CNN – National

By Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN A Queens man was arrested and charged on suspicion of dragging an 11-year-old girl into an alleyway, robbing her and cutting her neck with a sharp metal object, a district attorney in the New York City borough said Friday. Jonathan Perez, 34, allegedly approached the girl early Sunday as she was

By Alaa Elassar, CNN Park volunteers patrolling a beach in South Carolina on Wednesday stumbled upon an unexpected surprise: a two-headed baby sea turtle. A group of patrollers and volunteers at Edisto Beach State Park were making a routine inventory to check on sea turtle nests when they stumbled across the special hatchling, South Carolina

By Scottie Andrew, CNN Tom Waddell knew what to expect from an Olympics opening ceremony. He’d experienced one before as a decathlete at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. He remembered the parade of athletes from around the world, proudly marching alongside their flags before an audience of thousands, cheering on their every move. His gay

By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN Voice quavering, Rick Wershe Jr., who as a teen in 1980s Detroit was painted as a murderous drug kingpin, dabbed his eyes as he recalled one of the last conversations he had with his father, who he’d always looked up to as a strong man. Suffering from brain cancer, his

By Sahar Akbarzai, CNN A Philadelphia man wrongfully convicted of murder is finally free after spending more than three decades behind bars. “I feel exceedingly joyful, happy, that finally, you know … after 30 or more years, after constantly knocking on the door for somebody to please hear me, that day finally came,” 60-year-old Curtis

By Sahar Akbarzai, CNN When Ray Lucas and his girlfriend Shi’Ann Brown returned after a trip to the corner store to pick up milk, they found their Michigan home engulfed in flames — and their twin daughters were trapped inside. His mother, who had been watching the 18-month-old girls, was panicking on the front yard

By Dave Alsup, CNN More than 100 motorists were stranded after mudslides shut down a major interstate in Colorado, officials said Friday. The incident occurred Thursday night after debris from the burn scars around the location of the Grizzly Creek Fire — which burned more than 32,000 acres last August — poured onto I-70 near

By Christina Maxouris, CNN While Covid-19 cases are once again surging in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order Friday directing the state’s health and education departments to issue rules preventing the implementation of school mask mandates. The order comes in response to “several Florida school boards considering or implementing mask mandates,” the governor’s

By Steve Almasy, CNN Multiple people were reported injured Friday after the Massachusetts Bay Transport Authority said two trains collided with one another on the Commonwealth Avenue rail line in Boston. Twenty-three people have been transported to hospitals for injuries that are not life-threatening after the accident Friday evening, according to a tweet from the

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN When Jessica Roberts heard that a fire ignited roughly 4 miles from where the Camp Fire started in 2018, she was catapulted back to the most traumatic experience of her life. The Dixie Fire is California’s largest active wildfire, having burned more than 240,000 acres of land — an area larger

By Taylor Romine, CNN Bowling Green State University in Ohio announced on Friday that it has permanently expelled three students and suspended 17 in connection to the death of a sophomore participating in fraternity hazing in March of this year. The suspensions range from three to eight years and one student received a deferred suspension,

By Scottie Andrew, CNN There are nearly 1,000 known LGBTQ elected officials in the US, according to a new report — a significant increase from just four years ago, when fewer than 450 elected officials in the US were known to identify as LGBTQ. All but one state — Mississippi — has elected an LGBTQ

By Alaa Elassar and Laura Ly, CNN Starting Friday, any New York City resident who gets a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine at a city-run vaccination site will receive $100. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday the new Covid-19 incentive as the city experienced a steady increase in Covid-19 cases over the past