Author: CNN Newsource

By Sharon Phillips

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    TULSA, Oklahoma (KJRH) — A security guard’s quick thinking and training potentially saved a baby’s life during a community baby shower in South Tulsa on June 18.

Todd Sloggett, a security guard with PHD Security, was working the event at the South Tulsa Community House when he noticed a young mother interacting with guests.

“During all of this, I noticed a young mother who was interacting with a lot of people and somebody gave her a little toy ring, a little plastic-like spider ring or something,” Sloggett said.

He said the mother may have become confused while tending to her children and gave the small plastic ring to her approximately 1-year-old daughter, who was sitting in a stroller.

“She had another child and she was doing things and she might have got confused I don’t know instead of giving it to the older child, she actually gave about a 1-year-old baby girl in a stroller the plastic ring,” Sloggett said.

Sloggett continued watching the baby and saw what no one else around him did.

“I continued to watch the baby and immediately the baby took the ring off and put it in her mouth, gummed it a couple of times and then swallowed and started gagging and choking and nobody knew it was happening,” Sloggett said.

He removed his gloves and pushed through the crowd to reach the child.

“Fortunately, the first thing I did was get a hold of the baby’s jaw and get the mouth open and I could see the whole ring still lodged at the very top of the throat so I got my thumb around the ring and popped it and as soon as I popped it, the baby started breathing again,” Sloggett said.

Tony Martinez, owner of PSD Security Services, said Sloggett’s actions went far beyond the standard duties of a security officer.

“When an officer goes above and beyond the way that he did and to be able to notice that child choking and asphyxiating at that moment it took some huge situational awareness and then for him to just jump into action as quicky as he did, he deserved to be commended for it,” Martinez said.

Sloggett’s security company awarded him an award for his heroic efforts.

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 Molina

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    KINGSVILLE, Texas (KRIS) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott delivered the keynote address at the Kleberg County Republican Party’s Lincoln Reagan Dinner at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Center on Friday evening, about 40 miles from Corpus Christi, where thousands of Democrats gathered for their state convention.

Abbott thanked local supporters and rallied Republicans ahead of the fall midterm elections.

“I wanted to be here and say thank you to Kleberg County for turning out to vote,” Abbott said.

Abbott criticized Democratic policies during his speech while encouraging Republicans to stay engaged in local and statewide races.

“They are trying to expand the socialist leftists in Austin, Texas to places like Kleberg, Corpus Christi,” Abbott said.

Abbott also outlined several Republican priorities, including border security.

“Part of our core agenda will be to ensure that we’re using every step, using every tool that we secure the Texas border, not for just the next four years but forever is what our goal is to secure our border,” Abbott said.

On education, Abbott said improving schools should remain a top priority.

“The time has come to add another number one ranking. Texas must become number one in educating our children,” Abbott said.

Abbott also promoted his plan to lower property taxes.

“Your future property tax bill should look like this… when it comes to the school district property tax, the number in it should be zero,” Abbott said.

Abbott closed his remarks with a message to supporters.

“Our job next session is to keep Texas Texas. Thank you all. God bless you all,” Abbott said.

Abbott’s appearance came as both parties continue mobilizing voters ahead of the fall midterm elections, with Republicans and Democrats holding separate events in South Texas to energize supporters before November.

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 Ricardo Tovar

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    CALIFORNIA (KSBW) — Months after making national headlines for advertising her search for a husband on Bay Area billboards, a Salinas native says her story has reached a happy new chapter: she has found love.

Lisa Catalano, a Salinas High School graduate who drew attention in the fall for promoting her dating website, marrylisa.com, on billboards from San Francisco to Santa Clara, recently shared that the effort ultimately helped lead her to the relationship she had been hoping to find.

While she did not meet her boyfriend directly through the billboard campaign or through an application on her website, Catalano said the entire experience played an important role in getting her there.

“I don’t feel like any of it was a waste of time or effort or resources,” Catalano said in an interview with KSBW 8. “All paths led me to where I am now.”

Catalano, 42, launched the campaign after growing frustrated with dating apps and wanting a more intentional path toward marriage and family.

