Community, human stories, faith in action
Justin Buzzard, a 47-year-old California pastor, joined San Jose City College as a defensive end decades after an injury ended his playing career. He says the comeback is about finishing something he started. Teammates less than half his age have embraced him.
Jake Bigoni is charged with murder after police say he killed his estranged wife, Eliana, during a custody exchange at a Plano, Texas, apartment. Their two young children were inside at the time. He is being held pending arraignment.
Authorities say a 50-year-old Louisiana man shot his wife, placed her body in his car and drove through several states before being stopped in Tennessee. He was arrested at the traffic stop. Charges are pending in multiple jurisdictions.
Days after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia, Christian relief organizations are shifting from search operations to long-term rebuilding. Local churches are housing displaced families. Aid workers say supply routes remain difficult.
Greg Gatwood and Judy Gittelsohn discovered a large limestone bust buried on their San Francisco property in May. They have spent months trying to trace who carved it and how it got there. So far no one has claimed it.
Police in Wenzhou, the Chinese city sometimes called 'China's Jerusalem,' raided a house church and took founding pastor David Tang into custody along with six colleagues. All seven have since disappeared with no word on their whereabouts. Advocacy groups say the raid fits a pattern of tightening pressure on unregistered congregations.
An American tourist was killed by a lightning strike while hiking on Mount Etna in Sicily. The group was descending when the storm moved in. Italian authorities are investigating the circumstances.
A man received a life sentence for the crucifixion-style killing of a pastor. Prosecutors described the murder as ritualistic and premeditated. The pastor's congregation attended the sentencing.
Tommy John, the major league pitcher whose 1974 elbow reconstruction gave its name to the surgery that has saved thousands of throwing careers, died at 83. He returned from the operation to win 164 more games. He pitched 26 seasons in the majors.
After winning a million euros, a woman in southern Italy accidentally threw her lottery ticket in the trash. The local sanitation company launched an hourslong search through an entire truckload of garbage. The workers found it.
Actress Hayden Panettiere, who starred in 'Heroes' and played country singer Juliette Barnes on 'Nashville,' died at 36. She began acting in commercials before she was a year old. Audio from the 911 call indicates she was found unresponsive from an apparent cardiac arrest.
For a decade a Catholic-run home in Washington offered young women affordable housing alongside the sisters who ran it, as they studied and started careers. Residents describe an unlikely community built across generations. The house is now closing and the community is saying goodbye.
Emma Kessler, 22, was anxious about her first half marathon when her boyfriend pulled running shoes from the trunk and joined her at the start. He had trained in secret for two months. The pair finished all 13 miles together.
Many parents face a tradeoff between funding their own retirement and transferring wealth to adult children who need it now. Advisers say giving early can help more but carries real risk. The math depends heavily on longevity and care costs.
Thalles DeSouza, who grew up in a violent neighborhood near Rio de Janeiro and later worked at a Wendy's on Cape Cod, is headed to Yale after his managers created a scholarship to fund his education. Coworkers and the franchise owners rallied behind him. He plans to study at the university this fall.
Researchers say early experiences shape a child's development even though almost no one retains explicit memories from infancy. Stress and caregiving in the first years leave measurable marks. The findings argue against dismissing the period as forgettable.
A rescued foal that was calmed by music has learned to trigger instruments and is featured on an album debut. Handlers say the sessions helped the animal settle. The recordings are being released to support the rescue.
Jason Arday, who became one of Britain's youngest Black professors before facing plagiarism accusations that collapsed his career, has been found dead. The prime minister called the death "a tragedy on so many levels" and urged reflection on how the public pile-on unfolded.
Prosecutors filed two dozen felony counts against an actor accused of sexually abusing a child over a period of years. He is being held ahead of arraignment, and investigators say more accusers have come forward.
Renovation crews in Belgium broke through a cellar wall and found gold bars and coins worth an estimated $10.4 million. Authorities are trying to determine who hid the cache and who has a claim to it.
At 90, the singer behind "A Man Without Love" says a daily pool routine is what keeps him touring. He described the workout as the reason he is still standing on a stage at all.
Mourners filled the streets of the Welsh village where Bonnie Tyler grew up as the singer's coffin was carried home. Fans sang her anthems along the route in a farewell that turned a small community into a stage one last time.
Luigi Mangione admitted in federal court that he shot and killed UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk, ending months of speculation about a plea. Legal analysts say double jeopardy questions could now unravel the parallel state prosecution.
A former Playboy model says she reported Jeffrey Epstein to the FBI 15 years ago and heard nothing back. Her account adds to a record of warnings that federal agents failed to pursue.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she has been putting money aside to freeze her eggs, opening a conversation about the cost of the procedure. Clinics typically charge five figures per cycle before storage fees.
