Miami-Dade police officers sue Matt Damon, Ben Affleck production company over ‘The Rip’

CNN Newsource on May 12, 2026

By Phil Tenser

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    NEEDHAM, Massachusetts (WCVB) — Two police officers in Miami filed a lawsuit last week, accusing a production company founded by Massachusetts natives Matt Damon and Ben Affleck of defamation in the new Netflix movie “The Rip.”

The plaintiffs argue that the film was promoted as being “inspired by true events” while “portraying identifiable members of Plaintiffs’ narcotics team as corrupt, criminal, and professionally unethical.”

Artists Equity and Falco Pictures are defendants in the lawsuit. Artists Equity is the production company created by Damon and Affleck, childhood friends who grew up together in Massachusetts.

According to the complaint, Sgt. Jason Smith believes he was represented in the film by Damon’s character, Lt. Dane Dumars, and Detective Jonathan Santana believes he was portrayed by Affleck’s character, Detective Sgt. J.D. Byrne. Smith supervised the June 29, 2016, seizure that inspired the film, and Santana executed it for the Miami-Dade Police Department.

“Apart from the fact that a large seizure occurred, the events portrayed in the Film did not happen,” the lawsuit states.

Smith and Santana argue that while the film used fictionalized names, it positively identified the Miami-Dade Police Department, a unique investigative team, the location of the seizure and the details about the drug money being found in orange buckets hidden in the walls.

“Since September 2025, with the release and widespread dissemination of the trailer and promotional materials for The Rip, along with the release of the Film, third parties have approached Plaintiffs asking which character they were and how many buckets they kept,” the complaint states.

Claims in the lawsuit say the production relied on information from Miami-Dade police Capt. Christopher Casiano, whom the plaintiffs allege was not involved in the original investigation. The filing states Damon and Affleck publicly discussed preparing for their roles authentically and credited Casiano in interviews connected to the movie.

Attorneys representing Falco Pictures and Artists Equity denied the allegations in a March response letter included with the complaint. The response argued the film used fictional names, settings and storylines and said the movie’s disclaimer made clear the story was dramatized and not intended to portray real people.

“As the disclaimer in the film’s credits explains: ‘This program is inspired by real events; however, the characters and events depicted have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes, and any similarity to actual persons is purely coincidental and unintentional,'” the response letter states.

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A bus carries the untold story of Colorado’s Native peoples; “We’re still here”

CNN Newsource on May 12, 2026

By Anna Alejo

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    COLORADO (KCNC) — As Colorado marks 150 years of statehood, a one-of-a-kind traveling exhibit is hitting the road, and it’s carrying a history many Coloradans have never heard.

The “Breathing, Healing Bus” will wind through communities across the state. It’s part rolling classroom, part memorial and part celebration. Inside, the true story of Indigenous people in Colorado is told in vivid detail — from massacre to resilience, from erasure to a powerful declaration: “We are still here.”

Terri Bissonette, lead facilitator for Wakaska Yuza Native Youth Leaders, says that message is long overdue.

“We knew it would be really important for folks to learn the true history of what happened to tribal nations as Colorado was becoming a state,” she says. “Native history is Colorado history. And it’s important for all Coloradans to know and understand — not only what occurred in the 1800s — but the ongoing battles and struggles and challenges that we have.”

The history on board is sobering. The early leaders of the state, Bissonette says, had an intentional goal: to make Colorado Native American-free. They came close. And for generations, that story was buried, she says.

The Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples are still carrying the weight of that era. The massacre of their ancestors, Bissonette says, is a wound that has never fully healed.

“When trauma is not resolved, it just perpetuates, and it manifests itself in different ways. And that’s really what we see,” said Bissonette.

But the bus isn’t only about pain. A section on board is dedicated to healing, meditative breathing, reflection, and hope. Bissonette is clear about what she wants visitors to walk away feeling.

“We don’t want anybody going through the exhibit triggered or re-traumatized. We want folks to feel inspired. Truth and healing can exist in the same space,” she said.

The voices telling that story belong, in part, to Native youth.

Brielle Patillo, a student from the Northern Arapaho Nation, joined the project with a purpose.

“What inspired me to do this is to just be able to speak up for the people that can’t speak up,” said Patillo. “How we’re getting murdered, and nobody notices it, nobody recognizes it.”

She’s talking about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women — a crisis her community lives with every day. Cases dropped. Families waiting. Women are forgotten.

But Brielle carries pride alongside that pain. She recently learned that her great-grandmother wrote the dictionary for the Arapaho language.

“I think we should keep on teaching young people about our languages and just keep our traditions. I don’t want my culture to just be forgotten,” said Patillo.

Her fellow student December White Plume points to the images on the bus — the buffalo, the memorials, the red handprints representing missing women.

