jazz great Herbie Hancock lived across the street from the Smiths while growing up.

“(Edith) was a very sophisticated lady, and she and my mother hit it off very well,” Hancock told the Tribune in 2024. “My mother was always looking at things like art and culture and those things, and in the neighborhood, there weren’t a whole lot of people looking at that.”

Hancock credited Smith with introducing him to Grinnell College, from which he graduated.

“She talked about Grinnell being a great college for academics, and it made me think that Grinnell would be a really nice thing to do, it’d be a new experience because I’d never lived in a small town and I didn’t know anything about corn, and let’s see what happens,” Hancock said. “I’m happy I went there — it really changed my life, (because) it was where I really decided I wanted to be a jazz musician.”

In retirement, Smith was a longtime volunteer at the Art Institute of Chicago. As she reached her late 90s in the 2010s, she began drawing interest from researchers from Northwestern and from the news media, both of which were intrigued by Smith’s keen, vivid memory and her strong cognitive functioning.

She participated in Northwestern medical school’s 2017 study of “SuperAgers” that showed what was obvious to Smith: Social connections keep one sharp.

“I’m just a person who likes people,” she told the Tribune in 2017. “When you like people, you communicate.”

Edith Renfrow Smith works during an arts and crafts class on Nov. 7, 2017, at Bethany Retirement Community in Andersonville. Smith died Jan. 2, 2026, at 111. She was one of the "SuperAgers," a group studied by Northwestern made up of elderly adults with the cognitive abilities of much younger adults. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

And that love of people extended to strangers, as well. At one retirement community where she resided, Smith was one of nine people assigned to welcome new residents and to try to help make them feel at home.

“I have a smile for everybody,” she told the Tribune in 2018. “I try to learn someone’s name as soon as they come in.”

In 2018, Smith appeared on NBC’s “Today” show, and three years later, she appeared in a PBS program, “Build a Better Memory Through Science.”

Grinnell awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2019, named a library after her in its Black Cultural Center, and named a student art gallery for her in another campus building in 2021. And in 2024, a residence hall building at Grinnell was named for her. Smith — at age 110 — was on hand for its dedication ceremony, in September 2024.

Due to her many years of volunteer work, Smith was inducted into the Chicago Senior Citizens Hall of Fame in 2009.

“Wake up every morning and thank the good Lord that you are alive and able to look at his wonderful world,” she told NPR in 2023.

Smith’s husband of 73 years, Henry, died in 2013. She is survived by a daughter, Alice.

An earlier version of this story misstated the first name of Edith Renfrow Smith’s husband. 

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

Today is Monday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2026. There are 360 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Jan. 5, 1980, “Rapper’s Delight,” by The Sugarhill Gang, became the first hip-hop song to reach the Billboard Top 40, helping to popularize the emerging musical genre.

Also on this date:

In 1896, an Austrian newspaper reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (RENT’-gun) of a new type of radiation that came to be called “X-ray.”

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In 1925, Democrat Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming took office as America’s first female governor.

In 1933, construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge; the bridge was completed in May 1937.

In 1953, Samuel Beckett’s two-act tragicomedy “Waiting for Godot,” considered a classic of the Theater of the Absurd, premiered in Paris.

In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed assistance to countries to help them resist communist aggression in what became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon announced the Space Shuttle program, directing NASA to produce a reusable vehicle that would boost manned space exploration while bringing down its costs. (The first shuttle launched in 1981 and the last in 2011.)

In 2022, Australia denied entry to tennis star Novak Djokovic, who was seeking to play for a 10th Australian Open title later in the month; authorities canceled his visa upon his arrival in Melbourne because he failed to meet the requirements for an exemption to COVID-19 vaccination rules.

In 2024, a door plug on Alaska Airlines jetliner blew out shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, forcing the 171 passengers and six crew to don oxygen masks before the pilots made an emergency landing. No one was seriously hurt, but the sudden depressurization left a gaping hole in the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Robert Duvall is 95.
• Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is 85.
• Actor Vinnie Jones is 61.
• TV personality Carrie Ann Inaba is 58.
• Rock singer Marilyn Manson is 57.
• Actor-filmmaker Bradley Cooper is 51.
• Actor January Jones is 48.
• Actor Brooklyn Sudano is 45.
• Actor Mike Faist is 34.
• Actor and model Suki Waterhouse is 34.
• Actor Walker Scobell is 17.

FOXBORO, Mass. — The Miami Dolphins are bordering on being an absolute mess, and they’re bordering on being a playoff team. Considering this organization’s recent history, you’re inclined to think they’ll land on the former.

The difference in those two outcomes will be found in how the Dolphins, who were blasted by the New England Patriots, 38-10, in Sunday’s season finale at Gillette Stadium, handle their uncertainty this offseason. And there’s major uncertainty.

