Month: July 2026

By Sara Tenenbaum

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    CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — The University of Chicago Law School is banning first-year students from using phones and laptops in the classroom as part of a broader strategy to curb AI usage.

In a long statement released Thursday, the law school wrote that they already see artificial intelligence impacting higher education and the legal profession. They said they spent the past year to reflect on how to adopt their curriculum and policies in response to AI, seeking input from their community, alumni, law firm leaders, business leaders, legal technology executives and law firm associates, as well as their faculty, staff and students.

“The feedback we have received throughout this process has been consistent,” they wrote. “We need to ensure that our students actually learn to think critically, strategically, and independently without relying on AI; but we also must face the reality that AI tools are already widely available to our students, and our graduates will be expected to be prepared to use them in legal practice.”

In response, the school said it’s launching a three-prong strategy in which they will “develop AI-resilient pedagogy and assessment,” elevate “‘essential human’ skills that distinguish excellent lawyers” and teach “responsible, effective, and ethical use of AI.”

As part of that strategy, first year law students will be prohibited from using electronic devices like laptops, tablets and phones in the classroom, university officials said. They said professors will be allowed to designate “classroom scribes” who can use electronic devices to take notes for the class, or authorize electronic device use in specific tech-reliant situations like interactive in-class polling.

But overall electronic usage will be banned to “ensure students actually learn to think critically, strategically and independently without relying on AI.”

Other requirements will include legal research and writing classes that require students to write without using AI while using AI for research, revision and preparations for oral arguments, after which their writing and their use of AI will be reviewed. There will also be upper-level elective courses explicitly focusing on the use of AI and the creation of AI tools for legal work.

“We recognize that no statement of an AI strategy or vision can be final,” the school wrote. “Technology is changing too fast. Thus, all the changes we are currently making will be subject to review, reconsideration, and revision as we learn more and as both technology and the practice of law evolve.”

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 Charlie De Mar, Sara Tenenbaum

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    CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — The FBI is now offering a $50,000 reward to find a fugitive who is wanted for the 2021 murder of Illinois Army National Guardsman Chrys Carvajal.

Milwaukee Kings members Joseph “Troubles” Matos was indicted in 2024 alongside Gary “Gotti” Roberson with federal racketeering charges for Carvjal’s murder. Roberson was taken into custody at the time, but Matos was not and remains at large to this day.

“I keep praying for justice,” said Carvajal’s mother Lourdes Lara. “I believe in God and I know justice will be served.”

“Chrys was not just a soldier, he was not just a son, he was my brother, he was a friend,” said his sister Jennifer Ramirez.

Carvajal was 19 when he was killed. He had just returned home from Army National Guard training and was leaving a party on July 3, 2021, when he was shot and killed at the corner of Lockwood Ave. and Palmer St. in Belmont-Cragin as he was walking to his car.

Federal prosecutors say Matos and Roberson killed Carvajal “for the purpose of maintaining and increasing position in the Milwaukee Kings” street gang.

Now, more than five years since his death, the FBI has raised the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Matos to $50,000. The Carvajal family and 36th Ward Ald. Gilbert Villegas held a service to honor the soldier’s life Thursday evening.

“I can’t believe he’s still out there,” Lara said. “I don’t know how he can live with that, because I know he’s watching me now.”

“Fifty-thousand dollars is not what a life is worth, but it’s about how to bring justice to the family,” said Villegas. “They have been very patient.”

Matos’ chest is tattooed with the words “Most Wanted,” and last year he was featured on the show “America’s Most Wanted” in connection to Carvajal’s death. Investigators believe someone within his circle may be helping him hide.

“The family deserves closure, the community deserves closure,” Villegas said.

“I know somebody knows something,” said Lara.

Four months after his death, Carvajal’s family and friends called on then-Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to bring charges for the soldier’s murder, insisting there was video evidence and eyewitness testimony.

Matos was taken in to custody shortly after the shooting, but later released after Foxx’s office said at the time that there was not enough evidence to file charges.

The federal indictment did not provide details about the shooting.

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 Wight

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    HENNEPIN COUNTY, Minnesota (WCCO) — A Wisconsin family lost their ten-month-old daughter after she swallowed a water bead. They blame Target and the water bead manufacturer for her death.

