CNN – National

Essay by Dana Bash, CNN In the weeks leading up to Chanukah last year, my then-10-year-old son told me that he thought he wanted a Jewish star necklace. It was a rather soft ask, so I quietly let it go. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the idea of him wearing

By Andy Rose and Aya Elamroussi, CNN A ban on teachers displaying Pride materials in classrooms or writing their pronouns in email signatures will remain in place in a Wisconsin public school district following a contentious board meeting during which parents and students criticized the policy. The prohibition is based on Kettle Moraine School District’s

By Hannah Sarisohn and Omar Jimenez, CNN A Chicago police sergeant was charged Thursday with felony official misconduct and aggravated battery six weeks after video surfaced showing him holding a 14-year-old boy in the prone position with his knee while he was off-duty in Park Ridge, Illinois, according to Park Ridge police. Michael Vitellaro, 49,

By Aya Elamroussi, CNN The remains of a 23-year-old from Utah who was killed during a bombing mission in World War II have been identified, a federal agency said Thursday. Elvin L. Phillips, who was a sergeant for the US Army Air Forces, was a gunner on board an aircraft that crashed north of Bucharest,

By Sonia Moghe, CNN Twenty years after she denied to a grand jury that R. Kelly had sex with her as a girl and recorded some of their encounters, the now-grown woman took the stand Thursday to reverse her testimony. Speaking in federal court in Chicago under the pseudonym Jane, the 37-year-old only looked at

By Elizabeth Wolfe, Amy Simonson and Rob Frehse, CNN Three men have been indicted in the beating death of imprisoned Boston gangster and convicted murderer James “Whitey” Bulger, prosecutors announced Thursday. Fotios “Freddy” Geas, 55, Paul “Pauly” DeCologero, 48, and Sean McKinnon, 36, were charged Wednesday with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death

By Nouran Salahieh, Natasha Chen and Jason Kravarik, CNN Christopher Chester, who lost his wife and daughter in the helicopter crash that also killed Kobe Bryant and six others, took the stand Thursday, testifying he lives in fear that the graphic photos taken of his loved ones’ bodies may resurface one day. “I’m fearful all

By Amir Vera and Zenebou Sylla, CNN A third Black woman has been arrested and charged for making “anti-White” statements in connection with the beating of a White woman in New York, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. Jahnaiya Williams, 19, was charged with assault as a hate crime and faces other charges, a

By Kiely Westhoff and Emma Tucker, CNN Two men and a teenage girl wanted in connection with an attempted robbery and fatal assault of a New York taxi driver have been arrested, according to a New York Police Department spokesperson. The men turned themselves into police Wednesday on allegations of assault and other crimes, and

By Laura Studley and Tina Burnside, CNN Three people were killed after two planes crashed mid-air over the Watsonville Municipal Airport in California on Thursday afternoon, according to Mayor Eduardo Montesino. A single-engine Cessna 152 and a twin-engine Cessna 340 collided during their final decent, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration. One

By Amir Vera, Jason Carroll, Carolyn Sung and Matt Foster, CNN Easton “Tank” Oliverson is expected to make a full recovery after falling from a bunk bed and fracturing his skull, according to doctors at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville, Pennsylvania. Easton, 12, was set to play in the Little League World Series

By AJ Willingham, CNN Life would be much more simple with a few directions. A status bar, for instance, to remind you to take care of yourself. Perhaps a few clues about other people’s intentions. Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a place to experiment with it all, free from real-world consequences and the

By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN Shila rushes into the living room when she hears her nephew scream. He’s just stepped on a staple that was jutting out of the damp floor in their Maryland apartment, and his toe is bleeding. “The floor is very dangerous,” Shila tells CNN as she tries to comfort the 2-year-old

By Rebekah Riess and Holly Yan, CNN A brain-eating amoeba typically found in freshwater lakes and rivers may have killed a child in what would be Nebraska’s first known death from the parasite, health officials said. The child, whose age was not disclosed, died this week in Douglas County, its health department said. The child

By Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN Amber Escudero-Kontostathis is the only survivor of a deadly lightning strike outside the White House earlier this month, and despite going through something so life-changing and suffering nerve damage, she said she’s recovering quickly. Escudero-Kontostathis, 28, and three other victims were riding out a thunderstorm underneath a tree in Lafayette Park

By Nicki Brown, Jason Hanna and Holly Yan, CNN The man accused of stabbing award-winning author Salman Rushdie and injuring another speaker on stage in New York state last week pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault. Hadi Matar, 24, of New Jersey, made the plea in a courtroom

By Scottie Andrew, CNN The Hawaii most tourists see is one of azure waters and towering resorts, of “aloha” and “ohana” and hula. But as it exists now, the powerful tourism industry dictates the lives of Native Hawaiians, often for the worse, said Kyle Kajihiro, a lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and