Month: January 2026

By Forrest Sanders

Click here for updates on this story

    MANCHESTER, Tennessee (WTVF) — Two women in Manchester weren’t looking for credit when they began volunteering for an amazing cause. However, the people they help are wanting to shower them with praise.

Andrea Wix and Brandi Johnson stood at the back of van, filling Styrofoam boxes with chicken, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and green vegetables the two of them made.

“Whatever’s on sale is what we buy!” Wix said.

This has been going on for about a year. Wix and Johnson feel called to do this work.

“Sometimes this is the only home cooked meal that they get,” Wix said. “Sometimes when we pull up, we have a few waiting in line because they haven’t ate.”

Several times a week, Wix and Johnson get meals to people living in hotels in Manchester. They also take meals to people who don’t have a place to stay at all.

“Anyone is welcome,” Johnson said. “It’s the homeless, the ones in need, anyone who needs a home cooked meal, who’s going through hard times.”

“It’s like having 250 children that we love dearly,” Wix agreed.

People in the Manchester community donate food and money for the two to do this. It always just seems to work out.

“Sometimes we’re like, ‘we have less than a hundred dollars to feed three hundred people!'” Wix said. “We go to the store, and there it is. It’s on sale.”

They have kept this up through everything.

“Andrea was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier in the year,” Johnson said.

After surgeries, Wix is now in remission.

“There’s work to be done!” Wix said.

“There’s work to be done,” Johnson agreed. “God says, ‘feed his people, and we are feeding his people.'”

As I followed Wix and Johnson delivering the meals, I was struck by how many people came over wanting to share something about them.

“They help so many people,” one woman said. “I am so grateful to God for them, and I know many are.”

“The Lord’s hand is right there with them,” a man agreed. “They’ll be going up there.”

He pointed to the sky.

“We don’t know what we would have done if you had not been here,” a man told Wix and Johnson, taking a box of food.

“Do we cook good?” Johnson asked a woman standing in her doorway.

“Yeah!” she laughed.

Before I left Manchester, I asked Wix and Johnson if the people have anything in common who take these meals.

“People wanting to be loved, wanting to be seen,” Johnson said.

“To have a conversation, to be treated as people,” Wix nodded.

“As long as there’s life, there’s hope,” a woman said, watching Wix and Johnson head out to their next stop. “The Lord died for everybody.”

“We’re thankful for them,” Johnson said of the people on their stops. “They’re thankful for us.”

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

By Jeff Hager

Click here for updates on this story

    ELKTON, Maryland (WMAR) — The convenience and the costs of goods at the Family Dollar store on Chestnut Drive in Elkton keeps customers like Heather Garland coming back for more, and word that criminals had recently placed card skimmers over the keypads at the checkouts prompted concern they may have stolen her credit card information.

“I definitely did use it that day,” said Garland, “but I’ve been keeping an eye on my bank accounts and stuff like that, and I haven’t had any activity so I’m good in that department.”

According to police, alert employees checked for such devices when the store first opened one day last week and discovered someone had placed them on the machines a few hours later as part of a growing trend in this area of the state.

“We’ve gotten calls from multiple agencies in Harford County,” said Lt. Mike Zack of the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office, “We recently got contacted by an agency in New Castle, Delaware about an incident that occurred in their jurisdiction.” Fortunately, businesses are catching on to the crime and know how to spot the devices. They also have a new option for finding those, which may prove to be the most difficult to detect.

“This is a 3D print image that Target will actually send out to retail businesses or law enforcement if you request it,” said Zack as he displayed a yellow molded piece of plastic used to safeguard the readers, “This is the credit card slot and then if it slides on properly it covers the X and the O then you know there’s not a skimmer on there, but if it blocks at any point then you know there’s a skimmer.”

Police also have advice for consumers who are concerned they could be putting their information at risk every time they use their card. They say using contactless ‘Tap to Pay’ with your card at checkout provides some protection, while using cash may be the safest means of all.

