Month: May 2026

By Lauren Pozen

Click here for updates on this story

    SANTA CLARITA, California (KCAL, KCBS) — A Southern California family is turning their tragedy into a warning after their beloved dog ate a death cap mushroom during a simple walk in the park.

“Bogie was the sweetest dog ever,” owner Chloe Julian said. “We got him when he was 9 weeks old. We basically raised him, and he brought so much joy into all of our lives.

Julian said her 1-year-old golden retriever, Bogie, was staying with family while she and her fiancé were out of town. She said during a walk at Valencia Summit Park, her family saw him eat something.

“She noticed, but by that point, he already ate the mushroom,” Julian said. “They went home, put him to bed like normal in his crate. Then, the next morning, when they woke up, they realized that he threw up everywhere, all over his crate.”

The family rushed Bogie to the emergency veterinarian for IV fluids and medication. Overnight, she said his condition worsened. Julian and her fiancé rushed home to be with him.

“We could just tell, the minute we got there, that he was not OK,” Julian said.

They faced a major problem. They still had no idea what kind of mushroom Bogie ate.

Julian and her fiancé said they went back to the emergency vet and uploaded a picture of the mushroom to a poison control group while they waited. It was so serious that a specialist from Rhode Island saw the post and called Bogie’s vet to help.

“It was a death cap mushroom,” Julian said. “I’ll never forget one of the tests he had was his blood mixed with something. It showed how yellow his liver was. And, at that point, they’re like he’s going into liver failure.

Death cap mushrooms are highly toxic to both humans and pets. Expert Bob Cummings said the fungi have become increasingly more common.

“This toxin goes to those vital organs and literally shuts them down by shutting down its genetic machinery,” Cummings said. “They cannot do anything. It’s almost like someone takes your liver out.”

Julian said Bogie was in a lot of pain, and they didn’t have many options left.

“We told him how much we loved him, and then when we brought him back in, that’s when we had to make the decision to take him to doggy heaven,” Julian said.

Experts said people should leave death cap mushrooms alone if they encounter them on a walk.

“I want this story to save at least one animal,” Julian said. “We don’t have our baby anymore. But, I hope that his story will save someone else’s.”

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 Brian Maass

Click here for updates on this story

    DENVER, Colorado (KCNC) — A Denver County Court judge on Friday sentenced a vocal police critic to 60 days in jail and two years of probation, saying he needed to send a message that would deter her and her YouTube followers from future doxing of law enforcement.

“The court finds the defendant has no respect for the law,” said Judge Isaam Shamsid-Deen, adding that Regan Benson, 53, had shown no accountability for her actions.

The case stems from a September 3, 2025, livestream Benson conducted outside a Denver Police station. An advocate for the homeless and a persistent critic of law enforcement, Benson has livestreamed hundreds of times and has roughly 24,000 followers on YouTube. During the broadcast, she solicited her followers to search for the home address of a Denver police commander. When followers found it and relayed it back to her, Benson read the address aloud on the stream and suggested there should be a “pig roast” at his home.

Benson maintained the remark was “a joke, hyperbole” with no malicious intent and no direct threat.

A week after the livestream, Denver police obtained a warrant for Benson’s arrest on a charge of posting personal information of a protected person online, a Class 1 misdemeanor. The case appears to be the first prosecution in Colorado under the state’s anti-doxing statute. The officer whose address was publicly broadcast said he feared for his safety and that of his family.

A jury convicted Benson of the charge in March. She was sentenced on Friday afternoon.

In handing down the sentence, Shamsid-Deen pointed to Benson’s conduct after the verdict. Immediately following her conviction, she livestreamed again, calling the jury “stupid,” declaring the judge biased, and reiterating her contempt for the criminal justice system. The judge said Benson “purposely and willfully disrespects the law” and that the sentence was necessary to deter her and her followers from similar conduct.

The sentencing itself hit a procedural snag. Shamsid-Deen initially sought to impose a 90-day jail term, but prosecutor Jonah Karls informed him that the sentence exceeded his legal authority, something the judge appeared unaware of. Shamsid-Deen then reduced the sentence to 60 days. He also denied a defense request to delay Benson’s jailing until early next week, ordering her taken into custody immediately.

Benson’s attorney, Jamie Hubbard, said the prosecution was both legally flawed and politically troubling.

“I feel very strongly now is not the time for the Denver District Attorney to be targeting people like Regan Benson who hold our law enforcement officers accountable,” said Hubbard.

She argued that posting the officer’s home address did not constitute an imminent threat and therefore did not violate the law. She also called Colorado’s anti-doxing statute unconstitutional, saying Benson was exercising her First Amendment rights during the livestream. Benson will appeal, Hubbard said.

Hubbard drew a pointed comparison between the Benson case and the federal prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, who was indicted over a May 2025 Instagram post showing seashells arranged to spell “8647,” a photo Trump supporters interpreted as a threat against the 47th president.

“It is offensive to me and scary that our prosecutors in Denver are doing the same thing the Department of Justice is doing under this administration,” Hubbard said.

Denver District Attorney John Walsh pushed back in a written statement after the sentencing.

“I have always, and always will, vigorously support all Coloradans’ First Amendment expression. But in this case, as a jury of Denverites found beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant’s conduct clearly stepped across the line,” Walsh said.

Benson may not remain jailed for long. The judge allowed her to post a $3,000 bond, which would allow her to remain free while her appeal proceeds. Her husband, Bo Benson, said Friday he hoped to post the bond that evening and expected his wife to be released shortly after.

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 Chris Hoffman

Click here for updates on this story

    BETHAL PARK, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A Bethel Park teacher is thriving after the scare of a lifetime. Doctors found a tumor on her brain, but it never stopped her from doing what she loves. Now five years later, she never takes a day for granted.

