CNN – National

By Zoe Sottile, CNN A customer at a restaurant in Pennsylvania left a hefty $3,000 tip on a $13.25 bill, much to the surprise of his server. Eric Smith, an out-of-town customer, enjoyed a homemade stromboli at Alfredo’s Cafe in Scranton, Pennsyslvania, on June 16. When it came time to pay for his meal, he

By Amya Henry and Christina Maxouris, CNN With temperatures hiking in much of the US as an oppressive heat wave continues, zoos are taking special measures to keep their animals cool. Think: frozen bug popsicles, mud showers and long pool days. You know, the basics. At the Smithsonian National Zoo, swamp monkeys are usually offered

By Rosa Flores and Emma Tucker, CNN A special school board meeting in Uvalde, Texas, to consider whether to terminate the employment of the district’s police chief will be rescheduled in the “very near future,” said school district Superintendent Hal Harrell. The meeting had been previously scheduled for Saturday before it was canceled. Chief Pedro

By Paradise Afshar and Zoe Sottile, CNN An Illinois bakery and café has postponed a drag brunch event after their venue was vandalized early morning on Saturday. Corinna Sac, the owner of UpRising Bakery and Café in Lake in the Hills, a village to the northwest of Chicago, had advertised the sold-out Saturday “brunch at

By Claire Colbert, CNN A new report released this month found temperatures inside some Texas prison units “have been shown to regularly reach 110 degrees and in at least one unit have topped 149 degrees.” Texas A&M’s Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center scrutinized heat mitigation policies used by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The

By Jason Hanna, Rebekah Riess, Sara Smart and Andy Rose, CNN A wildfire raging for a third day Sunday in central California’s Mariposa County outside Yosemite National Park has burned more than 14,000 acres and forced thousands to evacuate from rural communities, officials said. The fire, which remained 0% contained Sunday morning, began Friday in

By Nick Valencia, CNN The White police chief of a predominantly Black town in Mississippi was terminated this week after audio surfaced, allegedly of him using racist and homophobic slurs, telling one of his officers he wouldn’t care if the officer “killed a m*therf**ker in cold blood,” and that he himself had killed 13 people.

By Zoe Sottile, CNN A dog is being lauded as a “real-life Lassie” for leading rescuers to his owner after he fell during a hike. The dog’s owner, a 53-year-old man, fell nearly 70 feet during a hike with his canine companion on July 12 in Nevada County, California, according to a Facebook post from

By Nouran Salahieh, CNN Along both US coasts, Americans this summer have been hearing reports of shark bites and sightings, triggering beach closures and advisories. In Long Island, New York, several people were injured in suspected shark attacks this month. To the northeast, a Cape Cod beach was temporarily closed after a white shark sighting.

By Josh Campbell and Zoe Sottile, CNN A New Jersey woman has been sentenced to one year and a day in prison for her role in scamming more than $400,000 from GoFundMe donors, claiming to be collecting money for a homeless man. Katelyn McClure pleaded guilty to one count of theft by deception in the

By Celeste Noraian and Alta Spells, CNN The board of Florida’s largest school district has rejected new sexual education textbooks that it approved three months ago. The 5-4 vote by the Miami-Dade County School Board on Wednesday leaves students without a sex ed curriculum. The decision comes four months after the state passed a law

By Hannah Sarisohn, CNN Tennessee officials are investigating an officer’s violent arrest of a Black man accused of fleeing from police trying to stop him after allegedly running a stop sign, officials said. Brandon Calloway, 25, was tased and eventually subdued with a police baton during an arrest captured on cellphone and body-worn camera video,

By Zoe Sottile, CNN Customs officers in Laredo, Texas, confiscated methamphetamine — with a street value of a whopping $4.3 million — that was hidden in a tractor-trailer. US Customs and Border Protection field officers made the seizure Monday at the World Trade Bridge, a news release from the agency states. The bridge connects the

By Tina Burnside and Claire Colbert, CNN At least one person was killed and six others injured in a shooting in the Seattle suburb of Renton early Saturday morning, Renton Police said in a news release. Police received several 911 calls about shots fired in downtown Renton just before 1 a.m., police said. Residents told

By Scottie Andrew, CNN Illustration by Leah Abucayan, CNN It really is a cruel summer. This is not the summer of kissing strangers or gallivanting all day until the sun goes down. No; this summer we are once again drowning in oceans of our own perspiration, thanks to dangerously high temperatures, and anxiously hiding out

By Justin Gamble, CNN A man was arrested and charged with the murder of 20-year-old University of Mississippi student Jimmie “Jay” Lee, whose remains have not been found since going missing July 8, officials said Friday. Sheldon Timothy Herrington Jr., 22, was arrested by the Oxford Police Department and the University of Mississippi Police Department.

By Nicole Chavez, CNN Fearing the scorching Texas heat could only get worse, Lisa Vogt stopped buying meat and drove her pickup truck as little as possible to save money for two months to purchase window air-conditioning units. The air conditioner at the home that Vogt, 32, her three children and teenage nephew rent in