‘Be kind and be a light’: Central Oregon comes together to celebrate first day of Chanukah at menorah lighting

Claire Elmer

(Update: adding video, comments from Rabbi of Chabad of Central Oregon)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The spirit of Chanukah shone brightly Sunday evening as dozens of families, children, and neighbors gathered at the Old Mill District for the 15th annual community menorah lighting, hosted by Chabad of Central Oregon.

The public celebration marked the first night of Chanukah, the eight-day Festival of Lights that commemorates the ancient miracle when a small amount of oil lasted eight days in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Under clear winter skies, attendees enjoyed music, traditional treats like latkes and jelly doughnuts, crafts for kids, and a sense of shared joy as the giant menorah illuminated the night along the Deschutes River.

For Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman, Rabbi of Chabad of Central Oregon, the lighting carries deep meaning that extends beyond ritual or tradition.

“By the menorah lighting itself, that through us being a candle, us being an advocate for positivity and being a light around us, we actually can extinguish the darkness through being a light,” said Rabbi Feldman.

That message — that small acts of kindness can make a big difference — is one Rabbi Feldman says is meant for everyone.

“There’s actually a universal message that everyone just be be a light for your surroundings. Be kind to your surroundings. Be kind at home. Be kind when you go outside, just be kind and be a light for your environment,” he added.

The event also emphasized teaching children about the importance of joy and generosity.

“It’s a holiday that we are supposed to get the kids involved and get everyone involved in are feeling joyous because we want them to feel part of this miracle,” Rabbi Feldman said.

As the first candle was lit and the crowd looked on, the message of hope and resilience filled the Old Mill District — a reminder that even one flame can light up the darkness.

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Fire erupts at Bonneville County Hatch Pit north of Idaho Falls

Curtis Jackson

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Idaho Falls firefighters are battling a fire that started in the Bonneville County waste management site early Sunday morning, at 395 East 33rd North.

The fire was first reported around 2:45 a.m. in the Hatch Pit, where waste materials are often deposited. As of 9 a.m., several fire engines from IFFD remain on the scene, working to control the blaze.

Authorities have not said what has burned or how it started. Early Sunday morning, witnesses took to social media saying they could see the fire glowing in the dark sky for miles.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more details are revealed.

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U.S. Marine among 3 killed in hit-and-run crash, friends say

By Lauren Pozen, Dean Fioresi

Click here for updates on this story

    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — A U.S. Marine was among the three people who were killed during a hit-and-run crash near the border of Panorama City and Arleta on Friday night, friends of the victim said.

The crash, which happened at the intersection of N. Woodman Avenue and Terra Bella Street at around 9:30 p.m., happened when a driver was fleeing from the scene of an unrelated collision nearby, Los Angeles police said.

They believe that the 30-year-old man driving a minivan ran through a red light at the intersection when it collided with a blue Ford Mustang and a Honda Civic.

A man and his girlfriend in the Mustang, both 20 years old, were pronounced dead at the scene, LAPD officers said. Friends have identified the man as Adrian Carrillo, a Marine who was back home for the holidays. He has not yet been publicly identified by police.

“I can’t believe he came for vacation, just for holidays … and he died,” said Ivonne Hooker, a friend of Carrillo’s family. “I can’t believe it. For somebody irresponsible.”

Hooker says that Carrillo’s mother died earlier this year from cancer, and that he was home to make sure that his dad wasn’t alone for Christmas. She said that their home was just two blocks from the spot of the crash in Arleta.

She was one of several neighbors who stopped near the scene to pay respects to Carrillo and his girlfriend, leaving flowers and candles behind.

“Just wanted to pay respects, because I mean somebody lost their life,” said Dominique Herrera. “I am getting emotional, it’s not even part of my family, but just the fact, losing somebody to a car accident, knowing how dangerous it is.”

The driver of the van, who hasn’t yet been publicly identified, also died at the scene, police said. A 35-year-old man who was a passenger in the vehicle remains hospitalized in critical condition after he was extricated from the wreckage.

Investigators also said that the driver of the Civic fled from the spot of the crash and has not been located since.

