CNN – National

By Randi Kaye, Dianne Gallagher and Jay Croft, CNN Maggie Murdaugh was worried about money possibly being demanded of her family in a lawsuit and suspicious her husband wasn’t being entirely honest with her in the days before her killing, housekeeper Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson testified Friday in the double-murder trial of Alex Murdaugh. “She was concerned

By Nicole Chavez, CNN The testing organization behind a new advanced high school class in African American studies met several times and exchanged emails over the past year with Florida officials to discuss the course, the state Education Department said, amid a roiling national debate over how politics intersects with the teaching of history. More

By Brynn Gingras and Linh Tran, CNN At least once a week, Richard Glossip’s defense team connects on the phone — sometimes to catch up, and other times to strategize on how to save the life of the Oklahoma man on death row. Glossip, who’s been behind bars for 26 years on a capital murder

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN Millions of Americans will be watching the Super Bowl this Sunday, accompanied by loved ones and alluring snacks. Excitement is also building for another big game happening that day: the Puppy Bowl. This year’s televised event will help 122 puppies get adopted into their forever homes while promoting shelter and foster

By Sara Smart, Elizabeth Wolfe and Emma Tucker, CNN Body camera footage from Wednesday’s arrest of a NewsNation correspondent shows the Ohio National Guard’s adjutant general pushing the reporter during an argument at a press conference that state authorities held about a train derailment. The footage, released Thursday by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, reveals

By Stephanie Elam, CNN An estimated 36.3 million trees died last year in California, a massive jump from the 9.5 million trees that died in 2021, according to an aerial survey report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The trees, which are on federal, state and private land, were killed by the effects

By Joe Sutton and Aya Elamroussi, CNN A leak of nearly 13,000 barrels of crude oil from the Keystone Pipeline near the Kansas-Nebraska border last year was caused by a flawed weld and stress on the pipe from being bent, the operator said. The massive spill, equating to more than 540,000 gallons of oil, shut

By Sara Smart, Brian Todd and Aya Elamroussi, CNN The families of two students who attend a Virginia school where a 6-year-old student shot and wounded his first-grade teacher last month have filed notices of potential legal action against the school district. The parents of a first-grader at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia,

By Taylor Romine and Cheri Mossburg, CNN The family of a 36-year-old Black man who died after sheriff’s deputies shocked him with Tasers in California’s San Mateo County in 2018 has reached a $4.5 million settlement with the county, the family’s attorneys announced. The settlement between Chinedu Okobi’s family and the Northern California county was

By Jamiel Lynch, Dianne Gallagher and Mallika Kallingal, CNN In newly filed lawsuits, former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre says that sports commentators Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee as well as Mississippi State Auditor Shad White have defamed him. According to the suit against Sharpe, Favre claims the Pro Football Hall of Fame tight

By Phil Gast, CNN Steven Brann was out Wednesday on the Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania, sweeping the ground with a metal detector ahead of crews that are rehabilitating a famous part of the Civil War park. Brann usually comes across small stuff like Minié balls, a type of bullet, or percussion caps from firearms. This

By Sara Smart, Michelle Watson and Mallika Kallingal, CNN The family of a 19-year-old Virginia college student who died during a hazing incident in 2021 is suing the Delta Chi fraternity and several others for $28 million, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. Adam Oakes, a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University, had been offered a

By Jamiel Lynch, Shimon Prokupecz and Theresa Waldrop, CNN Prosecutors in Memphis, Tennessee, will review all cases that involved the five officers charged in the brutal beating death of Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop, the district attorney’s office said, as newly released documents show a sixth officer involved in the encounter lied in his

By Justin Gamble, CNN Opal Lee, the 96-year-old Texan who successfully championed legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, was honored on Wednesday with the unveiling of a portrait at the state Capitol. The portrait of Lee, known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth,” is the first new portrait to be hung in the state Senate

By Dave Alsup, CNN More than three months after the body of an American killed fighting alongside the Ukrainian military was retrieved from opposing forces, his family says his remains are back in the US after an arduous wait. Joshua Jones, a 24-year-old from Memphis, Tennessee, traveled to fight alongside Ukraine after the Russian invasion

