CNN – National

By Ryan Bergeron, CNN Marco Springmann is from Germany’s Ruhr region, a largely working-class area he likens to the American Rust Belt. His father made a living building generators for coal-fired power plants. “It’s a very practical, proletarian area that I’m from, and I guess, the diet that I grew up in was very much

By Mark Morales and Ray Sanchez, CNN The 30-year-old mother of three children found unresponsive on the Coney Island shoreline in Brooklyn has been arrested and charged in their deaths, a law enforcement official told CNN Wednesday. Erin Merdy has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of depraved indifference to human

By Dakin Andone, Denise Royal and Carlos Suarez, CNN The defense team in the trial of Parkland, Florida, school shooter Nikolas Cruz abruptly rested its case Wednesday, leading the judge to admonish his attorneys for what she described as a “level of unprofessionalism” she had never before experienced. The defense team planned to call 80

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN Power outages in the US are climbing, researchers reported Wednesday, as extreme weather gets worse due to the climate crisis, the demand for electricity climbs and the country’s energy infrastructure gets older and more vulnerable. The analysis from Climate Central, a nonprofit research group, revealed that from 2000 to 2021, 83%

By Nouran Salahieh, CNN The Mosquito Fire burning in Northern California flared up Tuesday afternoon, charging toward a mountain community and torching more homes as it burned dangerously close to a high school. The inferno — the largest wildfire currently burning in California — began west of Lake Tahoe amid extreme heat September 6 and

By John Miller, Brynn Gingras, Rob Frehse, Aya Elamroussi and Holly Yan, CNN Northeastern University in Boston reopened Wednesday after an employee reported being injured by an exploding package. Boston police and the FBI are now investigating the incident as a likely “hoax,” multiple law enforcement sources tell CNN. On Tuesday evening, an employee said

By Amir Vera and Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN It’s happened again: America wakes up to news that a hip-hop star was fatally and senselessly shot. This time, the rapper is Takeoff of Atlanta’s platinum hit machine, Migos, who was slain early Tuesday in Houston, according to a source close to the group. Houston police responded

By Mark Morales, CNN A former coach of the 7-year-old who was found dead with two of his siblings on a Brooklyn beach Monday remembered him as a quiet, expressive boy who was always excited to play football. Allen McFarland, a youth football coach and New York City Department of Education employee, said the boy

By Matthew Friedman and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN The Texas Department of Public Safety referred two more officers to the agency’s Office of Inspector General late last week for formal investigation over their responses to the Robb Elementary massacre in Uvalde, a department spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday. This brings the total number of officers under

By Rob Frehse, Sharif Paget and Zenebou Sylla, CNN A Northeastern University staff member was injured Tuesday when a package he was opening detonated on the Boston campus, officials said, “The staff member sustained minor injuries and is being treated,” Shannon Nargi, a spokesperson for Northeastern University, told CNN in an email. The package was

By Laura Ly and Rob Frehse, CNN A 14-year-old boy has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of a woman at the Philadelphia playground where she worked, city officials confirm. The teenager was charged with murder and other offenses related to the Friday shooting of Parks and Recreation employee Tiffany Fletcher

By Alta Spells, Maria Cartaya, Martin Savidge and Theresa Waldrop, CNN Prominent Georgia attorney Page Pate, a frequent CNN guest, died Sunday afternoon, his law firm told CNN. He was 55. Pate died after being swept out into a rip current off the coast of St. Simons Island, Georgia, Glynn County Fire-Rescue acting Chief Vinnie

By Eric Levenson, CNN A sexual assault victim filed a federal lawsuit Monday alleging San Francisco Police violated her constitutional rights by relying on DNA taken from her rape kit years ago to arrest her in an unrelated burglary case. The woman, identified only as “Jane Doe,” alleges that law enforcement officers took her DNA

By Scottie Andrew, CNN Mark David Chapman, the man who fatally shot John Lennon in 1980, has been denied parole for the 12th time, New York corrections officials told CNN. Chapman, who is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York, appeared before the parole board on August 31, the New

By Nouran Salahieh, CNN Burning intensely and choking the air with smoke, California’s raging Mosquito Fire has destroyed 46 structures and continues its unrelenting spread through dry forests in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The blaze — the largest currently burning in California — began amid extreme heat September 6 and has grown to about 50,000