There’s uncertainty ranging from who will be the general manager in the 2026 season to who will be the quarterback. The uncertainty, to a small extent, includes who will be head coach. There’s not yet an assurance Mike McDaniel is back for a fifth season.

Chatter from the locker room is that the organization will figure this out in a positive fashion. In reality, a 7-10 record means you’re not far from being a playoff team.

That’s why players think the Dolphins’ future is fairly bright despite their record this season and their back-to-back losing seasons (the were 8-9 last season).

“They’ve got something special brewing in this building,” safety Ashtyn Davis said, “and I was lucky to be a part of this here.”

The Dolphins could return some respectable, proven talent among running back De’Von Achane, wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, center Aaron Brewer, left tackle Patrick Paul, right tackle Austin Jackson, defensive tackle Zach Sieler, linebacker Jordyn Brooks and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. 

Players also think this team was better than its losing record indicates.

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“It’s a much better team than we put on tape,” offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill said.

In truth, however, the Dolphins’ future is very cloudy and very frustrating.

If you’re Dolphins owner Steve Ross (we’re told he didn’t address the team in the locker room after the game) and you really believe that the Dolphins are better than their 7-10 record indicates, that stands as the logic to making sweeping changes.

After all, McDaniel is an unimpressive 35-33 (.515) in the regular season and 35-35 (.500) including his 0-2 playoff record. That’s mediocrity. It’s the status quo. It’s exactly what Ross said wouldn’t be tolerated after last season.  

Further, if you really believe the Dolphins are better than their record indicates, you have to wonder what went so wrong and how you prevent something similar from happening in next season.

As much as the players are proud of finishing 5-3 after starting 2-7, you could sense the frustration of a wasted season.

“We’ve got to find a way to stop the run in games like this,” Davis said, likely well aware that the Patriots rushed for 243 yards on 34 bruising carries.

So, yeah, they’re close to being an absolute mess.

Dolphins Deep Dive: What should happen . . . what will happen with McDaniel after season finale? | VIDEO

Brewer said “urgency” needs to become a guiding light.

“The way we’re playing mid-season, we need to start that way and finish the same way,” he said.

Bradley Chubb said the third-quarter woes — Miami was outscored, 127-30, in the third quarter this season — must be fixed.

“It’s kinda what’s been plaguing us all year, that third quarter,” he said.

Miami has also got to find a way to compete with the top teams in the league. The Dolphins finished the season 1-6 against playoff teams, and they’re now 5-26 (.161) against playoff teams in the McDaniel era.

Players will tell you this team is on the right track.

“I think we’ve got a lot of talent,” second-year wide receiver Malik Washington said.

Chubb, whose locker at Gillette Stadium was close to rookie defensive tackle Kenneth Grant, will even give you reasons that the future is bright.

“I think it looks good, man,” Chubb said of the Dolphins’ immediate future. “You got dudes like this, like that dude right here, KG (Grant). 

“You’ve got people like him, Zeek (rookie defensive tackle Zeek Biggers), J-Marsh (rookie cornerback Jason Marshall Jr.), Trader (rookie safety Dante Trader Jr.), all these guys who played a lot of football, they’re young, and they’re going to learn from the positives and negatives of the season and be even better next year.”

It’s true that the Dolphins played lots of young talent this season, especially in the second half of the season when players such as rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers surfaced.

“When you start 1-6 and your season’s left for dead and then you breathe life back into it, for all the young guys that we’re going to be relying upon moving forward, the guys that are on their rookie contracts, it was an incredible learning experience,” McDaniel said. 

“That’s probably the silver lining, the only takeaway that I can take away. Moving forward, you have the opportunity to be surrounded by guys that don’t blink in adversity. That’s a huge part of this game.”

The bigger part of the game is winning.

And if the Dolphins don’t handle their uncertainty in this offseason, they won’t be doing much winning in 2026 despite the optimism emanating from the locker room.

In this Dolphins Deep Dive video, the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Chris Perkins and David Furones give their initial thoughts on Miami’s disappointing 2025 season. Is there reason for optimism for 2026, and what about coach Mike McDaniel’s future with the team?

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The games of the final week of the regular season were not kind to the Miami Dolphins in terms of positioning for the first round of the NFL draft in April.

Miami entered Sunday with the No. 11 pick, with a chance to move up, at most, to No. 8 with a loss to the New England Patriots and other results going its way.

In the opening slate of NFL games Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals lost to the Cleveland Browns and the New Orleans Saints lost to the Atlanta Falcons. That meant the Dolphins could no longer move ahead of the Bengals and Saints with a loss to the Patriots.

The highest Miami could move up is to No. 10, with a loss to New England and a Kansas City Chiefs win over the Las Vegas Raiders. But the Raiders defeated the Chiefs late Sunday afternoon.

