Author: CNN Newsource

By Susan Shapiro

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    ADAMS COUNTY, Pennsylvania (WGAL) — A snapping turtle named Dino, rescued after being hit by a car, underwent surgery and was released back into the wild in Adams County.

“They are dinosaurs, living dinosaurs, very impressive,” Garrett Lamason of the West Shore Wildlife Center said.

Dino’s journey began on July 9 when a family found him in the middle of West High Street in New Oxford. He had been hit by a car. Jamey Swisher of Reptile Invasion came to his rescue.

“I knew he was in pretty bad shape. He wasn’t trying to strike when we picked him up,” Swisher said.

The 20-pound turtle had a fractured shell, but an X-ray revealed two hooks in his throat, which could be a sign of poaching. Dino underwent risky surgery to remove the hooks and rehabilitated at the West Shore Wildlife Center in Dover.

“He is definitely happy and healing, and got his spice back,” Lamason said.

Rescuers released Dino into the South Branch of the Conewago Creek, where they watched as he slowly made his way into the water.

“It was fantastic. It just made my whole year,” Swisher said.

“It’s great he gets to go back to his real home and doesn’t have to live in a shelter,” Jessica Fishel of Reptile Invasion said.

Dino, believed to be about 30 years old, may have a long life ahead of him, as snapping turtles can live to be 100.

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 Maricela De La Cruz

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    LAKE TAHOE, California (KCRA) — Six bear cubs have been killed in vehicle collisions on Tahoe-area roads over the past two weeks, according to the Bear League in Lake Tahoe, which tracks bear deaths annually.

“We track the kills, the road hits, every year. This year so far is higher with cubs. It’s going to get worse on into November, but there’s been years when we had so many, it was just total carnage,” said Ann Bryant, director of the Bear League.

The organization shared that one of the cubs killed had been tracked since its birth in January and provided a video of the cub.

Bryant explained that bears are especially active in the fall and early winter as they prepare for hibernation. “We see bears starting over, see them all year long. But a lot in the fall and on into the early winter until they finally go into the den – we hope. They’re out more because they have to pack on calories,” she said.

The Bear League has tracked road deaths for 30 years and says vehicle collisions with bears typically increase from mid-August through mid-November.

To address the issue, the group is advocating for more noticeable warning signs.

“We’re hoping to get some more mobile signs. The kind that have solar power so that there’s words that read across and they can be moved around because a normal bear crossing sign, people get used to those and they don’t notice them and they don’t think about it,” Bryant said.

In the meantime, the Bear League is asking drivers to slow down, stay alert, and remember that they are sharing Tahoe’s roads with wildlife.

Wildlife officials also remind people to secure garbage, food and other items during this time of year, as bears can consume up to 25,000 calories a day to build fat reserves for the winter.

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 Greenlee Clark

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    STAR, Idaho (KIVI) — For the Young family of Star, Dolly Parton was never just a country music star. She was a role model. A constant in their lives. And eventually — a Make-A-Wish dream come true.

Kristi Young said Dolly Parton’s music was woven into the family from the very beginning.

“All the kids were born to Dolly Parton music. It was the first sound they ever heard in the world,” Kristi said.

Her daughter Faith, now 15, laughed, recalling the detail.

“There was just Dolly Parton playing in the delivery room apparently,” Faith said.

“There was!” Kristi said.

Faith said Dolly taught her something she carries with her every day.

“To be kind and treat others respectfully,” Faith said.

Kristi said Dolly’s outlook on faith and kindness shaped the way their family moves through the world.

“She’s taught us to live our faith, but don’t make others feel uncomfortable if they, you know, don’t maybe share it. Leave the judging the Lord and live your faith,” Kristi said.

Inside their Star home, years of memories fill a Dolly Parton scrapbook that Kristi gave Faith as a surprise on her 11th birthday — along with a trip to Dollywood. The first half of the scrapbook is filled with memorabilia the family collected over the years. The second half documents their journey to meet Dolly. Each page tells the story of a family who grew up admiring Dolly’s music, kindness, and message. Kristi said Dolly’s belief that you can be anything and dream big was another lesson that stuck.

Kristi said Dolly’s words carried a particular weight for Faith.

“When Dolly says that you can dream more and you can do anything and you can be anything, those are words that mean something to Faith, like she just took it to heart, like this person’s talking to me. Just to me,” Kristi said.

