Author: CNN Newsource

By Krystle Rich

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — A Bucks County high school wrestler is going for a three-peat this weekend. Julia Horger three-peated at a top-level tournament, and now, the Conwell-Egan Catholic High School senior is seeking to three-peat as a state champion.

Horger first walked on the mat when she was 7 years old.

“I remember always going to the youth tournaments,” Horger said. “I was really into wrestling ever since I was younger. I loved the sport.”

“She was tough. She was beating up boys all the time as a little kid,” Chuckie Connor, head wrestling coach at Conwell-Egan, said. “She’ll do a lot of throws and exciting moves. Even as a little kid, she was tossing boys around. It was great.”

Ten years later, Horger became a two-time state champion, winning both her sophomore and junior years.

“That sophomore year after she won states, she went on to win Fargo, which is the highest level of wrestling in the country,” Connor said.

Her high school career started at Bensalem High School. In her freshman year, she only wrestled boys in matches, and at 95 pounds, she wrestled up at 106 and won 25 contests.

“It kind of brought down my confidence getting beat up by the guys all the time,” Horger said. “I thought I was doing so bad. I’m losing all the time, but looking back on it now, I’m like, ‘Wow, I actually did really good.’ It definitely toughened me up.”

With a new toughness to draw from, Horger transferred to Conwell-Egan in her sophomore year. She helped the Eagles start a girls’ wrestling program and was finally able to compete against girls.

“It was a weight off my shoulders,” Horger said.

“It almost wasn’t fun how much she was able to dominate,” Connor said.

Finally feeling free on the mat, Morger won the Beast of the East, a top-level tournament, in her sophomore and junior years.

“Her junior year, she went the entire season without having a match go the distance,” Connor said, “which means she pinned or technical fought every single opponent, which is crazy.”

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m a two-timer.’ That’s pretty cool,” Horger said.

The only thing cooler? Three-peating at Beast of the East, also winning her senior year.

At Beast of the East, Horger avenged her only senior year loss, against the same opponent, for her 100th career win.

“The best part for me was seeing the fire and spark in her,” Connor said. “You can see her training after she lost a match stepped up a whole other level.”

“I worked really hard that week,” Horger said, “and to know all my hard work was actually paying off was a really great feeling. This year was the first year that I started to see it. All these girls come up to me and tell me I’m inspiring them, and they want to wrestle in college. I’m so proud to be able to inspire people. This is such a great sport to come into as a woman. It shapes you as a person.

“My dedication, even if something goes wrong, I’m not the type of person to give up, that just makes me want it more.”

Horger hopes to one day wrestle in the Olympics.

States started Thursday in Hershey. Horger advanced and will wrestle in the championship match Saturday after Friday’s semifinal victory.

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) — Filling a need and providing basic resources for students! That’s the goal for ‘Love Beyond Walls,’ a non-profit meeting the needs of students who need clothes and access to computers at A. Phillip Randolph Elementary in Fulton County.

Volunteers worked hard painting and assembling furniture to transform a classroom into a resource room known as Zion’s Closet. It will be filled with donated clothes and a washer and dryer for students and parents to use.

“For clothes and the food, there’s people that need help out there. They don’t ever want to admit it but it’s kind of hard out there right now. So I would definitely utilize it,” said Renita Knight, a mother at A. Phillip Randolph Elementary said.

Knight plans to use the resource room once it opens.

“I believe parents will use the washer and dryer, and me as a parent, I would,” Knight said.

This is something Brittany Burns, the school principal, says is needed.

“The washer and dryer is going to be essential. A lot of our students are impacted. They live in the Fulton Industrial Corridor, where there’s a lot of extended stay hotels. If you look at the area, there’s no local laundromats,” Burns said.

The resource room will also have school supplies.

“The supplies would be utilized definitely because it’s hard to get school supplies,” Knight said.

The room will give families access to computers.

“Parents can use it for jobs or use the computers to fill out applications,” Knight said.

Principal Burns says students can worry less and focus more on learning.

“Zion’s Closet is gonna provide an opportunity for kids to be able to show up and receive those supports so that they can be their very best academically and emotionally in class,” Burns said.

Zion’s Closet is already open at three other schools.

“It’s a resource room to support students in Title I schools. It’s a room where parents can actually come in and don’t feel the shame,” Terence Lester, the founder of Love Beyond Walls, said.

The resource is set to open inside A. Phillip Randolph Elementary on March 27.

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 WTVD News Staff

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    JACKSONVILLE, North Carolina (WTVD) — A federal jury has convicted a man of aggravated sexual abuse against a child.

Court records and trial evidence revealed that David Leonard Mayes, 41, raped a nine-year-old severely autistic, nonverbal child while she was visiting her family on Camp Lejeune. The victim’s mother returned home early, found her daughter’s door closed and caught Mayes in the act.

Investigators discovered a tub of petroleum jelly in the child’s room with Mayes’s fingerprint on it. Forensic testing also confirmed the victim’s DNA on his genitals along with petroleum jelly residue on both.

Mayes faces a mandatory minimum of 30 years to life in prison.