CBS Los Angeles has reached out to the U.S. Marine Corps for comment on Carrillo’s death but has not yet heard back.

Anyone with more information on the collision was urged to contact LAPD Valley Traffic detectives at (818) 644-8116.

This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Pilot program using drones helps police respond to emergency calls

By Christa Swanson

Click here for updates on this story

    DENVER, Colorado (KCNC) — The Denver Police Department is crediting a new drone program with helping reduce wait times and making its response to emergency calls more effective.

The pilot program using Drone as First Responder (DFR) technology launched in October, and the department said that in 95% of the missions the pilots have been able to provide critical information to officers on the ground.

Two pilots monitor incoming service calls and determine if the drone could help responding officers. Denver police say its two DFR drones have been deployed to 215 service calls, including robberies, burglaries, assaults, fights, weapons-related offenses, narcotics reports and more.

Officials said that over 80% of the time, the drone is the first to arrive at the scene, and it has helped find suspects, clear calls that don’t need an officer, and reduce service wait times.

“The DFR drones provide an advantageous view from above, allowing the pilots to determine whether a subject is armed or is attempting to evade or hide from officers, so we can help prevent officers from walking into a dangerous situation,” said Denver Police DFR team member Sgt. Brent Kohls.

Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said, “Leveraging emerging technologies like Drone as First Responder platforms will help us to achieve quicker response times, along with officer hiring and retention strategies and data-based officer deployment strategies.”

The department said that the program isn’t used as a passive surveillance system and is only utilized for emergency calls as a remote first responder. Pilots launch the drone and monitor the flight by keeping the camera angled at the horizon until it arrives at the scene. Then they can position the drone and its camera to check out the scene and relay information back to dispatchers and officers.

DPD reports that it is developing a dashboard to share information on drone flights and flight paths with the public.

Authorities said DFR is a zero-dollar program and the initial contract lasts through March 2026.

The department said it has also signed a contract for a Flock Aerodome platform, but that it will not use the automated license plate reader capability during the pilot program. Officials have not yet determined a timeframe for when that program will begin.

This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.

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Sun City Sawdust DIY Studio

Olivia Vara

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — You may recognize Sun City Sawdust’s co-owner Pamela Brouhard from her role in the movie One Battle After Another. After leaving nursing, she and her co-owner chose to open their own business.

Sun City Sawdust in West El Paso has been open for almost two years. The DIY studio started with making and painting door hangers and has expanded to offer activities like painting pottery, wood, canvas, tote bags, tumblers and even making slime.

The studio welcomes visitors Thursday through Sunday during regular hours, with no reservations required. Customers are encouraged to bring their own food and drinks. Sun City Sawdust provides a large selection of clay sculptures ready to be painted and fired in their kiln.

With the holidays just around the corner, Sun City Sawdust offers opportunities to paint your own clay ornaments, with a quick turnaround for firing so they’re ready to hang on your tree in no time.

Customers can expect a friendly, community-focused atmosphere. The staff are approachable and ready to guide visitors through the process with whatever assistance is needed.

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Burglar steals hundreds of thousands of dollars from jewelry store

By Kayla Moeller

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KMAX, KOVR) — A brazen burglary in Old Sacramento was carried out just after sunrise Saturday morning, with the store owners saying a man sawed through a wall and kicked his way inside Super Silver Sacramento.

“We hated waking up to this. It was terrible,” said manager Mary Francis Chacon.

Around 7:20 a.m. Saturday, Super Silver’s alarms were triggered.

“We were alerted as soon as he popped in due to our motion detectors and we were able to come out around 7:30, but he was already long gone by then,” said Chacon.

Employees say hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise was stolen, just hours before the neighborhood opened up to families and tourists.

“Coming in today, we all mentioned how there is that energy lingering, more so, we feel assaulted. Our spirits hurt,” said Chacon. “It hurts us just because we’re a small business.”

Super Silver says this is a crucial time of year for them.

“We just received a lot of our inventory for the holidays and that was part of our inventory. It is just a terrible situation,” she said.

