Month: May 2026

By Luke Lukert

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    WASHINGTON, D.C. (WTOP) — Move over bald eagle — another American symbol is taking center stage at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in D.C. A new exhibit, “Bison: Standing Strong,” explores the origins of the American bison, their near extinction and their comeback.

A large taxidermized bison greets visitors as they enter the exhibit, standing on ground that may have once been part of the animals’ historic range.

“There were bison all the way to the Potomac,” said Siobhan Starrs, a senior exhibition developer at the museum. “There were bison in New England, bison in Georgia, South Carolina, all the way down to Florida on the Panhandle. Bison really shaped this country in a profound way.”

Kirk Johnson, Sant Director at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, said even George Washington is believed to have shot a buffalo in the 1770s in what is now West Virginia.

Bison are the national mammal of the United States, and Starrs said their presence still shows up across American culture.

“Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, even here in D.C., there are two universities with bison as their logo, both Howard University and Gallaudet. They’re on our postage stamps. They’re on our currency. Even the ‘America 250’ stamp this year will be a bison stamp,” Starrs said.

Hundreds of years ago, bison populations reached as many as an estimated 35 to 45 million animals roaming across much of North America. Starrs said their migratory patterns helped shape the land.

“They literally shaped the land that we now walk on today,” she said.

The exhibit also looks further back, spotlighting Bison latifrons, an ancient ancestor that lived alongside woolly mammoths and saber‑toothed cats. A fossil on display shows horns stretching nearly six feet across. Starrs said the animal stood about eight feet tall, roughly two feet taller than modern bison.

A central section of the exhibit details the bison’s rapid decline in the 19th century, including a towering image of piled buffalo skulls in Michigan from the late 1800s.

“That image shows the scale of devastation,” Starrs said, adding that the population “in the many millions (fell) all the way down to less than 1,000.”

She said westward expansion, railroad development, commercial hunting and government policies aimed at displacing Native Americans pushed the animals to the brink.

“And then, this amazing moment happened between 1885 and 1905: people realized, ‘wait a minute, we got to do something here. We can’t let the bison go extinct.’ And thus begins the story of the bison conservation and bison recovery.”

Today, bison are found in every U.S. state, including Hawaii, with a population of about 500,000. Most live in managed herds, though wild herds live in Yellowstone National Park, and parts of South Dakota and Wyoming.

The Smithsonian’s own history with bison is also featured in the exhibit. In the 1880s, Smithsonian taxidermist William Hornaday collected 22 bison for a groundbreaking diorama that later inspired the bison image on currency, stamps and the Interior Department seal.

In 1888, Hornaday opened up a diorama of a half dozen bison with Montana dirt and sagebrush on the National Mall, which Johnson called “his big magnum opus, if you will.”

That diorama remained in D.C. until 1957.

Johnson said the specimens led to the museum to some new discoveries about bison, and specifically about the bison that were collected in the 1880s.

“It gives us, actually a great genetic sample of what the bison were like when there were millions of them. Because now, all the bison that are alive today are the descendants of probably less than 100 or so animals that went through the bottleneck,” Johnson said.

Johnson said modern bison are from a “very small fraction of the genetic diversity that would have been present when there” when an estimated 40 million bison were on the plains.

“Bison: Standing Strong” is open now and runs through May 2029.

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 Shanice Hopkins

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    OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) — A man who helped shape Oklahoma’s civil rights history will be honored during a public memorial on Tuesday.

Richard Brown, who was the nephew of civil rights icon Clara Luper and one of the students who took part in the original Katz Drug Store sit-in, has died.

In 1958, Luper led 13 students, including her daughter and nephew, during the sit-in. Brown, who was 15 at the time, helped define the fight for equality in Oklahoma.

They staged a peaceful sit-in and protested racial inequalities. The protest became a pivotal moment in Oklahoma’s civil rights movement.

Brown’s legacy lives on at the Clara Luper National Sit-In Plaza. The newly completed monument honors the original sit-in participants.

Brown, who later became an educator, is survived by his wife and son. A public memorial to honor Brown’s life will be held starting at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the sit-in monument in downtown Oklahoma City.

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 Stephanie Moore

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    GASTONIA, North Carolina (WYFF) — One of the suspects wanted in a stolen motorcycle investigation was found hiding in the ceiling of a hospital in North Carolina, according to police.

The Gastonia Police Department said they got an alert just after noon on Sunday from a Flock camera about two stolen motorcycles spotted.

Officers said they spotted the motorcycles near the intersection of New Hope Road and East Franklin Boulevard and tried to pull them over.

Authorities said both riders took off and the motorcycles were found wrecked and abandoned at the dead end of Melvin Drive, just east of New Hope Road.

A Gastonia police K-9 was called to track the suspects.

During the search, one suspect was located and arrested nearby in the bushes. He is identified as Payton Beatty.

The K-9 tracked the other suspect to CaroMont Regional Medical Center.

After an extensive search, authorities said Christopher Adam Hooper, of Dallas, was found hiding in a drop-down ceiling of the hospital.

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 KCCI Web Staff

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    NEVADA, Iowa (KCCI) — A leg injury ended a Nevada High School senior’s track season, but not his music career.

Miles Engstrom, a soccer and track athlete, suffered the injury during a track meet on Thursday. Despite barely being able to move, he traded his track baton for drumsticks the next day.

