Author: CNN Newsource

By Jessica Moore

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — The New York City Police Department has been slapped with a lawsuit claiming officers are engaging in “stop-and-frisk on wheels.”

The department is accused of using traffic stops to target and humiliate tens of thousands of Black and Brown New Yorkers without cause, but the NYPD says their enforcement is data-driven.

NYPD accused of racially discriminatory car searches The NAACP of New York and two Black New Yorkers are suing the NYPD over what they call “widespread, unconstitutional use of racially discriminatory vehicle searches.”

“The searches are not driven by the evidence. They’re driven by racial bias,” New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said.

The NYCLU sued to obtain NYPD data showing more than 84% of vehicles searched from 2022 through September 2025 were driven by Black or Latino drivers, while White drivers made up less than 4% of vehicle searches.

That same data shows most of the searches occurred in Black and Latino neighborhoods. The three precincts with the highest search count were the 75th Precinct in Brooklyn, 113th Precinct in Queens, and the 44th precinct in the Bronx, all of which are comprised of at least 83% Black or Latino residents.

When asked to respond to the lawsuit, the NYPD referred CBS News New York to testimony from an April 2025 City Council hearing, in which the department said it sends more officers to high crime areas.

“And this stuff is objective. It’s, like, from 911 calls, OK? It’s not us, right? It’s the public telling us this,” said Joshua Levin, former NYPD director of legislative affairs. “And so as a result, any time that you have more police officers in a certain area, as a result, you are going to see more enforcement.”

The lawsuit seeks systemic changes within the NYPD that ensure Black and Brown New Yorkers are not unconstitutionally searched.

Justin Cohen is one of the two New Yorkers included in the lawsuit.

Video posted by the NYCLU shows his 2023 traffic stop in the Bronx, recorded by NYPD body cameras.

An officer appears to frisk Cohen as he gets out of the driver’s seat of the car, and at one point, the officer grabs both of Cohen’s hands and raises them from his sides to his shoulders.

“Wait, why are you searching me?” Cohen asks.

“Because when you moved around like that, that makes me think you might–” the officer says.

“Alright, I don’t, I don’t have anything,” Cohen says.

The NYPD found nothing illegal, but seized the car and arrested Cohen, issuing him a speeding ticket which was later dismissed.

“An independent investigation by the [Civilian Complaint Review Board] confirmed what I already knew — that I was being racially profiled by the police,” Cohen said Thursday. “So more than two years later I still ask myself, why me? Why did this happen?”

Cohen said he’s still afraid of police two years later.

“They’re supposed to be people who protect us, but apparently they can do what they want,” he said.

The NYPD would not comment on Cohen’s case specifically but said there are mechanisms like the CCRB by which citizens can and should report any traffic stop believed to be improper or illegal.

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 Shelby Lofton

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    TOOELE (KSL) — A fire destroyed a Tooele couple’s home and took the life of one of their pets Friday night.

It happened about 6 p.m.

“We were actually just getting ready to eat a roast,” homeowner Brittany Johnson said. “Our fire alarms started to go off, which sometimes they randomly do that anyway, which is a little inconvenient, but, if we shower, hot water is running too long, they just kind of go off and do their own thing.”

She said they didn’t rush to get up because their smoke alarms have a history of being sensitive.

Johnson said she tried to fan the smoke alarm, but it didn’t work. That’s when they rounded up their cats and five dogs.

“We felt an insane explosion,” Johnson said. “I lost my hearing for probably about two minutes. Everything was very muffled. I remember my husband screaming my name.”

Smoke was coming from their swamp cooler.

They ran outside to safety with their pets.

Johnson said several fire trucks came to her house, and she remembers they spent 12 hours looking over every corner of her home.

“There was for sure a very large explosion,” she said. “Personally, my guess is faulty wiring, but investigators from insurance should be coming out sometime this week.”

Firefighters haven’t shared the official cause.

They did find one of the Johnsons’ pets inside, border collie-Aussie mix, Kenzie. Johnson said she died from smoke inhalation.

“I’m pretty sure she did come out when we were out, when we were trying to gather all of the animals out,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, she was kind of skittish, and she actually had, ironically, in that room that we saw the flames firsthand, she actually had a little closet area that she would go and hide.”