The store is asking the public to keep an eye out for their jewelry products online or at local pawn shops. They speculate the thief had come by previously to case the store.

“He had a plastic white bag, tucked them in. He knew what he was looking for and was in and out within two minutes,” said Chacon.

On top of product loss, the store is having to shell out money to shore up the building and clean up the damage.

“We have somebody coming out to add more materials to the building to secure it a lot more, but we never thought we’d have to go through all of this to begin with,” said Chacon.

The Sacramento Police Department said officers conducted an investigation and generated a report. There was no information about a suspect.

This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.

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Negative windchills raises risk of frostbite across Mid Missouri Sunday

Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Team has issued a Weather Alert Day for dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills in the negatives between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

This weather can cause symptoms and signs of frostbite to appear in less than 30 minutes. The extra factor of wind can make the process set in even faster.

Ears, nose, fingers and toes are the most at risk for frostbite, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

Signs of frostbite include:

Numbness

Pale or gray skin

Skin feels waxy to the touch

Affected areas ache or are painful

Any tingling or stinging sensations

Missouri DHSS reported 38 people died in 2024 from low body temperatures, caused by prolonged exposure to the cold. 

People experiencing frostbite or frostbite symptoms are encouraged to seek medical attention.

According to Missouri DHSS, those who don’t have medical resources immediately available can try to find a dry, warm area, remove any wet or tight-fitting clothes, or place the affected area into warm water no hotter than 105 degrees.

DHSS also warns to not rub the affected area and to not use artificial heating methods, like heating pads. After warming the area, wrap it in sterile gauze.

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Coffee shop owner says ICE lied to employee before detaining him


WCCO

By Conor Wight, Stephen Swanson

Click here for updates on this story

    BROOKLYN PARK, Minnesota (WCCO) — Saturday evening, leftover food is still stuck to the grill at Crumbs and Coffee in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

The workstation has been left uncleaned since Friday morning, when the co-owner of the coffee shop said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained his cook after luring him outside into the parking lot.

Marcio Luis De Morais said that he heard from another employee that ICE took Jorge Leonardo Vergara Rubio at around 9:30 a.m.

According to his co-worker, two people had come into the coffee shop in civilian clothing and ordered drinks like “regular customers.” The employee noticed that they took photos, possibly of Rubio, before leaving and waiting in their car outside. A half an hour later, another car arrived: De Morais said that he was told the occupants of that car came into the coffee shop claiming they had hit a parked car. It was Rubio’s.

“As soon as he walked outside, that’s when they arrested him,” De Morais said.

Rubio’s car is still sitting in the parking lot with no obvious signs of damage. De Morais believes the agents, later identified as ICE, lied in order to draw Rubio outside the store.

Once Rubio was gone, the other employee at work that morning cleared the store and ran in a panic, according to De Morais. He showed up an hour later and locked up; he said that Saturday morning, another employee delivering supplies to the store may have forgotten to lock the doors. He said it’s how Democratic State Sen. John Hoffman came across the scene, preserved from 24 hours earlier with a customer’s sweater still on a chair and loose items on tables.

Sen. Hoffman took to Facebook, detailing how he called the police to secure the store.

“These are small business owners. Taxpayers. People who invested in our community, created jobs, and served their neighbors every day. Since when are they considered the ‘worst of the worst?'” This isn’t right,” Hoffman wrote. “And it’s not who we should be targeting if we care about safe, strong communities.”

The senator was likely referencing a Homeland Security press release on Friday, in which Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed the department’s agents have “arrested more than 400 illegal aliens including pedophiles, rapists, and violent thugs since Operation Metro Surge began” earlier this month in the Twin Cities.

Brooklyn Park police confirmed that ICE had detained an employee. WCCO reached out to ICE to ask what charges Rubio faces and why he was detained but has not heard back.

De Morais said that he wasn’t sure of Rubio’s status, but knew that he was checking in with authorities regularly. He said that Rubio had taken time off the in the past for court dates that he was told were related to his desire to achieve asylum status.

