Author: CNN Newsource

By WYFF Staff

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    GREENVILLE (WYFF) — As Halloween approaches, Americans are expected to spend over $13 billion on costumes and decorations, according to the National Retail Federation.

That provides a boost to local businesses like Carolina Fashions in Mauldin.

Melodie McKnight and her son Oliver are dressing as pirates this year. Saving money is a major priority.

“We’re, like, working on one income right now. So, like, it’s a lot better first to save money than to spend it,” McKnight said.

Carolina Fashions has been a Mauldin staple for nearly 30 years, offering a vast selection in its 45,000-square-foot space. Robert Watson is the store manager.

And the store strategy, Watson said, is part of why they’re so popular.

“Yeah. You know, we keep it personal. And you won’t get that in the store that pops up two or three months a year,” Watson said.

Andrea Galehouse from the SC Small Business Development Center explained that small businesses have to know their audience and get creative reaching them.

“Small businesses really can’t compete on the same level as a big box store. So, they’ve got to look for ways to connect with their target audience and be able to find out what really makes their audience interested in shopping with them,” Galehouse said.

Makaila Stanley, traveled from Anderson to shop at Carolina Fashions.

“There’s a spirit Halloween maybe like eight minutes from my house. Honestly, but it’s so expensive. And what I like about this store is that it’s more like vintage,” Stanley said.

Despite the challenges posed by larger competitors, Watson said, “Competition can be scary, but it can be helpful. The pandemic and things that followed, really increased prices for a lot of people and stuff. So that competition with the higher prices actually has helped us.”

As Halloween approaches, local businesses like Carolina Fashions continue to attract customers with their unique offerings and personal touch. Their goal: to live to scare another day.

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By Arielle Mitropoulos

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    NASHUA, N.H. (WMUR) — A state employee directly reached out to China’s wealthiest man to gauge his interest in bringing his massive water bottling company to New Hampshire, new documents obtained by News 9 reveal.

In August, a News 9 investigation revealed that the property, an empty warehouse at 80 Northwest Boulevard in Nashua, was purchased earlier this year for $67 million, more than four times its assessed value of $15 million last year, by Nongfu Spring, China’s biggest packaged water supplier.

The sale made local and national headlines in the months that followed after national security concerns were raised over the quiet sale and whether it had been scrutinized by federal investigators, given its proximity to important military bases.

News 9 reviewed 160 documents, including hundreds of emails, and discovered a Sept. 16, 2024, email in which a senior business manager with the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs contacted Zhong Shanshan, chairman of Nongfu Spring, in an email titled, “New Hampshire Building — 80 Northwest Blvd., Nashua, NH.”

In the email, the business manager wrote that he was “checking in as a follow up” to Zhong’s prior visit to New Hampshire. He touted the benefits of bringing Nongfu Spring to New Hampshire, saying that the Granite State “offers the lowest taxes in the northeast, tax credits, talent attraction services, and hands-on approach to helping you and your team start production on time.”

In an email to a broker involved in the sale on Sept. 27, 2024, the senior business manager emphasized that he reminded Zhong of the benefits of New Hampshire and the property.

During an Aug. 12 Board of Aldermen meeting, Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess had publicly outed the senior business manager, stating that he had “brought” Nongfu Spring to Nashua.

In an October report, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office found that BEA did not actively “recruit” Nongfu Spring to Nashua, but they were aware of the purchase and provided facilitation and assistance, including meetings attended in Nashua by Zhong. The attorney general’s report stated that while no illegal action was taken, there were red flags that were missed about the purchase, adding that BEA failed to notify other state officials of the sale of a large warehouse.

When asked about how Attorney General John Formella reconciles the email from the senior business manager to Zhong, a spokesperson for Formella stated their office is “comfortable with our conclusions, which were based on the entire context of the communications and interactions between state officials and Nongfu Spring. Beyond that, we believe the report speaks for itself, and we have no further comment at this time.”

According to emails, the senior business manager was also in contact several times with an apparent adviser to Zhong and managing partner of Boston Consulting ​Services who had attended a meeting in Nashua with at least three Nongfu engineers in November 2024 to survey the 80 Northwest Boulevard site.

The adviser floated the idea of potentially creating a movie or something similar about Nongfu Spring’s first plant in the U.S. in New Hampshire. He said that a Chinese movie had been made about a pregnant woman from Beijing “who travels to Seattle to give birth and secure U.S. citizenship for her child,” introducing the city to a billion Chinese people and turning “the city into a magnet for Chinese tourists and investors.”

