CNN – National

By Amanda Jackson and Dave Alsup, CNN Several school districts across Texas are encouraging students to wear pink Monday in honor of Athena Strand, the 7-year-old girl who was allegedly kidnapped outside her home and killed last week. More than 20 school districts, including Paradise Independent School District in the county where Strand was went

By Nouran Salahieh, CNN Power outages that left around 40,000 customers in the dark Saturday night in North Carolina and prompted an emergency declaration are the subject of a criminal investigation after crews found evidence that substations were “intentionally” damaged by gunfire, authorities said. The outage in Moore County was first reported around 7 p.m.

By Nouran Salahieh and Hannah Sarisohn, CNN With no suspects or motive announced, the FBI is joining the investigation into power outages in a North Carolina county believed to have been caused by “intentional” and “targeted” attacks on substations that left around 40,000 customers in the dark Saturday night, prompting a curfew and emergency declaration.

By Michelle Watson and Chris Boyette, CNN At a memorial service for four University of Idaho students who were found stabbed to death last month, a pastor from an Idaho church read aloud letters from the surviving roommates, recalling their memories of their friends and sharing their sadness. The service held Friday in Post Falls,

By David Williams, CNN A 2-year-old girl is recovering after being attacked by a coyote Friday afternoon in front of her house in a Los Angeles neighborhood, her father told CNN. Ariel Eliyahuo told CNN that his daughter, Ariya, had to have multiple rabies shots after the attack, which happened at about 3:45 p.m. after

By Keith Allen, CNN Tampa Police Chief Mary O’Connor has been placed on administrative leave after body camera footage taken from a traffic stop last month revealed she told a deputy she was “hoping that you’ll just let us go tonight” and flashed her badge. O’Connor was a passenger in a golf cart, which was pulled

By Rene Marsh, CNN A mom of three, Alicia Fout was going to college and working 30 hours a week but still often struggled to cover the cost of child care. The high price tag forced her to prioritize which monthly bills to pay, which meant frequent utility shut-off notices — and some extremely difficult

By Zoe Sottile, CNN An “amateur phone collective” in Philadelphia is working to bring back pay phones to the city — just without the actual payment. PhilTel, a volunteer organization that launched in June, is planning to open its first free-to-use payphone on December 17 at Iffy Books, a hacker-focused bookshop and workshop in the

By Andrew Torgan, CNN With the arrival of December, the year is drawing to a close — and some might say not a moment too soon. What does 2023 hold in store for us? Well, it appears the future looks bright … magenta to be exact. Here’s what else you need to know to Start

By Eric Levenson and Kat Jennings, CNN Betty Streng does not remember much of last year’s Waukesha Christmas parade — or, as she calls it, a “half-a-parade.” It was the 64-year-old’s first Christmas parade as a member of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, the charmingly rocking group of older women looking for exercise, friendship and the