Today, The New York Times staff photographer Tyler Hicks won a Pulitzer for breaking news photography for his work capturing the terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. And trust me, that coveted prize is well deserved. Here's what happened:

On Sept. 21, 2013, at least 16 armed assailants from the Somali Islamist militant group al Shabab attacked the Westgate. The terrorists lobbed grenades and fired automatic weapons into a crowd of weekend shoppers, holding many hostage. After a four-day assault, at least 67 people were killed and more than 170 were injured.

Hicks was at a frame shop in an adjacent mall when the attack started. He ran over and within minutes witnessed blood-covered and frightened people running out of the mall.

"From the beginning I wanted to get some security forces inside the mall," Hicks said in an interview. He hooked up with a group of police doing security sweeps, and stayed inside the mall for two hours taking photographs of the tense stand-off. He never caught sight of any of the assailants but he did see about a dozen people who had been killed.

Hicks was awarded the Pulitzer "for his compelling pictures that showed skill and bravery in documenting the unfolding terrorist attack." Here is just one of those stunning and heartbreaking shots. For more photos from Hicks' Nairobi series, go to The New York Times. Click here for a full list of Pulitzer winners. --Lauren Hansen

America's favorite space telescope celebrated its 28th year among the stars by delivering a remarkable new find.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured two pictures of the faraway Lagoon Nebula. One taken in visible light reveals a rainbow of space gas and dust, while the other taken in infrared reveals countless cosmos and the bright star at the center of the nebula.

The Lagoon Nebula is known as a "stellar nursery," as its outermost gas and dust clouds are constantly contracting to form new stars. You can hop onboard the Hubble for a colorful journey through the Lagoon Nebula in this video. Kathryn Krawczyk

White evangelicals have more faith in President Trump than ever before.

A new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute shows 75 percent of white evangelical protestants have a favorable view of Trump. When it comes to 2020, 69 percent of Republican or Republican-leaning evangelicals said they'd support Trump over another candidate.

That's a huge spike from the 2016 election, where evangelical support for Trump stayed below 50 percent until September of that year.

Trump's nationwide popularity is reaching a high, too. PRRI's survey shows 42 percent of Americans see Trump favorably, which is the highest mark his popularity has hit since reaching 43 percent in early 2017.

PRRI surveyed 2,020 adults over the phone from March 14-24. The results have a 2.6 percent margin of error. Kathryn Krawczyk

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) made history on Thursday by casting a vote with her newborn baby in tow. The Senate voted Wednesday night to allow babies up to 1 year old on the floor during votes after Duckworth became the first senator to give birth while in office earlier this month.

Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, who is just 11 days old, accompanied Duckworth as she cast a vote against the nomination of Jim Bridenstine for NASA administrator:

History adorably made. Jeva Lange

After nearly two years of investigation, much of the case surrounding Prince's unexpected death is closed. There will be no criminal charges, Minnesota law enforcement announced Thursday.

The music legend died in April 2016 after taking imitation Vicodin he didn't know was laced with fentanyl, per The New York Times. Law enforcement have since searched for how he may have acquired the counterfeit drug and came up empty.

"There is no reliable evidence showing how Prince obtained the counterfeit Vicodin laced with fentanyl, or who else had a role in delivering the counterfeit Vicodin to Prince," said Carver County attorney Mark Metz in a press conference.

That doesn't mean someone didn't help Prince get the counterfeit Vicodin, Metz clarified. It just means there isn't enough evidence to press criminal charges in the case.

A Minnesota doctor who treated Prince twice before did face civil violation for an illegal prescription, per the Times, and is paying $30,000 to settle the charge after telling police he prescribed Prince an opiate under a friend's name. Kathryn Krawczyk

Starbucks has faced fierce backlash after video was released of two black men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, being arrested in a Philadelphia store while waiting for their friend for a business meeting. In the wake of the incident, Starbucks has fired the manager, who called the police on the men, and announced that it will close some 8,000 U.S. locations next month to "conduct racial-bias education geared toward preventing discrimination in our stores."

On Thursday, Nelson and Robinson appeared on Good Morning America, where they gave their version of events. In the process, it was revealed that only two minutes elapsed between the pair arriving at the Philadelphia Starbucks and the manager calling 911.

"We're at the table, we sit down, we're just talking amongst each other," Robinson recalled. "[The manager] then comes from around the register ... walks up to us, asks if she can help us with anything, can we start with some drinks or water." After the men said no and that they were waiting for a meeting, police showed up to handcuff the men for "defiant trespassing," although they were not ultimately charged. Watch the full interview below. Jeva Lange

The NHL's newest expansion team did not project to spend this year being golden, and certainly not every night. But that's exactly what the Vegas Golden Knights — a collection of hockey players assembled via an expansion draft but 10 months ago — have done this season.

The Golden Knights won the top seed in the NHL's Pacific Division during the regular season, and on Tuesday they completed a sweep of their division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, in the first round of the playoffs. To date, the Golden Knights franchise has not lost a playoff game.

It's a far cry from what was expected when the season began — and for faithful fans, it could prove lucrative. ESPN noted Thursday that the Golden Knights began the season with 500-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup, but they are now "co-favorites" with the Nashville Predators to emerge on top, with 4-1 odds.

Not only that, but the Las Vegas-based gaming company Station Casinos is offering its most loyal customers the opportunity to place a "free bet" on the Golden Knights to win the Cup, ESPN's Darren Rovell reports. The free bets will be doled out at random, with values from $5 to $250, but all will wager that the Golden Knights will emerge as champions this June and be tied to the 4-1 odds.

Enrollees of Station Casinos' loyalty program, known as Boarding Pass members, can visit any participating Station Casinos location on April 23 and swipe their loyalty card to redeem their vouchers. More fairweather gamblers can visit that day to try to amass enough loyalty points to earn a Boarding Pass, and then immediately redeem their free bet.

The Golden Knights will face the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference semifinals. Safe to say, they are excited. Kimberly Alters

For Earth Day, Lyft has announced that it will be putting millions towards offsetting the emissions from its cars in order to make customers' trips entirely carbon neutral, CNN reports. But the plan will last a lot longer than just Earth Day 2018: The company promises to make its trips carbon neutral for the foreseeable future as a means of fighting climate change.

In the words of co-founder John Zimmer: "With great scale comes great responsibility."

Lyft will use the make, model, and miles driven by the cars of its employees to determine exactly how much CO2 it needs to offset. The company plans to donate money to projects related to forestry, renewable energy, and landfill emissions.

"As we continue to grow the business, we continue to think about finding ways to have the most positive impact possible on the cities and people that are part of our community," Zimmer said. Jeva Lange