Month: October 2025

By Romelo Styles

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    VIRGINIA BEACH (WTKR) — In the heart of Pungo, the sound of dirt bikes revving and tires spinning through dirt signals more than just family fun — it’s the beginning of what could become Virginia Beach’s newest community resource.

Mark Brown, a Virginia Beach father who has been riding dirt bikes for 30 years, is working to transform his backyard track into a formal youth training facility. Alongside his wife Somer, Brown wants to create a safe space where children ages 4 to 8 can learn proper riding techniques before heading to larger, more dangerous tracks.

“I’ve been riding ever since I was seven, so I’ve been riding for 30 years now,” Brown said.

The idea grew from watching his son Dayton, who has been riding since age 2, navigate the sport with natural ability.

“He’s never used training wheels or anything. His balance has just always been from the start — little balance bikes — and it’s kind of like a natural thing to him now when he’s riding. It’s his track now,” Brown said.

The Browns’ vision extends beyond their own family. After coaching their children’s T-ball and softball teams, they recognized a gap in youth dirt bike instruction in the area.

“We taught his T-ball team and our daughter’s softball team, and we were just sitting there thinking one day, you know, we should do this with the dirt bike stuff,” Brown said.

Currently, most local tracks mix young riders with adults on larger bikes, creating safety concerns for parents.

“A lot of the practice tracks we’d go to with him, it’s all size bikes. He’s riding with adults on bigger bikes — and I don’t feel safe with that. I really wanted a spot just for the little kids,” Brown said.

The family’s proposed training program would focus on safety fundamentals, teaching young riders proper techniques for turns, corners and basic riding skills in a controlled environment.

“Take mainly kids like within the 4 to 8-year-old range — kind of almost like T-ball. You have a group of them out here, be able to work with them individually — turns, corners, teaching them safety,” Brown said.

The response from local families has exceeded the Browns’ expectations.

“When we started, it was just an idea. Then people were like — please do this, my kid needs somebody to help,” Brown said.

The family is currently working with Virginia Beach city officials to obtain a conditional use permit that would allow them to convert their agricultural land into a small training facility.

“Yeah, I’ve spoke with a couple people, and so far I feel like it’s pretty positive,” Brown said.

If approved, the Browns hope to welcome young riders from across Virginia Beach, building both safety skills and confidence in the next generation of motocross enthusiasts.

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By WTKR Web Staff

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    VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (WTKR) — A contractor was sentenced to 30 years in prison Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to raping an 11-year-old girls on three separate occasions.

Ricardo Mejia was hired to renovate a family’s bathroom but instead committed crimes against the child on three different occasions. He was charged with three counts of rape of a child under the age of 13, and for breaking into the home.

With a heavy accent that was difficult to understand at times, he addressed the court Tuesday before his sentencing to apologize.

“I know I am not the only one experiencing hard times,” said Mejia. “I’m sorry for the pain she is going through in this process.”

A search warrant outlines how on Oct. 9, 2024 around 2:30 a.m., the parents heard noises coming from their 11-year-old daughter’s bedroom. The door was locked and they got a butter knife to force it open. Then, they saw a naked man climbing out of the window, the warrant says.

Court records state that Mejia is accused of climbing through the window on three occasions. He confirmed this during an interview with legal authorities.

Mejia said the first rape took place when the child’s parents weren’t home, multiple days before he was caught. The second and third times happened at night in the child’s bedroom, according to court documents.

We previously interviewed Crime Analyst Richard James about this case.

“That that is a clear violation of trust for someone who clearly understands the layout of your home, how to get in your house, and how to get out of your home,” said James.

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By Shelley Bortz

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    PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — It was a tense situation at Pittsburgh Colfax on Tuesday after a 7-year-old student in the school’s autistic support program briefly wandered away during recess. Staff and school police immediately jumped into action, and thanks to a retired teacher, that child is safe tonight.

Police say the little boy vanished just after noon during a game of hide-and-seek at Colfax elementary. That set off an immediate search that ended when a neighbor called 911.

Officials say it happened around 12:15 when a 7-year-old student left the school grounds without anyone noticing.