The Dolphins did indeed lose to Patriots. A win would have had them fall behind the Dallas Cowboys, to the No. 12 pick.

The Dolphins have eight selections in the draft including their first-round pick, one second, three third-round rounders, one fourth, one fifth, and one seventh rounder.

MIAMI — Having previously lost to the second to the second-worst team in the Western Conference, the Miami Heat made sure there was no misstep Sunday night at Kaseya Center against the West’s worst.

More to the point, Norman Powell made sure.

So, no, no repeat of the home humiliation against the Sacramento Kings, instead a 125-106 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans that made it five victories in the last six for Erik Spoelstra’s team.

“We definitely had to come out and set the tone,” Powell said.

With Powell converting 9 of 12 3-point attempts on a 34-point night, the Heat improved to 20-16 while the Pelicans stumbled to 8-29. The nine 3-pointers were a career high for Powell.

“I just kept looking at where they were picking me up and letting it fly,” Powell said.

Aided by 26 Pelicans turnovers, the Heat closed with a season-high 18 steals.

“We’re not a toe-to-toe team, per se,” Spoelstra said, “but we can get teams uncomfortable if everybody’s committed to those kind of efforts.”

Beyond Powell’s offense, the Heat also got 19 points from Nikola Jovic and 16 apiece from Pelle Larsson and Kel’el Ware, on a night they remained without Tyler Herro and this time also were without Jaime Jaquez Jr. Ware also had 12 rebounds.

“Loved the offense,” Spoelstra said. “The ball was really moving. I thought the guys were sharing the ball.”

The Pelicans were led by the 27 points of Trey Murphy III, also getting 12 points from Zion Williamson.

Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday night’s game:

1. Game flow: The Heat led 43-39 after the first quarter and 70-62 at halftime.

“It’s pretty easy when you look up at the half and there’s 70 points or whatever it was,” Larsson said of setting a tone.

From there, the Heat pushed their lead to 20 in the third quarter, before going into the fourth up 93-77.

The Pelicans trimmed their deficit to 13 early in the fourth quarter, with Powell and Heat big man Adebayo then returning with 5:51 to play, with the Heat up 111-92.

Order was restored from there.

2. Three for all: The Heat’s first nine shots were all 3-point attempts, including a 4-of-4 start from beyond the arc from Powell and a 3-of-3 start on 3-pointers from Davion Mitchell.

The Heat’s first two-point attempt, with 6:18 left in the opening period, was a driving transition layup by Jovic that was, of course, part of a 3-point play.

And on the Heat’s next possession? Powell was fouled on a three-point attempt, making all three free throws.

The Heat closed 18 of 44 on 3-pointers.

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3. Rotation revision: With Jaquez sidelined by the ankle sprain suffered in Saturday night’s home loss to the Timberwolves, Jovic and Larsson entered together as the Heat’s first two reserves.

Larsson was back after sitting out the previous two games with an ankle sprain.

“The second unit . . . was terrific with their multiple efforts,” Spoelstra said. “It kind of changed the energy of the game.”

It was Jovic who initially replaced Jaquez’s offense, opening 4 of 4 from the field, including 2 of 2 on 3-pointers, with his other two opening baskets a pair of driving layups.

The Heat also cycled through Dru Smith, Kasparas Jakucionis and even Myron Gardner off the bench.

“I like Myron’s energy,” Spoelstra said. “He’s grown on me, he’s grown on the staff, the players in the locker room. I love his personality.”

Jovic closed 7 of 16 from the field, Larsson 7 of 15.

“Pella it’s the human bruise, you know, with all of his activity,” Spoelstra said.

4. Powell’s pop: Powell was up to 20 points by intermission, at 6 of 7 on 3-pointers in the first half.

That was after dealing with leg pain and a blow to the Heat in Saturday night’s loss to the Timberwolves.

Powell extended his streak of games scoring in double figures to 34, dating to last season with the Los Angeles Clippers, one game off the longest such run of his career.

He closed 11 of 15 from the field.

But it was the 12 3-point attempts that Spoelstra noted.

“He should have had 18 attempts, right?” he quipped.

5. Now the road: The Heat next head out on a four-game trip that opens Tuesday in Minnesota and continues against the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

That trip opens a stretch of four of nine on the road.

“We want to do some damage on this road trip and pick up these wins and it’s going to be big for us,” Powell said. “So I thought it was a good starting point for us to go on the road, feeling good about ourselves.”

The Heat’s next home game is Jan. 13 against the Phoenix Suns at the start of a challenging three-game homestand that also includes the Boston Celtics and Thunder.

MIAMI — Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday night’s 125-106 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans:

– We saw it against the Pacers a couple of weeks back.

– And again this time against the Pelicans.

