Author: CNN Newsource

By Monique John

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — Bianca Modo loves style and beauty. She is also a survivor of domestic violence. Modo says she has watched women in her family and in her broader community be affected by human trafficking.

One day, she decided to use her passion for fashion to help lift other survivors by helping them look and feel their best.

“I realized that the survivors I was encountering in domestic violence and human trafficking didn’t have confidence and didn’t have leadership skills,” Modo said. “So we wanted to pull in art and fashion, something Atlanta is known for, to get people excited.”

Modo has spent nearly a year preparing for her first-ever Unmasked Fashion Show and Gala through the Bianca Modo Foundation. The preparation has been challenging, but she says the mission behind the show makes it worth it.

About 20 models walked the runway, and all of them are survivors. Two of the models say they were inspired to take part because of the cause.

Bailee Wistisen-Kunkel lit up when asked about her favorite look in the show.

“It’s lace and black, and it’s really powerful,” she said. “It really makes me feel like that girl.”

Dreama Nguyen said she felt right at home during her fitting.

“I love it because it’s so flowy, and it’s also form-fitting,” Nguyen said. “It builds a lot of confidence.”

Several Atlanta boutiques are involved, donating some of the 50 pieces featured in the show.

“It was great that they wanted to be a part of this and share the vision we had,” Modo said. “They wanted the models to look amazing.”

Jazmine Frazier, executive director of Eternal Reign for Girls, is one of Modo’s colleagues and a survivor of human trafficking. She said trafficking can happen to anyone, anywhere.

“If you go into any group home or any place where victims are sharing their stories, you’ll hear that they were groomed and coerced,” Frazier said. “The trafficker targeted them, built trust and then exploited that.”

In addition to the fashion show, Modo’s foundation also showcased artwork at the event. The goal is to raise $50,000 to create leadership and career-readiness programs designed specifically for survivors.

Modo hopes that creating space for survivors in fashion is just the beginning.

The event was held Saturday night at the Smyrna Community Center, timed with Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

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 Logan Hall

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    MEDWAY, Massachusetts (WBZ) — For most families in the Boston area, rooting for the New England Patriots is a tradition passed down from generation to generation. For the Ambrosini family, it mostly stuck — except for one very vocal exception.

Jeff and Katie Ambrosini have raised four diehard Patriots fans in their Medway home.

Their son Lennon, however, has pledged his allegiance to the Houston Texans, creating a friendly rivalry inside the household.

“I kind of feel like a failure a little bit,” Jeff Ambrosini said with a laugh. “There’s definitely a sense of, ‘Why don’t they all root for the Pats?'”

Jeff’s son Lennon began rooting for the Texans not in Houston, but thanks to college football. He followed quarterback C.J. Stroud during his collegiate career and stayed loyal when Stroud entered the NFL with the Texans.

“I’ve got Texans pajamas, a Texans jersey, a Texans football,” Lennon said.

And now with the Patriots and Texans facing off in the playoffs, it is a house divided.

“We usually fight a lot,” Lennon’s brother Brittan said. “If the Texans score a touchdown or if the Patriots score a touchdown.”

The sibling rivalry can get intense enough that their parents have stepped in to lay down the law, instituting a strict no-fighting policy on game day. Even that may not be enough, according to the Ambrosini’s oldest son, Jackson.

“I think if the game is close, I don’t think they should be allowed in the same room,” Jackson said. “One should watch on the phone, one should watch on the TV. I don’t think they should be near each other.”

Despite being outnumbered, Lennon has no plans to tone things down. He’s already imagining the satisfaction of celebrating a Texans win at the expense of his Patriots-loving siblings.

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 Nate Eaton

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    BOISE (eastidahonews.com) — A staff member at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution was hospitalized Saturday after being violently attacked by an inmate who killed a man in the Madison County Jail four years ago.

Officials say Robert David Pompa “brutally assaulted” a 56-year-old corporal inside the Boise facility. The staff member was rushed to Saint Alphonsus Medical Center, where they remain in stable condition.

“Idaho Maximum Security Institution staff immediately secured the crime scene with assistance from officers from the Idaho State Correctional Institution and the Idaho State Correctional Center. The IMSI facility returned to normal status earlier today,” a statement from the Idaho Department of Correction says.

