Month: September 2026

By Anna McAllister

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — A disturbing video viewed more than 1 million times on TikTok has led to the arrest of a Brickell man on animal cruelty charges and the rescue of a malnourished French bulldog.

The video, captured by Rosalicia Bernal, showed the dog surrounded by waste on a balcony at the ParkLine Condos.

“I need help. The dog is not safe,” Bernal said in the video. She added that seeing the animal in that situation left her feeling “terrible, bad, broken-hearted, confused”.

The video caught the attention of Caterina Balzano, who joined Bernal in advocating for the animal. Both women contacted police, prompting officers and animal control to intervene and transport the dog for medical treatment.

Police arrested the dog’s owner, 27-year-old Kevin Benjamin, for animal cruelty.

According to Benjamin’s arrest report, the dog’s ribs, spine, and other bony structures were visibly prominent through its skin, which appeared loose and lacked normal body condition. Officers noted no readily accessible food or water for the animal.

“When it comes to safety, not only for human beings but for our furry friends, we take this seriously,” City of Miami Police Chief Edwin Lopez said. “We were able to salvage one animal, and the community coming together in this magnitude, for us, was very fruitful”.

On Monday, the City of Miami held a press conference addressing community action and recognizing both women for their efforts to save the dog.

“If the community collectively — the Miami community — moved the way they did on Friday, we would all have a city that’s much closer to what we all dream of seeing in Miami,” Balzano said.

The dog is currently receiving medical care and is set to be adopted by Bernal.

“Adoption — approved! It’s my baby!” Bernal said. She plans to rename the dog and pick it up from the veterinarian on Oct. 10.

CBS News Miami reached out to Benjamin for comment, but hasn’t heard back.

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 Jamal Goss

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — In a Morehouse College gym, students from across the Atlanta University Center turned pieces of fleece, everyday essentials, and handwritten notes into something meant for people they may never meet.

The service project, called “Wrapped in Hope,” brought students together to make no-sew blankets, assemble hygiene and comfort kits, and write messages of encouragement for people experiencing homelessness, including veterans.

For Spelman College senior Genesis Price, the work has become familiar. Price said this was her fifth time participating in a service event with Blankies 4 My Buddies.

“I think just because of that aspect of it being so hands-on, that’s what really keeps me coming back,” Price said.

Price worked from the gym floor, spreading out fleece before carefully cutting and assembling a blanket.

For her, the impact extends beyond what volunteers can see.

“I don’t think they’re realizing the lives that they’re actually touching,” Price said. “You may not do the passing out.”

Price said that separation between the volunteer and recipient can make it difficult for students to understand the impact of their work.

“Without seeing that portion, I just don’t think that students know how much they’re really helping someone out there who is losing hope,” she said.

The blankets were only one part of the effort. Volunteers also packed hygiene kits with everyday essentials and wrote notes that would eventually reach people outside the gym.

Chris Matthews, with Blankies 4 My Buddies, said those seemingly small gestures can carry meaning.

“Somebody’s gonna read this note,” Matthews said. “We got college kids thinking about more than just themselves.”

The service also has become a family tradition for the Matthews family.

Blankies 4 My Buddies began in 2013 after then-5-year-old C.J. Matthews and his family experienced a pregnancy loss. The organization says C.J.’s grief inspired an effort to bring comfort to others through blankets and other essential items.

His younger brother, Kollin Matthews, is now taking part in that work.

“My brother, I have to fill my brother’s shoes,” Kollin said. “And I just want to continue.”

For Price, the process ended where it began with a blanket in her hands. This time, it was finished and ready to leave the gym.

“They’re going to have something that someone made with love around them, the love that we have for them, even if we’ve never met them,” Price said.

Once the blankets are completed, Price said volunteers fold them and place them on a table to be distributed.

They may never know exactly who receives them.

But for Price, knowing someone will is enough.

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 Meghan Schiller

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    PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A 49-year-old woman traveled to Pittsburgh for an experimental treatment she said gave her hope for the first time in years.

Jennifer King is getting brain surgery at Allegheny General Hospital to hopefully control her opioid addiction cravings. The mother of two and healthcare worker drove three hours for a recent appointment with her neurosurgeon, Dr. Nestor Tomycz, to adjust the electrode in her brain. If it works, King said she will finally be back to her old self.

“I see the me from 13 years ago and before, when my kids were small and I raised them, and I didn’t have any of these hang-ups or baggage,” King said.

She struggled for years after a serious car crash left her addicted to opioids.

