CNN – National

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN Winter in drought-stricken California is off to a fast start with a series of storms bringing a generous amount of rain and snow across Western states. And it’s already starting to make a dent in California’s drought conditions, according to the latest US Drought Monitor released Thursday morning. The barrage of

By Faith Karimi, CNN The deaths of Canadian billionaires Barry and Honey Sherman have been shrouded in mystery from the beginning. On December 15, 2017, a realtor giving a tour of the couple’s Toronto mansion around midday discovered their bodies, fully dressed, beside their indoor basement swimming pool. They were semi-seated side by side, with

By Zoe Sottile, CNN Two far-off planets are likely made of water, according to research conducted using NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer telescopes. The so-called “water worlds” are orbiting a red dwarf star, the smallest and coolest kind of star, according to a news release from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The aqueous planets are 218 light-years

By Paradise Afshar and Christina Maxouris, CNN While search teams in Hawaii are looking for a medical transport aircraft officials believe crashed with three people aboard, the governor issued an emergency proclamation to bolster medical airlift services — which he said are a critical need in the isolated island chain. The aircraft went missing off

By Tavleen Tarrant, CNN A 63-year-old man was assaulted in what police are calling an antisemitic attack in New York’s Central Park on Wednesday, according to the New York Police Department. The man was walking in the park when another man in his mid-40’s allegedly ambushed him from behind, causing the older man to fall,

By Alta Spells and Christina Maxouris, CNN Disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, who has been accused of killing his wife and son and being involved in financial crimes and fraud schemes, is now facing a new set of tax evasion charges. Murdaugh was indicted by the South Carolina State Grand Jury on nine

By Lauren del Valle, CNN Frank James, the man authorities have said was behind the mass shooting inside a New York City subway that left dozens injured in April, now faces 10 counts of a terrorist attack and other violence against a mass transportation system, according to a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand

By Rebekah Riess and Emma Tucker, CNN A transgender woman who is scheduled to be executed in Missouri next month for murdering a woman in 2003 has filed a clemency application with the governor, citing struggles with brain damage and childhood trauma, the petition says. Amber McLaughlin — listed in court documents as Scott McLaughlin

By Andy Rose, Carolyn Sung and Christina Maxouris, CNN The father of the man accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens more at the Highland Park, Illinois, Fourth of July parade was taken into custody Friday and facing felony reckless conduct charges, prosecutors announced. Robert Crimo Jr., is charged with seven counts of felony

By Brad Parks and Andy Rose, CNN Two teens were killed and two others were wounded in a shooting outside Benito Juarez High School southwest of downtown Chicago Friday afternoon, police said. No suspects were in custody, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown told reporters Friday at a news conference. Brown said he didn’t have any

By Abby Phillip and Ray Sanchez, CNN Brittney Griner departed a medical military facility in Texas on Friday and returned home to Arizona, vowing in an Instagram post to play in the WNBA this season as she took another step in her reintegration into American life after her detention in Russia. “It feels so good

By Dakin Andone, CNN The use and imposition of the death penalty in America saw a continued decline in 2022 as polls showed public support for capital punishment stayed near historic lows, according to a year-end report by the Death Penalty Information Center. While several factors have contributed to what the non-profit describes as the

By Saskya Vandoorne and Jason Hanna, CNN An American college student who was reported missing more than two weeks ago in France has told relatives he is safe in Spain, his family said Friday, seemingly resolving at least part of a mystery that sparked a multinational search. Kenny DeLand Jr. called his relatives early Friday,

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN A Minnesota man who federal authorities say expressed admiration for mass shooters was arrested Wednesday after allegedly trying to purchase hand grenades and a firearm component that converts an AR-15 style rifle into an illegal machine gun, the Justice Department announced. River Smith, 20, has been charged with one count each

By Joe Sutton and Amanda Jackson, CNN Winston-Salem State University, a historically Black institution in North Carolina, has addressed the use of law enforcement on its campus amid the online spread of a video that shows a Black student being arrested in a classroom after an apparent dispute with a professor. The incident Wednesday began

By Stephanie Elam, CNN California’s air regulators approved an aggressive plan Thursday for the state to reach carbon neutrality by 2045 — in line with legislation signed by Governor Gavin Newsom earlier this year. The plan, approved by the California Air Resources Board, looks to move one of the largest economies in the world to

By Shimon Prokupecz and Matthew J. Friedman, CNN Texas Department of Public Safety investigators looking into the botched response at Robb Elementary School have become increasingly troubled by the actions of two officials — former Uvalde schools police chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo and former Uvalde Police Lt. Mariano Pargas — according to law enforcement officials