– An opponent throwing the ball away with reckless abandon, this time 25 turnovers.

– Yes, some credit to the Heat for forcing the mistakes.

– But also a case of conference-worst team being, well … bad.

– As in the Pacers being the worst in the East.

– And the Pelicans worst in the West.

– The irony is both shot the ball well against the Heat when maintaining possession.

– As rare as that was.

– So perspective is needed in these.

– Because this is not even play-in level competition.

– Let alone what the Heat would have to face in the real postseason.

– What you do is take victories like this and move on.

– Perhaps with a token of gratitude for the opposition being so giving.

– Now do it Tuesday in Minnesota and it would come with meaning.

– Still, it does make it five victories in the last six.

– And nothing wrong with that.

– With Tyler Herro in uniform but not considered ready to return, the Heat again opened with a lineup of Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo, Kel’el Ware and Davion Mitchell.

– Powell sizzled from the arc.

– Which basically was all that was needed in this one.

– With Jaime Jaquez Jr. out, the first two substitutes off the bench were Pelle Larsson and Nikola Jovic, who entered together.

– Dru Smith followed.

– With Kasparas Jakucionis making it nine deep.

– Then, in a twist, two-way player Myron Gardner entered off the Heat bench, ahead of Simone Fontecchio.

– With a four-game trip up next, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra went in stressing the importance of Sunday night.

– “We know how important this game is before we go on the road,” he said.

– Mission accomplished.

– He also said no need to look back to Saturday night’s home loss to the Timberwolves.

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– “We want to just put that game behind us from last night and just focus on this game and have that similar type of compete level,” he said, “and then bring a more efficient game on both sides of the court, where we’re getting to our identity more consistently, not letting teams to take us out of that identity.”

– With Jaquez (ankle) out, Spoelstra said it was beneficial to have Pelle Larsson (ankle) back.

– “He can do some of it,” Spoelstra said of Larsson as Jaquez. “He does it in a different way, but pace can also take care of some of that. It’ll have to be in a lot of different other buckets.”

– Which Larsson did, in a solid two-way effort.

– Pelicans coach James Borrego became the latest to praise the Heat’s pace.

– “The way they get it out, the pace, make or miss, this is as fast as I’ve seen them,” he said. “So to their credit, they’ve done a heck of a job doing it. They do it very well, they trust it, they get the ball to the floor, they put pressure on you constantly.”

– Borrego added. “It’s kind of the philosophy I’ve shared over the years offensively – just keep as much pressure on the defense for as long as possible. And they’re doing that, they do it with the drive, the pace, the ball movement.”

The Heat then launched 57 shots in their 70-point first half.

– And kept going from there.

– It was the 100th career regular-season appearance for Ware.

– Ware extended his career-best run of games with multiple offensive rebounds to 17.

– Along the way, Jovic reached his 500th career rebound.

The Seattle Seahawks win over the San Francisco 49ers in the final week of the regular season on Saturday simplified the formula to figure out the one remaining opponent for the Miami Dolphins to be determined for the 2026 schedule.

The Los Angeles Rams’ win over the Arizona Cardinals in Sunday’s late afternoon game means the Dolphins will visit the 49ers next season.

That’s because of the swing in the third-place finisher in the NFC West the result creates, with the Dolphins, the AFC East’s No. 3 team, due to play that team on the road.

Miami is already set to play their three divisional opponents — the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets — home and away, the Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears at Hard Rock Stadium and Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders, Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers on the road.

The NFL will release the full 2026 week-by-week schedule later in the year.

Here is a note for each non-division game next season:

Kansas City Chiefs at Hard Rock Stadium

Patrick Mahomes has played two games at Hard Rock Stadium, both six years ago. The first, on February of 2020 was in his first Super Bowl, against the 49ers. The second, in December, was his lone game against the Dolphins in South Florida. In that matchup, the AFC champion had a 30-10 lead in the fourth quarter before taking their foot off the gas, winning 33-27. The Dolphins have a five-game losing streak against the Chiefs and haven’t beaten them in Miami Gardens in 20 years.

Los Angeles Chargers at Hard Rock Stadium

In his four career games against the Dolphins, Justin Herbert, selected sixth in the 2020 draft after the Dolphins picked Tua Tagovailoa, has averaged 26.8 points a game, including 29 in a pivotal game for the Chargers early in the 2025 season. The Dolphins have averaged 27.3 points a game in that quartet.

Chicago Bears at Hard Rock Stadium

Former Dolphins assistant Ben Johnson makes his first return to Hard Rock Stadium since his stint with Miami from 2012-18. After the Dolphins grabbed a 4-0 lead in the all-time series with the legendary Monday Night Football win over then-undefeated Chicago in 1985, the Bears won four of the next seven games between the teams. However, Miami has a three-game win streak.

