Category: CNN Regional

By Jolie Sherman

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    DETROIT (WXYZ) — Today is Cyber Monday, a day packed with online deals and discounts. As you fill up your virtual shopping cart this holiday season, you may notice something: the price of items seem to constantly change.

You may have experienced dynamic pricing before with airline tickets, hotels, and rideshare services; the price constantly changes.

“You can check one minute, and it’s one price and two more minutes, and it’s $20 more,” said Eric Mitchell.

Online businesses like Amazon and Wayfair are doing this, too, adjusting their prices more frequently with the help of artificial intelligence.

“Essentially, you can think of AI agents serving as essentially other data analysts, who are making these somewhat algorithmic decisions of essentially monitoring how different products are performing, and making these price adjustments on the fly,” said Jason Miller, a Supply Chain Management Professor at Michigan State University.

Miller said dynamic pricing is based on a number of factors, including prior sales, inventory levels, and how competitors are pricing the product.

“In a weak demand environment, in many instances, consumers will benefit if the retailer you’re shopping at is saying, ‘ok, wait, are they looking elsewhere, that elsewhere is right now charging 4% less than us, we may lose the sale, we need to lower our prices’, versus, again, in a demand environment that’s much stronger…where algorithms like this may result in prices rising even more rapidly than you would otherwise expect,” Miller said.

But these constantly changing costs are difficult for Tracy Burks, who works for an insurance company based in Southfield and prices thousands of items a day for clients that have lost their homes in disasters.

“Every single little thing in your home. I’m pricing everything, I’m looking at everything,” she said. “It’s what I do all day long, and yeah, it’s always changing.”

With holiday shopping in full swing, here are a few strategies for when to buy:

-Use tools like price trackers to set price alerts. -Keep items in your shopping cart for a few days. Retailers might actually lower the price of those items. -Stores may also adjust prices based on your location, so try changing the zip code to see if prices differ.

Shoppers we spoke to say AI-powered prices are frustrating, especially after hearing that algorithms can adjust prices based on your purchase history.

“Maybe we need to start working with brick and mortars, at least there your price is not going to change by a blink of an eye, by some algorithm, by some AI,” said Canton resident Devankar Mukhi.

“It feels like it’s unethical in a way because it kind of takes advantage of the customer,” said West Bloomfield resident Roseann Karana.

Miller said it’s safe to assume the item you’re eyeing is dynamically priced.

“I’d say it’s just the world that we live in, that we can adjust pricing quite quickly compared to 20-25 years ago, where it was just a different, you know, different availability of data,” he said.

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By Kim Rafferty

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    BRENTWOOD, Tennessee (WTVF) — A 100-year-old former teacher celebrated her milestone birthday surrounded by past students, family and friends who lined up to reconnect with the woman who touched their lives.

Josephine Newbill’s centennial celebration in Brentwood drew dozens of visitors eager to wish her well and share memories from decades past.

“I was in your 5th grade class,” one former student said.

The interactions continued throughout the day as visitors expressed their love and gratitude.

Long before this celebration, Newbill studied how to fly planes during World War II. She later spent years researching at Vanderbilt before beginning the career she’s most known for — teaching.

Newbill said she learned the value of work early in life.

Newbill’s husband passed away more than 30 years ago. Together they raised two children. She now has seven great-grandchildren. At 100, she remains a social butterfly, engaging with each visitor who approaches her.

Throughout the celebration, Newbill shared the same lesson with each person who approached her.

“If you are nice and kind to people, they will be nice and kind to you,” she said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WTVF verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.

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By Kaylee Olivas

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    SUMMIT COUNTY, Ohio (WEWS) — It’s been six, going on seven months, since 22-year-old Xavier Menefee’s skeletal remains were found near a homeless encampment in Akron, and yet his mom still hasn’t been able to put him to rest.

“I miss him. I miss him so much,” Menefee’s mom, Trina Koon, told me on Monday.

Koon said she hasn’t been able to fully grieve because she hasn’t been able to retrieve her son’s remains from the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office in the several months he’s been there.

