Month: January 2026

By Greg Ng

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    MIDDLE RIVER, Maryland (WBAL) — An adult and two children were taken to a hospital as a precaution and a family pet died in a fire Tuesday morning.

Baltimore County fire officials said firefighters were called around 7:05 a.m. to a house in the 400 block of Kosoak Road in the Middle RiverBowleys Quarters area.

Officials said firefighters found flames coming from the front of the house as well as smoke from the second floor. Firefighters managed to contain the fire within 20 minutes.

Neighbors helped to get residents out from a second-story window before firefighters arrived.

“This incident is a powerful reminder of the strength of our communities,” Baltimore County Fire Chief Joseph Dixon said in a news release. “Before our fire and EMS crews arrived, neighbors acted without hesitation to help a mother and her children escape a dangerous situation. I want to thank these residents for their courage and selflessness and commend our crews for their swift response in extinguishing the fire and providing medical support.”

An adult and two children were taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital for possible smoke inhalation and an evaluation.

Steven Angelini was one of the people who helped catch the two children who were dropped out of the second-floor window.

“My immediate reaction is to get out and get help,” Angelini said.

Despite a recent arm injury, Angelini tried to get a ladder. He was unable to do so, though. Angelini shifted his focus on saving the children as the smoke thickened and the fire grew.

“My second reaction was just to get these kids down and save their lives. I told the mother, ‘Just drop them, I’ll catch them,'” Angelini said.

After the children were safely caught, neighbors managed to get the ladder off the truck, allowing the mother to climb down with assistance.

“All three of them, when they came out, ad black soot all over them, and it was horrific — devastating. I’m just glad they’re alive at the end of the day, but nothing else matters. Life matters,” Angelini said.

The Red Cross was contacted to assist the displaced residents.

“It’s adrenaline,” Angelini said. “When you had your adrenaline going and it comes to life or death, you don’t think about anything else, you don’t think about injury, you don’t think about consequences in breaking a leg, breaking an arm. You’re saving their life in that moment.”

The cause of fire remains under investigation.

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.

WBBM

By Marissa Sulek

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A woman in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood said she is missing important pieces of mail.

She did her own investigation and believes someone at the post office might be stealing it.

Each day, when Mone’t Austin goes to her mailbox, she finds the pieces of mail no one wants, not the vital information she needs.

Austin has informed delivery with the United States Postal Service.

“If no one knows what it is, it’s actually us being able to view and scan our mail via email, so we know what’s ahead, whether it’s packages coming, whether it’s mail coming, stuff like that,” she said.

Which is why she knew something was up when she didn’t get a government check for $1,000.

Austin said her mail goes through the Jackson Park post office off 61st Street. However, those important pieces of mail, like debit cards, health insurance, and government check never made it to her mailbox.

CBS News Chicago reached out to the USPS on Tuesday night, asking about Austin’s case, but has yet to hear back. Austin said the postal police started an investigation after she received a text about a fraudulent charge.

“A few days go by, and I get the text message from the bank stating a fraudulent charge was charged,” she said.

Someone made a $114 transaction at a gas station. Someone was using her new debit card.

Her informed delivery shows Beverly Bank and Trust sent it, but Austin never received it. Same with her new health insurance cards.

“What the person doesn’t know is that I can see what’s pre-scanned and that I can see what’s being out for delivery,” she said.

Austin said she believes someone with the post office could be collecting all of these pieces of mail.

“They have access to all of our personal information,” she said.

She is now working to get identity theft protection.

“I am just going to personally just pick up my mail at the postal service,” she said.

Someone made a $114 transaction at a gas station. Someone was using her new debit card.

Her informed delivery shows Beverly Bank and Trust sent it, but Austin never received it. Same with her new health insurance cards.

“What the person doesn’t know is that I can see what’s pre-scanned and that I can see what’s being out for delivery,” she said.

Austin said she believes someone with the post office could be collecting all of these pieces of mail.

“They have access to all of our personal information,” she said.

She is now working to get identity theft protection.

“I am just going to personally just pick up my mail at the postal service,” she said.

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 Marissa Sulek

Click here for updates on this story

    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A woman in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood said she is missing important pieces of mail.

She did her own investigation and believes someone at the post office might be stealing it.

Each day, when Mone’t Austin goes to her mailbox, she finds the pieces of mail no one wants, not the vital information she needs.

Austin has informed delivery with the United States Postal Service.

