Author: CNN Newsource

By Kaitlyn Hart

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    IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (eastidahonews.com) — After nearly two days of traveling, McKenna Christensen walked through the Chișinău International Airport in Moldova ready to change her life forever.

About six months before, Christensen, who was born in Moldova and adopted by an Idaho Falls couple, discovered shocking information about her adoption. She was never supposed to be adopted.

“There were a lot of illegal things going on (in Moldova) at the time with children. Children were very much a source of money,” Christensen told EastIdahoNews.com in December. “Pediatricians would tell parents, ‘Sorry, your child died, it was very sick.’ And then they would not release a body. This was a very common thing that happened over in the ’90s.”

For Christensen, she learned that her mother had been diagnosed with cancer while she was pregnant with her. She was very sick at the time of her birth, so the family was told that Christensen would be placed in a care facility while her mother regained her health.

But Christensen, who was originally named Marcela Ibrian, never saw her family again. Instead, she was apparently trafficked by the hospital, ending up at an orphanage and then adopted.

“I was targeted before I was even born. My mom checked into the hospital about a month before I was born, and the social services lady told her that she could leave me at the maternity ward to get some resources and to have some help while they navigated this diagnosis for her,” says Christensen. “At that moment, they actually put me into the system and said, ‘This baby is going to be available in February.’”

After discovering this life-changing information through her biological sister, whom she miraculously found through a Facebook group dedicated to reuniting separated Romanian families, Christensen traveled 5,750 miles across the world to find the people who had been looking for her for over 30 years.

“I was standing in the airport looking for a sign and my two sisters, literally out of nowhere, just clamored me,” says Christensen. “We stood there, and we were all, obviously, bawling. But then they walked me out, and there were probably like seven or eight other people waiting for me in the lobby. (They) had had balloons and flowers — all the guys had bouquets of flowers for me — and all of them were bawling … it was a lot, but it was so good.”

Christensen says it was overwhelming in the best way to finally meet people who shared her DNA, even though they had met many times on video calls.

“It’s different when you meet in person, it’s so different,” says Christensen.

During her stay, Christensen said she was taken care of by her biological family as if they’d known her forever, going to family dinners, getting ready with her sisters, dancing with the neighbors, and even watching home videos of her biological parents, who have passed away.

“It’s just like, (they) want to do everything for you. There is this added level because they’ve wanted to do all of these things for me for 30-plus years,” Christensen says.

Christensen’s family all live on the same street in the same village, making it a very tight-knit community. When she first arrived, Christensen says she was getting ready for dinner when her sisters began giving her gifts and helping her with her hair and dress, something she was not accustomed to.

“I had picked out a dress, and I showered and got out, and my one sister hands me a completely different dress that she had bought me,” says Christensen. “Then one sister proceeds to blow dry my hair, and the other one is putting slippers on my feet, and the other is trying to feed me a sandwich. …It was so sweet, they just wanted to do all the things for me.”

The feeling of being pampered and fawned over was staggering for Christensen, though she knew much of it stemmed from her biological family not knowing what happened to her for so long and wanting to make up for lost time.

“I feel like you could really tangibly tell — or like feel in the air, and grab it — how badly they wanted this, which I was so happy to let them do all of that,” says Christensen. “I feel like a lot of this trip was so much for them, like more so for them than me, honestly, in some way. I’m just so glad that they got to have that.”

During the trip, Christensen says she noticed many similarities and shared traits between herself and her siblings, traits she never knew might be hereditary.

“For the Easter feast, I went over to my sister’s house just to kind of get away from people, and she was kind of setting up her feast. I remember she hopped on the counter to grab a dish that was on top of her fridge, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I do that!’” says Christensen. “We’re both really short, and we both get on the counter; it was little things like that. I was like, “Oh, I’m like these people.”

Throughout the trip, Christensen used AI headphones that translated Romanian, the main language in Moldova, into English so she could easily have conversations with locals.

