Author: CNN Newsource

By Jim Keithley

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    SACO, Maine (WMTW) — A man who lives in Maine is back home after spending three weeks in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency more commonly known as ICE.

Saco resident Makengo Nzeza, an asylum seeker from Angola, said he was heading back to his family’s house from Maine Medical Center on Jan. 23, five days after his wife delivered their fourth child following an emergency C-section.

Nzeza said two vehicles with six ICE agents pulled him over at gunpoint and took him into custody.

“Two guys come in my car and one pointed a gun,” Nzeza said.

Nzeza said he was then put in a van with 10 other detainees and driven to Burlington, Massachusetts, where he and dozens of others spent six days and five nights.

“The conditions were not good, no,” he said. “They put maybe 40 to 45 people in the same room, and not so big a room.”

Nzeza said there was some food, but they had to sleep on a cold floor.

“It was stressful,” he said. “It was not good conditions for humans, for days and days.”

After those rough days in Burlington, Nzeza was transferred to a facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where he spent two more weeks.

Nzeza said his immigration lawyer met with a judge and after posting $2,000 bond, he was released and returned home on Feb. 12.

“Everybody was happy to see me, and thanks to them for what they did for my family and myself, too,” Nzeza said.

Nzeza thanked the community at the First Parish Congregational Church in Saco, which rallied behind his family in his time of need.

The Rev. Scott Cousineau, the church’s senior minister, spoke with Maine’s Total Coverage several days after Nzeza was apprehended.

“He’s not the ‘worst of the worst.’ He’s the best of the best,” Cousineau said of Nzeza.

Nzeza said Thursday that he is grateful to be home and to be able to hold his newborn daughter in his arms. His entire family returned to the church on Sunday, Feb. 15. During the service, Cousineau called Nzeza up to the pulpit and he received a standing ovation from the congregation.

Nzeza called his ICE detainment a terrible ordeal.

“The brutality they used on me, I did not understand because I did not do nothing bad,” he said.

Nzeza said he is in the United States legally, but his asylum case is pending. He will have to return to Massachusetts sometime in the next two to three months and defend his case in front of a judge.

On Friday, Nzeza plans to return to work at an assisted living facility for people suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Nzeza said he is active and involved in the community. He is also a member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.

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 Kara Kenney

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    JENNINGS COUNTY, Ind. (WRTV) — The parents of an 11-year-old girl who died by suicide have filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging the school district failed to address “severe and pervasive bullying.”

Brooklyn Cook, a 5th grader in the Jennings County School Corporation, died by suicide on February 17, 2025.

Her parents, Benjamin and Sarah Cook, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Tuesday.

The complaint details accounts from the 2024-2025 school year in which students repeatedly told Brooklyn to kill herself, physically groped her at school, and sent abusive messages.

“On multiple occasions, male students inappropriately touched Brooklyn’s body without her consent,” read the lawsuit. “Examples of the male students’ verbal harassment included, but were not limited to, telling Brooklyn that she smelled, calling her “Megamind”, laughing at her, calling her fat and ridiculing her in the presence of others. The male students repeatedly told Brooklyn that she needed to kill herself.”

The lawsuit says several of Brooklyn’s friends tried to look out for her and reported the allegations.

According to the complaint, one friend showed a guidance counselor a text message in which a male student told Brooklyn, “f*ck you, kill yourself, I f*cking hope you die in a shit show you dumb f*cking whore.”

Her parents allege Brooklyn was the victim of“severe and pervasive bullying, sexual harassment, and sexual touching by male classmates.”

Brooklyn’s parents allege these incidents were reported numerous times by Brooklyn, her friends, and staff to North Vernon Elementary School teachers, counselors, and administrators in the Jennings County School Corporation.

“The bullying, harassment, and sexual misconduct directed at Brookyln was repeatedly reported to school officials,” read the lawsuit. “The male students engaging in the bullying, harassment and sexual abuse of Brooklyn were never disciplined for this bullying during the 2024-2025 school year.”

