New Yorker describes hantavirus quarantine experience after cruise ship outbreak: “Trying to stay positive”

By Alexa Herrera

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — A New York native is among the 18 American passengers who are quarantining in Nebraska after being on the cruise ship at the center of the deadly hantavirus outbreak.

Jake Rosmarin is one of three New Yorkers who were on the M/V Hondius. Rosmarin, originally from Monroe in Orange County, described his time so far in the quarantine facility.

“I know I’m in the best care possible, and I’m just trying to stay positive,” he told CBS News New York’s Mary Calvi.

Rosmarin said the trip went downhill during the last 24 to 48 hours when passengers learned there was a confirmed case of hantavirus.

“It was that week following before we could get off the ship and repatriated by the United States, that was a really scary time, specifically for me,” he said.

Rosmarin said it was frightening that no government wanted the ship to disembark at their ports due to the virus.

Rosmarin described the trip as an expedition journey, and said the passengers weren’t on a typical cruise. He said there were only 113 passengers and everyone knew each other.

He said some of their destinations included South Georgia Island, where they saw the largest king penguin colony in the world, and Tristan da Cunha.

“We got to swim in the middle of the ocean, not far from the equator, where the ocean was over 15,000 feet deep,” he said. “Overall, I mean it was a really, really unbelievable experience.”

In quarantine, Rosmarin said he doesn’t do much during the day besides blood work, temperature checks and relax. There’s also a stationary bike inside the room for exercise.

Rosmarin said he feels well and he has no symptoms. He will continue to be monitored in quarantine for a total of 40 days.

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Firefighters honored for going beyond, comforting and aiding resident in her husband’s final days

By Erin Jones

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    MELISSA, Texas (KTVT) — In Melissa, firefighters are being honored. A local senior known around town as the “Braum’s Granny” is recognizing them for supporting her during her husband’s final days.

Earlier this year, longtime resident Judy Smith took a job at Braum’s. At the time, her husband Forrest Smith was battling several health issues, including dementia. His doctors thought working might be good for her.

“Dementia is a horrible thing, and they want you to get out of the house and get some time for yourself,” she said.

It didn’t take long for Judy Smith to become a local favorite. Among her regulars were Melissa firefighters, who had already known Judy Smith for several years.

“You know they started this journey with dementia with me,” she said. “They had come to my house so many times because he would fall, and I couldn’t get him up.”

One fire captain in particular went above and beyond. Judy Smith became especially close to Captain Tyler Wine.

“Long before she was Braum’s Granny, she was the station granny,” Wine said. “So, she became family almost immediately, and she reminds me a lot of my own grandmother.”

Last month, when her husband’s health started to rapidly decline, Wine wasn’t on duty, but Judy Smith said he came anyway. He was determined to make sure she wouldn’t face those final hours alone.

“He spent the night at the house, and he set his clock for every hour to administer the medicine and told me to kick back in the recliner and go to bed, and he would go in there and stay with Pop,” she said.

During a Melissa City Council meeting, the entire fire department was honored, and Judy Smith got to publicly say thank you.

“We signed up to do this for a job, but for a lot of us, it goes past that,” Wine said. “I think in today’s world we’ve lost a little bit of taking care of each other, so that’s why I was there for her when I was off duty. It goes past just showing up for work.”

“He’s top shelf,” Judy Smith said. “They’re all top-shelf. They have been nothing short of angels and heroes. You know, first responders—I don’t think they get enough credit for what they do.”

She said she hopes this recognition shows the department just how loved and appreciated they are.

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Man wins Powerball using numbers from a Zoltar fortune-teller machine 30 years ago

By Joseph Buczek

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    FRASER, Michigan (WWJ) — A man in Fraser, Michigan, used a set of three-decade-old lucky numbers from an animatronic fortune-teller machine to score a $1 million Powerball prize.

Stephen Huesgen, 56, says he received the lucky set of numbers from a Zoltar machine 30 years ago in Las Vegas and has been playing those numbers in lottery games ever since.

Huesgen played the same numbers in the April 22 drawing, matching all five white balls: 24-29-32-49-63.

“The morning after the Powerball drawing, I saw an email from the Lottery, which is when I found out I’d won a $1 million Powerball prize. I yelled to my wife, ‘Is this real?’ I don’t think this is going to fully hit me until I cash the check,” Huesgen said.

With his winnings, Huesgen plans to pay off his car and house, take a vacation and save for retirement.

The Powerball is sold in 45 states, Washington D.C., the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Tickets cost $2 apiece, with drawings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

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Northern California gas prices top $6 as food truck owners feel the squeeze

By Nina Burns

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    MODESTO, California (KOVR) — For the first time this year, the average price of a gallon of gas in Northern California has climbed above $6, and food truck owners in Modesto say the rising fuel costs are taking a serious toll on their businesses.

