Four people are dead and two others are injured following a dispute between neighbors that devolved into a shooting, police said. Honolulu authorities are investigating the incident as a homicide. ... Read full Story
The National Transportation Safety Board is on the scene investigating a bus crash on Interstate 20 in Mississippi Saturday that killed 7 people and left dozens more injured, the Mississippi Highway Patrol said. ... Read full Story
A 14-year-old boy is dead and another wounded after a shooting in a parking lot at the Michigan State Fair in Novi, a suburban of Detroit, authorities reported. ... Read full Story
Three people are dead after a small plane crashed into a row of townhomes near a municipal airport about 11 miles from Portland, Ore. Saturday, officials reported. ... Read full Story
Donald Trump on Saturday said he supports a ballot initiative in his home state of Florida that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults 21 and older. ... Read full Story
A man wearing a keffiya and wielding a glass bottle attacked and injured two Jewish University of Pittsburgh students late Friday, school officials announced. ... Read full Story
Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday said former President Donald Trump "disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt" during her Republican rival's visit to Arlington National Cemetery. ... Read full Story
Two defamed Georgia election workers are asking the federal court to enforce the $146 million judgment against former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, including real estate and three Yankees World Series rings. ... Read full Story
A man who murdered a young tech entrepreneur in Baltimore almost a year ago in a case that inspired changes in Maryland state law has been handed multiple life sentences by a judge. ... Read full Story
A westbound charter bus overturned shortly after 1a.m. Saturday and killed eight passengers and injured at least 30 others along I-20 near Vicksburg, Miss. ... Read full Story
A federal judge in Los Angeles has agreed to let Dr. Mark Chavez enter into a plea agreement in actor Matthew Perry' ketamine overdose death in October. ... Read full Story
Heavy rain with the possibility of damaging winds is on tap for the Northeast and Gulf states over the Labor Day holiday weekend as a record number of travelers are expected to surge through the nation's airports. ... Read full Story
The Maryland Supreme Court Friday reinstated Adnan Syed's murder conviction in a 4-3 ruling that upheld a state appellate decision. The court said the rights of the murder victim's brother were violated in freeing Syed. ... Read full Story
Federal prosecutors said on Friday it indicted a 52-year-old West Virginia man for taking $96,000 from a woman in what they described as a romance scam. ... Read full Story
The President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition will celebrate America's rich cultural heritage through traditional Native American Games like lacrosse on the National Mall September 7. ... Read full Story
Police in California have arrested a man in connection with a missing couple that disappeared from their home in a nudist resort in San Bernardino County late last week. ... Read full Story
A Dallas Police Department officer was killed in the line of duty late Thursday night, while two responding officers were shot and injured. ... Read full Story
An 18-year-old University of Delaware student was killed after completing her first day of college classes while police charged a motorcyclist with murder and numerous other charges on Friday. ... Read full Story
“The eagerness to vilify ‘the other side’—usually on social media—complicates the less reactionary work that defines our mission.” — Jerry Brewer, The Washington Post, 11 June 2024
Did you know?
It seems reasonable to assume that the words vilify and villain come from the same source; after all, to vilify someone is—in some ways—to make them out to be a villain. Such is not the case, however. Although the origin stories of both vilify and villain involve Latin, their roots are quite different. Vilify came to English (via Middle English and Late Latin) from the Latin adjective vilis, meaning “cheap” or “vile.” Someone who has been vilified, accordingly, has had their reputation tarnished or cheapened in such a way that they’re viewed as morally reprehensible. Villain on the other hand, comes from the Medieval Latin word villanus, meaning “villager,” and ultimately from the Latin noun villa, meaning “house.” The Middle English descendent of villanus developed the meaning of “a person of uncouth mind and manners” due to the vilifying influence of the aristocracy of the time, and the connotations worsened from there until villain came to refer to (among other things), a deliberate scoundrel.