The Johnsons said Brittany’s clothing, furniture and so much more is destroyed. It could be nine to 12 months before they’re back home.

“Just to see everything that you’ve built, the first quarter of our lives is just, it’s gone,” Johnson said.

They’re intent on staying in Tooele, where they run Coffee Barn and where they have a community.

“There has been multiple businesses, even some of our competitors have come out and donated a proceeds of their sales to us,” Johnson said. “We’ve never felt alone in this, not once.”

The Johnsons’ family members set up a GoFundMe* to help them with expenses.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KSL 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 Josh Haskell

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    PACIFIC PALISADES, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — As if losing your home of 34 years wasn’t bad enough, the rebuilding process for Pacific Palisades residents Chris and Jeff Spitz has been anything but smooth.

“Fire department came back and said, ‘Well, before we approve this permit, we need a new hydrant to be put in because you guys are more than twice the legal limit from the closest fire hydrant. And please contact LADWP to get a cost estimate for what you’ll have to pay to build and install this new hydrant,'” Jeff Spitz recalled.

“It was so shocking that I was nauseated by it because our insurance certainly wouldn’t have covered that,” said Chris Spitz.

The Spitzs felt they were being punished for wanting to rebuild. Adding to the confusion, this hydrant issue didn’t come up for their neighbors who built new homes within the last ten years before the fire.

“We didn’t just tear this down willy-nilly and say we want to build a brand-new house. This is just trying to come back,” said Chris.

The closest fire hydrant to the Spitz’s home is roughly 1,000 feet away. All of the homes in the neighborhood, especially the homes closer to the fire hydrant, burned in the Palisades Fire.

There are currently two fire hydrants near the Spitz’s home. One at Lombard Avenue and Via de Las Olas and one at Lombard Avenue and Friends Street.

“My level of outrage is through the roof. I really can’t imagine something much more insulting to someone who has lost their home… that they need to pay to put in a new fire hydrant,” said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park.

Park represents Pacific Palisades and arranged a meeting with the Los Angeles Fire Department and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power last month to resolve this issue.

After being stalled in the rebuilding process for 11 weeks, the Spitzs were told by their councilwoman the issue had been resolved.

The LADWP tells Eyewitness News they will cover the cost of installing a new fire hydrant at the price tag of $35,000. During the Palisades Fire, LADWP says demand for water in the Palisades reached four times normal use, resulting in water pressure issues that prevented water from coming out of some hydrants.

“They’re aware fires happen here all the time. In all that time, nobody did anything about the fire hydrants,” said Chris Spitz.

The LADWP told Eyewitness News “placement of hydrants is determined by the LAFD” and that a future water mainline upgrade in the Spitz’s neighborhood “will increase the hydrant’s flow-rate.” Based on discussions with the LAFD, DWP doesn’t “anticipate that additional fire hydrants will be needed” in the Palisades, but if they are, who pays for “it will be determined on a case-by-case basis.”

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 Raquel Ciampi, Caitlyn Scott, Felicity Taylor

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    PITTSBURGH (WTAE) — According to court documents, Gary Cawley, 47, was taken into custody after a three hour chase. He is facing several charges, including burglary, trespassing and evading arrest.

New details from the criminal complaint show officers found Cawley trespassing at the old VA site. He was allegedly messing with an electrical panel, trying to steal materials from it.

At that point, he ran from police, and started walking on the Allegheny River.

Court documents reveal officers followed along on the snowy railroad tracks to keep Cawley in their sights. Officers ended up having to tell the railroad company to shut down until Cawley was taken into custody.

He allegedly told police he’d “walk all the way to Mississippi” before he went to police. He said, “It was only trespassing! I’m not going back to jail. Just send me a citation.”

An officer ended up going out onto the ice and blocked Cawley’s path. He surrendered and was taken to the hospital.

According to police, Cawley gave them a fake name. Officers ended up finding his identity and he had numerous burglary charges against him.

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 Emily Pofahl

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    MILWAUKEE (WISN) — Jessie Brown, a tenant in a Milwaukee apartment near 30th and Wisconsin, says he has been dealing with sewage backing up into his kitchen sink since October.