At Modesto’s downtown Grub Hub food truck park, vendors say the pain at the pump is hitting far beyond their personal commutes. For many, fuel powers nearly every part of their operation.

“It’s killing us. It’s crazy,” said Marshall Solorio, owner of the seafood food truck “Crab In Your Pants.”

Solorio says it costs him roughly $250 a week in diesel alone just to move his truck between events and storage.

According to AAA, California’s average gas price has now surpassed $6 per gallon, while diesel prices have climbed even higher.

“It’s jumped up about $1.26 in the past year,” said AAA spokesperson Doug Johnson.

Johnson says diesel prices have seen an even steeper increase.

“It was $5 for a gallon of diesel this time last year. Right now it’s $7.44, so that’s $2.44 higher today than it was this time last year,” Johnson said.

For food truck operators like Solorio, those increases are especially difficult because many rely on both diesel and gasoline every day.

Solorio uses a diesel pickup truck to tow his trailer and a gas-powered generator to keep his kitchen equipment running during service.

“The generator is about five gallons. Those five gallons last me about six hours running the generator because it runs the AC, the hood, the rice cooker,” he said.

At the same time, food costs continue rising.

“Even though our prices went up with corn, potatoes, lemons, gas, diesel — everything in general — we still have the same prices than we had three years ago,” Solorio said.

But that may not last much longer.

If fuel prices continue to surge, Solorio says he may have no choice but to raise menu prices.

“If diesel does go back down, then we can bring our prices back down,” he said. “But at this moment, we’re just hoping for the best.”

Even food trucks that remain parked at Grub Hub still face significant transportation costs, as many owners tow their trucks to catering events and move them into storage overnight.

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.

Intern teacher overcomes financial struggles to stay in the classroom

By Conor McGill

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KOVR) — For many aspiring teachers, the path to the classroom is becoming increasingly difficult.

Between the cost of credential programs and California’s rising cost of living, some educators say the financial pressure is pushing them to reconsider the profession before their careers even begin.

At Hollywood Park Elementary School in Sacramento, second-grade intern teacher Anthony Pagliassotto spends his days helping students learn the value of money, counting coins, solving problems, and building confidence in the classroom.

But outside of school, Pagliassotto has been doing his own kind of math.

Trying to balance tuition costs, debt, and everyday expenses while completing his teaching credential nearly forced him to step away from the profession he loves.

“At the money you are paid right away, there’s not buying a house, there’s not buying more than a practical vehicle,” Pagliassotto said.

Like many educators, he faced the steep cost of becoming a teacher. Credential programs can range from $20,000 to $40,000, depending on the school and living expenses.

A state grant initially helped cover the cost of his credential program, but when that funding ended near the finish line, he had to quickly adapt.

“When it dried up, I had to shift gears completely and become completely independent and self-efficient to find a way to pay for school,” he said.

Even during the toughest moments, Pagliassotto said that giving up was never truly an option.

“It was never I wasn’t going to do this anymore. It was more of, ‘Am I able to maintain the ability to keep going?’ ” he said.

Through the uncertainty, music became an outlet that helped him stay grounded.

When financial challenges mounted, Pagliassotto turned to SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union for support.

At the Roseville branch, manager Travis Marra said many teachers across California are facing similar financial stress as inflation and interest rates continue to impact affordability.

“We live in a very expensive state and that hasn’t gotten any cheaper. Over the past couple of years we kind of saw rates increase,” Marra said.

According to a 2025 report from the Learning Policy Institute, more than six in 10 teachers took out student loans to pay for their education.

Marra said SchoolsFirst is working to support educators with financial tools and programs designed to help them stay on track.

“We’re rolling out a first-time homeowner grant for about 266 members. It’s a way for us to give back and help for that,” Marra said.

Back in the classroom, Pagliassotto’s students proudly hold up their coins as they work through lessons together.

For a teacher who nearly couldn’t afford to continue his journey, those small moments now mean everything.

“I knew for a fact that it would be a struggle, but it was worth it,” Pagliassotto said.

Pagliassotto is expected to finish his teaching credential in June and begin his master’s program in August.

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Dodgers to unveil permanent display honoring LGBTQ players Billy Bean, Glenn Burke on Pride Night

By Dean Fioresi

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    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — The Los Angeles Dodgers are set to host their 13th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night on Friday, June 5, when they take on the Los Angeles Angels. As part of the pregame ceremonies, the team will unveil a permanent display to honor former players and LGBTQ trailblazers Billy Bean and Glenn Burke.

