Author: CNN Newsource

By Charlie De Mar

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A plane full of passengers finally made it to Chicago Sunday night, after their flight from New York was diverted to Detroit because of an unruly passenger.

American Airlines flight 2819 took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport just before 9 a.m. ET (8 a.m. CT) and landed at the Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus, Michigan, at 11:08 a.m. ET.

The FBI and the Wayne County, Michigan Airport Authority responded to the flight, according to an airport spokesperson. The carrier said passengers were taken off the plane while law enforcement searched and cleared the aircraft.

“There was a guy who came on the plane with machine gun, and we’re being told, ‘Put your head down and hands up,'” said passenger Esther Sutofsky.

Some travelers took video as FBI agents swarmed the plane.

“It was an awfully, awfully long day for all of us, and pretty spooky,” said passenger Sona Jones. “I think, like, the kids handled it well.”

In all, the flight between JFK and Chicago — not an especially long one under normal circumstances — took seven hours with all the disruptions.

Jones described what happened with the unruly passenger.

“Something to the effect of, ‘If you don’t land this plane, I’m going to, I’ll blow it the plane,’ or, ‘If you don’t land this plane, I’m going to do something to it, and you will see,'” she said.

“And about an hour out of Chicago, we hear this person in the back screaming, yelling, and: ‘No! No! No!’ And he’s not going to — ‘I can’t get off the plane!'” said passenger Gerry Sutofsky. “According to the people who came on the plane, he was threatening — he said there was a bomb.”

Once on the ground in Detroit, first responders boarded the flight and removed the disruptive passenger. Jones provided and circled a picture that showed the man’s luggage on the tarmac after it was pulled from the plane.

Jones described what happened with the unruly passenger.

“Something to the effect of, ‘If you don’t land this plane, I’m going to, I’ll blow it the plane,’ or, ‘If you don’t land this plane, I’m going to do something to it, and you will see,'” she said.

“And about an hour out of Chicago, we hear this person in the back screaming, yelling, and: ‘No! No! No!’ And he’s not going to — ‘I can’t get off the plane!'” said passenger Gerry Sutofsky. “According to the people who came on the plane, he was threatening — he said there was a bomb.”

Once on the ground in Detroit, first responders boarded the flight and removed the disruptive passenger. Jones provided and circled a picture that showed the man’s luggage on the tarmac after it was pulled from the plane.

“I’m exhausted, and I’m upset,” said Esther Sutofsky. “We were just sitting there not knowing anything, hour after hour.”

While the flight was an eventful one, the passengers who spoke with CBS News Chicago said at no point during the flight did they feel unsafe or threatened. They described the whole ordeal as more of a nuisance.

Nick Lentz contributed to this report.

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 A.J. Bayatpour

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    WEST ALLIS, Wisconsin (WDJT) — For more than two weeks, Nelson Rivera only knew her as “the blue-eyed lady.” That was all Rivera said he remembered after a driver struck him earlier this month as he walked home from the grocery store.

On Friday, March 27, Rivera met the woman who stopped and stayed by his side until paramedics got to the scene. Turns out, she doesn’t have blue eyes.

Following the March 11 crash, both Rivera and Sarah Foley contacted CBS 58.

Rivera wanted to tell his story of being struck as a pedestrian at a busy West Allis intersection. Foley asked if we knew anything about the victim who she’d comforted that night.

On Friday, the two met outside Rivera’s home. Rivera realized it was Foley’s distinctive light blue glasses frames he remembered from the night of the crash.

Rivera, 61, was walking west on W. National Ave. after 8:30 p.m. on March 11. West Allis police said as Rivera tried to cross S. 70th St., a driver turning to north on 70th St. hit him.

The collision left Rivera with stitches across his left knee. He’s now using a manual wheelchair to get around.

Police said the driver, a 22-year-old West Allis man, stayed at the scene. Police added he showed no signs of being impaired and was ticketed for failing to yield to a pedestrian.

