CNN – National

By Harmeet Kaur, CNN On paper, the change was subtle — the word “caste” appearing in parentheses after the term “race and ethnicity.” But for many advocates and student leaders, the tweak to California State University’s anti-discrimination policy that quietly went into effect on January 1 was a civil rights victory: An acknowledgment from the

By Michelle Watson, CNN The University of Nebraska has changed its mascot’s hand gesture after more than 47 years, the university said, after the traditional one became associated with racist groups. The Herbie Husker mascot changed from making what appears to be an “OK” hand gesture with his thumb and forefinger forming an O, to

Story by Jessie Yeung, CNN Photos by Rico Cruz, CNN One spring morning last year, Vilma Kari was strolling through midtown Manhattan on her way to church when she was suddenly attacked by a stranger. “You don’t belong here, you Asian,” he said, cursing and beating her so violently that Vilma, then 65, was left

By Michelle Watson, CNN A $426 million lottery ticket was sold in Woodland Hills, California, on Friday night, according to a tweet from the California Lottery. “The home team won big on Friday night when a #MegaMillions ticket sold in Woodland Hills hit the advertised $421 MILLION jackpot which resulted in a total of $426

By Michelle Watson and Emma Tucker, CNN A California sheriff’s deputy is in the hospital after he was shot multiple times by a suspect during a traffic stop on Friday, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies from the Thermal Sheriff’s Station of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department were conducting a traffic stop on

By Jay Croft, CNN Cold weather is relative to where you are, right? A freezing wind chill in Minneapolis might be a warm snap. People in the Northeast are being crushed by a legitimate blizzard. And way down south in South Florida, all the way down to South Beach, the high temp Saturday will be

By Michelle Watson and Claudia Dominguez, CNN The US Navy has been granted a permit to discharge up to five million gallons of treated water a day from its Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage facility after that water was contaminated by a petroleum leak that sickened military families and children in Hawaii. Statements from the

By Jay Croft, CNN Why do you think they’re called fortune cookies? After his weekly meal at a Chinese restaurant, a North Carolina man used the numbers in his fortune cookie to play the lottery. And now he is $4 million richer. “I don’t usually play my fortune cookie numbers but I tried them on

By Alaa Elassar, CNN With whiteout conditions predicted starting Friday as part of a strong winter storm poised to wallop a long stretch of the East Coast, officials warn drivers in affected areas to avoid getting on roads this weekend unless it is absolutely necessary — and to practice extreme caution if they do. That’s

By Christina Maxouris, CNN A powerful nor’easter forming off the coast of the Carolinas Friday night is threatening millions of people with heavy snow and vicious winds as it makes its way up the East Coast. There are blizzard warnings in effect for millions of people in coastal areas from Virginia to New England. Officials

By Steve Almasy, CNN Using genetic genealogy and familial DNA, police in Colorado have solved the decades-old cases of the deaths of four females, saying the killer was a man who died by suicide in jail in 1981. The three women and a teenage girl were stabbed to death between 1978 and 1981 in the

By Sara Smart, CNN A New Hampshire postal worker is now a local hero after she helped save a woman’s life. Newmarket mail carrier Kayla Berridge realized during her shift on January 27 that mail had been piling up for four days at a resident’s home. Newmarket is around 40 miles from Concord. “I hadn’t