Author: CNN

By Dawn White

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    DALLAS, Texas (KTVT) — You may think of flag football as something for boys, but a former NFL player hosted an all-girls clinic Sunday at Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas.

Girlpower Flag Football Dallas is a program for girls ages five through 18. About 100 girls of all experience levels were expected to attend the clinic.

Former St. Louis Rams running back Trey Watts helmed the event, and he hopes to show girls the importance of persevering through struggles. He played as a walk-on at the University of Tulsa.

The Rams signed him as an undrafted free agent, where he had a two-year career in the NFL. Watts has been vocal about being suspended indefinitely from the league for violating the substance-abuse policy. He’s now a motivational speaker and author of “The ALTAR Method: From Broken to Restored.”

He has a five-year-old daughter and plans on giving back to other young girls.

“My daughter is starting kindergarten this year, and part of why this matters so much to me is wanting girls her age to grow up believing they belong in football too,” Watts said.

Girlpower Flag Football Dallas will host clinics in the fall and in the spring of 2027. Click here for more information.

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 S.E. Jenkins, Briseida Holguin, CBS Texas Staff

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    HOOD COUNTY, Texas (KTVT) — Hood County has shut down and covered Flock automated license plate reader cameras after county commissioners and residents raised concerns about privacy and mass surveillance, officials said.

Flock cameras, the automated license plate readers, are used by law enforcement across the country. They say the data helps them quickly track down missing people or dangerous criminals — but not more in Hood County.

On Saturday, Hood County Constable John Shirley shared photos of Flock cameras being covered.

He said this weekend, the work of shutting down and covering Flock cameras in the county is done, following a request from county commissioners and residents who expressed concerns about privacy and mass surveillance.

Shirley captioned the photos, “These cameras were constantly scanning and recording regular folks just going about their day. That kind of permanent, warrantless tracking doesn’t belong in a free society.” He went on to add, “To Flock safety systems: come get your garbage out of my county.”

Flock CEO Garrett Langley sat down with CBS News last week. He acknowledged the potential for misuse and said new safety measures are coming, including cutting data storage and audits to flag possible exploitation of the technology.

Flock CEO apologizes for cases where surveillance technology was abused This comes after a Washington Post report that police officers were accused in 46 cases of improperly using access to Flock’s license plate camera network, in some instances allegedly stalking women.

“Hindsight tends to be very clear,” Langley said. “And I think, of course, we could have done more earlier, and we listen, and we learn, and we’ll continue to move forward because until everyone has an equal level of safety in this country, we have work to do.”

Langley defended his company and the service it provides law enforcement agencies with its network of 120,000 cameras around the country that record license plate numbers and other details from passing vehicles.

“It gets to this issue that when you are given power, which many people are, particularly in law enforcement, you should have higher standards of accountability,” Langley said. “And so, I don’t think that Flock created police abuse. I think we’re the first company to ever shine a light on it and build the tools to find it.”

Among the changes the company announced Thursday, Flock is reducing the default period of time data will be retained from 30 days to seven days. However, if data is tied to an investigation that needs more time, it can be preserved in a setting it calls “Evidence Mode.” The company also said every search of its data will now require a case code to be entered beforehand. But that can be overridden in an emergency, like if a child goes missing.

The American Civil Liberties Union has criticized Flock, accusing the company of violating people’s privacy rights. In a statement Thursday, the ACLU said the company’s plan to reduce how long data is retained “may be a step in the right direction.”

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 Ricky Sayer

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    BETHEL PARK, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — Bethel Park Police are investigating after they said someone threw kittens from their vehicle.

The kittens died, police said.

At least one of the kittens was still alive when it was thrown, said Tracy Flaherty, who manages the Dairy Queen on Library Road. She saw it moving along the road and believes a car hit it. She and another individual moved the kitten to the side of the road.

“As we were petting it, it took its last breath,” Flaherty said.

Bethel Park Police received calls on Saturday between 3:30 and 3:45 about an individual throwing “items” from a vehicle in the area of Connor Road and Old Connor Road, as well as on Library Road near the Dairy Queen plaza, the department wrote on Facebook.

“Upon investigation, the items were unfortunately determined to be deceased kittens,” the post said.

They did not specify how many kittens were found or if they were all alive when thrown from the vehicle.

Bud Demart saw the Connor Road police scene unfold in front of his home. At first, he thought it was a dead squirrel on the road.

“It was small and had a big tail, and I’m-I mean, who would have thought there was a kitten on the road,” he said. “That’s a shame that happened. I’m not a big cat person, but they don’t deserve to be thrown out of a car and run over.”

At Bailey’s Cat Haven in nearby South Park Township, manager Barb Brown reacted to what happened.