“If timed right (though admittedly the current moment may not be ideal), the story of Nongfu’s first U.S. facility could potentially position New Hampshire in a similar light for Chinese audiences, especially business audiences, much like the movie did for Seattle,” he wrote in an email to the business manager.

Emails also revealed that more than half a dozen Nashua employees, as well as a state employee with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, were aware of the pending sale before it was finalized and attended at least one meeting with representatives from Nongfu Spring.

During a June 2024 interview with News 9, Donchess claimed that the only contact they had with Nongfu was after the purchase.

“The only thing that has happened with the city is that after the purchase, [Nongfu Spring] filed a planning board application to make some improvements to the building and then withdrew it — withdrew the application. That’s the only contact we’ve had with them,” Donchess told News 9 at the time.

On Monday, he confirmed that he now knows that to no longer be the case.

“It was a mistake — my statement was mistake,” Donchess said. “[City workers] attended a meeting with the possibility that a company would locate here, but I wasn’t aware of exactly the details.”

Donchess further confirmed that he is not aware of any current movement in manufacturing at the facility.

The company had hopes of hiring 300 people to start producing products by this past summer and would use approximately 840 million gallons of water per year, according to documents.

Pennichuck, which would supply the water, previously told News 9 that the company had ample water supply to address Nongfu Spring’s potential needs.

There were also other potential buyers for the property, which became vacant in November 2024, including the National Guard and Boston Metal, according to emails.

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By Will Anderson

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KHSL) — New legislation signed into law earlier this month will allow licensed hunters to take or possess invasive mute swans in California starting Jan. 1, 2026.

The California Department of Fish & Wildlife says the new law aims to address concerns about the spread of these non-native birds across California.

The mute swans, now added to the list of invasive nongame birds, can be taken at any time by those with a valid California hunting license. This list includes the English sparrow and European starling.

Landowners and lessees may also take or possess mute swans without needing a hunting license or depredation permit.

First detected in the Suisun and Napa marshes in 2007, mute swans have expanded their range with a current population estimate of 6,900 birds. They are considered a restricted and detrimental species, making it illegal to import, transport, or possess them under California regulations.

Mute swans are not protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, as they were introduced from Europe in the mid-1800s and are highly invasive. These birds are territorial and aggressive, often occupying habitats vital for native species and breeding ducks.

Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez, R-Indio, introduced the legislation, AB 764. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law on October 6, with sponsorship from the California Waterfowl Association. The new law provides additional tools to help control the mute swan population.

The public is encouraged to report the take or possession of mute swans to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Invasive Species Program.

More information, including a Swan Identification Sheet, is available on the CDFW’s Invasive Species Program web page.

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By Veronica Haynes, Ted Wayman, John Atwater

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    BOSTON (WCVB) — Former Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor — fired over misconduct allegations after Karen Read’s first trial — has withdrawn his appeal to get his job back, days before hearings were set to resume this week.

Members of the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission were expected to resume Tuesday in Proctor’s appeal, which began in August.

“This notice confirms the withdrawal of my appeal in the above referenced matter (his termination). I exercise my right to sign this form of my own free will,” read a brief document signed by Proctor on Oct. 18.

Now that Proctor has withdrawn his appeal, the next step will be that the commission issues an order of dismissal based on the withdrawal.

WCVB has reached out to Proctor and his attorney for comment but said they had no comment.

“Following the discovery of new evidence from Michael Proctor’s cell phone, the State Police Association of Massachusetts’ Executive Board unanimously voted to sever all support for his appeal. We hope this decisive move closes a deeply embarrassing chapter in State Police history,” Union President Brian Williams said in a statement.

In June, the jury in her retrial found Read not guilty of second-degree murder, but guilty of a lesser charge of drunken driving, in the death of her her boyfriend John O’Keefe, who was a Boston police officer. Her first trial ended with a hung jury.

The prosecution argued Read hit O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV outside of a home in Canton during a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night of drinking. Read’s attorneys said someone else was responsible for killing O’Keefe and that Read is the victim of a law enforcement cover-up.

In March, a three-member trial board found Proctor guilty of violating four department policies, including sending insulting text messages about Read, sharing sensitive information about Read’s case with people from outside law enforcement, creating an image of being biased against Read and drinking while on duty in connection with an unrelated cold case.

