Month: February 2026

By Rhondella Richardson, Yogev Toby

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    BOSTON (WCVB) — The Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Red Cross, and the NFL are sending two Massachusetts locals to the Super Bowl this week to watch the New England Patriots face the Seattle Seahawks.

Zeeshan Mohammed, 13, of Sharon, will be cheering on the New England Patriots from the stands this Sunday, after being one of 24 Make-A-Wish recipients from across the country.

Mohammed, an eighth grader who dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon, underwent treatment for lymphoma. During that time, his family says, football helped him take his mind off his illness.

The NFL will provide Mohammed and his family Super Bowl tickets, and Make-A-Wish’s sports charity, Fanatics, will offer the kids special events, athlete meet-ups and a tour of the Levi’s Stadium as part of the five-day experience.

The NFL also collaborated with the Red Cross during a January blood donation campaign to award one randomly selected donor tickets to the game.

For Eric Jellison, of Wakefield, the Super Bowl will be his first-ever NFL game.

Jellison had been a lifelong blood donor after experiencing a severe traumatic injury at a young age and receiving blood transfusions. He then made a promise to continue giving blood.

“I’ve never actually gone to a football game, so my first one to be my home team in the Super Bowl is an amazing feeling, and I can’t wait to get out to San Francisco to get the full effect,” he said.

Jellison won two tickets to the game, pre-game activities, the Super Bowl Experience and a $1,000 gift card.

“I’ve watched every Super Bowl with my childhood friend, who I’m taking,” Jellison said. “So, we’ve been friends for like 44 years. And every year we get together, and we watch. And we’ve had some disappointing years, but we had a lot of good ones as well.”

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 Jamy Pombo Sesselman

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    FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts (WCVB) — A Dighton, Massachusetts, man who won two tickets to the Super Bowl during the Patriots sendoff at Gillette Stadium on Sunday is taking his father to the big game, and the trip is extra special for the pair.

Duncan Tarver was one of three people who had the chance to win two tickets to the game.

“We were hanging out with a few people in the bar afterwards, and they’re like, ‘Why aren’t you bringing your girlfriend?'” Duncan Tarver said. “I love her to death, you know? But these memories are made with my dad, you know? That’s really important to me. Everything that we’ve gone through the last few years together, you know, it’s really the least I can do to give back to (him).”

The luck winner is taking his father, Aaron, who is battling prostate cancer that recently metastasized.

“It’s a mind shift, and priorities change a lot,” Aaron Tarver said.

“Making the memories has been the biggest priority, and this is an opportunity to make the greatest memory ever,” Duncan Tarver said.

Duncan Tarver said he hasn’t made it to many games in the past few years and is thrilled to be going to the biggest game of the season.

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

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    PLUM, Pennsylvania (WTAE) — Vishavdeep Singh, a 22-year-old facing charges of aggravated assault and terroristic threats, attempted to escape from ICE agents during his preliminary hearing at Plum’s district court, injuring a constable in the process.

Plum Mayor Harry Schlegel confirmed the incident, stating, “She has a couple of bruises and cuts or scrapes when she hit the floor.” A criminal complaint said the constable sustained a large swelled knot with bruising on the right side of her head. She was evaluated on scene and later taken to Forbes Regional Hospital.

Schlegel said Plum police are filing charges for the assault that occurred when Singh tried to evade ICE agents.

“Somebody said he- the word was he went nuts and tried to escape and knocked her down,” Schlegel said.

Court documents reveal Singh was in Plum for a hearing related to a road rage incident at Fifth and Virginia in Oakmont, where he was charged with pointing a gun at two drivers.

Police reported that Singh admitted to the crime, using an airsoft shotgun with the orange tip removed to make it appear realistic.

Singh’s hearing for these charges was postponed as ICE took him into custody following the escape attempt.

Efforts to reach Singh’s family at his apartment were unsuccessful.

Schlegel said those charges will include assault.

