Author: CNN

KCNC

By Dillon Thomas

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    COLORADO (KCNC) — The city of Loveland is moving forward with two major changes to the way it is tackling homelessness in Northern Colorado. In a Loveland City Council meeting that lasted until nearly 2 a.m. Wednesday, the council finalized two votes to start making changes.

“We have been a failure at (addressing homelessness). We need to do something different,” said council member Kalina Middleton of ward three.

The overall sentiment of everyone in attendance for the meeting was that Loveland needs to change the way it addresses topics involving the unhoused. No matter which side of the debate people fell on, everyone seemed to agree the current situation was not sustainable.

“As Loveland continues to grow, the unhoused population for better or worse tends to grow,” city attorney Vincent Junglas said.

In a 6-3 vote, the city council elected to get rid of it current law that requires it to provide shelter to the homeless before issuing a citation, and also requires the city to store personal belongings for the homeless.

“I believe we are putting an undue burden on our city and an undue burden on our staff to try and enforce something we shouldn’t have to enforce,” Mayor Patrick McFall said.

“We’ve seen this for three years,” said council member Andrea Samson of ward two. “It didn’t work out.”

In a second vote, the council also landed 6-3 on the purchase of a facility to become a homeless shelter in the northwest portion of the city, away from downtown. The decision did not come with ease, including for those who supported the measure.

“I don’t think this solves a problem,” said council member Zeke Cortez, of ward four.

“Having a homeless response that offers wraparound services and sheltering is three-times cheaper than not having a solution at all and relying on policing,” said council member Laura Light-Kovacs of ward four.    

Nearly all on the council members vocalized their beliefs that the city should not be in the business of owning and operating a homeless shelter. That is why the verbiage of the action they passed only moved to purchase the property rather than operate it. It would also require the city to sell another city-owned building to afford the new one.

The new facility would cost nearly $3 million and an additional $110,000 annually for operations. Some council members expressed their support for the measure contingent on it being operated by a third party organization that the council would approve of.

“We own this building. How do we ensure this city does not get back into owning and operating a shelter?” McFall asked city attorneys.

“I think we take a strong policy position that we are not going to operate a facility,” city manager Jim Thompson said. “So part of the condition, if we do acquire it, is we are not going to operate it. If we get (a third part operator) and they leave after a year, we either sell the building or use it for something different.”

Some on city council encouraged people from the community to gather their questions and concerns for the next reading of the initiatives.

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.

WBZ

By Samantha Chaney

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    BOSTON (WBZ) — What do you get when you combine Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and a “Seinfeld” reference in a beer? It’s a hit at the Stellwagen Beer Company in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

“We’re getting phone calls at all hours of the day. Getting emails nonstop,” said Eddie Letsche, the brewery’s head of sales and brand development.

Customers have been flocking in for the brewery’s “Love the Drake” lager.

“It’s a light lager, but we put a little Citra hops in there,” Letsche said.

According to the brewery’s owner, Mike Snowdale, the delicious taste isn’t the only thing drawing people in.

“The thing that’s resonating with folks right now is the can design. It’s the name and the fact that the Pats are good again this year,” Snowdale explained.

Letsche came up with the name last January, combining a classic “Seinfeld” reference with an image inspired by Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.

“Wishful thinking, I guess,” he said. “I have season tickets to the Pats, and I was hoping Drake Maye was going to rock and roll this year and thankfully, [he] has.”

Since the Patriots returned to the playoffs, Snowdale told WBZ-TV the beer has been selling faster than the brewery can restock.

“We can’t keep it in house right now. We had a batch come out on Friday, and it was spoken for within hours,” he said.

“We had people lining up at the door at like 12 o’clock, people walking out with cases,” Letsche added.

While overwhelming, they said it’s a good problem to have.

“It’s good for business and we’re just happy the Pats are winning again,” Letsche said. “I think everybody is.”

For those hoping to grab a can, Stellwagen said more is on the way, with another batch available next Tuesday.

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.

WBBM

By Marissa Sulek

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A woman in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood said she is missing important pieces of mail.

She did her own investigation and believes someone at the post office might be stealing it.

Each day, when Mone’t Austin goes to her mailbox, she finds the pieces of mail no one wants, not the vital information she needs.

Austin has informed delivery with the United States Postal Service.

