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By Alexandra Meeks, CNN If you’re planning to take a trip this winter, now’s the time to pounce on the best prices available for airfares. Some travel experts recommend securing holiday flights before Halloween because prices typically increase considerably as Thanksgiving gets closer. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed

By Adrienne Broaddus and Amy Simonson, CNN Months after he was shot and paralyzed in the Highland Park, Illinois, Fourth of July attack, 8-year-old Cooper Roberts returned to school this week, his family announced. The young boy wheeled himself to class, ready to join his twin brother Luke in the third grade, according to a

By Dakin Andone and Denise Royal, CNN Prosecutors have called on a Florida jury to recommend the Parkland school shooter be put to death, saying in a closing argument Tuesday he meticulously planned the February 2018 massacre, and that the facts of the case outweigh anything in his background that defense attorneys claim warrant a

By Jennifer Henderson and Tina Burnside, CNN A fishing trip turned into a rescue mission over the weekend when three people became stranded in the Gulf of Mexico for more than a day after their boat sank, with two of them fighting off shark attacks before help arrived, officials said. Rescuers spotted the three people

By Cheri Mossburg, Taylor Romine and Nouran Salahieh, CNN Jennifer Siebel Newsom, an award-winning filmmaker and wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, is set to testify in the sexual assault trial of disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein in Los Angeles, her attorneys told CNN Monday. “Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by

By Shimon Prokupecz, Holly Yan and Amy Simonson, CNN Hal Harrell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, announced his retirement Monday, according to a Facebook post by his wife, Donna Goates Harrell. “I am truly grateful for your support and well wishes. My decision to retire has not been made lightly and was

By Harmeet Kaur, CNN For centuries, the US celebrated Christopher Columbus as the intrepid explorer who discovered the Americas — a symbol of the American ideals of entrepreneurship and innovation. The story of the Italian navigator taught to generations of schoolchildren is shrouded in mythology. But for the Indigenous peoples who inhabited the Americas long

By Greg Wallace, Sean Lyngaas, Pete Muntean and Michelle Watson, CNN More than a dozen public-facing airport websites, including those for some of the nation’s largest airports, appeared inaccessible Monday morning, and Russian-speaking hackers claimed responsibility. No immediate signs of impact to actual air travel were reported, suggesting the issue may be an inconvenience for

By Dakin Andone, CNN With the conclusion of his death penalty trial looming, families of the Parkland school shooter’s victims will soon learn whether he will spend the rest of his life in prison or be sentenced to death, an outcome many have indicated they prefer. But Robert Schentrup — whose 16-year-old sister Carmen was

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN Today is Columbus Day, one of the most inconsistently celebrated holidays in the US. For some, the day marks Christopher Columbus’ first voyage to America. But in more than 100 US cities, the day is recognized as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Either way, it’s a federal holiday, so many will have the

By Nouran Salahieh, CNN Emily Sisson set a new record for an American woman when she finished second at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon Sunday. Sisson finished with a time of 2:18:29, beating Keira D’Amato’s record by 43 seconds, the Chicago Marathon tweeted. D’Amato set the previous record at the Houston Marathon earlier this