Once staff realized the child was missing, they immediately initiated a search of the building and the surrounding property. The school was placed on “hold” status, which means students stayed in classrooms while every locker, closet and restroom was searched.

It wasn’t until another student spoke up that it was learned the 7-year-old talked about “playing hide-and-seek” and “running far so they wouldn’t be caught.”

The student was finally found after knocking on a nearby neighbor’s door, which happened to be the home of a retired Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher.

That former teacher called 911, and within minutes, the child was reunited with his family.

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By Abigail Kurten

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    NORWALK, Iowa (KCCI) — A Norwalk woman who lost her ability to speak to ALS got it back in an unexpected way.

Robin Leaper was diagnosed with ALS, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in 2023. Since then, she’s struggled with muscle weakness, difficulty eating, and she’s no longer able to speak.

It’s been an adjustment, to say the least.

“For the first year, I couldn’t even say ALS without crying.” she said.

When she was diagnosed, she was the the Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Norwalk.

Since then, she’s tried to communicate in other ways, like text-to-speech software or sign language, but neither one has allowed her to use her own voice.

Until the city’s Marketing and Communications Specialist, Tai Lieu, came in.

Lieu combed through hours of public meeting recordings in which Leaper spoke, isolating her vocals and uploading them to an AI voice recreation software.

That software allows Leaper to type her words, which are then read aloud in her own voice.

“It sounded as if she was just standing there, speaking on her own,” Lieu said of Leaper’s first attempt at using the software when she won Norwalk’s Citizen of the Year Award last year. “I had several people say ‘I didn’t realize she was playing a recording of her voice.'”

But for Leaper, the AI recreation does more than allow her to use her own voice; it allows her to feel like herself again.

“It’s your identity,” she said. “People can hear your voice without seeing and they know it’s you. It gave me back a little piece ALS stole from me.”

As for what’s next, Leaper says she has a new priority: finding a cure.

She plans to start with Altoona’s Walk to Defeat ALS on Saturday.

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By John Dias

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    SMITHTOWN, New York (WCBS) — A broken wing almost ended a monarch butterfly’s journey on Long Island, but a caring hand, and a clever idea, gave it a second chance to fly again.

At the Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, experts know what it takes to keep even the smallest lives in flight, especially those with the toughest odds.

Janine Bendicksen, the center’s director of wildlife rehabilitation, described one of her most recent patients, which was brought in by Deer Park resident Dagmar Hoffdavis.

“He was unable to flap it, or fly,” Bendicksen said.

“Butterfly, they say, is good luck from the other side, and so it’s a spiritual thing for me,” Hoffdavis said.

Bendicksen had a bold idea to transplant a wing from a dead butterfly inside her vivarium to the injured one.

“I scoured the floor for a dead butterfly and I found a monarch. The wing was in perfect shape,” Bendicksen said.

She then got right to work, recording the five-minute procedure, which, after being posted to the center’s social media page, went viral, with millions of views.

“It was so intricate, because this butterfly could fall apart if I pressed too hard,” Bendicksen said. “We used contact cement, we had corn starch, a little piece of wire that we could hold the butterfly down with.”

She said the butterfly was unharmed the entire time.

“They have no nerve receptors, no blood flow going into the end portion of the wing,” Bendicksen said.

A delicate touch gave the monarch a new set of wings, and a new lease on life. Bendicksen said it was the first time she tried this type of procedure like this, and now she’s inspiring other professionals across the world.

“I’m getting calls from Minnesota, Costa Rica, California,” she said. “This butterfly would have died if we didn’t try. We need hope in this world today.”

For the staff at Sweet Briar, it was not just about saving one insect. It was about starting a movement. Experts say monarch butterflies have near-endangered status.

“Every animal has its place in the world, especially this one, that has such a big journey ahead of it,” said Veronica Sayers, the vivarium’s director.

With one borrowed wing, the monarch is now migrating toward Mexico — a small life, given a second change.

Experts say to leave a procedure like this to the professionals.

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By Ivan Taylor

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    HIALEAH, Florida (WFOR) — An 84-year-old Hialeah man accused of threatening a teenage neighbor with a gun is speaking out, insisting he was misunderstood and wrongfully arrested.