Her website laid out her values, goals and non-negotiables, serving as a deeper filter for compatibility than traditional dating profiles.

Catalano said she received roughly 4,000 applications between September 2025 and May 2026, with 3,221 deemed genuine.

She said many of the responses came from men outside her area or from people who did not meet the basic qualities she was seeking in a partner.

She contacted 20 local men and went on first dates with five of them.

At the same time, Catalano continued using dating apps, often directing matches to her website to help assess compatibility early on.

In January, she matched with a man on a dating app who had also seen one of her billboards. That connection eventually turned into a relationship.

Catalano said the two went on 19 dates over three and a half months before becoming exclusive.

In June she announced on her website that she is now in a relationship with a Bay Area man she described as kind, intelligent, and aligned with the values most important to her.

She said he meets the standards she had been seeking all along, including shared views on marriage, family, lifestyle, religion and politics.

Catalano also revealed more details about the cost of her widely discussed campaign. She said the billboards themselves cost about $967, while the website and taxi-top ads in San Francisco brought the subtotal to about $1,980.

After adding follow-up expenses tied to the attention the campaign received — including wardrobe, makeup and increased security — her total spending came to $4,746.

Despite public speculation that the campaign may have cost tens of thousands of dollars, Catalano said she was strategic in choosing billboard locations and ad timing to stay within budget.

She said she started the process without ever imagining the amount of attention it would receive. Some people speculated that she was doing it for attention or fame, while others supported her. She also faced nasty and hateful comments directed at her efforts. Some even accused her of being AI.

She said she had tried all the traditional approaches, including meeting people in public and using dating apps, but none of them were working, and she was not finding dates.

She even said she turned down offers for Bachelorette-type shows in an effort not to muddy her real goal of finding love.

“I wasn’t getting dates, and I really wanted to find love, get married and have all of that,” she said. “I was like, ‘Okay, my current trajectory on things is not working. How am I going to make this work?’ I had to change something, so I decided to go big on it. And, you know, I didn’t meet my boyfriend off of the website or billboards, but I think the whole combination of everything that happened led me to where I am now.”

She also said she would not necessarily recommend billboards as the answer for everyone, but she does believe in finding creative solutions when something in life is not working.

“I don’t know if I would necessarily recommend going the billboard route per se, but I think that with anything in life, if you have a problem, it can be beneficial to try to think about creative solutions to the problem,” she said. “And that’s essentially what I did in this situation.”

Now, Catalano says she is simply grateful the story ended the way it did.

For a woman who once put her love life on Highway 101, the road appears to have led exactly where she hoped.

She said that despite the costs and effort, she does not regret what she did because it led her to where she is today.

She said she is very optimistic about her future with her new boyfriend and that they are both very happy right now. She would not disclose much about him other than to say he is a 35-year-old Bay Area man who is not bothered by her website or the media attention she has garnered.

She said she is trying to keep details about her relationship private, but added that they have spoken about a future together.

“He’s just way better than I thought I could even find in one person,” she said. “So I’m very lucky. I’m very happy. And he feels the same way about me.”

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 Doug Meehan

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    WORCESTER, Massachusetts (WCVB) — Vinegar may be a pantry staple, but for most, it may not be something you spend a lot of time thinking about. A Massachusetts entrepreneur thinks about it all the time. That is because he is making a lot of it.

“There is so much more to vinegar than what most people realize,” said Rodrigo Vargas, founder of American Vinegar Works in Worcester.

The Dartmouth-educated former investment banker started his handmade, small-batch vinegar company in 2019. He did so by first asking a question that had opportunity as part of the answer.

“When you’re talking to someone, and you say, ‘What’s your favorite vinegar?’ there is like a blank stare,” Vargas said.

Learning that the public’s perception of the sour liquid was rather sour, Vargas set out to create just the opposite.

Using locally brewed alcohol, like a porter beer from Mayflower Brewing Company in Plymouth, Vargas believes starting with quality ingredients means you finish with a more refined, better-tasting, quality product — a product that can take up to a full year to mature — compared to the two hours or two days it takes for the more mass-produced vinegars.

