Author: CNN Newsource

By Logan Hall, Samantha Chaney

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    EASTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Police body camera video shows an Easton, Massachusetts officer rescuing a 78-year-old Raynham man from a burning car on Friday morning.

A Mack dump truck was experiencing problems on the side of Turnpike Street just after 2 a.m. when a Ford pickup truck struck the back of it, according to police.

Vehicles catch fire after crash

The pickup truck then became stuck under the dump truck, trapping the driver, Francis Leverone, inside. A Toyota Camry then hit the back of the pickup truck and caught fire, police said.

Easton Police Officer Dean Soucie arrived at the crash and saw that the two vehicles were on fire. Video shows Soucie rushing over before breaking the driver’s side window and then, with the help of the two witnesses, freeing Leverone from the pickup truck. Soucie said he was confused but conscious.

Easton crash

“As I reached inside the vehicle, one of the passersby, he actually jumped into the cab of the truck, and he helped me free the individual,” Soucie said.

They then carried the driver to safety.

Leverone was taken to a nearby hospital before being transferred to a Boston hospital. He received serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

No one else was injured in the crash.

Wife thanks rescuers

Dee Leverone told WBZ her husband is doing OK. “I’m just thankful for the people that got him out,” she said. “Very thankful.”

After watching the police body-cam video on the news she said, “I was shocked, I was like ‘Oh my God!’ I just couldn’t believe it. His truck is like melted.”

She says she realized that something was wrong last night when her husband never made it home from work.

“I kept trying to call him and call him and I finally got ahold of him at like 4:30 a.m. and he was at [Good Samaritan Hospital] and he told me he’s gotten in an accident,” Dee said.

She says he’s recovering at the Boston Medical Center and being treated for a dislocated hip.

“He’s a trooper,” Dee said. “He’s a strong man and you know he’s 78 but you know he’s a toughie. He definitely is a toughie.”

“They jumped into action”

Soucie commended the help of the two witnesses and said that before he arrived at the crash, they had attempted to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher and removed a gasoline tank from the pickup truck before it could ignite.

“They jumped into action like it was nothing,” Soucie said. “Those two individuals were absolutely awesome.”

Easton Police Chief Keith Boone said that he is “extremely proud” of Soucie and the witnesses.

“He saved a life last night,” Chief Boone said. “He is an exemplary police officer and this is just one example. I think he’s a hero.”

Turnpike Street was closed for several hours following the crash. Easton Police are investigating.

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 Shelly Garzon

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — With early voting wrapping up for the 2026 primary election and the voter registration deadline quickly approaching, community members in Asheville are rallying around one message: Participation matters.

Groups like Asheville Fights Back Network are working to energize voters ahead of key deadlines.

“Think about yourself, but also think about your neighbor because we’re going to get forward together, we’re going to get forward with love,” Lola Lafey, an organizer with Asheville Fights Back Network, said.

Friday night, the group hosted a march from Asheville Middle School to the Wesley Grant Center with the goal of increasing voter turnout.

“There’s several different voting locations and whether you walk to the polls, you drive to the polls, you take the bus, get yourself to the polls,” Lafey said.

Polls will close at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28, which is the last day for early voting and for residents to register to vote before primary Election Day.

Residents who participated in the march said they joined to feel a sense of community and collective power.

“It helps me feel more powerful as part of a block of people that is powerful, not personally powerful, but we can do something real together,” resident Melissa Hyman said.

Participants said they hope events like the march will inspire others to cast their ballots.

“Even if it’s very humble and small today, every step that we take and every time we sing together and get together and march together, it grows the movement,” Hyman 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 CBS 58 Newsroom

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    WEST ALLIS, Wisconsin (WDJT) — Earlier Friday, Feb. 27, West Allis police saw a stolen vehicle at the intersection of S. 92nd St. and W. National Ave.

Officers tried to stop the vehicle, but it fled east bound on W. National starting a chase.

A 15-year-old girl from West Allis jumped from the vehicle while it was speeding in the area of S. 84th and W. National. She was taken into custody.

The vehicle continued to speed east bound and crashed into a parked car around 58th and W. National, ending the chase.

The driver, a 17-year-old man from Waukesha and a back seat passenger, 18-year-old man from Milwaukee, were both taken into custody.

A fourth occupant ran from the scene and has not been located.

The investigation is ongoing.

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 Daniel Woodruff

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    PROVO (KSL) — Brigham Young University is apologizing after nine prospective students mistakenly received notices that said they had been accepted.

The university told KSL a systems error led to those applicants being told they were admitted to BYU when, in fact, they were not.