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Detroit Lions at Hard Rock Stadium

Another former Dolphins assistant coach, and former interim head coach, comes back to Miami Gardens for his first time since finishing his six-year tenure in South Florida in 2015. The last time the Dolphins beat the Lions in South Florida was a 49-21 walloping in the season opener of 2002, which was also Ricky Williams’ Dolphins debut.

Cincinnati Bengals at Hard Rock Stadium

Joe Burrow will be looking to improve to 3-0 all-time against Miami, having averaged 36 points a game in games against the Dolphins.

Denver Broncos at Empower Field*

Broncos coach Sean Payton will have been waiting three years for this game, his Broncos having been ravaged for 70 points in Miami Gardens in 2023 the most recent time the teams played.

Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium*

One of the rare flips of series record in the Dolphins’ favor since Don Shula left after 1995, the Dolphins trailed Oakland/Los Angeles 6-16-1 heading into the 1996 season. The past 20 years, however, the Dolphins have rolled Oakland/Las Vegas 15-5, and now the series is squared at 21-21-1.

Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field*

The Dolphins had been 8-0 against Green Bay when Jimmy Johnson took over for Don Shula in 1996, but the Packers, powered by Hall of Fame quarterbacks Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, have cruised through the Dolphins with wins in seven of the teams’ nine matchups since then.

Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium*

The Dolphins have played a Brian Flores-coached defense once since he and Miami parted ways after 2021, and that was a 16-10 Dolphins win in 2022 when the Steelers dropped four Tua Tagovailoa passes that hit both hands.

Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium*

The Colts, before collapsing, arguably had their best game of their season in the opener against the Dolphins, a 33-8 shellacking in Indiana.

San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California*

There is some argument that one of the last moments the Dolphins felt like things had finally turned around was the first-play-of-the-game 75-yard touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa to Trent Sherfield the last time Miami traveled to Santa Clara. However, the host 49ers rebounded to rout Miami, who had entered the game 8-3. Miami sputtered to 9-8 to squeak into the playoffs, where they lost to Buffalo 34-31.

(* Denotes there is a possibility this game may be played internationally.)

Congrats, it’s over. You can open your eyes now.

You survived another Miami Dolphins season.

You didn’t even need to watch their 38-10 loss at the New England Patriots, because you’ve seen the movie so many times through the years you have the ending memorized:

On one sideline, New England celebrated their 14-win season, celebrated their winning coach-quarterback combo and really celebrated the coming home playoff game.

On the other sideline, the Titanic sunk.

The Dolphins season has been done for weeks — months, really — but this made it official. All the monsters can go away now or just go hiding under the bed where they’ll conveniently be forgotten amid the coming happy talk for the next eight months.

The offseason is here. You made it. Dolphins seasons have been mostly various forms of calamity for most of this millennium. But offseasons have become a fascinating haven of rebuilt hope and optimism and belief good things will happen again.

Everyone could use some hope, too, after the worst Dolphins season since … um … since ever? Could there have been a worse one than this? Maybe that 1-15 season in 2007? That was so bad then-owner H. Wayne Huizenga cried when they finally won a game.

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That season had no lingering issues, though. The odor of this season won’t leave so easily. So, if not the worst, then this is the most damaging season in Dolphins history. Consider:

1. The quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, who you gave a four-year, $212 million contract shrunk right before your eyes to the point he was benched, forgotten and would be an afterthought moving forward except he’s owed a NFL-record $99 million coming up.

2. The 2020 and 2021 drafts will probably have one survivor after this offseason. Those are the drafts the Dolphins tanked for in 2019 to get five, first-round and four, second-round picks Receiver Jaylen Waddle looks like the lone survivor. Tua won’t be back. The other Dolphin holdover from those drafts, tackle Austin Jackson, might be too injured to carry his medium-sized contract. Any questions why general manager Chris Grier was fired?

3. The coach, Mike McDaniel, proved a creative play-drawer, but dug an 0-3 hole in the season’s opening 12 days and beat just one winning team, Buffalo. What will owner Steve Ross do with him?

4. The Patriots have passed the Dolphins by again in the AFC East.

That last one sums up the state of the Dolphins. Five years ago, the Patriots dynasty was six feet under after quarterback Tom Brady left and coach Bill Belichick had no answers.

There was some we-warned-you gloating from Dolphins fans suffering since Dan Marino retired as the Patriots had consecutive, four-win seasons without Brady. Throw in Patriots owner Bob Kraft’s moaning and Belichick’s North Carolina adventure and at least you could enjoy their suffering for the next decade, right? Pass the popcorn.

Then quarterback Drake Maye came two drafts ago. And coach Mike Vrabel was hired last offseason. Suddenly, the Dolphins aren’t just looking up at Buffalo and Josh Allen for the next decade. Suddenly, it’s the rebuilt Patriots.

