Month: April 2026

By Jacquelyn Quinones

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    SOQUEL, California (KSBW) — Local organizations in Santa Cruz County are working together to build a straw bale tiny home village next to Mount Calvary Lutheran Church on Cabrillo College Drive in Soquel, aiming to address the housing crisis and climate challenges.

Just Places, in partnership with People First, is reviving a building method from the 1800s to construct the homes.

“It was developed in the 1800s by farmers who had no resource for wood, so they saw these bales and realized they’re like building blocks the way kids play with Legos, etc. So they started stacking with bales and built really substantial homes and churches in Nebraska in the 1800s, and some of those homes are still standing and occupied,” said Michele Landegger, a general building contractor.

Landegger began building with straw bales in 1996 and has completed more than a dozen homes, along with several studios. His projects range from 1,200-square-foot spaces to 4,000-square-foot conference centers, all within Santa Cruz County.

“The reason we’re building with straw now is that straw is a biogenic carbon sequestration. It can hold carbon and draw it out of the atmosphere and hold it for its entire viable life of its use,” Landegger said.

Landegger and her team at Just Places are stepping in to help address the need for housing in Santa Cruz County.

The plan is to build a small village of LEED-certified cabins constructed from straw bales.

These thoughtfully designed homes are intended for very low-income residents, offering not just shelter but stability and a path forward.

“They have the land, we have the idea and inspiration to do it, and so we talked with them and said, ‘Hey, do this,’ and they were really receptive,” another contractor, Kita Glass, said.

According to Landegger, this project will be a step forward in combating the homelessness issue in Santa Cruz County.

“It’s affected lots of people I know in lots of different ways. It’s really hard to pay rent here, it’s really easy to lose your housing, and even if you’re in a house, you’re affected by it in all kinds of different ways,” Glass said.

The team still needs to raise at least $300,000 to cover the cost of the project. They will host two fundraisers this weekend, and according to Just Places, if they raise the necessary funds, the project could be completed within four to six months.

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 Frances Lin

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    LARGO, Florida (WFTS) — A Largo man was arrested Wednesday after Florida Highway Patrol troopers say they found more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana hidden inside a camper trailer he was towing on Interstate 75 in Sumter County.

Troopers said they stopped 55-year-old William Wesley Hicks for traffic violations in Wildwood. During the stop, a K9 alerted to the truck and camper, leading officers to search the trailer. Inside, troopers said they discovered 62 large bags of vacuum-sealed marijuana weighing a total of 2,025.70 pounds, along with modifications to conceal and transport the drugs.

Hicks faces multiple felony charges, including trafficking marijuana in excess of 25 pounds, possession with intent to sell, possession of drug equipment, maintaining a nuisance structure for drug activity, and owning or renting a property used for trafficking drugs. He was booked into the Sumter County Detention Center without bond for the trafficking charge.

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 Lily O’Brien

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    CLEARWATER, Kansas (KAKE) — People who knew a woman accused of murdering her 15-month-old son are sharing what they saw, what doesn’t add up, and emotions surfacing now that investigators say the death wasn’t an accident.

Neighbors say they’re feeling more “unsettled” by what was happening a couple of doors down than anything.

For some of Shanna Whitton’s neighbors, the signs of problems were there long before investigators ruled the death a homicide.

For others who knew her, the charges don’t match the woman they thought they knew.

“There’s no loss like the loss of a child,” said Cindy Miles.

It’s a loss, Miles says, that is crushing: the death of 15-month-old Matthew Whitton.

“I don’t think any of us have a full understanding of what truly happened,” she said.

Miles says she went to church with Whitton for years.

She says the accusations facing Whitton don’t sound like the woman she knew, sitting near her in the pews at church.

“I knew her as a very loving mother, so I was very taken aback when I saw the charges filed,” she said. “But I am hesitant to convict immediately without knowing more of the story.”

In 2024, investigators say Whitton’s two-year-old daughter, “Gypsy Rose,” died from choking.

One year later, Whitton says Matthew also died from choking.

“First, she told people it was a meatball… then the Spaghetti-O’s with sausage in it,” recalled Heather Lambert, a neighbor.

Months later, an autopsy would show something very different — homicide by asphyxiation.

Whitton is charged with murder and multiple counts of child abuse.

“We were all in fear,” said Lambert. “From what I understand, she has had DCF in her life since Matthew was born.”

