Emergency motion filed to transfer woman from Michigan prison over medical concerns

CNN Newsource on July 8, 2026

By Jack Springgate

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    WASHTENAW COUNTY, Michigan (WWJ) — The family of Krystal Clark is taking legal action in hopes of moving their loved one out of the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Washtenaw County, Michigan.

This comes after a woman serving time there died in early July, the fourth in a span of just two months.

Clark’s family says she’s 11 months away from completing her sentence at the facility for a crime she committed in 2010. However, they fear that if she’s there any longer, she might not make it to her release date alive.

The family filed a motion on Monday to have the Michigan Department of Corrections move Krystal to a facility that can appropriately address her numerous medical concerns while she serves the rest of her sentence.

“With the recent deaths, with her condition, if there was ever a time to have this filed, it is now,” said attorney Shiraz Khan.

“This emergency motion is to have her transferred out of that facility into a medically safe facility,” Khan added.

Last week, 62-year-old Dalephenia Jones died on July 2, becoming the fourth woman at the facility to die in recent months. Three other women, Rebecca Fackler, Khiara Howard and Ashley Hoath, died in May and June.

The motion filed by Clark’s family cited her mold allergy, respiratory issues and ongoing infectious disease behind the request for special accommodations.

“Before it gets any worse, we’re asking them to remove her from that facility and place her somewhere she can get the proper treatment that she needs to get better,” said Clark’s son, Larry Evans.

One woman who says she knew Clark while serving a sentence says the prison’s conditions are unsafe.

“Over time, the condition of the facility and these pre-existing medical issues have collaborated and have caused these terminal ill diseases,” said Dominica Simms.

Another woman who claims she was fired from the prison for speaking up about issues at the facility says the string of recent deaths doesn’t surprise her based on her experience.

“I’m not shocked by it because nothing is being done. People come forward, and they get fired for coming forward. There’s very few people in there that I trust,” said former WHV mental health worker Andi Allen.

The Michigan Department of Corrections says independent environmental tests at the facility show no dangerous amounts of toxic or black mold. Officials also say Clark’s condition does not warrant a transfer to another facility, as they claim to provide continuing medical care and treatment for her that’s consistent with her medical needs.

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What a proposed federal housing bill could mean for Coachella Valley buyers and sellers

KESQ on July 8, 2026

Dakota Makinen

COACHELLA VALLEY, Calif. (KESQ)- A proposed federal housing bill aims to boost housing supply by reducing barriers to new construction, but local experts say any impact would take time.

The Coachella Valley housing market continues to face high home prices, elevated mortgage rates and limited inventory, making affordability a challenge for many buyers. First-time buyers, in particular, continue to compete for a limited number of homes while navigating higher monthly mortgage payments.

Local Broker Associate with Compass Palm Springs Tony Vaccaro says even if the bill becomes law, buyers and sellers should not expect immediate changes. Instead, any benefits would likely be felt gradually as more housing is built.

Vacaro says prospective buyers should focus on factors they can control, including their budget, credit score and financing options. He also encourages buyers to keep an open mind by considering smaller homes, condominiums, manufactured homes or neighborhoods with more affordable price points.

While supporters of the legislation say increasing the housing supply could eventually create more options for buyers and ease competition, local experts say the market will continue to be driven by mortgage rates, available inventory and overall demand in the near term.

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‘Rock Creek’ fire near Cheyenne Mountain State Park, 80% contained

KRDO on July 8, 2026

Alexander Brunet

Editor’s note: Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently announced that the fire had been extinguished. Colorado Springs and the Fire Department have since clarified that the fire is not out, but is 30% contained.

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPSO) has lifted a pre-evacuation warning as of 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 8. The order included a one-and-a-half-mile radius of Rock Creek Canyon Road due to a fire one-third of a mile north of 1350 Rock Creek Canyon Road.

Officials confirm that the fire was 80% contained as of 1:20 p.m. on July 10. According to EPSO, crews will remain on scene to prevent reignition throughout the contained area.

The EPSO and the Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) say that, despite requests against doing so, someone flew a drone over the fire site as of 10:50 a.m. Wednesday morning. Officials asked whoever was flying the drone to land it immediately, as it hindered air operations.

The EPSO told everyone in the area to be prepared to leave and to evacuate if they felt they were in danger.

EPSO estimates the fire is approximately 1.5 acres as of 10 a.m. July 8.

A KRDO 13 crew was at the intersection of Pawnee and Comanche Avenues, where flames and smoke could occasionally be seen on a ridge overlooking a mobile home park and approximately 25 homes near the Pike National Forest.

Authorities with the U.S. Forest Service and Southwestern Highway 115 Fire spent the night monitoring the fire’s activity.

