Month: June 2026

By Aziza Shuler

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    MANHATTAN, New York (WCBS) — The parents of the teen killed in the horse carriage crash in Central Park are remembering their son as rides resume a week after the tragedy.

Romanch Mahajan was fatally injured after the horse pulling his carriage bolted, collided with another carriage and toppled over on June 16.

He and his family were in New York City to celebrate his high school graduation. Family members said the 18-year-old was preparing for college and dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur. He was described as a young man who always put others first.

Mahajan’s mother was in tears during an exclusive interview with Inside Edition. It was hard for her to speak about the unimaginable loss.

“She’s shattered. Her family is shattered,” Mahajan’s father said.

He said horse carriage rides should be shut down after what happened.

“Rather than banning it permanently, you’re resuming it. It’s a shame for us. It’s a shame for everyone. For humanity, it is a shame,” he said.

The accident has forced a hard look at safety, with drivers spending four days reviewing procedures.

Christina Hansen, a representative of TWU Local 100, said Mahajan’s death devastated the industry. She said passengers should never be left in a carriage without a driver holding the reins.

But the union says the safety conversation shouldn’t end with horse carriages.

“If you ask New Yorkers who actually come to the park, everybody will tell you that the carriage drives are unsafe because of e-vehicles, speeding delivery bikes, anything but the horses,” she said. “It’s the horses who actually slow down the traffic in the park, which should not be fast. But it looks like a motor speedway.”

The union said it’s pushing the city to add more hitching posts throughout the park so horses can be securely tethered when drivers need to step 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 Alexa Herrera, Ali Bauman, Marcia Kramer

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    New York, NY (WCBS) — Three separate search warrants were carried out Wednesday as part of a joint NYPD and FBI probe into alleged corruption within the police department, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The raids are part of an ongoing bribery investigation involving current and former members of the NYPD.

The searches stemmed from an investigation into the conduct of former NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, a source told CBS News.

The probe, involving the department’s Internal Affairs Division, is part of an effort by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to root out corruption in the agency.

Sources said former NYPD Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard and Manhattan South Bureau Commanding Officer James McCarthy are being investigated on bribery charges.

Searches were executed at both of their residences.

Chopper 2 showed FBI agents at Sheppard’s home around 8:30 a.m. Tisch removed McCarthy, took away his gun and assigned him to desk duty. He has been replaced by Assistant Chief Melissa Eger, according to police sources.

Search warrants were also executed on Maddrey’s home. Sources said he allegedly received favors in exchange for transfers, assignments and promotions he approved.

Maddrey resigned from the NYPD in 2024 after a subordinate accused him of coercing her into sex.

Tisch released a statement Wednesday about the investigation:

“This morning, members of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the FBI executed search warrants as part of a criminal investigation being pursued by the NYPD, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The investigation is ongoing and concerns conduct by former and current members of the NYPD.

“When I became Police Commissioner, I promised New Yorkers that under my leadership the NYPD would conduct itself with integrity and that there would be a thorough investigation of any claim that members of service failed to meet that standard.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke about the investigation during a news conference.

“Any corruption would amount to a serious violation of the responsibility within the NYPD and a breach in public trust,” he said. “Commissioner Tisch has already shown a real commitment to cracking down on corruption and ensuring that the public servants in the NYPD are held to higher standards.”

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 Lorien Nettleton

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    TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KIVI) — Thirty-one people, shackled and being loaded onto an airplane — that’s what I witnessed at Magic Valley Airport in Twin Falls.

A concerned citizens group gathers at the airport twice a week to witness ICE detainee transfers, raising concerns that detainees are being deported without due process.

Shelly McDaniel has shown up at the Twin Falls airport every Tuesday and Thursday for the last five weeks to watch federal immigration detainees being loaded onto charter flights.

“And so far I’ve been out here since May 12, and as of June 16, I’ve counted 172 people,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel is one of a handful of individuals who have concerns that detainees are being denied due process.

“That’s my concern, that they’re people that are in my community that are being taken, and you know I don’t see them with criminal records, you know I don’t see that sort of thing going on,” McDaniel said.

It is important to note that ICE detainees typically bypass local courts, facing federal immigration judges unless they also have pending state or local criminal charges.

