CNN – National

By Amy Simonson, CNN The death of an LGBTQ advocate and brother of a former Miami mayor is being investigated as a homicide, authorities said, after his body was discovered in a Florida landfill. Jorge Diaz-Johnston, a plaintiff in a historic same-sex marriage lawsuit against Miami-Dade County in 2014, was found dead at a Jackson

By Josh Campbell, Amir Vera, Dan Przygoda, Jason Hanna, Nick Paton Walsh and Kelly McCleary, CNN About 10 days before taking four hostages at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in north Texas, Malik Faisal Akram had a heated exchange with officials at the Islamic Center of Irving and was eventually escorted from the property, according

By Amy Simonson, CNN A jury in Marion County, Tennessee, ordered Cracker Barrel to pay a man $9.4 million after it found the company at fault for serving him a glass filled with a chemical instead of water. The size of the award may be capped due to a Tennessee law on civil damages. “The

By Lauren M. Johnson and Sharif Paget, CNN Residents near Ottawa used a kayak to save a woman whose car plunged into icy water after she drove on a frozen river, police said in a statement. The residents didn’t know why the driver was on the Rideau River on Sunday. People who witnessed the incident

By Holly Yan, CNN Behind Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker’s warm, disarming smile is a leader who’s willing to attack an armed man holding his congregants hostage. On Saturday, a stranger knocked on the door of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. The rabbi, assuming the stranger needed shelter from the cold, invited him in and made

By Eric Levenson, CNN It started like most any Saturday for members of Congregation Beth Israel. Families of the Reform Jewish synagogue just outside Dallas-Fort Worth had gathered — in person and online — to participate in the Sabbath service, even amid the twin perils of a fresh pandemic wave and a swelling tide of

By Stella Chan, CNN A woman is dead after she was attacked while waiting for a bus in downtown last week, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The victim was a longtime nurse who “worked tirelessly and selflessly” according to her employer. Police ​say they responded Thursday ​around 5:15 a.m. to a call

By Laura Ly, CNN Ghislaine Maxwell will no longer fight to keep the names of eight ‘John Does’ secret and will leave it to the court to decide whether the names should be unsealed, according to a January 12 letter to federal Judge Loretta Preska of the Southern District of New York. The documents containing

By Nicole Chavez, CNN More than a half a century has passed since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial calling for freedom and equality — and the fight for social justice appears to be far from over. Activists and athletes fighting for equality in the Black, Latino,

By Toby Lyles and Will Mullery, CNN Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated on the third Monday in January, although King was actually born on the 15th of January 1929, 94 years ago. Coretta Scott King and musician Stevie Wonder fought for years to make it a federal holiday. Wonder told CNN that they

By Dakin Andone, CNN Jewish communities across the United States once again find themselves on edge in the wake of another attack on worshippers at a synagogue, this time at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, where a man interrupted Saturday’s Shabbat service and held four people hostage for hours. No hostages were killed and

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN Hi, my name is Alexandra Meeks and I’m your new 5 Things writer. Thank you for sharing your mornings with me! I’m excited to catch you up with the latest news, so let’s get started. Here’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.