Author: CNN Newsource

By Madeline Montgomery

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — In metro Atlanta, the game of table tennis is helping people with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and people who have had strokes.

Linda Bramhall was once a wallflower when it came to playing the sport.

“I just wanted to do nothing but sit on the sidelines the first few times that I came, and I kind of gradually worked my way into playing. But it was scary at first,” she said.

Bramhall now comes to the Lucky Shoals Park Community Recreation Center in Norcross twice a week for table tennis.

“Everybody’s very supportive of one another. And we all play one another. We all play the children, we all play the elderly,” said Bramhall.

For Bramhall, table tennis is also physical therapy. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease eight years ago, a neurological disorder that damages brain cells, leading to symptoms like uncontrollable movements, tremors, and balance issues.

She decided to start playing table tennis when she saw one of Nenad Bach’s videos. Bach is the founder of PingPong Parkinson. He started playing on a whim with a friend and noticed a difference in his Parkinson’s symptoms.

“I said, ‘If it can help me, why not others?’ So it was March 1, 2017, when we started, and nine years later, we are on six continents, in 36 countries, and around 4 to 500 chapters in the world,” Bach said.

One of those chapters is in Norcross and plays along with the Atlanta Table Tennis Association.

“It kind of makes me feel strong again. Not feeble or fragile. But you feel a sense of strength. Confidence, it gives you confidence, it just helps… You just generally feel overall much better,” said Bramhall.

Coach Oscar Rodriguez coaches every level of player in the high-speed game.

“Five-year-old, 6-year-old girls that are quite good. They will beat you. And then we have octogenarians,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez sees the healing across the table.

“I think this is helping with the neurons firing in the people’s brains in the people that have Parkinson’s,” he said.

Doctors agree, saying sports like table tennis are beneficial for more than just Parkinson’s patients. People who’ve suffered a stroke or have alzheimers also benefit.

“You’ve got a lot of evidence that has accrued that shows that it’s likely that exercise slows down the progression of these neurodegenerative conditions,” said Dr. Madeleine Hackney, a research scientist with Emory School of Medicine’s Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation.

Hackney works with people with Parkinson’s, Alzheimers, and people who’ve had strokes. She encourages movement as a form of medicine and even teaches dance to help ease symptoms.

“Try to find something that’s fun. Something that will engage your mind. Something that will make you feel good about yourself, something that will make you feel good throughout the day,” said Hackney.

That fun keeps Bramhall bouncing back.

“Having a purpose, every week, two days a week, you know you’re going to be somewhere, you’re going to be doing something fun, doing something good for your health, around your friends, people that you like to be with, so there’s that consistency,” said Bramhall.

It’s consistency that’s been key to keeping her healthy.

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 Diane Morris

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    DULLES, Virginia (WTOP) — Two groups of travelers leaving Dulles International Airport over Memorial Day weekend had nearly $100,000 in cash seized after authorities said they went to unusual lengths to hide money — even though carrying large amounts of currency out of the United States is legal.

On Saturday, May 23, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and Vito, a nearly 2-year-old German Shepherd trained to sniff out currency, stopped a U.S. citizen and his family before they boarded a flight from Dulles to Brussels, Belgium, CBP wrote in a statement Monday.

Officers said the man initially said he and his wife were each carrying $7,000. After CBP officers explained the reporting requirement, the family revised the total to $20,000, then listed $22,500 when completing the official currency reporting form, the agency said.

But a later inspection found additional cash concealed inside a small purse, CBP said. Officers also reported frisking the man and finding another $1,450 hidden in the pockets of a second pair of pants he was wearing. Their final count: $46,520.

The next day, officers came across another case involving a woman and her mother, who’s from Cameroon — also attempting to board a flight to Brussels, CBP said.

After officers explained the currency reporting rules, the pair at first said they had $15,000, the agency said. The daughter, a U.S. citizen, then wrote $22,361 on the required reporting form, CBP said. Then, during a baggage inspection, CBP officers said they discovered even more money stitched inside women’s undergarments.

