Category: CNN Regional

By Alyssa Bethencourt

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    HENDERSON, California (KTNV) — A dog found stuffed inside a trash bag in a Henderson neighborhood has died despite rescue efforts, prompting a police investigation into possible animal cruelty.

The disturbing discovery was made Tuesday evening around 6:30 p.m. when a resident was bringing in his recycling bins and noticed one felt unusually heavy. Inside, he found a brown Maltese or poodle mix, estimated to be 10 to 12 years old, struggling to breathe inside a garbage bag.

“I didn’t hear the dog crying or whining, but I did hear a faint breathing sound, and I saw the garbage bag kind of like inflating and deflating,” the man who found the dog said.

The dog was immediately rushed to a nearby animal hospital, but despite medical efforts, it did not survive.

Henderson police detectives canvassed the neighborhood Wednesday morning, going door to door searching for security video or witnesses who might help identify whoever is responsible for the alleged cruelty.

The incident has shaken residents in what neighbors describe as a close-knit community where everyone looks out for one another.

Adrian Gascon, who lives nearby, expressed his heartbreak over the discovery.

“The first thing is why didn’t they put it on my porch? I would’ve kept it,” Gascon said. “That’s heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking. I’m glad I wasn’t the one that found it. If I would’ve seen something like that, I’d probably be in jail.”

The investigation remains ongoing as police work to determine who abandoned the dog and whether criminal charges will be filed.

Animal Protection Services is helping transport the dog to an external facility where a necropsy will be performed. Investigators hope it helps determine what exactly happened and who’s responsible.

If you have any information or video related to this case, you can call the Henderson Police Department at (702) 267-5000 or Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.

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

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

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By Michael Chen

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    OCEANSIDE, California (KGTV) — A surveillance camera captured an extremely rare sight early Wednesday morning in an Oceanside senior community: two mountain lions visiting a front porch, with wildlife experts believing the pair may have been mating.

The unexpected visitors appeared just before 3 a.m. on Salem Court, in a community that borders Camp Pendleton. The family inside slept through the encounter but discovered the footage when they checked their camera alerts in the morning.

“Shock, total shock,” said Kylie Richards, whose grandmother and mother live in the home where the mountain lions were recorded.

The surveillance video shows a mountain lion, possibly a female, entering from the side of the house and lying down on the porch. Less than 20 seconds later, a larger mountain lion appears, approaches and sniffs the first cougar. The smaller mountain lion then makes growling noises that continue for nearly 30 seconds before both animals wander away in the direction they came from.

“It was a ‘Holy Cow’ moment. How lucky are we to see this happening right outside the front door,” Richards said. “There is one mountain lion, and suddenly, there’s another. Wow, we’ve never seen an animal that big on our property.”

Richards said her family is accustomed to seeing wildlife near the home, including birds, bobcats and coyotes, but never mountain lions.

Robin Parks, a longtime volunteer with the Mountain Lion Foundation, reviewed the footage and believes the sounds the smaller cougar was making were likely mating calls. According to Parks, capturing a mating pair on camera, especially on a front doorstep, is extremely rare.

However, Parks noted that mountain lion sightings aren’t unusual in the Camp Pendleton area, which typically serves as home to one or two cougars at a time.

In 2024, a mountain lion was spotted multiple times in Oceanside, including at City Hall and a theater, before a cougar believed to be the same animal was killed by a car. Now, a year and a half later, residents have documented a pair of the elusive cats.

“Cool to see them up close, but it brings more awareness,” Richards said. “Mom said that she’s not going to take the trash out at night. If you have pets, keep them inside. But at the end of the day, we’re in their neighborhood as much as they are in ours.”

Parks explained that while it’s possible the pair were foraging for food, mating pairs typically don’t hunt together.

Richards has filed a report about the sighting with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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

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By Charlie Lapastora

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    STOCKTON, California (KOVR) — With speeds up to 80 mph on a 30 mph speed limit residential street, Stockton residents are asking for help.

After seeing street racers speed by in front of his home on Saturday, Stockton resident Dan Richardson had enough. He’s used a speed gun to clock drivers going over the speed limit on a regular basis.

“Chaos 24/7,” Richardson said. “It’s a truck route through a residential neighborhood. That should never happen when you have an 80,000-pound truck rambling by on a bumpy street at 2 o’clock in the morning, shaking your house to where it wakes you up. It’s ridiculous.”

For more than four years, neighbors have rallied together to try to curb the speeding that takes place daily through their neighborhood on Pershing Avenue.

“The traffic averages, on a daily basis, 30,000 cars a day,” Richardson said. “That’s almost as much as some slower sections of I-5.”

“We jokingly call it the ‘Pershing Expressway’ because nobody treats it like a 30 mph zone,” Richardson added.

Richardson lives on Pershing Avenue and says the average speed is at least 45 mph. He said was given a speed gun by the mayor and has clocked traffic at 60 mph — and at one point, 80 mph.

“I’ve been hit,” Richardson said. “My wife’s been hit. And that right there (as car drives by), that’s an example of what goes on, on a regular basis.”

Julie Devincenzi has lived in Stockton since the 1980s and says this street’s gotten “worse and worse.” Her husband was also hit.

“He was just crossing at the light on Acacia Street, and a car went through the red and hit him,” she said.

Neighbors also have experienced some too-close-to-call moments with seims and cars whizzing by on Pershing, including just the other day.

“There was a pickup truck and luckily I heard it and it was the tree that saved me,” Zoran Jovanovic, Richardson’s neighbor on Pershing Avenue, said.

Devincenzi says she wants to see some sort of control to take care of the speeding.

“Narrowing of the street, whatever they have to do to stop this racing through here,” Devincenzi said.

Devincenzi doesn’t feel safe walking her granddaughter across the street to the park. Nor does Katya Evanhoe, who also lives near Pershing Avenue.

