CNN – National

By Zoe Sottile, CNN After waiting more than 80 years, Merrill Pittman Cooper finally received his high school diploma. Cooper, 101, attended Storer College in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, from 1934 to 1938, but dropped out during his senior year when his family relocated to Philadelphia for financial reasons, Jefferson County Schools said in a

By Christina Maxouris, CNN David Lipson sat in his dining room talking on the phone with his son when he smelled the smoke. He grabbed his dog, his gun and a pair of guitars he bought in 1976 — the year he married his wife — and ran out of his home near Gorman, Texas.

By Leah Asmelash, CNN College students across the country are facing a crisis. It’s not just the basic cost of attending college, which has steadily been climbing. And it’s not the stress of getting into a post-secondary program. The problem is housing. For many college students across the country, especially those who are low-income or

By Mark Morales and Emma Tucker, CNN New York City is executing a plan to clear out encampments across the city where homeless people are known to live and connect those individuals with social services over the next two weeks, according to an official with Mayor Eric Adams’ office. City officials will work to eradicate

By Andy Rose, CNN A wildfire near Boulder, Colorado, prompted an evacuation warning for nearly 20,000 people Saturday evening. “Evacuation areas include 19,000 people and 8,000 homes,” the Boulder Office of Emergency Management tweeted. The NCAR Fire broke out Saturday afternoon. It was just 123 acres by Saturday evening, but not contained at all, officials

By Zoe Sottile, CNN A California man has been charged with smuggling more than a thousand reptiles, some endangered, into the United States. Jose Manuel Perez, 30, of Oxnard, also known as “Julio Rodriguez,” was charged with one count of conspiracy, nine counts of smuggling goods into the United States and two counts of wildlife

By Hannah Sarisohn, CNN A man who was allegedly manufacturing fentanyl in his New Jersey apartment faces almost 30 charges after his 12-year-old nephew died following exposure to paraphernalia containing the substance, the Camden County prosecutor’s office said. On March 21, prosecutors charged Troy Nokes, 35, of Blackwood, New Jersey, with first-degree aggravated manslaughter and

By Emma Tucker, CNN The Memphis Police Department and the New York State Police took a pledge this week to increase the representation of women in their ranks to 30%, joining a total of 150 law enforcement agencies in the US and Canada that have made the commitment in the past year. The 30×30 Initiative

By Sara Smart, CNN On Tuesday, a 9-year-old girl set up her drum kit outside of the Foo Fighters’ hotel in Paraguay, hoping to impress the band. Surrounded by other fans who cheered her on, her skills soon caught the ears of the late Taylor Hawkins, who came down to see the young drummer. Emma

By Ray Sanchez and Mark Morales, CNN The New York Police Department is cracking down on offenses that have become part of daily life in some neighborhoods: public consumption of alcohol, open-air marijuana sales and public urination. The goal is to combat relatively minor infractions that the nation’s largest police department maintains lower the quality

By Jay Croft, CNN The parents of a teen who fell to his death from a Florida amusement park ride have hired attorneys, who are seeking witnesses of the incident. Tyre Sampson, 14, of St. Louis, Missouri, died Thursday night after he fell from the FreeFall drop tower ride at ICON Park in Orlando. Sheriff’s