CNN – National

By Nick Valencia and Jason Hanna, CNN When deadly floodwaters rushed around her Tennessee home Saturday morning, Linda Almond Bryant started a Facebook Live video. “We’re being flooded right now,” she says as water pushes debris by a door. “Really scary.” It was the last video she appeared to post to her Facebook page. The

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN The air around Lake Tahoe in California and Reno, Nevada, is thick with brown smoke this week, and the region is experiencing the worst air quality in the country by far, as the Caldor Fire torches its way through the El Dorado National Forest. The wildfire smoke alone would be enough

By Andy Rose and Jason Hanna, CNN Oregon will soon require people to wear masks outdoors in public settings where physical distancing isn’t possible, the governor said Tuesday, in response to near-state-record Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. Gov. Kate Brown’s order — which will take effect Friday — is generally for everyone ages 5 and up,

By Carma Hassan and Kay Jones, CNN A volleyball coach says administrators at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, forced him to leave his job because he refused to denounce being gay. Inoke Tonga said in a Facebook post that administrators asked him if he posted about being gay on social media and

By Priya Krishnakumar, CNN Black women in the United States are more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than any other demographic — and the Covid-19 pandemic may be exacerbating one of the starkest disparities in American health care. Health care practitioners and advocacy groups have raised the alarm that the pandemic, which has

By Rachel Clarke, CNN Children are heading back to school with the academic cost of the pandemic now being laid bare. Tumbling test scores reveal how much learning was not absorbed by students driven to virtual schooling when their classrooms were closed overnight, often staying shut for over a year. As school buildings finally reopen

By Wayne Sterling, CNN Twenty-three-time grand slam singles champion Serena Williams and her sister, seven-time major singles champion Venus Williams, will miss the final tennis major of the year, the US Open, the two announced on social media on Wednesday. Serena Williams announced she would not be playing because of a hamstring injury, writing on

By Aya Elamroussi, CNN New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a new anti-hazing bill into law Tuesday that requires schools to adopt policies against hazing and increases penalties for those found guilty. The law is inspired by the death of Timothy J. Piazza, according to a statement from the governor’s office. Piazza, of Lebanon, New

By Aya Elamroussi, CNN More than 270 homes in central Tennessee were destroyed in deadly flooding that killed 18 people and left three still unaccounted for days later, officials said Tuesday. A damage assessment conducted in Humphreys County showed 271 homes were destroyed by Saturday’s flooding, according to a news release from the county’s emergency