White Plume said, “They tried to kill us off, but we’re still here. They tried to kill all of our buffalo, but our buffalo are still here.”

Elizabeth Tafoya, who is Jicarilla Apache and Laguna Pueblo, sees the bus as living proof of something powerful.

“We aren’t a dying people,” Tayoya said. “We are still keeping on our legacy. And we can see this through a lot of our youth today.”

That’s ultimately what Terri Bissonette hopes every Coloradan takes with them when they step off the bus. Not guilt, not grief, but understanding. And maybe a little surprise.

“I can’t tell you how many people I’ve run across in the state of Colorado who say, ‘There are Native people here?'” Bissonette said.

There are. They always have been.

And now, on a bus rolling across the state their ancestors called home long before it had a name, they are making sure you know it.

The Wakaska Yuza Native Youth Leaders project received a grant for the traveling exhibit from the America 250-Colorado 150 Commission. Learn more at controlgroupproductions.org/truth-250-150 and at nativeyouthleaders.org.

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Antisemitic graffiti spray-painted on Lisbon 9/11 memorial

CNN Newsource on May 12, 2026

By Kendall Keys

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    SUSSEX, Wisconsin (WISN) — The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office is searching for the vandal responsible for defacing a Sept. 11 memorial in the village of Lisbon.

Crews worked Monday to remove the images of antisemitism.

“We are, you know, a hard-working, blue-collar village. And so when you see that, I think everybody kind of gets a little jolt in their heartstrings,” Village Administrator Daniel Green said. “It just hurts to, to read it and see something like that. The first thing you want to do is find the person who did it and have it removed immediately.”

Someone spray-painted swastikas on the memorial and references to the Bible on the village hall building.

“The memorial was the worst part,” Green said. “The building we can clean up, or we can rebuild. But a memorial like this, many people donated money and funds for this to happen. And it’s close to a lot of people.”

Each year on Sept. 11, people gather at the memorial. In 2021, WISN 12 News spoke to the Lisbon Fire Department lieutenant who wanted to build a tribute to those killed in the attack in the small Waukesha County village.

“Everybody pitched in. An idea that started out in my mind as a small display in the wall of the firehouse turned into this wonderful display here at the community park,” Meyer said in 2021.

The memorial’s meaning made cleaning it up even more important. Crews used a special chemical agent to power wash the spray paint off of a real steel beam from the twin towers, being careful to preserve the piece of history.

“The highway guys did a great job cleaning this up,” Green said. “Hopefully we don’t have to hear about something like this happening for a long time.”

The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office is investigating. Nobody has been arrested.

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Residents worry about impacts after Fort Smith chemical spill kills fish downstream

CNN Newsource on May 12, 2026

By Brett Rains

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    POCOLA, Oklahoma (KHBS, KHOG) — Concern is growing in Pocola, Oklahoma, after thousands of gallons of chemicals spilled in Fort Smith and flowed downstream, raising questions about long-term environmental impacts.

Emergency managers said the spill happened Saturday, May 2, when a holding tank ruptured at the C&S Chemicals facility on Highway 271 in Fort Smith. Approximately 89,000 gallons of chemicals were released into the environment, primarily acidified aluminum sulfate — commonly used to disinfect poultry houses — along with nearly 3,000 gallons of sulfuric acid, according to the Environmental Protection Agency and Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality.

Most of the chemicals entered storm drains and flowed into a nearby drainage ditch, moving downstream toward Oklahoma. Crews are working to neutralize the waterway by reducing acidity levels.

The drainage creek runs from Fort Smith to the Poteau River. An Arkansas Game and Fish spokesperson said crews have counted more than 300 dead minnows and sunfish so far, but residents across the state line say they’ve seen far more.

“There are thousands of fish dead in this creek,” said Jerry Vaughn, who lives along Highway 112 near the contaminated drainage creek. “My children, my grandchildren, fished in this creek for 15 years or 16 years. Lots of fish, and they’re dead. They’re just dead.”

Vaughn lives next to the creek where crews are currently testing and aerating the water after the spill. He said he’s especially worried about what happens as the water flows into a swamp before reaching the Poteau River — and what that could mean for his beehives.

“From here, this creek goes into a huge swamp before it gets into the Poteau River,” Vaughn said. “I have 14 beehives. Those bees work that swamp. And from the research I’ve done, that aluminum sulfate gets into my bees. It’s going to kill my hives.”

Remediation efforts are expected to take two to four weeks, according to emergency managers. Vaughn said he fears the impacts could last much longer.

“I don’t think I’m being told everything,” Vaughn said. “The problem is the aluminum sulfate. It’s not going away. It’s going to be a long-term problem. I’m afraid that long-term problem is just going to be my problem instead of the people that dumped this into the creek.”

In an email sent to 40/29 News, an EPA spokesperson said the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality, with assistance from Oklahoma, is now the lead agency monitoring the cleanup. C&S Chemicals is responsible for all cleanup costs, and a company spokesperson said the total cost is still being determined.

