Month: August 2026

By Olivia Hickey

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    Oklahoma (KOCO) — If you were to ask Melissa Burris about her 10-month-old Australian Shepherd, Rio, she would tell you he is an escape artist.

“He knows how to open a screen door, and any weakness at the bottom of the fence, he will find his way underneath,” Burris said.

But July 30 was the start of his longest disappearing act yet.

“He had taken off. His sister stayed behind, and I checked his usual spots. He likes to take himself shopping at the Dollar General on the corner and at the gas station across the street from it, and the gas station attendant said that he thought one of his customers may have taken him, even though he let him know that he knew the owner, and she’d be right here to get him,” Burris said.

When she got there, Rio was already gone. For weeks, she worried.

“I was afraid that he had been hurt,” Burris said.

But Rio reappeared more than 1,000 miles away on the East Coast.

“Aug. 11, he was scanned in Greensboro, North Carolina,” she said.

To get from Sand Springs to Greensboro, you would have to drive for about 16 hours or walk for nearly two weeks. So, how did he get there?

“We have no idea. Our best guess is that it was a long-haul truck or maybe a student going off to college,” Burris said.

How he got there doesn’t matter to Burris. What matters is that Rio was found safe, even if he was a little shaken up.

“I was just so happy. I was so happy and so grateful and thankful that he was safe and healthy and well,” Burris said.

Burris said getting him home was no mystery.

“We got to see all the mountains. We just drove through the Blue Ridge and the Smokies, and I think there were five different mountain ranges on our route,” she said.

Rio didn’t say much on the ride home.

“You got anything you want to say, big guy? I think that means he’s happy to be home,” Burris said.

She said if you can take anything away from this tale, it is to make sure your pet is microchipped.

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 Makayla Richardson

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    GROVER BEACH, California (KSBY) — Warmer weather could be bringing more stingrays up to the Central Coast.

Mark Perry visits the beach near the West Grand Avenue entrance in Grover Beach every day. As part of his routine, he takes a dip in the ocean.

“While I was out there about chest deep water, I jumped over a wave,” Perry said. “Then I landed on the ground and it felt something bit me.”

After getting out of the water on Saturday and finding help from a lifeguard, Perry was told he wasn’t bitten, but stung by a stingray. He said it felt like a mix between a bee sting and a rattlesnake bite.

“The bee sting [was the] the initial pain, and then you kind of get this coursing pain that goes through your body, and it comes up sporadically,” he said.

Kathryn Wilkins at the Central Coast Aquarium said the sting comes from barbs on the stingray’s tails, which contain a toxin.

“Normally, when you hear about a stingray like sting and that pain, it is a toxin,” Wilkins said. “It’s not lethal to humans, at least not the round ray.”

The round ray is a local species of stingray that’s pretty common on the Central Coast year-round.

Wilkins said if you are stung, you should seek medical attention.

“The most commonly accepted practice is that if you do get stung, you should soak whatever part of your body got stung in hot water,” she said. “Not scalding, but hot. It does help to break down that toxin and lead to faster pain relief.”

CSU Long Beach says one of the best ways to stay safe in the water is to do the “stingray shuffle,” where you slide your feet along the sand instead of raising your feet when you walk.

If you are heading into the water, try to spend the least amount of time possible touching the sea floor, check where stingrays are common, or find footwear that offers stingray protection.

Ashley Tjepkema also works at the Central Coast Aquarium, and said she hasn’t seen an abundance of stingrays on the Central Coast yet, but it’s not out of the question.

“The warming waters from El Niño can shift their ranges northward,” Tjepkema said. “Whereas we typically more see them in Southern California and Baja, we might start to see them coming up a little bit more along our coastline to kind of escape from some of that heat.”

Perry said in the future, he’s going to stick with the shuffle and invest in protective booties.

“I’m not going to stop going in the ocean just because I got stung by a stingray once,” Perry said. “I’m going to try to take precautions after that.”

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 DeAndria Turner

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WLKY) — What began as a heartbreaking animal rescue in Louisville’s Camp Taylor neighborhood quickly turned into a powerful display of community support.

Louisville Metro Animal Services rescued more than 40 animals from a home on Monday after police requested assistance following a wellness check at the property late last week.

From the outside, the home showed signs of neglect. Spray paint covered the windows, and a fading rose bush sat near the front porch. But neighbors said the conditions inside were far worse than anyone could have imagined.

“It’s been bad for years,” neighbor Dom Bosco said.

Bosco said conditions appeared to worsen in recent months.

“It really took a bad turn around June when I smelled the really horrible smell that I knew wasn’t coming from our trash cans alone,” Bosco said. “My theory was that it was a dead animal under her porch.”

A wellness check brought police and firefighters to the home Thursday night. Police then contacted Louisville Metro Animal Services.

By Monday morning, rescue crews began removing dozens of animals, including dogs, cats and birds.