The lawsuit also alleges:

During the 2023-2024 school year, while Brooklyn was in the fourth grade at North Vernon, she was subjected to regular severe bullying and harassment by two (2) male students in her class. The bullying was reported to school administrators and as a result of these reports, the male students were removed from Brooklyn’s classroom. After the male students’ removal from the classroom, the bullying ceased, and the remainder of the 2023-2024 school year passed without further incident. During the 2024-2025 school year, when Brooklyn was in the fifth grade, the same male students were in Brooklyn’s classroom again. Shortly thereafter, the same male students, along with additional male students resumed and escalated the bullying Brooklyn experienced in fourth grade. WRTV Investigates reached out to the school corporation for comment on the lawsuit.

“We strongly deny the allegations and will have no further comment on this pending legal matter at this time,” the Jennings County School Corporation superintendent said in an email to WRTV.

The law firm representing the Cooks issued a statement on the lawsuit.

“Despite repeated reports, clear signs of emotional distress, and specific warnings about sexual assault concerns and suicide threats, we believe school officials failed to take reasonable and effective steps to protect Brooklyn or remove the offending students from her classroom, even though similar action had stopped bullying the prior school year,” read a statement from CohenMalad, LLP. “On behalf of Brooklyn’s parents, the complaint alleges that this failure to act allowed the abuse to continue and escalate, contributing to Brooklyn’s severe psychological harm and death. Through this federal lawsuit, Brooklyn’s family seeks accountability from Jennings County School Corporation and individual school officials.”

Counts in the complaint include:

COUNT I: Inadequate Polices and Protection, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 Against all Defendants COUNT II: Violation of Title IX, 20 U.S.C. 38 § 1681 et seq. Against Jennings County School Corporation, Superintendent Nicole Johnson and Principal Leonard Collett COUNT III: Wrongful Death Against All Defendants COUNT IV: Negligence Against All Defendants COUNT V: Negligent Hiring, Training, Supervision and Retention Against JCSC, and Defendants Johnson, Collett and Hill COUNT VI: Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress Against All Defendants

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 Ben Simmoneau

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    FRAMINGHAM, Massachusetts (WCVB) — Leasing solar panels is an easy way to avoid the upfront cost of owning your own system. But it comes with other potential problems, including one most people might not think about: What happens when the company that owns the panels goes bankrupt?

That’s exactly what has happened for customers of Sunnova, and numerous homeowners across Massachusetts say the replacement management company — SunStrong — is leaving them in the dark, letting their systems go unrepaired for months on end. At the same time, they’re still being charged hefty lease payments.

Emilio Spagnuolo is sick and tired of simply trying to get what he’s paying for: power produced from the solar panels on the roof of his Framingham home.

“I feel like I have been taken and that they have not followed through with anything they told me that they would ever do,” he said. “Four times they told me they were coming out. They canceled without notifying me.”

In 2023, he leased his solar panel system from Sunnova, entering a 25-year agreement for $329 per month. He says most months of the year, his electric bill is $0. But that changed last June when he had the system disconnected to put an addition on his home and upgrade his electric service. The same month, Sunnova filed for bankruptcy, and the company was sold a few weeks later.

Construction wrapped at Spagnuolo’s home in August, but he hasn’t been able to get Sunnova or SunStrong Management, the company that took charge of Sunnova’s operations, to reconnect his panels. There are still loose wires hanging from the side of his home where his system should be tied into his electric meter, and he hasn’t been able to obtain a final inspection to close his building permit.

In the meantime, his electric bill skyrocketed, yet SunStrong was still charging him hundreds of dollars in lease charges for the panels each month. Unable to get any resolution, he eventually changed his bank account and told them to stop payment.

“I was paying for something I was not receiving,” he said.

On the South Shore, Ali Cash said she spent far too much time trying to get her solar panels back online after they stopped working last summer. She said calling SunStrong tested her sunny disposition.

“Each call that I placed to SunStrong was anywhere from four to five and a half hours,” she said. “Anytime you call, you don’t talk to a service department. You talk to the department who transfers you to the department that will transfer you to the service department.”

She said she only learned her system was down after she received several electric bills in a row during a time of year when her solar panels should be producing the most power, and her electric bill is typically nothing.

“When they tell me that they can see it’s not working, I don’t understand why they wouldn’t have reached out to begin with,” she said. “As a customer, I had to realize it a few months into the problem.”