“As I was going to place my right foot onto the sidewalk,” Rivera said Friday. “Something came and took me from there.”

After that, Rivera said his next memory was a woman comforting him.

“Her blue eyes,” he said before laughing. “They’re not blue anymore.”

Foley said she noticed Rivera’s groceries were scattered over the street after the crash. So, she raised money over the last two weeks.

When she met Rivera on Friday, she handed him a $300 Pick ‘n Save gift cart. She also vowed to get Rivera a new wagon to replace the one he’d been using to haul groceries down National Ave. to his home on S. 84th St.

Rivera became emotional when considering what Foley’s compassion meant to him. He said he had been homeless as recently as last fall.

“I remember that somebody was there for me,” he said before getting choked up. “I just remember that I felt safe.”

Foley said there’s no way she would have left Rivera’s side. When she pulled up to ask if he was OK, he asked for her to help.

“Nelson reached up and grabbed a hold of my hand and said, ‘Don’t leave me, don’t leave me,'” Foley said. “And I said, ‘OK.'”

Rivera said he was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Milwaukee as a child in 1974. He said he doesn’t have much of a support system, relying on a personal care worker.

Rivera explained that was why he was overcome by emotion when seeing Foley again.

“That meant the world to me. I don’t have people like that in my life,” he said. “My mom passed away about 10 years ago, and other than my mom being there- you know how mothers are; they never leave you. That’s what she reminded me of.”

Foley also became emotional during the interview, sharing she’s often referred to as the mom-type figure in her friend group.

She said she grew up in the Northwoods community of Ladysmith before moving to Milwaukee as a young adult.

Now, two people born more than 2,000 miles apart are forever connected by a West Allis intersection.

Before leaving, Foley got Rivera’s phone number. She said she’d follow up to deliver his new wagon.

“People come together in such weird ways. That’s the best way I can describe it,” Foley said. “Just reach out to your community and be part of your 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 Gracie Palmer

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    BAT CAVE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Saturday, March 28, marked a major milestone for Helene recovery, as Highway 64 in Bat Cave officially reopened to the public for the first time in 18 months.

The highway, which connects Hendersonville to Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, and Bat Cave, is a popular route for both residents and tourists.

For the past year and a half, only locals were allowed to use it. Now, it’s finally open to public traffic.

“It still looks very different. The road is back, but the terrain has changed. Mother Nature made her new path, and we have to work around it,” said Patrick Bryant, bar manager at RiverWatch Bar & Grill.

During the closure, visitors dealt with long detours.

“To get to Chimney Rock and support them, you have to take Highway 9, which is about an hour added on to anyone’s trip,” said Brittany Walters, owner of Slick Rock Salvage.

Walters said the reopening is not only important for travel, but also for local businesses still recovering from the storm’s impact.

“It’s been a tragedy, but seeing the community pull together through this and help each other with the road and everything has been very inspiring to see,” Walters said. “We’re really excited about the road opening up. We think that it will help bring in business and more people to help support the locals.”

In Chimney Rock, businesses are already seeing the benefits of restored access, despite dealing with a brief power outage earlier in the day.

“We are just overjoyed that we finally have public access from the north side of town,” Bryant said.

As of now, Highway 64 is open from Slick Rock Road into Lake Lure, though a portion of it remains reduced to a single lane.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation says it expects the full roadway to be reopened by Memorial Day.

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 Mark Prussin, Naveen Dhaliwal

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    BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut (WCBS) — A Connecticut man has been charged with the murder of an active-duty Bridgeport firefighter, police said Sunday.

Stratford Police said officers arrested Jabari Bush after they found Terrence Cramer bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound in a shooting on Feeley Street in Stratford early Sunday morning.

Cramer, who lived in Bridgeport, was pronounced dead shortly after paramedics arrived at the scene, police said.

What to know about Terrence Cramer

The 41-year-old father of three was a member of the Bridgeport Fire Department for nearly a decade.