“It was horrific,’ Brown said. “You know as a rescue we don’t understand what possesses people to do this?

Theres a variety of rescues the person could have contacted to give their kittens to, she said, adding she wishes she could have helped.

“Generally, when people are this desperate, they’ll release them in a park or a wooded area, but the fact that they threw them out the window-that’s a horrible way for any any animal or pet to to pass away,” Brown said.

Rick, who volunteers at the same shelter, was equally disturbed by what happened.

“It’s absolutely heinous,” he said. “You know, it just it made my blood boil thinking that somebody could do something like this.”

Cross Your Paws rescue in Greensburg put up a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest. Rick said he’d give them another $500 so they could increase their reward.

“Somebody has to care for those who don’t have a voice,” he said. “We want to know who did it.”

Demart was asked about what he thought of the person responsible.

“I think somebody ought to throw them out of the car,” Demart said. “I mean, I just can’t understand how somebody could do that to a harmless animal.”

Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed anything to please contact them. They added that no matter how insignificant it may seem, it could help them.

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 Ashley Grams

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    MINNESOTA (WCCO) — Cameras in north Minneapolis have captured cars trying to beat trains across the tracks, people climbing between rail cars and ignoring stop arms.

The rail crossings at Lyndale Avenue North, 45th Avenue North and Humboldt Avenue North are known for long waits as trains run in and out of the rail yard.

“We live in the neighborhood, we go to the library often and I’m constantly stuck behind this train. There are times I have been stuck behind this train for 40 minutes,” said Sophia, who was waiting for the train on Tuesday. “I’ve been late to work. I’ve been late to social engagements.”

This week, Minneapolis City Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw said she’s helped secure $2 million in federal funding for a solution, adding the city and the railroad company are also pitching in another $500,000.

Vetaw said the long waits impact everyone living in the Camden area, including “emergency vehicles, school buses, metro transit, seniors.” She said some of the potential solutions are an overpass, underpass or pedestrian bridge.

“There’s not really anyone that you can talk to that’s lived in this area for a day or 50 years that doesn’t have a story about this railroad crossing,” Vetaw said. “I think the community is going to be excited about a solution to getting back and forth.”

The council member shared the city’s application for a Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant from 2024, laying out the safety concerns. The application also states the highest volume of traffic is on Lyndale Avenue at 10,765 vehicles per day.

“I’m usually walking to my boyfriend’s house, so I’m always waiting about 20 minutes,” said Philisha Givens, who grew up in the area, often waiting at the rail crossings.

Vetaw didn’t share a project timeline but said they want to engage with the neighborhood about possible solutions moving forward.

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 Beret Leone

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    MINNESOTA (WCCO) — Crews in St. Paul, Minnesota, plan to clear out the city’s largest encampment on Wednesday.

Crews are expected to begin clearing out the encampment at Pig’s Eye Park around 8 a.m. It will be the first of three sites to close under St. Paul’s new “Coordinated Transition Plan,” which has been controversial since the start.

Advocates are raising concerns about where people will go after the camp is cleared. Before crews move in, a community breakfast and demonstration was happening, with protesters attempting to block the closure.

The city said drug use, assaults and fires are driving up 911 calls and making it too dangerous for the roughly 140 people living at Pig’s Eye Park. City leaders initially said they planned to hold a news conference before the closure, but then canceled it.

Ahead of Wednesday’s closure, city officials said they’ve been focused on outreach, connecting people living in the camp with shelter, housing and health services. The city said it has added emergency shelter capacity through Ramsey County and outreach teams will work with residents to help them move and connect with resources.

For anyone who refuses to leave, the city says it will continue its “Four Es” approach: Engagement, education, encouragement and enforcement as a last resort.

The city designated an area for protesters in anticipation, saying in part, “This is a difficult day” and “we ask that everyone present allow the process to proceed safely.”

“Our focus throughout the day remains connecting people to shelter and services,” the city added.

Emotions were high at a public hearing about the encampment on Tuesday.

“There are real people with real commitments that are ready to help,” one resident said.

“You just threw away $1 million from a city with a very large deficit that I just heard at a budget meeting,” said another resident.

The city said the clearout is expected to continue throughout the day and could last into early 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 Doug Myers

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    TEXAS (KTVT) — A North Texas man allegedly gave drugs to a 14‑year‑old runaway and sexually assaulted her multiple times over three days at his Dallas home, arrest records show.

David Michael Klepak, 62, is charged with sexual assault of a child, the Dallas Police Department said. He is being held at Lew Sterrett Jail without bond on the second‑degree felony charge.

Detectives identified Klepak after the teen described several luxury vehicles at his residence. Officers later saw him driving a white 2015 Bentley and stopped him for a traffic violation, where they found 17 glass pipes with residue, police said.

