CNN – National

By Zoe Sottile, CNN The Columbus Zoo has welcomed a long-legged, endangered new addition: a baby Masai giraffe. The unnamed newborn was born to 12-year-old mother Zuri on August 31, according to a news release from the zoo. “Not only is the calf fiercely cute, but his birth is especially significant as it marks an

By Hannah Sarisohn, CNN Attorneys for Michael Jennings, a Black pastor arrested while watering his neighbor’s flowers, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday alleging that the three Childersburg, Alabama, police officers who arrested him violated his rights under the First and Fourth amendments. In the lawsuit, Jennings’ attorneys also claimed false arrest. Jennings

By Liam Reilly and Christina Maxouris, CNN New York City officials say the water at a Manhattan public housing complex has been cleared for drinking after a lab which had claimed there were high levels of arsenic later said those results were incorrect and issued a retraction. Last week, Fabien Levy, press secretary to New

By Rebekah Riess, CNN Public defenders for the man accused of driving an SUV through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Friday requested his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity be withdrawn, court records show. This comes after attorneys in June changed Darrell Brooks’ plea, saying mental health issues played a role

By Zoe Sottile, CNN Officials are baffled after hundreds of loggerhead sea turtles have become stranded on Texas beaches. A record-high total of 282 loggerheads have appeared in Texas between April 1 and August 19, according to a news release from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which is more than double the total strandings

By Scottie Andrew, CNN If you like to turn a lewk, regularly pwn your friends in “Fortnite” or find the ordinary dictionary janky, you’re in luck: Merriam-Webster has added a slew of slang to its dictionary, lending new legitimacy to those informal terms and more. It typically takes years for such slang to find its

By Meron Moges-Gerbi, CNN A Michigan retiree is suing a Detroit bank after she says employees refused to cash a check she received from a casino after winning a jackpot. Lizzie Pugh told CNN she won more than $12,000 on a slot machine at Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, during a

By Topher Gauk-Roger, CNN The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is recommending residents avoid swimming and surfing at multiple ocean beaches because of sewage discharge. Closure signs have been posted at RAT (Right After Torrance/Redondo) Beach in the southernmost section of Torrance Beach, and that closure will remain in effect until bacterial levels

By Zoe Sottile and Chuck Johnston, CNN The considerable cost of attending one of the top American universities will now be covered for students whose parents earn less than $100,000 per year. New Jersey’s Princeton University announced this week that families in that income bracket will no longer pay any cost to attend the prestigious

By Zoe Sottile, CNN It was probably only a matter of time before San Francisco made it easier to use magic mushrooms in the City by the Bay. On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion to decriminalize plant-based psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca, CNN affiliate KPIX-TV reported. The measure, resolution

By Lauren del Valle, CNN A judge in Delaware federal bankruptcy court granted final approval Thursday for the confirmation of a reorganization plan for the Boy Scouts of America — one set to pay out more than $2.4 billion in compensation to more than 82,000 sexual abuse survivors. The Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice,

By Caroll Alvarado, CNN A former principal in California was charged with a misdemeanor Wednesday for “cruelty to child by endangering health” after he was caught on camera aggressively shoving a student with special needs to the ground, according to local authorities and court documents. Earlier this week the Fresno Unified School District released surveillance

By Amy Simonson, CNN Two men are facing charges after two Cobb County, Georgia, sheriff’s deputies were fatally shot Thursday while serving an arrest warrant. The men, Christopher Golden and Christopher Cook, made their first appearances at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center Friday and were charged. Neither has been assigned an attorney yet. Golden

By Paradise Afshar, CNN Two men were arrested and a “substantial cache of illegal material” to manufacture ghost guns was recovered in Southern California on Thursday, police said. About 200 ghost gun frames, handgun slides, two assault weapons, a rifle, firearms magazines, ammunition and numerous parts and tools for manufacturing ghost guns were recovered as

By Paradise Afshar, CNN Educators in a Washington state school district went on strike Friday because the teachers’ union and the Ridgefield School District (RSD) remain at loggerheads following months of collective bargaining negotiations. It’s not the only school district in Washington state that went on strike this week. Seattle teachers also walked. In separate