Cash pays $228 per month for solar panels that didn’t work for half a year, and like Spagnuolo, has also been paying electric bills she wouldn’t have received if her system was working properly. In the Sunnova lease is a clause that says a customer “will not be charged for the System being offline due to Sunnova’s fault.” Despite that, neither Cash nor Spagnuolo was offered credits for the time their systems were down.

They also believe SunStrong needs to strengthen its maintenance response.

“There’s been no follow-up from the company at all, knowing that I’ve been through all of this,” Cash said.

Her system is now back up and running, but Spagnuolo’s is not. After NewsCenter 5 contacted SunStrong, the company sent a technician to his home but could not get it back online without additional equipment. A follow-up visit this week did not happen as scheduled.

Both customers believe SunStrong owes them credits for the time their systems were down, and a company spokesperson said they will “evaluate customer credits, at a customer’s request, once the system is repaired. This enables us to see the full timeline of any outage.” That indicates a customer must actively ask for the reimbursement.

Other solar lease customers experiencing long waits for maintenance should file a complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

Those complaints could be helpful for the state to consider action on solar providers who aren’t responsive.

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 Stephanie Moore

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    MONROE, North Carolina (WYFF) — A North Carolina man was arrested after breaking into a business and trying to evade police by playing a game of hide-and-seek, including hiding under a tarp and inside a hole.

The Monroe Police Department arrested Brandon Tyler Campbell, 30, of Monroe, on Thursday afternoon after an early morning break-in at Carolina Cat on Morgan Mill Rd.

Illegal alligator found in home Illegal alligator found in SC home during search for child sex offenses, deputies say Officers said they determined that Campbell had broken into the business and was using it as a hiding place following an incident the previous night.

When employees arrived to start their workday, police said Campbell ran from the building, taking several items, including a pair of Hey Dude shoes, a jacket, and a Wi-Fi box.

After identifying Campbell and obtaining warrants, officers were called to a suspicious person near Windsor Windows on Sutherland Avenue. An officer spotted Campbell attempting to hide near a tarp. When he realized officers were nearby, he ran again.

Another officer launched a drone, which kept a clear view from above as Campbell tried a series of hiding spots, first inside a large hole near a concrete plant, then underneath a large storage container. The drone operator maintained sight of him until a K-9 arrived.

Campbell was taken into custody.

SaundersMan arrested at Waffle House after killing two people in front of young children, prosecutors say He is charged with felony habitual breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, first-degree trespassing, simple assault, and resist, delay, and obstruct.

When officers arrested Campbell, they said he was still wearing the stolen Hey Dudes.

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 Stephanie Moore

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    JASPER COUNTY, South Carolina (WYFF) — An alligator was found inside a South Carolina home during the execution of a search warrant related to child sex offenses, according to authorities.

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said they executed a search warrant Thursday at the home of James Allen Beckett, 64, of Ridgeland.

arrest made toccoa skyline driveTeen, his mother and another man arrested after fight over gun at Georgia home, deputies say During the search, deputies found an alligator that was being kept illegally.

Authorities contacted the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, which responded to assist with the safe removal of the animal.

Beckett has been charged with five counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

Additional charges are pending, including potential charges that may be brought forth by SCDNR.

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 Stephanie Moore

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    KERSHAW, South Carolina (WYFF) — Firefighters in South Carolina say a family was saved from a house fire thanks to one decision they made before going to bed.

The Kershaw County Fire Service said firefighters were called about 7:20 a.m. Thursday to a mobile home fire in Elgin.

Firefighters said when they arrived, they found one person was trapped inside.

The person was rescued through a bedroom window and only had minor injuries.

While putting out the fire, the firefighters noted that the residents had been sleeping with their bedroom doors closed.

They said this simple action made a significant difference.

Firefighters say closed doors can help slow the spread of smoke and heat, creating a safer environment and providing valuable time during a fire. They say an easy way to remember it is “Close Before You Doze.”

“We cannot stress this enough — sleeping with your bedroom door closed can create a life-saving buffer if a fire occurs in your home at night,” the fire department said in a Facebook post. “It’s a small habit that can make a big impact. Please take a moment tonight to close your bedroom doors and ensure your smoke alarms are working properly.”

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.