“I had learned Romanian going into the trip, but they speak Russian Romanian, and there’s a Romani language that they speak as well,” Christensen says. “Amongst each other, they speak Romani, but if they’re speaking to a friend about something, they speak Russian. They would speak Romanian if they were talking directly to me, which I knew enough to get by.”

Through the technology and her own knowledge of the languages, Christensen was able to have conversations with people who knew her parents and were around when they lost her as a baby.

“People would just come up to me and cry when they saw me, because I think, some people told me on a translator, that I remind them of my mother, or I remind them of my father,” Christensen said. “They had heard so much about what happened to me, or people in the village and people that were related to me … people would just cry when they saw me, which was beautiful but also very overwhelming at the same time.”

After the first night, Christensen said she was overwhelmed with emotions of love and connection, needing to debrief and get lots of sleep before the rest of her incredible journey.

“I went back to the bedroom, called my husband, and bawled. I was just like, I don’t know, there is so much love with these people, and I have no idea how to give it back,” says Christensen. “I had never been taught how to receive so much love, and I was never told how to give it back. And that was both frustrating, but also I was just so grateful to them.”

Because she was in Moldova during Orthodox Easter, or Paștele Blajinilor (Easter of the Dead), as they call it there, Christensen got to experience her heritage and culture in ways she could’ve never imagined.

In what is often called the “most Moldovan tradition,” community members will gather at the cemeteries on the holiday to share large meals, clean graves, and exchange presents in honor of their deceased loved ones.

“Everyone in the village takes all these gifts, and you go to the cemetery with food and all these gifts, and you put them on the grave of your loved one. Then the father comes around, and he blesses all the graves like he did when they passed,” says Christensen. “You exchange gifts with people, but you do it in memory of the person that passed. So, people gave me T-shirts, cups, candy or dresses, and they’d be like, ‘This is in the loving memory of your mother.’ It’s so cool. It’s almost like the gifts are coming from your deceased loved one.”

At the cemetery one day, Christensen says she felt an overwhelming sense of calm as she studied her parents’ grave and thought about her ancestors.

“I recall this one moment that was really interesting. It may have only lasted a minute or so, but I stood there in front of (my parents’) graves, and I looked at my dad, and I feel like we look very similar. We have the same forehead, we have the same eyes. It’s like I was kind of noticing how we look alike. And then I panned over and looked at my mother, and I had this feeling like I knew who she was — not like from pictures, but almost like I had known her in a different time in my life, and I remembered it.”

Later in the trip, Christensen says her family showed her a video of her parents, which she says was fascinating to watch, as she had no memory of them.

“I look up at the screen, and they’re watching this video of my mom and dad, and everyone in the family hadn’t seen this video in years,” Christensen said. “It was just one of the big moments that was like, ‘Oh, we’re together as a family.”

Leaving Moldova was difficult, says Christensen, as she realized throughout her stay how different her life could’ve been if she had not been trafficked after birth.

“We all experienced our parents dying, and our outcomes were drastically different. My parents died, and I came to America and got an education, and I have a family,” says Christensen. “I never had to not know where my next meal was coming from. For them, their parents died, and their whole life fell apart for a while, and they really had to rebuild it.”

Though she says she deals with guilt over the differences in their situations, Christensen says she is focusing on returning to Moldova in the future, bringing her husband and children to meet her biological family.

“For a couple of days after I got home, I felt really guilty, almost, that I was able to have a good life, and they had to work so hard to have the life they have,” says Christensen. “I think I saw firsthand how hard their lives were, and I will never have a life that hard. And while I’m so grateful, I almost don’t know what to do with that information.”

As for now, Christensen says she feels a pull towards giving part of her life to helping trafficked adoptees connect with their families.

“I decided that the thing I want to do with the information that I have is dedicate a piece of my life to advocating for adoptees,” Christensen says. “These adoptees — whether their experience was good or bad, whether they’ve found their family or they haven’t — I always want to make sure that I’m a person who holds space for them in one way or another so they feel heard and understood. I don’t know what that will look like yet.”

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 Leondra Head

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — Saturday’s Peachtree Road Race is an Atlanta tradition. One Alpharetta man has built a tradition spanning over five decades of running in the race.