“We are truly sorry that an unfortunate error in our admissions decision notification system resulted in nine prospective students mistakenly receiving congratulatory messages of acceptance,” said BYU admissions director Chad Johnson in a statement. “The Admissions Department reached out to those impacted to express our regret and our sincere apologies.”

Johnson added, “We know that admissions decisions are highly anticipated, and we recognize this mistake caused confusion and disappointment. Our BYU admissions team is working to ensure this mistake does not occur in the future.”

For one of those students and his family, it’s been a painful experience. Owen Johansen, 18, a high school senior who lives in Oakton, Virginia, received his acceptance to BYU two weeks ago.

“At first when I was accepted, I was really excited,” he said.

His mother, Talai Johansen, told KSL their family was “thrilled” and celebrated his admission to the place where both she and her husband went to school.

But last week, as they went through the process of accepting the admission and finding a roommate, they realized something was off. A rejection letter had replaced the “Welcome to BYU” notification in his online portal.

After trying to get BYU officials to talk with them, the Johansens said they eventually learned the acceptance was a mistake.

“I was really mad,” Owen Johansen said. “They could have done it way better.”

The whole experience, he added, left him “pretty sad.”

His mother said she’s disappointed that the university has only reached out to apologize to her and her husband, but not to her son directly. Talai Johansen wants BYU to honor his acceptance.

“I don’t want them to just do it for Owen. I want them to do it for these eight other students. I want all of these nine students to be admitted into BYU,” she said. “It is the right thing to do.”

BYU did not provide additional details about the nature of the error that led to the incorrect acceptance notices.

“I have been completely heartbroken by this entire process,” Talai Johansen said.

In 2024, BYU’s College of Nursing mistakenly sent out both acceptance and rejection letters to hundreds of prospective students. The university blamed that on an “error in a new system.”

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By Lauren Victory, Adam Harrington, Elyssa Kaufman

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — The celebration of life for Reverend Jesse Jackson continues with another visitation on Friday morning.

Mourners lined up early Friday morning to pay their respects for a second day at Rainbow PUSH Headquarters. Supporters will have 12 hours to say their goodbyes.

A suburban woman brought her three grandchildren to experience this historic moment as they go through school.

“I thought it was very important that they come to experience this,” Lazane Tyker said. “When I’m long gone, they will always remember this, that they were here and participated.”

Jackson’s family shook thousands of hands inside Rainbow Push headquarters on Thursday as a line of supporters stretched down the block.

Reverend Jackson’s casket is heading back to his East Coast roots after today’s visitation for services in South Carolina and Washington D.C.

His remains will then return to Chicago for “The People’s Celebration” next Friday. A private service is scheduled for March 7th.

Resting in power at Rainbow PUSH

Founded in the early 1970s as Operation PUSH, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition grew from a local organizing effort into a national platform for civil rights, economic justice, and political mobilization. From the very building where Jackson will lie in repose, he led voter registration drives, advocated for corporate accountability, and pushed for greater access to education and employment opportunities.

It was also from Rainbow PUSH that Jackson helped expand the idea of a rainbow coalition — uniting people across race, class, and political lines around shared economic interests.

Jackson’s political campaigns in 1984 and 1988 were organized through the PUSH network, proving that a civil rights organization could also become a national political force.

For many in Chicago, weekly gatherings at Rainbow PUSH became a forum where local concerns met national attention.

“For generations, children and adults will hear the words, ‘Keep hope alive,’ hear the words, ‘I am somebody,'” said the Rev. Michael Pfleger of Chicago’s St. Sabina Church. “He took the phrase keep hope alive and made it tangible.”

For decades, Rainbow PUSH Headquarters amplified Rev. Jackson’svoice. It now becomes a place for reflection for a movement that stretched far beyond the walls of the physical building.

Honors for Rev. Jackson planned for South Carolina and Washington, D.C.

The Jackson family said they shared him with the world and in return, the world became a part of their extended family. This is evident too in what will unfold over the next week.

After a couple of days here in Chicago, there will be services held for Jackson in South Carolina and Washington, D.C. before his funeral will take place back in Chicago at the end of next week.

The Jackson family wanted to make sure their patriarch, a native of Greenville, South Carolina, returned to his roots on the East Coast.

Jackson played football at Sterling High School in Greenville, and famously protested library segregation with a group known as the Greenville Eight.

Jackson’s loved ones made a formal request to South Carolina lawmakers that he lie in repose at the state capitol in Columbia. That request was granted Monday, March 2, with a private, then public service — including a wreath-laying — planned at the statehouse rotunda.

A church service is scheduled for that evening in West Columbia, South Carolina.

Details have not yet been released on how Rev. Jackson will be honored in Washington, D.C.