This week, Taylor and Tyler Bethard filed a lawsuit against Target in Hennepin County, claiming that the company failed to warn them and other customers about the dangers of a water beads product that used to be sold exclusively at Target.

Water beads are marketed as toys that come with sensory kits or craft sets, but data shows the products are prone to injuring young children. The polymer material is extremely absorbent, allowing water beads – which are often colorful – to expand around 100 times their original size when they interact with water or liquid. This presents a hazard for kids; the United States Product Safety Commission states that between 2017 and 2022, there were 6,300 water bead-related ingestion injuries that required treatment from emergency departments across the country.

In 2023, a 10-month-old girl died. Her name is Esther “Jo” Bethard. According to court filings, Taylor Bethard found her daughter unresponsive in her crib on the morning of July 7, 2023, after she had suffered symptoms of a stomach illness overnight. Medical examiners told the family that her death was caused by swallowing a single water bead.

The Bethards had purchased a Chuckle and Roar water bead set in the spring of 2022 for Esther Jo’s older siblings, never intending for the infant to interact with the water beads.

Target and the Chuckle and Roar manufacturer, Buffalo Games LLC, mutually agreed to pull the product from the shelves in November of 2022. Court records show an email exchange between Buffalo Games and a product safety employee at Target where the manufacturer noted that while their water beads had met safety standards at the time, they wanted to “avoid any future unintended misuse of the product.”

That conversation was prompted after Buffalo Games was informed that an infant required surgery after ingesting a water bead from the Ultimate Water Beads kit. Target agreed to end sales, indicating that this would be classified as a “safety removal.”

The Bethard’s lawsuit alleges that Target clearly knew how dangerous these water beads could be, but failed to warn them or other customers. Target stopped selling the product about eight months before Esther Jo died. Daniel Mann, a personal injury attorney representing the Bethards in this case, said that Esther Jo would still be alive if Target had acted.

“With all this information Target didn’t do anything to reach out to the family or other consumers to let them know about this problem,” Mann said, “I think 10/10 people would say Target had a responsibility to do more than what they did, which was nothing.”

A spokesperson for Target said that they would not comment on ongoing litigation, but the company had already responded to an identical complaint filed by the Bethards in the State of New York. In 2025, the Bethards sued both Target and Buffalo Games in Erie County, N.Y., because that was where the manufacturer was based. In response to the lawsuit there, court filings show that Target denied the allegations that they knew of an extraordinary danger posed by the water beads and failed to notify customers.

The complaint was dismissed against Target in New York, Mann explained, due to jurisdiction. This lead to them refiling in Hennepin County this week.

In a statement to WCCO on the new legal action, a Target spokesperson said “We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by this tragedy, and we worked closely with the manufacturer of the product at the time the incident occurred.”

Taylor Bethard, Esther Jo’s mother, has lead the charge to ban water beads entirely. Her efforts lead to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commision recalling the more than 52,000 Chuckle and Roar Ultimate Water Beads Activity Kits that were in circulation. The recall took effect in September of 2023. Target, Walmart and Amazon announced that they would stop marketing water beads to children.

Bethard is also working with Wisconsin U.S. State Senator Tammy Baldwin to establish federal legislation to permanently outlaw all water beads. This past spring, the CPSC established new legal guidelines that restrict the size of water beads to try to ensure high safety 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 S.E. Jenkins

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    PLANO, Texas (KTVT) — At least two 8-year-old girls have said they were assaulted by their 2nd-grade teacher, Paul Campbell, at a Plano elementary school, a newly-released arrest affidavit states.

Plano police said they arrested 64-year-old Campbell on Wednesday after a student reported inappropriate physical contact while at Brinker Elementary, where Campbell has been a teacher for 28 years, the district said.

On July 4, one student’s father called police to report their child said she had been sexually assaulted by her teacher. According to the affidavit, the student told her siblings that her 2nd-grade teacher had touched her inappropriately, who then told their father.

The child said that Campbell would call girls over, behind his desk and “touch their private parts.”

She said she told her friend, who is also 8 years old, about the abuse when it was happening, and told police that her friend said Campbell had touched her inappropriately, too, the affidavit states.