By Mark Morales and Holly Yan, CNN For the second time in about a week, a New Jersey council member was found shot to death in a car. Milford Borough Councilman Russell Heller, 51, was in the parking lot of a PSE&G energy company facility in Somerset County when a former employee approached his car

By Tina Burnside and Holly Yan, CNN Houston Zoo officials are investigating possible vandalism after an enclosure at the brown pelican habitat in the Children’s Zoo was deliberately cut. Keepers noticed a 4-inch gap in the mesh of the enclosure on Monday, zoo spokesperson Jackie Wallace said in a statement. They determined the animals in

By Jalen Brown, CNN Black college students have lower six-year completion rates for any type of degree or certificate program than any other racial or ethnic group because of racial discrimination, the high cost of higher education and a multitude of external responsibilities, according to a new Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2023 State of Higher Education study.

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN The safest seat on an airplane is also the one nobody wants: in the middle and at the back. Although data shows middle rear seats will protect you the most in an emergency, aviation experts say your seat selection really doesn’t matter because air travel is the safest mode of transport

By Joe Sutton and Emma Tucker, CNN A NewsNation correspondent was arrested on Wednesday after he began reporting live during a news conference held by Ohio authorities regarding a train derailment — an incident police said involved a confrontation between him and a National Guard official after he was told to stop speaking during the

By Sharif Paget and Caroll Alvarado, CNN At least two Philadelphia high school students are facing disciplinary action after a racist video recorded outside of school surfaced on social media showing one girl spraying black paint on another girl’s face as they made racist comments a week into Black History Month. Two of the girls

By Taylor Romine, CNN A man arrested after allegedly firing a replica gun several times in a San Francisco synagogue now faces a hate crime enhancement, the city’s district attorney said Wednesday. The hate crime allegation against 51-year-old Dmitri Mishin is tied to statements he made during the incident as well as social media posts

By Alta Spells, Dakin Andone and Steve Almasy, CNN Witnesses in the murder trial of disbarred South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh on Wednesday shored up earlier testimony of his former law group’s chief financial officer, who’d spoken about discovering what prosecutors allege were his financial crimes that could have helped lead to the killings of

By Chris Boyette, CNN A 12-year-old boy was shot and killed last weekend by a man who found the child in his car after it was stolen, Denver police said. The man, who authorities did not identify, reported that his car had been stolen Sunday and told police that he was tracking the vehicle using

By Melissa Alonso, CNN A 61-year-old man was arrested and charged Tuesday in the theft of 12 squirrel monkeys from a zoo in Broussard, Louisiana, police said. The animals, however, have not yet been found, Broussard Police Chief Vance Olivier told CNN. The 12 squirrel monkeys were taken during a break-in at the zoo that

By Kiely Westhoff and Steve Almasy, CNN The suspect in the shooting death of off-duty New York Police Department officer Adeed Fayaz has been charged with murder, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday. Randy Jones, 38, was arraigned Wednesday and did not enter a plea. He was remanded to police custody, according to the

By Nicki Brown and Lauren del Valle, CNN The man who allegedly attacked New York police officers with a machete on New Year’s Eve pleaded not guilty to state charges in court Wednesday. Trevor Bickford, 19, appeared in a Manhattan courtroom wearing a tan uniform with his wrists and ankles shackled. He spoke only to

By Ashley Killough and Holly Yan, CNN Patrick Crusius plead guilty to all federal charges on Wednesday, nearly three and a half years after the 2019 mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas — one of the deadliest attacks on Latinos in modern US history. Crusius, 24, had pleaded not guilty in 2020

By Tina Burnside, CNN A man shot and killed after a police pursuit was a suspect in a drive-by shooting that injured 11 people last month in Lakeland, Florida, the Polk County sheriff said. Twenty-one-year-old Alex Greene was under surveillance by detectives in the Eagle Lake area of Polk County on Monday, Sheriff Grady Judd

By Elizabeth Wolfe and Eric Levenson, CNN After five Memphis police officers brutally beat Tyre Nichols last month, one officer took two cell phone photos of the visibly injured 29-year-old Black man and texted one image to at least five people, newly revealed internal police department documents show. Demetrius Haley — one of five officers

By Issy Ronald, CNN Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex will be deposed as part of a defamation case brought against the duchess in the United States by her half-sister, Samantha Markle, a Florida judge ruled on Tuesday. Markle is suing Meghan for “defamation and injurious falsehood” following the couple’s 2021 interview with Oprah

By Sara Smart, Brian Todd, Aileen Graef and Aya Elamroussi, CNN The 6-year-old boy who shot his first-grade teacher in a Virginia school had a history of disturbing behavior, including cursing at staff members, trying to whip students with his belt and choking a teacher, according to a legal notice sent to the school board.

