Author: CNN Newsource

By Najahe Sherman

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — A South Florida teenager refused to let a diagnosis define her.

Instead, she turned her adversity into action, creating a movement to make sure other teens facing the same challenges never feel alone.

For 19-year-old Sofi Quintana, simple items like face wipes, nail kits, and cozy socks are more than just essentials. They’re comfort, connection and a reminder that someone understands.

After being diagnosed with epilepsy herself, Quintana spent her own share of time in hospital rooms. She remembers the uncertainty and isolation. The feeling that no one else quite got it.

So, she decided to change that.

She created Teens Experiencing Epilepsy Now or TEEN, a program dedicated to supporting young people navigating life with seizures.

“The main thing I do is create these care packages, and deliver them to the hospitals, so teens can get them and feel a little bit more comfortable in their hospital stays,” Quintana said. “But in the most recent years it has taken off into this whole advocacy type thing.”

What started as care packages has grown into a powerful platform. Quintana also served on a panel for Purple Day in Disney and traveled to Tallahassee to advocate for training in schools for people who experience seizures.

“It was probably around my sophomore year of high school when I was sent to Tallahassee to advocate for a seizure safety bill,” she said. “Then I finally started to be like, if I accept this and I do something about it, my life can actually be so much better than it is right now.”

That was the turning point.

“Once she started talking, she was like, ‘People are listening to me. I’m going to keep talking,'” Stephanie Quintana, her mother, said. “It was great, I was so proud to see her finally realize that the things she could say, could be important.”

And people are listening. Now she also has a Teen epilepsy blog and offers social media tips and educational material. She has become a local source for people needing advice.

“My favorite is when the parents reach out to me and they’re like, ‘How can I help my daughter” I don’t know what to do'” Quintana said.

Through her advocacy work she found her voice.

“You’re not alone. You can do cool things too,” she said. “Epilepsy doesn’t have to be the thing that totally changes your life. Yes, it could change your life, but it could change your life for the better.”

Sofi Quintana says she has plans to expand her organization in the future and create other TEEN chapters, in more communities, so teens with epilepsy know they are not alone.

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 Neal Riley

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    BOSTON (WBZ) — The owner of the TD Garden arena in Boston is suing a Massachusetts cannabis dispensary over an alleged trademark violation.

Delaware North, which owns the home of the Boston Celtics and Bruins, filed the lawsuit last month against The Boston Garden Dispensary, which has pot shops in Cambridge, Somerville and Athol.

The lawsuit says the names are nearly identical, and “members of the public are likely to be confused as to the source, sponsorship, or other commercial affiliation of TBG’s goods and services.”

It further alleges “irreparable harm” from customers assuming that marijuana products sold by The Boston Garden Dispensary are associated with TD Garden. The company wants a court to order the destruction of any materials that are found to contain their illegal trademark.

Owner Ivelise Rivera said her team hired a trademark lawyer to make sure the name “The Boston Garden” was available before they opened their first shop in Athol.

“Nobody disputed, nobody said, ‘no, you can’t use it,'” Rivera told CBS News Boston. “We moved forward and got the trademark and then proceeded to name our stores and open. We’ve been open for four-and-a-half years and hadn’t heard anything until they just filed.”

Rivera told the Boston Globe that they considered a rename, but Delaware North was not willing to help cover the costs of rebranding.

“As far as I know of, I’ve never heard of anybody confusing us with the arena,” she said. “I don’t think anyone sees The Boston Garden dispensary name and thinks they’re going to the arena. We’re hoping for the best outcome.”

The original Boston Garden on Causeway Street was demolished and replaced by the new arena in 1995. The building has previously been known as the FleetCenter and TD Banknorth Garden before adopting its current name in 2009.

In a statement, a Delaware North spokesperson said:

“Boston Garden” is among the most recognized brands in Boston sports and entertainment, tied to a historic arena that has been part of this city’s history since 1928. Delaware North has developed substantial goodwill in connection with this famous brand and holds multiple trademark registrations for “Boston Garden” (which are in full force and effect). We have made good‑faith efforts over a period of years to resolve this matter amicably and remain hopeful that an agreement can still be reached.

“To rebrand is not something that we really want to do,” Rivera said. “They never hung on to the name. They retired it. They really just said we’re not doing this and retired it, didn’t want to name the Garden, the Boston Garden because they wanted to get paid a lot of money to use somebody else’s name. So, I think we’re in here fair and square and it’s our name.”

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 Adam Thompson, Tara Lynch

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore’s Leakin Park will be closed off during the evenings and overnights until March 19 as sharpshooters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture kill deer to reduce the city’s deer population.

Baltimore City officials say deer are overpopulated in the city. The city’s deer management program will target three parks this month.

Sharpshooters will kill off more than 100 deer in Leakin Park. The park will be closed from 4 p.m. until 7 a.m. on March 9 through March 19.

Volunteers and the Baltimore City Police Department will help to clear the park so the sharpshooters can work.

Druid Hill Park in Northwest Baltimore and Herring Park in East Baltimore will follow.

The meat harvested from this operation will be donated to the Maryland Food Bank, and is estimated to create 40,000 meals.

“This problem has been going on for decades. We’ve let it go for far too long,” said Shane Boehne, leader of the city’s deer management program.