“It’s because nobody else wants to drive their loved one to their final resting place, but I don’t know anybody else that found out their son was in a burn pit. I don’t know anybody else whose child was found as skeletal remains. And so, of course, somebody else would be fine with burying their kid, but I don’t know anybody else who didn’t get back all of their kid,” Koon said.

Koon wants to personally drive her son’s remains across state lines into Illinois to have what’s left of him undergo the process of water cremation.

“I don’t wanna put him in a retort. A retort’s what they burn bodies in. Somebody already did that to my baby, so why should I do it again? I just want to bring him home,” Koon said. “I’ve gotten my hopes up so many times that every time I get my hopes up, they throw up another hurdle.”

Ohio Revised Code 3705.17 states, “The body of a person whose death occurs in this state shall not be interred, deposited in a vault or tomb, cremated, or otherwise disposed of by a funeral director until a burial permit is issued by a local registrar or sub-registrar of vital statistics.”

While a family member technically could transport remains within the State of Ohio, that family member would still have to obtain a burial permit to do so.

“This is routinely achieved by working with a local funeral home so that the permit and proper container are in place. Under state law, that family member must identify the intent for final disposition of the remains, with the assistance of a funeral director, in order to obtain a permit,” a Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office spokesperson told me.

The medical examiner’s office said transporting remains to another state provides more of a challenge.

“Transporting remains outside of Ohio also requires compliance with the laws of the states which the transporter will be traveling through and the state of destination. These laws focus on public health and preservation of the dignity of the remains. Failure to comply with state requirements such as these could result in criminal acts. Once again, this is routinely achieved with the assistance of a funeral home or mortuary transport company,” a spokesperson said.

The Summit County ME said it has not been part of the process of a family member transporting skeletal remains in at least 10 years.

A settlement agreement was sent to Koon this week.

Within five pages, the agreement legally outlines the process by which Koon can have her son’s remains transported.

It also states the purpose of the agreement is to avoid “further controversy and expense” and to fully resolve all disputes.

“Koon and SUMMIT (Summit County Executive) further agree to refrain from publicly disparaging each other and its business,” the agreement states.

The Summit County Prosecutor’s Civil Division Chief, John Galonski, said, “The loss of a child is unimaginable, and our thoughts are with Ms. Koon as she grieves her son. We want to ensure that Ms. Koon receives the remains of her son safely and legally, in a manner that protects public health.”

Koon told me, “They took something that was just unbearable and made it a little worse. I don’t understand. Now they want me to sign a paper saying that I’m going to hire someone else because they said so, not because everybody does that, not because it’s the law, but because that’s what they said I have to do.”

Koon said she will not sign the agreement until the medical examiner’s office proves that she’s not the first to receive a document as such.

She has already been in contact with an Illinois funeral home, but said she doesn’t trust a third party to transport her child’s remains.

“Nobody signs an agreement saying we’ll release once you tell us who’s going to transport them. I already told you where he’s going. This should be the end. I should be allowed to put my son to rest now,” Koon said. “What’s the big deal about this case, about my son, about me wanting to put him to rest? I’m not doing something that’s grotesque or a threat or harmful. I’m not asking to put anyone at risk. I just want my baby.”

Koon said she wants more communication from the county, as she claims it’s been lackluster up until the point of us reaching out.

“Shouldn’t they care about the people you’re here to protect and serve, not muddy it and make things worse?,” she said.

Her goal is to hopefully have her son’s remains by the end of this year.

Once his remains have gone through the process of water cremation, Koon said his final resting place will be in a wooden box she made herself.

Inside the box are objects commemorating him, like his favorite t-shirts, a passport, a high school diploma, and senior year photos.

“That was my boy. He’s handsome, wasn’t he?,” Koon asked as she looked at photos of her son.

Carved into the bottom right-hand corner of the box is Menefee’s signature.

In May, Akron Police said two people had been arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse.

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By Isabella Ledonne

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KSHB) — Black Friday is known as one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Many people spend the day going store to store to get all their holiday shopping done. For one young man from Olathe, he used Black Friday to share his wish with others.