According to the police affidavit, the child said she was in Campbell’s class in the fall of 2025 and spring of 2026. She said on several occasions, when she went to Campbell’s desk to ask questions, he would touch her inappropriately. She told police that she believes she saw it happen to other girls in her class.

Police contact possible second victim Investigators contacted the mother of the possible second victim on July 6. She told police that when she asked if Campbell had touched her inappropriately, the child at first denied it, but then cried and said he had, more than once.

When interviewed by police on July 7, the second victim said the abuse began within the first few weeks of the fall of 2025 and continued until the last day of school in spring 2026. She said Campbell would ask her questions and touch her inappropriately. She also said she saw the 64-year-old teacher inappropriately touch two other girls in class and that she knew it had happened to her friend, but she had not seen Campbell inappropriately touch any of the boys in class, the affidavit states.

Campbell jailed without bond Campbell remains jailed without bond. Detectives are interviewing additional people to determine whether there may be more victims

Wednesday, the Plano Independent School District released a statement saying in part, “the alleged conduct is reprehensible and is completely inconsistent with the values and expectations we hold for all Plano ISD employees.”

Plano ISD trustees voted to terminate Campbell at a special-called meeting on Thursday.

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By Madison Sawyer

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    FORT WORTH, Texas (KTVT) — A Fort Worth hospital is in the business of bringing babies into the world, but that work is getting a lot more personal.

At one point, 24 labor and delivery nurses at Andrews Women’s Hospital at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center were all expecting babies of their own.

Lauren Mazac, the Nurse Manager for Labor & Delivery at the hospital, says the official number of pregnant nurses, at one point, was hard to pin down.

“Honestly, I’m finding out about more and more people each day,” Mazac said. “It’s been fun!”

It’s a unique chapter for the hospital that highlights a special sisterhood of nurses, moving from caring for expectant moms to becoming expectant moms themselves.

“It’s challenging, but we all support each other,” Savannah Barnes, one of the nurses, said. “We have a great team here, and everybody helps each other. So, when I was nine months pregnant, two days before I delivered, everybody was helping me, and I can’t wait to repay all the same things for the ones who are pregnant when I come back in a few weeks.”

Some of the nurses, like Barnes and Chala Ford, have already given birth to their new bundles of joy.

“It has been a wonderful experience; I actually got to deliver Savannah and her last two babies,” Ford says. “We went to nursing school together and grew up as best friends, and now we get to have two best friends.”

The labor and delivery unit is full of experts on childbirth, and now they are putting that expertise to the test.

“We are a Level IV facility; we do tons of training here to make sure we are ready for all the emergencies,” Mazac said. “I really feel like it is the safest place to have a baby, and I think all of our nurses know that and that’s why they come here.”

Dr. Jamie Erwin, Medical Director at Andrews Women’s Hospital, says most of the nurses are choosing to deliver their babies at the hospital where they work.

“You could deliver anywhere, and when you work here, and you see behind the curtain, you see the good, the bad, the ugly,” Erwin said. “And there’s just an immense level of trust when you want to be in the care of your coworkers, your colleagues, and it brings us closer together, makes us better.”

It’s a unique bond that has been growing right alongside the life growing inside their wombs.

“The sisterhood, it’s just so special getting to have your friends really watch you grow your baby and then get to be a part of the delivery, and one of the most precious parts of your life, and one of your friends is there to take care of you,” Mazac said. “It’s very special.”

That sisterhood, strengthened even more by a one-of-a-kind tradition, helps them remember the special chapter they share.

“We have a special delivery gown that most nurses wear,” Ford said.

“It’s really, really special to know that everyone delivered in that gown all these babies,” Barnes said. “We work together, we survive long shifts together while pregnant, supporting each other, and then we also get to wear (the gown) and put the (baby’s) initials on the gown.”

Over the years, there have been so many babies born to staff members that the original sisterhood of the traveling gown had to be retired.

“The initial gown had about 45 babies’ initials on there that we got monogrammed, that those babies were born in,” Mazac said. “So, that (gown) is hanging in the front of our unit, and now a new gown has started, and they all share the gown and deliver their baby in that gown.”

For these labor and delivery nurses, bringing babies into the world has always been part of the job.

