Religious leaders offering communion to detainees turned away at Broadview ICE facility

CNN on October 12, 2025


WBBM

By Marissa Sulek

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    Illinois (WBBM) — Dozens took part in a movement as religious leaders attempted to give detainees inside the Broadview ICE processing facility holy communion.

At Saint Eulalia Catholic Church in Maywood, local and state leaders preached that peace is needed on a day like Saturday.

The nearly 200 people in yellow shirts gathered before bringing their offerings to others a few blocks away. Their mission is a different approach, some have seen outside the Broadview processing facility.

The group with the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership walked about a mile to the ICE facility, in hopes of giving those inside holy communion. But to get in was a major hurdle.

Saturday’s gathering remained peaceful as priests and religious leaders spoke with Illinois State troopers. The troopers were the ones who called someone inside the detention facility to see if they could give communion.

A few priests had a calm conversation with the Illinois State troopers. However, they were denied entry.

“I respect the state police with what they can do and all that. But that’s basically it, they are working through a middle man, they refuse to even talk to us,” Father Larry Dowling said.

“We now know that they have been taken away from the eucharistic table, and ICE said no, we cannot enter,” one speaker said.

As for the dozens who made their way.

“A lot of reflection. A lot of prayer. We are going to mass tonight and will hopefully be enveloped in that faith that is so important to everyone,” Jennifer Schweizer said.

They prayed, sang, and had their own communion in solidarity.

“I’m sure they heard us singing, I’m sure they heard us talking, so hopefully they get strength from our presence,” Father Dan Hartnett said.

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Altadena residents collect ornaments hoping to bring joy to community following Eaton Fire

CNN on October 10, 2025


KCBS

By Laurie Perez

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    ALTADENA, California (KCAL, KCBS) — There’s no doubt this will be an emotional holiday season for so many whose last cherished memories are in the Altadena neighborhood, where their homes no longer stand after the Eaton Fire.

With the Ornaments for Altadena collection drive, two women who also lost their homes are hoping to help their neighbors find some joy.

Residents have some of the very last pictures they took of the fires in early January. The snapshots show celebrations of faith and family, festooned with ribbons and wreaths, overflowing with decorations expressing the joy of the season.

“The images of my children in front of the fireplace at our house the night before Christmas were the actual hardest things for me to look at after the fire,” said Ana Medina-Whirledge, an Altadena resident.

Medina-Whirledge and Emily Viglietta’s families were among the more than 6,000 residents who lost their homes during the Eaton Fire, and as the holidays approach, they said there is a renewed sense of loss.

“I’ve got texts from my friends saying all I feel when I think about the holidays this year is dread,” Viglietta said.

For so many, this year, there will be no trimming the tree or lighting the menorah, retelling stories of where each cherished decoration came from. But as they have done so often over the last year, Medina-Whirledge and Viglietta are moving forward and trying to help their neighbors do the same.

A few weeks ago, they started collecting donations of unique, handcrafted, even handmade ornaments, menorahs, and kinaras for fire survivors.

In a short amount of time, they’ve collected a few hundred already, some with sweet, personal notes and stories from one family to another, sharing holiday traditions.

“This one says, ‘I chose this hand crocheted snowflake because it reminded me of my mother who made these for all her family and friends,'” Medina-Whirledge said.

Their dream is to use donations to decorate a path of trees for survivors to enjoy and choose from, helping them to shine this holiday season wherever they’re now living or until they can return and rejoice again in Altadena.

“Even if these, you know, come from other places and they’re not the ones that your mother handed down to you, they still mean something to somebody, and they sent that with that love and with that care,” Medina-Whirledge said.

There are a few ways to donate. The women have a registry where you can buy some ornaments from local artists to donate, you can ship some of your own personal items to them, or drop things off at three local donation sites.

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Proposed 2028 Los Angeles Olympics water taxi transportation method could make waves

CNN on October 7, 2025


KCBS

By Kara Finnstrom

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    California (KCAL, KCBS) — With the city of Long Beach set to host 18 events as part of the 2028 Olympic Games and 2029 Paralympic Games, the most for any city other than Los Angeles, local leaders are searching for creative ways to transport spectators and tourists across the vast county.