What, they had five years wandering the wilderness?

Dolphins Deep Dive: What should happen . . . what will happen with McDaniel after season finale? | VIDEO

Maye might be the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in his second season. He completed a pedestrian 14-of-18 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown Sunday. He also ran for 44 yards, which might not seem much but is more than Tagovailoa ran for all this season.

The Dolphins ran seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers out there Sunday without De’Von Achane or Waddle and asked him to carry the banner of tomorrow. It’s not his fault he looked like a seventh-round rookie.

If you were looking for some good news Sunday, you couldn’t even look at the Dolphins’ draft order. They didn’t improve from their 11th spot in a way that make you wonder what’s at work.

Kansas City lost on a last-second, 60-yard field goal to Las Vegas and stayed in the 10th spot. Cincinnati lost on a similarly, last-second 49-yard field goal to Cleveland and stayed ahead of the Dolphins, too.

Why can’t a drop of good fortune come your way?

At least you can exhale after Sunday’s ugly loss in New England. You did it. You made it. You officially came through another awful Dolphins season.

By TIM REYNOLDS

SUNRISE — Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad scored unassisted goals, Daniil Tarasov made 27 saves and the Florida Panthers snapped Colorado’s second 10-game winning streak of the season by topping the Avalanche 2-1 on Sunday night.

Colorado fell to 31-3-7, its 69 points still the second-most in NHL history through 41 games and the most in nearly a century. Boston had 73 points through 41 games in 1929-30. The NHL added regular-season overtime along the way and changed the points structure in 1999-2000 to add a point for losses past regulation.

But the Panthers never trailed Sunday. Bennett scored 6:27 into the game, and Ekblad made it 2-1 with 1:48 left in the second period.

Artturi Lehkonen scored midway through the second period for Colorado, which lost captain Gabriel Landeskog early in that period with what the team said was an upper-body injury.

The three regulation losses for Colorado tie the 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers for the fewest through 41 games of any season. The Avalanche had gotten at least one standings point in 30 of their last 31 games coming into Sunday, going 26-1-4 in that stretch.

It was the third time this season Colorado was held to one goal. The Avs won both of the previous games.

Scott Wedgewood stopped 23 shots for Colorado, his record falling to 18-2-4 on the season.

The Panthers were further short-handed than usual. U.S. Olympic team defenseman Seth Jones (upper body) was out for Florida, and the Panthers expect word Monday on how much time he’ll miss. He was hurt in the first period of Friday’s Winter Classic.

Florida leaves for a six-game trip Monday and Matthew Tkachuk — who has yet to play this season following August surgery to repair a torn adductor and sports hernia — will be on the plane. It’s unclear yet if Tkachuk will play during the trip.

That trip is the start of a second half where Florida plays 26 of its final 41 games on the road.

Up next

Panthers: At Toronto on Tuesday night.

FOXBORO, Mass. — Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel might have coached his last Dolphins game in Sunday’s 38-10 loss at the New England Patriots. Or, McDaniel might have only put a wrap on the part of his Dolphins head coaching era that included former general manager Chris Grier, who was fired on Halloween, and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who was demoted three games ago.

Perhaps we’ll find out this soon whether McDaniel will remain the Miami Dolphins coach for 2026. Or perhaps we’ll get a name or two on the list of general manager candidates.

Until then, we’ll reflect on the job done by McDaniel, Dolphins rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers, and a host of other players, mostly youngsters.

By the way, it should be noted the Dolphins (7-10), who suffered double-digit losses for the first time since finishing 5-11 in 2019, were without several key starters including Pro Bowl running back De’Von Achane (shoulder), wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (ribs) and right tackle Austin Jackson (back/groin).

Here’s what we learned in Sunday’s season finale: 

Tua has quiet day

Tagovailoa, in what might have been his last game in a Dolphins uniform, had a low-key day that mostly involved standing on the sideline with a warming jacket over his shoulders. Tagovailoa, designated as the emergency third quarterback, wasn’t writing formations on the whiteboard for Ewers, which is a duty he handled on the sideline in his first two games as a reserve quarterback. For the record, Tagovailoa has seemed to be in good spirits since his benching, often mixing and laughing with teammates in the locker room. He’s never been seen publicly pouting or seeming unhappy.

Tagovailoa is due $55 million next season. If he’s released it’ll cost Miami $99 million in dead money which they could take a one-time hit in 2026 or split into a two-year hit with $67 million in dead money in 2026 and $32 million in dead money in 2027. — Chris Perkins

Ewers shows promise

Ewers, who left the game in the fourth quarter with a right knee ailment, showed enough in three starts that he could be in the mix for the starting job in training camp. Sunday’s performance had some good and some not-so-good.