“If no one knows what it is, it’s actually us being able to view and scan our mail via email, so we know what’s ahead, whether it’s packages coming, whether it’s mail coming, stuff like that,” she said.

Which is why she knew something was up when she didn’t get a government check for $1,000.

Austin said her mail goes through the Jackson Park post office off 61st Street. However, those important pieces of mail, like debit cards, health insurance, and government check never made it to her mailbox.

CBS News Chicago reached out to the USPS on Tuesday night, asking about Austin’s case, but has yet to hear back. Austin said the postal police started an investigation after she received a text about a fraudulent charge.

“A few days go by, and I get the text message from the bank stating a fraudulent charge was charged,” she said.

Someone made a $114 transaction at a gas station. Someone was using her new debit card.

Her informed delivery shows Beverly Bank and Trust sent it, but Austin never received it. Same with her new health insurance cards.

“What the person doesn’t know is that I can see what’s pre-scanned and that I can see what’s being out for delivery,” she said.

Austin said she believes someone with the post office could be collecting all of these pieces of mail.

“They have access to all of our personal information,” she said.

She is now working to get identity theft protection.

“I am just going to personally just pick up my mail at the postal service,” she said.

Someone made a $114 transaction at a gas station. Someone was using her new debit card.

Her informed delivery shows Beverly Bank and Trust sent it, but Austin never received it. Same with her new health insurance cards.

“What the person doesn’t know is that I can see what’s pre-scanned and that I can see what’s being out for delivery,” she said.

Austin said she believes someone with the post office could be collecting all of these pieces of mail.

“They have access to all of our personal information,” she said.

She is now working to get identity theft protection.

“I am just going to personally just pick up my mail at the postal service,” she 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.

WCBS

By Jenna DeAngelis

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — A Long Island travel agent is accused of defrauding people out of tens of thousands of dollars.

Tavia Thomas, who police say operated as the sole travel agent of Destiny Travel, was recently charged with grand larceny and scheme to defraud.

Investigators say in three different instances, Thomas is accused of collecting money but never booking trips and not giving refunds, allegedly defrauding multiple people of a total of $53,448.14.

According to a police report, on July 8, 2024, Thomas allegedly received a total of $35,753.98 from nine people who believed they were purchasing tickets for a Royal Caribbean cruise departing from Bayonne.

Police said when the victims arrived at the port, an employee told them their tickets were fake and that the cruise they booked did not exist. About a week later, on July 16, 2024, Thomas allegedly received a total of $7,660 from several people for a destination wedding, but never booked the venues and did not provide refunds.

Later that year, in September, police said Thomas received $10,034.16 from 51 people who were booking a 75th birthday trip to the Dominican Republic, but she did not pay for the accommodations and did not provide refunds.

In court Tuesday, Thomas pleaded not guilty. Her defense attorney described the 47-year-old as a social worker who has two children, cares for her mother who is blind, and is in the process of adopting a baby. Prosecutors, however, pointed out a criminal history.

Her next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday.

West Babylon resident Rosalind Gross-Hall said her family used Thomas as a travel agent to book flights for about three to four years and never had any issues, but when Gross-Hall tried to plan a cruise for her daughter’s graduation in July 2024, what was supposed to be a dream trip turned into a vacation nightmare.

She said Thomas provided trip confirmation for their party of 34, along with an itinerary via email.

Upon arrival to the port in New Jersey, however, Gross-Hall said the cruise line couldn’t find any of their information.

“The employees of Royal Caribbean was doing the best that they could to help us, to do anything to make this easier because they kind of knew after a while that this was a scam,” Gross-Hall said. “[Thomas] blamed it on everybody else but her, saying that it was their fault.”

The family immediately filed a police report.

“It was just unbelievable. My daughters were so heartbroken,” Gross-Hall said.

She was able to get some of her money back from her credit card company; however, she said her mother-in-law sent her deposit through Zelle.

“So she never saw that money again,” Gross-Hall said.

Gross-Hall said she has since connected with other people who say they had a similar experience with Destiny Travel.

Now, a year and a half later, she said Thomas’ arrest is a relief.

“We just didn’t want her to hurt anybody else,” she said.

Destiny Travel is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, which says it began receiving complaints about the agency in July 2023. A total of three complaints were filed.

“At that time, if anyone had looked on BBB.org about them, they would have seen it was a D+, which quickly fell to an F in September of 2023,” said Claire Rosenzweig, president and CEO of BBB Metropolitan New York

The BBB stresses doing your research when booking trips.

