Category: CNN Regional

By Madeline Bartos

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    OAKDALE, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A Bible that was lost more than 20 years ago after Hurricane Ivan battered western Pennsylvania will be reunited with its owner after it was found in the strangest of places.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the Oakdale Hose Company said that a firefighter found something he didn’t recognize while going through his bunker gear to make sure everything he needed was in his pockets.

The firefighter found a small green change purse, which the chief opened up, hoping to find an ID or something inside to identify the owner. Instead, he found a small pocket Bible with an inscription and the date of May 12, 1997.

The chief and his wife did some internet sleuthing, leading them to former Oakdale resident Amanada Clotz. When the chief reached out to her, he said she was able to describe the Bible.

Clotz explained that her uncle, who was like a father figure to her, gave it to her when she needed it most. She said she lost the Bible in 2004 when Hurricane Ivan devastated the Pittsburgh area. But the Bible is undamaged, the inscription is in perfect condition, and there are no stains on the outside.

“We (Amanda included) are at a total loss on how this could happen,” the fire company wrote on Facebook. “How did it survive in great condition after Ivan and so many other natural disasters that Oakdale has seen in the last 21 years? How did it end up in our building that has been flooded so many times? And how in the hell did it end up in his coat pocket?”

The fire company said Clotz was very emotional. She offered to pay for shipping, but the chief is sending it to her for free.

“The only stipulation is that she has to pay it forward! Help someone out when they need it! This girl has an angel looking after her and we think he’s pretty cool!” the fire company said.

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

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By JT Moodee Lockman

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A deer in Baltimore County that had a pumpkin bucket stuck on its head is now free, according to wildlife activists.

Neighbors in the Carney-Parkville community first raised concerns about the deer’s survival last week, seeing it with a blue plastic bucket covering its mouth and nose.

Bob Swensen, a longtime volunteer with Lost Animal Resource Group and First Response Drone Pet Search & Rescue, became involved in the effort to help the deer. His group used a drone to help track and locate the animal.

Swensen and other volunteers planned to help corral the deer and remove the bucket. However, this week, he said the deer was seen without the bucket on its head. It’s unclear if the animal freed itself or got help from other wildlife workers.

According to Swensen, a volunteer saw the deer while using a drone. Two adult deer and another young one were also seen nearby.

The drone captured footage of the animal with marks where the bucket strap was stuck. The volunteers identified the deer by its nubby antlers and the color of its coat.

Volunteers also noticed that an adult deer was licking the nubby-antlered deer around his head and neck, something they said is unusual for a deer of an older age.

The volunteers have not found the bucket and said the deer did not have any markings indicating the wildlife experts were involved.

Swensen and his group became involved in the effort to help the deer about four days after neighbors first raised concerns. The group did research to find out where the deer were sleeping and eating. They put out food for the deer and worked to determine their patterns.

“This has been an amazing adventure to learn about and fall in love and help a wild deer,” Swensen said. “We have met so many wonderful people in our journey, and we are so thankful to know all of you. We appreciate the support because we couldn’t have done this without you.”

Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wildlife and Heritage Service was also involved in the rescue effort. Staff tried several times to locate and help the deer, saying it was highly mobile.

DNR urged residents to pick up and properly dispose of empty containers, as they can be attractive yet dangerous to wildlife.

Marylanders can report sick, injured or distressed wildlife to DNR by calling 410-260-8888.

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By Jason Burger

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    Oklahoma (KOCO) — The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality is seeking over $270,000 in a lawsuit against Latitude Liquids LLC after fires fueled by hand sanitizer occurred between 2022 and 2024.

In 2022, KOCO 5 covered fires at facilities storing pallets of hand sanitizer, where flames burned for days and fire crews could only contain the blaze to prevent it from spreading.

According to a new lawsuit, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality has filed this against the company that transported the hand sanitizer to Oklahoma because they still have not provided a plan for remediation and removal of the rest of the hazardous waste. That company is an Arkansas-based company that was registered in Wyoming.

According to court documents, there were seven different fires at three different facilities that destroyed the hand sanitizer, all of which were either in Chickasha or the Ninnekah areas.

Seven thousand pallets of off-spec, expired or discarded alcohol-based hand sanitizer were transported to the area.

The lawsuit says, “On July 18th, 2022, DEQ received a complaint alleging that truck loads of hand sanitizer had been dumped on the ground for disposal,” at a property on S. 4th Street in Chickasha.

It continues, “On or about July 21st, 2022, DEQ received a complaint alleging several loads of contaminated hand sanitizer were being dumped and buried on property,” at an address on West Quail Lane in Ninnekah.

The court documents also point out Latitude Liquids contracted with Bordwine Development to recycle the hand sanitizer.

Fast forward to July of this year, Bordwine Development pleaded guilty to federal charges of disposal of hazardous waste without a permit.

Attempts to contact Latitude Liquids for comment revealed that the company is no longer active as of March 2025, according to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s website.

