By Brooke Baitinger, The Sacramento Bee

Dreaming of a relaxing vacation with breathtaking views?

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One of the world’s best resorts is in California, according to Condé Nast Traveler.

The publication recently announced the winners of its 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards for the top hotels, resorts, spas, cruise lines and more.

Readers cast more than 757,000 votes in the annual survey, Condé Nast Traveler said.

The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe in Truckee, California, was No. 28 on Condé Nast Traveler’s list of the top 50 resorts in the world.

The five-star hotel also nabbed the title of the No. 1 best resort in Northern California.

In an Instagram post in October, Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe, said it was “proud” of both achievements.

What makes Lake Tahoe resort one of world’s best?

“The skiing is fantastic” at Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe, Condé Nast Traveler said, and “the location can’t be beat.”

The hotel, which opened in 2009, has about 170 rooms and suites with ample access to nature.

“Ski valets carry guests’ gear and escort them to the slopes,” Condé Nast Traveler said.

“Rooms in modern woodsy colors have dark-brown leather armchairs, floor-to-ceiling windows, gas fireplaces and private balconies with views of the mountain and Martis Valley,” the publication said.

The hotel offers several dining options for guests — including Manzanita, which serves up “French-inspired California cuisine” and “delicious” breakfast offerings including burritos, egg sandwiches and fresh pastries.

In addition to “legendary skiing” and “a rejuvenating slopeside spa,” Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe offers boating, hiking and golfing in the warmer months, the resort said on its website.

What are the top 10 resorts in the world?

According to Condé Nast Traveler, the top 10 hotels around the globe in 2025 were:

1. Como Uma Ubud in Bali, Indonesia

2. Wilderness DumaTau in Linyanti, Botswana

3. Alila Jabal Akhdar in Jabal Akhdar, Oman

4. Waldorf Astoria Park City in Park City, Utah

5. Maroma, A Belmond Hotel, in Riviera Maya, Mexico

6. Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa in Trancoso, Brazil

7. JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa in Khao Lak, Thailand

8. Paws Up Montana in Greenough, Montana

9. Baoase Luxury Resort in Willemstad, Curaçao

10. Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Krabi, Thailand

©2025 The Sacramento Bee. Visit sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Amy Nicholson, Mark Olsen, Joshua Rothkopf, Josh Rottenberg and Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — It wouldn’t be an awards season without a few last-minute gifts under the tree, set to sweep the table clear. This year, those include everything from Timothée Chalamet’s cosmic ping-pong epic “Marty Supreme” to a new “Avatar” sequel from James Cameron, whom we’ve learned to never count out on Oscar night. We’re also looking forward to the kind of dumb counterprogramming that Christmas miracles are built on. A new “Anaconda” awaits, a prospect that can’t be ignored. Leave room in your movie diet for candy that’s semi-bad for you. One can’t feast on tearjerkers alone.

‘Hamnet’ (Nov. 26)

Jessie Buckley, left, and Paul Mescal in “Hamnet.” (Focus Features/Entertainment Pictures ZUMA PRESS/TNS)

Since its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, Chloé Zhao’s aching story of love and loss has won audience awards at festivals around the world: London, San Diego, Toronto, Spain. If Telluride had such a prize, it would have won there too as it left moviegoers openly weeping as they waited in line for the restrooms afterward. Perhaps the prospect of this kind of emotional devastation gives you pause. Would it help if I told you that the first part of the movie, detailing the courtship of a young Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) in love, is primal and electric? And that Jessie Buckley, playing the Bard’s future wife, is so extraordinary that she’ll go on to win more honors than the movie itself? Just go see it. There’s no better place to cry than in the darkness of a movie theater. — Glenn Whipp

‘The Secret Agent’ (Nov. 26)

This Brazilian import by director Kleber Mendonça Filho killed us at Cannes. It’s the kind of zippy, immersive crime thriller that reminds you of the international lingua franca that Scorsese all but invented with “Goodfellas.” As the country’s ’70s-era military dictatorship wreaks havoc, decent people privately put up a complex resistance over years. The real reason you need to see this one is Wagner Moura, who you may have noticed in “Civil War” and Netflix’s “Narcos,” but who here makes a persuasive bid to join the highest echelon of leading men: furious, impassioned and haunted by a backstory conveyed with a minimum of means. — Joshua Rothkopf

‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ (Dec. 5)

More rampaging animatronic puppets? Yes, please. If you think we’re kidding, slow your roll: The first one, which we didn’t hate, understood the ominous, moldering potential of a kiddie restaurant gone to seed. And with a cast that includes Josh Hutcherson, Mckenna Grace and a mini-“Scream” reunion in Matthew Lillard and Skeet Ulrich, the horror faithful should line up for a second helping of trauma. Breathe in this factoid for a second: The first “Freddy” is far and away Blumhouse’s highest-grossing movie, more than “Get Out” or “M3GAN,” by $120 million. People like this franchise. You could too. — Joshua Rothkopf

‘Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair’ (Dec. 5)

The recent craze for revivals and rereleases has spurred something many fans have long clamored to see: Quentin Tarantino’s complete “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair.” While the film was broken up into two parts for its original release, this new assembly combines the two versions (with a few tweaks) to fully convey the wild genre mash-up of Tarantino’s original vision. In its tale of a woman fighting her way through a list of people who wronged her on the way to the man who betrayed her, “The Whole Bloody Affair” makes Uma Thurman’s performance even more impressive as she slashes her way toward revenge, redemption and an unlikely grace. — Mark Olsen

‘Ella McCay’ (Dec. 12)

James L. Brooks is one of Hollywood’s great humanists — and Lord knows we need those more than ever. Fifteen years since releasing his previous film “How Do You Know,” the “Broadcast News” and “Terms of Endearment” writer-director returns with a political comedy set in the Obama era about an idealistic lieutenant governor (Emma Mackey) thrust into the power seat when her mentor, played by Albert Brooks, heads to Washington. With a stacked cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Rebecca Hall and Kumail Nanjiani, “Ella McCay” promises to deliver what this filmmaker does best: funny, clear-eyed storytelling about the quiet heroism of trying (and sometimes failing) to do the right thing. — Josh Rottenberg

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‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ (Dec. 19)

After 2009’s “Avatar” reprogrammed the blockbuster, James Cameron showed no signs of coming up for air. Second sequel “Fire and Ash” plunges Jake and Neytiri into fresh conflict as their family faces down a ruthless Na’vi clan known as the Ash People. With Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and Kate Winslet returning, this third installment promises a darker, more emotional turn and another leap in visual ambition. And with two more sequels already in the works, Cameron seems determined to outlast not just his critics, but possibly civilization itself. — Josh Rottenberg

‘The Housemaid’ (Dec. 19)

Paul Feig’s flair for crowd-pleasers about catty women has been tilting from comedy to thriller ever since the cult success of 2018’s “A Simple Favor.” He’s a good pick to direct this adaptation of Freida McFadden’s dark and pleasingly pulpy bestseller about a maid who moves into a family’s posh home and makes a major mess. All eyes will be on Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried playing, respectively, a damaged servant and her new boss, but I’m curious to get a longer look at the star potential of Brandon Sklenar (“It Ends With Us,”“Drop”), who is emerging as a leading man. — Amy Nicholson

‘Is This Thing On?’ (Dec. 19)

Bradley Cooper’s two previous efforts as director — “A Star Is Born” and“Maestro” — had the air of purposeful masterworks, looking to make bold, sweeping statements about life and art. For his latest film, “Is This Thing On?,” there’s the feeling of a step-back, an attempt to make something smaller, simpler and looser while no less emotionally committed. Will Arnett shows previously unexplored dramatic depths as a man who, in the free-fall of an impending divorce, undertakes stand-up comedy as a therapeutic release. The result is a tender, bittersweet ballad to anyone who feels they may not be fully over yet, especially when indications say otherwise. — Mark Olsen

‘Anaconda’ (Dec. 25)