“Firefighter Cramer served the City of Bridgeport with dedication and honor for 9.5 years, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to protecting the lives and safety of others,” the department wrote in a Facebook post confirming his death.

Mayor Joe Ganim issued a statement saying Cramer “was not only a valued member of our Fire Department, but also a proud public servant whose loss will be felt deeply across our entire city.”

“I join Chief [Lance] Edwards and the members of the Bridgeport Fire Department in mourning [Cramer’s] tragic passing,” the mayor said.

Ganim said he has requested that all flags at municipal buildings be flown at half staff this week.

“It’s very heartbreaking”

Shanyah Neal Walker spoke glowingly of her stepfather.

“Such, such, such, such a sweet person, very brave, very courageous,” Walker said, beaming with love and admiration in the face of the unimaginable loss. “It’s very heartbreaking, There are so many question I have as far as why, how, answers that I might never get.”

Colleagues said Cramer was always the first to respond when someone was in danger.

Cramer’s 10-year-old son, Jackson, said he knew firefighting was his dad’s passion.

“He liked saving people because it made him feel good and he always wanted to be a firefighter,” Jackson Cramer said.

The charges the suspect faces Bush, 41, was taken into custody following a brief vehicle pursuit in Derby, nearly 15 hours after officers discovered Cramer wounded, police said.

Bush was charged with murder, home invasion and criminal possession of a firearm.

Authorities have not released details about what led up to the shooting, but Cramer’s family members said for the time being they are focusing on remembering who he was.

“I have mercy. I’m not God. I do not judge. I wish that person the best and, hopefully, they have time to think about their actions,” Walker said. “[The shooting] left us very devastated. I don’t know how to move forward in this situation.”

Bush is due in court Monday.

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 Duaa Israr

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    HARTFORD, Wisconsin (WDJT) — Sometimes the biggest lessons in school don’t come from a textbook. They come from seeing the world through someone else’s eyes – or in this case, wheels.

Inside Addison Elementary, you’ll find fifth graders screaming at full volume. It’s a common occurrence in a P.E class, but this one is different. No one is running laps. Every single student is seated in a wheelchair.

For most of these kids, this is new and uncharted territory. For Kendall Kieckhafer, this is home court.

“Usual day of P.E is we just run around the outside of the gym,” said Kieckhafer.

Kieckhafer was born with spina bifida.

“My spine was crooked, I guess,” said Kieckhafer.

Since then, there have been dozens of surgeries, more than most kids her age will ever have.

“She’s been through a lot. Eye surgeries, leg surgeries, back surgeries, bladder surgeries, but she handles everything like a champion,” said her dad, Adam Kieckhafer.

That’s exactly who’s wheeling herself across the court in purple glasses and a smile. A champion.

“She just has a resilience and a determination that I don’t see in very many kids. And I don’t say that just cause she’s my daughter,” said her mom, Christin Kieckhafer.

When Christin Keickhafer learned about the Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association (WASA), she asked Addison Elementary if the organization could teach her daughter’s class about wheelchair basketball.

“She has been looking forward to this for I can’t even tell you how long,” said Christin.

Kieckhafer’s classmates are learning that playing basketball in a wheelchair isn’t as easy as they thought. Wheels don’t move the same way your feet do.

“You just have to be able to move in this, without hurting yourself, I guess,” said Kieckhafer.

It takes strength. It takes power.

“A lot of people don’t know the coordination that goes on,” said Adam.

It also takes a great leader.

“I got to show my teammates what to do and stuff and I got to help with them with buckling,” said Kieckhafer. “I felt proud they were cheering for me and that just made me feel happy knowing they were there for me to cheer me on.”

Erica Wilson with WASA says just because life for Kieckhafer may look different, she can still do whatever she puts her mind to.

“You can be an athlete, whether that’s competitively, or recreationally. You can go to school, you can have a job, and you can have just as many friends as anybody else can,” said Wilson. “I think if you look at this group as a whole, you wouldn’t have known Kendall is the one with a disability because everyone there was using a wheelchair.”