“Oh I prefer to use cash honestly,” said Garland, “That’s just my personal opinion. Banks these days, all the electronics and stuff, it’s just getting to be too much for me and I’m not that old. A lot of electronics are just messing things up.”

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

By Derek Heid

Click here for updates on this story

    BUFFALO, New York (WKBW) — Over the weekend, Canisius baseball player Thomas Zwirecki got called up to the big leagues, asked by MLB superstar pitcher Paul Skenes to catch for him at a practice session in Buffalo.

With a one-week heads-up, Zwirecki thought he was just doing a favor for his college baseball coach.

“I got a text from a coach. He said he had somebody reach out to them that asked if they could find a catcher for a ‘high profile arm’ in town, so I said, ‘Sure, I could help,'” Zwirecki said. “When I heard high-profile arm, I originally thought it was a high school kid who was throwing in front of a scout or something along those lines.”

A few days later, he found out that his original thought couldn’t have been more off.

“I really got the call and [my coach] was like ‘So, you’re never going to believe this, but Paul Skenes is coming to Buffalo and needs to throw a bullpen [session],'” Zwirecki said. “My initial reaction is that somebody is messing with me.”

Paul Skenes, the two-time MLB All-Star, reigning Cy Young Award-winning and former first overall draft pick, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, was coming to Buffalo, and this Amherst native spent an hour of his Saturday catching a bullpen practice session for him.

Skenes, as well as his girlfriend, social media influencer Livvy Dunne, and fellow Pirates pitcher Jared Jones, were in town for Sunday’s Bills game, but the workouts were too important to skip.

“We did it at the Bills facility. In their weight room, they had a turf pad,” Zwirecki said. “I threw with him, caught him off the mound, it was very, very incredible to say the least.”

Q: “Is this something that you’re rubbing in [your teammates] faces a little now?”

Zwirecki: “Well, it’s safe to say that he is definitely the best pitcher I’ve ever caught in my life.”

Q: And how do the pitchers here take that?

Zwirecki: “They were giving me a hard time. They thought it was one of the coolest things in the world. You can only imagine how a college pitcher feels when they hear that.”

And as the Canisius Baseball season gets going in a few months, Zwirecki said Skenes taught him some valuable lessons to share with his team.

“The way they prepare is the biggest thing that I took away from it,” he said. “I’m definitely going to instill that into our guys this year.”

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

By Ayron Lewallen

Click here for updates on this story

    HOKES BLUFF, Alabama (WVTM) — Tuesday marks five years since the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. On that day, pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol and demanded the results of the 2020 election be overturned. They attacked officers and destroyed parts of the building. One officer died a day after the attack from their injuries. Another four took their own lives as a result of what happened.

Just last year, President Donald Trump pardoned people convicted for their involvement. Some of them are from right here in central Alabama. More than 1,000 people were charged by the Department of Justice in connection with the riot.

In the year since Russell Alford was pardoned by Trump, he said all he has is a piece of paper on a wall. Other than the $20,000 he spent on legal fees, Alford told WVTM 13 he was already semi-retired before going to prison and still owns his body shop business.

Alford spent 365 days in a Mississippi prison. He was convicted of entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct and demonstrating inside the Capitol during the insurrection. Alford said he walked about 12 feet inside the Capitol building, stood up against the wall, took 11 minutes’ worth of video, but never said a word.

Alford admits he was never a fan of Trump and had never been to one of his rallies or visited the Nation’s Capitol. He said he had the money to travel and decided he wanted to see what unfolded that day with his own eyes.

“I was tired of sitting on the couch and listening to the mainstream media bark at you and tell you what they wanted you to hear, and I wanted to see it for myself,” Alford said. “I saw so much double-fisting going on in the media. I could afford to go to Washington. I drove up there and seen it, and all that stuff, you might as well yelled action. That’s how ridiculous it was. That’s the only reason I, because I wanted to see it for myself.”

Alford told WVTM 13 he almost went back to D.C. on Tuesday for the march to the Capitol. Dozens of people who were pardoned by Trump wanted to celebrate five years since the insurrection, but Alford decided against it.