“What you want to be cautious about is companies without a track record that just came to you through some website that you saw online, or some social media text or ad that you got,” Rosenzweig said.

She added to look out for red flags, like requesting payment through peer-to-peer platforms, cash, gift cards or by wiring money.

“If you choose to work with a company and you’re going to pay, we always say consider using credit cards because credit cards do have the most protection,” she said. “But even with a credit card, you have to be careful, because if you’re getting the runaround from someone, they know that there are time limits on chargebacks.”

Nassau County Police are asking anyone who believes they may be a victim to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS or call 911.

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.

WFOR

By Marybel Rodriguez

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — A Venezuelan artist is expressing himself through art. Soon after Nicolas Maduro was captured, he grabbed his spray paint and left his mark in Wynwood.

Pedro Martin, better known as Marthi, proudly stands before his most recent work of art in Wynwood. The mural features the famous picture of Nicolas Maduro after he was captured.

“This mural is for all the Venezuelan people,” said Pedro “Marthi” Martin.

Martin, who was born in Caracas, has been living in Miami for the past four years and is now doing what he loves freely — something he says would never be possible in his homeland of Venezuela.

He says that right now, he would be in danger for doing so, and that what he misses most about his country is the freedom of expression.

After hearing the news of Maduro’s capture, Martin expressed himself the best way he knows how: through art. Next to Maduro is Martin’s trademark angel painted in the colors of Venezuela, along with the anthem of freedom, “abajo cadenas,” which means “down with the chains.”

Hours later, someone painted over the mural. But Martin, who came to this country in search of a better life, repainted the slogan of freedom for all Venezuelans — including his family, who still live there.

“My mother, my father, my brother live there. I miss him very much,” said Martin.

Through his art, Martin says he is hopeful that change will soon come and he will be reunited with his family. He says he will come back as many times as needed if his mural needs to be fixed.

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.

WBZ

By Juli McDonald

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    BOSTON (WBZ) — Investigators revealed the man who opened fire at Brown University and killed an MIT professor days later, recorded a series of videos confessing to the shootings before he took his own life. Claudio Manuel Neves Valente said he had planned the attack for six semesters.

Survivor Jacob Spears, who is recovering at his home in Georgia, spoke with WBZ-TV after reading the transcripts from the videos.

“I’m like six semesters? That’s a long time. That’s before I even was there,” Spears said. “This was my first semester. I’m a freshman. So this was like, before I was even there you were planning this.”

Spears was shot in the back in a Brown engineering building in Providence, Rhode Island on Dec. 13. Students Ella Cook and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov were killed and nine others were wounded.

“Mukhammad, he was my friend,” Spears said. “That was my friend, so reading it I tried to keep him out of my mind because I knew that would make it even harder. But I couldn’t.”

Transcripts of the chilling reflections by Neves Valente were released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday.

“I am not going to apologize, because during my lifetime no one sincerely apologized to me,” Neves Valente said in the video discovered in the Salem, New Hampshire storage unit where his body was found.

No motive revealed for shootings He did not reveal a motive for the campus shooting, or the murder of MIT professor Nuno Loureiro two days later in Brookline, Massachusetts. Neves Valente attended school in Portugal decades ago with Loureiro.

Neves Valente did mention his interaction with a witness, which ultimately led to police identifying him.

“I was almost confronted by a guy there that day… Not almost, I actually was confronted and he knew my… my… my license plate, I honestly never thought it would take them so long to find me,” Neves Valente said.

In an interview with WBZ-TV, security expert Todd McGhee stressed the importance of reporting suspicious behavior.

“Brown University was the target, and so that just indicates to me, that all the phrasing of ‘see something say something,’ that’s what we need to do,” McGhee said. “We don’t need to look for people conducting criminal actions, we need to look for people that are acting suspicious.”

McGhee, who had a career in law enforcement and now specializes in security analysis, says even without a clear motive, the videos provide an opportunity for police to tap into his mindset and could lead to former colleagues or friends coming forward with key information.

As Brown University continues efforts to transform security across campus, Spears says it’s only there that he’ll be able to find some healing.

“I love the community. I love my friends,” Spears said. “I want to go back, and I want see them and I just want to like try and get back to something kind of normal even though I know for a long time nothing, nothing there will be normal.”

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.