Their final count in that case totaled $52,923.

CBP seized the cash in both cases, totaling $99,443. The travelers were released and were not criminally charged.

“These are two seizures in which travelers went to extreme measures to unnecessarily conceal currency from Customs and Border Protection officers during a departure inspection,” said Christine Waugh, CBP area port director for D.C., in a news release.

Waugh said the currency reporting requirement is not designed to stop travelers from carrying their own money abroad.

“Currency reporting laws don’t restrict how much currency people can take overseas, nor is the currency taxed,” she said. “The law is focused on identifying bulk currency smuggling attempts that may be associated with illegal activity.”

CBP emphasized that the travelers were not accused of breaking the law by carrying large sums of money. Federal rules allow travelers to move any amount of cash internationally, but anyone carrying more than $10,000 must accurately report it to the U.S. Treasury.

According to CBP, both groups would have been allowed to keep their money and continue their trips if they had accurately reported the full amounts they were carrying. Instead, they both faced delays or missed flights.

The agency said Dulles officers have repeatedly encountered similar cases this year. In April, officers seized more than $163,000 in unreported currency from four travelers, and in January seized more than $119,000 from four others, CBP said.

Nationwide, CBP officers and agents seized more than $182,000 per day in unreported or illicit currency from October 2024 through September 2025, according to filings from the U.S. Border Patrol and CBP’s Office of Field Operations.

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 Lauren Linder

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    Pennsylvania (KDKA) — The two men who were wounded in a shooting during then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s 2024 rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds are suing the United States.

James Copenhaver and David Dutch were shot during the attempted assassination of Trump on July 13, 2024, in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Their attorneys filed federal lawsuits against the United States for their “life altering physical and emotional injuries,” claiming those injuries were a direct result of negligence on the part of the United States Secret Service. Dutch was shot in the stomach, while Copenhaver was shot twice.

The complaints said, “The assassination attempt on President Trump’s life was entirely preventable and was caused, in whole or in part, by the failures of the USSS in the days leading up to the event as well as on the day of the assassination attempt.”

The families allege the lack of action by the Secret Service allowed the shooter, Thomas Crooks, who was seen “acting erratically in the hours before the shooting,” to climb onto the roof of the AGR building and fire eight shots before being killed by a countersniper.

They said in the lawsuit that agents failed to secure the roof of the AGR building, had “inadequate and improper lines of communication” with local and state agencies, failed to find and question Crooks, and failed to use “drone technology” that would have located Crooks “more than two hours prior to the shooting.”

The plaintiffs said when local law enforcement saw Crooks “acting erratically” and using a range finder, they shared an alert with a photo of him, but because of “USSS policies and procedures this information was not widely disseminated to all USSS personnel.”

The suit also referenced congressional investigations revealing a “cascade of preventable failures” and the Secret Service acknowledging them. They said if the Secret Service followed its policies and procedures, the shooting wouldn’t have happened, and the plaintiffs wouldn’t have been injured or had to undergo the many more surgeries expected in their future.

Both families are seeking in excess of $150,000. A spokesperson for the Secret Service told KDKA that it does not comment on pending litigation. KDKA also reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice for a statement but has not heard back as of Tuesday evening.

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) — The death of a Baltimore Department of Transportation (DOT) worker who was attacked during a parking dispute in 2025 has been ruled a homicide.

Kiannah Bonaparte, 49, denied a plea deal on Tuesday. State prosecutors said she will now face more serious charges.

The new charges have not yet been served to Bonaparte, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office said Wednesday morning.

The charges come after 71-year-old Gregory Turnipseed, a transportation investigator with the Baltimore DOT, was beaten in October 2025 while on the job, according to investigators. He died from his injuries in November 2025.

Bonaparte and her daughter are accused of punching and kicking Turnipseed after a verbal dispute.

“I just can’t believe he’s not here. It’s just different,” the victim’s daughter, La’Cheryl Turnipseed-White, said outside of court Tuesday.

