Hazmat investigation finds suspected cause after kids faint at Carmel Sunset Center

CNN Newsource on March 12, 2026

By Josh Copitch

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    CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. (KSBW) — A hazmat command was established after three children fell ill, two of who fainted while visiting the Carmel Sunset Center on Tuesday morning.

A group of children from Carmel River School were at the center for a rehearsal ahead of Tuesday night’s Choral Festival, when three had fainting spells, according to city officials. The entire building was evacuated, and hazmat and ambulance crews were called to the site.

Officials say that all three kids were alert and responsive in the parking lot before they were transferred to the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. The illnesses appear to be caused by carbon monoxide exposure.

According to Monterey Fire division chief Matt Harris, an investigation led them to believe that Carbon monoxide had built up inside part of the building. Investigators believe that some construction equipment outside the building is the likely cause of the build-up.

The building was aired out and safe to enter. Authorities detected no hazards after entering the building two separate times.

The Monterey County Fire Department said that while no further illnesses are likely, it recommended contacting a healthcare professional if anyone in attendance experienced symptoms. Those symptoms include headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and fainting.

The school decided to reschedule the Choral Festival that was planned to take place Tuesday night.

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.

SPCA Monterey County rescues 5 owlets

CNN Newsource on March 12, 2026

By Alicia Alvarez

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    PRUNEDALE, Calif. (KSBW) — Five nestling western screech owls are being cared for at the SPCA Monterey County Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation center. The SPCA said the owls were orphaned after their tree was cut down in Prunedale.

The owls were four weeks old and in fair health when they arrived at the wildlife center. Rehabilitators are providing feedings four times a day. The owls are in an indoor enclosure with a stuffed toy owl acting as a surrogate mother.

As the owls grow, they will be transitioned into an outdoor enclosure to learn to hunt and fly. They will be released back into the wild near where they were found when the owlets are old enough.

The owls were about the weight of a deck of playing cards sitting between 110 and 130 grams. They were about 3.5 inches tall, which is smaller than a standard energy drink can.

The SPCA Monterey County Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center is the only full-service wildlife rescue in Monterey County. They are currently caring for 36 wild patients, including two baby squirrels, four baby hummingbirds and five baby opossums.

The center cares for more than 2,500 animals each year.

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Author is inspired to share lessons from her pet goose

CNN Newsource on March 12, 2026

By Britt Leoni

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    ALVA, Florida (WBBH) — “I’m just always amazed at the personalities and the differences and their way of thinking,” said Terrilynn Dunford.

Among the many animals on Dunford’s Alva farm, there’s one she will never forget.

“Matilda, Princess Matilda, she had a sign out here that said ‘Queen and loving it,'” said Dunford.

Matilda was Dunford’s beloved Toulouse goose, who once ruled these grounds and now watches over her in heaven.

“She brought joy,” said Dunford.

Dunford took that joy and put pen to paper, filling pages of her children’s book, “Princess Matilda: A Silly Goose,” with their memories.

But most of all, what Dunford will never forget is the message Matilda imprinted on her heart.

“Everyone is special, and if people treat you differently, just continue to be nice and stay on your path,” said Dunford.

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Colorado Springs-area leaders reveal Transportation Safety Action Plan on Thursday

KRDO on March 12, 2026

Scott Harrison

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — A two-year, $280,000 project to improve safety on streets and roads was released to the public on Thursday morning.

The Transportation Safety Action Plan is designed to benefit drivers, motorcyclists, pedestrians, and bicyclists.

Local leaders provided more details in a 10:30 a.m. news conference at the City Administration Building downtown.

To formulate the plan, officials received a grant from the federal Safe Streets for All program, which provides funding to communities to reduce traffic-related deaths and injuries.

The plan has four main objectives: Reduce motorcycle crashes; prioritize infrastructure projects to focus more on safety; take advantage of existing community partnerships; and develop a list of safety projects from existing planning efforts.

“In our opinion, we believe it will improve safety for all users, and will have some impact on your driving,” said Todd Frisbie, the city’s chief traffic engineer.

City officials also want to highlight some of the improvements they’ve already made and are currently making.

Among them: Better lighting and visibility at intersections, using a neighborhood traffic calming program with roundabouts and other measures to reduce speeding, and increasing safety in school zones, at trail crossings, and in left-turn lanes.

Frisbie referred to a 2021 list from the city that ranked the most dangerous intersections.

“I’m happy to report that in mid-2025, we have implemented almost all of those (safety) changes at those intersections that we had identified,” he announced.

The plan’s main objective, Frisbie added, is to reduce traffic deaths and fatalities by 35% over the next decade.

“53% of our crashes occur on 5% of our roadways,” he said. “In the southeast part of Colorado Springs, there is a disproportionate number of those types of roadways.”

Trish Trent-Iaquinta, who represents Drive Smart Colorado and the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, explained what everyone can do to promote safety.

“Parents teaching their young kids, starting at the elementary school age, and modeling that behavior,” she said. “They see it if mom and dad don’t buckle them up. Don’t have your phone. Really pay attention to pedestrians.”

To view the link to the plan, visit: https://coloradosprings.gov/SafetyActionPlan.