“I had a neck injury that was a whiplash that just kept getting injured, reinjured, and it got to the point where I was having these debilitating headaches every day,” she said. “In the beginning, when I could get scripts, I was very high functioning. But there came a point when I switched over to the illegal, that wasn’t.”

After trying many other evidence-based treatments with no luck, she started searching for clinical trials. That’s when she stumbled upon Allegheny Health Network’s trial to study deep brain stimulation, or DBS. She said she reached out immediately.

“Didn’t go into a lot of detail, but just said I’ve had multiple failed attempts,” King said. “I realize that there is an investment in time and travel, and I’m willing and able to do it.”

Tomycz said the trial’s first patient, a man from New York, is two years clean. King is the second patient.

“DBS is a very safe, reversible surgery where we put electrodes into the brain, and we’ve been doing it for 30 years now for movement disorders,” Tomycz said.

But it’s new in the disease of addiction, so doctors needed permission from the Food and Drug Administration.

“Since the opioid epidemic has been so terrible in the last decade, we did get permission to try it in three patients,” Tomycz said.

King underwent brain surgery in late August and now works with Tomycz to tweak the electrode’s strength.

“It’s getting to be a little scary now because it’s happening, but I’m really grateful,” King said.

The 1.2-millimeter electrode goes in a spot in the brain where cravings start.

“We know now where in the brain these cravings seem to start,” Tomycz said. “And by placing electrodes into this region, we seem to be able to control cravings with some of the preliminary evidence in animals and human studies. So, it’s very new, it’s very experimental.”

It’s an experiment King thinks is worth it if it means getting her old self back.

“There’s just a lot of things that I have not been able to do because of my addiction that I’m looking forward to doing,” she said.

King is the second of three participants allowed in the trial. That means AHN is also actively looking for the final participant.

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 Joe Brandt, Eva Andersen, Joe Holden, Chilekasi Adele

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — The investigation into the Horsch home — or so-called “house of horrors” — in Philadelphia’s Olney neighborhood is expected to ramp up over the coming weeks, police sources tell CBS News Philadelphia.

FBI agents and Philadelphia police crime scene personnel pulled up to the home on the 400 block of Chew Avenue Monday morning and soon established a perimeter with police tape and tents. Law enforcement is 3D photographing the home from top to bottom.

Sources say police are looking at everything in the home, including the flooring, drywall and plaster. Investigators will be removing pieces of the home’s interior, guided by what they have seen since reviewing 1 million-plus videos and images recovered from inside.

The home, which has been called a “preying ground” for vulnerable women, is linked to at least seven missing persons cases, including five women who are feared dead.

Investigators have identified 58 women seen in the videos recovered from the home, police said earlier this month. Investigators are looking to uncover evidence of murder and other crimes believed to have happened inside the home at 417 Chew Ave., including places where there might be DNA or blood.

The home is owned by Eugene Horsch, and his late father, Raymond “R.C.” Horsch, lived in the home before his death last year.

Over the next few weeks, the investigation will expand and include heavy construction equipment, street closures and parking restrictions for some residents, police sources say.

Investigators have identified 58 women seen in the videos recovered from the home, police said earlier this month. Investigators are looking to uncover evidence of murder and other crimes believed to have happened inside the home at 417 Chew Ave., including places where there might be DNA or blood.

The home is owned by Eugene Horsch, and his late father, Raymond “R.C.” Horsch, lived in the home before his death last year.

Over the next few weeks, the investigation will expand and include heavy construction equipment, street closures and parking restrictions for some residents, police sources say.

A woman who asked not to be identified told CBS News Philadelphia there were rumors about the Horsch home and missing people.

“I’ve been around here 50-some years, and that house had been strange, and people like go in there and wouldn’t come back out,” she said. “When they go in, they don’t come out, and people have been saying that for years.”

The investigation was fueled by a traffic stop that resulted in Eugene Horsch’s arrest on gun and drug charges in June. In that stop, which occurred near the federal courthouse at 6th and Market streets, Horsch was found with guns and drugs as well as fake DEA credentials.

An unidentified woman who was with Horsch also gave investigators an ID with the name Blair Tonzelli, a woman who had been reported missing in 2023.

Soon after, federal law enforcement obtained several search warrants for the home. The nameless woman told investigators she was scared to enter the home’s basement “because of things he did down there,” sources said. She did not specify who “he” was.

Philadelphia police previously said an elaborate laboratory with corrosive and toxic chemicals was located in that basement. Investigators are awaiting test results of some 50 containers of an oily, sludge-like substance removed from the basement.

In some of his own writings, R.C. Horsch talked about a process made to sound routine of dissolving human remains, known as alkaline hydrolysis.