Baltimore City Rec and Parks said the deer population in parts of the city can be more than 20 times higher than what is considered normal for a forested area.

Overall, the goal is to bring the deer population to 20 per square mile.

“If you’re able to bring it down to that 20 deer per square mile, and if you basically go hands off for a little while, you’ll have an increase back in the population. So we have to do constant management,” Boehne said.

The project is expected to make the parks healthier as part of its effort to increase the tree canopy.

“In this era of rapid change, we want to have stable, resilient ecosystems, especially forested ecosystems,” said Jerry Burges, the Johns Hopkins University Environmental Science and Studies Director. “They give us all sorts of services. But if you even value small things, like seeing a variety of birds, that’s often an important thing for residents. In areas where we have really high deer densities, we see the disappearance of certain bird species.”

Baltimore officials say sharpshooting was chosen as the method because it is cost-effective and less disruptive to surrounding communities.

“The whole point of sharp shooting is to kill these deer on impact,” Boehne said. “We don’t want to spook, spook these deer and make them flee the area and go out into residential areas.”

Baltimore City residents have raised concerns over the city’s deer-kill plan, which includes a less harsh method.

“I’m more of one who believes in taking a balanced approach, maybe sharp shooting is a percentage of how we get to the attrition, but maybe there are other modest and milder methods,” said Linda Batts, with the Hanlon Improvement Association.

“When we talk about disadvantaged and marginalized communities, we’re talking about changing the economic mainstream, eliminating the long standing effects of redlining that have some communities impoverished and without their basic needs, while other communities are living their best lives and have access to goods and services and the economics that make them thrive.”

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 La’Tasha Givens

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    DUNWOODY, Georgia (WUPA) — For many students, the morning routine can become mundane. But a group of fathers known as the Hero Dads at Dunwoody Springs Elementary School welcome students with music, hugs, and high-fives, getting them excited about the day ahead.

Dressed in costumes and armed with portable speakers, these fathers have taken over the carpool lane to ensure students, parents, and teachers start their day with a smile.

They started 15 years ago with the goal of giving hardworking teachers the morning off and breaking up the monotony of the school week.

“The teachers do a lot of hard work; they get here early in the morning,” said Adewale Odetunde, a Hero Dad known to the students as “Dynomo the Dolphin.” “We try to make carpool a little bit fun for them, for the kids, and the parents.”

“It brings up the energy for the kids as they’re coming into school,” Odetunde said. “They jumped out the car and gave me a high five… they were very excited to see us this morning.”

Over the past 15 years, Hero Dad Elston Nesbitt has seen four of his own children pass through Dunwoody Springs Elementary.

“It’s absolutely great because my kids get to participate in that same thing too,” Nesbitt shared. “My kids get to see that other dads care about kids as much as I do.”

The Hero Dads have become such a staple of the school culture that students now frequently request their presence at other school events to “get the party started.”

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 Matteo Iadonisi

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    OCEAN CITY, New Jersey (WPVI) — Affectionately known as Ocean City’s ‘Number One Beach Bum,’ 90-year-old Earl Paul has counted more than 10,000 visits to the beach.

Paul and his wife, Catherine, had moved to Ocean City in the 1990s following his four-decade career as a pipe fitter. Unfortunately, Catherine passed away just a couple years later.

Paul visited the beach to find healing. After some time, he became determined to visit each and every day possible.

Nearly three decades later, Paul has counted more than 10,000 days on the beach. He says it’s easy to make the trip, only being a short walk from his home in Ocean City.

And he has no plans to stop visiting.

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 Bryanna Gallagher

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    PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — A small business in Center City Philadelphia is trying to figure out how hundreds of containers of French onion dip it never ordered ended up outside its storefront.

MacMart, a mac and cheese kiosk at the corner of 18th and Arch streets, received a large delivery of “Heluva Good” French onion dip.

“So you’re telling me I have 600 containers of Heluva Good French onion dip…” said Marti Lieberman, co-owner and operator of MacMart.

Lieberman said the unexpected shipment followed what initially appeared to be a routine promotional inquiry.

“A few weeks ago, I got an email from a promotional company based out of Australia,” she said.

She said the message did not seem unusual at first because the business has done promotional work in the past, but she got concerned after more emails were sent.

“As things progressed, there were red flags,” Lieberman said.

She eventually responded that she would take a sample to see whether the product would be a good fit and then blocked the email. Despite that, messages continued. Weeks later, a delivery arrived.

“I get a really nice man at the door, he says, ‘Hi honey, I have your cases,'” she recalled.

Lieberman shared the unusual situation, which she referred to as a “dip gate” scandal, on Instagram and tagged the “Heluva Good” brand.

While transporting the dip to her commissary, she said she heard directly from the company.

“I get a DM from Heluva Good dip saying, ‘Stop what you’re doing, we don’t know where this came from,'” Lieberman said.

She said the company told her it needed to conduct an internal investigation. About 24 hours later, she learned the product likely came from a third-party company that needed to get rid of the stock.

“Heluva Good dips has no affiliation with how this all went down. We appreciate the humor that all of our followers and everyone in the city has been able to find in this,” she said.

Lieberman also said she was told another female-owned and operated business in Philadelphia apparently received the same delivery, though the identity of that business remains a mystery.

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.