Attempts to contact ICE for comment have not been successful.

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 Sheldon Ingram

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    NEW CASTLE, Pennsylvania (WTAE) — Neshannock Senior High School senior, Aresenii, is connecting his schoolmates to the brutal, war-torn reality in his homeland, and the soldiers fighting for their country’s independence.

Arsenii fled the eastern region of Ukraine two years ago, with his mother and sister upon his father’s orders, while he stayed behind to fight in the army.

Their journey to escape Ukraine took them to Slovakia, Germany, Canada, and finally New Castle, where Arsenii is a senior.

His heart aches for his father as he fights in combat against the Russian invasion.

“I’m proud of him,” he said. “He’s the best dad I could ever wish for, but I really miss him. I fear that my dad is still there. That’s what I fear. I’m scared that he’s still there.”

Arsenii wrote letters to his father and then asked schoolmates to also write letters to other soldiers on the front line to lift their spirits.

The response was overwhelming.

“I wasn’t expecting more than maybe a couple, 10 letters, but we received over 300 letters,” Arsenii said. “I’m really happy and thankful for all the students who wrote the letters.”

Arsenii was assisted by school administrators to organize the letter-writing campaign, and they are expected to be delivered to Ukrainian soldiers within two weeks, after they were mailed on Tuesday.

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 Ed DiOrio

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    NORTH BELLE VERNON, Pennsylvania (WTAE) — A man is behind bars after police said he allegedly entered an eye doctor’s office naked while holding two large knives in North Belle Vernon on Monday.

“It’s certainly something you would never expect to hear on a normal, quiet Monday morning in North Belle Vernon,” Check Eye Group optometrist Dr. John Cicchini said. “Very little problems here in North Belle Vernon.”

Darnell Howell, 54, is the man police said is responsible.

According to Howell’s criminal complaint, the incident started just after 1 p.m.

One of the women working inside was on a break. She told us off-camera that she saw Howell walking down the street wearing nothing but gym shorts. He was holding a butcher knife in one hand and a steak knife in the other.

The worker ran inside to warn the others inside.

“I heard a bunch of chaos from the front of the office,” Cicchini said. “I saw a large, African American man who is half-dressed in just black running shorts, swinging away with two large knives.”

According to Cicchini and authorities, Howell quickly started doing damage to the front lobby.

“He had knocked off some frames, broke some frames, and threw a display down,” Cicchini said. “The girls were all chaotic. We were trying to call 911. We were all scattered.”

It wasn’t long before the man was in the back of the office.

“He proceeded to stab the walls with the knives,” Cicchini said. “He sat on our sofa. He stabbed that around 16 times. He was trying to break into the business office where I was at.”

During this, Howell’s criminal complaint states that he dropped his shorts, making him completely naked.

“He cornered one of our girls as she was pinned between a refrigerator and a wall,” Ciccini said. “He had two large knives. We were really lucky in the aspect that no one got hurt.”

Through all of this, no one inside knew who the man was or why he was there.

“He did not say a word,” Cicchini said. “He was just grunting. He was just making lots of motions and movements with the large knives. I don’t know if he knew where he was.”

North Belle Vernon Police Chief Eugene Lipari told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 that Howell was likely under the influence. The department was familiar with him from previous cases involving drugs.

Lipari was the one who chased Howell out of the office after he allegedly dropped the knives.

“He proceeded up the street naked and flailing around,” Cicchini said. “At least he didn’t have the knives in his hands.”

Howell was arrested about a block away from Check Eye Group. He was taken to a local medical facility for treatment and was arraigned on Tuesday morning.

No one was seriously injured.

“He probably left more mental chaos than anything else,” Cicchini said. “Everyone was just freaked out.”

Now, the long-standing eye doctor’s office is having to rethink how to go about safety.

“We’re already putting a few little things in place to make sure we have a safe room for everybody to get to,” Cicchini said. “This is definitely a one-off experience that could have been a lot worse.”