By Aya Elamroussi, Kristina Sgueglia and Dakin Andone, CNN Authorities are investigating the deaths of three children who were found unresponsive along a New York City shoreline early Monday after a family member reported concerns about their safety. The children — a 7-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and a 3-and-a-half-month-old girl — were found in

By Amir Vera, Chuck Johnston, Hannah Sarisohn and Nouran Salahieh, CNN The Seattle Education Association voted Tuesday afternoon to suspend its strike and return to classrooms starting Wednesday. The vote came after Seattle Public Schools earlier announced a tentative, three-year contract agreement with the educators’ union amid a strike that delayed the start of the

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN Google searches for “college rankings” spike each year in the months that follow the release of US News & World Report’s annual lists of Best Colleges. The company says that about 40 million people read those lists last year; that’s more than 10 times the number of graduating high school seniors

By Amir Vera and Andy Rose, CNN Britt Reid, the former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach, pleaded guilty Monday to driving while intoxicated in connection with a crash last year that left a 5-year-old girl with a brain injury. The girl, Ariel Young, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, a parietal fracture, brain contusions and

By Nouran Salahieh and Josh Campbell, CNN A federal judge on Friday blocked enforcement of a new Arizona law that would have restricted citizens and journalists from filming police in certain circumstances. The law, signed by Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in July, made it a crime to video record within eight feet of law

By Hannah Sarisohn and Steve Almasy, CNN Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles was charged with murder with a deadly weapon in the stabbing death of Las Vegas investigative journalist Jeff German, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday. In the chilling case that has raised concerns about press freedoms in the United States, German

By Theresa Waldrop, CNN The US Environmental Protection Agency is investigating the water crisis that has affected the roughly 150,000 residents of Jackson, Mississippi, who remain under a boil-water advisory. “I can confirm that the EPA Office of Inspector General began sending personnel to Jackson to collect data and conduct interviews,” Jennifer Kaplan, a spokesperson

By Melissa Alonso and Eric Levenson, CNN The man accused of kidnapping and killing Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher has been indicted on aggravated rape charges for a separate 2021 incident, according to court documents. Cleotha Henderson, 38, appeared in a Shelby County courtroom Monday after he was indicted Thursday on charges of aggravated rape, kidnapping

By Dakin Andone and Kristina Sgueglia, CNN Three children found unresponsive early Monday on the Coney Island shoreline in Brooklyn are dead, and a woman believed to be their mother is now being questioned, New York Police Department officials said. The 30-year-old woman, believed to be the mother of the 7-year-old boy, 4-year-old girl and

By Emma Tucker, CNN Calls for tougher prison sentences are growing in Memphis, Tennessee, as word spreads the suspects in two violent attacks there this month had been released from prison before serving their full sentences for prior convictions. But experts told CNN research shows harsher penalties are not an effective deterrent to violent crime.

By Nouran Salahieh and Tina Burnside, CNN A mudslide trapped multiple drivers in Southern California as storms drenched the region and brought flash flood warnings Sunday evening. Several motorists were rescued after their vehicles became stuck in a mud and debris flow on Pine Canyon Road in the Lake Hughes area, about 65 miles north

By Kiely Westhoff, CNN A former Major League Baseball pitcher who retired from the sport to become a New York City area police officer was killed in a wrong-way crash Sunday, authorities said. Anthony Varvaro, 37, was on his way to an assignment at Manhattan’s World Trade Center 9/11 ceremony when the crash happened, the

By Amir Vera and Nouran Salahieh, CNN A wall of smoke from the Mosquito Fire in the Sierra Nevada mountains is creating hazardous conditions in Northern California, choking the air with smoke as strong winds complicate firefighting efforts. The smoke’s impact was most visually clear in a time-lapse video posted by the NWS in Reno,

By Raja Razek, CNN One person died and four people were injured after a motorboat flipped on the Colorado River Saturday afternoon, according to the National Park Service. The incident occurred in an area of the river called Bedrock Rapid in Grand Canyon National Park, NPS said in a tweet Saturday. “Today at 2:12 p.m.,

By Zoe Sottile, CNN A prominent advocacy group has called on consumers to avoid lobster because of major threats to the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, but Maine politicians are not happy about the guidance. The California-based Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch has published recommendations on sustainable seafood since the 1990s, ranking different seafood