Families around the metro are getting ready to create their own holiday magic. 18-year-old Jack Punswick is going on his own shopping spree for kids fighting health battles at Children’s Mercy.

“We’re going to get clothes, blankets, toys,” Punswick said. “We’re talking [anything] for babies to 18-year-olds.”

Last Christmas looked different for Punswick. Blinking lights were replaced by blinking monitors as Punswick fought his own battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“I had chemotherapy on Halloween, I had chemotherapy the day before Thanksgiving last year, and I had chemotherapy the day after Christmas,” Punswick said. “It was brutal, to say the least.”

Despite the harsh surgeries and treatments Punswick endured his senior year, he found the magic moments.

“I was bald for Halloween and I dressed up as Gru from “Despicable Me,” Punswick laughed. “For Christmas, the [hospital] had decorations all around. That’s the thing that I just love the most.”

Now in remission, he’s using his once-in-a-lifetime wish to bring that magic for other Kansas City metro kids.

“No kid wants to be receiving chemotherapy on a holiday,” Punswick said. “So I thought, ‘What can I do? What can I do to help people?”‘ “So I’m going to go on a shopping spree.”

While most kids choose to go to Disney World or meet their favorite celebrity, Punswick launched a national toy drive with Make-A-Wish to donate gifts to kids at Children’s Mercy for the holidays.

“I had originally wanted to go to the Bahamas, like a nice trip off with my family,” Punswick said. “But then I just felt like I could do so much more. I just felt like I could do so much more with the wish.”

Brian Miller, vice president of marketing and communication for Make-A-Wish Missouri and Kansas, explained less than 10% of kids use their wish to give back to others.

“It’s so unique and refreshing, it truly does just warm your heart,” Miller said. “The more that we get, the more joy that Jack can spread and the more hope he can spread, the more smiles he can create.”

But the real holiday magic comes from the willingness of others to give back.

“Medicine can only treat a certain point,” Punswick said. “That’s where joy and hope come in. Joy and hope can propel you to the next step.”

In Jack’s case, it can even propel you beyond.

“For me, my biggest source of happiness is helping others, putting a smile on someone else’s face,” Punswick said. “That’s something that can’t be bought.”

Items bought off Jack’s Make-A-Wish wishlist from Amazon will be sent to Make-A-Wish headquarters in Chicago. The gifts will be delivered to Kansas City. You can learn more about monetary donations here.

The gifts will be delivered to pediatric patients throughout December.

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By Clifton Haskin

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    TULSA, Oklahoma (KJRH) — On Nov 29, the community held two celebration-of-life events for Ms. Viola Ford Fletcher, also known as Mother Fletcher. At 111 years old, she was one of the last living survivors of the 1912 Tulsa race massacre. Both events were open to the public.

The first celebration was in Bartlesville, where her family, along with many others, gathered here at the Center for Arts and Events.

Charles Harper attended the service.

“She impacted so many people’s lives… So it was just amazing to see so many people come out,” said Harper.

Born in 1914, Mother Fletcher witnessed the destruction of Greenwood at the age of just seven—a trauma she carried for more than a century.

People at the event told 2 News that, in her later years, she became a national voice for truth and justice.

“We can still love, we still can work together because that’s what she represented,” said Harper.

Her celebration of life welcomed mourners with music, dancing, and words from local and state leaders.

“She loved her family, she took people home, so just to get that life history of her being here all that time, it just did my heart good,” said Harper.

As people left the service, many of them came to Tulsa for a second celebration of life at the Greenwood Cultural Center.

Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols attended the all-white attire event.

“we all are here reflecting on her ife, which is extraordinary, my prayers are with the family who lost someone incredibly important to them,” said Nichols.

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By Blair Sabol

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    BALTIMORE (WMAR) — For the first time in a long time, Matt Schmale Jr. stands where his childhood home used to be on Keswick Road in Hampden. Now, the bad memories outweigh the good.

“I actually stopped by on the Sunday before this happened and I didn’t stop by on the Monday. And then Tuesday morning they were gone,” Schmale said.

The home burned down in a destructive fire last October, costing the lives of his parents’, Kathy and Matt Schmale Sr.