“If no one knows what it is, it’s actually us being able to view and scan our mail via email, so we know what’s ahead, whether it’s packages coming, whether it’s mail coming, stuff like that,” she said.

Which is why she knew something was up when she didn’t get a government check for $1,000.

Austin said her mail goes through the Jackson Park post office off 61st Street. However, those important pieces of mail, like debit cards, health insurance, and government check never made it to her mailbox.

CBS News Chicago reached out to the USPS on Tuesday night, asking about Austin’s case, but has yet to hear back. Austin said the postal police started an investigation after she received a text about a fraudulent charge.

“A few days go by, and I get the text message from the bank stating a fraudulent charge was charged,” she said.

Someone made a $114 transaction at a gas station. Someone was using her new debit card.

Her informed delivery shows Beverly Bank and Trust sent it, but Austin never received it. Same with her new health insurance cards.

“What the person doesn’t know is that I can see what’s pre-scanned and that I can see what’s being out for delivery,” she said.

Austin said she believes someone with the post office could be collecting all of these pieces of mail.

“They have access to all of our personal information,” she said.

She is now working to get identity theft protection.

“I am just going to personally just pick up my mail at the postal service,” she said.

Someone made a $114 transaction at a gas station. Someone was using her new debit card.

Her informed delivery shows Beverly Bank and Trust sent it, but Austin never received it. Same with her new health insurance cards.

“What the person doesn’t know is that I can see what’s pre-scanned and that I can see what’s being out for delivery,” she said.

Austin said she believes someone with the post office could be collecting all of these pieces of mail.

“They have access to all of our personal information,” she said.

She is now working to get identity theft protection.

“I am just going to personally just pick up my mail at the postal service,” she said.

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 Megan Abundis

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    VANDALIA, Missouri (KSHB) — A baby boom at the Missouri Department of Corrections’ women’s prison in Vandalia, Missouri, has brought new hope to incarcerated mothers, with 16 babies born in 2025 to women who are now bonding with their children through the state’s new prison nursery program.

The nursery opened in February 2025, marking the completion of a program mandated by Missouri legislators in 2022.

“Now they have a chance to fight for their families. We’re teaching them how to rely on each other and help one another,” said Kim Perkins, nursery program manager at the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center.

The program teaches essential life skills to incarcerated mothers.

“We teach life skills: how to cook, how to clean, how to manage money, basic parenting things,” Perkins said.

For Perkins, working in the nursery provides daily fulfillment.

“I get to go to a job every day where I get to look at and hug babies and still do something meaningful,” she said. “It changes lives. A lot of these ladies would not have been able to keep their babies.”

Kathy Briggs, an inmate mother, was among those who may have lost her children without the program.

“I genuinely was ready to put my girls up for adoption,” Briggs said.

The program changed everything for Briggs, who has twin daughters.

“I have two babies that are girls; their names are Lyric and Melody. They are almost 9 months old,” she said. “I was 8 weeks pregnant when I turned myself in. I thought I was going to get a slap on the wrist and come out. The judge said, ‘I’m going to send you to prison, and you’re going to have your babies in prison.'”

Despite the challenging circumstances, Briggs said the outcome exceeded her expectations.

“There’s not any way this could have gone more perfect,” she said.

Briggs noted the program’s impact extends beyond the mothers and babies.

“They changed the course of my life,” she said. “The officers that come in and see it every day, it’s changing their lives. It’s changing their outlook on us as inmates vs. us as offenders.”

Perkins emphasized the transformative nature of the program for women who arrive with significant trauma.

“I’m just so excited to be a part of this program,” Perkins said. “It’s amazing because you watch women come in with so much trauma and history.”

Before the nursery program, separation between mothers and babies was immediate after birth. This represents a significant shift in Missouri’s approach to incarcerated mothers.

“If moms could have had this opportunity to be with their children while incarcerated, they would have had that connection to their children,” said Trish Mathes, executive director of Mission Gate Ministry.

The support continues after prison through Mathes’ organization, which runs a nine-month program for mothers and their babies.

“That’s what we do at Mission Gate, we try to help people be independent,” Mathes said.

The post-prison program operates through an application and interview process, funded by private dollars and grants. Mothers work and contribute $130 per week.

Mission Gate Ministry has been operating since 1985.

“More parenting classes and hands-on interaction with raising their babies,” Mathes said of the continued support. “The next step is continuing to help them, growing in a greater way. We provide stability.”