Howell is facing 13 total charges, including multiple counts of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.

He’s currently being held inside Westmoreland County Jail.

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 Angela Rozier

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    FORT PIERCE, Florida (WPBF) — Indian River State College (IRSC) in Florida is set to become the first open-enrollment state college in the U.S. to implement a campus-wide artificial intelligence plan using the tool Superhuman, formerly known as Grammarly.

The plan is to enhance student learning and streamline operations.

IRSC president Timothy Moore emphasized that as long as you have access to information, you can make important decisions and that’s what it’s all about.

“A multi-billion-dollar company and a little college in Florida, and we become the real rollout for their product in our framework here at this school as we drive AI into every day of this college’s operation,” Moore said.

He also said the AI plan is designed to assist individuals rather than replace personnel.

“The whole plan is to augment individuals. If you were just simply stamping widgets yes you could automate somebody out of a job, but say you’re the chief financial officer if can take the mundane 20% of your day away from you and this run automatically in the background then what do I get from you I get this knowledgeable person who can look at my finances in a different way because they’ve got time to look and think and access, that’s what this is all about,” Moore said.

The initiative aims to help students stay on track, prepare them for jobs where AI is expected, modernize day-to-day college operations, and reduce busywork for employees. Instead of using a separate AI website, students, faculty, and staff will receive AI assistance integrated into tools they already use, such as Google Docs, email, and other school systems.

Bruce Fraser, the executive director of AI initiatives at IRSC, said they will also have courses that are more specialized in AI; however, the broader vision is to really incorporate AI tools responsibly across the curriculum.

“These tools are here to stay, and we have a responsibility to help our students use them, responsively, effectively, and to amplify their own natural gifts in a way that prepares them for the marketplace in their future academic pursuits,” Fraser said.

The extended partnership with Superhuman takes effect immediately.

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 Dacia Johnson

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    ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Florida (WESH) — The two Lake Brantley students accused of planning to kill another student are being charged as adults, according to court documents.

They are 14- and 15-year-old best friends, according to an arrest report released by the Altamonte Springs Police Department.

Police said the teens are facing attempted premeditated murder charges.

Isabelle Valdez, 15, — who the report states is transgender and goes by Jimmy — is accused of planning the attack, stalking the student victim and writing a letter to her parents about the ordeal.

Lois Lippert, 14, is accused of helping gather items for the attack, among other things.

On Thursday, Jan. 22, an anonymous tip was sent in through getfortifyfl.com, which sends tips to the appropriate school officials and law enforcement agencies. It went to officials at Lake Brantley.

The tip said a student, later identified as Valdez, was planning to kill another student the next day.

On Friday, Jan. 23, the report says both girls went to school. By 7:38 a.m., police contacted the school security guard to get Valdez out of class.

Valdez was pulled into the assistant principal’s office, where she was questioned about ever wanting to hurt someone.

She paused and said yes, then told the assistant principal that she had a letter to give her parents after she had hurt a classmate.

When asked how she would hurt the victim, she stated she had a knife, gloves, trash bags, and wipes in her backpack. Valdez then handed the assistant principal a white trash bag from her backpack containing all the items she had described, documents say.

A 10- or 12-inch knife was found in her backpack as well.

Valdez said the victim was “perfect and reminded her of Adam Lanza (a school shooter who is now deceased),” documents say.

Valdez said she heard voices telling her that if she killed the victim, she and Lanza “would have a blood bond which would bring Lanza back to life.”

The teen suspect stated she planned to wait for the victim in the upstairs bathroom, where she would pull him inside, then stab him in the stomach or cut his throat.

Court documents say she said she had flowers for him and would leave them for his funeral.

She also had two cigarettes and a lighter with her, which documents say she planned to smoke after killing the victim.

Valdez said she wanted to smoke the cigarettes after she killed the victim because she knew she would be arrested.