Now, a city bill states Matt and his sister, Rachel, have to pay up for the tragedy, even after promises it’d be wiped.

“Honestly feels like paying a penalty for my trauma, and I mean I have enough of it. I’m dealing with it. I’m never getting away from it,”Schmale said.

According to a bill from the City of Baltimore Bureau of Revenue Collections, the Schmale’s owe $13,935.96 for “work done by the city to abate a nuisance or public safety issue.”

But Schmale says, the choice to demolish the house after the fire was out of their control.

“They told us that they had to demolish the house, tear it apart to go find them, and we weren’t given a choice. It was just something they said they had to do,” he explained. “We accepted it as an absolute.”

So down came the tree in the front yard his father planted for his mother when they first moved in, decorated every Christmas.

“It was a fixture, and that was the first thing that went that morning when they came in and brought in a tree cutting service, cut down the tree at the top bit by bit,” Schmale said.

Gone was every physical memory they had of their parents and their childhood, too. Schmale says they never got the clearance to sift through the rubble.

Schmale says they’ve received three bills in total, including the first in July addressed to his late father. The latest, in November.

Another holiday season now around the corner without mom and dad, he is hoping for a miracle.

“It would make things a little easier for the holidays, honestly, if we didn’t have this just all of a sudden pop up out of nowhere because we thought we were done with it,” he said.

That’s because city council member Odette Ramos made a written promise that it was cleared months ago.

“I take responsibility. I wasn’t able to get it done, to try to get them exempt. I am working on some legislation to try to change that,” Ramos said.

Confusion came from an accidental double charge each owner faced.

“Then it turns out that the lien sheet came back and it was still on there so it’s unfortunately been a lot of problems with the accounting and something that we’re gonna have to fix internally because this whole thing has been totally unfair to this family and all of the families,” Ramos said.

The double charge was fixed, but the city code 118.2 leaves little room for question who’s responsible to pay. It’s on the property owners.

Ramos says insurance covered the costs for those who had it and for those who don’t, like the Schmale’s, it’s on them.

“I just want people to know, like I don’t think this is right. I don’t think this is fair, and I feel like at the very least people should know about it,” Schmale said.

The siblings sold their parents property for about 25% of what it was worth before the fire for less than $50,000. Part of which will now go towards paying the bill so it does not remain a lien on the property.

“There’s no monetary value that I could get that would make that better, it’s not like that,” Schmale said. “We should get something for where we grew up and not having anything.”

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By Maki Becker

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    BUFFALO, New York (WKBW) — A Buffalo family is struggling to recover after a devastating house fire on French Street claimed the lives of two young children and left several family members hospitalized with serious injuries.

The Saturday morning fire tore through the home where Jose and Jocelyn Rodriguez lived with their five children. Two of the children, Jose Junior and Jace, died in the blaze. Their sister, Ava, is fighting for her life at a burn unit in Rochester, while their parents remain hospitalized with injuries.

Six-year-old Noah Rodriguez and his 4-year-old sister Rosie survived the fire and are now staying with their father’s cousin, Jayjay Rojas.

Noah described the terrifying moments when the fire broke out.

“There was a fire in my house and there was smoke coming in the house,” Noah said.

The young boy recounted how his father tried desperately to save his family by bringing the children to the roof.

“I was jumping from the roof and he grabbed me,” Noah said.

Rojas said his cousin Jose did everything he could to save his family during the fire.

“He wanted the wife to throw the kids off the roof. He was bringing them all to the roof and … he jumped down and was gonna catch them,” Rojas said.

“He ended up falling in the process. I don’t know if he broke a knee or not,” Rojas said.

The children’s mother, Jocelyn, is having a difficult recovery in the hospital.

“So every time they take the sedation off she’s trying to take the tubes out and she’s fighting pretty bad. She keeps asking to see her kids,” Rojas said.

Jose’s condition has improved somewhat, though he continues to suffer from smoke inhalation.

“He’s been coughing up a lot of black soot. The whole room just smelled like. Burnt hair and plastic,” Rojas said.