Even if you have fond memories of the ultra-silly 1997 original and the four official sequels it shed, it’s a fair bet you don’t remember any plot details. Nor do you need to. Big snake. People getting chomped. That’s it. To go a step further, this meta-comedy reboot will almost certainly be a lot smarter than what’s come before. Two middle-aged friends — Paul Rudd and Jack Black (recapturing his gleam-in-the-eye mania from “School of Rock”) — decide to remake their favorite guilty ’90s pleasure as a no-budget indie flick. After their snake handler’s docile specimen has an onset mishap, the real thing slithers into view. — Joshua Rothkopf

‘Marty Supreme’ (Dec. 25)

Timothée Chalamet learned guitar to play Bob Dylan in last year’s “A Complete Unknown.” That’s impressive, but I’m more eager to see his pingpong skills in Josh Safdie’s biopic loosely based on 1958 men’s singles table tennis champion Marty “The Needle” Reisman, who flipped the script on Theodore Roosevelt by speaking loudly with a very small paddle. The buzz is that Chalamet has been coached by former American Olympian Wei Wang and that “Marty Supreme” might be the all-too-rare Oscar contender that’s game to take a big swing. As a bonus, it’s got one of my favorite rising starlets, Odessa A’zion. — Amy Nicholson

‘No Other Choice’ (Dec. 25)

A longtime passion project for filmmaker Park Chan-wook, this adaptation of a 1997 Donald Westlake novel somehow feels up-to-the-minute timely. Dedicated Yoo Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), a veteran employee at a paper company, loses his job following a corporate buyout and struggles to find work that will provide for his family. Out of desperation, he plans to kill off any competitors for a promising new job he’s interviewing for. In part thanks to the lead performance by “Squid Game” star Lee, there is a warmth and charm to go along with Park’s exacting craft and formalism in this vicious satire of the zero-sum mindset of current economies. — Mark Olsen

‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ (Dec. 25)

This is a genuinely strange movie, but that’s the vibe you want from a film that tackles the life of the founder of the Shakers religious sect, doing so in the form of a musical, complete with songs (more like chants) and dances that pulsate with whirling-dervish fervor. Amanda Seyfried gives it her all playing the title character, the real-life leader of a movement devoted to gender equality and sexual abstinence. It’s directed by Mona Fastvold, who co-wrote it with her partner Brady Corbet, making this something of a supplement to “The Brutalist” (including both films’ Oscar-winning composer Daniel Blumberg). You’ll learn a lot about the Shakers and maybe not enough about Ann Lee beyond her zealotry. But the herky-jerky song-and-dance sequences are wild, a potent reminder that America has long been the land of the free and the home of the rave. — Glenn Whipp

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By SOPHIE BATES

FLOWOOD, Miss. (AP) — They’re both round, orange and probably bad for your health, but which is the better Thanksgiving dessert: pumpkin or sweet potato pie? For most people, the answer likely depends on where they’re from.

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The two Thanksgiving favorites have more in common than not. They’re similar in color, taste and texture, and derived from European carrot pie. Those similarities make them all the easier to compare.

“Pumpkin,” said Lori Robinson, a customer at Sugar Magnolia Takery in Flowood, Mississippi. “My mom cooks it every Thanksgiving, Christmas, every time. It’s way better than sweet potato.”

Unlike some bakeries in the area, Sugar Magonlia Takery makes both pumpkin and sweet potato pies.

Owner Elizabeth Arnold said the main difference between the pies in her bakery comes down to spice. Sweet potato is sweeter, made with white and brown sugar. Pumpkin pie is less sweet and spicier.

“Sweet potato pie. All day,” said Xavier Pittman, another customer.

At Arnold’s bakery, sweet potato tends to outsell pumpkin.

That’s not surprising in a southern bakery, explained Adrian Miller, a culinary author known as the “Soul Food Scholar.”

A mixer combines the ingredients for sweet potato pie on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Flowood, Mississippi. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates)

Sweet potato pie, he said, is particularly popular in the South, where sweet potatoes have deep roots in the region’s culture, economy and painful past.

“If there were to be a Mount Rushmore of soul food desserts, sweet potato pie would definitely be there,” Miller said.

Pumpkin pie, while ubiquitous, is more often associated with the northern part of the country.

The stereotypes boil down to this: Pumpkin pie is favored by white northerners while sweet potato pie is a favorite among Black southerners. But for culinary historian and author Michael W. Twitty, the issue is more nuanced.