Seventy-four-year-old Russ Gill is preparing for his 54th Peachtree Road Race.

“Five decades! 1973 was my first Peachtree Road Race,” Gill said.

He and his wife, Kim, come to the Chattahoochee River Trail in Roswell three times a week to jog and prepare for the race, sometimes with their granddaughter.

“My wife has run 41 of them. All of my children have. I have three children, and they’ve all run in it at different times,” Gill said.

Gill is turning 75 next week. He runs a bit slower than he used to, but he says showing up is what matters.

“As you age, things start feeling different when you’re running,” Gill said.

His best time in the race?

“Thirty-eight minutes and so many seconds. That was early on, probably in the 1976 or 1977 timeframe,” Gill said.

In recent years, he’s developed a different pace.

“Because we are walk-running, it’s usually around an hour and 20 minutes, an hour and 30 minutes,” Gill said.

Gill says excitement and anticipation keep him coming back.

“Being able to do this with my family and friends and to check off another year. It’s been a wonderful journey so far,” Gill said.

He looks forward to continuing the tradition.

“As long as my legs will allow me to do it,” Gill 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 Mia Bearden

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    MEQUON, Wisconsin (WDJT) — MEQUON, Wis. (CBS 58) — A Milwaukee woman has been found guilty in the death of a 76-year-old resident at a Mequon senior living facility, after prosecutors said a physical push led to a severe injury and a months-long medical decline.

A jury on Wednesday, July 1 convicted Abrianna Clark in the death of Rebecca Siefert, who lived at StoryPoint Senior Living in Mequon.

Prosecutors said the case began on Nov. 7, 2024, when Clark pushed Siefert to the ground inside the facility. One person close to the victim described the aftermath, saying, “Was left on the floor and fire carried to a chair; it’s disgusting.”

Siefert suffered a broken hip and serious complications that followed. The source said, “She suffered a femur fracture and was immediately admitted to St. Mary’s and had a rod put in her femur and she never walked again.”

Her condition deteriorated over the following weeks. “She lost 50 pounds over the next 10 weeks,” a source said, adding, “She never recovered. It was a perpetual decline and loss of being able to get better.”

Prosecutors said Siefert died about 10 weeks after the incident from complications related to the injury.

The source described Siefert as deeply respected in her community: “Nicest woman in the world. Respected 100% by the community, she really was willing to help anyone at any given time.”

During the trial, prosecutors said witnesses saw the push, while Clark denied responsibility. The source said, “She has painted herself as the victim and that’s disgusting.”

A source close to Siefert said Clark denied accoutnabilty as the verdict was read. “She was handcuffed, let out the doors screaming and crying that she was still innocent. She has absolutely no accountability,” the source said.

Despite the conviction, those close to Siefert said the outcome cannot undo the loss. “A lot of us will never be the same even if justice has prevailed,” the source 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 Olivia Young

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    RIFLE, Colorado (KCNC) — The recent line-of-duty deaths of three firefighters in Colorado serve as a reminder to Rod Goossen about why he began his mission to help keep them safe.

“I couldn’t imagine being in a situation where I know I was trapped and see the end coming and all hope is lost,” said Goossen, CEO of RoGO Communications. “That sort of event is what we’re trying to prevent in the future.”

It’s a mission he took up in 2013 after 19 of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona.

“It makes me very sad thinking about the Yarnell Hotshots and how they passed,” Rod said. “I was confused, mad and frustrated. How this event could have happened? How could Incident command not even know where they were located at? Could not warn them that the winds were shifting radically.”

He turned to his firefighter brother, Derek Goossen, to understand what went wrong.

“My brother, being an aeronautical engineer, called and said, ‘How are you guys tracked?’ And I said, ‘We’re not,’ and he said, ‘We could do better,'” said Derek, training and safety captain at Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District and Summit Fire & EMS.

“The Granite Mountain guys had paper maps, compasses and two-way radios,” Rod said.

