National

CHARLESTON, SC—The trial of Dylann Roof continued this week for the killing of nine parishioners inside a Charleston, South Carolina church in June 2015. After less than three hours of deliberation on Tuesday, January 10, the jury sentenced Roof to death. Last month, a jury found Roof guilty on all 33 federal crimes against him. The charges range from hate crimes...

LOS ANGELES—The board of the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art announced on Tuesday, January 10 that it has decided to locate its MAD Architects-designed building in the Los Angeles Exposition Park. The board was deciding between Los Angeles and San Francisco to be home to the museum. The museum would contain almost 10,000 paintings, illustrations, and other objects “dedicated to...

LOS ANGELES—Review for the case of a Santa Clarita family fighting to retain custody of a six-year-old foster girl was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, January 9. Summer and Rusty Page had custody of Lexi, who was taken from their home on March 21, 2015. Lexi, who is of Choctaw Native American ancestry, lived with the family...

SAN FRANCISCO—A Volkswagen executive was arrested on Saturday, January 7 in Florida, accused of conspiring to defraud federal regulators over the use of special software that cheated emissions tests.  Oliver Schmidt served as the general manager for the Volkswagen U.S. Environmental Regulatory Compliance office from 2012 to 2015, and was arrested and charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government...

SAN FRANCISCO—MIT believes they may have found a solution for city traffic jams nationwide. A 2015 study ranked San Francisco the number three in the Top 10 Cities With The Worst Traffic In America. New York placed second behind San Francisco and Washington D.C.’s 75 hours spent in traffic on average in 2015. Los Angeles took the number one...

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL—Five people were killed and eight were injured in a mass shooting at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida airport inside the baggage claim area around 1 p.m. on Friday, January 6. The eight people injured were transported to Broward Health Medical Center to be treated for injuries sustained, indicated the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Hundreds of panicked passengers fled outside to the tarmac and waited as police,...

CHICAGO, IL—Four suspects have been arrested in connection with an attack on a mentally disabled teenager that was streamed on Facebook Live. Jordan Hill, 18, Tesfaye Cooper, 18, Brittany Covington, 18 and Tanishia Covington, 24, have each been charged with felony aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint, a hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The video shows the victim sitting...

ARIZONA—The Gila County Sheriff's Office reported a body that was discovered below the Salt River Canyon on Sunday, January 1. The body was discovered approximately 425 feet below the water's surface. Authorities received a call about an abandoned vehicle in a nearby roadway pullout, where the area was searched by officers, the White Mountain Apache Tribe Game and Fish Department, the...

BROOKLYN, NY—Officials reported that 103 people were injured when a Long Island Rail Road Train derailed in Brooklyn at the Atlantic Terminal on Wednesday, January 4. According to reports, the six-car train struck the bumping block at the terminal's track 6 around 8:30 a.m., during the peak of the morning rush hour. About 430 people were riding on the train,...

SAN FRANCISCO—Macy's announced on Wednesday, January 5 that they will be closing 68 stores nationwide, two which are located in San Francisco. The 68 closings are among 100 stores that will close across the country, which was first announced in August 2016. According to reports, over 10,000 employees will lost their jobs. Of the 68 locations, three were closed in mid-2016,...