In May, the LA County Board of Supervisors floated the idea of using a water taxi service between San Pedro and Long Beach to get visitors around while dodging air emissions from cars – and traffic. The service would be emissions-free and quick, making it perfect for a heavy-tourist season like the one that will come during the 2028 Summer Olympics.

“I think it’s time to look at our blue highway and think outside of the box for transit,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn.

This week, members with the county took a ride on some of the vessels that would be used for the proposed service and came away impressed.

“[We want to] put systems in place that not only benefits the experience during 2028 but they can be left in place [after the Olympics],” said Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson.

A service currently exists that transports patrons between the pier and the Queen Mary, but service is heavily limited and seasonal. No line between San Pedro and Long Beach exists currently. In addition to transportation for tourists, an alternate route for commuters could be an advantage in battling traffic.

Hahn suggested that the LA Metro could connect to the boats in some way, making for car-free trips throughout the county during the Olympics.

A car-free Olympics is a lofty objective for local leaders as they prepare for the quickly approaching games. The city of LA is making 500 emissions-free LAUSD buses available for transportation purposes, since school will be out for the summer during that time.

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Competition underway to build life-sized structures out of canned food

CNN on October 7, 2025


KCNC

By Jesse Sarles

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    DENVER, Colorado (KCNC) — A competition is underway in Denver to build life-sized structures out of canned food. Architects and designers are currently working on the creations for an exhibit at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center.

It’s called Canstruction, and it’s being hosted by the group We Don’t Waste. Approximately 15,000 cans of food are being used for six different pieces.

All of the builds are Halloween-themed; they include a witch’s cauldron (1,331 cans) and a sugar skull (3,635 cans).

“It can take months just to figure out the design, rework it. (To find out) what kind of cans they need, what colors, what sizes,” said Jessica Lecortz, Senior Development & Events Manager at We Don’t Waste.

After the Canstruction exhibit ends on Nov. 2, We Don’t Waste will donate the cans to local communities.

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Haunting exhibit honors lives lost during Nova Music Festival attack in Israel

CNN on October 7, 2025


WBZ

By Penny Kmitt

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    BOSTON (WBZ) — A haunting exhibit in South Boston honors the lives of hundreds of people who were killed two years ago during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel at the Nova Music Festival.

Walking into the Nova Exhibition in South Boston, there is a sense of loss represented in every empty tent, destroyed car, and forgotten shoe that is on display.

“This festival had people from all over the world, all religions, all cultures,” survivor Noa Beer said.

Tuesday marked two years since Hamas’ attack on the Nova Music Festival in Israel, where nearly 400 people were killed and dozens were taken hostage.

This new exhibit recreates the festival using actual objects left behind so visitors can see and feel for themselves the tragic events of October 7th and its aftermath.

“I think they carry an energy with them,” Beer said. “It’s not just the sounds and the videos, it’s the energy of the actual things people that a minute earlier were just dancing in in nature and a minute later were running for their lives.”

The DJ booker still remembers getting a drink at the very bar that is on display, laughing with friends, all before 6:29 a.m., the moment the music stood still.

“The moment we forget that this happened it will happen again and it can happen anywhere,” Beer said.

Massachusetts Congressman Jake Auchincloss was at the exhibit on Tuesday.

“At a time when hate is on the rise, vitriol is on the rise, when dehumanization becoming political currency, we need to come here and deliberately haunt ourselves to see what the end state of that kind hate and dehumanization is,” he said.

The exhibition is open every weekday until October 21 at the former FW Webb Building on Dorchester Ave.

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Woman sexually assaulted by burglar who crawled in through window, police say

CNN on October 7, 2025


WCBS

By Jesse Zanger, Zinnia Maldonado

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — A woman was sexually assaulted in her Brooklyn home by a stranger who climbed through an unlocked window, police said.

It happened just before 4 a.m. Monday near Pilling Street and Evergreen Avenue in Bushwick.

Police are describing the incident as a sexually motivated burglary.