Rev. Jesse Jackson funeral and celebration of life services schedule Thursday, Feb. 26 and Friday, Feb. 27: Lying in State at Rainbow PUSH Coalition, 930 E. 50th St., Chicago, 10 a.m. Sunday, March 1 – Thursday, March 5: Travel dates for formal services in South Carolina and Washington, D.C. Monday, March 2 – Jackson will lie in repose at the South Carolina Statehouse. Following a small private family ceremony inside the Statehouse, the visitation will be open to the public from 11:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 6: The People’s Celebration at House of Hope, 752 E. 114th St., Chicago Doors Open: 9 a.m., service: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Saturday, March 7: Private Homegoing Celebration at Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Limited capacity. A spokesperson for the Jackson family said they will share additional details and information for public registration to attend services soon. They will also share a livestream of the services for the public.

The family asks that all flowers and condolence cards be sent to:

Leak & Sons Funeral Home

7838 S. Cottage Grove Ave.

Chicago, IL 60619

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By Rae Daniel

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    KANSAS CITY (KSHB) — Inside the Washington Chapel CME church, Dr. Cora Douglass Thompson sits down at the piano and begins to play, ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’

“My mother insisted that all three of us had piano lessons,” Dr. Thompson said. “All three of us.”

Dr. Cora, and her sisters Lucille H. Douglass and Alcorama Pearl Spencer sat down with me, sharing fond memories, like their mother’s gingerbread.

“You could be outside playing and you get a whiff of that and you knew, mama was making gingerbread,” Dr. Cora said. “She’d make two. One for the church and one for home.”

The sisters were born in the 1940s, during a time when segregation was a shared experience for the Black community.

“There are only three streets that connect to what was the segregated black community,” Ms. Lucille said.

“The white elite, leaders of Parkville told my dad, ‘stop telling these N’s how to vote,” Dr. Cora said. “That’s one of the big things I remember. Everybody came to my dad asking them how to vote, everybody.”

“The meetings that were being held in the Black community, were about getting indoor toilets in our school,” Ms. Alcorama said. “We had to walk over to the hillside, quite a ways.”

Their legacy, intertwined in Parkville’s history, including Banneker Elementary, the historic African American schoolhouse, where their mother taught.

“Cora and I were a part of the last class when they closed the Banneker school,” Ms. Lucille said. She said it closed after Brown V. Board of Education, when the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional.

Ms. Alcorama remembers when school was integrated. She was a freshman at Park Hill High School. She shared that she was frightened a little, but the superintendent had a conversation with her dad before she started. She was grateful for what was said to her father that day. She said while there weren’t any families protesting outside the school that she remembers, she does remember some incidents of bullying and sports teams still being segregated.

They also talked about the historic church they grew up in was Washington Chapel C.M.E., which was built in 1907 by former slaves and college students.

“We stand on their shoulders,” Ms. Lucille said.

Today, these sisters make sure that history is never forgotten, through events, education and conversation.

“We are benefiting from their hard work and the vision God gave them,” Ms. Alcorama said. “And this church on this hill will be, known and people will be worshiping here for another 100 years.”

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By Leo Stallworth

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    ANAHEIM, Calif. (KABC) — The family of a man fatally shot by Anaheim police in September has filed a claim against the city, alleging officers used unnecessary deadly force while he was suffering a mental health episode.

Attorneys for the family of Rudy Martinez said the Anaheim resident was in clear distress when police encountered him.

“We believe in fact the shooting was murder and we are demanding justice,” Jamal Tooson, an attorney for Martinez’s family, said at a press conference Thursday.

Martinez was armed with a shovel and used it to hit the officer’s patrol vehicle, body-camera footage shows. Police said Martinez advanced toward the officer in an “aggressive and threatening manner” before the shooting.

Tooson said the situation warranted a response from mental health counselors or advocates instead of police.

“They sent the Anaheim Police Department who shot and killed him within seconds of arrival,” Tooson said.

The claim filed is a precursor to a lawsuit.

Attorneys say they’ve viewed body-camera footage of the shooting, and it raises serious questions about how police handled the situation.

Bodycam footage from the responding officer shows Martinez hitting the patrol car with a shovel.

“At this point, the officer didn’t put the patrol car in reverse,” Tooson said when describing what was seen in the video.

“The officer didn’t consider grabbing non-lethal force, but he grabbed his gun,” Tooson added. “When he got out of the car, Rudy walked toward him with the shovel. The officer shot and killed him and left him to die on the street.”

Anaheim officials said the response took place near a school that was in session.

“Our officer responded to a call next to an elementary school in session where, without provocation, he immediately faced a threat to life and safety,” city spokesperson Mike Lyster said. “We recognize the importance of mental health intervention. Sadly, there was no time to bring in resources and to do so without putting the lives of mental health workers at risk.”

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.