For the first time in this class, Kieckhafer’s the one guiding the way.

“Just an opportunity for her friends to see kind of the world she lives in,” said Adam.

On this court, it wasn’t just a P.E lesson on adaptive sports.

“She just loves life and she wants to jump in, and she wants to try stuff, and she does it with a smile on her face and I think she’s learning to love the life she has,” said Christin. “You can make the most of the life that you have and it can be fun.”

For this gym full of her classmates, it was a lesson on inclusion. It was about learning that sometimes the way to lift someone up is to sit down and see the world from their perspective.

“I would like to see more people doing this more often in here,” said Kieckhafer.

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 Hannah Hilyard

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    MILWAUKEE (WISN) — A Milwaukee mother, who survived a wrong-way crash, reunited with the deputies who saved her life Friday.

A suspected drunken driver slammed head-on into Jae Morgan’s car last October on Interstate 43 near Greenfield Avenue. Morgan, 22 weeks pregnant at the time, suffered serious injuries, including broken bones and burns. Tragically, her unborn baby, whom she named Tyme, died.

Since then, she’s been on a mission.

“I really would like to meet the officers that saved my life,” she said last month.

Friday, WISN 12 News helped make that goal a reality, organizing a visit with Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Deputies Kendall Pumphrey and Ryan Downs.

“I really truly appreciate everything that you guys did for me that night,” Morgan told the two deputies when they visited her at home.

Watch more of the reunion in the above video.

The crash is one that sticks with the deputies.

“I seen flames starting, so I ran up to the cars,” Pumphrey said.

“I remember pulling her arm and telling her, you have to get out the vehicle. You have to get out the vehicle,” Downs said.

Despite suffering a minor injury from glass lodged in his hand, Downs, just roughly one week removed from his field training at the time, was relieved to have helped Morgan escape the fiery wreckage.

“This one kind of sits on me a little bit heavier because I didn’t know that she was pregnant,” Pumphrey said. “It was kind of bittersweet, you know, thinking that you know, everything went well. And then there’s always something that doesn’t go well.”

Morgan is grateful to be alive with her two older children by her side.

“Thank you for saving my mom,” 9-year-old Jaedem told the deputies.

The deputies remain humble, but the reunion was meaningful for all involved.

“It’s a really good moment that’s going to stick with me for the rest of my life,” Downs told WISN 12 News after the reunion.

“Once seeing them and seeing their faces, I was just really relieved, and I just found instant comfort, and I felt whole,” Morgan said.

Morgan continues to recover from the crash. She’s started an online fundraiser to help in those efforts. In the last couple of weeks, Morgan has been able to ditch the walker and walk on her own. She’s also been writing a cookbook throughout her recovery.

Prosecutors have identified Jorge Alvarez Mathizuma as the drunk driver who crashed into Morgan’s car. He is charged with reckless homicide of an unborn child and intoxicated use of a vehicle. He’s in custody awaiting trial.

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 Austin Turner, Dean Fioresi

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    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — Multiple people were arrested after a “No Kings” rally took to downtown Los Angeles city streets on Saturday, marking the third round of such protests in recent months in which demonstrators voiced their displeasure with policies set forth by the Trump administration.

Organizers said that as many as 50,000 were expected to be on hand in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon. That rally and subsequent march were set for 2 p.m. at Gloria Molina Grand Park, just outside City Hall.

As the rally continued downtown on Saturday, Los Angeles Police Department officers told CBS LA that the city was on “tactical alert” and that a dispersal order was issued just after 5:30 p.m., urging people on Alameda between Aliso and Temple to leave the area within 15 minutes or be subject to arrest.

They said that “multiple demonstrators” failed to disperse and were being taken into custody at around 6 p.m. At the same time, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli also posted on social media to note that federal agents have “started arresting those who assaulted our personnel at the Los Angeles courthouse.”