The suspect entered the 43-year-old woman’s apartment through an unlocked kitchen window while she slept, police said. He then placed a pillow over her head, and the two struggled, according to police. He tied her up and performed a lewd act, police said. He then took off with her cellphone and watch, according to police.

The woman was hospitalized in stable condition.

Police described the suspect as a man wearing a white baseball cap, black sweatshirt, dark pants, black sneakers and said he was carrying a dark colored bookbag.

Neighbors who knew the victim say they woke up early Monday morning to find police at the door.

“She’s a real nice person, you know. A neighbor, and I couldn’t believe that. You know, it’s true, my wife and my daughter’s here. So I’m like, hey man, we’ve really got to look out, because this block is very quiet at night,” one neighbor said.

Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on X, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.

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Bar partners with artists nationwide to take a stand against AI-generated art

CNN on October 5, 2025


KPIX

By Sara Donchey

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    California (KPIX) — Bay Area visual artist Pemex, who prefers to be referred to by his graffiti writer moniker, has spent plenty of time pondering the use of AI in creative spaces.

He doesn’t feel threatened by it exactly, but he acknowledges the threat it poses to artists like himself, whose lived experiences he feels are being ripped off and repurposed.

If AI can generate what looks like a painting, he says, that image will have been generated from countless other references from real-life artists who may not have consented to their work being used as “inspiration.”

In fact, Pemex takes issue with the word being used in the context of AI-generated art.

“It’s in fact the opposite of inspiration,” he said. “It’s theft. If anyone else did that, it would be theft.”

Pemex is known for his prolific graffiti art, massive murals, and colorful oil paintings. But early on in his career, he got started taking odd jobs like drawing up promotional flyers for bands that were trying to spread the word about an upcoming gig.

“You’d get a list of bands. You’d get the date, the location and depending on the band and the music that they played, you’d create a scene around that,” he said.

It sounds simple enough, but if you run a venue like Billy Joe Agan does, you would know these flyers are a part of the culture. They are quite literally plastered all over his Oakland bar, Thee Stork Club.

Agan noticed recently that the flyers that promoters and managers were giving him ahead of their bands’ shows seemed a bit off.

“There would be just glaring inconsistencies in someone’s hand, teeth, a character’s hair. The background would be the same texture as a character. Just things that a human illustrator would have never done,” Agan said.

The promoters had been using AI to make the posters, instead of hiring an artist to draw something up.

“It started with a few, maybe smaller artists that were sending us, using cheaper generative AI software, and so it was easy to spot,” Agan said.

This didn’t sit well with Agan, who caused a stir on social media when he announced he was banning the use of AI to promote his club.

He went a step further, though, and announced a partnership with artists across the country to get promoters the best possible rate on using a living, breathing human artist.

“I pre-negotiated the rate with these artists,” he said. “The rate is as cheap as they can go and we’re talking about people normally get ten times what they’re quoting us.”

Now, a band that is operating on a shoestring budget can pay one of dozens of artists fifty dollars for a poster that might have cost hundreds of dollars to create.

Agan has since received a groundswell of support and estimates that more than 100 artists are participating in his program.

If you are interested in being considered, you can email your resume to Agan here: theestorkclub@gmail.com

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Teen raises $20,000 to install 5 AEDs in town for student athletes

CNN on October 5, 2025


WBZ

By Ken MacLeod

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    Massachusetts (WBZ) — A senior at a Massachusetts high school has turned her Girl Scout project into a potentially life-saving effort for young athletes in her community.

Siene Hesbach is a student athlete who recently moved to Maynard after spending three years in the Netherlands. After the move, she noticed that the town lacked publicly accessible automated external defibrillators (AEDs). They were available in schools and government buildings, but not near the athletic fields.

Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in student athletes, according to the National Library of Medicine. Maynard schools only had one portable AED and there are several fields, all minutes apart from one another.

So she decided to help make a change for her Girl Scout Gold Award Project. After 18 months of fundraising, Hesbech raised around $20,000 to give five AEDs in the town.

“She didn’t take no for an answer,” Tom Hesbach said.

“At first, the town was a bit wary of it. We went ahead and had to fundraise it all,” Hesbach said.

