Outgoing North Carolina governor commutes 15 death row sentences Before Tuesday, North Carolina had 136 offenders on death row, among the top 5 largest death rows in the U.S. Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said it had received clemency petitions from 89 of them. Read more on NPR

Blake Lively inspires more actresses to speak out against Hollywood toxicity In the wake of Blake Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation allegations against co-star Justin Baldoni, more actresses are speaking up about their own similar experiences on set. Read more on NPR

Syria’s U.S.-trained opposition fighters wait to learn of their role in a new Syria Former opposition groups — some of whom are U.S.-trained — will be knitted together into new Syrian security forces organized by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group that led the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. Read more on NPR

After 8 years, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt reach divorce settlement The couple married in 2014, but separated two years later. A lengthy legal battle ensued over custody of their children and the future of their once-shared Château Miraval. Read more on NPR

Northern lights may brighten some New Year’s skies over the U.S. The northern lights could be visible Tuesday night and Wednesday night over the Northern Hemisphere due to a geomagnetic storm. Read more on NPR

Power outage hits nearly all of Puerto Rico on New Year’s Eve More than 1.3 million people were plunged into darkness early Tuesday. Failure of an underground power line is believed to be the cause and repairs could take up to two days. Read more on NPR

What was ‘Disease X’ and what can we learn from it? Four weeks after a puzzling outbreak was reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization has identified the cause. Read more on NPR

NEW TECHNOLOGY GIVES HOPE TO SAVE ENDANGERED RIGHT WHALE Conservationists are getting better at monitoring the movement of the highly endangered Right Whale. They hope it will help encourage ships to slow down in an effort to save the species. Read more on NPR

9 unexpected things we learned about mental health and our brains in 2024 NPR’s health reporters followed the emerging science on what keeps our brains and our minds healthy. Here are highlights of the studies that piqued our readers’ interest the most. Read more on NPR

Examining Biden’s presidential legacy. And, north Gaza’s last key hospital shut down President Biden signed significant legislation that his backers say will leave a lasting impact. And, north Gaza’s last major hospital has been shut down with no ceasefire in sight. Read more on NPR