By Taylor Romine and Emma Tucker, CNN The man accused of attacking comedian Dave Chappelle while he was performing at the Hollywood Bowl earlier this year pleaded no contest to two charges and was subsequently sentenced to 270 days in county jail Wednesday, officials said. Isaiah Lee pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery charges and

By Lauren del Valle, CNN Prosecutors in Michigan disclosed more evidence in recent court filings they say shows the mother of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley knew about his unhealthy mental state when the parents bought him a gun last November. “You know my biggest fear was that he was gonna turn the gun

By Amanda Musa, CNN Claudine Gay will serve as Harvard’s 30th president, the University announced Thursday. Gay is the first person of color and the second woman to hold the role of Harvard University’s president. Born to Haitian immigrants, Gay received her Ph.D. in government from Harvard in 1998. She is also the recipient of

By Ray Sanchez and Andy Rose, CNN A former Forth Worth, Texas, police officer was found guilty of manslaughter Thursday in the 2019 shooting of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson in her home. Aaron Dean, who is White,  faces up to 20 years in prison for the conviction. Jefferson was Black. He had pleaded not guilty to

By Michelle Watson, CNN The city of Virginia Beach has reached a $3 million settlement with the family of Donovon Lynch — a 25-year-old man who was fatally shot by a police officer last year — the city and the family said in a joint statement. Lynch died after he was shot in the torso

By Kevin Flower, CNN The mother of one of the four college students killed near the University of Idaho last month expressed frustration over police communications on the status of the investigation into the murders. “It’s sleepless nights. It’s feeling sick to your stomach. It’s just being left in the dark,” Kristi Goncalves, the mother

By Jade Gordon, Alta Spells and Nick Valencia, CNN Five law enforcement officers involved in the May 2019 death of Black motorist Ronald Greene have been indicted on state charges by a grand jury in Union Parish, Louisiana. The charges brought against four Louisiana State Police (LSP) troopers and one Union Parish deputy range from

By Harmeet Kaur, CNN The Cambridge Dictionary recently updated its entries for “man” and “woman” to include transgender people — the latest dictionary to broaden its lexicon to reflect evolving language around gender. A spokesperson for the Cambridge Dictionary told CNN that the updates went into effect in October. But the move seemed to go

By Dakin Andone, CNN Mississippi has executed Thomas Loden Jr., who was sentenced to death for the 2000 murder of a 16-year-old girl, amid a legal challenge by him and other inmates to the state’s lethal injection protocol. Loden, 58, was pronounced dead Wednesday at 6:12 p.m. CT. He expressed his remorse to victim Leesa

By Michelle Watson and Jason Hanna, CNN One of the three University of Virginia football players shot dead as they returned from a field trip last month was on the phone with his mother just before the shooting, she told NBC. D’Sean Perry, 22, had been talking to his mom, Happy Perry, but “his cell

By Paradise Afshar, CNN A sheriff in Washington state who was accused of tailing a Black man delivering newspapers and falsely accusing the man of threatening his life has been found not guilty on related charges. Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer was charged with false reporting and making a false or misleading statement to a

By Isa Kaufman Geballe, CNN A Michigan man accused of making death threats against Black Lives Matter supporters during unrest following George Floyd’s killing in 2020 pleaded guilty in federal court to two hate crime charges, officials said. Kenneth Pilon, 61, pleaded guilty to willfully intimidating and attempting to intimidate citizens from engaging in lawful

By Andy Rose, CNN The family of Athena Strand, the 7-year-old Texas girl allegedly kidnapped and killed by a delivery driver, is suing FedEx and one of its subcontractors, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The man suspected of killing Athena — Tanner Lynn Horner — delivered packages for FedEx Ground but was employed through

By Melissa Bell, Saskya Vandoorne and Christina Maxouris, CNN The woman who hosted an American college student studying in France before he went missing told CNN she thinks he may have left voluntarily — a claim echoed by a French prosecutor. But the young man’s parents don’t believe that’s the case and on Wednesday, the

By Bill Kirkos and Ray Sanchez, CNN A Texas jury began deliberations Wednesday in the trial of a former Fort Worth police officer accused of murder in the 2019 shooting of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson in her home. The deliberations got underway after closing arguments in which the state portrayed Aaron Dean as a power-hungry former

By Devon M. Sayers, Michelle Watson and Eric Levenson, CNN Five people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism in Atlanta on Tuesday after a clash between activists and law enforcement at a site set to be turned into a state-of-the-art training facility for police, state investigators said. The planned $90 million, 85-acre Atlanta Public

