CNN – National

By Josh Campbell and Jason Kravarik, CNN Ryan Last received a message on a school night in February from someone he believed to be a girl. Within hours, the 17-year-old, straight-A student and Boy Scout had died by suicide. “Somebody reached out to him pretending to be a girl, and they started a conversation,” his

By Cheri Mossburg, CNN A man convicted of starting California’s Dolan Fire — which critically injured a firefighter, destroyed several homes and killed a dozen of endangered condors — was sentenced to 24 years in prison, prosecutors announced. Ivan Gomez, 31, was found guilty of 16 felony counts, including arson, cultivating marijuana, throwing rocks at

By Raja Razek, CNN A former deputy sheriff was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the drownings of two mental health patients in South Carolina after Hurricane Florence in 2018. Stephen Flood was found guilty in Marion County Thursday of two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of reckless homicide. CNN previously reported

By Michelle Watson and Travis Caldwell, CNN The assistant office manager at the Tops Friendly Markets store in Buffalo, New York, had already survived one mass shooting. Nearly 12 years ago, Latisha Rogers and her brother, Danyell Mackin, were at City Grill restaurant in Buffalo when a man opened fire, killing Mackin and three others.

By Faith Karimi, CNN In recent years, mass shooters have increasingly targeted a range of venues — churches, synagogues, grocery stores, movie theaters — that have minimal security. That’s no surprise, experts who study violence and mass shootings say. These attackers, including the one last weekend in Buffalo, choose so-called “soft targets” where people are

By Alexandra Meeks, CNN If you’re planning to enjoy the outdoors this weekend, meteorologists say proceed with caution. An unrelenting, early season heat wave will reach the eastern and southern tiers of the US over the next few days — and nearly 60% of Americans are expected see temperatures at or above 90 degrees. Here’s

By Hannah Sarisohn and Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN A Los Angeles man is facing multiple charges after prosecutors allege he was part of a group of anti-abortion activists who targeted a women’s health clinic and stalked a doctor who provides abortion services, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday. Aaron Jonathan Hurley is accused of

By Paradise Afshar, CNN A Japanese mountain climber is presumed dead after falling into a crevasse in Alaska’s Denali National Park, officials said. The 43-year-old from Kanagawa, Japan — who was not named by officials — was un-roped from his teammates and “fell through a weak ice bridge near their camp at approximately 8,000 feet

By Omar Jimenez, CNN The University School of Milwaukee is pushing back on accusations of discrimination from Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama’s brother, and his wife, Kelly Robinson. The preparatory school filed a motion Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit the couple filed in April that alleged in part, “The School acted impermissibly to silence and to