Amid a tidal wave of negative publicity, a Colorado school system has let a 6-year-old boy return to school and said it won't classify his kissing a girl on the hand as sexual harassment.
The story of first-grader Hunter Yelton made national news and spurred outrage this week after word spread that his school near Colorado Springs suspended him for the kiss and accused him of sexually harassing the girl.
On Wednesday night, CNN affiliate KRDO reported that Canon City Schools Superintendent Robin Gooldy met with Hunter's parents. The superintendent then changed Hunter's disciplinary offense from "sexual harassment" to "misconduct."
FULL STORYA magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck central Philippines on Tuesday, leaving at least 20 people dead and rattling many who were celebrating a religious holiday.
The quake, which struck early in the morning, crumbled a number of buildings and sent panicked people streaming into the streets, witnesses said.
At least 15 were killed in the city of Cebu, four were killed in the province of Bohol and one died in the province of Siquijor, said Maj. Reynaldo Balido,a spokesman for the Philippines Office of Civil Defense.
FULL STORYA sheriff says he's closer to finding the motive behind the fatal shooting of a Louisiana pastor who witnesses say was gunned down by a former deacon as the horrified congregation looked on.
Friday's shooting may have resulted from allegations of a complicated sexual relationship between the pastor and the deacon's wife, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said.
FULL STORYWe may never know what Michelle Knight, Georgina DeJesus and Amanda Berry feel about the death of Ariel Castro.
The man who snatched them off the street, chained them in his house and raped them repeatedly, was found hanged in an Ohio prison Wednesday.
While there were strong opinions about Castro from many, the three women who may harbor the most gut-wrenching, conflicted emotions about Castro were silent.
A spokeswoman said Wednesday the three women would not make a statement.
Who's the daddy? Is it a boy or girl?
The National Zoo in Washington will answer those questions Thursday morning when it announces the gender and paternity of a giant panda cub that was born last month.
"Stay tuned! We're going to announce the sex and paternity of the panda cub tomorrow around 9 a.m.! #cubwatch," the zoo tweeted Wednesday.
The news was greeted by joyous tweets from fans of Washington's celebrity panda, Mei Xiang.
When officers arrived at Ariel Castro's home in Cleveland, a crowd had formed on the porch.
But where was the woman they came for? Where was Amanda Berry?
Then she stepped forward, holding a crying baby. It was really her, the missing girl they had searched for for 10 years.
It is Amanda Berry, Officer Michael Tracy said.
"Just the emotion at that point of my partner confirming that it was Amanda ... It was overwhelming," Officer Anthony Espada recalled.
Cleveland police this week released the emotional video interviews of officers Espada, Tracy and Barbara Johnson, who helped in the May 6 rescue of the three women from Castro's home.
FULL STORY[Updated at 3:31 p.m. ET] Tina and Billy Clark saw the funnel cloud approaching and did what many of their neighbors did.
"We just ran and hid in the closet," Tina Clark told CNN after one of a swarm of tornadoes descended Wednesday night into their neighborhood in Hood County, some 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Texas.
"I was holding the door shut," Billy Clark told CNN. "You could feel the pressure from inside the house. It was like pulling on the door a little bit. The whole house was shaking really bad. It felt like the house was getting ripped apart, but we couldn't see anything from inside the closet, so we didn't know what exactly was going on."
"You could just hear stuff hitting the house," his wife said.
FULL STORYRescue workers feverishly tried to free two young children who were trapped underground in a North Carolina home construction site Sunday night, sometimes digging in the dirt with bare hands.
But they were unsuccessful, and early Monday morning, their efforts had moved from search-and-resue to recovery.
The children, a 6-year-old girl and a 7-year-old girl, were buried underground at the construction site in Lincoln County about 6 p.m., authorities said.
FULL STORYHangzhou suspended live poultry trade, making it the second city in China to take this action since an unusual strain of bird flu has hit the country, state-run media outlet Xinhua reported Saturday.
Shanghai is the other city to close live poultry trading after the outbreak that has left six dead.
FULL STORYA veteran New York police officer is accused of equipping a robbery crew with state-of-the art New York police equipment and helping them loot drug dealers out of a million dollars.
The officer, Jose Tejada, 45, is also accused of allowing the robbery crew to use his Manhattan apartment for their enterprise.
In court documents filed Wednesday, federal prosecutors said the crew posed as police officers and used fake warrants to arrest drug traffickers.
