CNN – National

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN School is back in session across the US and many students are starting to notice some changes in their classrooms. New laws have restricted teaching about race, history and gender identity in more than a dozen states — and a growing number of books are being pulled from school library shelves.

By Aya Elamroussi and Kiely Westhoff, CNN A 15-year-old student was shot and killed in a New York City park after leaving school Wednesday, police said. The shooting happened in McLaughlin Park in Brooklyn about 15 minutes after the teen was dismissed from his school at 1:30 p.m., NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said

By Aya Elamroussi and Paradise Afshar, CNN A Washington state public school district will reopen Thursday after a teacher strike that demanded improvements to classroom sizes, pay and health services — while another district is planning to strike if similar asks aren’t met, joining educators in Seattle. The Kent Education Association, which represents close to

By Aya Elamroussi and Holly Yan, CNN The man accused of kidnapping and murdering a Tennessee teacher appeared in court Thursday in a city stunned by another deadly attack. Cleotha Henderson, 38, faces multiple charges in the killing of Eliza “Liza” Fletcher, 34, who disappeared after she went jogging in Memphis early Friday morning. Henderson

By Travis Caldwell, Dakin Andone and Chuck Johnston, CNN A veteran investigative journalist who was stabbed to death had the alleged killer’s DNA underneath his fingernails and defensive wounds, a prosecutor and a judge said Thursday at the accused man’s initial court appearance — in a chilling case that has raised concerns about press freedoms

By Nouran Salahieh and Dakin Andone, CNN As Californians endure what could be the worst heat wave in state history, a rare hurricane offshore is poised to extend extreme temperatures already threatening rotating power outages and also deliver powerful winds that could fan raging wildfires. Extreme heat, damaging winds and an increased fire threat will

By Sara Sidner and Meridith Edwards, CNN Six-year-old Charles Wilson V is scared to drink out of the water fountain at his school. “I will die,” he says matter-of-factly when asked the reason why. It’s a fear his father agrees with. At home in Jackson, Mississippi, Charles Wilson III — who lost his first namesake

By Jennifer Henderson and Nouran Salahieh, CNN A 19-year-old man was arrested Wednesday after livestreaming part of a shooting rampage that left four people dead and three others injured and upended life throughout Memphis as residents were urged to shelter in place, police said. The hours-long rampage led to the suspension of public bus and

By Amir Vera, Taylor Romine and Stella Chan, CNN The Fairview Fire has now charred more nearly 20,000 acres in the two days it’s been burning in Southern California, according to Cal Fire. The fire, which had spread to 19,377 acres and is 5% contained as of late Wednesday, has not shown signs of slowing

By Nicole Chavez and Amanda Musa, CNN Classes at Brigham Young University have just begun, and queer students are already being reminded of the complicated relationship they have with the private religious school. When LGBTQ students, alumni and friends gathered off campus at a park in Provo, Utah, for a back-to-school event last weekend, they

By Melissa Alonso and Devon M. Sayers, CNN Two sisters who survived the Holocaust, and fulfilled their fathers dream to make it to America, died days apart from each other in Alabama, according to the Alabama Holocaust Education Center. Ruth Scheuer Siegler, 95, died on September 3 and her sister, Ilse Scheuer Nathan, 98, died

By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN News anchor Julie Chin had the morning lined up for her audience in Tulsa, Oklahoma: weather forecasts for the long weekend, NASA’s rescheduled Artemis I liftoff and a rundown of the first weekend of football. As she reported Saturday on the Tulsa Air and Space Museum’s plans to hold an

By Scottie Andrew, CNN Peter Straub, an author who helped usher in our decades-long fascination with horror fiction, had a way of weaving macabre and heart-wrenching prose into one sentence. Even stories about ghostly hauntings, sinister parallel universes or grisly murders could feel mournful, sensitive and cathartic in Straub’s hands. From his seminal 1979 novel,