“It’s (was) just too dark for anyone to fly back there, or get a crew back there,” said Clark Gaddie, a spokesman for SW Hwy 115 Fire. “I (was) sitting here all night, watching it to make sure it (didn’t) go anywhere. In the morning, we (got) some crews out here, and some helicopters. The terrain is steep and rugged back there. We’re worried about how the wind may affect the fire.”

He said that lightning likely sparked the fire, though authorities had yet to announce the official cause by noon Wednesday.

“I saw the lightning strike in that exact area,” said neighbor Brody Nimmons.” We were watching it. That was the scary part — it shook the whole house.”

In the meadow at Pawnee & Comanche, fire crews set up their staging area and used part of it as a place for helicopters to take off and land.

The first helicopter began mapping the fire around 9 a.m and two helicopters performed drops with water from nearby reservoirs before stopping around 12:30 p.m.

Neighbors were in good spirits, given the situation — with many pulling out lawn chairs to sit and watch the activity.

There was more anxiety overnight, however, as the fire slowly burned above them.

“We had meetings at 2:30 this morning,” said Judy Schewitzer. “This neighbor, that neighbor, that neighbor. What were we talking about? The fire and what we needed to do.”

Her next-door neighbor echoed that sentiment.

With the fires in the past, and this, kind of concerned,” said Cara Vandiver. “I have service dogs, so their stuff is in the freezer, waiting for the last minute to pack the food up.”

Authorities thanked their partners for being able to provide resources for the fire despite the much larger Aspen Acres Fire burning in Pueblo and Custer Counties for the second week.

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Florida man accused of starving puppy to death after hiding her in locked garage, sheriff says

CNN Newsource on July 8, 2026

By Sergio Candido

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — A Floria man has been arrested after authorities say he left a severely malnourished puppy locked inside a garage without food, water or light, leading to the animal’s death days later.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that deputies responded July 1 to an apartment in Palm Coast, a city located just south of St. Augustine, after residents discovered a severely malnourished dog inside a locked garage. Animal Control then removed the 10-week-old puppy for emergency treatment.

According to the sheriff’s office, a veterinarian determined the Bluetick Coonhound/Australian Shepherd mix had no pre-existing medical condition that would explain her malnourishment. The puppy died on July 4, with the veterinarian attributing the cause of death to organ failure caused by starvation.

Through their investigation, deputies identified the dog’s owner as 18-year-old Chance Jones.

According to the sheriff’s office, Jones told deputies he had taken in the puppy in April but was frequently away from home for extended periods, leaving the dog behind and feeding her only when he returned “every few weeks.”

Investigators said Jones brought the puppy to the apartment on June 30 and hid her inside the detached garage because he did not want anyone to see her condition. He also told deputies he never sought veterinary care for the animal.

“This is one of the most heartless things I’ve seen in my career,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement posted on Facebook. “That puppy couldn’t tell anyone she needed help, and Chance Jones chose to hide her instead of giving her the basic care that would have kept her alive. If you can’t take care of an animal, don’t take one in, because we will be the voice for a helpless animal and hold you accountable when you neglect an animal or even worse, starve an animal to death.”

Jones was arrested on charges of aggravated animal cruelty and unlawful confinement of an animal. He was being held on a $3,000 bond.

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Greene County deputy arrested after audit shows she used Flock cameras for personal reasons, sheriff says

CNN Newsource on July 8, 2026

By Dan Raby

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    Atlanta (WUPA) — A sheriff’s deputy in Georgia has been fired and taken into custody after officials say an audit revealed she had misused the county’s Flock License Plate Reader system.

Former Greene County Deputy Quinsha Goss is facing charges of violating her oath of office and violating the prohibition on law enforcement retaining license plate data obtained from automated license plate recognition systems.

Authorities say an audit of the system on June 30 found that Goss had accessed the system for personal reasons multiple times over a three-month period. While details about the alleged unauthorized access remain limited, officials say she had conducted searches involving at least one license plate without the required law enforcement justification.

Goss was arrested on Tuesday, and her employment has been terminated, the sheriff’s office said in a release. The investigation remains active.

Goss’ arrest and firing come just a day after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested five police officers in Albany, Georgia, accusing them of misusing their access to that city’s Flock Safety System. All five have also been fired.

In June, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office charged and fired two of its supervisors for allegedly misusing the county’s system.

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Brigham and Women’s Hospital nurses strike in Boston now largest walkout for nurses in Massachusetts history

CNN Newsource on July 8, 2026

By Penny Kmitt, Kristina Rex

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    BOSTON (WBZ) — Thousands of nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston went on strike early Wednesday morning in the largest nurses strike in Massachusetts history.

The hospital said patient care will not be affected. It has hired nearly 1,300 replacement nurses to cover shifts for the next five days. The strike is scheduled for one day, but the nurses will be locked out for four more days. The hospital said that’s because the replacement nurses are contracted for five days of work.

