Author: CNN Newsource

By Breana Pitts

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    BOSTON (WBZ) — Tapping a tree for maple syrup is a tradition in New England. They’re doing it with a modern twist at the Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary in Sharon, Massachusetts.

“For some people, this is their first real understanding of how maple syrup is done and maybe their first time getting out into a place like this,” said nature camp director Shawn Moriarty.

The section of the forest where trees are tapped is known as a “sugar bush,” and Moriarty said the weather has to cooperate for sap to flow. Ideal conditions include nights around 25 degrees and daytime temperatures climbing into the upper 30s or low 40s. But this year, the season got off to a slow start.

“We would have tapped the third or fourth week of January, but this year it was too cold. We didn’t tap until just before February vacation, so we’re almost three to four weeks behind schedule,” Moriarty said.

And while many people may picture thick syrup coming straight from the tree, that’s not the case. It looks like water.

“They think it comes out of the tree looking like syrup, which I can understand,” Moriarty said. “At best it’s two percent sugar.”

The process itself has deep historical roots in New England.

“French explorers coming down through the Canadian Maritimes wrote about members of the Wabanaki Confederacy taking liquid from trees and making sugar out of it,” Moriarty said. “That was an unknown process to Europeans. It became a form of currency for colonists. If I can make sugar, now I can trade with my neighbors. If I can make sugar, I didn’t have to buy it from a British salesperson. You get into the 1800s, and it was freedom from sugar from the South, which was a real badge of pride in Massachusetts.”

Today, Moose Hill still uses a small number of traditional buckets for nostalgia, but most of the sap is now collected through a gravity-based tubing system that runs through the woods from tree to tree.

The sap eventually travels to a sugar house, where volunteers boil it down until it reaches exactly 219 degrees. That process concentrates the liquid from about two percent sugar to the 66 percent sugar content needed to become maple syrup.

While maple sugaring has been happening at Moose Hill since 1972, the focus here isn’t on mass production.

“We’re an educational producer. We’re not making thousands of gallons of syrup. We’ll make maybe 100 if we’re lucky,” Moriarty said.

Moriarty said the volunteers are part of what makes the experience so special.

“Knowing the people who help make it, knowing where it all comes from, and it’s something special that happens here in Sharon,” he said.

Visitors can buy the locally made maple syrup right at the sanctuary store.

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 Dennis Valera

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — When a man living in Virginia suddenly had to return to his home country of Brazil in 2025, he surrendered his four pet rabbits to a Howard County nonprofit.

Since Friends of Rabbits in Columbia took in those pets, staff and volunteers have worked to reunite them with their owners.

It took over a year, but their hard work paid off, and Filipe Silva was reunited with the rabbits.

Leaving his family behind Silva lived in the United States from 2017 to 2025. He originally came to study English and was able to extend his student visa year after year with no problems.

That is, until 2025, when his visa extension was denied.

From the moment he found out, Silva only had 30 days to figure out how to transport Cocoa, Cosmo, Conny, and Cobee — his pet rabbits — with him to Brazil.

After running out of options, money, and time, Silva knew he had to give them up.

“I used to come back from work every day, and when I got into the room, the first thing they did was run toward me,” Silva said. “I wasn’t sure if I would even see them [again].”

Silva ultimately surrendered them to Friends of Rabbits in Columbia, the largest rabbit rescue in the region.

The staff and volunteers there made sure his pets would be cared for.

“We don’t want to see people who care and love their animals so much have them end up at a shelter and possibly euthanized,” said Susan Wong, co-founder and treasurer for Friends of Rabbits.

Getting the rabbits to Brazil From the moment Silva’s four rabbits got into its custody, Friends of Rabbits made it its mission to get them back to Silva.

It took a lot of work, according to Wong and volunteer Jen Wilder, that included more than just a lot of paperwork.

“It involved veterinary clearances, it involved [finding] a U.S. cargo company and a Brazil cargo company. We had to get an import permit from Brazil,” Wilder said.

Friends of Rabbits worked with a number of companies, even finding a direct flight out of JFK Airport in New York City.

Wong drove the rabbits to the airport from Columbia herself.