McDaniel says by watching these detainees board chartered flights, she is hopeful that the information could potentially be helpful to immigration lawyers.

According to the watchdog group Human Rights First, domestic transfer flights, also known as shuffle flights, almost doubled in 2026 compared to the year prior. The organization also says smaller regional airports like Twin Falls started being used in May.

Twin Falls spokesman Josh Palmer says the city is not apprised of how ICE uses Magic Valley Airport. He says ICE is a contractor in the same way the BLM or FedEx has used contracts at Joslin Field.

“Those are federal grants that we receive,” Palmer said. “By receiving those, we can’t discriminate against aircraft if it lands at our airport, including ICE aircraft.”

Palmer also said the city is not financially supporting ICE activities.

“But there’s no tax dollars that come from the local tax base that go towards that. In fact, very little of our tax base goes to the airport at all,” Palmer said.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KIVI 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 James Taylor, CBS13 Photojournalist

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KOVR) — Parents are getting a chance to check out a new way to control their kids’ driving without even being in the car.

Elias Van Ekelenburg, with the nonprofit Safety Center in Sacramento, is allowing parents and their teens to try out a GPS technology called Intelligent Speed Assistance.

It’s a device that connects to a car and prevents drivers from going over the posted speed limit.

“It basically measures what the speed limit is on a particular road,” Van Ekelenburg said. “It continually updates and connects directly to your gas pedal.”

Van Ekelenburg said it’s an extra way to keep young drivers safe as they’re getting experience behind the wheel, noting that”with teen drivers, we see a much higher rate of speeding.”

Driving too fast is one of the leading causes of fatal crashes in California. The California Highway Patrol says it was a factor in last month’s deadly crash in Sacramento County along Scott Road where a 16-year-old driver and her 14-year-old passenger were killed.

“Regardless of what other poor decisions were made that night, if that vehicle had been held to a safe speed limit, those girls probably would have survived that crash,” said Michael Travars, president of LifeSafer, one of the companies that manufactures the technology.

“In general, it costs around $120 to $250 a month to put in your car,” Travars said. “We think of them as training wheels. As soon as your child knows how to drive safely, as soon as they’ve learned not to speed, take it back out of your car and return the car to normal.”

State legislators have also discussed making the technology mandatory for all drivers who have been found guilty of multiple high-risk speeding violations.

The Safety Center will be holding another free demonstration for parents and teens next month.

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 Austin Turner, Chelsea Hylton, Dean Fioresi, Matthew Rodriguez, Iris Salem, Tina Patel

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    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — Los Angeles Fire Department officials say the warehouse fire in Boyle Heights that sparked major concerns about air quality in the area should be extinguished in the near future.

While speaking to CBS LA on Tuesday morning, LAFD Captain Jacob Raabe said he expects the blaze to be put out “very shortly” as crews have made “significant progress” on the fire, which started last Wednesday afternoon at the 500,000-square-foot Lineage Big Bear cold storage facility at 1400 S. Los Palos Street.

“We are very confident in the LAFD,” Raabe said. “We are going on day seven now, and we have a limited amount of smoke left from the remaining hot spots, and we hope to get all the remaining fire put out, stop the smoke and get everyone returning to normal.”

Raabe didn’t elaborate on whether that meant the fire could be extinguished Tuesday, Wednesday or another day, but added that air quality in East Los Angeles is currently dependent on weather patterns and could change throughout the days ahead. Crews are working to diminish the smoke as soon as possible, he said.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Particle Pollution Advisory will remain in effect until at least 12:30 p.m. Wednesday for parts of LA County. No shelter-in-place orders were in effect, but officials recommended that those in affected areas limit their exposure to the outside air and to consider wearing an N95 mask.

Raabe told CBS LA that the LAFD’s strategy remained to break down the facility’s exterior walls and attack the blaze from the outside. Aerial footage Tuesday morning showed smoke plumes coming from the roof of the building as crews still worked to pour water on top.

During a news conference over the weekend, LAFD Chief Jaime Moore said the building’s configuration made the firefight a challenge.

“The best way to describe this is like a giant cooler,” Moore said on Saturday, adding that the structure was built with corrugated steel walls filled with dense foam insulation and reinforced interior steel panels.