Pompa is serving a minimum of 27 years in prison for multiple convictions. In 2021, he beat 62-year-old Eddie Blanie Stacey to death in the Madison County Jail. Months later, Pompa was charged with felony battery after he attacked a deputy in the jail.

Idaho State Police is investigating the prison attack.

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By Tiffany Tarpley

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    ELYRIA, Ohio (WEWS) — January is National Blood Donor Month. According to the American Red Cross, “only about 3% of age-eligible people donate blood yearly.” But those who do can be the difference between life and death.

Medina County wife, mother and farmer, Courtney Miller, shared her story with News 5’s Tiffany Tarpley to promote blood donor awareness. “If it helps one person then it’s worth it to me,” she said. “You never know who you’re going to be able to help.”

The now 32-year-old was diagnosed with autoimmune liver disease in 2014. Years later, Miller is grateful to have received a liver transplant thanks to a living donor, Kyle.

“In [2023], I was told that instead of one day you’ll have a transplant; you will not get out of your 30s without a liver transplant,” she said.

Discovering the potential for a match happened by chance. At the time, Kyle was dating Courtney’s friend (now fiancée) Brooke. They were at the opening day of the Lorain County Fair when Kyle noticed a mobile blood drive.

“We were walking around and he goes, my friend goes, ‘You know I don’t even know what my blood type is,’ so he walks up to the Vitalant blood mobile, and he asks, ‘Will you guys blood type me?’ They say, ‘Absolutely,’” said Miller.

He gave blood, and hours later, they found out Kyle was a match for her blood type. He went through additional screening.

“They even go through and see, do his veins and his ducts line up with where mine would be in the liver? It’s quite the extensive process that someone went through for me,” she said.

The liver regenerates, so Kyle was able to donate part of his in order to help Courtney. She spent 52 days in the hospital after the transplant in November 2024 and went through several procedures.

“One of my procedures ended up nicking something so it caused me to lose a lot of blood,” she said. Courtney needed two blood transfusions.

“There’s hope in what you’re going through and there’s light at the end of the tunnel because there was definitely dark days in my recovery,” she said.

She’s doing well today, a one-year transplant survivor.

“There was definitely points where I prayed hard, I thought hard, let me be there for my babies, let me be there for my husband,” she said.

Vitalant is one of the nation’s largest blood and bio-therapy health care organizations. There are three fixed locations in Northeast Ohio, but there are often mobile blood drives, too.

“There’s no substitute for human blood, making each donation that more vital,” said communications manager for Vitalant, Maya Santana.“We see some of the sharpest declines in the donor turnout throughout the holidays.”

Santana said that’s because of unpredictable weather, as well as winter viruses. “We’re urging donors who are healthy and eligible to give, to offset the decrease in donors coming out because of those conditions,” Santana 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.

By Shelly Garzon

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    HAYWOOD COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — The North Carolina Department of Transportation now expects repairs to the state’s section of I-40 through the Pigeon River Gorge to cost nearly $2 billion following damage from Helene.

“We’re seeing about a 900-million-dollar cost increase on I-40 due to Helene,” said Chris Lee, deputy division engineer for NCDOT Division 14.

Initial estimates placed the cost of repairs at $1.1 billion but new information led to an increase.

“The main factor behind that is we have new subsurface information so the early estimates we just did not have that information so we’ve spent some time out there, we’ve worked closely with our contractor to determine those costs overtime,” Lee said.

Despite the increased cost, NCDOT officials say the timeline for reopening the interstate will not change.

“We’re going to have to go deeper into the ground but we’re not changing the scope of the project. That will remain the same and it will not change the timeline either. The project will still be completed. All lanes will be open in late 2028,” Lee said.

With I-40 operating below full capacity, local economic leaders say the limited access continues to impact the regional economy.

“Certainly, our travel tourism sector hasn’t recovered to the level that it was pre-Helene. Some of that is because perceptions outside of our area that this area is closed to visitors or that this area is not ready for visitors,” said Nathan Ramsey with the Land of Sky Regional Council.

Ramsey said transportation challenges are also affecting businesses that rely on timely shipping and delivery.

“Companies that need to transport their products in various ways, the fact that that corridor is a little less accessible today than it was is certainly a drag on them. Many companies have just in time inventory where they are needing that inventory as timely as possible so that’s certainly an impact,” Ramsey said.

Officials with the NCDOT say current traffic patterns will remain in place throughout construction.