Matthew died in August, his autopsy finalized in January, and investigators charged Whitton three months later.

“She was handcuffed and she showed just a little emotion. She actually had tears, which I hadn’t seen in any of the other incidents with Matthew,” said Lambert.

Another charge — for arson — stems from a fire almost exactly one month before Matthew’s death.

The Clearwater Fire Department declined to comment on whether the volunteer department had originally determined the cause of the fire, and if CFD brought it to the attention of either Sedgwick County or Kansas fire investigators.

The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office and autopsy reports indicate Whitton intentionally started the fire inside Matthew’s bedroom while he was inside.

Between the fire, Matthew’s death, and the death of Whitton’s daughter, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office says it’s digging deeper.

“This is a day that’s been needing to come for a long time,” since Lambert.

The office says it will be opening an investigation into the two-year-old daughter, who did not have an autopsy performed after her death.

“If I worked for DCF, I certainly would be exploring as well what happened with these children,” said Miles.

Miles lost her own 15-month-old grandson in 2009 because of child abuse.

She says it’s helped her understand how multifaceted these types of cases are, and that there’s always different sides to a story — but at the end of the day, “there’s no loss as heartbreaking as losing a child.”

“Every time another child dies, I am crushed. I don’t know whether we’re making the progress that we need to make overall with addressing child abuse and neglect,” said Miles. “It’s heartbreaking to see us lose one child, let alone, you know, for somebody to lose two children.”

As the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office says it’s digging deeper — so is KAKE News.

KAKE News has filed multiple open records requests (KORA) with the state to get more information on the arson investigation, as well as from the Department of Children and Families.

The State has three days to respond to those requests.

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 Beth Carlson

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — The parents of the 3-year-old injured in an attempted kidnapping are speaking out.

The incident happened on Tuesday morning at a Walmart near 72nd and Pine streets.

Noemi Guzman slashed the face and hands of Cyler Hillman before Omaha police shot and killed her.

“I walked into his room and when I got there, it was dang near there had to be seven to 10 cops still standing in there. And they were all tacked out and everything, and one of the officers was sitting there and told me what happened. And I was just standing there and held the kid and just started crying right there. That’s all that I could do. And they said he was just asking for dad and a bandaid and to go home the whole time,” Cyler’s father Casey Hillman said.

The 3-year-old was released from the hospital after undergoing surgery.

“His big thing this morning was I don’t want to go outside. It’s scary. And I had to take a minute and sit in the corner and pretty much bawl my eyes out cause that broke my heart. That’s never been that kid. He always wants to go outside, and then he asked me if I’d carry him outside. Yeah, I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” Casey said.

Sara and Casey Hillman said it’s been hard for Cyler, his siblings, and themselves as they try to wrap their heads around what happened.

“He’s a goofball. He’s a fighter. He wants to be tough. Wants to ride sheep. Wants to ride bulls,” Sara and Casey said. “No, no fear really, no fear at all. Since birth he’s been a fighter. From medical history starting from a week-old preemie. Failure to thrive. Preterm lung failure. Lots of time in the hospital in first 90 days.”

Casey and Sara said they’re grateful to law enforcement but wonder how it was possible that no one in Walmart spotted Guzman ushering their son out of the store in the time between when she approached them and when police pulled the trigger.

There is a GoFundMe to help the family with the unexpected costs.

Click here if you would like to make a donation.

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 Janice Allen

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    IONIA COUNTY, Michigan (WXMI) — According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, roughly 24 people experience domestic violence every minute in the United States, totaling more than 12 million people each year. Leaving an abusive situation is not easy, and for many, a pet can be one of the biggest barriers.

Haley McLean is working to change that with Hope’s 2nd Chance Animal Sanctuary.

The nonprofit aims to care for those often-forgotten family members, so their owners don’t have to choose between safety and the animals they love.

“It’s a huge barrier,” McLean said. “A lot of women or domestic violence survivors do not leave because they’re scared of where their pets will go.”

The nonprofit is named after McLean’s golden retriever Chance, who helped inspire the mission.

“He’s my family,” McLean explained. “I realized, like, I could not ever leave him…so he’s really the thought behind Hope’s 2nd Chance.”

Thanks to generous donors and various fundraisers, Hope’s 2nd Chance provides temporary housing and veterinary care, giving owners the time and space to start over.