Mathes emphasized the importance of early nurturing in preventing future problems.

“I counsel a lot of people, I have over the past 40 years,” she said. “What I see is if they don’t have nurturing when they are young, they turn the opposite way and go to drugs or alcohol.”

For Briggs, who will enter the Mission Gate program this month, the transformation has been profound.

“The person I was when I walked through these doors almost a year ago was an angry, hateful and hopeless person,” she said. “And today, I can sit here and say I am filled with hope for the future, and I believe in better days.”

To participate in the Missouri DOC nursery program, inmate mothers and caregivers cannot be convicted of dangerous felonies, sex crimes or crimes against children. Mothers must also be scheduled for release within 18 months postpartum.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Scripps editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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 Asal Rezaei, Adam Harrington

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — The newly released annual report from the Office of Inspector General for the Chicago Board of Education revealed more than two dozen sexual misconduct allegations in the Chicago Public Schools system, as well as falsified grant applications.

The report specifically found many instances of sexual misconduct happening on one CPS campus, which was not identified by name. The OIG found during Fiscal Year 2025, seven staff members across two high schools on the same campus committed sexual misconduct toward then-current or former students — mostly in the 2010s. An eighth staff member had been found previously to have committed sexual misconduct toward a student in the same timeframe.

The students who attend high school on the shared campus play on athletic teams together and share some facilities, the OIG said.

In one instance at the campus, a dean sexually abused a student and was sentenced to 22 years in prison, the report said. Other employees on the same campus also engaged in sexual misconduct, but those employees have either already resigned or left before the OIG could start investigating, the report said.

The report detailed the alleged conduct of several specific employees, including one identified only as “Employee 3” who worked at three CPS high schools, including one of the schools on the shared campus. Employee 3 was a popular teacher who was known for his strong influence over his female students, and also an attorney who founded a legal clinic that started at the shared campus school and later expanded, the OIG said.

“Employee 3’s curricula were largely focused on sex-related topics and social issues that affect girls and women (even, in at least one case, when he was supposed to be teaching a different curriculum),” the report said. “While these are legitimate academic topics, Employee 3 talked about sex with students in a manner that exceeded his teaching responsibilities, such as by repeatedly endorsing open relationships.”

The report said Employee 3 was accused of targeting more than a dozen female students for sexual communications or actual sex after they graduated, and “engaged in flirtatious interactions” with at least one then-current student.

The OIG said out of 26 people investigated for sexual misconduct by the OIG Sexual Allegations Unit — including CPS employees, vendors, and volunteers — six have been charged criminally, and four have been convicted.

The report also went into graphic detail about numerous alleged incidents at other schools — including a vendor employee accused of sexually abusing two high school and whose contract was terminated as a result, a security guard accused of giving a 15-year-old student alcohol and sexually assaulting her in two of his vehicles, and a vendor aide who sexually abused a fourth-grade student on a school bus, among others.

Other allegations in the report included a federal indictment against a former network chief and vendor who investigators said worked together on a multi-year phony billing scheme.

They defrauded CPS out of at least $88,500, the report said.

The payments to the vendor purported to be for professional development, grant writing training, and student financial aid and counseling services — but no such services were provided, the report said. Instead, the vendor split payments with the network chief, the report said.

The vendor and network chief were both indicted in federal court and ended up entering into plea agreements, the report said.

In addition, the report said a program manager repeatedly falsified federal grant applications, leading to CPS receiving about $1.2 million in federal funding. The OIG said it had warned about this issue in an earlier investigation, but it continued to happen.

The report said CPS now has to pay the funds back by October.

CBS News Chicago has reached out to CPS and the Board of Education to see if they have a response to the report. CPS issued the following statement:

“Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is dedicated to ensuring the safety and well-being of its students, families, and staff. The District recognizes its responsibility to serve the CPS community with integrity. It is committed to preventing, identifying, and responding to any form of abuse, misconduct, or exploitation within the community.

“CPS takes the findings and recommendations of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) seriously and is committed to continuous improvement and transparency. The District strictly enforces all applicable policies, rules, and laws, including those related to preventing abuse, harassment, and misconduct. When violations occur and are reported, CPS takes prompt and appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including termination and referral to law enforcement, as required by law, while upholding the highest ethical standards.