By Alta Spells, Randi Kaye and Christina Maxouris, CNN A forensic scientist testified in Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial Tuesday she found gunshot primer residue particles on clothes the now-disbarred South Carolina attorney was wearing the night his wife and son were killed — and on a blue jacket that has drawn increasing attention in the

By Ashley Killough and Ed Lavandera, CNN The man who faces charges stemming from a string of suspicious activities at the Dallas Zoo allegedly admitted to stealing two tamarin monkeys and trying to steal the clouded snow leopard last month, according to arrest warrant affidavits. Davion Irvin also told police that he wants to return

By Nouran Salahieh, Holly Yan and Joe Sutton, CNN Residents near where a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, may return home after an evacuation order was lifted Wednesday, officials said. Air and water samples were analyzed overnight, and the results led officials to deem it safe, East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabick said at

By Andi Babineau and Paradise Afshar, CNN A selfie taken by Gabby Petito weeks before her death shows she had facial injuries on the day she and her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, were stopped by police investigating a domestic disturbance call, according to her family’s lawyer. The photo was released Monday by a law office representing

By Nicki Brown, Brynn Gingras and Steve Almasy, CNN A New York Police Department officer who was shot in the head Saturday while off duty has died, the police commissioner said in a tweet Tuesday night. Adeed Fayaz, 26, had been in grave condition since the shooting, which happened in Brooklyn as he and his

By Nick Valencia, Elizabeth Wolfe and Pamela Kirkland, CNN Five Memphis police officers charged in the deadly police beating of Tyre Nichols last month are accused of assaulting another young Black man just three days prior, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday. Monterrious Harris, 22, filed the lawsuit against the officers and the city

By Eric Levenson, Melissa Alonso and Nick Valencia, CNN Seven additional Memphis police officers are facing discipline in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ death, City Attorney Jennifer Sink told CNN on Tuesday. The officers will receive an internal “statement of charges,” a document notifying them of policy violations, which is then followed by a hearing

By Omar Jimenez, Elizabeth Wolfe and Joe Sutton, CNN A father and his middle-school-aged daughter have filed a federal lawsuit against a former school security guard in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after he put his knee on the child’s neck while trying to break up a cafeteria fight last year. The security guard, Shawn Guetschow, also was

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN Authorities in the US are once again warning about a rise in domestic extremists plotting to attack the nation’s power grids — which government reports have warned could cause a domino effect and leave huge parts of the country in the dark. Efforts are underway to make vulnerable energy facilities more

By Charli Leevongcharoen, CNN As a kid, Clarice Phelps often turned to one image for inspiration. While other seventh graders hung ’90s pop band and movie posters on their walls, Phelps put up a poster of Mae Jemison, the first Black female astronaut to launch into space. “Mae started it all for me,” said Phelps,

By Raja Razek and Amanda Watts, CNN Louisiana authorities are investigating the deadly shooting of an unarmed Black man by a Shreveport officer and hope eventually to release police footage of the encounter, said state police leading a probe of the encounter. Alonzo Bagley, 43, was shot and killed Friday night after police responded to

By Nouran Salahieh, Michelle Watson and Holly Yan, CNN Five train cars that contained vinyl chloride, a potentially explosive chemical, are no longer burning after a train derailment in Ohio, a Norfolk Southern official said Tuesday. The burning stopped after a controlled release of the unstable, toxic chemical Monday at the train derailment site in

By Rob Frehse, CNN An 82-year-old woman who’d been pronounced dead at a nursing home on Long Island, New York, was found to be alive nearly three hours later at a funeral home, authorities said, spurring investigations by police and health officials. The woman was pronounced dead Saturday at the Water’s Edge Rehab and Nursing

