Author: CNN

KCBS

By Nicole Comstock, Dean Fioresi

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    SIERRA VISTA, California (KCAL, KCBS) — An unlikely run at the California state title has put the Sierra Vista High School Dons girls’ basketball team’s cell phone ban in the spotlight, which they say has not only brought them closer but also helped them dominate their competition.

Head coach Sandra Duckering says that the decision has “made a world of difference” since losing 11 of their first 15 games to start the season.

She says that she believes the Dons kept losing games because they were making TikToks, texting and scrolling social media instead of being present with each other.

“The one thing I noticed is: we were super disconnected,” Duckering said.

From then on, she has confiscated each of the girls’ phones before each practice and game, separating them from their lives outside of basketball to focus on what is now their best season in school history.

She collects the phones in a bucket every day, centering the girls’ attention on their team.

“Once they connected, we got flow. It was just amazing,” she said. “Their game changed. Their bond changed.”

The Dons then began winning games by monstrous scores on their way to SVHS’s first CIF Southern Section Championship and trip to Bakersfield on Tuesday, where they’re taking part in the school’s first-ever State Championship playoff game.

“We’ve been ranked lower, so we’re kind of like the underdogs in this story,” said Cailei Buna, the team’s point guard. “We took that in a way to show the underdogs shouldn’t be slept on.”

On Feb. 18, they scored a season-high 71 points in a playoff matchup, just two games after dominating another opponent 68-7. They’re 14-2 after their rough start to the year, and are averaging nearly 58 points per game.

The team says that the phone ban freed up their attention so that they could focus on working together as a team.

“Before we would argue a lot,” said Mareessa Navarro. “We would have this distance.”

Now, they work hard not just for themselves, but for each other.

“Talking with each other as a team, just being with each other, I think that really got us close, and we’ve just been working hard,” said Evanna Malloy.

They say that hard work pays off, thanks to a simple drop in the bucket.

“I wanna be able to come home with another championship if we can,” said Alyssa Winlock. I wanna work hard. I know my teammates wanna work hard, so we need to hustle and push with everything we have.”

The Dons have to win just four more games to become the state champions. Their first game, against the Foothill High School Trojans, was an unfortunate 55-45 loss, ending their season.

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.

WBBM

By Jermont Terry

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A vape shop stocked with lighters that look more like weapons, available for anyone to walk in and buy.

The issue? They’re popping up in multiple neighborhoods, despite being banned years ago. Now, community leaders and law enforcement are warning of the potential risks of possessing one.

Inside the box, it doesn’t look as threatening. Once opened and pulled out of the package, the flame from the novelty torch lighter is the least of its troubles.

“Just think about what that looks like if I have got an all-black 9mm replica that’s a torch lighter and holding it in my hand,” said Councilman Joseph Williams.

Williams is the 7th District council member with the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability—representing Englewood, where one of the torch lighters from a vape shop was purchased for just $30. Multiple gun replica lighters, including long guns, were also for sale.

“It’s more about the concern for the community, the safety of the community, and making sure these type of things aren’t really allowed and sold in our community,” Williams said.

In 2010, Illinois passed a law making it illegal for any businesses to sell novelty gun lighters, but as more vape shops pop up across the city and suburbs, the 16-year-old law doesn’t appear to be enforced.

“Someone could lose their life because of this,” Williams said.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, is currently recommending that a Chicago police officer be fired for shooting and paralyzing a 13-year-old back in 2022. The officer says they mistook the teen’s cell phone for a weapon and fired.

Robbins Police Chief Terry White said even though we purchased the lighter at a store in Chicago, it could impact any police officer.

“To a child, this is a toy, to an adult, this is maybe impressing someone—either way, it’s a nightmare to any police officer,” Chief White said.

He said even if the person is not pointing the lighter at someone, it puts an officer on the defensive, which can potentially turn into a bad scenario.

“That’s why that’s the biggest issue,” Chief White said.

An issue Williams said he’s seen in other vape shops and will work to ensure those businesses comply.

“We just gotta bring awareness,” he 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.

KOVR

By Brandon Downs

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    Sacramento (KOVR) — An investigation is underway at a Northern California prison after a man died earlier this week, officials said.

