Author: CNN

WBZ

By Matt Schooley

Click here for updates on this story

    BOSTON (WBZ) — Massachusetts State Police arrested a Worcester resident after troopers say they were driving the wrong way on Interstate 95 and several communities on Christmas Day while under the influence of drugs.

Paulius Balciunas, 36, was arraigned in Newburyport District Court Friday on charges of operating under the influence of drugs, negligent operation, failure to stop for police, resisting arrest, and speeding.

It happened Thursday when Balciunas was allegedly driving south on I-95 North in Newbury.

Witnesses said the wrong-way driver used Exit 83 to get onto Scotland Road in a black Subaru Legacy. Balciunas was allegedly driving erratically, switching lanes, and driving in the breakdown lane on the wrong side of the road.

Troopers followed the Subaru on local roads. Officers from Newburyport, West Newbury and Groveland attempted to stop Balciunas, who police say refused to pull over.

The Worcester resident eventually passed the Newburyport rotary on Route 1, then stopped on High Street.

State police said Balciunas sat in the driver’s seat and waved an unknown item. He allegedly ignored police commands to get out of the car, show his hands and turn off the car.

Several minutes later, troopers approached the Subaru and pulled Balciunas from the car.

Balciunas asked for medical attention. The driver was taken to an area hospital by ambulance and treated before being brought to police barracks for booking.

Massachusetts State Police said they later determined Balciunas was allegedly under the influence of drugs.

No injuries were reported during the police chase.

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.

KCNC

By Austen Erblat

Click here for updates on this story

    COLORADO (KCNC) — A recent thaw-freeze cycle, coupled with the high chance of a snowstorm, is making the avalanche danger jump from a level 1 to a level 3 this weekend, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.

CAIC says avalanche danger has been low for much of the month.

Officials say that’s unusual and largely due to warm weather and a lack of snow.

They anticipate the danger level will rise from Level 1, where it is now, to Level 3 by Sunday.

“Most of the avalanches are going to be breaking on the old snow surface,” CAIC director Ethan Greene said. “So not huge avalanches, but big enough to injure or kill you. If you’re headed into the mountains, you should check the avalanche forecast. Make sure you know what the danger is, where you’re going, and if you’re going into avalanche terrain, make sure you carry rescue equipment.”

That equipment should include a transceiver, probe pole, and shovel.

As of Saturday morning, CAIC’s avalanche forecast showed “considerable” avalanche danger north of Steamboat Springs, moderate danger throughout the high country, as far west as Grand Mesa and as far south as the area just north and east of Pagosa Springs.

The rest of the state showed low or no danger, but the weather was set to change later in the weekend, highlighting the importance of checking that forecast.

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.

KPIX

By Ryan Yamamoto

Click here for updates on this story

    SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Almost every day, you will find amateur photographers Dan Sarka and David Young traversing the trails around Alameda Creek, looking to capture and document the return of Chinook salmon in the Niles Canyon area.

“I catch more fish with cameras than I do with a hook,” joked Young. “I used to liken it to a kid in a candy factory, but it’s better, it’s better.”

Sarka would agree, and will patiently spend two to three hours staring at the creek, hoping for any sign of salmon.

“We are looking for ripples in the water,” Sarka said. “And when you see it, it is total excitement to see those fish struggling to make it up into the watershed and beyond. It is a fabulous experience.”

Together, the pair have taken dozens of photos of salmon, including the most recent migration through the creek, which began this fall.

Young even recorded a video of a salmon leaping over a weir.

“I got the final leap,” said Young. “I have several leaps before that that weren’t successful, but the very last one, he leapt all the way across and made it by, you know, a good 2 to 3 feet.”

The return of Chinook salmon has been a historical and pivotal moment for the region after a community of environmentalists, scientists and researchers spent the past several decades trying to restore the area’s natural habitat.