“Our vinegar, at a minimum, is going to take a month to two months of fermentation. That process changing over alcohol into acetic acid, and then we barrel age all of the vinegars for at least four months and many of them as much as a year,” Vargas said.

Reimagining and redesigning filtration techniques that date back to the early 1800s. American Vinegar Works is producing 6,000 gallons of vinegar a year in a historic 200,000-square-foot manufacturing space.

Vargas said that as the public learns more about what is happening at the facility, the potential growth for this Made in Mass product is massive.

“Vinegar is one of those magical products that have zero of all of the bad things you want. But somehow, (there) is magically this burst of flavors that transforms your dishes,” Vargas said.

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By Cecil Hannibal

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    FAIRFIELD, California (KCRA) — Aaron Phelps, a senior at Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, graduated high school after years of resilience, while attending classes virtually through a telepresence robot.

Phelps was born with Type 1 spinal muscular atrophy, a rare and devastating childhood disease that causes motor neurons to die. His mother, Meri Stratton, recalled the moment she realized something was wrong during a routine checkup when Aaron was 2 months old.

“He was sitting on my lap at the pediatrician’s office in Davis. His arms and legs were just hanging by his side,” Stratton said.

She was referred to a neurologist, who delivered heartbreaking news.

“When he first came into the room, one of the things he mentioned was SMA. He said if you get anything, this is the one you don’t want to have, because 90% of the kids die,” Meri said.

Doctors told Meri her son would not survive.

“They told you your son was going to die?” asked KCRA 3’s Cecil Hannibal.

“Absolutely, without question,” Meri said.

Meri turned to prayer and research, eventually connecting with researchers at Stanford and the University of Utah who were working on an experimental drug. The treatment kept Aaron alive through his first birthday, his first grade and beyond.

Aaron is mentally like any other student, but SMA caused him to lose complete mobility. He’s not immunocompromised, but any virus or infection that affects his lungs could send him to the hospital, according to his mother.

In elementary school, his parents discovered the idea of a telepresence robot through another family whose child has SMA.

Aaron’s journey with SMA inspired him to create a documentary about his life as one of the few SMA survivors his age.

“This is how I go to school. I have always gone to school virtually since kindergarten. During COVID, everybody went to school the way I do, and I didn’t feel so alone,” Aaron said in the film.

The documentary gained international recognition, being shown in Berlin and at the Catalina Film Festival, where a tree was planted in his honor, according to his mother.

Aaron graduated from Rodriguez High School on June 5 and now plans to attend Arizona State University online.

He dreams of working as a disability advocate for Disney.

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By Bethany Cates

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    GUILFORD COUNTY, North Carolina (WXII) — A Guilford County deputy battling stage 5 kidney disease received a donated car through a GoFundMe campaign, giving her a renewed sense of independence as her community rallies to support her. Austin said it was all thanks to Twin City Automotive in Winston-Salem who fixed up the car free of charge.

Deputy Rajinique Austin shared that her diagnosis forced her to make difficult financial decisions.

“Maybe last year, September, I had to choose between giving up my apartment or my car, and I gave my car up,” Austin said.

Her story inspired someone to make a difference.

“She donated her car that she hadn’t used in a long time to me,” Austin said.

Austin’s friend, who created the GoFundMe page, said the response was surprising.

“So I was like, what in the world is this, and I was reading through it, and someone was talking about how they wanted to donate their car, and it had been their dream car, and they didn’t use it anymore,” he said.

Austin expressed how having her own car again has impacted her life.

“I didn’t feel too burdened with not having my own, but it’s definitely different having your own,” she said.

Despite her demanding schedule, which includes working an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift and spending six hours on dialysis at home, Austin’s community continues to support her.

“It’s just making sure that she’s comfortable, she’s feeling good, that if she’s not having a good day, that we’re still there letting her know, ‘Hey, we’re here if you need to talk, we’re here if you need anything,'” her friend said.

Austin acknowledged the emotional toll of her condition but credited her community for helping her persevere.