Ewers was making his third start Sunday. He was 1-1 in his previous two starts, losing at Pittsburgh and defeating Tampa Bay.

Ewers started the game with a nine-yard run. He almost had a touchdown pass to wide receiver Cedrick Wilson Jr., but Wilson couldn’t quite come up with the reception before falling out of the back of the end zone. 

Ewers bounced back with a 2-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tahj Washington. Ewers had a couple of close calls on passes. He had an incomplete pass in the end zone that went between Washington and fellow wide receiver Theo Wease Jr. Ewers also had a close call on a throw for Washington deep in the third quarter. Washington and Pro Bowl cornerback Christian Gonzalez get their feet tangled up and both went to the ground.

All in all, Ewers showed promise in his three starts.

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McDaniel is a .500 coach (including playoffs)

McDaniel finishes his fourth season with a 35-33 (.515) regular-season record, 35-35 (.500) including his 0-2 playoffs record.

The Dolphins rallied to finish 7-10 this season after starting 0-3, 1-6 and 2-7. 

Last season they rallied to finish 8-9 after starting 2-6.

In 2022, the Dolphins started 8-3 but slumped to a 1-6 finish, including their wild-card round playoff loss at Buffalo.

In 2023, the Dolphins started 9-3 but slumped to a 2-4 finish, including their wild-card loss at Kansas City.

TO margin/penalties

The Dolphins ended with season minus-4 in turnover margin. After having seven penalties for 52 yards, they also ended with 107 penalties for 841 yards.

The Dolphins began play Sunday tied for 17th in the league in turnover margin at minus-2. In 2024, they were tied for 29th at minus-7. In 2023, they were tied for 12th at plus-2, and in 2022 they were tied for 28th at minus-7.

The Dolphins began play Sunday tied for 12th fewest penalties with 100, and 11th in fewest penalty yards with 789.

As for penalties, in 2024, the Dolphins were 30th in penalty yards with 1,030 and their 125 penalties were tied for 29th.

In 2023, the Dolphins were No. 5 in the league with 719 penalty yards while they were tied for 13th fewest penalties with 96.

In 2022, the Dolphins were No. 19 in penalty yards with 799 yards while they were tied for No. 4 in penalties with 84.

Cold weather games

Miami is now 1-7 (.125) in cold weather games under McDaniel. Sunday was a “cold weather” game with the definition for this purpose being 45 degrees or colder at kickoff. The “feels-like” temperature at kickoff was 23 degrees. The actual temperature was 28 degrees. 

Cold weather has been a big deal for the Dolphins under McDaniel. Miami began play Sunday with a 1-6 (.143) record in cold weather losing twice in Buffalo in 2022 (regular season and playoffs), once in Kansas City (playoffs), once in Green Bay (Thanksgiving 2024), losing against the New York Jets (2024 finale), winning at the New York Jets (this season) and losing at Pittsburgh (this season).

It should be noted that six of the eight cold weather games came against playoff teams.

Run defense sags again

New England rushed for 243 yards 34 carries. The Dolphins began play Sunday ranked 24th in run defense at 125.5 yards allowed per game. When these teams played in September, New England rushed for 122 yards. They were second of seven consecutive Dolphins opponents to rush for more than 100 yards.

Late-season road games

Miami is now 3-11 in December-January road games under McDaniel.

The Dolphins were winless in January road games under McDaniel when play began Sunday, posting an 0-4 record.   

The verdict on recent Grier draftees, free agents

All of the Dolphins draftees that played Sunday, and almost every Miami player that took the field, were drafted or selected by Grier, who was widely ridiculed for his drafts and free agent signees. The list from Sunday ranges from Ewers to linebacker Jordyn Brooks and kicker Riley Patterson.

In the past two years Grier’s players posted losing seasons but last year they finished 6-3 and this year they finished 5-3.

The final conclusion on the draftees and free agents is likely similar to the final conclusion on each these seasons — mediocre-ish.

Special teams surface again

Defensive tackle Zach Sieler blocked a 38-yard field goal attempt shortly before Patterson booted a 52-yard field goal. Last week rookie defensive tackle Zeek Biggers blocked a 55-yard field goal attempt.

It’s been an eventful special teams season for the Dolphins, and it’s involved a punt return touchdown, allowing a kickoff return touchdown immediately afterward, running into the punter, roughing the punter, allowing an opponent to recover an onside kick, recovering an opponent’s onside kick, punter Jake Bailey and Patterson turning in exemplary seasons.

Third-quarter woes

The Dolphins were outscored in Sunday’s third quarter, 14-0. For the season they were outscored, 130-27, in the third quarter.

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That Patriots first touchdown was a rarity

The Patriots received the opening kickoff and began the game with a three-play, 70-yard touchdown drive. It marked the first time under Mike McDaniel that an opening-possession-of-the-game touchdown drive of that length had taken up three plays or fewer.