Authorities say the alleged assaults occurred between July 29 and July 31 at a residence on Winton Street in Dallas.

During interviews at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, the juvenile reported sexual assault and drug use while she was a runaway.

According to arrest records, she described Klepak’s home as a messy duplex and said he had three vehicles – a Bentley, a Lexus, and two BMWs. She later identified him from an ID photo shown by detectives.

When interviewed separately, Klepak confessed to having sex with the juvenile, authorities said.

The teen told interviewers she ran away on July 29. She said Klepak approached her in a vehicle and offered her a ride, then gave her “Ice,” which she smoked from a glass pipe. She said he took her to his residence, where she stayed for about three days and was sexually assaulted multiple times.

After leaving, she was homeless for one day before being located, police said.

CBS News Texas will provide updates as more information becomes available.

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 Megan De Mar

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A South Holland woman said she was left high and dry after paying thousands of dollars to have her swimming pool fixed, only for the contractor to vanish.

Venus Scott is one of more than a dozen homeowners who said they were taken by the same man using different names. The pattern goes back more than a decade.

Scott said she’s happy with her backyard pool oasis now, but it took more than a year to be able to swim in it.

“All of this had to be redone. It’s a whole brand hew liner that was put in,” she said.

When she bought the house and pool as is, she knew she’d have to put some money in to restore it.

She brought in two companies for quotes and “Sunlife Swimming Pool Care” based in Joliet came in way below the competitor.

A man named Brian McIntosh came to her South Holland home last year, collected a $1,000 deposit, and said his crew would be back soon to start the work.

But then, the crew missed two appointments in a row. In the meantime, she was required to pay more.

The next time, McIntosh came with several bottles of chlorine.

“They poured maybe about six bottles of chlorine for algae inside the pool, and left it all just sitting right here. We had to clean it up,” Scott said.

McIntosh said he’d be back to start the job.

“Of course, that never happened. I never saw them again,” Scott said.

She sent them a total of $5,425, and the only work they did was pour chlorine into the pool.

After nearly a year of trying to get a refund, Scott ended up paying another company $11,000 to actually finish the job, and she learned that the cheap “liner patching” that SunLife promised her wasn’t even possible.

“So, it was no way they could have fixed it for that amount. So, I feel like it was a scam all along,” Scott said.

She went online and saw review after review from homeowners who said they were also left high and dry.

It turned out the man who came to her house wasn’t Brian McIntosh, it was a man named David Sroge, and CBS News Chicago knows his name well.

He’s the name-changing contractor who was at the center of Investigator Dave Savini’s story in 2015.

Sroge was sent to prison for a year in 2016 for home repair fraud in Cook County.

Before that, Sroge had a 2012 conviction in Indiana where police said he took $9,000 from a senior citizen for work he did not do.

In May 2026, a warrant was issued for his arrest in Will County. He also has an active warrant in Kane County as well as countless civil cases against him in Illinois and Northwest Indiana.

“How was it possible for this to continue to go on?” Scott said.

Sroge also is named in at least nine complaints submitted to the Illinois Attorney General’s office over the last few years, and each one recounts the same story – thousands of dollars paid and no services rendered before Sroge disappeared.

And as police are currently searching for Sroge, CBS News Chicago hasn’t been able to find him either.

Scott said Sroge contacted her using four different phone numbers, but CBS News Chicago could not reach him at any of those numbers.

In response to an email to SunLife, someone claiming to be Susan Hanover assured “a full resolution.” She even provided another email address and phone number to try, but CBS News Chicago got no response.

As a result of reaching out, Scott said someone from SunLife contacted her offering a refund, but then ghosted her again.

She said she’s not holding her breath for a refund, but she’s speaking out for another reason.

“If I can stop another family from going through that, that would be great,” 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.

By Charlie De Mar

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A 61-year-old Chicago nurse has filed a lawsuit against two private security companies, after she said she was seriously hurt by a fare dodger at a CTA station on her way to work last year.

Surveillance video shows the nurse on her bike approaching accessible fare gate at the 95th Street terminal on the Red Line last summer. Seconds later, as a man tried to walk through the gate without paying, she started to close the gate and he forced it open, knocking her to the ground.

“He bullrushes her, knocks her to the ground, breaks her leg,” said the nurse’s attorney, Ken Hoffman.

Now, the nurse is suing Action K-9 Security Inc. and First American Security Inc. Hoffman claims the two private security companies contracted by the CTA to deter fare evasion and monitor station entrances failed to do their jobs.

“What the video shows is four people not paying attention, not doing their job,” he said. “To think we’re paying a private security close to $50 million to not do their job was really disappointing.”