The former Disney Channel star said a stay at a monastery reoriented his life and career away from what he called Hollywood's secular default. He now builds projects around faith and family.
A teenager filmed harassing a sea lion on a California beach has pleaded guilty to a federal wildlife charge. Wildlife officers said the video, shared widely online, made the case straightforward.
Prosecutors told jurors that Lindsay Clancy staged her own suicide attempt after killing her three children, reviving a theory the defense calls cruel and unsupported. Her attorneys argue psychosis, not calculation, drove the killings.
Sixty years after he earned his own degree, a 97-year-old physician sat in the audience as his great-granddaughter walked at the same medical school. The family called the moment overwhelming, a full circle drawn across three generations.
Christians in Tunisia describe practicing their faith quietly in a country that mixes permissive nightlife with a history of exporting ISIS fighters. Converts risk family rejection and social exclusion. Congregations meet in homes.
Advocates say jailed Chinese pastor John Cao has been diagnosed with cancer, intensifying calls for his release on medical grounds. His family has been denied visits for long stretches of his sentence.
In the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, pastors Juan Garcia and Javier Santolaria have continued ministering after roughly 80,000 migrants passed through the city. They describe handing out water at a public fountain during a July heat wave. Their congregations remain small but persistent.
Barbara Lavandeira described finding her brother, the blogger Perez Hilton, in a state of distress on Aug. 4, and said the family remains hopeful as he faces a long road to recovery.
Selena Gomez and her mother, Mandy Teefey, are accused in a new federal lawsuit of defrauding investors in Wondermind, the mental health startup the two founded together.
One of California's most famous surfers has four legs and a tail. Rippin' Rosie, a 5-year-old golden Labrador retriever with nearly 340,000 Instagram followers, led the field at the World Dog Surfing Championship.
The biological parents of a baby boy born via surrogate are fighting for custody after the gestational carrier refused to have an abortion when a serious heart defect was found at 20 weeks.
An analysis of her phone shows Lindsay Clancy searched online about hallucinations, psychosis and the side effects of several prescribed drugs in the weeks before she strangled her three young children in January 2023.
A district attorney says Arjun Aravind, 17, used the internet and AI tools to search for fantasy stories about killing his family before the deaths of his mother and younger brother. The Massachusetts teenager is being held without bail.
A Ugandan High Court sentenced Hajarah Nakandi and Abas Musa to death for the killing of Susan Magara, a Christian woman whose abduction and murder gripped the country, closing the final chapter of the case.
A Chicago jury awarded $29 million to the family of Michael Ryan after his widow, Naoise Connolly Ryan, brought a civil suit against Boeing over the crash that killed him.
When an Islamic militia attacked his village in Sudan, everything Saleh had built collapsed in a single day. His decision to follow Jesus had already cost him family ties, and he found hope again only after fleeing to South Sudan.
A mechanical failure set a five-story apartment building near Salt Lake City ablaze within minutes. Residents and their pets were evacuated, and a cat named Toast survived the intense heat by hiding in a closet.
For years, people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have lived through ongoing ADF atrocities. A Congolese bishop describes families who have lost loved ones, homes and everything they had amid armed conflict and Ebola in North Kivu.
Former professional boxer Prichard Colon has died at 33, nearly eleven years after head trauma in the ring ended his career. His father announced the death in a Facebook post.
Former Philadelphia Eagles running back and Super Bowl champion Wendell Smallwood could be released early from an eight-year federal sentence after a New Jersey judge moved to let him spend what may be the final days of his 8-year-old daughter's life with her.
Someone has been fined after using a foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear. Local regulations forbid needlessly disturbing, attracting or pursuing the animals.
Bryan Newton, who works for Rhino Sports and Entertainment Services at Virginia Tech, started sculpting a mini warrior rhino as part of a guessing game. Now he makes a new miniature statue for every campus event and gives them away free.
Immigration authorities filed a detainer for a man charged with rape in Kentucky who had been deported once before and was working as a landlord. Local officials have not said whether they will comply. The request lands amid a statewide argument over cooperation with federal agents.
Prosecutors charged a man with a brutal killing one day after a California judge ordered his release, despite a lengthy record and an immigration detainer. The sheriff's office says the detainer was not honored. The case has become a rallying point in the state's sanctuary policy fight.
A grand jury indicted Nick Reiner in the stabbing deaths of his parents, director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, with prosecutors alleging he was lying in wait. The special circumstance allegation opens the door to a life sentence without parole. The case has drawn intense attention because of the family's standing in Hollywood.