Occupation: Artist. Cause of death: Drug overdose.
A very public ending for an intensely private man
Brace yourselves, Prince fans: Here's everything you didn't want to know. The official cause of death was released Thursday: Prince died of "fentanyl toxicity," a synthetic opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine. The release, which came in a tweet by the medical examiner's office, showed a one-page summary of the autopsy report. That also included how much Prince weighed (112 pounds); what he was wearing (black cap, black shirt, gray undershirt, black pants, black boxer briefs, black socks); his scars (left hip, right lower leg); and how the "injury" occurred: "The decedent self-administered fentanyl." Fentanyl is often used to treat people at the end stage of cancer but has recently surged in popularity as an illegal street drug. The question now is: How did he get it?
Police found a chilling 'kill list' in the UCLA shooting
We now know more about the UCLA murder-suicide shooting. Police said Thursday that a woman on a "kill list" found in the shooter's home had been fatally shot in Minnesota and that two professors had also been targeted, including the one killed Wednesday at the Los Angeles university. The gunman, who killed himself, was identified as Mainak Sarkar, 38, of Minnesota, an engineering graduate student. We also learned that panicked UCLA students used belts, cords and other items to secure doors they said did not lock. In a sad coincidence, Thursday also happens to be #WearOrange day, a social media campaign organized by Everytown for Gun Safety to bring awareness to America's gun violence problem. Actress Debra Messing brought awareness, we guess, when she caused a Twitter kerfuffle. (She later followed up explaining her thinking.)
King Tut was buried with a cosmic dagger
That’s right, Tutankhamun did not go into the afterlife ill-prepared. New research confirms that a dagger buried alongside King Tut was made with iron from a meteorite (cool!). It was one of two discovered in his tomb in 1925, and while astronomers had a hunch about its origins, previous analysis provided controversial results, the study said. The researchers note that the Egyptians likely knew they were working with "iron from the sky," since early iron works were rarely found in ancient Egypt. Sounds like a dagger fit for a pharoah who was ordained by the gods.
Silver lining? We can expect an awesome breakup song from Taylor Swift
The bad news is the pop singer and Calvin Harris have gone their separate ways, and the Internet can't even deal. The public part of T-Swizzle's cute coupledom with her DJ boyfriend was so freaking adorable, and we're so sad it's over. Here are three times the duo made us believe in their love. 1. When she hugged him oh-so-sweetly at the iHeartRadio awards. Cue the memes. 2. When we got warm fuzzies watching them celebrate their one-year dating anniversary — March 6, in case you forgot. 3. That first big PDA at the Billboard Music awards, back in May 2015. So, Many. Kisses. Here's a look at the way they were. (Sniff.)
#MustRead: The story behind the bombshell photos that helped hold O.J. Simpson responsible for two murders
A "nobody out of nowhere" tells the story of how his pictures of "those ugly-ass shoes" worn by O.J. Simpson were discovered and helped persuade a civil jury that the former football star was responsible for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Another jury had come to a different conclusion in the criminal trial over the killings. There, the gloves didn’t fit. Here, the shoes did — and 30 photos that E.J. Flammer took nine months before the deaths proved it, in a midtrial bombshell. "I’ll never forget O.J., maybe 20 feet away, just glaring at me," Flammer said. "It was surreal, like he was trying to look straight through me." Read the never-before-told story here. (See also: The hunt for Simpson's Heisman Trophy.)
And in 'it's official' news ...
Paul Ryan has (finally) said he'll vote for Donald Trump. The House speaker announced his decision via a column and tweet but, somewhat confusingly, never specifically called it an endorsement. OK, then.
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Whoa: Snapchat now reportedly has more daily active users than Twitter, a huge milestone. If you're a Snapper, add +USATODAY there — we promise not to ghost you.
Newly disclosed CDC biolab failures are "like a screenplay for a disaster movie."
The 3 craziest things Elon Musk said at his Code Conference talk.
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17 more billionaires have agreed to give away the bulk of their loot.
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This is a compilation of stories across USA TODAY.