While he still believes the 2020 election was stolen—a claim that has been proven to be false by political experts—he said he sleeps happily at night knowing he didn’t lie to anyone and feels it’s all God’s will.

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

By Scott McDonnell

Click here for updates on this story

    KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (WMTW) — Dave Jourdan’s office has become mission headquarters for an ambitious effort to solve one of aviation’s greatest mysteries: the disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

Solving the mystery has been part of Jourdan’s life for decades. He has been building an archive over the years. “The archive I’ve been working on over the years now amounts to 27,000 pages,” Jourdan said.

The search began in 1997, when Jourdan, who founded Nauticos, a company specializing in deep-ocean exploration, began his effort to find Earhart.

“I had recently told my team that we had been so successful at finding everything we saw on the first try that we needed to try something harder,” Jourdan said.

Since then, Nauticos has launched three expeditions across the globe, searching for Earhart’s lost Lockheed Electra. “And I do regret those words,” Jourdan said. “Because this has been a really tough one.”

So far, the team has scanned an area roughly the size of Connecticut using custom-built equipment designed specifically for deep-sea exploration.

Now, Jourdan believes the next expedition could change history.

Advances in technology have transformed the search, particularly with the rise of autonomous underwater vehicles. “The autonomous vehicle has come into being for three reasons,” Jourdan said. “Battery power has improved, navigation has improved, and we now have the ability to process and store massive amounts of data.”

But technology is not the only breakthrough — at least not recent technology.

A key piece of the puzzle came from an unexpected place: an old radio, identical to the one aboard Earhart’s plane. “Was this found at basically a tag sale — a garage sale?” Jourdan was asked.

“Yep,” he replied.

That radio became the final missing component.

Using it, the team located a similar aircraft, flew it out to sea and brought in a boat to replicate the position of the Coast Guard cutter Itasca, which was stationed near Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, on the day of her disappearance in 1937.

Precise measurements followed — nearly everything the team needed.

Almost.

“Except her actual voice,” Jourdan said. “Because that was never recorded.”

Instead, researchers relied on transcripts and interviews with eight men who heard Earhart’s final radio transmissions, allowing them to recreate her last known calls. “KHQQ calling Itasca. We must be on you but cannot see you. Gas is running low.”

Jourdan believes those transmissions now point to a specific location and helped his team determine where they believe Earhart was during her final transmissions at 8 a.m. “Right,” Jourdan said. “So, that helps a lot.”

The focus is near Howland Island — a tiny speck of land about 1,600 miles southwest of Hawaii. “It’s a whole lot of blue,” Jourdan said.

Howland Island is smaller than the National Mall in Washington, D.C., surrounded by vast, open ocean.

But this time, Jourdan says the search is guided by math — not myths — and he believes the ocean may finally be ready to give up its answer.

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

By Tim Nazzaro

Click here for updates on this story

    CHATHAM, Massachusetts (WCVB) — Firefighters sprung into action Tuesday afternoon when a golden retriever named Goose fell through the ice at a pond in Chatham, Massachusetts.

According to the Chatham Fire Department, crews were dispatched to Goose Pond around 3:20 p.m. after a report of a dog that fell into the icy water about 200 feet out.

Goose’s owner was on the scene and told firefighters he had let the dog out 15 minutes prior to the fall.

Firefighters donned survival suits and were on the ice by 3:30 p.m., according to officials.

Utilizing specialized ice rescue equipment, the dog was safely pulled ashore minutes later.

Chatham fire officials said Goose was cold and tired but showed no signs of severe distress.

“While this incident had a successful outcome, this serves as an important reminder that ice on ponds can be extremely dangerous,” Chatham Fire Chief Justin Tavano said in a press release. “In this case, the ice was several inches thick immediately adjacent to where Goose fell through. Goose’s owner did the exact right thing in this situation by calling 911 and resisting the urge to go on the ice himself.”

Chatham police also assisted firefighters at the scene.

