CNN – National

By Ed Lavandera, Ashley Killough, Rosa Flores and Alaa Elassar, CNN A man accused of harassing migrants while brandishing a gun on New Year’s Eve has been arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, El Paso, Texas, police said. Charges against Steven Mathew Driscoll, 27, were upgraded to include a federal

By Michelle Watson, CNN A Virginia judge applied the state’s statutory punitive damages cap to decrease the amount of punitive damages owed by White Nationalists who organized and participated in the 2017 Unite the Right rally from $24 million to $350,000, court records show. A total of $26 million was awarded by a jury in

By Paradise Afshar and Rebekah Riess, CNN Two funeral home operators in Colorado were sentenced Wednesday for illegally selling bodies and body parts without the families’ consent, the US Attorney’s Office said. Megan Hess was sentenced to 20 years in prison and her mother, Shirley Koch, received 15 years for their involvement in the scheme

By Rikki Klaus and Nicole Chavez, CNN After community members searched for Wanbli Vigil in knee-deep snow and brush in Denver, authorities activated a statewide alert system on Tuesday to help find the missing 27-year-old Lakota man. Vigil’s disappearance is the first case to activate Colorado’s new Missing Indigenous Person Alert (MIPA). The system was

By Mark Morales, CNN Trevor Bickford, the 19-year-old accused of attacking New York Police Department officers with a machete on New Year’s Eve, traveled to the city “in order to kill people and carry out jihad,” prosecutors say. Bickford allegedly went to the Times Square checkpoint just after 10 p.m., authorities have said. At the

By AJ Willingham, CNN The death of a pope is a unique circumstance in the Catholic Church. The death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the first pope in modern history to resign his position before his passing, is even more so. As Catholics around the world prepare for his funeral and burial, Catholics in the

By Ray Sanchez and Jill Martin, CNN The Buffalo Bills were holding meetings and a walk-through Wednesday before their Week 18 game against the New England Patriots — less than two days after Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest during a nationally televised game. The 24-year-old safety has shown “signs of improvement” and remains

By Michelle Watson, CNN A New Year’s Day police check on a stolen car report ended when the car plunged over 20 feet and landed on a house and another vehicle in North Caldwell, New Jersey, authorities said in a Facebook post. Officers were at the scene after responding to a report of a stationary

By Eric Levenson, CNN For many players, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s on-field medical emergency on Monday was the first time they had ever witnessed such a serious health incident. Yet the history of professional football is no stranger to such crises. Since its earliest days, football has been a dangerous sport. From 1900 to

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN Some passengers who were recently affected by Southwest Airlines’ holiday travel meltdown are receiving thousands of frequent flier miles as a “gesture of goodwill” for enduring such turbulent times. Meanwhile, lots of luggage remains in limbo — and it could be several days to weeks until some passengers are reunited with

By Eric Levenson and Lauren del Valle, CNN William “Rick” Singer, the mastermind of the sprawling college admissions scam aptly known as Operation Varsity Blues, was sentenced Wednesday to 3.5 years in federal prison, the longest sentence in a case that has rattled America’s higher education system. Singer was the central figure in the scam

By Taylor Romine, Aya Elamroussi, Stella Chan and Holly Yan, CNN A 41-year-old California man faces multiple charges after he allegedly drove off a cliff on the Pacific Coast Highway with his wife and two children, authorities said. All four occupants of the Tesla survived the crash Monday after the car plunged 250 to 300