Officials at the California State Prison, Sacramento — located in Folsom — found 49-year-old John Cisneros unresponsive in his cell on Monday around 9:15 p.m.

Despite life-saving measures, officials said Cisneros was pronounced dead about 45 minutes later. The extent of his injuries was not released.

Cisnero’s cellmate, 34-year-old Irvin Sanchez, was detained and placed into restricted housing pending an investigation by the investigative services unit and Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

Officials said Cinsero was received from Los Angeles County in July 2015 to serve a five-year sentence for second-degree robbery. He was later sentenced in October 2017 to 28 years for penetration, oral copulation and attempted rape with force/violence/fear of immediate bodily injury.

Sanchez was received from Los Angeles County in February 2013 to serve an 18-year sentence for attempted second-degree murder with a street gang enhancement.

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.

KPIX

By Carlos E. Castañeda

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    SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Two women have been working to build a life-changing community of support in two Concord parks for some 2,000 unhoused people in Contra Costa County.

Their nonprofit serves meals and provides basic life necessities in a park setting where people living on the streets can feel welcome.

“We just want people to come here, have a safe meal, feel seen,” said Kelly McKinley.

McKinley’s program found its roots in 2022 when she helped give away excess fruit from a school that would otherwise have gone to waste.

“So, I came up with ten-dollar meals,” McKinley said. “So, I’d feed 10 to 12 people with $10.”

She spread the word over social media, and before she knew it, she and volunteer Andie Altman started a nonprofit to serve the unhoused.

They call it Grass Roots Outreach Warriors, or GROW Concord.

“We thought what we were doing was helping people grow and evolve,” Altman said. “And the community was growing and evolving because of what we were doing.”

GROW Concord has served more than 32,000 free meals since it started. That’s 300 free hot meals, six days a week – three nights at Baldwin Park and three nights at Cowell Park. The nonprofit relies on private donations, along with volunteers from churches, businesses and schools.

On a recent cold, windy day, volunteers offered nutritious homemade soup, salad and sandwiches. They also gave away donated clothing, basic supplies, and pet food. The nonprofit also provides access to weekly showers and laundry and connects people to resources, such as steps toward sober living.

Stacy Lestrange came to the dinners two years ago, feeling alone. GROW Concord became her family, and a launching pad for change.

“I was that person back then, homeless,” Lestrange said. “So it makes me feel good helping out.”

Today, Lestrange has a job, a roof over her head, two years’ sobriety, and a new purpose as a volunteer.

“Where I used to live underneath the bridge in Solano [County], we go up there and feed the people now,” Lestrange said.

She credits McKinley, Altman, and their volunteer team for giving her hope.

“They’re good people. They have big hearts,” Lestrange said.

McKinley and Altman marvel at the stories of people they’ve helped reunite with their families. People who are off the streets and living clean and sober lives. They’ve learned their small acts of kindness can spark big changes.

“It was to create a community of people that didn’t have a community,” Altman said.

McKinley added, “It kept going, and it ended up being a community labor of love.”

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.

KCNC

By Jennifer McRae

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    COLORADO (KCNC) — A hiker discovered human remains in Douglas County, Colorado, prompting a bigger search for evidence. According to investigators, the search included an area near Crowfoot Valley Road and Pradera Parkway.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office investigators teamed up with the Douglas County Search and Rescue Team for the investigation.

The search area is located east of I-25 and west of The Pinery, north of Castle Rock.

Investigators didn’t provide any additional details about the discovery, only stating that it was an “ongoing investigation.”

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.

KOVR

By Charlie Lapastora

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    SACRAMENTO (KOVR) — Barry Hickerson has more than four decades of experience as a paramedic and worked as an EMS chief for 12 years for Farmington Fire in San Joaquin County. That is, until a few weeks ago, when he tendered his resignation after seeing his Battalion Chief Conni Bailey and Assistant Chief John Kalebaugh also resign.

Hickerson worked closely with both of them and said he talked to Bailey on Wednesday. Bailey’s been with the department for 34 years, and Kalebaugh for 25 years.

“It was tragic to see what happened to them,” Hickerson said. “I mean, the chief should’ve left with a retirement party, not being kicked to the curb. When you do that, when you have a small community like that and these people are connected and have been there for two or three decades, when you see that happen to one or two of them, the other ones are affected gravely.”