City records show the building is owned by Berrada Properties. It is one block away from another Berrada Properties-owned building at 29th Street and Wisconsin Avenue that was emergency evacuated by the Department of Neighborhood Services last week due to no heat.

Brown said he often has to flush the sewage water from his kitchen sink down the toilet multiple times per day.

“You can smell it,” Brown said. “I get it drained down. Then maybe a couple hours later, I smell that same smell stronger.”

The persistent odor has been affecting Brown’s health.

“I felt bad. I got dizzy. Lightheaded. Almost fainted cause this whole room – this whole house – smelled nothing but sewage,” he said.

Brown said he submitted two maintenance requests and called the automated Berrada Properties maintenance line, but did not receive a response. Finally, earlier this month, he contacted DNS.

City records indicate that on Jan. 15, a city inspector ordered the landlord, Berrada Properties, to resolve the issue by Feb. 1 or face fines.

Brown hopes it doesn’t come to that.

“It makes me feel like I’m a piece of (expletive). They don’t care. They just want their money,” he said.

Berrada Properties’ attorney responded to WISN 12 News with a statement Wednesday night.

“When the tenant contacted Berrada Properties Management two days ago concerning an issue with a clogged sink drain, a crew was dispatched to the property. A snake was run through the drain, which was found to have been clogged with grease, and was cleared. When the crew left, the sink was functioning properly. When contacted today, a crew was again dispatched to the property and is on site now. Unfortunately, the line cannot be cleared with standard equipment. A company, with more powerful drain jetting equipment, is its way to the property and we expect the problem with the drain to be cleared this evening,” the statement read.

Brown confirmed that a crew had visited and stopped the sink backup.

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 Forrest Sanders

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    CROSS PLAINS, Tennessee (WTVF) — When we heard what an 11-year-old athlete was up to in this icy weather, well, we had to go meet her. As it turns out, there was a lot more to her story than we expected. It’s a warm story on a cold day.

“I don’t think it’s ever been this cold,” laughed Katie Fuller, looking over the ice and snow spanning her yard in Cross Plains.

“I have never seen whatever’s happening in the trees back there!” added 11-year-old daughter McKenna, pointing to the icy branches.

“You’ve always wanted your very own ice rink?” I asked McKenna.

“Yeah, that is true,” she nodded.

That’s exactly what she now has with the week’s ice.

McKenna effortlessly skated across her front yard.

“This is the first time I’ve been able to ice skate at my house!” she laughed.

By the way, McKenna happens to be a really good ice skater. She’s been skating since she was four.

“My coach said I just float across the ice,” she continued. “That’s how I feel. I’m just floating across the ice. I would love to do the Olympics. I want to coach. I would love to do Disney on Ice.”

Mom Katie goes out and smooths out the front yard for McKenna.

“She told me I was her personal Zamboni this morning!” she said.

Skating has taken on an especially deep meaning for McKenna in the past two years.

“When I was skating, Cora, my little sister had gotten cancer,” McKenna said.

“She has leukemia,” Katie added.

McKenna’s little sister began spending a lot of time at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

“[She was] four when she was diagnosed,” Katie nodded.

As it turns out, McKenna has a connection to Scott Hamilton, the Olympic gold medalist figure skater and cancer survivor.

“I started doing the Scott Hamilton CARES Foundation,” McKenna said.

“Every November, he puts on a show at Bridgestone Arena, and she’s done that a couple times,” Katie added. “It’s basically raising money for cancer.”

“It felt very special, and I knew it was helping,” McKenna said. “I knew it was helping a whole bunch of people out there.”

On the ice, McKenna has also performed tributes to her little sister.

Today, at six-years-old, Cora is doing so much better. She’s now in remission.

“She is hopefully done with treatment in May,” Katie said.

“Who painted your nails?” McKenna asked Cora, the two sitting at the kitchen table together. “Those are pretty. They’re shiny!”

Not only that, right now, the Fuller house is even fuller.

“We’ve taken in a few friends who have lost power,” Katie said. “Luckily, we still have power. We have never lost power. Thank God! I don’t know how we got lucky!”

There’s a key lesson McKenna’s growing up around. It’s about helping others in whatever way you can.

Good things really are happening all around McKenna’s front yard ice rink.

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.