“This monster preyed on the most vulnerable nine-year-old imaginable. He exploited his relationship with the family to violate this defenseless innocent child in the most inhuman ways imaginable. Rather than admit his heinous crime, he further traumatized the family by forcing them to recount what he did before the jury in open court. We will protect the heroes aboard Camp Lejeune and their daughters. We proudly secured this conviction from a jury of American citizens and look forward to advocating for a sentence that will ensure this predator will never hurt another child ever again,” said U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle.

Special Agent in Charge Kelly Parrish of the NCIS Carolinas Field Office added, “Mr. Mayes must be held accountable for targeting and cruelly exploiting a particularly vulnerable child for illicit, selfish gratification.”

The case was investigated by NCIS and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen Haughton and Ashley Foxx, with U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III accepting the verdict.

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 Bianca Buono

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    ANAHEIM, California (KABC) — A man is behind bars after police say he attacked a mother and her teenage daughter in public in Anaheim, threatening to sexually assault them.

Jose Gudino, 59, has been charged with two felony counts of kidnapping with intent to commit rape, according to the Anaheim Police Department. The agency says he was homeless and has no prior history of violent attacks.

The incident happened Tuesday afternoon near Lincoln Avenue and East Street, according to police.

A mother and daughter, who asked to remain anonymous, were walking home from a bus stop. They said they began to notice that a man was following them.

Surveillance camera footage eerily shows the man emerging as the women cross the street and he follows behind them. Moments later, police say he attacked them.

“We were screaming for help,” said the 14-year-old daughter. “I felt like that was going to be my last day here and I was just so traumatized.”

The mother and daughter said Gudino tried grabbing them from the sidewalk, first going after the teenage girl. He demanded they go with him to an area behind nearby trees where he threatened to assault them.

“A bag of my pills fell. When I tried to pick it up, he hit me with a bag in his hand and I fell on the street,” the mother said.

The mother was hurt, but she and her daughter fought back – even managing to record video of the suspect.

“She was very brave, she also protected me, the two of us united, thanks to the mercy of God,” the mother said.

A good Samaritan stopped and they jumped into her car. They consider her to be their angel.

When they got home, they called 911 and police say within two hours, they found Gudino and arrested him.

“It’s an isolated incident. It doesn’t happen often in the city of Anaheim. And that’s exactly why we made it a priority to immediately apprehend this suspect,” said Officer Breana Castro, a public information officer with Anaheim PD.

Anaheim police say they want to speak with that good Samaritan.

“We are also very thankful for her input in helping this mother daughter duo. And we would love to get her statement. It would be critical in the case against this suspect,” Castro said.

The family is working on recovering, both physically and emotionally. The mother has scratches across her legs and hands. They hope their story serves as a warning to other women in their community.

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 Carlos Granda

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    LOS ANGELES, California (KABC) — Ye, formally known as Kanye West, is set to appear in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Friday. He’s being sued by a man who worked on his Malibu beach house renovations.

Ye’s wife, Bianca Censori, took the stand Thursday, with her testimony lasting all day.

The case revolves around Tony Saxon, a former employee who sued Ye, claiming he was hired as a project manager but was only paid once. He said that he was fired after seven weeks.

Saxon is suing for more than $1 million for alleged unpaid wages, dangerous working conditions and wrongful termination.

During questioning, Censori said she has degrees in architecture and in 2021 she was lead architect for Ye’s $57 million house. She added that she worked on it for a few weeks before Saxon came on board.

She was asked about the plans for the house and the changes. She said her role was to visualize plans, renderings and concepts that Ye had.

Saxon claimed that Ye’s plans for the property were constantly changing. He said Ye wanted all plumbing, wiring and other items removed.

Saxon claims he was severely injured and was later fired.

Ye is set to testify in court Friday.

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 Daniel Macht

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    MODESTO, California (KCRA) — Two men are facing charges after an investigation into chemical explosions and fires at a waste management facility in Modesto last year.

In announcing the charges, the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office also released dramatic video that showed the moment 55-gallon drums alleged to be filled with hazardous waste exploded on March 27.

It happened when waste from Riverbank-based Advanced Materials Manufacturing Technologies, LLC, (AM2T) was being offloaded at Gilton’s Resource Recovery Facility in Modesto.

One Gilton worker suffered minor injuries in the initial explosion.

According to the DA’s office, Gilton employees did not know the drums were filled with hazardous material, highly flammable powdered magnesium and aluminum.

Later, firefighters who tried to put out the fire also put themselves in danger because the hazardous materials reacted with water to produce flammable hydrogen gas, which then led to a secondary explosion, the DA’s office said.

No one was hurt in the second explosion and the fire was ultimately put out after being covered with dirt, the DA’s office said.

Investigators also found additional 55-gallon drums filled with hazardous waste that were being illegally stored at AM2T’s facility, according to the DA’s office.

AM2T owner Henry Meeks and AM2T manager Phillip Whitmore are accused of illegal storage, transportation, and disposal of hazardous waste.

Whitmore was arrested and booked into jail in connection with the alleged illegal dumping. An arrest warrant has been issued for Meeks.

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.