In 2022, the family’s life changed after Faith was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder. Kristi said the family had spent years believing Faith had cerebral palsy before further testing during her teenage years led to a new diagnosis.

“Faith has a rare genetic disorder, and it’s a neuromuscular progressive condition, so it is life-impacting and limiting, and so we qualify for wish through that,” Kristi said.

Kristi said qualifying for Make-A-Wish came with complicated emotions.

“You want your child to have everything they ever dreamed of, but the reality of qualifying is pretty hard one,” Kristi said.

Through Make-A-Wish, Faith had the opportunity to choose one special experience. The family talked through the options — a puppy, backstage passes for other artists — but one wish stood apart. Dolly was not touring, which meant getting to meet her would require something special.

“What’s the one thing you can never do?” Kristi recalled asking her daughter.

“Dolly Parton,” Faith said.

The family joined the waitlist and kept busy in the meantime — participating in polar plunge fundraising for Make-A-Wish and staying connected to the community. When the call finally came, it arrived earlier than expected. Kristi said she found out about the wish about two weeks before telling Faith, keeping the secret until the 30-day mark so the family could do a countdown.

Because celebrity wishes do not follow a traditional planning timeline, the family had told their employers upfront that when Dolly called, they would go. Dolly’s team kept details tightly guarded — the family did not receive their itinerary until about 30 hours before they were set to meet her.

“They don’t tell anyone where Dolly is gonna be at any given moment ever,” Kristi said.

Kristi said Dolly was known for keeping her Make-A-Wish visits quiet, not wanting the publicity for herself.

“Dolly always kept it very quiet. She didn’t want the PR from Make A Wish. She wanted it to just be the kid. She was famous for saying keep a little bit back for yourself, something her mother had taught her, and so she just wanted that for the kids,” Kristi said.

The morning of the meeting, the family enjoyed a breakfast buffet before heading to meet Dolly. When they arrived, Dolly did group wishes so she never had to turn a child down. The Young family was there alongside three other families, each seated at a table with activities while Dolly worked her way around to visit with each family.

When Dolly walked into the room, Kristi said the energy shifted immediately.

“It was a very busy room. And increasing security, increasing and increasing, and then she walks in and all of the air just felt so much lighter. And she said, well, hello there. And her big voice, and immediately it was just joy,” Kristi said.

Before the visit, when the family found out the wish was going to be granted, Faith thought of bringing Dolly flowers. They picked up a vase of yellow, pink, and red roses from Star’s local Albertson’s. Faith explained that yellow and white are Dolly’s two favorite colors — yellow makes her happy and white makes her calm.

Faith had one specific hope for the visit — to play her fingernails and sing with Dolly. She got exactly that. Before the trip, the family visited a nail salon so Faith could have her “9 to 5” nail moment ready.

“We got to sing with Dolly because Faith had never been able to see a Dolly Parton concert. She wasn’t touring anymore and it was our little private concert,” Kristi said.

Kristi said Dolly’s kindness extended to every child in the room. At one point, Dolly let a child with visual impairments feel her buttons, pins, and hair.

Faith said the experience confirmed everything she had believed about Dolly.

“When I sang with her, like, there wasn’t auto-tune or anything. It was all real voice,” Faith said.

Kristi said Dolly was everything the family had hoped she would be.

“Getting to know her through her family and then getting to spend a little time with her and she’s everything that you would have ever thought she was. She was very genuine. Everything you saw was 100% real,” Kristi said.

The two also talked about the family’s Dolly Parton parties — a tradition the Youngs hold whenever there is a Dolly special.

“Like bake Duncan Hines and watch Dolly movies,” Faith said.

Dolly asked about the tradition herself during the visit. After the meeting, the family received free tickets to spend the afternoon at Dollywood. The morning after, the feeling of missing her had already set in.

“The next morning we were loading up and we looked at each other and went, I miss her. I wonder what she’s doing,” Kristi said.

Faith said the experience was everything she had hoped for.

“I was happy. It was magical, and it felt like I was dreaming. Dolly is this magical person that you don’t even feel like it’s just, you don’t even feel like it’s actually real,” Faith said.

The Young family’s connection to Dolly’s world extended beyond the Make-A-Wish visit. On Faith’s 11th birthday trip to Dollywood, the family met Shelly, Dolly’s cousin, who works at the park. Faith was so overwhelmed by being close to Dolly’s family that she went nonverbal and sank to the ground. Shelly sat through her entire dinner break waiting for Faith to feel comfortable enough to take a photo. Shelly still stays in touch with the family.

