Colin Powell broke many barriers to become one of the nation’s top diplomats. Beside him all along was one quiet force: Alma Johnson Powell. The couple’s love story started with an accidental date — and lasted six decades. Here’s what else you need to know to Start Your Week Smart. The weekend that was A…… MORE
The 27-year-old man tried to hold it together as he walked to his cell. It was weeks since he had been arrested. Weeks with no charges and no access to an attorney, he told CNN. Worst of all, two weeks without being able to talk to anyone on the outside, especially his wife and 7-year-old…… MORE
“I love my people! I love my Black people!” said Marcus Arbery, Sr. this week as he neared the steps of the Glynn County Superior Court in Brunswick, Georgia, during jury selection proceedings in the trial against the three men charged in the killing of his 25-year-old son Ahmaud Arbery in coastal Georgia in February…… MORE
Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Kobe Bryant, said she learned about the basketball star’s death when social media notifications began showing up on her phone — hours before she got the official confirmation from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. “I was holding onto my phone, because obviously I was trying to call my husband back,…… MORE
Brian Laundrie, who authorities had said could help fill in at least some of the blanks about what Gabby Petito’s final days looked like, has been confirmed dead. Laundrie’s remains were found Wednesday in the Florida reserve authorities had been combing through for more than a month. Over the summer, the couple embarked on a…… MORE
A member of a scientific coalition advising Puerto Rico’s government on the coronavirus pandemic recently joked about the island’s high Covid-19 vaccination rate, attributing it to the proliferation of drug store chains on the island. “There is a Walgreens on like every corner,” said Rafael Irizzary, a professor of biostatistics at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School…… MORE
When a plane carrying baseball fans to a playoff game crashed in Houston Tuesday, one passenger remembered hearing the words “get out, get out” as flames started to engulf the aircraft. “It was already on fire before we got out of it!” the passenger, who didn’t want to be named, told CNN affiliate KHOU. The…… MORE
For three of the past six years, Kristin Lammert has spent August 25 in a delivery room. She calls herself a planner, but nothing could have prepared her for how her pregnancies played out: three daughters, born three years apart on the same day. When Sophia, Lammert’s first daughter, was born on August 25, 2015,…… MORE
One person was killed and seven more were injured in a shooting incident at an off-campus party near Fort Valley State University (FVSU) in Georgia on Saturday. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) is investigating the fatal overnight shooting, the agency said in a tweet. It was Homecoming weekend at FVSU when the tragic incident…… MORE
Jasen Bracy is unstoppable when he’s on the football field. The 15-year-old Modesto Raiders starting quarterback is completely blind — and a merciless athlete, passing the ball, running touchdowns and breaking tackles. “I never used even once that I can’t see as an excuse. Never have, never will,” Jasen, who lives in Modesto, California, told…… MORE