By Michelle Watson and Rebekah Riess, CNN A man arrested in the killing Sunday of an Arvada, Colorado, police officer has been identified in a news release from the police department. Sonny Thomas Almanza was arrested late Sunday evening and faces eight charges, including first-degree murder of a police officer, possession of a weapon by

By Yenny Sanchez, CNN US Customs and Border Protection officers at the Del Rio Port of Entry in Texas said they have have seized a shipment of methamphetamine valued at $11.9 million, making it the largest ever seizure of the drug at the port. The drugs were found within a tractor trailer, the CBP said

By Michelle Watson, CNN Authorities have captured a man accused of killing an eight-year-old girl whose body was found at his central California home nearly six months ago, Lt. Joe Perez said in a news conference Sunday. Investigators found the body of Sophia Mason at the home of her mother’s boyfriend, Dhante Jackson, in Merced

By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN There “ain’t no way” agents with the highest domestic law enforcement office in the country were keeping tabs on Aretha Franklin — but they were. The FBI kept a careful eye on the Queen of Soul and her activism, nothing unusual during the civil rights era when the bureau was

By Andrew Torgan, CNN Today is September 11, and if you are old enough to remember the events of that day 21 years ago, you know the painful memories of loss and sacrifice this anniversary invokes. Channel those feelings into something positive today by reflecting on what’s most important to you and performing at least

By Raja Razek and Dakin Andone, CNN Hundreds of people will need to find new homes after an explosion at their apartment building in Aurora, Colorado, Saturday that injured at least three people, according to Aurora Fire Rescue. Fire crews responded to the building along East Alameda Avenue after “reports of smoke conditions” on Saturday,

By David Culver and Anna-Maja Rappard, CNN Shanika Whiten has devoted over two decades to working for the Los Angeles Unified School District. But recent soaring inflation, combined with the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, have put the 42-year-old special education assistant — and countless teachers and school staff across the US — under

By Nicole Chavez and Virginia Langmaid, CNN Lawyers are pushing for a judge to reconsider the prison sentence of a South Carolina activist who was convicted for “breach of peace,” aggravated over remarks she made to police during racial justice protests in 2020. Brittany Martin, a 34-year-old Black woman, is expecting a baby later this

By Zoe Sottile, CNN The Columbus Zoo has welcomed a long-legged, endangered new addition: a baby Masai giraffe. The unnamed newborn was born to 12-year-old mother Zuri on August 31, according to a news release from the zoo. “Not only is the calf fiercely cute, but his birth is especially significant as it marks an

By Hannah Sarisohn, CNN Attorneys for Michael Jennings, a Black pastor arrested while watering his neighbor’s flowers, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday alleging that the three Childersburg, Alabama, police officers who arrested him violated his rights under the First and Fourth amendments. In the lawsuit, Jennings’ attorneys also claimed false arrest. Jennings

By Liam Reilly and Christina Maxouris, CNN New York City officials say the water at a Manhattan public housing complex has been cleared for drinking after a lab which had claimed there were high levels of arsenic later said those results were incorrect and issued a retraction. Last week, Fabien Levy, press secretary to New

By Rebekah Riess, CNN Public defenders for the man accused of driving an SUV through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Friday requested his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity be withdrawn, court records show. This comes after attorneys in June changed Darrell Brooks’ plea, saying mental health issues played a role

By Zoe Sottile, CNN Officials are baffled after hundreds of loggerhead sea turtles have become stranded on Texas beaches. A record-high total of 282 loggerheads have appeared in Texas between April 1 and August 19, according to a news release from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which is more than double the total strandings

By Meron Moges-Gerbi, CNN A Michigan retiree is suing a Detroit bank after she says employees refused to cash a check she received from a casino after winning a jackpot. Lizzie Pugh told CNN she won more than $12,000 on a slot machine at Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, during a

By Topher Gauk-Roger, CNN The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is recommending residents avoid swimming and surfing at multiple ocean beaches because of sewage discharge. Closure signs have been posted at RAT (Right After Torrance/Redondo) Beach in the southernmost section of Torrance Beach, and that closure will remain in effect until bacterial levels

By Zoe Sottile and Chuck Johnston, CNN The considerable cost of attending one of the top American universities will now be covered for students whose parents earn less than $100,000 per year. New Jersey’s Princeton University announced this week that families in that income bracket will no longer pay any cost to attend the prestigious

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN Three years ago, Andy Finton planted a sugar maple tree — his favorite species — in his suburban Boston backyard. Each fall he waits for its leaves to change into the bright red or deep orange autumn colors the tree is known for. That’s probably not going to happen this year.