The N.C. Department of Transportation says all costs associated with repairing the highway will be reimbursed by the Federal Highway Administration.

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 Evan Sery

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    DETROIT (WXYZ) — A professional basketball player from Detroit returned home Saturday after what she describes as a harrowing escape from Iran amid deadly violence and mass anti-government protests.

Taylor Jones, who has played for 17 different teams overseas since beginning her professional career in 2019, was playing for Abadan in Iran when the situation deteriorated rapidly.

“We had four more games until we transitioned into the playoffs,” Jones said.

Any hopes of a championship run ended when protests in the country escalated, and the Iranian government cut off all internet service on January 8.

“Our WiFi began acting very shaky. Iran is known for not having good service, but it had never been that bad,” Jones said.

Jones and her teammates, including other Americans, found themselves cut off from the outside world.

“I was shaking, my anxiety was at a thousand. I was trying to call my mom – it wouldn’t go through,” Jones said.

She eventually managed to get a signal because their hotel was close to the Iraqi border.

“I went to my other teammate’s room, who was American. She’s like, ‘I just figured out I have one bar,’ so I was like, ‘Maybe if I sit in the corner of the room my phone will also pick up,'” Jones said.

The phone finally connected after picking up a signal from Iraqi cell towers.

After reaching her mother, Jones focused on finding a way home. Initial attempts to escape through Iraq were unsuccessful after she was denied entry at the border.

A team agent helped secure a flight to Dubai, but it meant flying out of Tehran.

“When you arrived there… oh, I was frantic. I was frantic. Obviously, I don’t look like the rest. They’re looking at four, five Americans walking. Their eyes are just like… we kept hearing them say ‘Americans, Americans,'” Jones said.

Jones’s mother, Fawn Day, was relieved to have her daughter back home.

“When she first texted me, she just said ‘Mom,’ and I knew something was going on. That’s the code word for something is going on. I was just hoping what I was seeing on the news would not come her way,” Day said.

This isn’t the first time Jones has had to flee a dangerous situation. In January 2022, she was playing basketball in Ukraine when Russian troops began preparing for an invasion. She escaped just a day before the war started.

“I’m just really trying to find the words to process everything that I witnessed. Never gone through anything as traumatic as that. Obviously, I had to flee from Ukraine in 2022, but that experience was far easier going than this was, by far,” Jones said.

Jones’s professional career has taken her to Portugal, Bosnia, Puerto Rico, Ukraine, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Belarus before her most recent stint in Iran.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WXYZ 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 Ryan Gamboa

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    BELTON, Missouri (KSHB) — Six weeks after a devastating fire at Lily’s Play-and-Stay claimed the life of 17-year-old Gidget, the dog daycare is rebuilding with help from an unexpected source: local high school students.

The December fire broke out in a room at the Belton facility, forcing owner Amy Klein to confront every pet owner’s worst nightmare.

“It sucks. There’s no other way that I can put it,” Klein said. “Every range of emotions we could feel, we’ve felt it.”

As the initial shock wore off, community support began pouring in. Among those lending a hand is Connor Stookey, a senior in the Academies of Belton program.

The Belton School District program offers students specialized fields of study to prepare them for success after graduation.

Stookey is working in construction as part of the program, gaining hands-on experience while helping Klein rebuild her business.

“I think the more I do this, the better knowledge I get,” Stookey said.

The partnership addresses a critical need in the construction industry. According to the Associated General Contractors of America, over half of firms reported more than 70% of candidates in 2025 were unqualified for hire across seven key positions, including mechanics, iron workers, electricians, heavy equipment operators, superintendents, estimating personnel, and project managers or supervisors.

Scott Sisemore, who leads Belton’s Academies program, sees the collaboration as essential for student success.

“We need to provide a pathway of success for every one of our students,” Sisemore said. “We hope [we] will encourage them to stay here if they leave and come back, start a business and be a part of their community.”

The program is so committed to giving students real-world experience that senior video production intern Nazier Kinney helped shoot this story.

For Stookey, the work represents more than just gaining construction skills — it’s about helping a community member recover from tragedy.

“I think it’s a good feeling getting this place back and running again, after what happened,” Stookey said.

Klein said the outpouring of support has been overwhelming in the best possible way.

“I didn’t know we had [this] type of support behind us until something like this magnitude has happened,” Klein said.

The Academies of Belton program is looking to expand to elementary and middle school students.

