Month: January 2026

By John Ramos

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    NEWARK, California (KPIX) — The high school community in the East Bay city of Newark is in an uproar as a result of a new policy by the local school district.

At the end of this school year, all high school sports coaches and their assistants will be fired, with an option to reapply for their old jobs. The district says it’s a new Human Resources policy, but to the coaches and team supporters, it feels like an insult.

It may have been a Saturday, but the Newark Memorial High School soccer team was still hard at work, giving up part of their weekend to play a game on the school field. But so was the team’s coach and that’s why the decision revealed on Thursday had parents scratching their heads.

“It was out of nowhere. It was something that’s just, out of nowhere,” said Jazmin Padilla, who has a son on the team.

She, like a lot of parents and students, is upset by a district announcement that the coaches and assistants on every one of the school’s sports teams will be terminated at the end of their seasons. They will then be allowed to reapply for the position.

“These coaches have been here for so long,” said Padilla. “It’s surprising. It’s a decision that, why all of a sudden are they doing this?”

She said she felt the district owed her an explanation.

“I feel like they owe everybody an explanation, not just myself, but everybody,” Padilla said.

In a written statement, the school’s Assistant Superintendent for Human Relations explained that the purpose is to strengthen its hiring practice for coaches, to complete required vetting and background checks for the sake of student safety.

“I’ve been a teacher here for a long time,” said Gordon Crosby. “I’ve been fingerprinted many times. I’m not sure why we’re all lumped into one group. If there’s some coaches that weren’t fingerprinted or weren’t background checked, I would think that they would start with them first.”

Crosby is the long-time head coach for the swim and water polo teams. He noticed that in the district’s statement, it describes the new policy as “releasing coaches at the end of each season,” and claims it is a common practice in most districts.

“It’s never happened before in my 30-plus years of coaching,” Crosby said, “and I’ve never heard of it happening anywhere else, that coaches have to reapply every single season of every single year.”

Not surprisingly, the sports community is up in arms about it. In a Facebook post, board member Katherine Jones shared a message from Superintendent Tracey Vackar explaining the new policy and its intention. It includes an apology for the way the decision was communicated.

“I recognize that this is a new practice, and while it was brought forward with good intentions, that intent was not clearly communicated. I take responsibility for that,” wrote Vackar.

But what isn’t mentioned is why the policy is changing at this time, and with such urgency. It has people wondering if the district is in some kind of legal jeopardy because of a coach. And by doing background checks on every coach every year, it could cast a shadow of suspicion on anybody and everybody.

“I think they should just let everybody know if there is,” said soccer mom Padilla, “just so nobody is doubting or has any thoughts of ‘what ifs and buts.'”

The district did not respond to multiple requests for comment Friday and Saturday. And while Vackar is taking responsibility for the way the matter was communicated, she won’t be for long.

The district is currently searching for her replacement as she is set to retire at the end of the school year. The district insists it is just a harmless change to its Human Resources hiring policy to ensure the school has a quality coaching staff.

But coach Crosby thinks the opposite could happen.

“I would think that they would have the foresight to see that this is not going to attract quality candidates to a school,” he said, “but it’s going to chase them away.”

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 Michael Abeyta

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    AURORA, Colorado (KCNC) — Aurora police visited the northeast Aurora community at a town hall held by Aurora City Council Member Gianina Horton to talk about the police department’s new “Drone as a First Responder” program that officials say has helped crack down on crime.

Some community members who were in attendance have concerns, especially about their privacy.

“A drone was stopped over my property for 20 minutes as you started talking,” Dr. P.J. Parmar said in the meeting. He later provided that video to CBS News Colorado.

“When you might see the drone near or over your backyard. He’s probably not even looking anywhere near you in the upwards of a mile off,” an APD officer said in response.

Jan Kalkus is a healthcare worker at Mango House, a community hub on East Colfax Avenue. He and his colleagues say what the police are telling them doesn’t match their experiences. They say they have seen drones hover over their property for many minutes at a time.

“I think there are legitimate uses for it,” Kalkus said; however, “it’s important to know that that’s how it’s being used.”

APD says they know this is a new experience for many, but they want people to know they follow a strict policy to protect resident privacy.

“Obviously, the community is going to have questions about something that’s new, which is why we’ve taken the approach to really be upfront and public about our use of the technology,” said Phillip Rathbun, deputy chief of the Professional Standards and Training Division for the Aurora Police Department. “All of our flight logs are posted online. You can go to our website and find that from our real-time information center. In fact, we’re going to be expanding, some of that in the future.”

“We can’t go over and fly it over your house. Look into your backyard that is completely fenced off, see what you’re doing, and then monitor it, and then report back on it,” an officer said at the town hall.

Residents also worry that the video APD collects will be shared with Flock, the company working with APD on this project, to enhance its AI program and build databases.

“So ultimately, this video is our video,” said Rathbun. “And so, the retention of that is up to us. In fact, when we talked about that, evidence, and with those videos as we collect those, those are actually moved over into a different system in our department.”

Residents are hesitant to take APD at their word.

“There’s issues of trust in the community. And I saw these drones starting last summer flying over my properties,” said Parmar.

That’s especially been the case since the website APD created to track drone flights seems to not to be updated right after every flight.

“They are delayed for reasons, obviously, to protect our active investigations,” Rathbun said.

Kalkus says he thinks only time will tell if APD follows its own policies to protect privacy.

“It sounds nice. It would just be nice to be able to see that in practice,” he said.

APD asks the community to give them time to earn the public’s trust with this new program, because it’s just a crime-fighting tool that will not only keep officers safe but also the community at large.

“This technology is focused on response to criminal activity,” said Rathbun.

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 Ahmad Bajjey

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    FLINT, Michigan (WWJ) — Police at the University of Michigan Flint are crediting an anonymous tipster with saving a life Friday morning. Officers discovered a man collapsed during dangerously freezing conditions.

The incident occurred in the early morning hours as wind chills dipped well below zero. According to the U of M Flint Department of Public Safety, an anonymous caller contacted dispatch to request a welfare check, reporting concern for a person believed to be lying on the ground near the intersection of Harrison and 2nd Street in Flint.

Officers canvassed the area at about 12:37 a.m. During the search, Sergeant Thrower spotted an object on the sidewalk that initially appeared to be debris and described in the report as a “snow-covered clump” resembling a crumpled traffic cone. Upon closer inspection, he realized the object was the individual in distress, who was already partially buried by the snow.

The man told officers he had suffered seizures, which caused him to collapse, leaving him unable to move as the extreme cold set in.

Thrower and Officer Fray immediately coordinated with Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The man was successfully rescued and transported to a local hospital for treatment.

Authorities emphasized that the outcome could have been tragic without the tip.

“Given the extreme cold at the time,” the department said. “this caller may have saved a life.”

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.