The tribute, which will be displayed in the Centerfield Plaza at Dodger Stadium, will feature pictures and memorabilia from the careers of Bean and Burke, both of whom played for the Boys in Blue.

Burke, who played in parts of four MLB seasons, including with the Dodgers from 1976 to 1978, was the first MLB player to come out as gay when he announced his retirement in 1982. He also played for the Oakland Athletics and is credited with inventing the high five after rushing to celebrate with then-Dodgers teammate Dusty Baker after a home run in 1977.

He died from AIDS-related complications in 1995 at 42 years old. In 2022, the Dodgers invited Burke’s family to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at their Pride Night celebration.

Bean played for the Dodgers in 1989 as part of his six-year big league career, in which he also played with the Detroit Tigers and the San Diego Padres. He also came out after his playing days in 1999, becoming the second player to do so after Burke. He continued working with Major League Baseball after his retirement, working as a special adviser to the commissioner and as the senior vice president for diversity, equality and inclusion. He died at 60 years old in 2024 after battling cancer.

“Billy was a friend to countless people across our game, and he made a difference through his constant dedication to others,” said a statement from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred after Bean’s death. “He made baseball a better institution, both on and off the field, by the power of his example, his empathy, his communication skills, his deep relationships inside and outside our sport, and his commitment to doing the right thing.”

Burke and Bean are two of three MLB players to come out as gay. TJ House, a pitcher who played for the then-Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays, also came out after retiring from baseball in 2022.

Prior to first pitch, the team is also hosting the Pride Night Party, which is being produced in collaboration with the Christoper Street West Association nonprofit organization. The celebration will feature multiple musical performances, including Mariachi Arcoiris of Los Angeles, the first LGBTQ+ mariachi band in the world, and DJ Brizzle. UMI is set to perform the national anthem and the first pitch will be thrown by 99-year-old Maybelle Blair, an Inglewood native and Compton Junior College alum who pitched in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s and has a display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. She came out in 2022.

All fans in attendance who purchase the LGBTQ+ Pride Night special ticket package will receive an exclusive item, a Dodgers Pride Night jersey, to commemorate the celebration. More information on the Dodgers game can be found on their website.

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Homeless blogger wants California’s gubernatorial candidates to “bridge that gap between humanity and homelessness”

By Laurie Perez

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    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — A homeless blogger living in Los Angeles County is hoping that her own quest to document the struggles that come with homelessness will help shine a light on the crisis as California closes in on the gubernatorial election.

Hannah Hartman graduated from college in 2018, loves going to the beach and is on an eternal search for joy. After a series of mental health breakdowns and a dangerous situation with a roommate in 2024, Hartman lost her job and housing, despite help from family and friends.

“Until you’ve gone through it, you can’t actually know what it is,” Hartman said. “Someone asked me one time if I could sum up homelessness in one word, what would it be? And it would be isolation.”

Hartman has been living in her second women’s shelter in the last two years, with just a tiny shelf of her belongings in the cubicle that she shares in a converted Studio City warehouse that houses 90 women.

She says that as her symptoms have continued to worsen over the years, she’s no longer able to work. As such, she began to document her journey on social media. Her Instagram account, @homelessshackwithhan, has more than 15,000 followers and continues to grow.

“I look a lot more like people would expect humanity to look like, so I want my page to start making people sort of question their internal bias and be like, ‘Wait a minute,’ and bridge that gap between humanity and homeless again.”

As she continues working to spread awareness, she hasn’t missed the headlines and plans from California’s candidates in the race for governor. After watching a part of the CBS California Governor’s Debate, she had a lot to say.

“The main thing that stood out to me is that none of these people have ever had to try to get into a shelter, because you cannot walk into a shelter and say, ‘I’m homeless, I need a bed,’ and then get a bed,” Hartman said. “It’s usually, I wanna say, a six to eight week wait for you to get into the shelter.”

She said that there’s a laundry list of things she’s worried about for the homeless community, especially things that the candidates and other Californians don’t understand.

“Federal disability takes years. I’m on the third step and I believe applied in 2023,” she said. “You cannot make more than, I believe, $2,000 a month and still get federal disability. So, I’m kind of walking this fine line of ‘I need finances, but I can’t have too many finances.'”

For all the ideas about how to fix homelessness, Hartman wonders if the solution can’t be found somewhere simpler, like learning about what it’s really like to be homeless from someone living it.

“It is not a them problem, or like a somebody else problem, even if you are currently housed, it can be a you problem at any second,” Hartman said.

She says that if any of the gubernatorial candidates would like to further delve into her thoughts and the reality of being homeless in California she would be willing to sit down to talk.