DOT worker dies after parking dispute Court records say Turnipseed was at work when he walked up to an SUV on St. Paul Street. He asked the driver, Bonaparte, to move her vehicle because another car was waiting for the parking space.

Bonaparte’s daughter, who was 15 years old at the time, got out of the car and began punching Turnipseed in the face, according to court documents. Later, as Turnipseed tried to restrain the teen, Bonaparte also exited the vehicle and jumped on Turnipseed’s back, causing him to fall, according to investigators.

Bonaparte is accused of kicking Turnipseed in the head multiple times while he was on the ground.

Turnipseed was able to give statements to police and even identify his attacker out of a photo lineup. His family reported to investigators that he had memory loss and slurred speech from the altercation. He died the day before Thanksgiving from a brain bleed.

Woman arrested Bonaparte was arrested and charged with assault before Turnipseed’s death. She has been in custody since November 2025.

In court Tuesday, the defense requested that the case be postponed to give their experts more time to review the victim’s autopsy and medical records. That request was denied by the judge.

Instead, Bonaparte was given an option to accept a plea deal offered by prosecutors or allow the state’s attorney’s office to file new charges in the case.

The medical examiner’s office finished its review in early May, which was revealed in court. The officer ruled Turnipseed’s death a homicide.

The elevated charges, which prosecutors say will be filed on Tuesday, will be in connection with the homicide. Investigators are slated to bring the new charges before a district court commissioner Tuesday afternoon, who will then decide what charge is appropriate.

The public defender representing Bonaparte said an expert has been retained to review the manner and cause of death. A private investigator was also contracted to review the scene and other evidence.

Family reacts to Turnipseed’s death Turnipseed is remembered as a loving father, grandfather and even great-grandfather. His family described the moment they learned their father was allegedly attacked.

“I just thought it wasn’t real. I didn’t believe it until I actually saw him, so I just couldn’t believe that someone would do that to him,” Turnipseed-White said.

The family says justice needs to be served in this case.

“It’s very emotional seeing Miss Bonaparte today. Justice would mean that she would meet the fate that she should for doing such a horrendous thing,” Deborah Carrington, the victim’s cousin, told WJZ.

Bonaparte is still being held behind bars. She will be before a judge again once the new charges are filed.

It is unclear if the 15-year-old faced any charges in this case.

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By Juli McDonald

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    FOXBORO, Massachusetts (WBZ) — The first World Cup match at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts is on June 13, and hotels, restaurants and first responders are getting ready for a surge in tourism.

Any 911 call coming from Foxboro, Mansfield, Easton, Norton, and even other parts of Bristol County is answered at SEMRECC, the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communication Center. And as you might imagine, their busiest neighbor is right off Route 1.

“We’re very familiar with large crowds, dynamic events like we’ve seen at Gillette from concerts to NFL games to playoffs, soccer included. This is definitely a much bigger stage,” said executive director Rob Verdone.

Call volume during a typical Patriots game can more than double – hundreds of additional calls for help; Some true emergencies, others accidental pocket dials. But unlike Pats fans, emergency responders do expect many of this summer’s spectators will be first-timers at so-called “Boston Stadium.”

“We’re certainly preparing for the influx of people who aren’t familiar with the stadium. I think about a third are New Englanders, the rest are from different parts of the world and different parts of the country. The beautiful thing about 911 is it doesn’t matter where you’re from, who you are, you call 911, we’re here to help,” Verdone said.

The plans in place for the next few weeks have been months and years in the making. Everything from enhancing local security, monitoring global threats and infectious disease data, and training with assistive technology to better accommodate fans.

“They’re spending a lot of money to be here. We recognize they’re coming from all over the world. We want to give them a good experience. We’ve done everything we can, invested in things like pocket translators so we can communicate with guests. There are nuances with the U.S. health care system that people from other countries might not be used to,” explained Foxboro Fire Chief Michael Kelleher.

And while the first game kicks off at 9 o’clock on a Saturday night, other matches will impact weekday commuters.