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Woman seeking comfort finds rare diamond at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park

CNN Newsource on May 12, 2026

By Adam Roberts, DMM

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    MURFREESBORO, Arkansas (KHBS, KHOG) — A woman mourning her son and her father discovered a 3.09-carat white diamond at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park last month, according to a news release from Arkansas State Parks.

Keshia Smith lives in Pennsylvania, but had been planning to visit the park for a year. After the deaths of her son and her father, the trip became a way to look for comfort in the world.

Smith’s boyfriend and brother went with her on a road trip to the park in Murfreesboro. They enjoyed digging on the first day, but on day two, Smith found something shiny in her shovel.

At first, she was skeptical that she had actually fulfilled her dream of finding a diamond. But people urged her to get it checked out by park staff.

“Realizing she might have found her own diamond, Smith was overcome with joy and started crying, laughing, and hugging everyone around her,” the news release stated.

Smith’s gem resembles a heart.

“I really needed this. I really prayed for this, and I just can’t believe it actually happened!” she told park staff, according to the release.

She named the diamond the ‘Za’Novia Liberty Diamond’. Za’Novia stands for the names of her two grandchildren. Liberty is a nod towards the country’s 250th anniversary this year.

This is the second-largest diamond found at the park in 2026 so far.

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‘They’re ruining it for everybody’: Bishop Ward parent frustrated after vandalism, postponed graduation

CNN Newsource on May 12, 2026

By Eric Graves

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    KANSAS CITY, Kansas (KMBC) — Bishop Ward High School seniors will not walk across the graduation stage Tuesday evening as scheduled after a recent act of vandalism.

School leadership postponed the commencement ceremonies after seniors reportedly damaged the school building.

In a message to parents, Bishop Ward leadership said the vandalism happened the night of Thursday, May 7, and involved a “significant portion” of the senior class.

Bishop Ward parent Alexcia Gonzales said Thursday was the last day of school for seniors.

Gonzales said she called the school Friday. An administrator told her the vandals destroyed classrooms, damaged furniture, threw eggs and ripped textbooks.

“I don’t understand,” Gonzales said. “What would you think is funny about destroying a classroom? That’s not funny. Like, that’s not even considered a prank.”

Gonzales said her son, Emilio Duran, was out hand-delivering graduation announcements to family and friends Thursday evening.

“He’s been through a lot,” Gonzales said. “And he’s worked really hard. And for it to end like this, it’s just very upsetting.”

In a statement, Bishop Ward High School leaders said commencement ceremonies would be rescheduled when the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department investigation into the vandalism concluded.

Gonzales said it’s frustrating for her son and other uninvolved seniors to be punished for the actions of their classmates.

“All the students weren’t involved, but they’re punishing everybody,” she said. “I know it’s to teach everybody a lesson, but still, it’s not right. It’s not right.”

With that graduation date up in the air, Gonzales has had to change plans quickly. Her son’s grandparents were supposed to come into town, and they had booked an Airbnb.

“Luckily, we were able to get a refund, but I had to let everybody know there’s no ceremony,” she said. “That was hard.”

Gonzales is hoping Bishop Ward will reschedule graduation, but she’s worried because she doesn’t know how long the investigation will take.

She’s hoping the parents of the students involved will help speed up the process.

“I hope if they know that their student did it, that they will make their student come forward because they’re ruining it for everybody,” Gonzales said. “I know if my son was involved, oh, best believe I would take him to the police station.”

In a statement, KCKPD said officers were called to the school before 8 a.m. on Friday, May 8, for a reported burglary.

“The initial investigation indicates that multiple persons, potentially students, gained access to the school building after hours on May 7 and vandalized several interior areas, causing damage to property. The identity of those involved and total value of damaged property is currently undetermined.”

Once KCKPD finishes up the investigation, Bishop Ward High School leadership will decide on any disciplinary actions and whether they would like to pursue charges.

Gonzales said she’s keeping a close eye on her email, hoping to see details on a rescheduled graduation date.

If not, she’s planning to give her son his own ceremony at his graduation party.

“I said, ‘Hey, if you don’t have a ceremony before this party, we will make one for you,'” Gonzales said. “We’ll do the whole thing. We’ll play the song, make you wear your cap and gown. We’ll put a red carpet down. You can walk across and act like you’re getting the diploma.”

But she and her son are both hoping for the real thing.

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Court records: Argument over comment to woman led to deadly shooting

CNN Newsource on May 12, 2026

By Nick Sloan

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — An argument in northeast Kansas City turned deadly after a man allegedly opened fire during a confrontation sparked by comments made to his girlfriend, court records allege.

Dustin Clock is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action for the homicide on Independence and Monroe avenues in late April.