By Nouran Salahieh and Cheri Mossburg, CNN A Los Angeles jury will meet for a 10th day Monday in the second sexual assault trial of Harvey Weinstein, the former movie producer accused of using his Hollywood influence to lure women into private meetings and assault them. The jury had already deliberated for about 37 total

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN Among the cocktail of extreme weather events that plow through the United States, tornadoes can be the most destructive and the most deadly especially for those unprepared for what’s to come. As severe weather events intensify, occur more often and exacerbate the country’s growing economic toll, science is running to keep

By Matt Phillips, CNN Two police officers were shot and killed early Wednesday morning in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, officials said. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves identified the slain officers as Officer Branden Estorffe and Sgt. Steven Robin, according to a tweet from his verified account. “I am heartbroken by this terrible loss of two brave

By Kristina Sgueglia and Eric Levenson, CNN Grant Wahl, the American soccer reporter who collapsed and died while covering the World Cup in Qatar last week, died of an aortic aneurysm that ruptured, his wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, said Wednesday. “It’s just one of these things that had been likely brewing for years, and for

By Will Simon, CNN They were living ordinary and full lives in the small New England town of Newtown, Connecticut, unprepared for the devastation that would unfold and occupy the rest of their days. Mark Barden was a professional musician. Nicole Hockley had recently arrived in Newtown after a corporate marketing career in the United

By Amir Vera, Joe Sutton and Jason Hanna, CNN At least three people have died and more than a dozen were left injured across Louisiana over the past 24 hours as severe weather moves across the South carving a path of destruction. A tornado touched down in New Orleans around 4 p.m. CT Wednesday, the

Compiled by CNN Staff They were pianists and painters, swimmers and dancers, budding readers, little brothers and big sisters. Then, in a flash of violence, their 20 bright smiles were snuffed out forever in a rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary that haunts the nation to this day. Also stolen that chilly Friday — just 11

By Michelle Watson and Amanda Musa, CNN Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker III, has reached a $2 million dollar settlement with the City of Louisville, resolving lawsuits Walker filed in response to “the unlawful police raid that led to Ms. Taylor’s death,” a news release from Walker’s legal team says. Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot

By Nouran Salahieh and Cheri Mossburg, CNN A Los Angeles jury met for an eighth day Tuesday in the second sexual assault trial of Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie mogul accused of using his Hollywood influence to lure women into private meetings and assault them. After about 32.5 total hours of deliberations without reaching a

By Michelle Watson and Amanda Musa, CNN Criminal charges against former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder will be dismissed, a recent court order shows. Snyder was previously indicted in January 2021 on two misdemeanor charges of willful neglect in connection to the Flint, Michigan, water crisis, the court document said. The charges were punishable with up

By Holly Yan, CNN Just days before he was supposed to come home for Christmas, an American college student studying in France is still missing as his father challenged the local prosecutor’s claims about his son. Kenny DeLand Jr., a senior at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York, had been studying at the

By Stephanie Elam, CNN Across the country, overflow health care workers are struggling to catch their breath as hospitals fill with sick patients battling a trifecta of respiratory illnesses — Covid-19, RSV and the flu. “We’ve seen a real increase in cases … particularly since Thanksgiving,” said Dr. Christopher Longhurst, chief medical officer at UC

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN Each year, the Arctic region goes through an annual health checkup — and the results are in: From a rapid decline in snow cover to an unprecedented late season melting event to another year of seabird die-offs, the Arctic has once again shown clear symptoms of an ailing planet. A report

By Ella Nilsen, CNN US Department of Energy officials announced a history-making accomplishment in nuclear fusion Tuesday: For the first time, US scientists produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy they used to power the experiment. A so-called “net energy gain” is a major milestone in a decadeslong attempt to source clean, limitless

By Aya Elamroussi, CNN A month after the gruesome killings of four University of Idaho students in their off-campus home, authorities have yet to name a suspect or locate the murder weapon as hundreds of students take final exams before winter break. The students, Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kernodle’s

By Abby Phillip and Nouran Salahieh, CNN Freed from a Russian penal colony and back on American soil, WNBA star Brittney Griner got her first taste of a return to normal life over the weekend at a Texas military facility. But though she’s home, Griner is heartbroken that Paul Whelan is still detained, her agent

By Holly Yan, Aya Elamroussi and Taylor Romine, CNN It was a magnificent light show that illuminated Hawaii’s Big Island, but now it’s over. The world’s largest active volcano, Mauna Loa, and its neighbor Kilauea have both stopped erupting, the US Geological Survey said. Lava stopped spewing out of a fissure on Mauna Loa on

By Wayne Sterling and Matt Phillips, CNN University of Texas at Austin men’s basketball head coach Chris Beard was arrested and charged with a third-degree felony assault on Monday. Officers responded to a “disturbance” on the 1900 block of Vista Lane at 12:15 a.m. local time and Beard was arrested, according to Austin Police Department.