Miles and his brother Frank make up the band “Pretty Uncommon,” which played its biggest gig yet Friday night at Nevada’s Pizza Pie Looza, opening for rock artists Diamante and Fuel.

The injury was to Miles’ left leg, leaving his right foot free for the kick drum and his two hands ready to rock out.

Miles said even right after the injury he told his dad the show must go on.

“He was like, ‘Do you think you’ll be able to play the show?’ and I was like, ‘I have to. I don’t really care how bad this is I need to’,” Miles said. “This could potentially, you know, kickstart a real career in music for the two of us.”

Miles graduates from high school on May 17 and told the Pizza Pie Looza crowd that the band plans to play a show that day, 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 Todd Magel

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    JOHNSTON, Iowa (KCCI) — A Dowling Catholic High School student rescued a woman from her burning home in Johnston Sunday night after spotting flames while playing golf at Hyperion Golf Club.

“We kind of were shocked. We yelled out, ‘There’s a fire!’ No one was really there. We didn’t know what was going on,” Marek Dessimoz, 17, said.

His mother, Agnieszka Pieta, described her reaction to the fire.

“I start screaming, help fire, help fire. But nobody was out,” she said.

Dessimoz and his father, Douglas Kaye, jumped over the tall golf course fence and ran to the house to help. Dessimoz reached the front door first.

“I started knocking on the windows, like, hitting as hard as I could and seeing if someone was there,” Dessimoz said.

He soon spotted the homeowner, a woman who lives alone.

“And then this lady, I see her inside and she runs over and opens the door and she’s shocked,” Dessimoz said.

Seconds later, a propane tank exploded, and the fire spread quickly from the deck to the roof. Thick black smoke poured into the house, and the homeowner tried to go back inside to retrieve her cat. Dessimoz and an Amazon delivery driver who stopped to help pulled her out of the house and away from danger.

“And I saw how big it got; it was spreading on the walls. I just did what I thought was right,” Dessimoz said.

Johnston Grimes fire Chief Percy Coleman commended Dessimoz’s actions.

“Getting her out in a timely manner was certainly key. And I think it’s safe to say, really saved her life here,” Coleman said.

Pieta expressed pride in her son.

“So for sure this makes me very proud of my son,” she said.

Reflecting on the incident, Dessimoz said, “It can go by so fast. Just a little flame can change everything about your house. So that was really nerve-wracking, for sure for me.”

Pieta now calls her son her hero.

“He is my superhero. Yes, my superhero and the best Mother’s Day gift you can give,” she said.

The Johnston Fire Department confirmed that the homeowner’s cat survived and was found in the basement. However, the house is a total loss, and the cause of the fire is 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.

By Ari Hait

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    MARTIN COUNTY, Florida (WPBF) — A traffic stop on I-95 northbound in Martin County early Saturday afternoon resulted in the arrest of a man and the discovery of 31,000 benzodiazepine pills, crystal meth and mushroom gummies, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

The stop occurred just south of the Martin Highway exit.

“Our deputy noticed that they were weaving in and out of traffic and pace clocked him, and ended up pulling him over for, I think, 80 in a 70,” Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said.

Deputies said the driver, identified as 36-year-old Zoltan Ganoczi from Hungary, did not have a driver’s license.

During a search of the vehicle, the deputy found crystal meth in the front and mushroom gummies in the back.

But the sheriff said that was just the beginning.

“The largest discovery was in the trunk of the vehicle, where he discovered 31,000 pills with different names, but basically all of them were benzodiazepine pills,” Budensiek said.

Benzodiazepines, commonly referred to as benzos, include drugs like Ambien and Valium, which are used as sedatives and muscle relaxers.

“If it’s taken appropriately, it can be a good thing. But in this case, if it’s taken off the street and mixed with other kinds of drugs, it can be deadly,” Budensiek said.

The pills were wrapped in legitimate post office packaging, but investigators doubt they were intended for mailing.

Ganoczi reportedly told investigators he picked up the pills in Miami and was delivering them to Volusia County.

The sheriff’s office is currently analyzing Ganoczi’s phone for more information.

“That may lead to who the exact source was, who the pills came from, and where he was taking them to. But we don’t know that at this point,” Budensiek said.

Budensiek also raised concerns about the potential rise of benzodiazepines as a new drug of choice in Florida.

“These drug dealers always step in that void, and it’s our job to constantly be there, heading it off and trying to make these arrests and sending the message we’re not going to tolerate it,” Budensiek said.

Ganoczi is currently facing a number of charges, including possession with intent to sell.

He’s being held without bond in the Martin County jail, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement is investigating his immigration status.

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By Kayla Morton

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    FEDERALSBURG, Maryland (WBAL) — A Caroline County farm owner is facing an estimated $500,000 loss after a chicken house fire on Sunday.

The Maryland State Fire Marshal said an electrical or mechanical failure in the tunnel fan of a chicken house in the 6600 block of Reliance Road in Federalsburg created a fire that quickly spread.

A release from the state fire marshal said 35,000 chickens died when the interior caught fire and the building was eventually leveled. The chickens, valued at $1 each, contributed $35,000 toward the estimated damages.

It took 60 Federalsburg Volunteer Fire Department firefighters more than one hour to get the fire under control, the release also 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.