Noah and Rosie came to stay with Rojas’s family with only the clothes on their backs. The extent of the smoke damage was evident when they arrived.

“We had them take two baths each and the water was just tan, brown, gray,” Rojas said.

Despite the tragedy, Rojas said the surviving children are showing remarkable resilience.

“They’re keeping the family in good spirits,” Rojas said.

“They’re just bundles of joy,” Rojas said.

Rojas has committed to caring for Noah and Rosie for as long as needed.

“As a father, I couldn’t, I couldn’t even imagine,” Rojas said.

“Anything I could do for them, I would, without even it doesn’t have to be asked. I would take them in. I would do anything. I would work overtime, whatever I gotta do for them to keep them comfortable,” Rojas said.

He’s asking the community to show love and support for the children during this difficult time.

“They’re just gonna know a lot is missing. There no house, so I just ask for love and um if you got a few minutes to spare once a week just to show them that they’re loved and people are thinking about them. They, they are lovable they will not push anyone away, so, um, that’s my heart cries out for for mom, dad, and the siblings,” Rojas said.

The fire also killed the family’s dog and two cats. The cause of the fire, which also damaged two neighboring homes – both of which are vacant – remains under investigation.

Rojas has started a GoFundMe campaign to support his cousin’s family.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WKBW verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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By WFTX Digital Team

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    NAPLES, Florida (WFTX) — A duplex home on Estey Avenue caught fire early Saturday morning, trapping one resident who had to escape through a bedroom window with help from a neighbor.

Greater Naples Fire Rescue crews responded to the structure fire at 1:44 AM and found heavy flames consuming the living room and kitchen areas of the home.

The fire created a dangerous situation because the home’s only exterior doors were located in the rooms engulfed by flames, leaving occupants with no clear exit route.

One resident became trapped inside and attempted to escape through a rear bedroom window. The escape was complicated because the windows were screwed shut and partially blocked by an air conditioning unit.

A neighbor heard calls for help and entered the lanai area to assist the trapped resident. The neighbor helped the occupant escape through a small opening above the window unit, bringing her to safety.

Authorities are reminding the public to never screw windows shut, as they serve as vital secondary escape routes during emergencies.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WFTX verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.

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By Scott McKane

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    MURRAY, Utah (KSTU) — Luna Grace is her name, born on I-15 in Murray, and her parents, Vannessa and Dax Lowe, share the Thanksgiving story to top all others.

Both mom and dad were on the way to Intermountain Medical Center, but the 5300 South offramp of I-15 was the end of the road for baby Luna who wasn’t going to wait a moment longer.

“A thanksgiving, never to be forgotten!” said Daxton.

“Oh, wow, we did that! We had a baby, while you were driving, and I caught her. It’s insane!” said Vanessa.

Vannessa and Dax Lowe are high school sweethearts who already have a 22-month-old daughter.

But baby number two, Luna Grace, arrived a few days early and in a way neither of them expected.

It all began early Thursday afternoon. The couple dropped off their toddler with a relative on their way to the hospital. But they wanted to take some homemade food with them.

While Vanessa waited in their minivan, she says hunger pains were quickly overtaken by labor pains.

“I called him and I said, ‘Forget the food, come back to the car, I’m dying right now!’ Then out came Zach holding a couple of things of leftovers,” she said. “We didn’t get Thanksgiving dinner, so we had to have something.”

At the off-ramp, Dax asked Vannessa if she was doing okay.

“And I go, nope, I feel like she’s coming right now! And I reached down and I go; ‘wow, that’s her head!” She said.

After pulling off onto the shoulder, Dax then called 911 while Mother Nature and Luna Grace took over.

“She just shot out, and I somehow caught her! As I was pulling off, I literally looked over and just watched the baby launch, right into mom‘s hands, boom right there!” Said Vanessa.

According to Corpor,al Chaseton Stevens with Utah Highway Patrol, paramedics and officers arrived to help get them the rest of the way to the hospital.

“I think this is going to be like the story they tell forever, right? Like having a baby on Thanksgiving and trying to get to the hospital and having the baby in the freeway right? Like all those things, it doesn’t happen often,” he said.

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