The building also used ammonia in its refrigeration system to maintain extremely low temperatures for frozen food storage, which may have fueled the fire on its initial day of burning.

“Imagine your refrigerator having a fire. And so, you have the shell of the outside and the shell on the inside,” Moore said during a news conference on Saturday afternoon. “What protects everything from the weather, or whatever the temperature is on the outside, is the rubber. … If you can imagine, that’s exactly what’s happening here.”

Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday declared a state of emergency in Boyle Heights, enabling state resources to be used.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ratified a local emergency proclamation as well to expand community support, environmental monitoring and business recovery assistance. The emergency proclamation was declared by Supervisor Hilda Solis, who said that thousands of air purifiers and masks have been distributed to residents impacted by fire and smoke.

Residents have been voicing their concerns about the potential long-term environmental and health impacts caused by the large blaze.

“It makes me feel like, because we’re in the area we are in, and we’re lower class, that there’s just no help for us,” one Boyle Heights resident said.

AQMD officials said that after the fire’s reignition on Friday night, sensors showed that PM2.5 levels were unhealthy. They also said that “very unhealthy conditions” were measured throughout Boyle Heights on Sunday.

Lineage, the building’s tenant and operator, released a statement indicating that the fire may have originated from work being performed by a third-party contractor handling solar panels on the roof.

“Lineage is the tenant-operator of this building,” the company said in a statement. “At this time, we believe the fire began while testing was being conducted by contractors of the third-party owner of the solar array located on the facility’s roof. This facility is not used for the storage of hazardous materials. It primarily serves as a temperature-controlled storage facility for frozen food before it makes its way to Greater Los Angeles area communities and beyond. Our understanding from LAFD and AQMD is that there have been no measurable ammonia concentrations recorded in the community since the fire started. Additionally, Lineage has proactively taken additional steps to pump out the ammonia and transport it offsite, removing the possibility of ammonia posing a risk to the community. This facility and the supply chain it connects with employ hundreds of local jobs. We are grateful that no team members at the facility were harmed.”

On Monday, Lineage told CBS LA that the building is owned by Chill Build Los Angeles I, LLC, and that the solar array on the building is owned by Los Palos Street Operating, LLC, which is a subsidiary of Altus Power. The building’s solar contractor is Pearce, which is a subsidiary of CBRE.

Pearce said it is cooperating with LAFD and other agencies. They stated that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Lineage shared an updated statement on Monday afternoon to state that they are providing air purifiers and masks to community members affected by the incident, and that they would do so as long as needed. They also said that they have brought in food trucks to provide approximately 1,000 meals to Boyle Heights residents and firefighters.

“We want to be transparent with the community about what is stored in this building. This building is used to store food — meat, bread and other foods you would find at a grocery store — not hazardous materials,” the statement said, in part. “As we remain committed to doing everything we can to help firefighters and the community, we want to be clear that this fire was not caused by our operations or our team. Lineage is the tenant-operator of the building, not the owner. We believe the fire started on the roof when the owner of the solar array, Altus Power, was doing tests. The solar array does not power the building directly but provides power into the city power grid. As we step up for the community, we are also urging Altus to join us getting the Boyle Heights community the support they desperately need.”

In a statement, Altus said the cause of the fire was yet to be determined.

“”Our first concern is for the residents of Boyle Heights, everyone affected by this fire, and for the firefighters working to contain it. The cause of the fire where our rooftop solar array is located at the Los Palos Street facility has yet to be determined,” the statement said. “We are cooperating fully with the authorities as they investigate.”

Residents who notice unusual odors, smoke, dust, or other air quality concerns are urged to report them to the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Complaints can be submitted by calling 1-800-CUT-SMOG (1-800-288-7664), or by using the agency’s online complaint system to report air contaminants both indoors and outdoors. To view current air quality, download the South Coast AQMD app or visit aqmd.gov/AQImap.

Los Angeles County Public Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis spoke at Monday’s news conference and urged residents to stay indoors and to wear a mask if they must go outside.

“If you go out and it bothers you, go back inside,” Davis said. “If you have to go out, put on a mask in order to reduce your risk of exposure to whatever is in the air, in terms of these particles.”

He also urged residents to follow AQMD’s advisories because conditions may rapidly change.

