CNN – National

By Zoe Sottile, CNN The American Kennel Club has unleashed its annual list of the most popular dog breeds — and, for the 31st year in a row, the Labrador retriever has placed “first in show.” Each year, the AKC, a nonprofit purebred dog registry in the US, uses its registration data to compile a

By Alaa Elassar, CNN Two Harvard University students have created a website connecting thousands of Ukrainian refugees with hosts around the world offering them a safe haven. The idea was born when Avi Schiffmann attended a pro-Ukraine demonstration while visiting San Diego, where he came face to face with hundreds of Ukrainian Americans sharing distressing

By Laura Studley, CNN Virginian-Pilot newspaper reporter and former CNN news assistant Sierra Jenkins was among the individuals shot and killed in an early Saturday morning shooting that left one more person dead and three others injured, Norfolk, Virginia, police said. She was 25. Jenkins was leaving a downtown Norfolk restaurant, Chicho’s Pizza Backstage, when

By Zoe Sottile, CNN The March Madness show-down between Indiana University and Saint Mary’s College on March 17 came to a halt after the ball became lodged between the backboard and shot clock. But two creative cheerleaders from Indiana sprang into action to rescue the ball after several failed attempts to reach it using a

By Zoe Sottile, CNN Justin Blauwet noticed something unusual while working at a construction site in Iowa. At first glance, it appeared to be a block of stone, just under a foot long, covered in ridges. But Blauwet had a better idea of what it was, thanks to a lifelong interest in pre-historic animals: a

By Zoe Sottile, CNN An Iowa woman has gone viral on TikTok, asking for help to make a heartfelt birthday present for her father, a retired firefighter. Allison Marois’ father, Bill Collins, recently retired from the Des Moines Fire Department after serving for more than 38 years. When she started planning for his August birthday,

By Josh Campbell and Elizabeth Joseph, CNN A federal jury has awarded $85 million to the family of a California man who died in 2015 after a confrontation with San Diego County sheriff’s deputies, court records show. The jury’s verdict came in a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Lucky Phounsy

By Jay Croft, CNN Public health officials in Indiana are urging people to take safety precautions after a large fire at a Walmart distribution center in Plainfield this week released thick smoke containing high levels of fine particulate material. The particulates can cause health problems for “sensitive individuals,” the Hendricks County Health Department said. Agencies

By Zoe Sottile, CNN Maryland is one step closer to becoming the second US state to ban the declawing of cats. The Maryland House of Representatives voted on March 10 to pass a bill that would ban declawing, a procedure used to prevent cats from scratching. The bill, HB0022, would prohibit veterinarians “from performing certain

By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN Photographs by Heather Ainsworth for CNN It was not quite 8 a.m. and Ambur Misercola’s first-period history class was still shaking off slumber as she told them of a woman detained in Moscow’s Pushkin Square — not unlike the historic Public Square a short drive north that anchors this American