Court records state that police were called to the intersection around 8:50 p.m. that day and found a many suffering from gunshot wounds.

The victim and Clock were allegedly involved in a dispute that led to gunfire.

Court documents say a woman walking through the area became upset after someone in the group complimented her appearance.

She later allegedly returned with Clock, who confronted the men and demanded an apology.

After an apology, Clock allegedly opened fire on the victim, later identified as Bobby Nimmo.

Court records say the woman later told police detectives she and Clock were homeless.

Police used city cameras, security footage, witness interviews and social media posts to identify Clock as the suspect, according to the probable cause statement.

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New Orleans man who interrupted Super Bowl halftime show found guilty of resisting an officer

CNN Newsource on May 12, 2026

By Metia Carroll

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    Louisiana (WDSU) — A New Orleans man who disrupted the Super Bowl 59 halftime show was found guilty of resisting an officer.

Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, 41, of New Orleans, was arrested in June 2025 by Louisiana State Police following a monthslong investigation.

According to state police, Nantambu was hired to perform for Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show.

Nantambu was approved to be on the field during the performance, but his demonstration where he waved a Sudanese flag with the message “Sudan and Free Gaza,” and ran across the field with the flag, caught officials by surprise.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, security and law enforcement personnel on site recognized the unauthorized action and apprehended Nantambu after he refused to comply with commands to stop.

He was found guilty of resisting an officer and found not guilty of disturbing the peace.

“We appreciate the chief judge’s careful consideration of the evidence and the decision to hold this individual accountable for resisting law enforcement officers who work every day to protect our communities. I want to thank Louisiana State Police and NOPD for their continued hard work and professionalism in ensuring that those who violate the law are held accountable,” said Attorney General Liz Murrill.

He is set to be sentenced on June 1.

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Fire reported on natural gas platform off Santa Barbara coast

CNN Newsource on May 12, 2026

By Katherine Worsham , Gianella Ghiglino

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    SANTA BARBARA, California (KSBY) — A fire was reported Monday morning on the natural gas platform “Habitat” off the coast of Santa Barbara.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the fire was reported just before 7:15 a.m.

There were 26 people on board the platform at the time. Coast Guard officials say everyone made it back to shore safely with just two minor injuries reported.

The Coast Guard established a 1,000-yard safety zone around the platform while crews worked to extinguish the fire. Officials say the fire was contained by 11:40 a.m.

Platform Habitat is operated in federal waters by DCOR, LLC.

According to the City of Carpinteria, it was installed in 1981, about eight miles from shore.

It produced natural gas but is now in the process of being decommissioned.

Environmentalists say the incident is a reminder of the potential dangers of offshore oil drilling.

“The entire process of drilling in our oceans risks horrible accidents that can injure or kill workers, spill oil that washes up on coastlines, and harm fish and wildlife,” said Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the organization Oceana. “Despite these threats, the Trump administration is considering a massive expansion of offshore drilling in California’s ocean, including using old, deteriorating infrastructure like the rig that caught fire today, putting more communities and coasts at risk. We must stop the cycle of destruction and protect both our oceans and those who work and live by them.”

KSBY News reached out to DCOR for comment but has not received a response.

Officials say there are no indications that any oil leaked from the platform into the water, and there are no impacts to wildlife or the public at this time.

Fire departments and harbor patrol from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties assisted during Monday’s fire.

“The entire process of drilling in our oceans risks horrible accidents that can injure or kill workers, spill oil that washes up on coastlines, and harm fish and wildlife,” said Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the organization Oceana. “Despite these threats, the Trump administration is considering a massive expansion of offshore drilling in California’s ocean, including using old, deteriorating infrastructure like the rig that caught fire today, putting more communities and coasts at risk. We must stop the cycle of destruction and protect both our oceans and those who work and live by them.”

KSBY News reached out to DCOR for comment but has not received a response.

Officials say there are no indications that any oil leaked from the platform into the water, and there are no impacts to wildlife or the public at this time.

Fire departments and harbor patrol from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties assisted during Monday’s fire.

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New Orleans icon Neuty the Nutria dies after cancer battle

CNN Newsource on May 12, 2026

By Metia Carroll

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    NEW ORLEANS (WDSU) — A beloved New Orleans animal known for bringing smiles to thousands of people across social media has died.

Neuty the nutria, a local fan favorite who has become something of a New Orleans internet icon, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday morning.

In March, Neuty underwent medical tests after his owners revealed he had a malignant mass.

His owners say he tried to fight the cancer, but it was too aggressive and spread quickly. He continued to be active and not in pain during his last three months.

The update was shared on Tuesday on Neuty’s official Instagram page. In the post, his owners said they were taking him to the LSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital for further testing.

Neuty has gained a large following online and throughout the New Orleans community, where photos and videos of the unusual pet nutria have brought joy to thousands of people.

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