“Financial abuse is a huge thing with domestic violence, and so we don’t charge them,” McLean said. “[The animals] get a lot of love and attention. They’re taking well care of and then… they get to go back to their homes and just be with their owners.”

The need for the service is great.

“We started offering services in May of 2021,” McLean said. “We housed many animals for about 18 months, and then we realized that funding was going to be a huge need.”

After taking time to regroup, McLean said they are back and growing. She is currently renovating barns on her property to accommodate more pets, creating more second chances not only for the animals but for the people working to reclaim their lives.

“We’re trying to get the word out to survivors that we are here and that they do have an option,” McLean said. “There’s such a need for this, and so we would like to be able to expand and have more space, and be able to serve all of Michigan, at least, because we are the only nonprofit that does this, that focuses on these survivors.”

Hope’s 2nd Chance Animal Santuary currently serves Mid-Michigan and West Michigan.

This month, a virtual fundraiser called “Miles for Hope” is helping to support the mission.

McLean said they are accepting pets as space allows, but there is also a big need for people who do not currently have pets to foster animals.

To learn more about Hope’s 2nd Chance Animal Sanctuary, visit the website or Facebook page.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WXMI 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 Scott Noll

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    WESTLAKE, Ohio (WEWS) — A welfare check on a 91-year old Westlake woman Thursday ended with a discovery you’d never expect.

“Everyone got a good laugh out of it,” said Westlake Police Captain Jerry Vogel.

The woman is part of the city’s Are You Okay? program.

The program allows residents to sign up for a daily phone call to check in and make sure everything is okay.

On Thursday, the woman, whose name was not released by police, didn’t answer that call.

When dispatchers and the woman’s daughter followed up, they couldn’t reach the woman either.

“Everyone’s a little bit alarmed that she’s missing these contacts,” said Vogel.

So officers went to the woman’s house, but she didn’t answer the door either.

That’s when police used a code to open the woman’s garage door.

Her car was inside.

Body camera video stopped when the officer announced “Westlake police,” and walked into the 91-year old’s home.

His conversation with dispatchers revealed what happened next.

“We’re here with her,” the officer said. “She’s playing video games in her bedroom.”

Police said the woman was fine but missed the calls because she was trying to beat her record in a video game.

Vogel said the woman was thankful officers checked on her.

“It’s a great reminder that Westlake residents have that service for them and they can sign up any time they want,” said Vogel.

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 Greta Goede

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    BELLEVUE, Nebraska (KMTV) — “I think I broke down and just started thanking the man upstairs because if it would have been any lower or he wouldn’t have been looking out, we’d be having a whole different conversation.”

Casey Hillman says he was up late into the night thinking about the attack on his son and how an inch could have made the difference between life and death. He spoke with KMTV’s Greta Goede in an exclusive sit down interview to discuss how his son, Cyler, 3, is recovering and his reaction to learning the woman police say kidnapped and attacked him at an Omaha Walmart had previously faced charges for violent crimes.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:

“His three main concerns, according to the officers were Dad a band-aid and to go home in that order as soon as this happened until I walked in the ER room and then,” father Casey Hillman said during the interview.

“He sat in my lap till till they took him to surgery and that was the first time he cried during that whole ordeal because he had to leave me. I think it’s been just as rough, if not rougher on me than it has been on him till this morning he, we were going to get his boots and he told me he didn’t want to go outside because it was scary outside,” Hillman said.

Q: Do you just want to — talk a little bit about kind of what was running through your mind yesterday. I know you said you were at a job interview.

A: I, well, and I didn’t even know.

Like they didn’t give me a whole lot of details. The officer called and she just told me who she was and said she was in an ambulance with my son. There was a really bad incident at Walmart and he was hurt pretty severe and Children’s Connect uploaded a photo of the side of his face and when I, when I seen that I about.

I damn near couldn’t see driving the rest of the way and I broke probably 6 or 7 traffic laws going, if not more, and I got there and then they explained what happened and I, I think I broke down and just started thanking the man upstairs because if it would have been any lower or he wouldn’t have been looking out, we’d be having a whole different conversation.

Q: How did it make you feel hearing that she had priors?