In 2022, the Alameda County Water District completed a massive infrastructure project downstream that included a series of fish ladders to help with the migration of Pacific lamprey, endangered steelhead trout and, of course, salmon.

“They’ve been showing up in big numbers, and the unique thing about them is they are highly visible,” said ACWD water planning manager Thomas Niesar. “They’re just an enigmatic fish, and they are energizing for people.”

No one is more energized than Jeff Miller with the Alameda Creek Alliance, whose group has worked with other environmental organizations to clear dams along the creek, including the final unnatural fish barrier that was removed by CalTrout and PG&E this year, creating nearly 20 miles of potential spawning habitat.

“This is the biggest run of Chinook we’ve seen,” Miller said. “And this is the first time we know since the 1950s that showed Chinook salmon could swim on their own, all the way up as far as they’ve gotten to the Sunol Valley.”

The return of the salmon is already having an impact on the ecological health of the region.

“We have already seen a family of river otters move in, there is a local bald eagle pair that comes in and gets the salmon carcasses,” said Miller. “Turkey vultures, raccoons, and we may have bears here in the next couple decades in the Bay Area.”

It will only mean more natural wildlife for Sarka and Young to document, and whose work capturing the migrating salmon has been more than just a hobby, but also an invaluable piece of research for scientists.

“We actually refer to them as citizen scientists,” said Niesar. “Those early photographs that Dan captured were critical for biologists to determine when we would expect to see the fish. If we didn’t have that data, we would have been shooting in the dark.”

ACWD is encouraging other photographers to upload their photos and videos of wildlife to study and share with researchers.

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.

KCBS

By Dean Fioresi

Click here for updates on this story

    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — A man’s body was found inside a partially submerged car in Lancaster on Friday morning, hours after the region was battered by rain from a powerful winter storm.

The discovery was made at around 9:45 a.m. near 58th Street East and Avenue H-10, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies said that a department helicopter was flying over the area and spotted a “blue sedan that was partially submerged following yesterday’s flooding.”

They said that due to the terrain and significant flooding that occurred, the car was not visible from the road. Deputies from Lancaster Sheriff’s Station and the Los Angeles County Fire Department were called to the location.

The man, who hasn’t yet been identified, was declared dead at the scene.

“The investigation remains ongoing,” deputies said. “No further information is available at this time.”

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.

KTVT

By Bo Evans

Click here for updates on this story

    TEXAS (KTVT) — 10 years ago today, an EF-4 tornado touched down and ripped through Sunnyvale, Garland, and Rowlett, leaving more than a dozen dead.

But things could have been worse; a storm spotter watched the tornado form and alerted the National Weather Service and emergency responders immediately, no doubt saving countless lives.

“Just hate to think that people lost their lives and there was nothing we could do,” said Laszlo Laky.

10 years later, Laky still lives with the fact that 13 people were killed when an EF-4 tornado touched down in Sunnyvale.

He saw the events of that day from the beginning.

“We were warning them, and they were setting off the sirens based on what we were seeing when it first formed, so we couldn’t have done it any earlier. We saw it before it actually touched the ground,” said Laky.

The trained storm spotter called 911 as the tornado was forming

“It’s fixin’ to cross I-30. It’s fixin’ to cross I-30. We need to shut traffic down on I-30,” Laky can be heard on the 911 calls. “It’s getting bigger. God it’s huge.”

There’s no doubt Laky saved lives that night, but the memories of the ones he couldn’t save stay with him.

“Man, this is 10 years later, and I can still see that lowering and I can still see that closet, I can still see the gas station,” he said. “The closet was exposed, and there was a dress hanging that was undisturbed. How does that happen?”

But he knows that his actions that night mattered.

“That’s why we do it. The idea of spotting is to give early warning to people, give them a chance to seek cover,” said Laky.

Laky did exactly that. He gave people a chance.

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.

KTVT

By Marissa Armas

Click here for updates on this story

    TEXAS (KTVT) — While many families get to be at home on Christmas Day, many first responders must work during the holiday. For them, Christmas Day looks a little different.