Hickerson said he thinks the “community is heartbroken” and told CBS News Sacramento why he decided to leave, as well, claiming there were “oppressive” conditions.

“I think anybody, you just couldn’t work under those conditions where somebody is oppressive. They’re over your shoulder every day, micromanaging what you’re doing, and just talking negatively about them every day, so it was just very challenging to see,” Hickerson said. “I wound up turning in my resignation after they did, given what the department was left with, I didn’t feel the department was safe to function as a firefighter or EMS responder.”

Two captains and a majority of volunteer firefighters also left, according to Hickerson.

“The community is left with now a couple of hopeful and willing probationary firefighters, but they have no senior members there now. They can’t even drive fire apparatus, so they had to have one of the board members that was involved in this, who was a former firefighter, I believe that he has his license to drive fire equipment,” Hickerson said.

This all came around six months after the board changed leadership, including a new board president, Jeff Briggs.

“It was the board’s decision to create that atmosphere that ran those leaders out,” Hickerson said. “They could’ve chose a different way to do it. If they wanted change, there’s definitely better ways to do it. But, literally, they created such a terrible atmosphere. They literally forced the hand of those fire executives to leave. And, believe me, that’s the last thing they wanted to do.”

Hickerson called the work environment “toxic.”

A San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors’ emergency meeting was recently held regarding a new ad-hoc committee looking into the Farmington Fire Department practices. Farmington Fire Board Vice President Jake Samuel represented the board at the meeting.

“At our last board meeting, after we presented that as a recommendation to move forward with the posting of that acting chief, is when we had some, guess you could say, distaste to the direction of where the board of directors was going with an acting chief, someone else from the outside of Farmington coming in and, hence, this is where we’re at today,” Samuel said. “But, we’re trying our hardest to make it right for our community.”

Samuel was appointed to the board in October 2025 and admitted they’ve had struggles.

“I live in the community,” Samuel said. “I want to make sure we have adequate coverage. That’s been the concern of a lot of the people in the area, to make sure we have that adequate coverage.”

Samuel also mentioned the board is looking to add someone outside of the fire district to help with the department administration work, including payroll and paying bills.

“The department ran fine,” Hickerson said. “Those individuals that lost their positions, they counted every dime in that place. There was no funny business, nothing. I mean, they ran that department tight. They never took an extra dollar out of it, and they did a great job year-after-year-after-year-after-year.”

The Farmington Fire board motioned to hire Collegeville’s chief, Vanessa Herrero, as their temporary emergency acting chief until they can find another acting chief while Conni Bailey’s son, Matt, who is Farmington’s Fire chief, is on disability leave.

Hickerson told CBS News Sacramento that if the situation were right, Bailey would come 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.

WBBM

By Tara Molina

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — The mother of an 8-year-old boy who was allegedly put in a chokehold and dragged by the neck by a Chicago Public Schools employee hopes her lawsuit and choice to speak out will help protect children in the future.

Prosecutors have charged Tamika Odeh, 44, a former special education assistant at Parker Elementary in Englewood with aggravated battery. She no longer works for the school or for CPS.

But the boy’s mom said more needs to be done.

“She could have really killed my son,” Tangi Reynolds said. “He didn’t do anything to cause this. He’s just a child. An 8-year-old child. He’s a great kid and a great student.”

In an effort to protect the boy’s identity, CBS News Chicago is not reporting his name or showing his face. His mother said he suffered a ligament injury to his C2 cervical spine, which doctors told her is considered a very serious injury.

Reynolds said her son was an all-A honor roll student with no prior incidents with teachers. She shared photos of the neck brace she said he had to wear for two months after the incident, which happened during breakfast before school had started for the day in November 2025.

“She put him in a chokehold. She dragged him by the neck. And she slammed him to the floor, and his head hit a chair,” Reynolds said. “My son said he went unconscious and when he came to, staff members were above him asking his name and how many fingers he was holding up. And then they sent him back to class.”

She said his 7-year-old brother saw the whole thing and was also sent back to class.

“They did not notify the Chicago Police Department. They did not notify the Department of Children Services,” she said.

Reynolds said the school didn’t even tell her about the incident until the next day and, according to the lawsuit, “despite being placed in a chokehold, losing consciousness and striking the ground, no medical assistance was offered.”