All the efforts resulted in Silva getting back together with Cocoa, Cosmo, Conny and Cobee last week.

“When I saw them, these four white little dots inside the cages, it was magical for me,” Silva said. “I wanted to cry, I wanted to pick them up, I don’t have words to explain [my feelings].”

Friends of Rabbits is currently raising money to cover the costs of everything it did to make this happen.

The nonprofit has facilitated rabbit transports to Japan, Istanbul and Turkey as well.

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 WABC Staff

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    BRANCHBURG, New Jersey (WABC) — Neighbors looked out for each other in Branchburg when a fire tore through a row of townhomes early Wednesday morning.

The fire burned through the attached homes at The Red Rock Preserve on Old York Road just before 5:45 a.m.

NewsCopter 7 was over the scene as the gas-fed flames quickly spread through the cockloft.

Families grabbed what they could in the terrifying early morning moments and ran out of the building, but say they are thankful that they escaped safely.

The fire gutted several townhouses. The building no longer has a roof after it melted away and parts of siding were left dangling in the wind.

As the fire burned, firefighters hit the blaze from every angle as the red and orange flames glowed in the dark early morning hours.

Neighbors say the fire got worse by the minute. Canessa Stanley told Eyewitness News she got a call from a man begging her to get his wife to safety.

“He told me to go get his wife because she wasn’t answering her phone, so I ran over here, but then by the time I got there a neighbor had kicked her door in because she was in there sleeping and she didn’t even know what was going on,” she said. “A couple hours ago, this whole thing was up in a light blaze and then the roof caved in.”

“These are my babies right here. I just got to work and my wife called me and said the house was on fire. I ran out of my garage and I came back home as fast as I could,” a man said.

“I just want to say thank you to my neighbor. Because without him, we would probably be dead right now,” a child said.

“I have two disabled parents so I had to get them out as fast as I could and we weren’t able to save anything,” another neighbor said. “It was just all happening too quick. Eventually, it all just spread down to the top floor of the entire building.”

There are no known serious injuries. The cause of the fire is unknown.

Local officials are working with county partners to assist residents who have been displaced, including efforts to secure temporary housing and provide necessary support services.

The Red Rock Preserve is an affordable housing townhouse community that was just completed two years ago.

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 Karina Vargas

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    SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The ongoing federal government shutdown is forcing thousands of Transportation Security Administration officers in San Diego to work without pay during the busy spring break travel season.

At San Diego International Airport, TSA officers are still showing up to keep travelers safe, but behind the scenes, many are struggling to make ends meet.

Alondra Galvan is a single mother and a TSA officer currently working without pay because of the partial government shutdown.

“It’s very frustrating for everything, from financial restraints to mental instability. There’s times that at night I’m like what am I going to do, how am I going to do it,” Galvan said.

Galvan has been working as a TSA officer for two years. She said she has been trying to bounce back from the longest government shutdown in U.S. history last year, where she went without pay for 43 days. Now, it is happening all over again. For her, this shutdown is more than just politics; it is personal.

“I’m a single mom right now, my son usually goes to spring break camps, and I can’t afford that right now because there’s no money coming in, and I just don’t know what to do anymore. There’s no babysitter. I don’t have money to pay a babysitter, so it’s all around bad,” Galvan said.

The union representing TSA workers held a food bank for them. Galvan said anything helps.

“It’s just eggs, milk, and some vegetables, and some rice, but for me, that’s what we eat on the daily basis,” Galvan said.

Galvan said she decided to continue going to work, but she does not know how much longer she can handle it. She is already starting to look for other jobs to fall back on because she is being stretched thin financially.

“I’m down to my last like $100 and I just put gas in my car that was $50 I don’t know how I’m going to do it the next two weeks,” Galvan said.

The Department of Homeland Security said that since the shutdown started, over 350 TSA officers have left the force, and more continue to call out. TSA workers like Galvan want this to end.

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 Michael Martin

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    SALT LAKE CITY (KSTU) — Three people have been arrested, including two listed as juveniles, after the site of the proposed ICE detention center in Salt Lake City was vandalized.