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By Bill Schammert

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    OMAHA, Neb. (KETV) — A Nebraskan, named John Doe in a recently filed lawsuit, alleges the video game Roblox is a safe haven for adult sexual predators and pedophiles “who use the unreasonably dangerous and negligently designed app to gain access to and prey upon thousands of unsuspecting minors,” according to the lawsuit.

“I had no idea that there were certain features of Roblox that made it attractive to child predators,” said attorney Melinda Maxson, who represents John Doe.

According to the lawsuit, John Doe was 14 or 15 years old when he met a person on Roblox. That person initially told John Doe they were younger, but they were actually 35 to 40 years old.

The lawsuit alleges the perpetrator groomed John Doe, eventually proposing that the two meet up, and took John Doe to their house an hour away.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys said it was an act of manipulation.

“He was taken the perpetrator’s home and sexually abused, and has suffered horrific trauma ever since,” said attorney Martin Gould, who also represents John Doe.

A spokesperson for Roblox responded to the lawsuit and said, “We are deeply troubled by any incident that endangers our users. Roblox’s vision is to be the safest platform on the internet, which is why our policies are purposely stricter than those found on many other platforms.”

The lawsuit acknowledges that Roblox’s default settings do not allow for adults to directly message children under the age of 13, but states Roblox does not have settings to prevent children from creating fake accounts with birthdates that would make them older than 13 years old.

“Two primary claims fall into two categories — deceptive, misleading advertising and product design,” Gould said.

Roblox did not address the specific allegations covered in the lawsuit but said it limits chat for young users, doesn’t allow for the sharing of external images, and has filters designed to block the sharing of personal information.

“We believe Roblox is responsible for certainly many parents — myself included — thinking it was perfectly fine for their kids to play Roblox, and in reality, it was not safe,” Maxson said.

The Roblox spokesperson continued, “We are continually innovating and investing in safety. While no system is perfect, this year alone we have made over 100 safety enhancements to help protect our users and empower parents and caregivers with greater control and visibility.”

“We also understand that this is an industry-wide issue, and we are working to develop industry-wide standards and solutions focused on keeping children safe online. For instance, Roblox has taken an industry-leading stance on age-based communication and will require facial age estimation for all Roblox users who access our communications features by the end of this year and is a founding member of the Tech Coalition’s Lantern project and the Robust Open Online Safety Tools (ROOST). We partner with law enforcement and leading child safety and mental health organizations worldwide to combat the sexual exploitation of children.”

The lawsuit seeks damages to be decided at trial that “compensate John Doe for injuries sustained as a result of the use of Defendant’s product, including but not limited to physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, and expenses for medical treatments.”

“We want accountability,” Gould said. “We want victims to be compensated. We want them to get some sort of closure.”

No hearing date has been set.

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By KCCI Staff

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    IOWA (KCCI) — Two Iowans have received national recognition for their work in public health.

Zuli Garcia was honored with this year’s Equity in Immunization Award from the National Conference of Immunization Coalitions and Partnerships. She launched Knock & Drop during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure thousands of Latino families in the Des Moines metro had access to culturally relevant food.

After a cervical cancer diagnosis in late 2023, Garcia partnered with Iowa Immunizes and the Iowa Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics to lead “Cervical Cancer Chats” in Spanish-speaking communities across the state.

Nathan Boonstra, a pediatrician at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines, received the Immunization Leadership Award. He is also the chair of Iowa Immunizes, a statewide coalition focused on vaccines. The national conference said Dr. Boonstra goes above and beyond to promote vaccine education and access.

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By Stephanie Moore

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    HAMPTON COUNTY, South Carolina (WYFF) — Alex Murdaugh, the disbarred South Carolina attorney convicted of killing his wife and son, is responding to a new true-crime series on Hulu that highlights his family and murder conviction.

The series, inspired by the murders of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, premiered Oct. 15 and stars Patricia Arquette as Maggie Murdaugh and Jason Clarke as Alex Murdaugh.

The release of “Murdaugh: Death in the Family” comes as the real-life legal battle surrounding the Murdaugh case continues.

On Tuesday, Murdaugh’s defense attorneys, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, released a statement about the series.

“Alex is deeply disappointed and disturbed by the recent Hulu streaming series about him and the entire Murdaugh family. The program contains numerous inaccuracies and misleading portrayals that distort the truth of their lives. The depiction of their personal family dynamics is particularly troubling, as it totally mischaracterizes Alex’s relationships with his wife Maggie and his son Paul, both of whom Alex loves so dearly. Alex was always extremely proud of Paul. Any other portrayal of his feelings toward Paul and Maggie are baseless and false. Equally concerning is the lack of engagement by the producers or actors to understand the individuals portrayed. No one from Hulu ever reached out to Alex, his son Buster, anyone in the Murdaugh family, or Alex’s attorneys to hear their perspective or verify the facts. Instead, the program appears to rely heavily on sensationalized accounts from secondary sources with no direct knowledge or relationship with him or his family. We urge viewers to approach this dramatization with the knowledge that it is not an accurate portrayal of Alex, his family, or the tragic events that it sensationalizes.”

We followed up with the spokeswoman for Murdaugh attorney’s who said Alex Murdaugh has not seen the series.

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