And what incited this incident?

“This all happened over a bag of chips,” Reynolds said. “She confiscated his chips and he attempted to retrieve them back from her.”

The incident report from the school is minimal, but CBS News Chicago found it details exactly what Reynolds says happened, including noting that her son didn’t put his hands on the employee. She said those are the only details she’s received.

“Still to this day they never told me what happened to my son,” she said.

Odeh was arrested and charged with aggravated battery of a child. A CPS spokesperson said Odeh was “removed from duty” after the incident.

The 8-year-old had only been a student at Parker Elementary for less than a year when the incident happened, after moving to the city from the western suburbs. Now in a new CPS school and still getting medical treatment, Reynolds said his injuries were so severe that he still can’t run, jump, play or go to gym class. She said the injury caused him to lose range of motion in his neck, so now he undergoes physical therapy.

“He’s a great kid. He’s very respectful. He’s very active. Well he was active. He loves soccer. He loves Messi. He loves art. He’s a great artist,” Reynolds said.

“So he basically can’t do anything he could do before,” his mother said. “It’s heartbreaking, especially when the doctor told us last week it could stay like that for the rest of the year.”

Reynold said she wants to see change in Chicago Public Schools for children moving forward.

A spokesperson for CPS said they remain committed to student safety and can’t comment on pending litigation, writing in a statement, “Chicago Public Schools (CPS) remains committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of its students. In accordance with District policy, CPS does not comment on pending litigation.”

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.

WBBM

By Megan De Mar

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — Two couples said they are still fighting to get their children back after they were taken from them just hours after their birth.

The reason they said was because of paperwork they didn’t understand. Now, they’re saying the problem needs to be fixed.

Hours after Lakeith and Mykel Ray welcomed their baby boy into the world on Jan. 3, the Department of Children and Family Services came to take him.

When they wouldn’t hand him over, an officer from the Peru Police Department eventually took him from Mykel’s arms.

“It was just … heartbreaking,” Mykel said. “I was not able to breastfeed. I wasn’t able to bond.”

The Rays said it all stemmed from a DCFS hotline call six years ago when their older children were removed from their home to investigate an allegation. They wanted a hearing, but their public defender told them they needed to agree to a “stipulation,” meaning accept certain facts and findings as true without requiring the state to prove them or risk losing their children permanently.

“We didn’t find out until years later that stipulating our rights meant pleading guilty, and we were never guilty of anything,” Mykel said.

They said they never even saw a piece of paper with allegations spelled out.

“We wouldn’t have been in this situation. Our kids would have been home. This case would have been over with … years ago,” Lakeith said.

It’s hard to fathom this feeling, but another couple from Wisconsin doesn’t have to imagine it.

“I haven’t seen him since August,” said Nita P.

Nita and Earl’s newborn baby boy was also taken from them in a Harvey hospital in August. They were just traveling through Illinois when Nita went into labor.

The baby was taken due to allegations of possible drugs in the baby’s system, an allegation that was later contradicted by further testing.

“It felt like, you know, like we was in another country, like, like, this couldn’t possibly be America,” Earl T said. “I just seen the front page and I’m thinking it’s a regular court paper.”

Both said that if they had not agreed to this, knowingly or unknowingly, they would have their son.

“Because we knew what they were saying was false from the beginning,” Nita said.

“Parents are just kind of signing off on these allegations without fully realizing it,” said Rep. Jed Davis (R-Yorkville).

Davis called this a “due process crisis.”

“This isn’t just a traffic ticket. This is a child and a parent,” he said.

Davis introduced House Bill 5254 to overhaul it. The legislation would require each allegation be listed separately and individually acknowledged by the parent.

“Let’s not skip things that can clearly help rectify situations that were wrongfully placed in the beginning,” he said.

Meanwhile, both couples are still actively fighting for their kids, knowing it will be a long and complicated road.

“We have to bring the knowledge to what’s wrong in the system,” Lekeith said. “It’s ripping families apart and taking kids from their families.”

CBS News Chicago reached out to DCFS for the agency’s input on the proposed changes to the stipulation process. A spokesperson said they’re reviewing and monitoring the bill and do not have a position at this time. The bill was introduced this month and referred to the rules committee for further discussion.

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.