Inside K.D. Meucci’s class at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in Bethel Park, and you’ll find high-energy education.

“These kids are amazing. Just fill my heart with such love,” Meucci said.

Meucci tries to instill a sense of strength and belief in each child, letting them know they can get through challenges and hard times.

“She just makes us believe in ourselves,” student Cal Cuadros said.

“Everybody wants her,” student Anisa Gorman said.

They’re lessons Meucci used to get through some of life’s hardest challenges. In the fall of 2021, she got COVID and recovered, but still felt off.

“I just thought I had COVID. We’re in a COVID school year, which is really hard for everyone,” Meucci said.

Meucci started seeing bright lights and feeling faint. She went to a hospital and after scans, she learned there was a tumor on her brain. AHN neurosurgeon Dr. Matthew Shepard scheduled surgery for her six days later. For Meucci, it was a hard time of fearing the worst and having conversations with family about if it didn’t go well. Her children were 6 and 4 at the time.

“If I don’t make it, take care of my kids. Make sure my daughter has a prom dress and all the things moms take care of,” she said.

When she went in for the six-hour operation, Dr. Shepard saw the cards from students all around her and it hit him right in the feels, when usually he’s laser-focused.

“That moment struck me with, look, we are not just operating on a tumor. We are operating on more than an individual and her family. We are operating on the community,” Dr. Shepard said.

The surgery was a success. The tumor was benign and had meningioma. Those are slow growing tumors that give symptoms of headaches that won’t go away, seizures, and neurological issues. Dr. Shepard said only one percent of people will get these, and unfortunately, there’s no real explanation why.

For Meucci, this didn’t slow her down. Since 2019, she would read bedtime stories to students once a week on Facebook Live. The day after the surgery was that day, and she didn’t hesitate to keep it going from her hospital bed.

“I’m so swollen. I’m black and blue. I’ve got this hat on my head because I had brain surgery,” Meucci said about the video she recorded that night.

“She probably goes down as one of the most motivated individual patients I’ve had since I started practicing neurosurgery,” Dr. Shepard said.

Within three months, Meucci was back in the classroom. Dr. Shepard is now forever part of her family, and to that point, she has his face on earrings.

“I really do look at him like you are my hero. Without him, I don’t want to think about where I could be,” Meucci said.

Almost five years later, Meucci still goes back for MRIs to make sure everything is good. Right now, she is in a better spot physically and mentally. She is happier now than she was before.

“We just don’t know what life is going to throw at us. We really need to seize the moment, live in the moment and be as happy as we can be,” Meucci said.

That includes seeing the meaning of the family we’re born with and the family we make along the way.

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 Alexa Herrera

Click here for updates on this story

    NEW YORK CITY, New York (WCBS) — A New York City man will be sentenced Friday after he pleaded guilty to making explosives, storing them on apartment building rooftops and throwing at least one onto subway tracks.

Michael Gann was charged in June 2025 when prosecutors said he made six devices and set one of them off near the East River and the FDR Drive.

He tried to get rid of the rest by hurling them into the river from the Manhattan side of the Williamsburg Bridge. Two of them landed in the water, and one landed on train tracks. Authorities said they found one in Gann’s bag and another in his pocket.

The indictment said he stored the explosives on the rooftops of SoHo apartments. Investigators said they found 30 grams of explosive powder on top of the buildings.

Gann learned how to make explosives online Gann told law enforcement he was trying to make pyrotechnics and learned how to do it using the internet.

Investigators said before he was arrested, he searched for “3D gun printing,” “clorine bomb [cq],” and “firework chemical equation.”

He also told law enforcement he used artificial intelligence to learn which chemicals to use and mix.

A month before the incident, he ordered pounds of chemicals, dozens of cardboard tubes and 50 feet worth of fuses.

“Very damaging, even deadly” Rebecca Weiner, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, previously said these devices are highly dangerous.

“Even a relatively small-looking device — in this case 600 times the explosive power of a firework — in close proximity of a subway car can be very damaging, even deadly,” she said.

Gann faced a host of federal charges, including attempted destruction of property by explosives and transporting explosive materials. The charges carry a maximum potential sentence of 40 years in prison.

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 Carlin

Click here for updates on this story

    NEW YORK, New York (WCBS) — “The Pitt” star Isa Briones is bringing heightened pride and Filipino presence to both stage and screen.

While on break from filming the hit HBO medical drama, she’s playing the great Connie Francis in the Broadway musical “Just In Time,” about the life and music of Bobby Darin.

Filipino representation on stage The TV star was born to be on stage.

She toured with “Hamilton” at age 19, and later made her Broadway debut in “Hadestown” in 2024, where she performed alongside her father, Jon Jon Briones, who had famously triumphed on Broadway in the revival of “Miss Saigon.”

“For me, watching my dad go through this business, it was not easy being a Filipino man,” Isa Briones said. “If my dad got cast, he was cast as the Chinese guy, as the Vietnamese drug lord … Watching him never give up on that, I was like, this doesn’t have to keep happening.”

She added, “Now we get to see so many more stories actually told by Filipinos about Filipinos.”

Isa Briones’ final performance in “Just In Time” is May 29.

“I’m showing you all of who I am” On screen, Isa Briones plays Dr. Trinity Santos on “The Pitt,” helping spotlight Filipino contributions to America’s healthcare system.

“It just meant a lot to me to represent part of who I am and get to show, like, oh, there’s also not just Filipino nurses, there’s also Filipino doctors, there’s an array,” she said.

She added, “I’m showing you all of who I am, and it’s good.”

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.