CNN – National

By Dakin Andone, CNN The debate over masks in schools has reared its head once again with the new academic year, and a handful of states have taken steps to restrict local officials’ ability to implement their own masking requirements, either through the governor’s office or state legislatures. These restrictions — made despite guidance from

By Alaa Elassar, CNN Thousands of people celebrating the return of New York City at a concert in Central Park were interrupted by severe weather ahead of Hurricane Henri’s anticipated Sunday landfall. Some of music’s biggest names descended on the Great Lawn at New York City’s iconic Central Park for the “We Love NYC: The

By Andy Rose and Alaa Elassar, CNN At least 10 people, including two toddlers, have died during severe flooding in Tennessee on Saturday, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told CNN affiliate WSMV. As of Saturday night, 31 people were still missing, Davis told WSMV. The bodies were recovered after catastrophic flash flooding near Waverly closed

By Melissa Alonso and Alaa Elassar, CNN A pair of young brothers had to take control of their SUV and steer themselves to safety when their dad was fatally shot Friday night while driving on a Texas freeway. Their father, a 29-year-old man, had been driving a Toyota Sequoia on Interstate 10 in Houston with

By Natalie Andes, Hollie Silverman and Alaa Elassar, CNN Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife are both hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19. “Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both,” the Rainbow PUSH Coalition (RPC) said in a statement Saturday. “Anyone who has been around either of them for the last five or six

By Liam Reilly and Alaa Elassar, CNN A man was found dead at a baseball park in New York on Friday after falling from the second-floor staircase. The man was discovered at Citi Field, home to the New York Mets in Queens, the New York Police Department (NYPD) told CNN. Police responded to a 911 call around

By Sonia Moghe, CNN A former tour manager for R. Kelly told jurors on Friday that he was with Kelly and the late singer Aaliyah the day they applied for a marriage license in 1994, when she was just 15 years old. Demetrius Smith, 65, testified reluctantly, at times telling US District Judge Ann Donnelly

By Chris Boyette, CNN Mississippi health officials are warning residents not to take an anti-parasitic drug — in most cases, a formulation purchased at livestock supply centers — to treat or prevent Covid-19. The Mississippi State Department of Health issued an alert on Friday that the Mississippi Poison Control Center has received an increasing number

By Alaa Elassar, CNN A New Jersey family returning home from vacation in North Carolina caught a lucky break. While driving through Maryland in July, they stopped at a 7-Eleven store in Germantown to quickly use the bathroom, pick up snacks and even buy some lottery tickets. They devoured the snacks on their way home,

By Alaa Elassar, CNN A Philadelphia-area man was charged with allegedly embezzling more than $3 million in tickets to the United States Open Championship over seven years, according to the US Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Robert Fryer, 39, of Perkasie, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and

By Liam Reilly, CNN The University of Virginia has disenrolled 238 students for its fall semester on Friday for not complying with the university’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate, according to a university spokesperson. UVA requires “all students who live, learn, or work in person at the university” to be fully vaccinated for the upcoming 2021-2022 academic

By Christina Carrega and Douglas S. Wood, CNN An Iowa woman was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on Thursday for trying to kill two children by running them over with her car because she believed they were Mexican or of Middle Eastern or African descent. Nicole Poole Franklin was sentenced Thursday to 304 months by a federal judge.

By Dan Simon and Christina Maxouris, CNN Vesuvio Cafe in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood has been asking customers to provide proof of Covid-19 vaccination for the last month. “For the most part, people have literally gone out of their way to thank us for enacting the policy,” bartender Zak Pavitt told CNN. Businesses across

Lauren del Valle, CNN During hours-long testimony in a Purdue Pharma federal bankruptcy proceeding on Wednesday, former company president Richard Sackler said he believes his family and the OxyContin manufacturer bear no responsibility for the opioid crisis in the United States. An attorney for Washington state asked him repeatedly whether he, his family or the