By Greg Wallace and Pete Muntean, CNN A Southwest passenger jet and a FedEx cargo plane came as close as 100 feet from colliding Saturday at the main airport in Texas’ capital, and it was a pilot — not air traffic controllers — who averted disaster, a top federal investigator says. Controllers at Austin’s international

By Nicole Chavez and Meron Moges-Gerbi, CNN A middle school in New York and its food vendor, Aramark, apologized after students were served chicken and waffles, along with watermelon on the first day of Black History Month. The lunch menu offered on February 1 at Nyack Middle School in Rockland County was “inexcusably insensitive and

By Amanda Watts, CNN Aiden Fucci, the Florida teenager who stabbed 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey more than 100 times in 2021 has pleaded guilty to first degree murder, according to the 7th Judicial Circuit court clerk. Fucci entered his guilty plea Monday at a hearing intended to get jury selection for his trial underway, CNN affiliate

By Dakin Andone and Alta Spells, CNN The judge in Alex Murdaugh’s double murder trial on Monday ruled to allow the state to present evidence of the now-disbarred South Carolina attorney’s alleged financial crimes, which the prosecution contends were about to be revealed and provided him a motive to kill his wife and son. The

By Kelly McCleary, CNN A 3.8 magnitude earthquake rattled the Buffalo, New York, area early Monday. The quake struck around 6:15 a.m. and was centered just over a mile northeast of West Seneca at a depth of about 1.9 miles, the US Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, the

By Ed Lavandera and Theresa Waldrop, CNN The entire nation seemed captivated by the suspected theft of two emperor tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo last week. But no one was more worried about Bella and Finn than zoo staff members, who were already on edge after a string of other disturbing incidents there. There

By Alaa Elassar, CNN A suburban Alabama community is rallying behind a Black author after the school district rescinded an invitation to have him speak and read his books at local elementary schools during Black History Month. Award-winning children’s book author Derrick Barnes, known for writing stories for and featuring Black children, will no longer

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN If you find yourself gazing at the sky tonight, you may notice the moon appears slightly smaller than normal. That’s because you’re looking at a micromoon, a term used to designate when the moon is at a quite distant location in orbit around Earth. Here’s what else you need to know

By Hannah Sarisohn and Aya Elamroussi, CNN A single ticket in Washington state matched all winning numbers for Monday night’s Powerball jackpot of $754.6 million, the fifth-largest in its history, according to the game’s website. The winner’s ticket matched all the lucky numbers required to clench the grand prize: 5, 11, 22, 23, 69 and

By Celina Tebor and Alaa Elassar, CNN A man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting the 90-year-old owner of an iconic 24-hour candy shop in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood, according to the New York Police Department. Luis Peroza, 39, was arrested Friday on charges of assault for allegedly striking Ray Alvarez, the owner of Ray’s

By Hannah Sarisohn, CNN Police in suburban Atlanta are investigating after residents reported finding flyers with antisemitic imagery and messaging in their driveways. They were found Sunday morning in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody, according to officials in both cities, home to many Jewish families. On Twitter, Georgia Rep. Esther Panitch said on Twitter she received

By Hannah Sarisohn, CNN Residents near the site of a train derailment that sparked a massive fire in East Palestine, Ohio, were urged to evacuate immediately Sunday night due to the risk of an explosion, authorities said. “Within the last two hours, a drastic temperature change has taken place in a rail car, and there

By Hannah Sarisohn and Eric Levenson, CNN The Miami Police on Thursday unveiled a Black History Month-inspired vehicle wrap that features the pan-African colors, outlines of the African continent, raised fists and kente cloth. “Miami Police Supports Black History Month,” reads a message on the vehicle’s back window. The wrap and a Black History Month-inspired

By Zoe Sottile, CNN Customs officers intercepted 120 cockfighting spurs sent from Mexico City to Illinois, officials say. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Louisville Port of Entry discovered the package on January 17, according to a news release from the agency. It contained 120 cockfighting spurs, which are traditionally affixed to the natural

By Paradise Afshar and Michelle Watson, CNN Authorities in Austin, Texas, responded to gridlocked roads near an H-E-B grocery store this week after more than 250 people clamored for food that had been discarded due to the sustained power outage at the location. Travis County Constable Pct.4 George Morales III posted photos of the incident