The crowd outside the hospital grew so large at one point Boston Police temporarily shut down Francis Street in the Longwood medical area.

BWH nurses strike issues Mass General Brigham, which operates the hospital, has been negotiating two contracts for several months – one for the 4,000 nurses at Brigham and Women’s and another for nearly 500 home health care workers. Both sides are stuck on pay.

The union that represents the nurses, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said the hospital is proposing zero-percent raises.

The hospital said its nurses are some of the highest paid in the country, with an average salary of more than $147,000. The hospital also argues that their proposal keeps an annual five percent pay raise that’s part of the wage scale, adding that their offer “appropriately recognizes our nurses’ important contributions while balancing our responsibility to sustain patient care.”

“We need to be inside taking care of our patients, not out here. This is on the Brigham, not on us,” said union representative Jen Devincent.

While tensions ran high outside, they allegedly boiled over inside, with nurses in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

“They were set to leave at 7 a.m. and they were told they can’t leave because of patient safety. So, they actually blocked the elevators from letting them leave,” said Devincent.

Two spokespersons for the hospital told WBZ-TV that did not happen.

Some patients and families are worried what the strike will do to the quality of care at the hospital.

“Patients are here on some of the worst days of their life, nurses are literally bringing you through that time,” said hematology patient Kojo Acheanpong.

“I’m terrified for my dad’s care,” said Peter Caikauskas. His father had a double lung transplant in February and is still at patient at the Brigham. “But I support the nurses 110 percent.”

MGB home health care workers strike More than 450 Mass General Brigham home health care clinicians also walked off the job in Braintree Wednesday after what they said has been 15 months of negotiations.

“We’ve been at the table looking for patient safety, changes to our working conditions. We’re looking for case load limits. We’re looking for productivity metrics so that we’re not working unpaid hours at the end of every day. And we’re looking for wage increases to make it more competitive so that we can retain experienced staff,” said Shannon Viera, a nurse with MGB Home Care. “We’re small compared to the Brigham but what we do is really important.”

The hospital said the strike will not affect scheduled appointments unless patients are notified directly about a change.

The nurses strike and lockout is scheduled to end on Monday, July 13 at 7 a.m.

The home health care workers strike is set to end on Wednesday, July 15 at 8 a.m., the hospital 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.

Environmental group sues a Minnesota county over ash produced by trash incinerator

CNN Newsource on July 8, 2026

By Anthony Bettin

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    MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (WCCO) — An environmental group is suing Hennepin County, alleging it has violated state law by not outlining plans for harmful ash created by a trash-burning plant in downtown Minneapolis set to close in the coming years.

The lawsuit from the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy concerns the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center. It cites state law requiring counties to “clearly state how the county plans to meet the goals … of reducing the toxicity and quantity of incinerator ash and of reducing the quantity of processing residuals that require disposal.”

“Hennepin County has not clearly stated how the county plans to meet the goals of reducing the toxicity and quantity of incinerator ash in its most recent waste plans,” the lawsuit from the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy claims. “In fact, the County’s most recent plan does not address the toxicity of incinerator ash at all.”

The county told WCCO it can not comment on pending litigation, but shared a letter it sent to the group last month challenging the claim.

“Because the county’s plan already complies with [state law], and was approved by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), the county has decided not to amend its Plan at this time,” the letter reads.

The letter states supplemental materials from the plan “outline the county’s household and commercial hazardous waste programs which reduce ash toxicity by removing harmful substances from the waste stream before incineration” and “describe post-incineration metal recovery efforts that reduce the quantity of ash necessitating disposal and HERC operational procedures which prevent harmful substances from being incinerated.”

WCCO has also reached out to MCEA.

The lawsuit claims the incinerator generates “around 80,000 tons of toxic incinerator ash” every year, and that the ash “contains significant levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, dioxins and furans, PFAS, and other contaminants.”

The suit asks a judge to compel the county to provide a clear plan for the ash in compliance with state law.

Hennepin County plans to close HERC sometime between 2028 and 2040. The facility, built in 1989, produces enough energy to power about 25,000 homes, according to the county. Earlier this year, activists staged a hunger strike to get it shut down sooner, alleging the facility poisons those who live near it in Minneapolis’ North Loop.

Conor Wight contributed to this report.

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Niles Police Department’s new sensory kits help officers interact safely with people on autism spectrum

CNN Newsource on July 8, 2026

By Charlie De Mar

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    CHICAGO, Illiinois (WBBM) — It’s the law in Illinois that all law enforcement officers complete training on how to interact with people on the autism spectrum.

The Niles Police Department is taking it a step further.

A nonverbal man with autism wandering the streets of Niles last month was met by a police officer who reached for her newly issued sensory kit to help calm the man, build trust and ultimately reunite him with his caregivers.

Police officer Jessica Zia was on patrol late last month when a call came in for a suspicious person walking on the side of the road.