“Traffic on a good day is bad; Adding another 70,000 people into that mix causes some issues,” the chief said.

Issues that emergency responders are ready for – with increased staffing spanning the 39-day window for the World Cup; all the while responding to the everyday emergencies of Massachusetts neighbors.

“It’s definitely been a lot of work but it’s going to be worthwhile,” 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.

By Neal Riley, Mike Sullivan

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    Massachusetts (WBZ) — An investigation is underway to determine if any “environmental factors” at Uxbridge High School in Massachusetts may be responsible for multiple teachers there being diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions in recent years, the superintendent said.

Superintendent David Ljungberg shared the “sobering news” with school families and staff on Monday.

“It is, of course, possible that these multiple cases are not connected to one another, but out of abundance of caution, we are looking into any environmental factors at the school that may be a factor in their diagnoses,” Ljungberg wrote.

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health told WBZ-TV it is looking into the situation. Ljungberg said DPH will be at the school on Thursday for a series of air quality tests. Classes and other school activities will proceed as normal during the testing.

“Massachusetts DPH officials have indicated that there is no evidence of immediate danger in the building and no reason to limit access to or use of the facility at this time,” Ljungberg said.

He added that a “comprehensive assessment” of the high school, which was built in 2012, is being done, along with research into past uses of the property site. Testing has ruled out the water supply as a possible risk factor, Ljungberg said.

“It is important to note that DPH officials have cautioned that in workplace investigations, finding an environmental ‘smoking gun’ is rare,” he said. “However, even if a direct causal link is not established, the administration is utilizing this process to rigorously test the building and guarantee that it meets all safety standards moving forward.”

According to an online fundraiser, one of the teachers is a 29-year-old with triple-negative breast cancer, which is a more aggressive form of the disease that is harder to treat.

Ljungberg said the school district is asking the women for health data to see if their cases may be connected, and said, “we wish for them a full and speedy recovery.” He said school officials will share any developments with the community, and encouraged people “not to engage in speculation or draw conclusions that are not supported by the facts.”

Dr. Sam Nardello, the Medical Director of the Breast Health Center at Tufts, told WBZ he believes they are unlikely to find a direct link.

“Most breast cancers are environmentally linked. About 15-20% are genetically linked, but the environmental factors that we know about are typically things like, smoking and alcohol, are the biggest risk factors,” Dr. Nardello said. “There are chemical components, but those are much more rare and not something that we are easily able to identify.”

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 Emma Burch

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    BROKEN ARROW, Oklahoma (KJRH) — A Broken Arrow police officer is being called a hero after his quick response saved a young boy from drowning in a pond at Events Park.

Officer Zach Vick had just grabbed his morning coffee on May 27th, when he heard over dispatch about a possible drowning at Events Park. He didn’t originally get dispatched, but happened to be about 2 miles away when the call came in.

“I immediately knew I needed to head that way because at that time I was right about 2 miles away, so I was fairly close, um, in a direct line shot,” Vick said.

When Vick arrived at the scene, the water appeared calm until he spotted the boy struggling in the middle of the pond.

“The second I saw him in the middle of the pond, I could tell he couldn’t swim. I could tell that he had started going under,” Vick said.

Body camera footage captured the moments leading up to the rescue. A clip shows Vick taking off his patrol gear to jump in.

“So I actually dove out to him and then by the time I got to him, um. The water had gone down to about his wrist, so I was able to grab him and pick him up,” Vick said.

Vick said the boy slipped away from home that morning. Throughout the rescue, one thought drove him forward.

“But every, every part of me was how do I get to him and how do I get him back to the shore,” Vick said.

Vick safely got both of them back to shore. A bystander caught the rescue on their phone. He said the water left he and the boy cold, but not injured.

Now hailed as a hero, Vick said the experience reinforced his confidence in his training.

“It’s a reassurance that if I get put in a situation, I know that my training is not only going to kick in, but that I’m going to be there to be able to help,” Vick said.

The boy is safe and back home with his family.

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.