By Zoe Sottile, CNN Madison Russo allegedly used social media to spread awareness about her battle with cancer and to raise almost $40,000 on GoFundMe — but the entire operation was a scam, according to Iowa police, who have charged Russo with theft. Russo, a 19-year-old TikTok content creator, raised more than $37,303 from 439

By Zoe Sottile, CNN Yale University has honored Bobbi Wilson, a 9-year-old Black girl who had the police called on her after spraying invasive spotted lanternflies. The Yale School of Public Health held a ceremony to celebrate Bobbi’s efforts to eradicate the invasive species on January 20th, according to a news release from the university.

By Christina Maxouris, CNN Federal authorities made a grim and unexpected discovery in an unattended bag last week at a Detroit airport. Inside, the bag held a young dolphin’s skull, the US Customs and Border Protection said in a news release Friday. The bag was separated from its owners while traveling and when it arrived

By Celina Tebor and Emma Tucker, CNN A New York City directive allowing first responders to enforce a state law that allows them to potentially involuntarily commit people experiencing a mental health crisis can proceed after facing legal challenges by mental health advocates, a judge has ruled. The ruling, issued Monday by U.S. District Judge

By Melissa Alonso, CNN The Texas woman accused of killing Heidi Broussard and kidnapping the victim’s infant has been sentenced to 55 years in prison after pleading guilty to the 2019 murder, according the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. Magen Fieramusca, 37, was arrested more than a week after Broussard’s body was discovered in a

By Taylor Romine and Ralph Ellis, CNN A man wanted by police in Oregon in a bizarre incident at a house featured in “The Goonies” was the subject of a daring Coast Guard rescue when he was tossed from a stolen boat as it capsized, authorities said. On Wednesday, police in Astoria, Oregon, received a

By Justin Gamble, CNN Black children living in poverty face increased instances of stress and trauma that can alter their brain development, a new study found. The study was published this week by the American Journal of Psychiatry. Researchers at Harvard University examined MRI scans of 7,350 White and 1,786 Black children ages 9 and

By Zoe Sottile, CNN An Indiana man died after falling from a cliff in Puerto Rico while trying to make a video for TikTok, according to his family. Edgar Garay, 27, of Indiana, was on a recreational day trip to the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico on January 29 when he fell off a 70-foot coastal

By Aaron Cooper and John Miller, CNN Gunshots fired at two power substations in Moore County, North Carolina, late last year left 45,000 homes and businesses without power and more attacks just like that could already be planned by domestic extremist groups, according to experts. “All of a sudden, about 8:45 p.m., about 20 shots

By Rebekah Riess, CNN Le Le, a 24-year-old male giant panda, died at the Memphis Zoo earlier this week, according to officials. The panda died early Wednesday in his sleep after spending about 20 years at the facility, Memphis Zoo chief executive officer Matt Thompson said during a news conference Friday. “Le Le’s name translates

By Ella Nilsen, CNN Driving along county roads that are little more than dirt paths, Tim Walsh remarked that the expansive valley below the Long Mountain range used to be no more than tumbleweeds and scraggly cactuses. Now, it’s pistachio trees as far as the eye can see. Far from mature, the pistachio saplings are

By Rebekah Riess, Hannah Sarisohn and Christina Maxouris, CNN Evacuation and shelter-in-place orders remain in effect in a northeastern Ohio town after a train derailment sparked a massive fire and concerns about air quality. A Norfolk Southern train with more than 100 cars derailed in East Palestine, about 15 miles south of Youngstown, according to

By Zoe Sottile, CNN Shrek is love, Shrek is life, Shrek is… missing? Police in Hatfield, Massachusetts, have launched a search for a 200-pound statue of the cinema ogre after it was reported missing from its home. The Hatfield Police Department posted an alert about the absent ogre on Facebook on Wednesday. They included a

By Mallika Kallingal and Rob Frehse, CNN Authorities at New York’s Central Park Zoo are scrambling to recapture an Eurasian eagle-owl that escaped after its enclosure was vandalized. Officials discovered Flaco’s exhibit was vandalized and the stainless steel mesh was cut on Thursday night, the zoo said in a statement. The New York City Mayor’s