Author: CNN Newsource

By Nick Lunemann

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    MINNESOTA (WCCO) — A group of journalism students at the University of Minnesota is receiving training typically reserved for professional reporters working in dangerous environments as part of a new initiative called Crisis Ready Media with Chris Post.

The program put on by the Star Tribune held a four-hour session for local journalists, which included hostile environment awareness and first aid training designed to help students make informed decisions about safety while reporting in volatile situations. Faculty members say participation is optional and that no student is required to cover protests or enforcement activity.

Senior lecturer Regina McCombs said the training reflects the changing realities facing journalists, including students.

“It was a little disconcerting, honestly, to be talking about tourniquets and dressing bullet wounds with 21-year-olds, and kind of felt a little unfortunate that we needed to put them through this training,” McCombs said. “On the other hand, I would much rather have them be prepared, given the climate.”

The training, offered through professional journalists, mirrors what many working reporters now receive before entering high-risk situations. McCombs said students are given the choice of whether or not to participate.

“Some students have just been like, ‘Send me out, coach.’ And others have been like, ‘I’m cool. This is not my scene.’ And that’s fine,” she said.

Journalism senior Hannah Reynolds said the experience challenged her expectations of what journalism school would involve.

“I never imagined myself learning how to patch a bullet wound — not in my college training,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the training emphasized situational awareness, ethical decision-making and knowing when to leave a scene.

“No story is worth dying over,” she said.

Journalism seniors Casey Marble and Neil Roy both work for MN Daily Media and have been reporting in the field, covering protests and vigils in Minneapolis.

Marble said his reporting experience reshaped how he views the profession.

“Never had there been an encounter where I was face to face with me and my camera and dozens of federal agents running at me with batons,” Marble said.

Marble said the training reinforced why he wants to pursue journalism, even as the risks become more apparent.

“It’s reaffirmed why I decided to major in journalism,” he said. “It’s happening in my hometown — the place where we go to school, we live, we work.”

Roy said the program highlights the human responsibility journalists carry when covering dangerous situations.

“We as journalists are people, and I think it’s really important that we remember that we are people first and storytellers second,” Roy said.

Faculty members say Crisis Ready Media is meant to prepare students without pressuring them into unsafe situations, while reinforcing professional judgment and ethical responsibility.

The University of Minnesota says the program will continue as part of its broader effort to prepare students for real-world reporting challenges.

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 Peter D’Oench

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    COCONUT GROVE, Florida (WFOR) — An 81-year-old Coconut Grove man and his wife are speaking out for the first time after being struck from behind earlier this month by a teenager riding an electric dirt bike.

CBS News Miami sat down exclusively with Hank Klein and his 76-year-old wife, Lisa Sloat, just days after they returned home from Mercy Hospital, where they had been recovering since the January 11th crash.

According to a Miami Police crash report, a 15-year-old lost control of his dirt bike and slid into both pedestrians. Citations are pending against the driver.

Klein and Sloat are now recuperating at home with assistance from aides and therapists. Klein described the crash, which happened around 11 a.m. near the entrance to Kennedy Park on South Bayshore Drive, as so severe that he was knocked unconscious and suffered a head wound with bleeding on his brain.

The report estimated the bike was traveling at 20 miles per hour, below the posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour. Sloat sustained a fractured ankle and must keep her leg elevated, relying on a walker to get around. Klein’s left arm is in a sling, and he also needs a cane to walk. Both say their recoveries will take months.

“I am not really happy about it at all,” Klein said, breaking down as he recalled the incident. “We were returning from Starbucks, and the next thing I knew, I was in the emergency room. They put 12 staples in my skull.”

Sloat added, “What we really care about is that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Klein believes age restrictions and registration should apply to e-bike users and that police should enforce penalties for dangerous behavior.

“Every day is a struggle,” Klein said. “I’m making progress, but it’s rough.”

Sloat described her injury: “I broke my fibula on my right foot. I have a walker, but I have to hop. It will be six weeks before I can bear weight. Things like showering are difficult because of the cast.”

Sloat also advocated for mandatory insurance for e-bikes and dirt bikes.

The couple has hired attorney Michael Goldfarb, who may file claims for compensation. Goldfarb emphasized it is unacceptable for vehicles like dirt bikes to operate on pedestrian-friendly roads and encouraged Floridians to purchase uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.

Klein and Sloat plan to write to local officials about the dangers of e-bikes and support a proposed bill limiting e-bike speed to 10 miles per hour on sidewalks and pedestrian areas.

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 Ryan Dennis

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    NEWNAN, Georgia (WUPA) — A Newnan mother is using social media to share recipes, build community, and show what perseverance looks like.

If you’re scrolling through your social media feed, you may have seen mom of six Tiana Carston turning everyday meals into special moments.

For Carston, watching her kids devour her kitchen creations is worth every spoonful.

“You see, it feels like a restaurant in here. I always set things up catering-style,” Cartson said.

Known online as Tiana’s Half Dozen, Carston has turned everyday meals for her family of six into an online movement, cooking from the heart and, along the way, inspiring others.

“Somebody followed us around the grocery store the other day, I kid you not,” she said.

And it’s not just the grocery store.

“We were at Texas Roadhouse, and this lady was like, ‘Heyyyyyy,'” she said.

Getting to this moment wasn’t easy. After a mass layoff, Carston found herself without a job and without a place to live.

“They were staying with my grandma, and I said, ‘If we ever get a place again, I’m cooking for my kids,’ because it was expensive being poor,” she recalled.

At one point, she was sleeping in her car, parked near a gas station, just to keep her job.