From there, the brothers used their tech and firefighting knowledge to launch RoGO Communications and a satellite location device for wildland fire crews. The company’s DropBlock device transmits over the Iridium satellite constellation at a lower frequency than Starlink, allowing it to penetrate through the tree canopy.

“This is the DropBlock. It is in an IP67-rated case, so weatherproof, waterproof, dustproof. Open up the lid, and this device runs off eight AA batteries,” Rod said.

The DropBlock shares GPS locations, messages and fire weather data between fire crews without cell service via the RoGO app.

“On this map right here is us. I put us there as a hand crew, and this engine is actually a firefighting buggy that was deployed earlier this morning, so we can track its exact GPS location and see where they’re at,” Rod said. “With our devices now, incident command can get a very granular picture of exactly where people are at, exactly where the fire is at, exactly what the fire weather is doing and how that might change fire tactical decisions, and it might be a possible danger, so you can get them out of the way before.”

“Anyone on the fire can pull up a tablet or a phone and see where everyone’s at on that fire. Obviously, the wilderness that we typically fight fires in is so vast it’s hard to know exactly where everyone’s at, and this gives that instant capability,” Derek said.

This week, on the 13th anniversary of the Granite Mountain Hotshot tragedy, RoGO launched the DropBlock 2.0 and began testing it at Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District in Breckenridge.

“Accountability and finding our people, knowing where they are, is a key part of fire management, especially in the wildfire world, where people are strewn throughout the woods, and we don’t always have eyes on them. We don’t necessarily know where they are exactly, so a product like DropBlock gives us an idea on one platform where all of our resources are,” said Matthew Benedict, wildfire division chief at Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District. “It gives us the ability to text between each other with absolutely no service at all. So that’s a pretty awesome feature, and it’s very portable. It’s super small. We love that.”

Benedict is excited about the potential new technology like this can bring to the firefighting industry.

“Public-private partnerships is not traditionally something the fire industry has embraced very well, and we just understand that we need all of the solutions at this point,” Benedict said. “Red, White, and Blue Fire has been approached by several startups and tech companies, and basically private industry looking to make a difference in the wildfire industry, and we’re open to this, to say the least. So a lot of these ideas that come out can increase our effectiveness and efficiency, and so we’re open to this one. We’ve looked at several other companies, from exterior home sprinklers to insurance companies to drone companies, and then now RoGO.”

The first version is already in use in Arizona. RoGO hopes to take the new model nationwide to protect those who protect us all.

“We’re starting here at my brother’s firehouse, since I have an in. And then after this, the next firehouse we’re going to deploy to is the Colorado River Fire [Rescue] in Rifle, Colorado,” Rod said.

RoGO Communications is hoping to hard launch version 2.0 in September.

“I love my department, and I love this technology because I know it’ll help save lives in the future and make us more efficient,” Derek said. “I just can’t wait for it to get out there and be in use and actually start helping people out and hopefully preventing some disasters in the future, which is what it’s all about.”

“Make sure firefighters, when they’re deployed on fire, that everybody comes home. That’s our mission, and that’s our goal,” Rod 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 Ford Hatchett

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    PHOENIX (KNXV) — Newly released 911 calls reveal the chaotic moments after a 16-year-old was fatally stabbed inside a classroom at Maryvale High School in Phoenix last August.

Michael Montoya, a junior, was stabbed multiple times just four days after he turned 16. He was taken to the hospital, where he died. A classmate has been charged with his murder and is facing trial.

One of the 911 calls came from a student inside the classroom.

“If you can come to Maryvale High School, we have a student that got stabbed. He got stabbed by a knife,” the student said.

Phoenix Fire personnel walked students and staff in the classroom through first aid techniques while school staff waited for an ambulance to arrive. A school staff member also called 911.

“We have a student who was wounded by a weapon, and I need to know where the ambulance is at. We’ve been waiting for more than 10 minutes,” the staff member said.

Several other 911 calls came in from people who were not at the school but had seen video of the incident posted online.