“People should continue to follow AQMD’s advisories,” Davis said. “As we’ve seen over the course of this time, they’ve changed. Right now, in some areas that were unhealthy yesterday, they’re good, or they’re moderate. In other areas, they’re still very unhealthy. You really have to pay attention to where you are.”

Officials have warned residents that although they may continue to see smoke for the next couple of days, there are no current evacuation or shelter-in-place orders issued in the area. Residents have been advised that the smoke may be irritating, especially for groups who are sensitive to air quality.

Mayor Karen Bass said her chief concern was for the public’s safety and health.

“We’re not concerned in terms of the fire spreading or anything like that. But we are concerned about the biohazard smoke. No smoke is good, but especially the smoke that could be toxic because of the chemicals that were needed to keep the food frozen in the facility,” Bass said.

Two shelters have been established for residents who have been affected by the fire. One of the locations is at Pecan Recreation Center, which is located at 145 S. Pecan Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033 and the second is at City Terrace Park, which is located at 1126 N. Hazard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90063.

On Tuesday, the The Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA was opened as an emergency shelter and mask distribution location as well.

During Monday’s news conference, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado spoke about a series of steps that she had taken to fight for residents living in the impacted areas.

“Unbelievably, this fire has been burning since last Wednesday, and I want to be very clear that this crisis is not over,” Jurado said. “While the emergency response continues, we cannot lose sight of what residents are experiencing.”

She said that her office has helped distribute thousands of masks and air purifiers and connect residents with smoke relief resources.

“We still need answers. … We still do not have clear enough information about what burned and what may still be burning and what is in the air and what is in the ash and what risks remain,” Jurado said. “They deserve the basic right to know what is in the air. … They’re just asking to know what the risks are so they can make the right decisions for their families and for their own health.”

She demanded that testing results from AQMD be released in plain language in both English and Spanish. Additionally she said that she had a planned set of legislation to propose during City Council meetings this week, which are all focused on answers, accountability and immediate relief.

Monday was the first day of summer school for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Citing air quality concerns, the LAUSD has relocated students in the Boyle Heights area to different campuses through Wednesday.

Dean Elementary and Dacotah Early Education Center students will be moved to Sunrise Elementary at 2821 E. 7th St., Los Angeles, 90023.

Eastman Early Education Center will relocate to Humphreys Elementary at 500 S. Humphreys Ave., Los Angeles, 90022.

Stevenson Middle School students will report to Belvedere Middle School at 312 N. Record Ave., Los Angeles, 90063

“At all surrounding sites, all activities will take place indoors to support the health and safety of students and staff,” the district said. “We will continue to closely monitor conditions and work with Los Angeles Unified Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Air Quality Management District (AQMD), and public safety partners.”

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 Conor McGill

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KOVR) — A resurgence in VHS tapes and physical media is breathing new life into a format many thought was gone for good.

One Sacramento business owner has already turned that renewed interest into a thriving video store, while others hope to follow in his footsteps.

With the flip of a light switch and the familiar clunk of a VHS tape sliding into a VCR, memories come rushing back for many collectors and movie lovers.

“I would always be renting the same movies over and over,” said Tony Swan, owner of My Cat’s VHS. “Most of the time it would be wrestling, sometimes it would be comedies or animated movies.”

For Swan, those childhood memories never faded. After spending nearly a decade selling VHS tapes online, he recently opened My Cat’s VHS, Sacramento’s first new video store in years.

The shop is located at 2011 P St., Suite 10, in Sacramento.

What started as a personal collection has grown into a successful business.

“February I got to 1,000 sales, and now I’m at 4,700 sold,” Swan said.

The growth is being driven in part by Millennials and Gen Z consumers who have grown weary of streaming services and digital-only entertainment.

“A lot of people are getting back into physical media again, so it’s very exciting that we have this store here,” said VHS collector Alexia Helenske-Oakes. “I’ve been here probably once a week since it opened, if not more.”

Swan isn’t the only one noticing the demand.

Across town, Chris Emery and Jefferson Miller are working to launch their own shop, called Very Good Video Store. Inside a garage packed with VHS tapes and other media, the pair is building the inventory they hope will fill store shelves when they open later this year.