Included on the page is a dashboard with crash statistics used by planners to help formulate the action document.

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Family of Vietnam War veteran killed in accident while mowing lawn speaks

CNN Newsource on March 12, 2026

By Muhammad Abdul Qawee

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    LEHIGH ACRES, Florida (WBBH) — A 76-year-old Vietnam War veteran died Tuesday evening after a lawn mower accident left him pinned beneath the water in a canal behind his Lehigh Acres home, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Dennis Moody was mowing his lawn near a canal behind a residence on Monet Street when the riding lawn mower went into the water and trapped him underneath.

A family member discovered Moody in the canal with the mower on top of him and called 911.

A deputy said Moody was submerged beneath the water with a red lawn mower resting on top of him, according to the sheriff’s report. The deputy attempted to check for a pulse but was unable to detect one and observed signs of rigor mortis.

Crews with the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District responded to the scene and pronounced Moody dead at 5:40 p.m.

Sheriff’s officials said homicide detectives and the medical examiner responded to investigate, which is standard procedure in unattended deaths. Authorities described the incident as a tragic accident.

Gulf Coast News spoke to Moody’s daughter the day after the tragedy.

“Seeing my dad like that — I had a restless night,” she said. “I was up at 4:30 this morning crying, sick to my stomach about all of this. I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Family members said Moody served in the Vietnam War and received a Purple Heart. His daughter described him as a devoted father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

“He served for this country. He loved this country,” Amanda Moody said. “He was a great dad, a great granddad — an amazing guy, and I miss him so much.”

She said her father enjoyed cutting grass and spent much of his time working in the yard.

“He died doing what he loved to do,” she said.

The accident happened near the canal behind the family’s home, where the lawn mower remained in the water hours after the incident.

The tragedy is especially painful for the family, Amanda Moody said, noting that her mother also died in a drowning nine years ago.

Authorities have not released additional details as the investigation continues.

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Jefferson City Public Works to discuss options for High Street viaduct

KMIZ on March 12, 2026

Jazsmin Halliburton

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Jefferson City Public Works Committee is set to meet Thursday morning to discuss options regarding the aging High Street viaduct.

In February, the Public Works department shut down the viaduct after what was initially reported as a pothole turned out to be a significant structural issue. The damaged area has since been covered with a steel plate.

In Thursday’s meeting, the committee will go over options for reopening and fixing the viaduct. The city can reopen the bridge and cover the hole with a steel plate or keep the bridge closed. Repairing the bridge would cost around $34,400.

The committee will also discuss options to protect pedestrians and traffic underneath the viaduct if the city decides to reopen it. Those options include:

Regularly knocking loose concrete off

Place canopies under the bridge to catch falling concrete

Attach falsework, netting or steel mesh to the bridge to catch falling concrete.

The Public Works Committee recommends that a full-depth repair be made to the viaduct. However, the bridge can be reopened as long as regular inspections and spot repairs are done until the full-depth repair can be made.

To fully replace the viaduct, it would cost the city around $17 million.

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How a man developed an app that’s giving people with ALS their voice back

CNN Newsource on March 12, 2026

By Meghan Schiller

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    PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A Pittsburgh-area man is not just giving people living with ALS a voice, he’s giving them their own voice.

A recent diagnosis just inspired a man with no coding experience to develop a life-changing app. It’ll allow people who are struggling to speak sound more like themselves.

David Betts lives in Mt. Washington with his wife, Anne. He received an ALS diagnosis two years ago at the age of 55.

“Admittedly, I was terrified and I still am but Anne always tells me I’m the most rational person because I’m a consultant and now I have a problem to solve,” he said.

Betts thought all the assistive tools and apps on the market sounded too robotic. So with zero coding experience and no time to waste, he created “Talk to Me, Goose!”, named after the character Goose from “Top Gun.” It’s an AI-powered text-to-speech app that uses voice cloning to help people with speech loss sound like themselves again.

“If I can make something with no experience as a developer, sitting on my couch, in 80 days, and release it to the world, and then in nine months build it on Windows and Android and iOS that I think has capabilities of what’s available, why have they not done it?” he said. “And why are we asking people to settle for less far less than what’s possible?”

He’s partnering with the nonprofit Live Like Lou to make it free for people living with ALS, but also Parkinson’s, strokes, head and neck cancer.

“While I focus on ALS for obvious reasons, there’s, we think, 97 million people living around the world with speech-limiting conditions who would benefit from assistive tech who lack access,” he said.

Users can create a voice clone with as little as 45 seconds of audio. It’s giving people not just the ability to talk, but to connect. The app also lets people create and tell bedtime stories in their own voice. That was an idea born from a message from a 41-year-old father living with ALS, no longer able to read to his little kids.

“She said they sat rapt with attention, and then their youngest said ‘I want daddy to tell that story 100, 100 times forever,” he said.

From bedtime stories to the Austrian Parliament, the app’s getting attention. It just won the Zero Award for reducing barriers for people living with disabilities.

And even though Betts never thought his story would include this, his own father’s voice speaks clearly in his mind.