By Shimon Prokupecz and Matthew J. Friedman, CNN Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco does not appear to have completed an active shooter training course, according to documents CNN obtained Monday from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the regulatory agency for peace officers in Texas. The information comes on the heels of a contentious Uvalde

By Amir Vera and Andi Babineau, CNN Former NFL player Kevin Ware Jr. agreed to a plea deal Monday on drug and weapons charges, all while still facing separate charges in Texas in connection with the death of his girlfriend, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. Court records indicate jury selection for the

By Nicki Brown, CNN An entrance to Central Park will be named the “Gate of the Exonerated” to honor the group of Black and Hispanic teens known as the “Central Park Five” who were wrongfully convicted of beating and raping a White female jogger in the park more than 30 years ago. Individuals from the

Ella Nilsen and René Marsh, CNN Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility have made history by successfully producing a nuclear fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain, a breakthrough hailed by US officials as a “landmark achievement” and a “milestone for the future of clean energy.” Here’s what you need to

By Bill Weir, CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Their busy, buzzing business partners pollinate everything from almonds in California to blueberries in Maine, so few people understand the state of American agriculture quite like Florida beekeepers. But colliding climate crises have left few as sad and worried. The storms and droughts of ’22 had already taken

By Michelle Watson and Nicole Chavez, CNN The city of Richmond, Virginia, started removing its last standing Confederate monument on Monday. City workers lifted the bronze statue depicting Gen. A.P. Hill, a Confederate general killed during the Third Battle of Petersburg in the American Civil War, from its base at the intersection of the city’s

By Michelle Watson, CNN A man hiking near the summit of Mt. Willard in New Hampshire fell 300 feet to his death, authorities said. The man was hiking with his wife Saturday morning when he fell and yelled out for help, New Hampshire Fish and Game said in a news release. “The hiker’s wife heard

By Nouran Salahieh and Cheri Mossburg, CNN A Los Angeles jury will head into its eighth day of deliberations Tuesday in the second sexual assault trial of Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie mogul accused of using his Hollywood influence to lure women into private meetings and assault them. The jury has deliberated for a total

By Ashley Killough and Eric Levenson, CNN The former Fort Worth police officer charged with murder for the 2019 shooting of 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson in her own home testified Monday he fired at her because she pointed a gun at him. “As I started to get that second phrase out, ‘Show me your hands,’ I

By Andy Rose, Saskya Vandoorne and Allegra Goodwin, CNN A prosecutor in France has opened an investigation into the disappearance of an American college student who, his family says, has not been heard from in more than two weeks. Kenny DeLand Jr.’s fellow students reported him missing on November 29, prompting the investigation, according to

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN As you scroll through social media this week, there’s a chance you’ll see pictures of your friends, but re-imagined as celestial beings or cartoon-like characters. Perhaps you’ve even seen a few of the eye-catching portraits already — or maybe you’re grimacing at the notion of another viral trend hijacking your feed.

By Nouran Salahieh and Holly Yan, CNN Fresh off her elated return to the US after months in Russian custody, two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is back on a basketball court. But her reintegration into American life is far from over, as is the fight by WNBA players for equity as US professional athletes.

By Jacob Lev, CNN Going from Mr. Irrelevant in the 2022 NFL Draft to spoiling Tom Brady’s homecoming, San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Brock Purdy has almost seen it all following Sunday’s 35-7 blowout win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 22-year-old Purdy outdueled Brady, throwing for 185 yards and two touchdowns. Purdy also added

By Homero De la Fuente, CNN Former NBA All-Star and longtime head coach Paul Silas has died at the of age 79, the league announced Sunday. “We mourn the passing of former NBA All-Star and head coach Paul Silas. Paul’s lasting contributions to the game are seen through the many players and coaches he inspired,

CNN Editorial Research Here is a look back at the events of 2022. Notable US Events January 3 – The US Food and Drug Administration expands the emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine boosters to children ages 12 to 15. On January 5, the CDC updates its recommendations for the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine booster.

By Michelle Watson, CNN Father Michael Pfleger, the senior pastor of the St. Sabina Parish in Chicago, has been reinstated after an independent review board found “no reason” to keep him away following the latest accusation of sexual abuse against him. Pfleger posted a picture of the letter from the archbishop of Chicago to the