“I would love to say I was shocked, but I’d been hearing for weeks an innumerable amount of barking,” neighbor Cassian Glen said.

Animal services officials said the rescue was physically and emotionally exhausting.

“Our lieutenants were exhausted, and their eyes were just bloodshot from the smell, just covered in feces and everything else,” a Louisville Metro Animal Services spokesperson said. “We were ready to stop at 27, but we could still hear dogs barking, so they went back in.”

Initially, the rescue appeared likely to add even more strain to an already overcrowded shelter that has repeatedly asked the public for help.

Instead, the community responded almost immediately.

By the time Louisville Metro Animal Services returned to the shelter with the rescued animals, staff members said people were already waiting in the lobby to foster.

“They were all waiting for an animal to take home,” a spokesperson said. “Whether it was connected to this case or they simply wanted to foster, they were just coming to help. It was an incredible community response.”

Staff members stayed at the shelter until nearly 10 p.m., spending hours bathing the animals and treating them for fleas.

“Fosters came in and took exactly what we needed and did exactly what the shelter and the community needed,” the spokesperson said. “The response was very, very positive.”

Still, shelter leaders say the rescue also highlights a much larger issue.

“While a number of animals from that house are still potentially needing forever homes, there are so many other animals here that would benefit from families, too,” the spokesperson 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 Adam Bartow

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    CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine (WMTW) — An intense thunderstorm last week caused a lot of damage in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth.

A 69 mph wind gust was recorded at the Portland International Jetport during the storm, and the airport lost power for hours. A wind gust of 80 mph was recorded in Cape Elizabeth and countless trees came down in that community.

Officials have said that cleanup from the storm will likely take weeks to complete.

With that in mind, Cape Elizabeth is now giving residents until Friday, Aug. 28, to get rid of brush and debris from the storm at the Transfer Station for no cost.

Free brush disposal is also available to South Portland residents only at the South Portland Transfer Station until 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, including brush, branches, logs and small stumps up to 6 inches in diameter. City officials said a resident permit is required for free disposal, and that the transfer station is open from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

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 Crystal Bermudez

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    LOMPOC, California (KSBY) — Farmworkers rallied outside a recent Central Coast wine industry celebration, calling for higher wages and greater recognition for the workers who help produce the region’s wine.

The demonstration took place outside the Wine & Fire event at 10 Ninths Winery Estate in Lompoc on Friday. Wine & Fire, a four-day festival hosted by the Sta. Rita Hills Wine Alliance, celebrated the region’s wineries and the 25th anniversary of the Sta. Rita Hills American Viticultural Area.

Farmworkers joined Alianza Campesina, the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), and the Mixteco/Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) for the rally.

Among them was Maria, a farmworker who asked KSBY News not to show her face or disclose her last name because of her immigration status and concerns related to her current employment at a winery in Buellton.

Maria said she earns $18 an hour harvesting grapes. She described harvest season as demanding, with some shifts beginning as early as midnight or 3 a.m. and continuing for eight hours, sometimes in cold overnight conditions.

She said rising everyday expenses have made it difficult to make ends meet on her current wage.

“No, it’s not enough,” Maria said in Spanish. “If we look at how much gas costs, everything keeps going up, but wages don’t.”

Amancio de la Cruz, who said he also works in agriculture, joined Friday’s demonstration. He said workers are pushing for a wage of $26 an hour.

De la Cruz said he believes current agricultural wages are not enough to cover workers’ expenses and that the campaign is intended to improve wages for farmworkers across the industry.

“We’re in this fight to reach the goal we want, a wage of $26 an hour,” de la Cruz said in Spanish.

Organizers said the location and timing of the demonstration were intentional.

Wine & Fire brings together wine producers and consumers for several events across the Sta. Rita Hills. Organizers of the demonstration said they wanted farmworkers’ concerns to be heard while the industry gathered to celebrate its wines and achievements.

Eric Ramirez Zepeda, a policy advocate with CAUSE, said the celebration provided an opportunity to highlight the labor behind the region’s wine industry.

Ramirez Zepeda described Wine & Fire as one of the wine industry’s biggest events of the year and said the industry’s accomplishments would not be possible without farmworker labor.

Fernando Martinez, a community organizer with MICOP in Santa Maria, said farmworkers have organized over the past several years around wages and working conditions in Santa Barbara County.

“We are here to make sure that the voices of those who are behind every bottle of wine are heard,” Martinez said.

Organizers also said the wage issue has been raised with local elected officials and that they want the conversation to continue at the Santa Barbara County level.

For Maria, the demonstration was also about reminding consumers about the people whose labor goes into the wine they drink.

“We work hard to bring you the wine that you’re drinking,” Maria said in Spanish. “We want people to take us into account as people. We’re working, and all we’re asking for is a fair wage.”

KSBY news reached out to the Sta. Rita Hills Wine Alliance requesting a response to the farmworkers’ wage demands but did not receive a response.

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.