The vandalism at the warehouse located west of Salt Lake City International Airport included graffiti with a swastika that had a line going through it, and the words, “Kill all Nazis.” Several windows at the facility were also smashed, and what appeared to be paint was on the door.

The incident occurred during a large protest held at the warehouse Wednesday in which hundreds gathered to express their anger over the planned detention facility after ICE purchased the building last week. Multiple state and city leaders, including Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Republican Sen. John Curtis, have denounced the proposal for various reasons.

Chase Fredrickson, 18, was arrested early Thursday and faces charges of Property Damage and Riot. According to court documents, Fredrickson was allegedly captured on video throwing rocks at the exterior of the ICE warehouse during the protest.

“The throwing of the rocks caused the glass to shatter and break,” the arrest report said.

The identities of the two juveniles were not released. The court documents do not connect Frederickson or anyone else to the graffiti painted outside the building.

Federal agents on the scene told the arresting officer with the Salt Lake City Police Department that the damage was estimated to be $3,000.

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 Brad Hamilton

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    SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Hard work done in the dark is about to bring the famed Bay Lights back to the Bay Bridge.

Bart Ney, who has spent the majority of his 30-year career at CalTrans, has focused on one of the busiest and biggest overpasses in the world.

“I was on the team that built the new eastern span. I’ve worked on the Bay Bridge for 20 years,” Ney told CBS News Bay Area.

On one particular night, he’s happy to work the late shift to see firsthand the finishing touches on the revitalization of the Bay Bridge lights.

First introduced in 2013, the original collection of over 40,000 bulbs that lit up the structure sparked attention like never before.

“The original Bay Lights were such a hit globally. We had media from all over the world doing stories on the Bay Lights, kind of putting the Bay Bridge kind of back in everybody’s view,” he explained.

However, in 2023, the lights were shut off after years of environmental wear. That decision was made by the artist behind the project, Leo Villareal.

“There was kind of an uproar in San Francisco. People said, ‘We want this back, this has become part of my therapy,’ it has become part of the city,'” Villareal told CBS News Bay Area.

The project, privately funded, cost $11 million to replace the original installation and embark on a new chapter.

“The exciting thing for me is that the way it provokes a sense of wonder and awe,” Villareal added. “It just dazzles people and people can’t help but talk to one another.”

Ney adds that the positive feedback they’ve received since announcing the return is just another sign that this project was worth the time and effort it took to make it happen.

“There is 48,000 individual LED lights in this installation. The western spans of the Bay Bridge are two miles long. They are over 500 feet above the water at the highest points, so it’s a lot,” Ney said.

On March 20th, an official ceremony will celebrate the relighting of the Bay Bridge.

But on this night, the crews who made it happen are having a little celebration of their own.

They’ve spent countless long hours in the dark, bringing the shine back to the Bay Bridge.

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 Chase Houle

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    MORROW, Georgia (WXIA) — Sabrina Wideman-Reese said she was eating at Las Trojas on Mt. Zion Road in Morrow on Sunday when she bit into something sharp.

“Why would somebody do this? It could have turned out worse.”

She said a 1.5-inch razor blade was mixed in with her lettuce, cheese and meat. According to Wideman-Reese, she felt something cut her lips and tongue before realizing what it was.

After spitting out her food, she said she saw the blade.

The incident comes at an already difficult time for Wideman-Reese. She says she buried her husband, the father of her two daughters, less than two weeks ago.

“He, he fought hard to stay here with us, but he God said otherwise.”

She said finding the blade only added to a very traumatic time in her life.

“I was thinking that my kids would have been orphans if I would have swallowed it,” she said.

The Morrow Police Department said there is an active criminal investigation into the incident, including whether the blade ended up in the food accidentally or intentionally.

Out of curiosity, 11Alive’s Chase Houle looked up when their last health inspection occurred.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health Las Trojas was last inspected on Feb. 5, receiving a score of 81. The report noted about a handful of violations, including containers of food stored on the ground. The report also noted that many of the violations had be cleared up at the time of the inspection.

When Houle asked for a comment, the restaurant’s manager declined.

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.