Police and sources have named five women who were previously reported missing and may have been connected to the Horsch home. Seven missing women in total have been linked to the house.

Three women are believed to be dead: Gabrielle Amarando, Maribel Fresses and Nicole Fusaro.

Two more women with connections to the house — Blair Tonzelli and Raymond Horsch’s ex-wife Amy McHale — are still considered missing.

Multiple sources fear there will be more victims connected to the Horsch home.

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 McIlree

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    DETROIT (WWJ) — What started as an ordinary day along Southfield Freeway turned into a scavenger hunt for Metro Detroit skateboarders after legendary skater Tony Hawk left a skateboard hidden near M-39.

Thousands of drivers pass through the area every day, focused on getting to work, school, or home. But for local skateboarding fans, the stretch near Fargo and Southfield became the center of attention.

Among them was Jon Meyer, who has been skateboarding for 50 years and says he’s followed Hawk’s career for decades.

“I spotted that rusty rail on the service over between Seven and Eight and headed out here as fast as I could,” Meyer said.

When word spread that Hawk had hidden a board in the area, Meyer quickly made his way to the location, hoping to be the one to find it.

“It’s just like a bicycle. Once you learn to skate, you don’t forget it,” Meyer said.

But by the time Meyer arrived, someone else had already claimed the prize.

“I wish I would have got out here a little earlier. Could have grabbed it,” he said.

While the board may be gone, Hawk’s impact on Detroit’s skateboarding community remains. The California skateboarding icon has ties to Detroit and helped fund the city’s It Takes a Village Skatepark. His influence continues to inspire skaters across Metro Detroit, including James Leichliter.

“For me, there’s been nothing like it. Now that we’re talking about it, I can kind of recollect this has inspired a lot of art in my life,” Leichliter said. “Tony’s been a big inspiration for most of us, skateboarding, if not all of us,” Leichliter said.

Leichliter skates at Riverside Park nearly every day and says one of his biggest dreams is to skate alongside Hawk someday.

This isn’t the first city where Hawk has left a hidden skateboard. He has also placed boards in other locations across the country, creating excitement among fans eager to connect with one of the sport’s most recognizable figures.

As for where the next board will appear, that’s still a mystery.

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 Aaron Parseghian

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    ASHLAND, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A food delivery driver says he is thankful he was not a few seconds farther down the road after a falling tree crashed onto power lines and sparked an explosion directly in front of his car during Saturday night’s nor’easter.

Alex Ferranti was making food deliveries in Ashland, Massachusetts, when his dash camera captured the frightening encounter on West Union Street.

“Quite literally out of the blue, I get what felt like a flashbang straight to my face. I thought it was a lightning strike at point-blank range,” Ferranti said.

Dash camera video shows a large tree falling across the road and onto power lines, sending a blast of blue light and sparks into the air as Ferranti slammed on his brakes.

“I felt like I was watching a movie,” Ferranti said after reviewing the footage.

Ferranti said he was traveling about 30 mph and trying to drive cautiously on the narrow road in the storm when the flash caught his attention.

“I was trying to keep it casually safe at a narrow road like that. And then I didn’t even see the tree bark falling. It was the flash I saw first,” Ferranti said.

The tree landed across both sides of the road, blocking traffic. Ferranti said he immediately called 911.

“I had to call 911 to let the authorities know of the situation at hand,” he said.

First responders credited Ferranti with paying attention to the road and quickly reporting what happened. Ferranti said he was grateful the tree did not come down just moments later. “I’m so glad I wasn’t a few meters ahead,” he said.

After the close call, he wanted to make sure the footage was saved so others could see how quickly dangerous conditions can develop.

“My first instinct was to make sure that video clip was saved just so people can be aware of the potential dangers of nature,” Ferranti said.

Despite the falling tree, downed wires and blocked road, Ferranti still had a delivery to finish. “I just found my alternate route to the DoorDash customer,” he said.

Asked if he still completed the delivery, Ferranti replied, “Oh, yeah. I was thinking, well, I’ve got to find another route.” And when asked whether the customer tipped him well, Ferranti said, “Oh yeah.”

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 Alex Glaze

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A Baltimore Ravens employee has set an ambitious goal for himself — running seven marathons in seven days in an effort to raise $100,000 for the Brigance Brigade Foundation.

For Dave Lang, running hasn’t always been fun. He actually isn’t sure it’s fun at all. “I don’t know how much I actually enjoy it,” Lang said.

But he added that his running has always served a purpose. “It’s something I do to keep in shape for my three girls so I can be active with them.”

This year, though, Lang is pushing himself to the limit and running the World Marathon Challenge. The event includes seven marathons in seven consecutive days, and on seven different continents.