She said she sometimes hears voices in her head telling her to hurt others. She had also been following the victim, docs show, taking photos and memorizing his class schedule.

Lippert allegedly knew about the plan to kill the victim and purchased the items for her friend.

Valdez said Lippert helped sharpen the knife.

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 Edward Franco

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    FORT MYERS, Florida (WBBH) — Maria Mejia, a Fort Myers resident, was threatened with violence and deportation during a racist rant by another driver in a parking lot outside TJ Maxx near US-41 and Cypress Lake Drive on Tuesday.

Mejia said, “She was just trying to, like, reach out to me. It was just hate after hate!” The confrontation was captured on Mejia’s phone, where the driver said, “We don’t want you. I hope you’re [expletive] illegal. I’ll call ICE! I would love to! And they’ll shoot you like they shoot the others! Go back to where you came from!”

Mejia described the attack as unprovoked and said the driver blocked her from walking to the store, even threatening her with an Uzi, a type of gun. Mejia said, “I don’t know if she was following me. I don’t know if I made a mistake, and if I did, I apologize because obviously it wasn’t on purpose.”

That driver is also heard in the video saying, “I hope you die in traffic! The way you drive, you’re going to anyway,” and asking, “Where did you learn to drive?”

When Mejia reported the incident, Lee County deputies initially told her there was not much they could do. However, after Gulf Coast News reached out the next day, the sheriff’s office stated they are now investigating the verbal altercation. Mejia expressed her fear, saying, “Yeah, I’m, I’m afraid!”

Criminal attorney Michael Raheb commented on the situation, noting, “Those last words, they do kind of possibly cross that threshold between free speech and fighting words and hate speech.”

Having lived in Fort Myers for over 20 years, Mejia hopes for a change in community attitudes, saying, “It’s just sad. The hate out there. We need to stop it as a community. We need to show that love is greater.”

Law enforcement advises that if you find yourself in a similar situation, the best course of action is not to engage and walk 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 Dave Elias

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    FORT MYERS, Florida (WBBH) — James Fishback, a candidate for Florida governor, is using Tinder to connect with young female voters as part of his campaign strategy, drawing mixed reactions from the public.

“Tinder is not for dating. It’s for connecting with young women where they are,” Fishback said.

Alexa Avila-Martinez, from Fort Myers, expressed her concerns, saying, “Going on Tinder and saying you’re targeting younger women … that’s where it’s weird … that doesn’t sound okay.”

Fishback detailed his campaign plan to those he matches with on Tinder, which includes initiatives like helping young couples buy their first home, opening statewide pregnancy centers, and providing paid maternity leave.

“I like the message that he wants paid maternity leave for women. Now, the way he is going about it on Tinder, of all things … that’s where I draw the line. It gets a little creepy,” Avila-Martinez said.

Fishback acknowledged the unconventional nature of his approach. “Well, it’s certainly unconventional, I’ll tell you that,” he said.

Some people have asked why Fishback is reaching out only to young women and whether he might use Grindr to connect with young men. Fishback humorously dismissed the idea, stating, “I have no plans to be joining Grindr! What I will be doing is meeting young men on the campaign trail.”

Despite his intentions, some young men find Fishback’s Tinder profile odd. Kaleb Brown, from Naples, commented, “You might be talking to like 19 or 20 years old who just got out of high school going into college. That is a little strange.”

Daniel Andred from Fort Myers suggested there are better ways to connect with the community, saying, “Going on a dating app may not be the best way.”

Republican political consultant Terry Miller also questioned the strategy. “You target the people with voting history … not random girls on Tinder,” Miller said.

Fishback defended his approach, emphasizing the importance of connecting with female voters. “There does have to be a connection, and it’s important that there is a connection between me and female voters. That’s exactly why I joined Tinder,” he said.

Fishback faces off against Byron Donalds, former Florida House Speaker Paul Renner, and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins — none of whom are on Tinder.

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.