“He was pacing back and forth, stopped and looked confused,” she said.

Officer Zia asked a series of questions to try and identify the man and get him home. She quickly realized he was nonverbal and the call would be different than most. That’s when she went into her trunk and grabbed her newly issued autism sensory kit.

The kit is filled with toys, sensory devices, and objects—all tools designed to bridge the communication gap during emergencies.

“I knew I had to think outside the box. I was like, ‘How am I going to handle this?” she said. “My end goal was to get him home. It was really hot that day.”

“We saw so many families and so many in the autism community who were so fearful to contact law enforcement if a situation came up with their child,” said Tamika Lechéé Morales.

Morales, who is the president of the Autism Hero Project, says along with communication, the kits also reduce stress and have the potential for safer outcomes.

“For autistic individuals who elope or wander, drowning and traffic-related incidents are among the leading causes of fatal outcomes,” she said.

Niles police social worker Tony Bertram says every squad car was recently equipped with one of the Autism Hero Project sensory kits.

“Officer Zia used it on the street for the first time 20 days after we received the kits,” he said. “She figured out there was a nonverbal situation, there was overstimulation and she applied the correct tools from the bag with very little training.”

Zia sat patiently with the man for about an hour and determined the 25-year-old walked more than six miles from a group home in Chicago. He was taken to a hospital for observation and released.

“If I can be honest with you, I rather have that call than any other call that I could gloat about catching a bad guy,” she said. “My job is to help.”

Just days before officer Zia encountered the young man on the road, another Niles police officer had a similar encounter. Officer Zia was able to contact his mom and social worker.

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Karmelo Anthony’s legal team files motions for new trial, judge’s removal

CNN Newsource on July 8, 2026

By Steven Rosenbaum

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    DALLAS, Texas (KTVT) — Attorneys representing Karmelo Anthony filed two legal motions on Tuesday as they attempt to overturn the 19-year-old’s murder conviction in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf.

According to a news release from the advocacy group Stand With Karmelo Coalition, Anthony’s legal defense team filed a motion for Collin County District Judge John Roach to “be removed from presiding over all remaining post-trial proceedings.”

They also filed a motion for a new trial, that raises “constitutional and legal challenges stemming from the trial, and is requesting that those issues be decided by an independent judge,” the release said.

Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison following the trial last month, which garnered protests, national headlines and racial tensions.

In June, a group of well-known civil rights and criminal defense attorneys announced they are would represent Anthony pro bono in his appeals.

Dallas appellate attorney David Coale, who has handled appeals for decades, told CBS News Texas after the trial that Anthony’s team could have several strong arguments over whether the trial was handled correctly.

Anthony’s supporters raised numerous concerns about the fairness of the trial, including that there were no Black members of the jury; Anthony is Black and Metcalf was White.

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Roseville woman loses service dogs after getting hit by truck: ‘My family is gone’

CNN Newsource on July 8, 2026

By Cecil Hannibal

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    ROSEVILLE (KCRA) — A woman with a hearing disability in Roseville is mourning the loss of two of her dogs after a truck struck them last Wednesday near Firestone Drive and Glenwood Circle.

Linda Sekany said she was walking with her service dog Jersey, her canine companion breeder Dugan, her pet dog Lafter, and foster dog Karat when the crash occurred.

“I looked at this truck. He was stopped, and I’m like, ‘Good. He’s waiting for us to cross, which is the appropriate thing to do,'” Sekany said. “The next thing I know, he pulled out and just ran over us.”

Sekany remembers being thrown 5 to 6 feet away, feeling hysterical while trying to comprehend what happened.

The driver stayed on scene, and first responders were called to the scene. The foster dog Karat was unharmed, but the other three dogs needed to be rushed to an emergency veterinarian. Sekany’s son urged her to go to the hospital.

While at the hospital, her son received the horrible news that Dugan had died of cardiac arrest.

Jersey suffered a crushed pelvis, and the next 24 hours were spent trying to figure out what Sekany’s options were, but unfortunately, she was forced to put him down.

Lafter had to have hip surgery and was on the road to recovery until Tuesday, when he needed to be rushed to the animal hospital with a severe case of pneumonia. Sekany believes his immune system is compromised after all the procedures he’s endured.

While Sekany escaped the crash with no physical injuries, she said the loss of her dogs has left her feeling trapped in her home.

“My independence, my ability to function in the world, is Jersey,” she said. “They are my life. I live my life for these dogs. In one fell swoop, my family is gone.”

Sekany said it takes multiple years to go through the process of receiving a service dog, and now she’s trying to comprehend how she’ll function without Jersey.

Sekany is also a longtime volunteer with organizations such as Canine Companions and Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue.

KCRA 3 contacted Roseville police to learn more details about what caused the collision, but the department has not responded as of Tuesday evening.

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.