The planet is careening toward warming of 2.7 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — far above what scientists say the world should be targeting — according to a report on global emissions targets by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Scientists have said that the planet needs to slash 45% of its emissions by…

It’s Hispanic Heritage Month — and yes, it starts in the middle of September and runs to the middle of October. The date structure is a nod to several important dates in Latin American countries. Here’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. (You can also get…

Alex Murdaugh, the 53-year-old scion of a South Carolina legal dynasty, has seen his life fall apart in three months, with his own attorney saying in court Thursday, “He has fallen from grace.” First, Murdaugh’s wife and son were shot and killed in June, prompting an investigation that remains unsolved. Murdaugh, who called 911 June…

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Thursday that voters in Minneapolis may decide on changing the police department in the upcoming municipal elections. The measure, if approved, would amend the city charter to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety. The DPS would employ a “comprehensive public health approach to the…

Local and federal authorities are looking for 22-year-old Gabby Petito, who was reported missing by her family over the weekend after she had been traveling with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie. Laundrie returned to the pair’s North Port, Florida, home earlier this month without Petito and is now refusing to talk to authorities, police say. Petito’s…

Mass shootings in the United States increased during the coronavirus pandemic, and even doubled in July 2020 compared to a year earlier, according to research published in the journal JAMA Open Network Thursday. Researchers focused on data between April 2020 and July 2021 from the Gun Violence Archive on mass shootings, in which four or…

Boston is poised to make history in November with two women of color competing for a mayor’s seat that has been won by White men for the last 200 years. City Councilors Michelle Wu, an Asian American, and Annissa Essaibi George, a first-generation American whose father emigrated from Tunisia and whose mother was born in…

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted in April on state murder charges for killing George Floyd, pleaded not guilty on Thursday in a federal case related to the use of unreasonable force on a 14-year-old in September 2017. Chauvin was arraigned via video conference before US District Magistrate Judge Hildy Bowbeer on…

More than 1,000 years ago, Indigenous people journeyed into a dark cave on the land now called Missouri and painted nearly 300 detailed images on its walls. The cave was a sacred space, where tribes performed ceremonies, made sense of the universe and buried their dead. A millennium later, the paintings contained within it continue…

Alex Murdaugh, a South Carolina lawyer whose wife and son were killed in June, was arrested Thursday in connection to an insurance fraud scheme that court documents say involved Murdaugh arranging for his own killing so his surviving son could collect the life insurance payout. He faces charges of insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit insurance…

A major sports broadcasting barrier has been broken. Lisa Byington has been hired by the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks as the team’s television play-by-play announcer for games on Bally Sports Wisconsin, the Bucks announced Wednesday. The move makes Byington the first woman hired as a full-time TV play-by-play announcer for a major men’s professional…

A South Florida landlord is requiring new tenants over the age of 18 or any adult tenants who want to renew a lease in one of the 1,200 units he manages to provide proof of a Covid-19 vaccination. Santiago Alvarez told CNN he has no plan to change his rule despite threats from Gov. Ron…