“To those who were smashing concrete blocks and throwing them at our officers, we have you on video,” Essayli’s post said. “We will find you and arrest you too. You’ve been warned.”

A social media post from the Department of Homeland Security said that two federal officers were hit by cement blocks and required medical care. They also said that two people were arrested for assaulting federal law enforcement, which is a felony.

The tactical alert was lifted at around 8 p.m., after police had cleared most of the demonstrators from the area.

The rallies, which organizers described as choosing “democracy over dictatorship,” began last June and were held again in October. Saturday, the first nationally-planned demonstration since the January killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents in Minnesota, was expected to be the largest showing yet, organizers say.

“A lot of people want to help, they just don’t know where to start,” said 50501 SoCal organizer Emily Williams. “No Kings is that starting point. It’s about community, about showing up for each other, and about turning concern into real action you can be part of.”

President Trump and other members of Republican leadership have dismissed prior “No Kings” rallies. In October, he told Fox News that he’s simply “not a king,” while House Speaker Mike Johnson referred to the protests as a “Hate America Rally.”

“You’re going to bring together the Marxists, the Socialists, the Antifa advocates, the anarchists and the pro-Hamas wing of the far-left Democrat Party,” he said.

Crews on Friday installed gates on the 101 Freeway on and off-ramps at Los Angeles Street in anticipation of the large-scale march. A Caltrans spokesperson said the California Highway Patrol requested the gates, since the freeway has been impacted by past marches.

“During previous protest activities, this location has seen pedestrians walk onto the highway using these ramps, creating unsafe conditions for pedestrians and motorists,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “They will be used only as needed to ensure people are out of harm’s way of fast-moving vehicles and motorists can safely use the highway.”

In both previous instances in downtown LA, dispersal orders have been issued well after the scheduled end time for the marches, resulting in numerous arrests.

In a statement to X, Mayor Karen Bass called the planned protest “democracy in action.”

“Peaceful protest is our constitutional right,” she said. “When people come together to make their voices heard, that is democracy in action. Please stay safe and look out for one another.”

Thousands of rallies are planned across the country, including several dozens in Southern California.

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 Gabriela Vidal, Jesse Sarles

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    DENVER (KCNC) — A Colorado veteran embarked on an unusual walk on Friday in an effort to boost the spirits TSA workers who have been working under difficult circumstances for more than a month.

Air Force vet Big Tony walked from a starting point near I-25 all the way to Denver International Airport, which covered more than 20 miles. He departed during the day on Friday with a large American flag draped over his shoulder and was escorted by a Denver police car for part of the way. He kept at it overnight and didn’t complete the walk until Saturday morning.

“I walk (each) mile to get a feel for what they’re going through,” he said.

When he arrived, he gave those Transportation Security Administration workers donated gift cards, food and other items that he purchased with money he raised through the walk.

TSA workers have been doing their jobs without pay for more than 40 days during a partial government shutdown.

“People don’t understand the magnitude of this shutdown,” said Big T.

The shutdown is still in effect, but late Friday President Trump signed an executive action to pay those workers, saying the situation at U.S. airports that has been going on threatens the nation’s security and rises to the level of an emergency. Workers with TSA will begin to get paid at the start of this current workweek as a result.

Even with that update, Big T says the workers still face numerous challenges.

“Their credit is shot. Once they miss a payment on their car or their house or mortgage, whatever, how are you going to recover a 750 FICO score that’s going to go down into the toilet?” he said.

During his walk, Big T told a CBS Colorado news crew that while it was long, it wasn’t lonely thanks to organizations and businesses who donated to his cause. That includes an auto shop that has been providing necessary service to TSA workers’ vehicles for free.

“As Americans, we hate to see people being taken advantage of,” he said.

Big T said he is raising awareness for the TSA workers’ plight because he knows many used to be in the military prior to joining the agency.

“We’re not going to leave a veteran out there stranded through no fault of their own,” he 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.