By Zoe Sottile, CNN It was probably only a matter of time before San Francisco made it easier to use magic mushrooms in the City by the Bay. On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion to decriminalize plant-based psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca, CNN affiliate KPIX-TV reported. The measure, resolution

By Lauren del Valle, CNN A judge in Delaware federal bankruptcy court granted final approval Thursday for the confirmation of a reorganization plan for the Boy Scouts of America — one set to pay out more than $2.4 billion in compensation to more than 82,000 sexual abuse survivors. The Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice,

By Caroll Alvarado, CNN A former principal in California was charged with a misdemeanor Wednesday for “cruelty to child by endangering health” after he was caught on camera aggressively shoving a student with special needs to the ground, according to local authorities and court documents. Earlier this week the Fresno Unified School District released surveillance

By Amy Simonson, CNN Two men are facing charges after two Cobb County, Georgia, sheriff’s deputies were fatally shot Thursday while serving an arrest warrant. The men, Christopher Golden and Christopher Cook, made their first appearances at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center Friday and were charged. Neither has been assigned an attorney yet. Golden

By Paradise Afshar, CNN Two men were arrested and a “substantial cache of illegal material” to manufacture ghost guns was recovered in Southern California on Thursday, police said. About 200 ghost gun frames, handgun slides, two assault weapons, a rifle, firearms magazines, ammunition and numerous parts and tools for manufacturing ghost guns were recovered as

By Paradise Afshar, CNN Educators in a Washington state school district went on strike Friday because the teachers’ union and the Ridgefield School District (RSD) remain at loggerheads following months of collective bargaining negotiations. It’s not the only school district in Washington state that went on strike this week. Seattle teachers also walked. In separate

By Hannah Sarisohn and Ray Sanchez, CNN First came the claim by a member of the Duke University women’s volleyball team that Brigham Young University officials did not act quickly enough to stop racist harassment she and other Black players were subjected to in Utah. Then, Brigham Young Athletics followed with an apology for what

By Elizabeth Wolfe and Melissa Alonso, CNN Dewayne Tunstall had aspirations of running a food truck and planned to name it “EBE,” inspired by the phrase he lived his life by: “Everybody eats,” his friend Marcus Cash told CNN affiliate WMC. But in the early hours of Wednesday, Tunstall was shot and killed while visiting

By Shimon Prokupecz, Matthew J. Friedman and Rachel Clarke, CNN Texas’ top cop Col. Steven McCraw vowed Thursday to fire any member of his Department of Public Safety who did not do their job the day a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. His pledge came after CNN tracked

By Amir Vera and Andi Babineau, CNN Eliza “Liza” Fletcher routinely ran 8.2 miles in the predawn hours. But her final run ended tragically unfinished. Fletcher, a 34-year-old wife, mother and teacher, was violently abducted last week in Memphis, Tennessee; her body was found Monday behind a vacant complex. A week to the day after

By Eric Levenson, CNN As a longtime reporter in Las Vegas, Jeff German often wrote about the who’s who of the underbelly in Sin City. He covered mobsters and murderers, crooked officials and corrupt government agencies. And in recent months, he wrote about claims of bullying and hostility in a little-known office run by an

By Elizabeth Wolfe, Chris Boyette and Shawn Nottingham, CNN Two suspects have been arrested after a pair of Cobb County, Georgia, sheriff’s deputies were shot and killed while serving a warrant Thursday night in what the sheriff described as an “ambush.” The two deputies were attempting to serve a warrant for failure to appear for

By Andy Rose, Shimon Prokupecz and Ashley Killough, CNN As dozens of kids played and people picnicked Thursday afternoon at Memorial Park in Uvalde, Texas, gunfire interrupted in what authorities believe was gang-related violence about a mile and a half from the now-shuttered elementary school where 21 people were killed in May by a teenage

