CNN – National

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN (CNN) — Four astronauts have returned from a six-month stay on the International Space Station, splashing down off the coast of Florida on Monday. The astronauts oversaw research projects and hosted three paying customers aboard the station as NASA seeks to increase the amount of commercial activity in low-Earth orbit. Here’s

By Christina Maxouris, CNN (CNN) — Thousands of Burning Man attendees finally made their mass exodus after intense rain over the weekend flooded camp sites and filled them with thick, ankle-deep mud – stranding more than 70,000 free-spirited revelers as they waited for the Nevada desert city to dry out. Organizers officially announced the driving

CNN By Christina Maxouris, CNN (CNN) — Thousands of Burning Man attendees finally made their mass exodus after intense rain over the weekend flooded camp sites and filled them with thick, ankle-deep mud, stranding more than 70,000 free-spirited revelers as they waited for the Nevada desert city to dry out. It wasn’t until Monday afternoon

By Amy Simonson and Raja Razek, CNN (CNN) — Nearly two dozen people were injured Monday after a vehicle plowed into the wall of a Houston-area Denny’s restaurant, police in Texas said. Calls started around 11:22 a.m. CT about a vehicle that crashed into the south wall of the restaurant, police in Rosenberg, Texas, said

By Jean Casarez and Lauren del Valle, CNN (CNN) — One of the women depicted in drawings done by the self-proclaimed BTK serial killer, Dennis Rader, has possibly been identified, according to a sheriff in Oklahoma. Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden would not disclose further details on the possible ID of the woman, who was

By Zoe Sottile, CNN (CNN) — A group of Mississippi hunters have broken the state record for the longest alligator ever captured in the state with a 14-foot-3-inch reptile weighing just over 800 pounds. Hunters Tanner White, Don Woods, Will Thomas and Joey Clark of Red Antler Processing, a game processing and hunting store, worked

By Alisha Ebrahimji, Melissa Alonso and Christine Sever, CNN (CNN) — A Texas Christian University student was shot and killed outside a bar in Fort Worth by a man who admitted to the act, but couldn’t provide a clear reason why, according to a police affidavit. Wes Smith was standing on a sidewalk near an

By Celina Tebor and Zoe Sottile, CNN (CNN) — Pennsylvania police are broadcasting a message from escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante’s mother urging him to surrender, as authorities narrow in on a 2-mile area where they believe he is hiding. Cavalcante, 34, broke out of the Chester County Prison, about 30 miles west of Philadelphia, at

By Maria Sole Campinoti, CNN (CNN) — Three people died and more than a dozen swimmers were rescued from the ocean along the New Jersey Shore on Sunday amid warnings of dangerous rip currents over the Labor Day weekend, authorities said. The National Weather Service had warned of “a high risk for the development of

By Zoe Sottile, CNN (CNN) — A suspected drunken driver accidentally called Nebraska law enforcement on himself, leading to his arrest. The man called 911 to report another driver who he thought was driving on the wrong side of the highway, according to a Facebook post from the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office

By Melissa Alonso, CNN (CNN) — Two people are dead, and three others were injured in a shooting at a Birmingham nightclub, according to CNN affiliate WVTM. Shortly afterward, shots were fired at a vehicle arriving at a nearby hospital emergency room, targeting people who may have been injured in the nightclub shooting, a spokesperson

By Zoe Sottile, CNN (CNN) — You probably associate Labor Day with sales, family barbecues and the unofficial end of summer. For most Americans, the long weekend is a much-needed opportunity to reconnect with friends and family and provides a last hurrah before the start of fall. But Monday’s holiday holds a much deeper meaning,

By Zoe Sottile, CNN (CNN) — The first time Masha Maltsava attended Burning Man – the annual “ephemeral city” that attracts thousands of free-spirited revelers in the Nevada desert – she over packed. “I prepared for maybe three months,” she recalled in an interview with CNN. “And I read all the packing lists, all the

By Zoe Sottile, CNN (CNN) — The first time Masha Maltsava attended Burning Man – the annual “ephemeral city” that attracts thousands of free-spirited revelers in the Nevada desert – she over packed. “I prepared for maybe three months,” she recalled in an interview with CNN. “And I read all the packing lists, all the

By Nouran Salahieh, Christina Maxouris, Holly Yan and Camila Bernal, CNN (CNN) — Hundreds of trucks, RVs and other vehicles are journeying out of the Burning Man festival grounds after heavy rains trapped tens of thousands of people in the makeshift city and surrounded them with ankle-deep mud too thick to drive in. Event organizers