“With a workforce of more than 40,000 employees serving over 315,000 students, CPS is committed to providing comprehensive, ongoing training for employees and vendors to recognize, prevent, and report abuse, and to ensure compliance with established policies and procedures. CPS will also continue to strengthen its policies, reporting mechanisms, and oversight practices to foster a culture of accountability, ethical conduct, and support ensuring that all staff act in the best interests of students, the District, and the City of Chicago.”

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 Mike Darnay

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    PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — The Pittsburgh Walk of Fame is now accepting nominations for its next class of inductees.

The walk of fame was unveiled in October at the Strip District Terminal with the goal of celebrating people with ties to southwestern Pennsylvania who have made a mark on America.

The inaugural class of ten inductees included musician George Benson, journalist Nelly Bly, industrialist Andrew Carnegie, environmentalist Rachel Carson, baseball legend Roberto Clemente, actor Michael Keaton, medical researcher Jonas Salk, television icon Fred Rogers, artist Andy Warhol, and playwright August Wilson.

Shortly after the Pittsburgh Walk of Fame was unveiled, it was discovered that Michael Keaton’s plaque had a spelling error, which was fixed a short time later.

Nominations for this year’s class of inductees can be living or dead, but they must have been born in or lived in the Pittsburgh region and must have had a national impact on the country’s cultural heritage.

Nominations can be submitted online until the end of January.

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 Jennifer Borrasso

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    PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A shooting at a property rented through Airbnb in Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day has reignited calls for regulation on short-term rentals in the city.

Police were called around 12:30 a.m. to the area of Constance Street on the city’s North Side on Jan. 1 for a reported shooting. At the scene, officers found a woman inside a home who had been shot in the leg. Sources told KDKA it’s believed a large group of juveniles was at a house party across the street, and that home was rented through Airbnb. Gunfire erupted, and the woman across the street was shot when bullets went through her home, sources said.

It’s the second shooting at an Airbnb in Pittsburgh in under four years. On Easter Sunday in 2022, two people were killed and 10 were injured in a mass shooting at an Airbnb rental property, where police said about 200 people, many of them underage, were at a party when gunfire erupted.

Neighbors told KDKA on Tuesday that they are fed up and ready to put pressure on the Pittsburgh City Council to take action.

“I’m actually pretty furious right now that it takes a shooting to get people to pay attention to the fact that short-term rentals are diseminating our neighborhoods,” city resident Callie Disabato said.

“This is a city problem. It needs to be regulated by the city,” Disabato added.

Pittsburgh City Councilperson Bobby Wilson, who represents the area, is working with Councilperson Deborah Gross on legislation to limit the number of Airbnbs in the city and to make sure Airbnbs are owner-occupied. A bill could be introduced as soon as this week.

“It’s unacceptable,” Wilson said. “This company continues to have issues, and so we are looking to do something on city council.”

In the wake of the tragedy in 2022, Wilson demanded accountability and crafted legislation requiring operating permits, inspections, a database of the owners, and emergency contact numbers in the event of trouble. Council passed Wilson’s bill, but it’s on hold because of a court challenge.

KDKA reached out to the company on Tuesday but did not hear back. On its website, Airbnb says it prohibits parties.

“We take action, and may block certain reservations that we determine to be higher risk for unauthorized parties,” Airbnb’s website says.

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 Matt Flener

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    OLATHE, Kansas (KMBC) — An Olathe, Kansas, woman seeking a therapy dog for her son was scammed out of $1,500 on Facebook Marketplace when a puppy delivery never arrived.

After her experience, Kristen Crandall has a warning for anyone looking for a dog on Facebook.

“I’m hoping eventually this person gets caught,” Crandall said.

On Dec. 22, Crandall began communicating with someone she believed to be a breeder on Facebook Marketplace about a new Cane Corso puppy.

The supposed breeder requested payment through text messages using gift cards.

The breeder assured her that a delivery driver would bring the new puppy, but the driver never showed up. The delivery driver also demanded payment, saying he was holding the dog at a location in Johnson County, until she paid.

Crandall said that during the process, she believed there was a real dog involved. She eventually realized that the pictures and videos of the dog were created using AI.

“So today I’m at the point where I’m out of money. I’ve got no dog. Lesson learned,” Crandall said.

Crandall shared her experience to warn others to slow down and ensure any dog seen online is also seen in person before any money is exchanged. She now plans to look for a companion for her family at a shelter.

Crandall said Olathe police have opened a fraud investigation into the case.

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.