By Rebekah Riess, CNN Yaqub Salik Talib, the brother of former NFL star Aqib Talib, was indicted for murder by a Dallas County grand jury Thursday in the shooting death of 43-year-old coach during a youth football game outside Dallas, court records show. Yaqub Talib, 39, pulled out a gun after the coaches for both

By Jamiel Lynch, Jason Hanna and Amir Vera, CNN The deadly Fairview Fire burning in Southern California has upended the lives of many Riverside County residents who said they felt blindsided by the flames that have been spreading rapidly since Monday. Norman Nielsen, 65, told CNN Thursday he and his wife were going to bed

By AJ Willingham, CNN Andrew Tate, the professional fighter-turned media personality who earned the ire and admiration of millions with his viral rants about male dominance, female submission and wealth, is everywhere these days. It doesn’t matter that the so-called “alpha-male” podcaster, who openly advocates violence against women, has been banned from every major social

Emily Smith, CNN Before he was found dead outside his Las Vegas home last weekend, veteran investigative journalist Jeff German had written a series of stories about former Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, including a piece he was writing about Telles at the time of his death. German’s reporting uncovered claims of bullying within

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN School is back in session across the US and many students are starting to notice some changes in their classrooms. New laws have restricted teaching about race, history and gender identity in more than a dozen states — and a growing number of books are being pulled from school library shelves.

By Aya Elamroussi and Kiely Westhoff, CNN A 15-year-old student was shot and killed in a New York City park after leaving school Wednesday, police said. The shooting happened in McLaughlin Park in Brooklyn about 15 minutes after the teen was dismissed from his school at 1:30 p.m., NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said

By Aya Elamroussi and Paradise Afshar, CNN A Washington state public school district will reopen Thursday after a teacher strike that demanded improvements to classroom sizes, pay and health services — while another district is planning to strike if similar asks aren’t met, joining educators in Seattle. The Kent Education Association, which represents close to

By Aya Elamroussi and Holly Yan, CNN The man accused of kidnapping and murdering a Tennessee teacher appeared in court Thursday in a city stunned by another deadly attack. Cleotha Henderson, 38, faces multiple charges in the killing of Eliza “Liza” Fletcher, 34, who disappeared after she went jogging in Memphis early Friday morning. Henderson

By Travis Caldwell, Dakin Andone and Chuck Johnston, CNN A veteran investigative journalist who was stabbed to death had the alleged killer’s DNA underneath his fingernails and defensive wounds, a prosecutor and a judge said Thursday at the accused man’s initial court appearance — in a chilling case that has raised concerns about press freedoms

By Nouran Salahieh and Dakin Andone, CNN As Californians endure what could be the worst heat wave in state history, a rare hurricane offshore is poised to extend extreme temperatures already threatening rotating power outages and also deliver powerful winds that could fan raging wildfires. Extreme heat, damaging winds and an increased fire threat will

By Sara Sidner and Meridith Edwards, CNN Six-year-old Charles Wilson V is scared to drink out of the water fountain at his school. “I will die,” he says matter-of-factly when asked the reason why. It’s a fear his father agrees with. At home in Jackson, Mississippi, Charles Wilson III — who lost his first namesake

By Jennifer Henderson and Nouran Salahieh, CNN A 19-year-old man was arrested Wednesday after livestreaming part of a shooting rampage that left four people dead and three others injured and upended life throughout Memphis as residents were urged to shelter in place, police said. The hours-long rampage led to the suspension of public bus and

By Amir Vera, Taylor Romine and Stella Chan, CNN The Fairview Fire has now charred more nearly 20,000 acres in the two days it’s been burning in Southern California, according to Cal Fire. The fire, which had spread to 19,377 acres and is 5% contained as of late Wednesday, has not shown signs of slowing

By Nicole Chavez and Amanda Musa, CNN Classes at Brigham Young University have just begun, and queer students are already being reminded of the complicated relationship they have with the private religious school. When LGBTQ students, alumni and friends gathered off campus at a park in Provo, Utah, for a back-to-school event last weekend, they

By Melissa Alonso and Devon M. Sayers, CNN Two sisters who survived the Holocaust, and fulfilled their fathers dream to make it to America, died days apart from each other in Alabama, according to the Alabama Holocaust Education Center. Ruth Scheuer Siegler, 95, died on September 3 and her sister, Ilse Scheuer Nathan, 98, died