Author: CNN Newsource

By WFTX Digital Team

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    NORTH PORT, Florida (WFTX) — A North Port police officer’s quick thinking prevented a potential tragedy when dashcam video captured a child wandering onto busy U.S. 41.

The newly released footage shows a small child walking dangerously close to traffic on the major highway. A North Port police sergeant immediately sprang into action, turning on his lights and sirens before jumping out of his cruiser to chase down the child and bring them to safety.

According to North Port police, the child’s parents had done “everything they could” to install safeguards and prevent their child from wandering away from home. The child had developmental delays.

The incident has prompted police to share resources available to families with special needs loved ones, including tracking devices for children and older adults.

“We also have our special needs assessment program, or SNAP, which allows families to share important information about loved ones with special needs. It helps our first responders respond appropriately in any situation,” a police spokesperson said.

The department is also asking the public to show compassion for the family during this difficult time, requesting that people online give the family “grace” as they navigate the challenges of caring for a special needs child.

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By Jennifer Emert

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — A former western North Carolina pastor-turned-cabin builder has reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.

Jason Speier has agreed to plead guilty to one count of fraud by wire. The charge, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina, carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine, and up to three years of a term of supervised release. A court date has not yet been set.

Clients told News 13 it was Speier’s charisma that drew them in. News 13 investigative reporter Jennifer Emert first exposed client complaints in January 2024. In a News 13 exclusive investigation, what started with a dozen clients grew to more than 30 impacted in several states for more than $3 million combined.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office’s 11-page factual basis revealed at one point while Speier was taking another contract for a cabin in August 2023, Kabens, a Sandinavian-style log home kit building company, was behind on approximately 40 customer projects. The factual basis, however, focuses on the time frame from when Speier took over Kabens on Nov. 18, 2022 through Oct. 1, 2023.

During that time frame, U.S. Attorney David Thorneloe claims Speier accepted payments from 24 customers totaling $2,355,310.24. During that time, Speier also continued to accept payments from eight customers who contracted with Kabens prior to November 2022, totaling another $211,412.01.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s factual basis Speier after Nov. 18, 2022 Speier received approximately $2,566,722.25 in total customer payments. All payments moved in interstate commerce, resulting in charges of fraud by wire.

The government’s factual basis claims Speier “held his business out as a general contracting company that contracted with customers to build European-sourced log cabin kits into turnkey residences. Neither Speier nor his company was actually a general contractor, and he did not have a source of supply for European log cabin kits.” It claimed Speier and Kabens lacked the means, ability and intent to perform the construction services he promised in the contacts he made with his customers.

Speier started out as a salesman, hired when the company was known as Affordable Log Homes. That company was owned by an individual only identified as R.M. in the federal government’s paperwork. The company ran into delays and obstacles during the COVID pandemic and construction progress slowed. Speier then made numerous sales by setting unrealistic expectations.

Speier’s influence in the company during that time grew, and Speier assumed full control of sales sometime in 2021. When the company failed to complete cabin builds within the timelines, it quickly got behind schedule on 11 cabins and was $200,000 in debt. Speier sought to rebrand the company and registered a new business named KI Enterprises, which did business as Kabens. R.M. operated the construction side of Kabens with Speier over sales. The business continued construction on incomplete ALH builds. During that time, Speier started a new bank account for Kabens at First National Bank of Pennsylvania.

The government’s paperwork claims Speier developed an alluring online marketing and social media presence for Kabens and built a sales team which made numerous sales in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. Speier promised customers turnkey builds from Eurpoean-sourced log cabin kits, knowing that he couldn’t fulfill the promises.

Kabens’ contracts required unusually large deposits, often as much as 50% of the total build cost. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Speier often misrepresented the purpose of the funds to customers. Rather than use the deposits to purchase kits, the funds were applied to overhead expenses, pre-existing projects, as personal profit, and for other non-Kaben related matters.

According to the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors, Speier has never been a licensed contractor.

To build the cabins he was selling for over $40,000, he needed a licensed contractor’s name on the permits. The case alleges KI Enterprises, then owned by Speier, however, signed contracts using the name of licensed general contractor Terry Wray Bowling. Bowling had told clients that was not his signature on the contracts and that his signature had been forged.