The family left blank pages at the back of the scrapbook — because there is still more to come. Dolly recorded an album set to be released in 2046, when she would have been 100 years old.

“We left blank pages in because there’s still hope,” Kristi said.

“We are all learning to live in a world without Dolly, but there’s still more to come,” Kristi said.

When Dolly Parton passed away, the day hit the Young family hard. Kristi said she was at her job when a wave of texts from unrelated groups of people started coming in, all offering condolences. She asked a colleague to check on the news for her rather than read it herself online.

Kristi said she immediately called Faith’s school to let them know. The school understood and went tech-free in some classes that afternoon to prevent pop-up ads from catching Faith off guard. Faith’s teacher also suggested she change into her volleyball jersey so no one would recognize her Dolly shirt and inadvertently say something before Kristi could tell her in person.

Kristi left work early and worked with the school counselor on the right moment to break the news. It was decided she should be told before the volleyball game rather than risk Faith hearing it elsewhere.

“She was shattered,” Kristi said.

Faith said volleyball was the one thing that brought her any happiness that week.

“The only time she saw me happy and smiling was when we won our first two games,” Faith said.

Faith’s school gave her bereavement leave. That Friday, the family honored Dolly the way she would have wanted — with a Dolly Parton party. This time, they made Duncan Hines blondies with chocolate chips after discovering a new recipe, watched Dolly movies, and set aside time to grieve together.

The family later learned through one of Dolly’s nieces that Dolly had been laid to rest that same Friday — the same day the Youngs had taken their bereavement day.

“We set aside time to pray for her family and we were praying for them when they were having their funeral,” Kristi said.

The outpouring of support from the Star community brought Faith comfort during those first difficult nights. Kristi said her phone was flooded with messages from people across the community who knew their story.

“That first night when we got home, that was a really rough night and it brought Faith a lot of comfort to read those messages. It was the one thing that really was comforting in those moments,” Kristi said.

Kristi said the unity she has witnessed in the wake of Dolly’s passing reminded her of something she had not felt in a long time.

“I haven’t seen our country, our world this united since 9/11. It doesn’t matter what side of the political fence you’re on, it doesn’t matter whether you’re religious or you’re part of more liberal communities, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you came from,” Kristi said.

“We are all learning to live in a world without Dolly together,” Kristi said.

“I think it would have brought her a lot of joy to see the world united. She wanted to be remembered for everything that she had done and who she was, and I think we’re all doing a really good job of that,” Kristi said.

In the end, Kristi said the best memorial anyone could offer is a simple one.

“I think the only thing that Dolly would really love. If she had to put up with all these articles is to be kind to one another. And to carry forth and not to lose the unity that we have found right now,” Kristi said.

“I think that would mean more to her than any memorial, if we, if we were just decent people to each other and kept being decent people,” Kristi 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 Tara Lynch

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A Baltimore woman says a caregiver abused her father, stole tens of thousands of dollars, forced him to sign over his home and failed to tell her when he died.

Nora Rowland told WJZ that her father retired to South Carolina in 2013 and began using home care services in 2021 after suffering a traumatic brain injury and being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

In 2024, he began working with a new caregiver from Griswold Home Care Services. Rowland said the caregiver defrauded her 75-year-old father. She accuses the caregiver, whom WJZ is not naming, of physically abusing her father and forcing him to sign over the deed to his $300,000 home.

Within three months, Rowland said, her father was dead, the house had been signed over and his money was gone.

“I keep wracking my brain like, how could I have prevented this? And I really can’t imagine how I would have known,” Rowland told WJZ.

At the time, Rowland was preparing to move her father to Maryland, even setting up an in-law suite for him in Baltimore. He was using home care temporarily while she made preparations. She described him as “independent” and an avid golfer who only needed extra help with some daily tasks.

Rowland said she regularly spoke with her father, but their communication became less frequent. After not hearing from him on her birthday or Father’s Day, she drove to South Carolina to check on him.

When she arrived, she learned her father had been dead for three days and that his home was no longer in his name.

“It was such a surreal moment,” Rowland said.

Rowland said the caregiver moved her father out of his home and into a senior living facility without her knowledge. She said the caregiver then moved into the home.

In body camera video shared with WJZ, neighbors confirmed that furniture and other belongings began moving into the home and said they had not seen Rowland’s father.