In a court filing, attorneys for the security companies accused the injured nurse of assault and battery when she tried closing the gate on the fare evader, writing that she “took the law into her own hands in attempting to physically prevent entry onto the CTA by the tailgating assailant in contravention of her own safety.”

Emails provided to CBS News Chicago showed the nurse warned the CTA years ago of the dangers gate jumpers posed to paying customers.

“Chicagoans should be upset. I just want the private security companies to do their job they’re being paid to do,” Hoffman said.

The CTA was originally named as a defendant in the complaint but was later dismissed under statutory immunity. The fare dodger from the video has not been identified.

A spokesperson for Action K-9 said the company denies the allegations against them:

“While we do not comment on pending litigation, we categorically deny the allegations and provide that the allegations being reported do not accurately represent all of the facts. We have denied the allegations, continue to do so and will defend the allegations in court. Every day, millions of citizens travel safely through the City of Chicago, in large part due to the security we provide.”

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 Julia Avant

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    Detroit (WWJ) — A Waterford Township, Michigan, community is still in shock after the tragic death of their neighbor and her 2-month-old son.

Police say the two drowned in a bathtub in their apartment just off Cooley Lake Road.

“Oh, I was heartbroken, heartbroken; she didn’t do that,” said resident Laurie Medaris.

People in the Whispering Woods Apartments still have more questions than answers after the sudden death of one of their neighbors, Desiree Wheeler. Laurie Medaris says their community is like a family and that Wheeler loved her children.

“She did everything with her kids, everything. She was always smiling, she was always happy,” said Medaris.

Waterford Township police and fire were called to the apartment complex around 10:30 p.m. on Friday. That’s when they found the 36-year-old single mother of three had drowned in a bathtub with her 2-month-old son.

“Her oldest is going to have to live with this for the rest of his life, I think the detectives need to do more research,” said Medaris.

Wheeler’s next-door neighbor, Sue Carey, saw Wheeler and two of her children hours before police showed up that night.

“Her and the 13-year-old and the baby came out, and she said, ‘Hey, neighbor.’ I said, ‘Hey, neighbor.’ I said, ‘How the baby doing?’ She said, ‘Good, fine,’ and they went in, and that was the last of her that we knew,” said Carey.

Carey says she saw police rush the mother and the baby out of the home, along with the Wheeler’s 13-year-old child, who she says was in shock.

“He couldn’t really mumble words to tell us what had happened and went on so,” said Carey.

She says it was when her family showed up later that night that they learned Wheeler and her baby did not make it.

“Really gut-wrenching to hear her family cry, and it just plays over and over in my head,” said Carey.

CBS News Detroit reached out to the Waterford Township Police Department and the fire department that responded on Friday. While no new information has been released on this investigation, police say they are awaiting toxicology results.

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 Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield

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    MINNESOTA (WCCO) — It’s been 18 months, but the pain is as fresh as ever for the Twin Cities community of West Tonka. Lilyana “Lily” Loycano, 11, was killed while riding to school with her family. A distracted driver was charged in that crash.

As you can imagine, the pain goes on for her family. Now, brother Jaxon Loycano is taking his grief into his high school classroom, and way beyond.

Jaxon Loycano is in DECA at Westonka High School, a class where kids create their own businesses. At first, he says he took it lightly.

“I was told to do it, so I didn’t really know what to expect of it,” said Jaxon Loycano.

But then everything in his life got serious. They were in a crash, and he lost his little sister. He says some nights he just thinks about her.

“Probably just her presence because she would always want to like make people smile and bring kindness to their room,” said Jaxon Loycano.

So that got him and his DECA business class partners thinking.

“It was definitely like, we didn’t really know what we wanted to do, like we had like a bunch of ideas and we were like, we don’t, like none of these we really like care about that much, and then like that one hit and we’re like, yes,” said classmate and partner Isabelle Markle.

They launched Live Like Lily.

“We’re continuing Lily’s legacy by just bringing people together and bringing the same joy to them that it seemed that she brought to everyone around her,” said classmate and partner Ella McClellan.

Lily Loycano donated her organs.

“We’re going to have proceeds from our project and engagement with the community go to organ donation research and road safety research,” said McClellan.

And that emotion has fueled some big results. They had a packed house for their Ripple of Kindness Event, and their pickleball tournament was also a hit.

So they plan to keep these gatherings going for good, rooted in a lesson Jaxon Loycano says we could all learn.

“That the world is a better place with kindness in it,” he said.

And as they head to state competition, they’ll try and win for Lily Loycano, too.

“It kind of gives me the motivation to do better because it’s for her,” said Jaxon Loycano.

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.