“I said, ‘Lord, if you ever give me a place again, I’ll cook meals at home.’ And that’s when I started cooking, and that’s how Tiana’s Half Dozen started,” she said.

Budget-friendly meals became a lifeline.

“I try to do like two to three hundred dollars a week, and then I divide that by seven,” she said.

And everyone has a say at the table.

“If they don’t like something, I don’t make them eat it. They swap plates. It all ends up getting ate,” she said.

Online and off, the message stays the same.

“That’s my hashtag: cooking with love,” Cartson said.

It’s a philosophy posted on her fridge and lives in her kitchen. For Tiana and her half dozen, the table is full.

“When we were living in that moment, it was really hard, but we still kept a positive attitude. We cried, and we didn’t understand, and we were all over the place, but I feel like that road led us here, and everything worked for our good,” she said.

A road and a future, she says, has never tasted better.

You can follow Tiana’s Half Dozen on Instagram.

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 Mike Sullivan

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    BOSTON (WBZ) — A new Super Bowl anthem for Patriots Nation has arrived.

A Massachusetts rapper and professor at Berklee College of Music is the voice and mastermind behind a viral song about the Patriots that now may be used by the NFL ahead of the Super Bowl.

“As soon as I did the song, and put it out, it went viral. It shot up all over the place,” said artist Roy Studmire, better known by his stage name IntlShow. “When I put it up, people started reposting and reposting and reposting.”

Studmire’s friend told him the city needed an anthem, and that he should be the one to create it. He quickly set forth creating a song from scratch that centered around the team motto “We all we got, we all we need.”

“Literally when I started creating, I heard this sound. It sounds like a warning sound, like we are coming after the title,” Studmire said. “Obviously, we are in the bounce era and people bouncing on the field. I’m literally visualizing all of this as I’m creating it.”

The song features lines and in game sound bites about Drake Maye, Stefon Diggs, Christian Gonzalez, and Kayshon Boutte.

“The restructure of the team this year, it felt like a brotherhood from our coach to rallying around the team,” Studmire said.

He released the song just before the AFC Championship game between the Broncos and the Patriots. Two days after the Pats victory, the song reached someone with the NFL. Like Studmire, the employee was a Boston Arts Academy alumni, which is Boston’s public high school for performing arts.

“They licensed the song for the NFL and NFL Network, which is exciting in itself for hype videos and reels,” Studmire said. “It’s something where my son can see that his dad really grinded this out and look his song is on the NFL.”

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 Kristen Consillio

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    HONOLULU (KITV) — Milton Yoshimoto has called Date Street his home for more than 50 years. But in just a few months, he’ll be forced to move.

“Well, we got to all scramble and fight for the same apartment,” Yoshimoto said.

From keiki to kupuna, dozens of families over the weekend got notices to vacate and are now scrambling to find homes.

“And when they say affordable, I don’t know what affordable is,” Yoshimoto said. “You know, it’s not affordable for Hawaii people.”

Landowner ʻIolani School is beginning a long-planned expansion, knocking down five aging apartment buildings next to the campus.

According to the school, more than 60% of the units are already vacant.

But the redevelopment is forcing Jessica Ramos’ family to make a bigger move this year to Las Vegas.

“I’m still worried. You know, there’s a lot of stuff going around in the world, but the best thing I would do is probably like move to Vegas,” Ramos said. “I know there’s more opportunities in Vegas. Anywhere but here honestly.”

Like many other kama’aina families, moving away from the islands is painful, but necessary for them to live their dreams.

“Like over here we paid $1,300, but like the two-bedroom and one bathroom that I’ve been looking at, like $2,000 that’s crazy,” Ramos said. “Like a crazy jump from what we have to pay right now.”

‘Iolani School is offering tenants up to $4,000 and help relocating to other homes. Tenants must be out by July 31.

“Some people got to decide to move to the mainland,” Yoshimoto said. “Some people got to move in with family, you know. That’s how it is in Hawaii.”

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 James Taylor

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    SACRAMENTO (KOVR) — A California congressman is calling for more railroad oversight. It comes on the three-year anniversary of one of the nation’s most destructive railway accidents and just a day after a derailment in Stockton.

Most of the 17,000 Pacific Gas and Electric customers now have power restored following Monday’s train accident in the Stockton railyards. But that mishap highlights the impact a train derailment can have on nearby communities.

“Millions of Americans live and work along hazmat railways,” said Ed Kelly, general president of the International Association of Firefighters. “We need to protect them.”

This week marks the three-year anniversary of the fire and explosion in East Palestine, Ohio, that was caused by a train derailment.

Congressman John Garamendi says similar tanker cars carrying flammable chemicals regularly come through Davis, Sacramento, and other Northern California communities.

“And we’ve had our share of almost-serious accidents,” Garamendi said.

He is co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill that would require new railroad safety standards.

“This rail safety bill covers sensible things,” Garamendi said. “It’s not complex, but it is very, very important.”

It would mandate having at least two crew members on board trains. It also requires railroads to install defect detectors that can spot mechanical problems, and it would force railroads to fund more hazmat training for first responders.

“Too often, firefighters arrive at train derailments with limited information and limited training,” Kelly said.

Penalties for safety violations would also be increased.

The Association of American Railroads says there’s no proven safety benefit to justify the cost of requiring two crew members. They oppose these kinds of regulations and want to adopt modern technologies to enhance safety benefits.

But bill supporters say more work needs to be done to protect communities from any more railway disasters.

The authors of the bill are trying to get it included in a vote for the new federal surface transportation reauthorization act.

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.