While her father needed medical care, Rowland said she did not believe he was near death. Records from the senior living facility described him as “emaciated” and “hallucinating.”

Rowland believes he was placed on and off hospice care and given different medications that affected his mental state.

“She had to pay for his food every day and she wasn’t paying any of the bills, so they stopped giving him meals,” Rowland said. “We hired her to care for him. We didn’t hire her to steal from him and defraud him and kill him.”

Rowland said medical records indicated her father may have been trying to contact her or other family members. Eventually, she said, he was confined to his bed at the senior living facility and restrained because he repeatedly tried to leave to get help.

“He was also trying to reach out to me. They have it documented in the records that he tried to get ahold of me, and they just said he was crazy because they believed what she was saying about him, which is really heartbreaking about all of this because he died alone,” Rowland said.

Rowland said two separate law firms handled changes to the deed on her father’s home and his power of attorney. She does not believe he was in a clear state of mind when he signed the documents.

She accuses the caregiver of forcing her father to sign over the $300,000 home for just $5.

In addition to the home, Rowland said the caregiver stole about $27,000 from her father, including $14,000 in cash.

Now, Rowland is in legal limbo. More than two years after her father’s death, the caregiver is still living in the home, while Rowland continues to pay the property taxes.

Last year, a judge ordered the caregiver to take over the utility payments.

Rowland filed a civil complaint against the caregiver and is waiting for police in Horry County, South Carolina, to investigate. She said investigators only recently began working on the case.

She also said she still does not have all of her father’s personal belongings, including his cellphone, valuable artwork and other heirlooms.

AARP Maryland recommends placing valuable assets and investments, including property, in a trust with a designated trustee. The organization says this can make it more difficult for property to be transferred.

AARP also recommends monitoring financial information, particularly when working with a home care company, and regularly checking in with a caregiver through both scheduled and unscheduled visits.

“Somebody in the family is going to be talking to you at least once a week or more, and there will be surprise calls. You better be available,” said Karen Morgan, executive counsel for AARP Maryland. “[Set the expectation] before they are hired, and if they push back on that, you know that’s not the right person for you.”

Rowland hopes her story leads to more regulation of home care and senior living facilities.

“They can’t keep getting away with this manipulation, fraud and theft. It is disgusting what is happening down there to seniors, vulnerable people who worked their whole lives and had wonderful careers helping other people, and to have it all be taken away is really awful,” Rowland said.

WJZ reached out to the caregiver and Griswold Home Care for comment but has not heard back.

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 Aki Nace, Cole Premo

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    MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Vance Boelter, who received two life sentences in federal court for killing a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband in what officials describe as a politically motivated attack, pleaded not guilty to the state charges against him Wednesday during his second appearance in state court.

A trial date has been set for Nov. 2.

Filings from his lawyer indicate that he’ll be relying on the defenses of “reasonable use of force,” “justifiable taking of life” and “double jeopardy.” His lawyer also filed a motion for a change of venue due to “excessive pretrial publicity” in Hennepin County.

Boelter, 59, faces two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder, felony torture of an animal and impersonating a police officer in Hennepin County.

He pleaded guilty in federal court to killing former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark and their dog Gilbert, as well as wounding Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette in a shooting that also targeted their daughter Hope. The June 14, 2025 killings sparked a manhunt that lasted 43 hours and ended near Boelter’s rural Green Isle, Minnesota, home.

After his plea, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the state case against him would go on, noting that state sentences are not affected by presidential pardons.

At his first appearance, Boelter was approved to have a public defender and his bond was set at $5 million with no conditions. In Wednesday’s hearing, the judge kept the bail conditions.

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By Elle Meyers

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    DETROIT (WWJ) — One state lawmaker said he didn’t see U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Metro Detroit’s Downriver area ahead of the August primary. After a roundtable discussion on Tuesday with other Black leaders, El-Sayed said he’s looking forward to further discussions.

“I hope that today is part of growing a relationship, not building a relationship, but growing a relationship so that when I’m in the U.S. Senate, when you give me a call, I know what it is you’re pointing to, and what it is I can do about it,” said El-Sayed during the discussion.

El-Sayed joined African American leaders from the state House and local mayors who represent the downriver area. He said the discussion helped him understand how the communities here feel overlooked.

“I learned a lot about the ways that some of the smaller predominantly Black communities in Wayne County feel like the federal government just doesn’t listen to them and they want a representative in the U.S. Senate who’s going to be thinking about how to make sure that they make sure they have the resources they need for their communities to thrive,” he told CBS News Detroit.