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Stolen vehicle recovered from a Wisconsin lake after nearly two years underwater

By WKBT Staff

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    CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. (WKBT) — A vehicle pulled from Lake Wissota on Wednesday turned out to be a car reported stolen nearly two years ago.

The Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the submerged vehicle was stolen from the Village of Lake Hallie in September 2024.

The vehicle was found by a local fisherman who was on Lake Wissota when his side imaging equipment detected what appeared to be a submerged car. The fisherman contacted the sheriff’s office, which coordinated a recovery operation involving local Department of Natural Resources wardens, the Chippewa Fire District, and sheriff’s personnel.

The Chippewa Fire District Dive Team located the vehicle near a private boat landing in the Town of Eagle Point. Crews were able to tow the vehicle out of the water.

The Lake Hallie Police Department had already closed their investigation in October 2025 after identifying a suspect and referring criminal charges in the case, according to Sheriff Travis Hakes.

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1 injured when Cybertruck crashes into preschool, sets building on fire

By Jennifer McRae

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    LONE TREE, Colorado (KCNC) — A Cybertruck crashed into the Primrose School in Lone Tree on Wednesday morning, sparking a fire that ignited the building. According to investigators with South Metro Fire Rescue, crews rushed to the structure fire at 9200 Teddy Lane around 9 a.m.

When crews arrived, the Cybertruck was on fire and the flames had spread to the building.

The evacuation was already underway at the preschool. Everyone was able to get out of the building, according to South Metro Fire. Investigators said all 100 people inside the building, including 78 minors and 22 adults, safely made it outside after the crash. The ages of the children ranged from 6 weeks to 5 years old.

“In this case, all of the students had safely evacuated far enough away that when our crews arrived on scene, they thought the building was vacant because of how efficiently those students had evacuated from the structure,” said South Metro Fire Rescue Public Information Officer Matthew Assell.

“With this being an electric vehicle, that absolutely complicates the scenario and escalates it quite a bit. Electric vehicles are something that South Metro has in our community, and the lithium-ion batteries are something that our department is working on in response to calls,” said Assell.

Investigators said the fire was contained to the exterior of the structure and did not spread inside the building. Crews placed a fire blanket over the burning Cybertruck to extinguish the fire.

“With it being isolated to the exterior of the structure, we were able to treat it more like an electrical vehicle fire, so crews were able to contain that fire and then we applied a fire blanket over the vehicle, and that’s used to contain the fire and essentially smother the oxygen from within those lithium-ion batteries so that we can prevent any further possible concerns,” said Assell.

According to the City of Lone Tree, the driver of the Cybertruck was a grandparent with two children as passengers. One of those children was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Lone Tree said no drugs, alcohol or medical issues are suspected.

Parents began to be reunited with their children just minutes after the crash.

What happened leading up to the crash is being investigated.

The Primrose School will remain closed until further notice.

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Denver International Airport looks to create “better evacuation” process after Frontier incident

By Sarah Horbacewicz

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    DENVER (KCNC) — Late Friday night, more than 200 people sat alongside the tarmac at Denver International Airport. Their Frontier flight stopped during take-off after hitting a person. Thermal imaging shows a man walking onto the runway moments before getting pulled into the engine.

Adam Berger was on that flight.

“I had been pretty stoic about the situation, but I just burst into tears when I saw that footage, because, I mean, the fact that it did take someone’s life in the process,” he said.

Berger saw the explosion before smoke began filling the cabin.

“All of us were kind of covering our mouths trying to, you know, like, not breathe all this in. Within five to seven minutes, they had popped the doors,” Berger said.

Passengers went down emergency slides, where a few got hurt. In the chaos, Berger said not everyone knew what to do.

“I also was in shock in the moment, and not grabbing my small bag was not something that was going through my mind… There wasn’t a ton of people dictating what we should do in that capacity,” Berger said.

In videos taken inside the cabin, it’s clear that many passengers took their smaller bags.

Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington said in a press conference Tuesday, “Kind of tough for us to answer about what went on within the aircraft… We are working with Frontier Airlines to determine what we can do as an airport to facilitate, sort of, a better evacuation.”

The airport is also looking at its security procedures and says that proper alarms went off. Berger acknowledged how rare this situation is.

“If someone is that determined, it’s pretty difficult to stop them,” Berger said, “I’m realistic about these things, I feel, and if they’re passing their security checks, I can’t ask for that much more.”

Now Berger credits the pilot for stopping that takeoff and protecting passengers on board.

“Thank you. I mean, like it could have gone very differently, obviously. And I mean, could have totally changed all of our lives far more than it did,” Berger said.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

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