The North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors filed a civil case against Speier in Wake County, but Speier, despite, receiving the summons, never responded to the complaint, and the state court found in favor of the North Carolina’s Licensing Board for General Contractors complaint. That complaint is separate from the current federal charge, but the federal complaint points to the state’s allegations that Speier was not a licensed contractor and they had denied his application, because of repeat complaints.

The factual basis lays out three instances of when customers paid Speier a deposit for a turnkey cabin, and he failed to deliver. They include projects in Saluda, one simply identified as being in western North Carolina and another in Sylva.

In one instance, the factual basis claims Speier after receiving the first two deposits, encouraged someone identified at M.B. to move the client’s project forward in “little ways that he can see.” Speier then directed M.B. to stake the expected corners of the build site. According to the factual basis, “M.B. was not a surveyor and he did not have any home construction or surveying experience.” In a text message, M.B. told the client he was planning to stake the corners stakes in the ground at the build site. The client then wired an additional $47,188.27 deposit in September 2023. The same day, Speier wired $30,000 to a friend for a personal loan.

The factual basis for the government claims Speier did not order materials with the client’s deposit money, Speier did not have a materials supplier and never constructed a cabin for that client.

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By Concetta Callahan

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    TUCSON, Arizona (KGUN) — A Tucson bicyclist was stabbed to death during his Tuesday evening ride along the loop in late September.

The crime happened just two months after a security patrol program ended that was being tested by the county along the loop.

A police investigation led to an arrest after several witnesses came forward.

KGUN9 News Anchor Concetta Callahan went to Pima County’s Office of Housing Opportunity and Homeless Solutions to see what came of the Chuck Huckelberry Loop Patrol Program.

She sat down with their director, Jenifer Darland.

Darland explained that for 10 months, security officers patrolled problem spots determined by the Parks Department.

Patrols were out there from sundown to 2 a.m., 7 days a week.

Jenifer said patrols saw a lot of drug activity.

From drug deals to drug use, but not camps set up along the loop.

“We were seeing more trash; we were seeing more foils,” Darland said. “You’ll hear people working in that space cleaning up the debris, seeing more drug paraphernalia, even you’ll see warming fires in some of those areas too, again that’s not necessarily an illegal activity in that space, but you just start to see some of the things that would suggest that there were people engaging in recreational drug use.”

The Santa Cruz section of the loop saw a lot of this delinquent activity.

Parks workers report that these areas are always trashed when they show up in the morning.

At both the Congress East and West banks.

Jenifer said parks with restrooms and ramadas are the most problematic areas.

So, does the county plan to bring back the patrols?

Darland says—no.

She said patrols would vacate the groups and they’d just move to another spot along the loop; felt like they kept chasing the problem.

She added that not a single person in the 10 months these patrols were out accepted help from their office to navigate the resources available.

Suggesting the problem isn’t solely a homeless issue.

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By Kate Devine

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    MAIZE, Kan. (KAKE) — Two Maize teenagers are being credited with saving a man’s life after stopping to help when his truck began swerving on the road Saturday afternoon.

Maize Police Chief Jeff Weible said officers were called to 37th and 119th Streets around 4 p.m. Saturday for reports of a truck driving in and out of the ditch. When officers arrived, they learned a 19-year-old and a 15-year-old had pulled in front of the truck to get it to stop and called 911.

Officers found the driver, Norman Stahlheber, was suffering from low blood sugar and had become unresponsive.

“These two teenagers had pulled in front of the truck to get the truck to slow down and stop, which they were able to do,” Weibel said. “The driver was having a medical issue. Had he kept driving, he could have wrecked or caused a fatality.”

Officer Lia Faber said the teens’ quick action likely saved Stahlheber’s life. “They didn’t hesitate to get involved,” she said. “It was beyond amazing that two younger people in this world took the time to not only call it in, but talk to him and see if they could do anything.”

Stahlheber said he’s grateful the teens noticed something was wrong and stopped to help. “They certainly were a big factor,” he said. “If they wouldn’t have stopped, I don’t know if anybody would have known.”

We did reach out to the teens and did not hear back, but the Maize Police Department plans to recognize the teens at an upcoming city council meeting in November. Norman and his wife say they plan to attend to thank the teens one more time.