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

By Marcie Cipriani

Click here for updates on this story

    WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pennsylvania (WTAE) — A 62-year-old man is facing charges after police said he hid a camera under a young relative’s bed in Washington County, and recorded himself as he set it up.

Police said the camera was hidden in a cardboard box, then wrapped in black tape to camouflage it and positioned to face the area where the young girl typically undresses.

Investigators identified the suspect as Michael Crispin of South Franklin Township.

Greene Washington Regional Police Chief William DeForte expressed his dismay, saying, “It’s unfortunate for the victim. It’s unfortunate for the community that we live in.”

DeForte said the girl discovered the camera while cleaning and reported it to her mother, who then contacted the police. According to court papers, the camera was a toy device intentionally rigged to continuously record.

Police said Crispin recorded his own image, setting it up.

“He was a trusted relative, so he was allowed to enter the premises and go through the rooms, and, you know, and spend time with the, with the children,” DeForte said.

DeForte said detectives uncovered 163 recordings, none of which show the girl undressed, but court papers said she can be seen and heard on them.

Michael Crispin is charged with a felony for illegally recording a minor and possessing an instrument of crime, specifically the camera.

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

By Rachael Perry

Click here for updates on this story

    PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida (WPBF) — A local golf club says it has spent roughly $60,000 in just three years repairing the damage caused by young adults on e-bikes and dirt bikes.

Matthew Boyd, the general manager at St. Lucie Trail Golf Club, says the young adults or teens continue to cause thousands of dollars in damage, and the golf club can’t do anything about it.

The most recent incident happened on Monday afternoon.

“Right around 4 or 4:15, we got a phone call that there were five kids on bikes going through, driving between members, going over and through the greens and fairways. Once they reached the sixth hole, they darted out of the road and onto the back gate,” Boyd said.

Like clockwork, Boyd said it happens every few months.

“This happens really about once every three or four months; Young adults driving or pedaling bikes throughout the golf course, trespassing, and creating vandalism,” he said.

Not only does he say the issue has created problems for employees and club members, but the financial impact has been huge.

“Thousands upon thousands of dollars, and if you factor in labor, I don’t even want to think about that as it comes out of my pocket,” Boyd told WPBF.

He said that the number comes out to more than $50,000 over the last three years.

“Before that, I could factor in more, just because we went through a greens renovation and during that time, we had to redo three green complexes because bikers did donuts on three of the brand-new greens, which was a huge expense,” he said.

The club is private and has no trespassing signs, which haven’t stopped the bikers. Boyd said any attempt to reason with them hasn’t been successful either.

“They’re incredibly unfriendly. They’ll use some words I cannot say here, and they’ll drive as fast as they can away from anybody chasing them,” he said.

Despite reporting the damage to the police, Boyd said he’s left wondering what can be done to stop it.

“The answer I’ve always received is there’s nothing we can or the police can do, or anybody can do, unless we can physically follow them to their home address and identify them on the golf course with pictures and videos,” he said.

As if the cost of repairs isn’t enough, Boyd said they’ve even lost employees over this.

“We’ve lost staff over the years, being frustrated with it, which is understandable, but it is disheartening for them more than anything to have to re-do things or re-go out there and fix areas that they just spent hours and hours working on,” he said.

Boyd said in a perfect world, the people responsible would stop, but he’s hoping parents will step in and educate their children on what it means to damage someone’s property.

“What frustrates me most is we were all kids growing up, and we all did things that we look back now and say, hey, I probably shouldn’t have done that, but these are repeat offenders constantly just going out there, joyriding, and the amount of vandalism they’re creating is taking its toll on everybody,” he said.

He said it’s important for them to understand that what they’re doing is both trespassing and property damage.

“I would really hope that parents can get involved and realize, hey, this is what my kid is doing, and the best course of action is just to educate them on, don’t go on private property. There’s more damage being done by bikes than they know of, and more importantly, if they do get caught, the repercussions are going to be astronomical at one point,” Boyd told WPBF.

In the meantime, he said, hopefully, awareness of the issue may discourage people from doing this.

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