“Some days I want to give up, like all the time. I’m constantly saying I don’t want to do this anymore, but I feel like sometimes they care more than me, so that allows me to push forward,” she said.

To raise awareness for Austin’s story, a motorcycle ride is scheduled for Saturday. The event will begin at Rixster Grill in High Point, with registration starting at 9 a.m. and the hour-long ride kicking off at 10:30 a.m.

Austin, who has a B-positive blood type, is still searching for a kidney match from someone with a B or O blood type.

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By Kate Amara

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    ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (WBAL) — A judge sentenced an Anne Arundel County man in the killing of a garden shop owner last year.

Jonah Poole, 19, of Davidsonville, pleaded guilty in March to first-degree murder in the killing of Edward Koza, 67, in May 2025. The guilty plea came months after a judge ruled that Poole was competent to stand trial. Police said Koza, the owner of Tropic Bay Water Gardens, was kidnapped before his killing.

On Friday, the defense sought a life sentence with all but 30 years suspended and a referral to the Youthful Offenders Program. The Anne Arundel County judge sentenced Poole to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Poole stood and told the court: “I think I deserve whatever I get. I’m sorry because he didn’t have to die and I have no excuses for what I did. I hope that God can forgive me. I don’t expect anyone else to forgive me.”

The Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office released a statement, saying, in part: “Due to the Defendant’s age, the judge will refer him to the Patuxent Youth Facility’s Youthful Offender Program. He was also ordered to forfeit approximately $215,000 stolen from the victim, and a $15,000 truck purchased with additional stolen funds to the victim’s estate.”

In referring Poole to the state’s Youthful Offender Program, the judge indicated that if not for the plea deal, she might have sentenced Poole without parole.

“I think the sentencing went well for us today. I think the judge had a very difficult decision to make and we respect her decision,” said David Fischer, Poole’s defense attorney.

County prosecutors said Poole and his co-defendant and high school girlfriend, Kylee Alyssa Dakes, 19, killed Koza inside his garden shop, leaving behind a knife, a bloody decorative koi pond rock and other evidence.

Prosecutors said the pair then drove Koza’s truck with his body in the back before setting the truck on fire in the shop’s parking lot.

Dakes was charged with first-degree murder and pleaded not guilty. Her trial is scheduled in December and she plans to argue battered spouse syndrome and testify in her own defense.

Prosecutors said they’ve amassed evidence in the case that includes detention center phone calls and visitor logs, data from the couple’s cell phones and their exported chat log from Snapchat.

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By Stephanie Moore

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    PICKENS COUNTY, South Carolina (WYFF) — A well-known and loved man in Pickens County, South Carolina, has died after his lawn mower went off a cliff edge, according to the coroner’s office.

The coroner’s office said Richard Crowe, 68, was on a lawn mower and went over an approximate 15- to 20-foot cliff edge.

This happened about 9 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, on Belle Shoals Road.

“Richard is a well-known and loved individual in this community,” the coroner’s office said. “He has always been known as a dear friend to many and a public servant at heart. Richard recently retired from Pickens County in 2024 as the Director of E-911, where he tirelessly served his community for several years.”

The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office also released a statement on social media.

“The Pickens County Sheriff’s Office would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family of retired Pickens County E-911 Coordinator Richard Crowe. PCSO had the honor and privilege of working alongside Richard during his over two decades of service to Pickens County. Richard was highly respected by our deputies and communications specialists alike for his contagious positive disposition and willingness to always respond to assist our employees when needed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family in the coming days.”

Everyone seemed to have a story about Crowe in Pickens County

“Anytime something needed to be done, it didn’t matter if it was there or not. He was there,” said Andrew Wilson, the county coroner.

“He got written up one time because he worked on an ambulance, and they got sent to a call and it was barely over the Greenville County line, but he could see it,” said Megan Lowry, a coworker and friend. “So, he went to it anyway because he said he couldn’t leave those people without help while he was right there.”

Lowry says Crowe leaves behind a legacy of lifesaving in Pickens County.

“It would be storming in the middle of the night, and that man would be working all night long to keep 911 lines running,” she 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.