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By Adi Guajardo

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — A Long Island woman has been reunited with her biological mother 41 years after they were separated at birth in Chile.

Kaitlin Saar’s biological mom, Maria Gonzalez Seguel, touched down Wednesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

“Touching her, even like smelling her, it was just so surreal,” Saar said.

Gonzalez Seguel first reached out to Saar on Facebook nearly two months ago. The message unraveled Saar’s life.

“It said, ‘I’m writing to you because this is an attempt to contact you and your biological mother,’ basically to get us together,” Saar explained.

She said she learned over the summer that she was one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of Chilean babies illegally adopted under Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.

“All of our paperwork said that we were given away willfully because of economic hard times, and so a lot of us never even looked for our families,” said Tyler Graf, with the nonprofit Connecting Roots.

Saar said her parents told her at a young age that she was adopted.

“The story that my parents were told was that she was poor, she was young and she wanted me to have a better life, so she agreed to give me up for adoption,” she said.

Saar reached out to Graf, whose nonprofit works to reunite adoptees with their biological Chilean families. They immediately started the DNA process and, when a match came back, they quickly arranged the reunion.

“We just started talking over the summer, and here she is staying with me in my house, it’s just a dream,” Saar said.

“Lots of beautiful things, happy feelings, a lot of excitement and also sadness,” Gonzalez Seguel said in Spanish.

Gonzalez Seguel said she was 16 years old when she found out she was pregnant, and she spent more than three decades searching for her daughter — time she’s now working to make up.

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By Jason Barr

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    TUCSON, Arizona (KGUN) — On a Sunday afternoon in Tucson, Arizona, Ken Larson, a chess coach with over four decades of experience, sits across from eight-year-old Nik Jain, offering a gentle nudge: “Maybe you should protect that pawn.”

Nik, a second grader at Ventana Vista Elementary, responds with focus, explaining his strategy: “In the opening, I’m trying to get pieces in the center and develop.” It’s a scene that captures the essence of chess—a game of strategy, intuition, and mentorship—and no one embodies this better than Larson, Tucson’s undisputed “Chess King.”Larsen has been a fixture in the local chess community since his days as a player at Amphi Middle School. Coaching since 1983, he’s guided countless young players to success, including Nik’s father, Sameer Jain, a former Arizona state champion.

Now, Larsen is passing his wisdom to the next generation, with Nik as one of his star pupils. “When you win a game or figure out a position, it’s just satisfying,” Larson says, a sentiment that resonates with his young protégé, Nik, who already takes fourth-grade math despite being in second grade, shows a natural aptitude for chess.

“Some kids have a natural feel for math—some kids don’t,” Larsen notes, drawing parallels to the strategic thinking required on the board. Under Larsen’s guidance, Nik has helped Ventana Vista Elementary secure second place in the last two Arizona state chess championships, earning trophies nearly as tall as he is. “The gold one is an inch shorter than me,” Nik says matter of factly.

What makes Larsen’s coaching special is his ability to break down complex concepts for young minds. “When I explain concepts that might be complicated for an eight-year-old, he seems to understand them pretty well,” Larsen says of Nik.

This talent for chess runs in the famil. And, Nik’s father, Sameer Jain, who once trained under Larson, knew exactly who to call when he wanted the best for his son. “Ken is a good individual. He’s got a kind heart, he cares. He’s very smart. He plays chess at an extremely high level,” Sameer says.

In an era where artificial intelligence is transforming chess with powerful engines and analysis tools, Larsen brings something AI can’t: human connection and intuitive understanding. “Because you have to think about what move you want to play and what are the best moves and what are bad moves,” Nik explains, echoing the strategic mindset Larson instills. This blend of logic and creativity has helped Nik excel, much like his father did years ago.

For Sameer, watching his son thrive under his former coach is a source of pride. “Nik is a great kid, and it’s really cool to see him excel and doing well,” he says. “It’s cool to see his love of the game. I hope that he continues to grow with it.”

As Nik continues to progress, earning accolades and mastering the board, Larson remains the steady hand guiding Tucson’s chess legacy. From one generation to the next, the Chess King’s influence endures, one move at a time.

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