News of the day from across the nation, Aug. 25

The Los Angeles Police Department plans to create a novel program to reach out to the families of people killed during encounters with officers and help them navigate the often-complicated aftermath of such incidents, officials said Tuesday.

Details about the Family Liaison Program are still being worked out, however the president of the civilian board that oversees the LAPD said the goal was to better communicate with relatives of those who are killed by police or died while in the LAPD’s custody.

Nearly two-thirds of this year’s high school graduates took the ACT college entrance exam, and their scores suggest that many remain unprepared for college-level coursework.

The testing company based in Iowa City said Wednesday that only 38 percent of graduating seniors who took the exam hit the college-prepared benchmark in at least three of the four core subjects tested — reading, English, math and science.

3 Terror trial: A Mississippi man who tried to travel to Syria with his fiancee to join the Islamic State group was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison on federal terrorism charges.

The mother of a Texas teenager who used an “affluenza” defense after he killed four people in a drunken-driving crash has been released from home confinement.