“Ordinary people are capable of achieving extraordinary things,” Lang said. “That is what I keep telling people.”

An extraordinary challenge, fueled by a mission: to raise awareness for ALS.

Lang has two goals: finish the race and raise $100,000 for the Brigance Brigade Foundation to honor beloved Ravens figure O.J. Brigance, who died in August following a 19-year battle with the disease.

Chanda Brigance is O.J.’s wife and co-founder of the Brigance Brigade Foundation. “To know that there are genuinely people out there who are really, genuinely, walking this walk with us who genuinely care, it’s just amazing,” she said.

Lang was hired by the Ravens in 2007, weeks after Brigance was diagnosed with ALS.

“I watched as the disease took its toll on his body and took away his ability to walk and speak verbally, but it never changed O.J.’s spirit. It never changed who he was.”

Only 292 people have completed the World Marathon Challenge. Lang is confident he will cross all seven finish lines.

“I know there will be some times during the seven marathons where it gets tough, but I am just going to remember in those moments what I am doing this for and I truly believe that O.J.’s spirit is going to be with me and giving me strength to cross those seven finish lines.”

Anyone can support Dave and his efforts to raise money for the Brigance Brigade Foundation.

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 WTKR Staff

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    RODANTHE, North Carolina (WTKR) — The North Carolina Department of Transportation expects to reopen N.C. 12 on Pea Island to northbound traffic Wednesday morning after the highway was closed for days following storm damage.

The section of highway between the Basnight Bridge and Rodanthe has been closed since the early morning hours of Sept. 24, when a 1,000-foot section of pavement near the Pea Island Visitor Center was damaged by repeated ocean overwash during a powerful nor’easter.

After tidal conditions eased Sunday, work began on re-creating a protective sand dune along the highway while removing asphalt and grading for a one-lane onsite detour. Work continued early Monday morning, and NCDOT said crews are now confident that a Wednesday morning reopening will take place.

Upon reopening, the temporary detour will be open only to northbound traffic until congestion is cleared. There is currently no timeline for when the road will reopen to southbound traffic. Traffic volume is expected to be very high upon reopening, so motorists are advised to be patient and drive through the area with extreme caution.

After congestion on the Hatteras side is cleared, Dare County officials will announce when southbound traffic will be allowed. At that point, the one-lane detour will be controlled by automated signals.

Meanwhile, the emergency ferry route between Rodanthe and Stumpy Point will remain in operation on its 24-hour-a-day schedule until traffic congestion on Hatteras Island subsides and officials determine the route is no longer needed.

NCDOT will announce the N.C. 12 reopening on social media and by news release. For real-time travel information, visit DriveNC.gov or follow NCDOT on social media.

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WTKR 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 Jennifer McLogan

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    LONG ISLAND, New York (WCBS) — After three days of nor’easter conditions on Long Island, the cleanup and damage assessment continued on Monday.

Trees toppled power lines during the storm, but PSEG Long Island said it has restored power to most customers.

There was steep erosion at Gilgo Beach, where the Army Corps of Engineers was already mobilized for sand replenishment.

Smith Point Park stairs to the surf were wiped out and at Jones Beach, the berm held up but parts of the fishing pier were knocked down.

In addition, the Northwell at Jones Beach Theater suffered significant infrastructure damage.

“The water covered the entire orchestra seats, all the way through the aisle seats into the promenade,” said George Gorman of New York State Parks.

CBS News New York met with families recovering from outages and flooding. Homeowners are hoping Monday’s high-tide cycles and damage are behind them.

One community that was hit particularly hard was the South Shore town of Lindenhurst.

Mike Felicetti said his home was surrounded by flood water for three days. He still had the pumps working overtime on Monday.

“The tide comes through the ground and around the house, so we try to keep it from filling the crawl space,” Felicetti said.

“It’s unbelievable just so much money you spend trying to fix and then all of a sudden you get this water,” homeowner Eileen Lee said.

Flood insurance helps, but after a prolonged storm and neighborhood streets underwater, the Lopez family said it takes an emotional toll.

“I was stuck inside the house with six kids all weekend, and it was stressful,” Michele Lopez said.

Soccer practices were canceled.

“They are way too wet to play on. If the kids were to go out there, they would destroy them for the rest of the season,” said Megan Schaming of the Lindenhurst Soccer Club.

Homeowners Darlene and Robert Fantel said they are willingly working with Mother Nature.

“We elevated our home. We elevated our property,” Darlene Fantel said.

They said the price to pay for living on the Great South Bay is well worth it.

“We love it. We’ve been here for over 20 years,” Robert Fantel 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.