In August, Proctor’s lawyer, Daniel Moynihan, argued that the investigation of Proctor was rushed under political pressure and there was no evidence that his client’s personal feelings about Read influenced the case or violated policy.

Moynihan said state police have no policy that prevents investigators from sharing personal feelings on personal cellphones.

But Massachusetts State Police attorney Stephen Carley said the conduct rules apply at all times.

“It doesn’t matter if it occurs by email, smoke signal,” Carley said.

During August’s hearings, Carley played a video from Read’s first trial showing Proctor reading text messages to a friend, in which he said he thought, at one point, that O’Keefe might have been beaten, and that Read “waffled” him with a vehicle.

Carley said Proctor “consumed alcohol and then operated his cruiser while on duty, released confidential information to individuals outside of law enforcement and called suspect and eventual defendant, Karen Read, ‘a babe,’ ‘a nut bag.'”

Moynihan said Proctor’s personal feelings about Read did not impact the integrity of the investigation or the outcome of the case against Read.

“Michael Proctor did not commit a crime. Michael Proctor did not violate a specific policy prohibiting personal conduct on a personal phone, because there is no specific policy. Those are two very important facts to remember in this case,” Moynihan said.

In his now-withdrawn written appeal, Proctor said he was never disciplined prior to this case and that all messages in question were sent on a personal phone while he was off duty, with an expectation of his right to privacy. Ultimately, Proctor said that he was treated unfairly.

During Read’s first trial, Proctor was questioned about messages he shared with a group of friends. After reading one of the messages in which he called Read a “whack job” and an expletive, he apologized to the jury for his “unprofessional” comments.

In another text message, Proctor told his sister that he hoped Read would kill herself. Proctor described his messages as “very regrettable.”

Proctor was suspended and later terminated in the wake of Read’s first trial, which ended with a hung jury.

Read was ultimately found not guilty of murder in the death of O’Keefe in a second trial, but was convicted of OUI.

Proctor has denied planting evidence during the investigation, and his family said they faced harassment as a result of the high-profile case.

The president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, Brian Williams said the union’s executive board voted to unanimously cut all support for Proctor’s appeal.

“Following the discovery of new evidence from Michael Proctor’s cell phone, the State Police Association of Massachusetts’ Executive Board unanimously voted to sever all support for his appeal. We hope this decisive move closes a deeply embarrassing chapter in State Police history,” Williams said.

After the trial board’s decision, Proctor’s family said they were “truly disappointed with the trial board’s decision.

“It lacks precedent, and unfairly exploits and scapegoats one of their own, a trooper with a 12-year unblemished record. Despite the Massachusetts State Police’s dubious and relentless efforts to find more inculpatory evidence against Michael Proctor on his phones, computers and cruiser data, the messages on his personal phone — referring to the person who killed a fellow beloved Boston Police Officer — are all that they found.

“The messages prove one thing, and that Michael is human — not corrupt, not incompetent in his role as a homicide detective, and certainly not unfit to continue to be a Massachusetts State Trooper.”

Alan Jackson, who represented Read during both criminal trials, released a statement regarding proctor’s appeal withdrawal:

“Michael Proctor’s sudden withdrawal of his appeal wasn’t an act of humility — it was self-preservation. He learned investigators had recovered text messages from his private phone dating back years, and he wanted no part of what those messages would reveal,” Jackson said. “He didn’t accept accountability—it hunted him down. And as Col. Noble admitted, the years-long corruption is systemic.”

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By Charlie Goldberg

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    TUCSON, Arizona (KVOA) — The Ignite Sign Art Museum in Tucson is facing a significant challenge after a fire broke out Saturday night. While the exterior of the museum appears normal, the inside tells a different story, with most of it deemed unsalvageable and severely burnt.

Almost all small pieces and signs within the museum were destroyed, along with the gift shop and its memorabilia. However, the museum is not entirely lost, as the warehouse and the majority of signs inside remain intact. Large pieces situated outside also survived the fire.

Despite the devastation, museum owner Jude Cook remains hopeful.

“Get the mess cleaned out, save what we can save and start rebuilding. I’m hoping that and it’s probably optimistic. I would hope that we would be back up and running in 6 months,” Cook said.

The Tucson Fire Department stated that the cause of the fire is still undetermined.

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