Fake bear attacks car in insurance fraud scam

Crime

November 14, 2024

Daniel Wine - CNN

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👋 Welcome to 5 Things PM! If you’re planning to host Thanksgiving dinner this year, you need to start preparing today. Whether you’re a first-timer or just need a little motivation, a pro shares her two-week timeline for a successful holiday feast.

Here’s what else you might have missed during your busy day:

5 things

1️⃣ Hooked on TJ’s: It started as a health-food store in California. Now the brand has been called “the Disneyland of American grocery stores,” and travelers from around the world are clamoring to visit. Welcome to the cult of Trader Joe’s.

2️⃣ Chronic disease: More than 800 million adults worldwide are living with diabetes. CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen explains what you need to know about this ailment and what you can do to prevent it.

3️⃣ Cycling crackdown: Tens of thousands of Chinese college students went biking at night, bringing traffic to a standstill. The trend is putting the government on edge, authorities cited safety concerns as reason for clamping down on the impromptu gatherings.

4️⃣ ‘Hugely disappointing’: A building in England that won a prestigious architecture prize is set to be demolished less than 30 years after it was built. People are in an uproar about its fate.

5️⃣ Famous fossil: Lucy, a skeleton unearthed 50 years ago in Ethiopia, has fueled five decades of scientific research and debate. Her mixture of ape and humanlike traits suggested that she occupied a pivotal branch in the human family tree.

Watch this

🐻 Barely believable: Four people were arrested on fraud charges after submitting footage to an insurance company showing what they claimed was a bear damaging a Rolls-Royce. Detectives said they found a bear costume at the suspects’ home.

Top headlines

• Trump picks Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his Health and Human Services secretary
• Trump wants Elon Musk to overhaul the government. Here’s what could be chopped
• Georgia’s Fulton County Jail subjects inmates to ‘inhumane, violent’ conditions that threaten their safety, DOJ finds

What’s buzzing

🧅 New owner: Satirical news site The Onion won the auction to acquire conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars, which was sold off as part of a defamation settlement after he falsely called the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax.

Check this out

📸 Hidden lives: Under the Taliban, women in Afghanistan have been erased from many aspects of public life. A photographer documented their experiences, including teenage girls celebrating a birthday in secret. There’s a reason for their anonymity and a deeper significance to their unveiled hair.

Quotable

🎤 Emotional reunion: The legend explained why he decided to reconnect with his former music partner Paul Simon. After experiencing artistic differences, they split up in 1970.

Quiz time

⭐ Taylor Swift is the godmother of which celebrity couple’s daughters?
A. Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes
B. Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis
C. John Legend and Chrissy Teigen
D. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively
⬇️ Scroll down for the answer.

Good vibes

🚢 We like to wrap things up on a positive note: Bobbi Waterman got up early to catch the sunrise during a cruise off the coast of Fiji. There was only one other person on the deck of the ship that morning, and after sharing the spectacular view they talked for hours. That chance encounter changed their lives.

Thanks for reading

🧠 Quiz answer: D. Swift is godmother to Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively’s three daughters. Test your knowledge with CNN’s weekly news quiz in tomorrow morning’s 5 Things newsletter.
📧 Check out all of CNN’s newsletters.

5 Things PM is produced by CNN’s Tricia Escobedo, Chris Good, Meghan Pryce and Kimberly Richardson.