A: I had a lot of resentment, a lot of anger, and I turned a new chapter where I started going to the Bible a lot when I get like that, and I had to last night because it made my blood boil, skin crawl, and I think it was 1:30, 2 o’clock before I even went to sleep last night. But that kind of thing I think is where our system needs to do better so things like this don’t continue to happen. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a kid, but this is pretty damn close, and it’s, I’m still pretty rattled. It’s been, been rough.

He definitely cowboyed up. I don’t think I could have got a gash like that and not been crying.

He’s, he’s our kid with no fear. I mean, jumps off of the sofas and he tests the limits all the time, just like that.

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By Chloe Godding

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    CLAY COUNTY, Missouri (KMBC) — A 13-year-old boy was allegedly caught behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle after speeding away from deputies in Clay County this week.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said deputies observed two vehicles that had been reported stolen traveling in tandem on 210 Highway after 1 a.m. Monday.

Deputies attempted to stop the vehicles, but both fled.

The first vehicle traveled into Avondale, hitting a curb and then driving into a field. The driver and a passenger then ran away. One suspect surrendered, but another kept running. Sheriff’s office K-9 Argos quickly caught up to the suspect, who was then apprehended.

That suspect was taken to the hospital for minor bite wounds before being transported to the detention center.

The other stolen vehicle also fled toward Avondale, traveling onto 210 Highway and driving over several medians before the vehicle was disabled.

Deputies ordered the driver out of the car and discovered he was a 13-year-old boy. The young teen allegedly told deputies, “if people didn’t want their cars stolen, they should not leave them unlocked with the keys inside.”

The two adult suspects have been charged. Kayden Nolen, 21, and Kevante White, 21, were charged with resisting arrest and tampering with a motor vehicle.

The 13-year-old driver of the other car was turned over to the Clay County Juvenile Office, where he reportedly remained in custody as of Wednesday.

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 Robbie Owens

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    ADDISON, Texas (KTVT) — As the late ’70s disco hit Stayin’ Alive fills the Addison dance studio, instructor Maya Apodaca glides across the floor. She knows it is more than a soundtrack. On Aug. 23, 2023, it became her mission.

“I was teaching, and I get a phone call, and I’m like, ‘This is my doctor, I need to take it,'” she said. “And that’s what she told me, that I indeed have inflammatory breast cancer. And it’s stage 3C. I broke down, and I started to cry.”

Even now, the tears flow fresh.

“It happened so fast. I found the lump in July,” she said. “By the middle of September, my tumor had grown to the size of a very angry apple. It was heavy. It was so painful. And it really was an aggressive form of cancer.”

Over the weeks and months that followed, Maya says dance kept her on her toes – through several major surgeries and radiation. She even wore a chemotherapy pack on her hip. And still, she kept dancing.

“It was what I needed,” she said. “It forced me to get up out of bed. It forced me to take a shower, make myself look presentable. To keep going.”

Even when she was too weak to walk, she wanted to dance – especially with husband Cody by her side. Still, when asked how she was doing?

“So, a lot of the time it’s ‘I’m fine. I’m fine today,” she said.

And yet, Maya admits that often she was just putting on that brave face.

“I didn’t want to put the burden on them,” she said. “And it’s an everyday thing. Is it going to come back? I’m in pain. I don’t feel well, but you still have to just push through, and people who don’t have cancer don’t understand.”

There is a place, though, where she and other cancer patients can shed the brave face.

“No one should have to go through cancer alone,” said Mirchelle Louis, CEO of Cancer Support Community North Texas (CSCNT).

The nonprofit has been supporting cancer patients and their families for decades – at no cost.

“And what cancer support community does is we look at the whole person and say, ‘What do you want to do? Here’s what we can offer you,'” Louis said. “We can offer you support groups, individual counseling, an art class, a nutrition class, something that’s going to put you in the position to walk out the door and say, ‘Hey, I did something today.’ And this one: ‘I actually feel better today.’ So that’s who we are. That’s what we do.”

And now they’re celebrating the grand opening of a new 5,600‑square‑foot clubhouse space – complete with the iconic red door – to support those services. There’s even a space for kids.

“The pressing need for cancer support is only increasing,” said Louis, “and we’re here to meet that need.”

Maya says the center has been critical in her ongoing recovery. And she’s calling on the community to continue to work to increase education, awareness, and support.

“Without the center, I don’t know how I would have been able to get where I’m at,” said Maya. “I know that it’s going to continue to improve, and ultimately there’s going to be a time when I can go, like, I’m really okay!”

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.