What he’s more sure of is that he’s likely going to have to close down Crumbs and Coffee. He said it’s already been difficult trying to keep his other restaurant ventures in the Twin Cities afloat given the fear that has gripped the metro; with employees afraid to come to work, he said he doesn’t see how he can reopen the coffee shop that opened its doors just six months ago.

“This one is done,” De Morais said, “we are unfortunately are not going to reopen.”

This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Coffee shop owner says ICE lied to employee before detaining him

By Conor Wight, Stephen Swanson

Click here for updates on this story

    BROOKLYN PARK, Minnesota (WCCO) — Saturday evening, leftover food is still stuck to the grill at Crumbs and Coffee in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

The workstation has been left uncleaned since Friday morning, when the co-owner of the coffee shop said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained his cook after luring him outside into the parking lot.

Marcio Luis De Morais said that he heard from another employee that ICE took Jorge Leonardo Vergara Rubio at around 9:30 a.m.

According to his co-worker, two people had come into the coffee shop in civilian clothing and ordered drinks like “regular customers.” The employee noticed that they took photos, possibly of Rubio, before leaving and waiting in their car outside. A half an hour later, another car arrived: De Morais said that he was told the occupants of that car came into the coffee shop claiming they had hit a parked car. It was Rubio’s.

“As soon as he walked outside, that’s when they arrested him,” De Morais said.

Rubio’s car is still sitting in the parking lot with no obvious signs of damage. De Morais believes the agents, later identified as ICE, lied in order to draw Rubio outside the store.

Once Rubio was gone, the other employee at work that morning cleared the store and ran in a panic, according to De Morais. He showed up an hour later and locked up; he said that Saturday morning, another employee delivering supplies to the store may have forgotten to lock the doors. He said it’s how Democratic State Sen. John Hoffman came across the scene, preserved from 24 hours earlier with a customer’s sweater still on a chair and loose items on tables.

Sen. Hoffman took to Facebook, detailing how he called the police to secure the store.

“These are small business owners. Taxpayers. People who invested in our community, created jobs, and served their neighbors every day. Since when are they considered the ‘worst of the worst?'” This isn’t right,” Hoffman wrote. “And it’s not who we should be targeting if we care about safe, strong communities.”

The senator was likely referencing a Homeland Security press release on Friday, in which Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed the department’s agents have “arrested more than 400 illegal aliens including pedophiles, rapists, and violent thugs since Operation Metro Surge began” earlier this month in the Twin Cities.

Brooklyn Park police confirmed that ICE had detained an employee. WCCO reached out to ICE to ask what charges Rubio faces and why he was detained but has not heard back.

De Morais said that he wasn’t sure of Rubio’s status, but knew that he was checking in with authorities regularly. He said that Rubio had taken time off the in the past for court dates that he was told were related to his desire to achieve asylum status.

What he’s more sure of is that he’s likely going to have to close down Crumbs and Coffee. He said it’s already been difficult trying to keep his other restaurant ventures in the Twin Cities afloat given the fear that has gripped the metro; with employees afraid to come to work, he said he doesn’t see how he can reopen the coffee shop that opened its doors just six months ago.

“This one is done,” De Morais said, “we are unfortunately are not going to reopen.”

This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Neighbors witness man “dragging a dead body” from apartment, police say

By WCCO Staff

Click here for updates on this story

    Minnesota (WCCO) — Police in Richfield, Minnesota, say a woman is dead following reports from neighbors who witnessed a man “dragging a dead body” out of an apartment early Saturday morning.

Officers were called just after 3 a.m. to the Fountainhead Apartments, located east of Best Buy’s corporate headquarters off West 76th Street and Knox Avenue South.

Neighbors told police they saw the suspect load the body into a vehicle. Officers “attempted to initiate a traffic stop,” police say, leading to a pursuit that ended about 2.5 miles northwest at the ER entrance of Edina’s M Health Fairview Southdale hospital.

Officers arrested the driver, police say, and found an unconscious 23-year-old woman in the back seat who had been shot. She was pronounced dead soon after.

Police say they’re still investigating.

If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact the National Domestic Violence Helpline at 1-800-799-SAFE or Minnesota Day One at 1-866-223-1111.

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