According to Sisemore, elementary students will get more exposure to a multitude of industries to prepare them for a career selection one day. In middle school, they are working with nonprofits to learn more about how those organizations operate.

Belton Middle School was working with Lily’s Rescue Rehab, Klein’s nonprofit, before the fire hit her downtown business. That partnership is on hold for now.

The construction program also recently finished working on a new downtown business, Battle Axes on Main.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KSHB 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 Angela Cifone

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    Hawaii (KITV) — Sun, Surfboards, and support… three key elements bringing healing to Hawai’i’s shores.

Lyndie Irons, Founder and Director of the Andy Irons Foundation, said, “The ocean is the most healing place in the world. It’s healed me. You know, I lost my husband 15 years ago.”

That search for healing led to something bigger.

Kids Hurt Too Hawai’i has teamed up with The Andy Irons Foundation and Billabong for Surf for the Soul – a program using the ocean to help children process grief and trauma.

Zach Hoffman, Facilitator, Kids Hurt Too Hawaii, said, “We give the kids a place to grieve through play.”

He continued, “We’re here to help the kids just enjoy their lives and experience healing through play, through the energy of the ocean, through the power of the present moment.”

Walker Rowsey, Executive Director of Kids Hurt Too Hawaii, said, “Life can come at you like a roller coaster or like a wave. This event helps show the kids that no matter what adversity they’re facing, they can always get back up on that board again and keep going.”

And beyond support, the program created unforgettable moments.

Tiffany Collins, a mother of a participant, said, “It brings relief, it brings gratitude, and I just feel good knowing that, as you know, not only were they able to talk to someone about what they were going through, but they have an outlet like this.”

“It gives them these magical moments with the pros out there, having a once-in-a-lifetime experience that they will remember forever,” said Rowsey.

Moments that stay with everyone involved.

Shane Dorian, a professional surfer, said, “The ocean is so therapeutic, and so to be able to share that with these kids is a lot of fun, and it really means a lot to us.”

Laura Enever, a professional surfer, said, “Everyone was out there with the biggest smiles on their faces. And I even think the surfers had even bigger smiles on their faces.”

Bruce Irons, Andy Irons’ brother and professional surfer, said, “To just see their smiles, it’s priceless.”

And you can’t put a price on happiness.

“The first time I found pure happiness was actually in the ocean. So I chase that happiness all the time,” Said Irons.”

So together they chase that happiness through each wave.

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By Web Staff , Colter Anstaett

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    VIRGINIA BEACH (WTKR) — A woman was rescued after driving her car into the water near the Back Deck and Bubba’s Seafood on Shore Drive in Virginia Beach on Friday afternoon, a manager at Bubba’s confirmed to News 3.

Video shared with WTKR News 3 depicts a chaotic scene in the water as what appeared to be four individuals jumped into the frigid water to try and break the person out of the black SUV.

News 3’s Colter Anstaett spoke with Jeremy Way, a U.S. Navy aviation rescue swimmer who was dining at the Back Deck when he saw the car go in the water. Way told Anstaett that his training kicked in and he immediately jumped in the water.

“I was like, ‘is anybody in the car?’ As soon as somebody said yes, I had already started to pull my phone, my wallet, my knife out of my pocket,” Way said. “I got to about right here, saw that there was a car in there, and I just dove right in.”

When they reached the woman at the window, he reported the woman said “I don’t wanna be here, let me die.” But after some coaxing, she agreed to let them rescue her.

But at that point, according to Way, the electronics in the car were not operating, which forced the Good Samaritans to have to break the windows to get her out. By the time the woman and one of the rescuers started to go up, the whole vehicle was underwater.

“It was just in the nick of time, like a movie,” Way said.

Way’s hands are cut up and bandaged from breaking car windows during the rescue, but he said it is worth it.

“Some girl is alive because of a couple Good Samaritans,” Way said.

Virginia Beach police said this incident was reported at 1:17 p.m. and confirmed they are investigating.

News 3 Chief Meteorologist David Aldrich said the water temperature in the area was around 45° at the time of the rescue.

This comes about two years after a man drove his car off the Virginia Beach fishing pier in an apparent suicide.

Way said he’s had some mental health struggles himself and has a message for anyone who may be struggling.

“There is help out there. There are avenues. There’s the suicide hotline, there’s people out there. You actually probably do have friends that care and love you,” said Way.

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.