They have been installed at the Alumni Track, Fowler Field, Rockland Field, Ice House Landing, and Memorial Park.

Fire department will mantain AEDs Siena said that the Maynarad Fire Chief Angela Lawless was a firm supporter every step of the way and that the fire department will help maintain the devices.

“There were a lot of obstacles that had to be overcome, and we did it together. I am very proud of her today,” Chief Lawless said.

You can do anything you want to do. Even if there are roadblocks, someone like your fire chief is going to help you through it all,” Hesbach said.

The AEDs come from Chelmsford company Zoll and will be able to instruct the user on how to use them in the event of an emergency.

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1 dead, 5 injured after shooting at nightclub in Fort Worth’s West 7th district, police say

CNN on October 5, 2025


KTVT

By Briauna Brown

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    FORT WORTH, Texas (KTVT) — One person was killed and at least five others were injured after gunfire erupted inside a Fort Worth nightclub early Sunday morning, police confirmed.

The Fort Worth Police Department said at about 1:40 a.m., officers responded to a shooting call at Social Liv, which is in the 3000 block of Bledsoe Street in the popular West 7th entertainment district.

When officers arrived, a man was found inside the business with gunshot wounds to his upper torso, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers said five other shooting victims were either transported by ambulance or self-transported to area hospitals.

During a news conference Sunday afternoon, Fort Worth PD spokesperson Officer Brad Perez said those five victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to survive.

Fort Worth PD said homicide detectives learned the suspects fired handguns inside the club, striking the man who was found dead, and injuring others.

The suspects ran from the scene, and no arrests have been made yet, authorities said.

In a news release, Fort Worth PD said the shooting “appears to be unprovoked” and gang-related; however, the investigation is still in the preliminary stages.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office will later release the identity of the man who was killed. No other victims’ names have been made public at this time.

Perez said Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia has increased street patrols following this incident and two other fatal incidents that happened over the weekend.

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Suspect arrested after dozens of vehicles vandalized at University of Denver

CNN on October 5, 2025


KCNC

By Chierstin Roth, Christa Swanson

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    DENVER, Colorado (KCNC) — Denver police say a suspect is in custody after numerous vehicles at the University of Denver were damaged and vandalized overnight.

The vehicles and bicycles were parked in Lot C, located in the 1800 block of South High Street, on the northwest end of the university’s sports complex, the Denver Police Department reported. Several students at the university told CBS Colorado that dozens of vehicles and bicycles were damaged, stating that multiple windshields, mirrors, and back windows of vehicles were smashed, and many were keyed.

Many students, like sophomores Max Perry and Luke Miller, said they woke up to friends calling and posting videos of the damage.

“I was sitting in bed watching TikTok, and one of my friends called me, told me my car got pretty messed up,” said Miller.

“Looking at all those windshields like, bang, bang, bang, all the way down the line,” Charlie Carroll added. “I mean, who wouldn’t be alarmed by something like that, right?”

Police said they received multiple reports of the destruction beginning at 9:15 a.m. Saturday. Officers took the suspect into custody around 11 a.m.

“It’s just like, what are they going to do with it?” said Aubrielle Biewend. “Like, how are they going to fix it all? There’s just so many cars that got vandalized.”

CBS crews at the scene observed that the chains and brake wires on numerous bicycles had also been cut.

“He was cutting brake lines on bikes around campus here all the way over there, all over the place,” said Miller.

However, everyone we spoke with said none of their property was stolen.

“One of my friends told me one of the cars had, like, $1,000 of cash right in the passenger seat, and whoever did this broke open the window, like wide open, and it didn’t touch any of the cash,” said Carroll.

Students also said they’re glad it wasn’t worse and that nobody was hurt, but they question whether more safety measures should be put in place.

“Considering how much we pay for parking, we pay, like, up to $1,000 a quarter, and it’s not cheap,” said Miller. “I think that for paying that much money, I shouldn’t have to, like, worry about anything like that.”

“It’s not something I’d think would ever happen here,” said Perry.

Authorities have not yet released the identity of the suspect or what charges they may be facing in connection with the damage.

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