“I feel like this is collateral damage, Katya Evanhoe said. “It’s outrageous that young kids cannot safely cross over. Baby strollers, elders my age, we don’t cross over. Victory Park, Victory School is over here, the museum is over here, the swimming pool is over here.”

Evanhoe also noted that on Google Maps, the only route given for drivers if they want to access March Lane is through Pershing Avenue instead of the March Lane exit off of I-5, which adds to even more drivers zipping past their residential street.

The Stockton Police Department stated the importance of patrol in this area.

“Pershing Ave, near Victory Park, is a high focus area for speeders,” Stockton Police Officer David Scott said. “SPD officers and Motor Officers from our traffic section regularly spend time patrolling and conducting traffic enforcement, with radar devices for speeding in that area, and for all other kinds of moving traffic violations.”

Officer Scott also noted that there were 14 traffic fatalities this year to date compared to 26 at this same time last year.

Neighbors say a hawk light will be installed sometime later this month. Evanhoe says it’s due to a Safe Streets for All grant. Richardson noted their district councilmember, Mario Enríquez, has been listening to their concerns. A ceremony is in the works to commemorate the new hawk light installation later this month.

However, for Pershing Avenue neighbors, they are rallying together — asking for even more help — to curb the everyday speeding, the street racing, and the danger that hits too close to home for them.

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

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By Julia Falcon

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra’s home caught fire early Thursday morning in South Miami-Dade, prompting a massive response from first responders near Coral Gables.

Records obtained by CBS News Miami confirm the property belongs to Spoelstra, who was seen outside the home as firefighters battled the blaze.

According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, the call came in around 4:30 a.m. at the home on the 4800 block of SW 80th Street. Firefighters were still seen battling hot spots around 8:30 a.m.

When firefighters got to the scene, there were two structures on the property “fully involved” by the flames, MDFR said. The call was then upgraded to a second alarm for more manpower. MDFR said 20 units responded to the fire due to its size. The privacy wall and tall trees surrounding the home also made it difficult to get to the fire, MDFR said, with only one point of entry.

MDFR said that due to a partial collapse, firefighters switched to a defensive attack and continued to extinguish the flames.

No injuries have been reported, MDFR said.

CBS News Miami has reached out to the Miami Heat for comment. The Heat played a game against the Denver Nuggets last night in Denver.

Spoelstra, who has been with the Miami Heat organization since 1995 and has served as head coach since 2008, has led the team to multiple NBA Finals appearances and two championships.

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Please note: 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.

WFOR

By Julia Falcon

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra’s home caught fire early Thursday morning in South Miami-Dade, prompting a massive response from first responders near Coral Gables.

Records obtained by CBS News Miami confirm the property belongs to Spoelstra, who was seen outside the home as firefighters battled the blaze.

According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, the call came in around 4:30 a.m. at the home on the 4800 block of SW 80th Street. Firefighters were still seen battling hot spots around 8:30 a.m.

When firefighters got to the scene, there were two structures on the property “fully involved” by the flames, MDFR said. The call was then upgraded to a second alarm for more manpower. MDFR said 20 units responded to the fire due to its size. The privacy wall and tall trees surrounding the home also made it difficult to get to the fire, MDFR said, with only one point of entry.

MDFR said that due to a partial collapse, firefighters switched to a defensive attack and continued to extinguish the flames.

No injuries have been reported, MDFR said.

CBS News Miami has reached out to the Miami Heat for comment. The Heat played a game against the Denver Nuggets last night in Denver.

Spoelstra, who has been with the Miami Heat organization since 1995 and has served as head coach since 2008, has led the team to multiple NBA Finals appearances and two championships.

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

Please note: 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 Juliet Lemar

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    SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, California (KSBY) — For Michael McGee, every tattoo tells a story — death in his family, his children, his last time in prison. But after losing his 7-year-old daughter, McGee faced a choice that would change everything.

“I literally kind of had a dream of like, what am I here for? It just can’t be for drugs, violence, gangs, the street life. It has to be something bigger,” McGee said.

Now McGee runs Hustlin Ink, a mobile tattoo shop that mixes ink with conversation, offering people a chance to be heard while they get new artwork.

“You can come in here, sit down, get a tattoo, unwind, talk,” McGee said.

One of his recent clients was 18-year-old Isaac Lara, who joined a gang in Lompoc when he was just 12 years old.

“It’s not really too many options out there for you, you know. You got to pick a side or work a 9-to-5 job,” Lara said.

Lara has been shot four times, but he recently stopped by Hustlin Ink to honor a friend and start a new chapter in his life.

“My friend Monty, he was one of my best friends. He was shot in Santa Maria at a truck meet, and it sucked losing him. That was one of my closest friends,” Lara said. “That was really like [the] point in my life where I was just like [I] knew I need to stop.”

For Lara, McGee’s shop provides something he doesn’t get elsewhere — someone to listen.

“I don’t really have no one to talk to, and it’s good to talk to someone sometimes,” Lara said.

McGee understands the struggle of trying to move beyond a troubled past.

“Everyone wants to look at you as the old chapter, the old book, the old who you was, and they don’t want to allow you to be a new person,” McGee said.

One conversation at a time, McGee is working to break the prison-and-gang cycle, offering a different path where people have a chance to be heard.

Santa Barbara County Behavioral Wellness spokesperson Suzanne Grimmesey supports this approach to creating change.

“Any way that you have the conversation, that’s what moves us forward, and that’s what takes away the stigma that keeps people from getting the help they may need and deserve,” Grimmesey said.

Through ink and empathy, McGee helps people rewrite their stories, one tattoo at a time.

“Change is possible. It is. It’s not always easy, but it is possible,” McGee said.

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

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