NPR News

When a man pulled a shotgun out from under a long coat and started shooting into a church congregation near Fort Worth, Texas, last winter, Jack Wilson didn't hesitate. Within seconds, the volunteer security guard unholstered his weapon and returned fire.

With one shot, Wilson killed the 43-year-old gunman and then kicked the shotgun away. Keith Thomas Kinnunen had already shot two congregants, who died. But there were more than 250 people in the West Freeway Church of Christ that day, on Dec. 29, 2019, and many credit Wilson for saving many more lives.

The jade gemstones that generate billions of dollars a year in Myanmar — the world's biggest exporter of the stone — are beloved in China, where they can sell for more than gold. But they are a symbol of tragedy and suffering for the people who live and work in the country's mines in Hpakant, in Myanmar's northernmost Kachin State.

In Glenwood Springs, Colo., the restaurant Masala and Curry was having its best summer ever. Residents of the densely-populated Denver Metro Area eager for a COVID-19 summer staycation flooded the mountains along the critical transportation artery that is Interstate 70. And many stopped in to try the restaurant's Indian cuisine.

Citing a "reprisal" by the Indian government against its human rights work, Amnesty International said Tuesday that it has been forced to lay off staff and halt operations in India.

On Nov. 4, the day after the election, the United States will officially exit the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

The date is a coincidence. Still, the timing underscores a crucial victory for the Trump administration in its efforts to derail federal action on global warming, which the president dismisses as a hoax.

Antigen testing is expected to become a more common way to test for COVID-19. It looks for the virus’ surface coating, rather than pieces of its genetic material. It’s faster and easier to administer than other tests.

The recording of grand jury proceedings in the Breonna Taylor case will be released this week — an unusual step that comes after a juror disputed Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's public explanation for why no charges were filed that are directly related to Taylor's killing by Louisville police.

Jefferson Circuit Judge Ann Bailey Smith has "ordered attorneys to file a recording of the grand jury proceedings" by Wednesday, member station WFPL reports. It's not yet clear when the recording might be released to the public.

Young adults are driving coronavirus infections in the U.S. and are likely spreading the virus to older, more vulnerable populations, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

President Trump and Democrat Joe Biden square off in the first of three general-election presidential debates Tuesday night.

The debate is high stakes and carries risks for both candidates.

Here are six questions ahead of the debate, to be moderated by Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace beginning at 9 p.m. ET and held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

1. Can Trump avoid the sitting-president first-debate slump?

Military names can echo down through the ages, a fact underlined by the current fight in Washington, D.C., between President Trump and Congress, which has voted to strip the names of Confederate generals from several Southern Army bases.

The president has vowed that won't happen, but the battle might not be resolved before election day.

The Navy, meanwhile, has quietly charted a new course. A supercarrier now on the drawing boards will be christened the USS Doris Miller.

Questions have long swirled about the state of President Trump's finances.

The New York Times appears to have answered at least some of them with a revelatory report over the weekend that says, among other things, that the president paid just $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017.

Stephannia Swain, 52, has had the same job for almost her entire adult life, cooking at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia.

"We only have six cooks and we're all lifers," she said. With 30 years of experience, Swain was the most senior, but others in the kitchen had been part of the team for nearly two decades.

In a survey of data published on the health department websites of 49 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam, a total of 624,890 child cases of COVID-19 were reported from the start of the pandemic through Sept. 24, or 10.5% of all cases in states reporting infections according to age.

A smaller subset of states reported hospitalizations and mortality by age. The data from those states indicate "COVID-19-associated hospitalization and death is uncommon in children," according to the survey.

In August, Robert Pettigrew was working a series of odd jobs. While washing the windows of a cellphone store he saw a sign, one that he believes the "good Lord" placed there for him.

"Facing eviction?" the sign read. "You could be eligible for up to $3,000 in rent assistance. Apply today."

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has set the stage for a historic shift in the court’s makeup and could significantly change how the court views any given gun law in relation to the Second Amendment.