“We played basketball, wiffleball, scooter riding. She brought a scooter that was a hit,” said Jessie Lilly and Chelsea McConnell, two fire wives who were visiting the station with their kids.

Thursday, Lilly and McConnell celebrated Christmas, not at home, but inside Fort Worth Fire Station 14.

“The fireman had prepared some food for us, and then we brought some sides and so we all had lunch together too,” said Lilly.

Holiday or not, first responders are on the clock, no matter the day.

“This was actually our first year to experience it,” said McConnell. “It’s been really cool to get together, get to know everyone, you know, kind of bond and spend time with each other.”

Lieutenant Brant Frazier said, while it can be tough, this is the job they signed up for.

“The majority of us are used to working on the holidays,” said Frazier. “I think being in the emergency services, look at doctors, nurses, police officers, anybody who’s in a civil servant type of position, those are all selfless service positions. So, you know, we’re here to serve others before ourselves.”

And that selfless service was put into action on Thursday, when the crew was called out to assist with a small fire nearby. Frazier said making the day feel as close to home as possible helps keep morale strong.

“Christmas day, it’s no different. We still run all the same call types. People still get sick, accidents still happen,” he said. “To be able to see mom or dad, to see them at work and actually see what they’re doing and still have that family lifestyle, I think is as good as it is for the kids and the wives, I think it’s equally as important for the guys to keep their morale up as well.”

For many of these firefighters, this job is a calling, and while Christmas may look different for their families, it’s these small moments they are grateful for.

Lilly and McConnell said they want to make Christmas bigger and better next year, hopefully adding a Christmas tree to Station 14.

“You just kind of learn and adapt and keep moving,” McConnell 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.

WCCO

By Heather Brown

Click here for updates on this story

    MINNESOTA (WCCO) — Starting Friday, some of the world’s best hockey players will face off in the Twin Cities at Grand Casino Arena and Mariucci Arena for the next week and half.

Minnesota is hosting the 50th IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, where the best men’s players under the age of 20 will compete for the gold.

In honor of the competition, the organizers of the event thought it also important to honor the people behind the players — the moms who helped make it all happened.

In November, five “Hockey Mom of the Year” finalists were chosen and one was crowned at a ceremony at Mall of America. She is Jacqueline Nowakowski of Lino Lakes, mom to 5-year-old Jake, 8-year-old Owen and 11-year Centennial peewee Leo.

“I’m happy to represent all hockey moms,” said Jacqueline Nowakowski at the time. “We’re all doing it together, we’re all one big community.”

Hockey moms are a community, one that Jacqueline Nowakowski had no idea she’d need as much as she does. In June, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“It was last week of school, and it was, ‘This is cancer.’ And at the time it was really scary,” she said.

She underwent 12 weeks of chemotherapy and had a mastectomy in October. Right away, there were meal trains, gift cards, carpool offers, pink shirts for Leo Nowakowski’s team and pink hockey tape for their sticks.

Even hockey moms who coached opposing teams chipped in.

“You think about the family, their kids, just how their lives are going to change, and whatever you can do to help,” said Spring Lake Park coach Jess Scott.

The Nowakowski family was and continues to be grateful for all that support. But for Jacqueline Nowakowski herself, it was the quiet words of support to her eldest son that mattered to her most.

“His peers would ask him, ‘How are you? How are things? How is your mom?'” she said. “Just for people to ask that, you know, it meant a lot.”

She said hockey brought her family a sense of normalcy in abnormal times.

“He’ll look back and, he’s old enough to understand what happened this summer, what we’ve been through as a family,” she said. “But he’ll also remember the good times. I’m thankful for that.”

Jacqueline Nowakowski will have to undergo more treatment in the New Year, but doctors say her prognosis looks good. She and her family are excited about attending as many World Junior hockey games as they can.

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.