“We take care of all women, we take care of very premature babies, women with very complicated pregnancies,” Erwin shared. “And these pregnant nurses, they continue to show up and bring their best selves day after day, working tirelessly, endlessly, and they just keep going day after day, and nothing is slowing them down. “

Now, they are just bringing that work home.

Of course, 24 nurses all expecting and delivering within months of each other comes with staffing challenges, but hospital leadership tells us they have a plan in place to keep staffing levels consistent.

“Not everyone is out at the same time, and we’ve got some PRN staff to cover the busy summer months,” Mazac said.

“Our nursing leadership has done a great job planning ahead,” Erwin says. “We have as-needed nurses that come in, and we have other nurses at other hospitals in the Baylor Scott and White system that are able to come in and help us.”

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 Erika Stanish

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    MORGANTOWN, West Virginia (KDKA) — A doctor is wanted by police in West Virginia for allegedly hiding cameras in staff restrooms at a hospital.

Police have issued an arrest warrant for Lance Parks, who previously worked at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.

On June 26, police said employees at the hospital found a recording device concealed beneath a bathroom sink in a staff restroom. Investigators said they determined Parks had placed the device there.

“Investigators also determined that the device contained video footage depicting eight hospital employees who had been unknowingly recorded while partially nude,” a news release by the Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney said.

Four days later, police said hospital staff found a second recording device in a toilet in a nonpublic staff restroom while responding to reports of a clogged pipe.

Police said investigators executed a search warrant at Parks’ residence, where they seized multiple computers and digital devices. Investigators said files containing images of juvenile females were found that appear to have been downloaded from social media and photo-sharing websites.

“Investigators located numerous computer-generated images in which artificial intelligence had been used to manipulate the original photographs so that the depicted juveniles appeared to be fully nude,” police said in a news release.

Police, along with the Monongalia County Prosecuting Office and Ruby Memorial Hospital, are working together to notify the victims.

“It’s a shame when a physician who’s entrusted for the public good to abuse their power and manipulate the situation for their own selfish needs,” said Bart Mazer, who was visiting a patient at Ruby Memorial on Thursday.

Parks faces charges including criminal invasion of privacy and distribution and exhibiting computer-generated child pornography. The investigation remains active and ongoing.

A spokesperson for West Virginia University hospitals released a statement on behalf of Ruby Memorial, calling the case “tremendously traumatic and disturbing for our employees” and saying it’s committed to providing employees with a safe workplace.

“The actions of one ill-intended individual will not drive us off that course, nor do they define the work of the thousands of employees who come to work every day in support of the people who entrust us with their care,” the statement 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 Jesse Zanger, Naveen Dhaliwal

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    OLD BRIDGE TOWNSHIP, New Jersey (WCBS) — Lightning apparently struck a home and sparked a fire in New Jersey amid torrential storms Thursday.

It happened in Old Bridge Township around 3 p.m.

Two women who live in the home managed to escape with their four dogs, but one woman said her three pet birds, who were in cages, did not survive.

“I said to myself, that’s really close. I didn’t feel it like some people did, but I heard it – bang,” neighbor John Johnson said.

Johnson said police pounded on his front door, and let him know that the neighboring building was on fire.

“And I heard the door being beat on. I ran downstairs and the police officers was there,” he said. “He said, ‘Your neighbor’s on fire. Get ready to get out of here.’ I went upstairs and put on some clothes and came outside.”

One of the women who lives in the home that was struck said just about everything inside was destroyed.

Flash flooding also causing problems Thursday’s heavy rains caused flash flooding in some parts of New Jersey.

Some of the locations are not far from areas that endured torrential flooding earlier this week.

Click here for the latest storm watches, warnings, alerts and advisories. In Hazlet, heavy rain came down fast, leaving a car stranded in high water.

“My street was flooded. That subsided. It took, like, maybe 30 minutes,” Hazlet resident Wayne Szaro said.

“Cars were coming through. They were plowing through it. It was submerging over their hood,” Hazlet resident Joe Bennett said. “It was eventually somebody was going to come through and was going to get stuck.”

In South River, streets quickly filled up as storm drains were overwhelmed, and water took over a local park, spilling across fields and surrounding areas.

There were also reports of flooding in New Brunswick and Keyport.

Thunder rolled and rain pelted cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, slowing traffic even more during rush hour, and in Edison, video showed Route 1 completely flooded out.