The man, identified as Elso Lino Rodríguez, out on bond, said he never pulled a firearm—only a cellphone from his pocket.

Rodríguez said police and witnesses mistook his cellphone for a weapon. “I was wearing a jacket. They must have thought I had a gun,” Rodríguez said, showing CBS News Miami the jacket he wore and the cellphone he claims was mistaken for a firearm.

Despite his explanation, police arrested Rodríguez on a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm.

During his bond hearing, Miami-Dade Judge Mindy Glazer acknowledged his age but emphasized the seriousness of the case.

“I understand you’re 84 years old, but you’re going to have to find another place to live because these are very serious allegations,” Glazer said.

Rodríguez maintains that the firearm police confiscated was legally owned and stored safely in his home. “I have the right to own a gun,” he said. “But it was in my house, not with me.”

The alleged victim’s mother, Ena Herrera, described a frightening encounter outside the apartment building.

“I was shaking—it was horrible,” Herrera said. “He pointed a gun at my son and said he was going to kill him. He told me I was going to have to pick up his body.”

According to Hialeah police, the incident happened Saturday evening at 138 West 26th Street, just steps from Rodríguez’s apartment.

The police report said Rodríguez confronted the teenager in an outdoor area of the building and allegedly threatened him.

Rodríguez denied that version of events. He maintained he went to speak with the building manager after being harassed for several nights by neighborhood kids.

“I haven’t been sleeping well for nights because of these teenagers bothering me,” he said. “I went there to talk to the manager, not to threaten anyone.”

His girlfriend supported his account, saying the teens had been disturbing Rodríguez late at night. “They knock on his window at 10 or 11 p.m.,” she said. “They don’t let him sleep.”

Herrera insists Rodríguez targeted the wrong child.

“Two boys were there that night, but they weren’t my son’s friends,” she said. “He came after them and pointed at my son, saying, ‘I’m going to kill him.'”

Rodríguez maintains his innocence and says he plans to clear his name. “I intend to prove I’m innocent. I’ve been wrongly accused,” he said.

As part of his bond conditions, Rodríguez will live with one of his daughters and must stay away from the teenager and the neighborhood where he has lived for years.

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By Nakell Williams

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — When Georgia resident Ashley Smith first heard that she was diagnosed with schizophrenia 20 years ago, it felt like the world stopped.

“I’ve been arrested because of my diagnosis, which was very challenging, and that’s in fact how I learned about my diagnosis, going through a high-speed chase with police and being jailed,” Smith said.

In the decades following, Smith says treatment and hope are the key to her journey—carrying her from some of her darkest days to a brighter tomorrow.

While precise numbers are hard to obtain, the National Institutes of Health estimates between 0.25% and 0.64% of people in the United States are diagnosed with schizophrenia and related psychiatric disorders. Most of these cases are diagnosed inthe late teens to early thirties.

For Smith, the diagnosis wasn’t the most difficult part.

“One of the toughest situations I’ve experienced in my recovery is being separated from my son,” she said.

Now, the 38-year-old says she knows recovery doesn’t mean being perfect. It means progress, which starts with hope.

“Hope is crucial. Through hope, I can see a better future,” she said. “Hope reassures me that I can be a parent.”

Smith says she knows hope doesn’t erase the challenges of the disorder, because she had an episode several years ago, but it does help her face them each day.

“Every morning I get out of bed, I pray, and I thank God for my medication and my support system,” she said.

Smith credits family members who have passed and her two dogs, Bella and Spike, as playing big roles in her support system.

Treatment, faith, and community, she says, are all part of her recovery, and she believes sharing her story helps reduce the disorder’s stigma.

“I can still achieve my goals. I can still walk with my head high, despite having this diagnosis, because I’m a fighter, I am a blogger, I’m a writer, I’m a friend, mother, daughter,” she said.

Her message is especially for those who are newly diagnosed, people who may feel like there is no way forward.

“Recovery is possible. Take your medication, especially if that’s what’s working for you. Stay involved in your therapy and really work on your support system,” she said.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, you can call the NAMI Georgia Helpline at 1-800-715-4225.

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