Month: June 2026

By Todd Wilson

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    VENICE BEACH, California (WPTV) — Chad Caruso skateboarded more than 3,000 miles across America, pushing off from Venice Beach, California, on May 1 and rolling into Jacksonville, Florida, on June 8.

The journey took him through Joshua Tree, across Arizona, deep into the heart of Texas, and along Florida’s Panhandle — averaging 72 miles a day, skating up to 16 hours with no days off.

“I’d basically wake up and try to skate by 4:30 in the morning and finish by like seven at night. So, I would do 12 to 16 hours a day with no days off. … I think I averaged about 72 miles a day,” Caruso said.

The trip nearly never happened. Caruso tore his meniscus before the journey, underwent surgery and recovery, and then re-tore it just 2 months before his planned departure.

“Right before the trip, I tore my meniscus and had a cyst. Got surgery, did all the recovery, I was ready to do this trip, and then two months before the trip I re-tore it,” Caruso said.

The idea for the cross-country skate originated from an earlier, unrealized plan.

“It actually started with an idea of doing it across Italy, which is much thinner, and I ended up not doing it. And then the idea stuck in my head and I started researching. I saw no one had really done it for the Guinness record, and that’s what hooked me initially,” Caruso said.

Along the way, strangers offered food, water, and cash donations.

“People would just hand me water bottles, food, money, donations, a lot of the time they would hand it to me there. I mean in the hundreds,” Caruso said.

The trip also had at least one frightening moment.

“I was pushing into the dark, and out of nowhere, a dog gets spooked and runs across the highway, and like three feet in front of me. And just making eye contact with it, you know, I think I’m done for the day,” Caruso said.

Caruso described the mental challenge of the journey as relentless.

“So, the whole thing was just this constant facing of the hardest day of my life and barging into the unknown,” Caruso said.

He said the experience changed how he sees the country and the people in it.

“America taught me that everyone has a huge heart and wants to be nice and there for each other. If you come to a situation with a positive attitude or a smile, that’s most likely what you’ll get back,” Caruso said.

Caruso funded the entire adventure on his credit card.

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 Hannah McDonald

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    NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WTVF) — “It’s just hard. It’s very hard,” said Joannta Burnley.

Joannta’s husband, Marine veteran Maurice “Reese” Burnley, communicates by blinking.

“He’s saying yes when he blinks. That’s how he talks,” Burnley said.

Burnley served in the Marine Corps. A leg injury led to an infection and ultimately an amputation. Then in January 2022, he suffered a massive stroke that left him unable to move on his own or speak.

He is currently receiving hospice care. His VA disability benefits cover most of that cost.

Recently, the VA began withholding about $1,000 a month from his benefits to recover an overpayment. Joannta says the VA told them it overpaid him more than $81,000 in a lump-sum disability award. Those deductions have forced her to let go of a caregiver.

“It’s leaving me where I don’t have a lady that was coming three times a week at night,” Burnley said.

A VA press secretary said the overpayment appears to center around attorney payments. Before his stroke, Reese hired an attorney to fight the VA on a separate disability issue. He won that case, but the VA said it mistakenly paid money intended for their attorney directly to the Burnleys.

When I brought that explanation to Joannta, she pointed to a June 2025 email from the attorney indicating the attorney had already been paid.

After more than a year of trying to get clarification, and with deductions from her husband’s monthly benefits beginning this spring, Joannta reached out to NewsChannel 5 for help.

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 Zachary Hammack

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    Nebraska (Lincoln Journal Star) — A little brown bat captured in eastern Nebraska is one big discovery for researchers.

Last month, Nebraska Game and Parks biologists and University of Nebraska researchers confirmed the first sighting of a live little brown bat in eastern Nebraska since 2016.

On May 24, the rare cave-dwelling bat was captured in a mist net over Decker Creek at Platte River State Park in Cass County during a spring migration survey. Researchers believe the bat likely lives locally and did not migrate from another state.

The little brown bat, one of 13 known bat species in the state, is considered a Tier I species, a designation for the state’s most at-risk creatures that are vulnerable to extinction.

Brett Andersen, wildlife diversity program manager for Nebraska Game and Parks, said the little brown bat has always been rare in eastern Nebraska.

“In the Panhandle, we would catch 50 to 100 a night in some places, but in eastern Nebraska, I think I had only ever caught one since I started netting in 2014,” Anderson said in a Monday news release.

But cave bats have become increasingly difficult to find in Nebraska following the emergence of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that affects hibernating bats.

The disease, which has decimated bat populations across the eastern U.S., was first spotted in Nebraska in 2017 when a team of biologists discovered several dead bats during a survey of an inactive limestone mine in Cass County.

The disease doesn’t pose a threat to humans, pets or livestock, but is highly fatal in bats. Researchers believe “cave bats have all but disappeared in eastern Nebraska,” the release said.

Unlike its more common relative, the big brown bat, which lives in houses, barns and attics, little brown bats are more selective, according to Game and Parks. In the winter, they hibernate in hard-to-find caves and mines.

Andersen said the chances of catching the bats in mist nets — which are commonly used to capture small birds and other creatures for tagging purposes — are low. But researchers will continue to conduct cave and mine surveys.