The Dolphins offense under McDaniel had accomplished the feat twice: In San Francisco in 2022 and against the Broncos in the 70-20 game in 2023.

The previous time the Dolphins had allowed such a touchdown had been against Peyton Manning and the Colts 16 seasons ago. Pro-football-reference.com’s database covers the 21st century, and the Dolphins hadn’t given up such a touchdown that featured only running plays in the past 25 years at least. Once, in 2005, the Browns on their first possession (but after Miami also had had a possession) saw Reuben Droughns take their opening snap 75 yards to the house. — Steve Svekis

Patrick Paul became a bit of a flag machine late in the season

After a first 15 games where he had been nabbed for only 6 flags, Dolphins second-year tackle Patrick Paul saw four penalties attached to his number in the final two games against the Buccaneers and Patriots, including a trio (holding, false start and illegal man downfield) in a span of 8:18 in Foxborough. He is to be lauded for playing all 34 of the possible games his first two seasons.

Boo! Ollie Gordon was a short-yardage liability after Halloween

Maybe as a rookie, Ollie Gordon hit a rookie wall, but his effectiveness in short-yardage situations fell off a cliff after October. Before Halloween, Gordon had been fine 6 for 7 converting on third- or fourth-and-1 runs. However, in November onward, he converted in only 2 of 6 situations, losing 5 yards in total.

2026 schedule tidbits

Here is a note for each non-division game next season:

Kansas City Chiefs at Hard Rock Stadium

Patrick Mahomes has played two games at Hard Rock Stadium, both six years ago. The first, on February of 2020 was in his first Super Bowl, against the 49ers. The second, in December, was his lone game against the Dolphins in South Florida. In that matchup, the AFC champion had a 30-10 lead in the fourth quarter before taking their foot off the gas, winning 33-27. The Dolphins have a five-game losing streak against the Chiefs and haven’t beaten them in Miami Gardens in 20 years.

Los Angeles Chargers at Hard Rock Stadium

In his four career games against the Dolphins, Justin Herbert, selected sixth in the 2020 draft after the Dolphins picked Tua Tagovailoa, has averaged 26.8 points a game, including 29 in a pivotal game for the Chargers earlier this season. The Dolphins have averaged 27.3 points a game in that quartet.

Chicago Bears at Hard Rock Stadium

Former Dolphins assistant Ben Johnson makes his first return to Hard Rock Stadium since his stint with Miami from 2012-18. After the Dolphins grabbed a 4-0 lead in the all-time series with the legendary Monday Night Football win over then-undefeated Chicago in 1985, the Bears won four of the next seven games between the teams. However, Miami has a three-game win streak.

Detroit Lions at Hard Rock Stadium

Another former Dolphins assistant coach, and former interim head coach, comes back to Miami Gardens for his first time since finishing his six-year tenure in South Florida in 2015. The last time the Dolphins beat the Lions in South Florida was a 49-21 walloping in the season opener of 2002, which was also Ricky Williams’ Dolphins debut.

Cincinnati Bengals at Hard Rock Stadium

Joe Burrow will be looking to improve to 3-0 all-time against Miami, having averaged 36 points a game in games against the Dolphins.

Denver Broncos at Empower Field*

Broncos coach Sean Payton will have been waiting three years for this game, his Broncos having been ravaged for 70 points in Miami Gardens in 2023 the most recent time the teams played.

Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium*

One of the rare flips of series record in the Dolphins’ favor since Don Shula left after 1995, the Dolphins trailed Oakland/Los Angeles 6-16-1 heading into the 1996 season. The past 20 years, however, the Dolphins have rolled Oakland/Las Vegas 15-5, and now the series is squared at 21-21-1.

Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field*

The Dolphins had been 8-0 against Green Bay when Jimmy Johnson took over for Don Shula in 1996, but the Packers, powered by Hall of Fame quarterbacks Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, have cruised through the Dolphins with wins in seven of the teams’ nine matchups since then.

Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium*

The Dolphins have played a Brian Flores-coached defense once since he and Miami parted ways after 2021, and that was a 16-10 Dolphins win in 2022 when the Steelers dropped four Tua Tagovailoa passes that hit both hands.

Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium*

The Colts, before collapsing, arguably had their best game of their season in the opener against the Dolphins, a 33-8 shellacking in Indiana.

San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California*

There is some argument that one of the last moments the Dolphins felt like things had finally turned around was the first-play-of-the-game 75-yard touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa to Trent Sherfield the last time Miami traveled to Santa Clara. However, the host 49ers rebounded to rout Miami, who had entered the game 8-3. Miami sputtered to 9-8 to squeak into the playoffs, where they lost to Buffalo 34-31.

(* Denotes there is a possibility this game may be played internationally.)