“He always said he didn’t care what we did when we grew up. ‘I don’t care if you’re a plumber, you’re an electrician, you’re a janitor, you’re the world’s best surgeon, just be your best, do your best.”

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.

A look inside Pottsgrove Manor, a Revolutionary War headquarters frozen in time

CNN Newsource on March 12, 2026

By Kim Hudson, Will Kenworthy

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    MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pennsylvania (KYW) — As Montgomery County looked forward to the nation’s 250th birthday, museum educators carried forward the history of how it all came to be, where a home birthed a whole town.

Pottsgrove Manor museum educator Anna Meitzler ran through a list.

“He has a grist mill built on-site, a sawmill, Pottsgrove forge,” Meitzler said.

It started in 1752 with all the necessities for 18th-century Pennsylvania.

“Then, by 1761, he says to himself,” Meitzler said of the late John Potts. “‘You know what this house really needs? It needs its own town.'”

That spurred the birth of today’s Pottstown in Montgomery County. The epicenter of it all is the manor, home to the town’s founding father, John, and his wife, Ruth.

Meitzler said Pottsgrove Manor is now home to colonial-era examples of resistance, like a floor-to-ceiling cabinet in the home that was owned by the couple’s eldest daughter, Martha.

“It was basically a boycott of British goods. So no longer are we buying imported luxury-good items,” Meitzler said. “We are going to make them here at home with the materials here in Colonial America.”

Of the couple’s 13 children, one became a physician. Dr. Jonathan Potts turned to Black slaves, like Pompey and Hester, to help fight disease and injury during the American Revolution.

“Jonathan tasked Pompey and Hester to help cultivate a medicinal garden in Albany, New York, that would help supply the medical hospital at Fort George,” Meitzler said.

As Meitzler looked over mannequins depicting Pompey and Hester, she explained that the slaves’ help in the war fight did not mean freedom was guaranteed, except for one final act.

“Jonathan writes in his will that they are to be freed within five years of his passing,” Meitzler said.

Pottsgrove Manor was also home to an iron forge. This is where weapons that today can be seen in several display cases in the home were made and repaired during the Revolutionary War, said Justin Clement, manor historic site supervisor.

“They’re also cobbling together weapons from a lot of different parts,” Clement said. “So, we have represented various muskets as well as sword parts.”

Clement said the stone house was more than just a home — it was also a military headquarters in the fight for freedom.

“They essentially are answering the call to arms in order to defend the state of Pennsylvania from the British,” Clement said.

And, this is how all this history grew into an entire town that thrives today.

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Husband, 74, accused of murdering and dismembering wife, 33, after remains found in 2 locations

CNN Newsource on March 12, 2026

By Naveen Dhaliwal

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — A Queens man is accused of killing his wife after her remains were found in two separate locations, months apart.

Rupchand Simboo, 74, has been charged with murder, concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence.

In September, sanitation workers made a disturbing discovery while collecting trash near 149th Avenue and Brookville Boulevard. Inside a garbage bag wrapped in a tarp and blanket, workers found a woman’s beheaded and dismembered torso.

The medical examiner later identified the remains as Simboo’s wife, 33-year-old Salisha Ali, and ruled her death a homicide.

Then, just last week, another set of remains including a head, legs and an arm, were discovered in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge near the North Channel Bridge. Investigators say they also belong to Ali. They conducted the search based on coordinates they found in an app on Simboo’s phone the day after Ali was last seen alive.

Simboo was arrested Wednesday morning.

“As alleged, the defendant went to extraordinary lengths to evade responsibility for the brutal killing of his wife, discarding her remains in remote locations, and concealing critical evidence in an apparent effort to cover up this horrific crime,” Queens DA Melinda Katz said.

If convicted, he faces up to 25 years behind bars.

His neighbors are in disbelief.

“It’s definitely eerie to, like, know that, you know, such people live right across from you, and you’re trying to raise your family here and, like, exposed to that,” neighbor Hasiena Dwarika said. “It’s not something that’s pleasant.”

“Sorry to hear that. God bless the family and, you know, the relatives that’s behind, that’s for sure,” another neighbor said.

Police said the investigation is ongoing, and they are continuing to process evidence connected to the case.

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Mom who gave birth after kidney failure reunites with hospital staff ahead of transplant

CNN Newsource on March 12, 2026

By Alexa Herrera

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    LONG ISLAND, New York (WCBS) — A Long Island woman is reuniting with the medical team that helped deliver her baby after she experienced kidney failure during pregnancy.

Emily Sammartano is returning to NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island Thursday with her “miracle baby” and husband. Her medical team will meet with her in honor of World Kidney Day after Sammartano experienced complications during her first pregnancy.

She suffered from kidney failure at 15 weeks, forcing her to get dialysis for months at the NYU Langone Dialysis Center in Bethpage.

Sammartano was also working full-time in the finance industry while pregnant, and underwent dialysis six times a week for five hours each day.

In December, she was able to give birth to her baby, Leonardo, with the team that was consistently monitoring her.

In a remarkable turn of events, Sammartano learned her husband, Sean, is a perfect donor match.

Now, she is continuing dialysis and preparing for her future kidney transplant.

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.