State Rep. Tyrone Carter said during the discussion that he hasn’t seen the El-Sayed campaign have a presence in Downriver.

“The message is, ‘You didn’t look this way, you overlooked us, and that’s maybe why people didn’t vote for you. People need to see you,'” said Carter.

Carter said the opportunity to talk to El-Sayed in a smaller setting was one he didn’t want to pass up.

“That was why it was important today to have the mayors of Ecorse and Rouge and myself here because we represent this area, but we hadn’t seen him,” Carter said.

He later added, “I think it was productive, it was opening, and I think we still need to have more conversations because the divisions within the party still exist.

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By Julie Sharp

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    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — From the creator of the “Star Wars” movie franchise comes an other-galactical-looking museum in Exposition Park, which is ready to welcome the public starting September 22.

George Lucas and Mellody Hobson founded the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, dedicated to the universal tradition of visual storytelling, and the building is quite a visual itself.

It looks like a spaceship has taken up residence next to the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, but in fact the 13-acre campus is home to a museum with 30 galleries, with “Star Wars” filling 7% of the space, museum officials said.

“We really want people to come here and feel emotional here … it’s an incredibly engaging space,” Tracey Bates, CEO of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, said.

The media had the opportunity to take cameras inside the 5-story building on Wednesday, sharing a sneak peek inside and outside.

“We have over 30 galleries organized by theme, artist, genre, Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith, Thomas Hart Benton, themes about love, childhood, sports, play –– genres like fantasy, adventure, comics, all exploring the universal art of storytelling,” Seth Fowler, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art senior director of communications, said.

Not only are there galleries, but also two cinematic theaters, a library and research center, places to eat and shop, as well as gardens and parks. There is plenty to see on campus before even getting to a gallery.

“We have a 300,000-square-foot campus here, but the parks and gardens are free for anybody to use; you don’t need a ticket to the museum, you don’t need a ticket to the museum for our research library or restaurants,” Bates said.

For locals, there is an LM37 pass, a free pass for residents of the 90037 ZIP code.

“They can register, then come with a guest, year-round,” Fowler said.

Tickets for the museum are $25 for adults; children 12 and under, and students with an ID are free.

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 Justin Razavi

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    INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Tuesday was the hottest day of 2026 so far in Indianapolis. The heat is adding another challenge for homeowners and volunteers cleaning up from last month’s historic flooding.

With temperatures hitting the mid-90’s, Frank Gounder of Ravenswood said his already overwhelming task of rebuilding his home, ruined by floodwaters, has become even more difficult.

“It’s exhausting,” Gounder said. “Every task is like 10 times harder. You’re having to stop more times to drink water and everything.”

Gounder explained the flooding ruined his heating, ventilation and cooling system, and he’s unsure when he’ll have air conditioning again.

“No idea, to be honest with you,” Gounder said. “My main priority right now is having this (house) habitable, and then I guess the first thing after that would be the air conditioning. It’s just one more thing that’s gonna get fixed after other things get fixed, and that’s not gonna be a cheap thing either.”

Gounder said he’s working hard in these conditions so his child and pregnant girlfriend can move back in as soon as possible.

“It’s definitely a lot harder to sleep at night, super sticky,” he said. “It’s definitely too hot for babies and kids.”

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, volunteers with Samaritan’s Purse carried on with their flood relief work, cleaning out damaged homes, despite the high heat.

“This heat does slow us down a bit,” Emily Clementz said, assistant program manager at Samaritan’s Purse. “Some of these houses, they don’t have air conditioning, and our workers might even be in Tyvek suits, and they’re wearing N95 masks, and so that can get hot quickly. Volunteer safety is a top priority of ours. Our team leads make sure they are taking adequate breaks, getting plenty of water and Gatorade, and even today, we’re giving them some popsicles.”

At Ravenswood’s hub for flood relief, a donation drop-off and pick-up center at the Glendale Christian Church next to Riverwood Park, organizers suspended volunteer operations for the day because of the heat, but noted the operation was still open for neighborhood flood victims.

“We did have some dangerous temps today, so we did go ahead and close down our volunteer operations for working out in the homes, and our donation hub as well, to allow our volunteers some relief from that heat,” April Vish said, volunteer commander at Ravenswood Community Group.

“Our tent outside is filled with cleaning buckets, basic supplies, water, and folks can come get that 24/7.”

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.