The crew then robbed those it arrested of their money and their stashes of marijuana, heroin, ecstasy and cocaine, authorities said.
FULL STORYA man suspected of killing a West Virginia sheriff remained hospitalized early Thursday, with officials describing his condition as "touch and go."
Tennis Melvin Maynard, 37, is accused of shooting Mingo County Sheriff Walter E. "Eugene" Crum as the lawman was eating lunch just blocks away from a courthouse Wednesday. Maynard was then shot in chest by a sheriff's deputy after a brief chase, authorities said.
FULL STORYGun legislation that advocacy groups call the strongest and most comprehensive to be taken up across the nation moved closer to passage early Thursday as the Connecticut House approved the tough gun measure.
The vote, 105-44, followed passage by the Senate a day earlier.
FULL STORYOfficers arrested the son of legendary actor Clark Gable this week on suspicion of drunken driving after he crashed into six parked cars in Malibu, California.
John Clark Gable, 52, was driving a white Ford pick-up truck Tuesday near the Malibu Pier when the crashes occurred, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department reported.
FULL STORYTesting continues for patients who may have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis from their visit to Dr. W. Scott Harrington's suburban Tulsa, Oklahoma, dental office.
By Monday, nearly 1,000 patients had been screened at a special clinic in the city, and most will receive results in about two weeks, state health officials said.
The screenings began Saturday, and the free tests will continue weekdays.
FULL STORYA boyhood wish is finally about to come true. But Maurice Griffin had to wait until he was a man for it to happen.
At age 32, the California man is about to be adopted.
"It has to happen," Griffin said. "I didn't fight for all those years for no reason."
Adopting the burly, muscular, mohawk-sporting man is Lisa Godbold, his one-time foster mother.
"I just feel like this makes it official," Godbold said. "And we don't have to keep explaining it now."
FULL STORYFirst it was Triumph, then Elation, Dream and now Legend.
While they are happy names for cruise ships, some passengers say they've had experiences recently that belie those names.
In yet another setback, Carnival Cruise ship Legend is having technical difficulties that are affecting its sailing speed, the travel company said.
The Legend, which was on the last leg of a seven-day Caribbean cruise that departed Tampa on Sunday, now becomes the latest in a growing list of Carnival woes. Within a span of a month, three other Carnival Cruise ships have reported problems.
FULL STORY[Posted at 12:59 p.m. ET] A judge on Tuesday entered a standard plea of not guilty for James Holmes, the man suspected in a mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater, after he and his attorneys said they were not ready to enter a plea.
Holmes' attorneys had suggested in court documents that they might enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity for the shooting rampage at the theater that left 12 people dead and 58 injured on July 20, 2012.
[Posted at 1:11 a.m. ET] James Holmes, the man accused of killing 12 people in a Colorado movie theater last summer, is expected to enter a plea Tuesday.
On Monday, a judge ruled that if Holmes pleads guilty by reason of insanity, he will have to waive all medical confidentiality and turn over the name of any doctor or psychologist who may have treated him.
Judge William Sylvester also said Holmes will have to agree to a state psychiatric exam and to be drugged by doctors to assess his condition.
FULL STORYA Colorado school has caused a stir with an advisory that suggested women could urinate or vomit to deter a rape.
The list of 10 tips by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs was billed as "last resort" options to deter a sexual assault.
"Tell your attacker that you have a disease or are menstruating," read one tip.
"Vomiting or urinating may also convince the attacker to leave you alone," read another.
By Tuesday night, the list was taken down and replaced by an explanation and an apology. But it was too late.
Finally, after days of listing on a disabled Carnival cruise ship without electricity and working toilets, thousands of passengers finished disembarking early Friday morning at the Port of Mobile.
The frustration that many felt was typified by Janie Esparza, one of the first passengers to get back on land.
"It was horrible. Horrible," Esparza told a scrum of reporters. "The bathroom facilities were horrible and we could not flush toilets. No electricity and our rooms were in total darkness. Honestly, think that this ship should have ever sailed out."
FULL STORYIran says it has decoded and released footage from a U.S. drone that it downed more than a year ago.
The black and white aerial footage, Iran claims was from a RQ-170 spy plane, was aired by Iranian news agencies and placed on YouTube.
A man, identified in Iranian media as Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, narrates parts of the footage.
FULL STORY
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