“It’s just something we’ve been missing,” Miller said. “We’ve noticed online tons of people are saying, ‘I wish there was still a video store in my area,’ so we decided, let’s do it.”

The duo plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign soon to help get the business off the ground and bring the store to life.

“I think some of the people we talk to have been a little shocked by the idea of having something that went away, that you could say was extinct,” Emery said.

In an era where thousands of movies are available with a click, many collectors still enjoy the experience of browsing shelves and discovering titles in person.

“I grew up with VHS, so it’s just part of my childhood,” Helenske-Oakes said. “I think it’s a nostalgia thing.”

For Swan, the appeal goes beyond nostalgia.

“It’s a format that brings warmth and comfort,” he said.

For a growing number of collectors across Sacramento, that comfort is worth hitting the play button again.

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 Zach Rainey

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    SPARTANBURG, South Carolina (WYFF) — Police were called to a bank in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Tuesday after an SUV crashed into the building.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 23, officers with the Spartanburg Police Department along with personnel with the Spartanburg Fire Department were called after a vehicle crashed into the Bank of America at 1535 John B. White Sr. Blvd.

When first responders arrived, they found a blue 2018 Subaru 4-door SUV partially inside the bank near the drive-thru area.

According to police, the driver said that she was at the ATM when she mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake pedal. The vehicle then accelerated into the bank building.

Officers said the collision did not result in any major injuries; however, the building did sustain major damage.

We are told that the driver was not cited but was determined to be “at fault” for the collision.

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 Sarah Horbacewicz

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    COLORADO (KCNC) — On Monday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Denver District Attorney John Walsh announced a new grand jury indictment of 11 defendants on 52 counts for carrying out a motor vehicle theft ring between July 2024 and January 2025. The ring is alleged to have targeted vehicles at and around small municipal airports across the Front Range.

In 2024, Colorado local Tyler Fox parked his truck at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport before leaving town. Shortly after departing, he got an odd alert on his phone.

“I was on a business trip to Arizona,” Fox said, “I got a notification on my phone that my vehicle alarm was going off. I thought that’s odd,” Fox said.

Concerned, Fox said he called the police to check on his vehicle. At some point, Fox said someone had drilled a hole into his truck.

“I got a call about an hour later, from a detective saying, ‘Yes, your truck has been broken into. They haven’t taken anything, but we’ve been tracking these guys for a while, and we’re about 95% sure they’re gonna come back and steal it,'” Fox said.

According to a newly released grand jury indictment, someone eventually did steal the truck.

Fox said he agreed to leave the vehicle at the airport and allowed police to track the vehicle, helping investigators with the CATPA Metropolitan Auto Theft Task Force find suspects connected to the larger theft operation.

CATPA Metropolitan Auto Theft Task Force commander John Pickard said, “What was happening is that people would go park their vehicle, go on a trip, and have no idea that their vehicle was stolen, and so those vehicles, they’re stolen, but they have not been reported yet, so they won’t hit on any license plate reader camera.”

The indictment alleges the group targeted municipal airport parking lots, hotels, businesses, and homes. Investigators say some of the stolen vehicles were allegedly sold to cartels in Mexico.

Pickard says he believes this ring was connected to, or grew out of, a vehicle theft ring that operated around Denver International Airport in 2022.

“We’ve cut the head off of this particular snake, but another one’s going to grow, because now we’ve created this void,” Pickard said, “We’re bringing it down, we’re making good impact, but there’s still a lot of work to be done,” the investigator added.

In a statement to CBS Colorado, RMMA said, “When Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport staff became aware of vehicle thefts occurring on airport property, the incidents were promptly reported to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. Airport Operations increased overnight patrols and worked closely with the Sheriff’s Office to support investigative efforts and monitor for any additional criminal activity.”

Fox said he recovered his truck a few weeks after it was stolen and that his insurance company covered the repairs.

And while he may Uber a bit more often now, Fox says he still parks at the airport.

“Hearing that some of these guys have been arrested, so I’d like to think I played a part in that,” Fox said, “I parked my truck… this same truck that was stolen, I parked it at DIA, because I did feel a little bit better.”

Pickard recommends travelers take extra precautions when leaving vehicles in long-term parking lots, including using a steering wheel lock, never leaving keys inside a vehicle, and reporting suspicious activity to police.

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.