With both desserts ingrained in American history, tradition and culture, the debate over which is better, Twitty argues, is really about identity.

“We can have fun with good-natured ribbing between regions and cultures,” Twitty said. “At the same time, don’t let it get too serious to the point where it’s like hard, fast markers of who you are, who I am, who we are.”

Raised in Washington, D.C., Twitty didn’t grow up in the Deep South. But the South, he said, has grown up in him. His family’s southern roots stretch back to the 17th century.

“Everybody would always bring like two homemade sweet potato pies,” Twitty said of his childhood Thanksgivings.

The intertwining of sweet potatoes and southern Black culture began with slavery. Sweet potatoes were a staple for many enslaved people in the Americas, Twitty said. It was an accessible, familiar food, similar to the yams and cassava that make up a cornerstone of African cuisine.

Enslaved people are credited with perfecting the sweet potato pie recipe, though Europeans are thought to be the first to attempt such a delicacy.

Some believe slavery is the reason sweet potato pie didn’t take off in the North. An abolitionist movement advocated boycotting goods produced by enslaved people but, Twitty said, the answer is likely simpler: access.

Sweet potatoes and pumpkins were both available in the South. In the North, however, early Americans didn’t have much access to the orange sweet potatoes we think of today, Miller said. Instead, northern sweet potatoes had white flesh and a more mealy texture.

Pies, fresh out of the oven, cool on a baking rack on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Flowood, Miss. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates)

With limited access to sweet potatoes in the North, pumpkin likely reigned supreme. The tradition of pumpkin pie goes back centuries to the colonial period, Miller said. A recipe for pumpkin pie was included in the nation’s first cookbook, written in 1796 by Amelia Simmons.

While there may be some truth to the culinary divide, Twitty said the stereotypes don’t hold up in many communities. Miller, who also has southern ancestry, said he grew up eating pumpkin and sweet potato pie on Thanksgiving.

“There will also be somebody, every single day, every single year who will break the rules,” Twitty said.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumers were much less confident in the economy in November in the aftermath of the government shutdown, weak hiring and stubborn inflation.

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The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index dropped to 88.7 in November from an upwardly revised October reading of 95.5, the lowest reading since April, when President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs that caused the stock market to plunge.

The figures suggest that Americans are increasingly wary of high costs and sluggish job gains, with perceptions of the labor market worsening, the survey found. Declining confidence could pose political problems for Trump and Republicans in Congress, as the dimmer views of the economy were seen among all political affiliations and were particularly sharp among independents, the Conference Board said.

Earlier Tuesday, a government report showed that retail sales slowed in September after healthy readings over the summer. While economists forecast healthy growth for the July-September quarter, many expect a much weaker showing in the final three months of the year, largely because of the shutdown.

Less-confident consumers may spend less, though the connection isn’t always clear. In recent years, consumer spending has held up even when the available data suggests they’ve grown more anxious.

“We do not think that consumer spending is about to hit a cliff, as spending has decoupled from confidence, but risks to the downside are increasing,” Thomas Simons, chief U.S. economist at Jefferies, an investment bank, said.

The proportion of consumers that said jobs are “plentiful” dropped to 27.6% in November, down from 28.6% in the previous month. It is down sharply from 37% in December.

At the same time, 17.9% said jobs are “hard to get,” slightly below the 18.3% who said so in October. That figure is up from 15.2% in September. The figures on job availability are seen by economists as reliable predictors of hiring and the unemployment rate.

Americans continue to worry about elevated costs, fueling the “affordability” concerns that were a key issue in elections earlier this month.

“Consumers’ write-in responses pertaining to factors affecting the economy continued to be led by references to prices and inflation, tariffs and trade, and politics, with increased mentions of the federal government shutdown,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board. The shutdown ended Nov. 12.

The economy likely grew at a solid annual rate of about 3% in the July-September quarter, economists estimate. But growth is likely to slow in the final three months of the year, largely because of the shutdown, which cut off pay for federal workers, disrupted contracts, and interrupted air travel.

The Conference Board survey ran through Nov. 18, about five days after the shutdown ended.