Officials say a U.S. Coast Guard cutter on routine patrol south of Alaska's Aleutian Islands came across a Russian ship in international waters but within the U.S. exclusive economic zone.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has been sworn in as the state’s first Black governor.

The city of New York will settle lawsuits filed on behalf of two men who were exonerated last year for the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X.

The life and legacy of late author and former Tennessee resident Alex Haley is being honored 100 years after he was born.

The Roots mini-series in 1977 was based on a book by American author and writer Alex Haley. While the show captivated the nation, there are still those who struggle to keep the name of the Pulitzer Prize winning author alive. The Roots mini-series by Haley was viral back then. “We have to keep the story alive because when a person dies a whole library burns down,” said attorney Gregory Reed of the Alex Haley 100 Year Anniversary Committee. Painters, sculptors, photographers, visual artists are invited to submit the way they see America’s story to help keep the way Haley saw the nation’s story alive.

LOS ANGELES – William Blinn, a screenwriter for the landmark TV projects “Brian’s Song” and “Roots” and the Prince film “Purple Rain,” has died. Blinn died Thursday of natural causes at an assisted living community in Burbank, California, his daughter, Anneliese Johnson, said Saturday. He won Emmy and Peabody honors for the 1971 TV movie “Brian's Song," which dramatized the friendship of Chicago Bears players Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers. Last month, Hall of Fame running back Sayers died at age 77. Blinn and Albert Magnoli wrote 1984′s “Purple Rain,” which Magnoli directed.