Other efforts to track the bats include the Motus migration project, a global initiative that uses signals to track the movement of small flying animals.

The network has not detected the bat researchers tagged. Andersen said that’s likely because the bat has already moved out of the area and is roosting somewhere the signal can’t reach.

“Unfortunately, because we only know of a few mines in eastern Nebraska, it is difficult to determine whether there are any more (bats) left,” Andersen 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.

By Forrest Sanders

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    FAIRVIEW, Tennessee (WTVF) — It was a foggy morning on the Fairview High track that brought out a whole bunch of driven people. It was the Tennessee Senior Olympics.

The crew competing in one event just leapt out to me. There was newer athlete Sara Dutton.

“I was 71 when I did my first marathon!” she said.

There was in-it-to-win-it competitor Terry Coulter.

“What do I think about that?” Coulter laughed. “Well, yeah!”

Annette Fenech was motivated by her runner granddaughter.

“Is grandma a fast runner?” I asked Fenech’s granddaughter.

“Oh yeah! Lightning McQueen fast!”

Then, there was competitor Eleanor Pendergraft.

“I’m the only 90-year-old woman out here!” she laughed.

They were all the one-mile power walkers.

“You have to keep one foot on the ground at all times,” Coulter explained.

“You move your arms and your hips!” Dutton added.

What was striking about this group was the stories they shared.

Fenech has lived through back surgery. Coulter’s lived through knee surgery.

“That’s when I began a journey of strength training,” Coulter said. “I got into weight lifting, which led me into body building, body building competitions.”

Then, there’s Pendergraft’s story.

Pendergraft wasn’t always sure she she could do something like this. For a while, she was spending a lot of time in her apartment.

“I started falling and dropping things,” she remembered. “They finally determined I had MS. I gradually got worse and worse.”

It was getting hard for Pendergraft to move. She was told she couldn’t drive. Pendergraft joined a gym and got stronger.

“When a friend suggested I enter the Senior Olympics, I laughed at her,” Pendergraft remembered. “I said, ‘you’ve gotta be kidding. I haven’t been athletic my entire life!’ It was the best thing I’d ever done.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to start our competition!” a voice announced.

“Building new friendships, I’m a richer person for it,” Coulter said.

“Yeah, you get to meet people, hear their stories,” said Fenech.

“I can do it, so I do it!” Dutton laughed.

“It’s the friendships with all of these people, that’s the main thing,” said Pendergraft.

The power walking competition began. The group took off with Coulter in the lead. What’d I tell you? Coulter was in-it-to-win-it.

“I’ve trained so hard,” she said. “I’m telling myself, ‘Terry, you’ve worked hard. Just go do what you’ve been doing!'”

Pendergraft continued a strong stride around the track.

“When my doctor said my MS was getting worse, wasn’t getting better, it hit that stubborn streak,” Pendergraft said. “I determined he was wrong.”

Medals went out to all different age divisions with gold medalists for the one-mile power walk including Coulter, Dutton, and Pendergraft.

“Never done one before!” Dutton said of the power walking competition. “Shows what you can do. God is good.”

“That’s so exciting you can get older and still get better,” Coulter added. “What a great thing.”

“I don’t know what I’ll be able to do when I’m 100, but we’ll see!” Pendergraft 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.

By Kate Malongowski

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    BROKEN ARROW, Oklahoma (KHBS, KHOG) — Fireworks erupted at an Oklahoma fireworks stand on Saturday night, with video showing the flames and fireworks shooting into the sky.

Broken Arrow Fire Department responded to the call around 8:50 p.m. Saturday, “with fireworks actively detonating.”

“Firefighters were able to quickly control the scene and extinguish the fire in about 20 minutes,” the fire department said in a Facebook post. “There are no reported injuries.”

The incident comes after a truck carrying fireworks shut down a major highway in Tennessee earlier this month after fireworks began to detonate on it. That incident was also captured on video.

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 Nick Bohr

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    DELAFIELD, Wisconsin (WISN) — A 25-year-old man from Delafield is under arrest after admitting to shooting his father three times during an argument on Father’s Day.

Gunfire broke out Sunday afternoon on the front porch of a home near McDowell and Hickory Hill in the Town of Delafield. The incident remains under investigation, and authorities are still working to determine a motive.

The case began when the son called 911, reporting that he had shot his father three times in the abdomen during an argument. Dispatch audio revealed that the caller, identified as the shooter, was performing bleeding control on his father while awaiting emergency responders.

“Units enroute to the gunshot wound victim; we do have the caller who was the shooter doing bleeding control on his father,” a dispatcher said.

Neighbors were stunned by the incident. Sandy Martens, who lives nearby, said her husband initially heard the gunshots.

“He said he heard a gunshot,” Martens said. “He said it’s not fireworks, it was a gunshot.”

Martens expressed disbelief over the shooting, saying, “Never. Never. Nothing ever like that in this neighborhood. It just, it breaks my heart to have something like that happen here. It hits home right next door. It’s shocking.”

The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that the 52-year-old father remains hospitalized but is expected to survive.

According to the 911 call, the son said he was “relaxing with his gun” when an argument with his father escalated into violence.

Authorities have not released the name of the 25-year-old man, as he has not yet been formally charged. He remains in custody as the investigation continues.

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.