A Country Icon, a TV Star, an Olympic Legend and Teachers We Love: Meet PEOPLE's 2021 People of the Year

What a year. This year has been a transformative one, pushing us all to create something new and hopefully better for our lives. This issue reflects that spirt: Our People of the Year cover stars have all led the way in their fields to help make the world a little bit better. Dolly Parton has always done her part to help others through efforts like herImagination Library, which to date has given more than 160 million books to kids in need.

A Dad Was Killed on Vacation in Fla. — and Now His Wife and 2 Sons Are Charged in Case

For two years, authorities sought tips in the killing of a Florida man whose body was found submerged in a canal during a weekend getaway. In the summer of 2021, David Rainey, 52, of Palm Coast, was vacationing in Suwannee with his wife, Cindy Rainey, their children, and a family friend, Jeffery Sawyer in a house they rented for the weekend, the Dixie County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

A Dad-to-Be, a 'Brave Young Man' and 'the Most Patriotic Kid': The 13 Service Members Killed in Afghanistan

Young men and women from across the country — California, Ohio, Texas, Wyoming — are among those killedin the attack outside the Afghanistan capital airporton Thursday that left 13 U.S. service members and scores more civilians dead. In a White House speech Thursday after the attack, PresidentJoe Bidenpraised the service members who were safeguarding ongoing evacuation operations in Kabul amid the U.S. withdrawal. He called them “heroes who have been engaged in a dangerous, selfless mission to save the lives of others.

A Daughter's Fight for Justice for Slayings of Her Mom & Grandma That Led to Her Dad's Arrest

Photo: Fresno County Sheriff’s Office When Alison Dupras learned that her mother and grandmotherhad been found dead in December— both fatally shot at home and left for days — the name of the killer came immediately to mind. “I know that my father did this, I knew that as soon as I knew what had happened,” Alison tells PEOPLE. “I knew it right away. Right then and there, I knew.”

A Day After Her Mother's Death, Wynonna Judd Tearfully Accepts Country's Highest Honor: 'My Heart's Broken'

Tearful but composed,Wynonna Juddaccepted country music’s highest honor for The Judds on Sunday night just a day afterthe shocking death of her mother and singing partner, Naomi Judd. “I’m gonna make this fast because my heart’s broken — and I feel so blessed,” Wynonna Judd told the 800 people gathered in Nashville’s CMA Theater for the Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony. “I mean, it’s a very strange dynamic to be this broken and this blessed.