Local officials say they spent the day cleaning clogged storm drains. Some homeowners said they got water in their basements, but for the most part, the water subsided by Thursday night without any significant damage.

Rain totals piling up As of 5 p.m. Thursday, there had already been significant rainfall in New Jersey.

CBS News New York’s Lonnie Quinn said the rain had been coming down in “buckets.”

– Kendall Park picked up 4.83 inches – New Brunswick got 3.05 inches – Dayton got 2.83 inches – Skillman picked up 2.4 inches – Rutgers Gardens got 2.05 inches

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By Riley Rourke

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    BOSTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A Boston man has been charged after allegedly making bomb threats and bringing explosives on board a Commuter Rail train in June.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said it happened on June 27, just before 10:30 p.m., at North Station. A witness reported a man who was loudly commenting about making bombs and giving them to extremist groups.

“The witness also reported that the man said he was inspired by the January 6 attacks at the U.S. Capitol,” said the DA’s office in a press release.

Police arrived to find 29-year-old Shane Cautillo with a lithium battery, an electric scooter with a bag, and an electric towel warmer with wires sticking out.

After an X-ray was performed, police said that they found “a possible power source, fusing, explosive charge, and switch in the container” and were able to successfully disarm it. Another X-ray was performed on the bag attached to the scooter. Officers found commercial fireworks and a power pack inside. Several fireworks detonated, causing an explosion as they attempted to disarm the device.

No one was hurt in the incident.

They also found small batteries, a cell phone, a BOOM Margarita wine cocktail, a power adapter, and a duct-taped lithium battery inside the electric towel warmer.

“This man had the materials to make a possibly dangerous device,” Hayden said in a statement.

A K-9 dog cleared the train and surrounding areas at the popular commuting station.

Cautillo was taken to Boston Medical Center for evaluation after threatening to harm himself.

He was charged while at the hospital with unlawful possession of fireworks, possession of a hoax incendiary device, possession of a hoax device or substance, and disorderly conduct on a public conveyance. He was arrainged on June 29 and held on $10,000 bail. He was also ordered to stay away from all MBTA transit options and not possess any dangerous weapons.

He will return to court on July 28 for a pre-trial hearing.

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By Janay Reece

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    BALTIMORE, Maryland (WJZ) — A tanker truck carrying 7,500 gallons of diesel fuel crashed in South Baltimore early Friday morning.

The truck appeared to have hit two parked vehicles on South Hanover Street near Washburn Avenue before stopping on a sidewalk around 2:30 a.m.

No injuries were reported and it’s not clear yet what caused the crash.

Authorities said about 20 gallons of fuel spilled out and the block was shut down overnight. The Baltimore City Fire Department and Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) were called in and a crew was able to contain the spill.

The fuel was moved into another tanker truck. The damaged truck was prepared to be towed away.

It belongs to Power Transportation Systems, a freight carrier based in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

No other information is available at this point in the investigation.

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By Abby Dodge, Ana Maria Soler

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    PLANTATION, Florida (WFOR) — A family is grieving the death of a 2-year-old boy who drowned in a pond at an apartment complex in Plantation on Thursday evening.

The boy was first reported as missing at around 5:30 p.m. by his grandmother who called 911. The dispatcher said that it was a 10 to 15 minute time delay from when the call came in to when she called.

The dispatcher described the boy as non-verbal and known to go toward water.

A family member then found the child in a pond near the complex, located in the area of 16th Street and 108th Avenue, before police arrived. Bystanders began CPR, telling the dispatcher that water was coming out of the boy’s mouth.

Plantation Fire Rescue rushed the boy to Broward Health Medical Center, where he died.

Plantation police stretched a line around a large pond surrounded by apartments and canvassed the complex for several hours.

Neighbor Erwin Garcia, who has lived in the complex for nearly a decade, said he was devastated by the news.

“I have two kids, so it breaks my heart,” Garcia said.

Garcia said he had never considered the ponds a safety concern before.

“We have lakes everywhere here in South Florida, all of Florida. But no, I don’t even think about that,” Garcia said.

He said he does not know the family but is hoping they find comfort.

“I just feel so sorry for them,” Garcia said.

Plantation police said that it is investigating the circumstances surrounding the drowning.

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