Montoya’s mother is now suing the Phoenix Union High School District, alleging the district programmed metal detectors to ignore small weapons like the knife used to kill her son.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KNXV’s editorial team 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 KTBS Staff

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    TEXARKANA, Texas (KTBS) — It’s been 10 years since Morgan Angerbauer died in Bi-State Jail custody under medical distress.

Her Texarkana family says they’ve spent the last decade fighting for jail reform and they’ll never stop.

“It’s as fresh in my mind as the day it happened,” said Andy Houser, Morgan Angerbauer’s father.

Andy Houser and Jennifer Creamer say they’ll never forget July 1, 2016 when they received the call that their daughter Morgan Angerbauer, 20, had died in jail from complications of her diabetes.

Each year, the family releases balloons in her memory.

“I wake up with her on my mind. I go to sleep with her on my mind. It’s a certain smell, a certain sound, a certain song, countless times a day I think of her,” said Creamer.

Houser says negligence led to his daughter’s death. He says a nurse and jail staff refused to treat Angerbauer despite knowing she was diabetic.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that had everybody known what they were supposed to do, Morgan would still be here right now,” said Houser.

Privately-owned LaSalle Corrections managed the jail then. A wrongful death suit was settled against the company in 2020.

KTBS 3 News spoke with the family at the courthouse just as their fight to improve jail standards was beginning.

“Things need to change in all jails ran by for-profit companies. I’m not done yet. I want to get laws passed and make sure these inmates are taken care of,” said Creamer then.

The family testified before Texas lawmakers about the need for correctional officers to be medically certified before starting the job.

“I think she would be proud of everything her mother has accomplished, making the changes at Bi-State, you don’t hear about a lot of folks dying in Bi-State like you did right before Morgan passed,” said Houser.

Creamer says the Bi-State Jail now requires staff to scan identification bracelets during routine welfare checks.

“So, these people in medical, there’s no longer, ‘I did 30-minute checks and this person hasn’t been checked on in 13 hours.’ So, it has made a big difference,” said Creamer.

Creamer says the changes are a good, but there’s more work to be done.

“There’s always room for change, always. Especially when things like this are happening. Because mothers, uncles, grandmothers, whoever does not need to have to come do this when it’s so senseless,” Creamer.

The Bowie County Sheriff’s Office has managed the Bi-State Jail since 2021. LaSalle Corrections managed the facility for 8 years before that.

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 WLOS Staff

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    BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Amid understaffing issues at the Buncombe County Detention Facility, Sheriff Quentin Miller comments on the recent jail takeover in the eastern part of the state.

On Monday, June 29, inmates overpowered staff, taking control of parts of a detention center in Windsor, N.C., according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

Hours later, everyone was safely released with minimal injuries.

As News 13 previously reported, the Buncombe County Detention Facility is facing jail overcrowding and understaffing. Miller previously said overcrowding is contributing to safety concerns for both inmates and staff.

News 13 asked Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller if a takeover is possible here.

“I would tell you that that’s always a concern. I think that it goes back to our philosophy of treating people with dignity and respect, not saying that that hadn’t happened down in Bertie, but what I will tell you is, yes, we always have to take precautions, and we have a plan in place that something like that should happen,” Miller 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 Kaley Fedko

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School is proving that one simple question at the start of class can make a big difference.

The Atlanta Public Schools campus has been named one of 32 schools nationwide to receive a national Kindness Designation for the 2025-26 school year from Teach Kindness.

The recognition highlights schools that prioritize relationship-building and positive school culture.

School leaders say the strategy is straightforward: build relationships before opening a textbook.

Nearly 900 students begin each class with a brief conversation designed to help classmates and teachers connect.

“One of the first things we did was change our entire instructional framework,” Principal Kimberly Sewell told CBS News Atlanta. “Every class, every day, our teachers start with connection before content. For 30 seconds, we ask students something simple, like their favorite pizza topping or what makes them happy.”

The school’s approach extends beyond the classroom.

Staff members are encouraged to greet students and build positive interactions before correcting behavior.

Since adopting the approach two years ago, Sewell said discipline referrals have dropped by about 50%, attendance has increased, and more students are choosing to resolve conflicts through conversation instead of physical altercations.

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.