Category: CNN Regional

By Kayla Moeller

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KOVR) — It’s a pest problem many Sacramento homeowners know all too well this time of year, but experts say a relatively new invasive cockroach is helping drive the surge in complaints across the region.

The Turkestan cockroach is an invasive species that’s been taking over in the Sacramento region for about the last five years. This cockroach is primarily an exterior roach, but recently, they’ve been making their way inside.

Entomologists speculate that the Turkestan cockroach landed in the United States by way of military equipment coming from the Middle East. The invasive species is now one of the most common roaches found in the Sacramento region.

“We’ve got bases all over the place. I’d argue this is far more favorable than where they even come from,” said Josh Fleenor, president of Pest Pros Pest Solutions.

That’s because, he said, Sacramento’s warm climate, coupled with regular moisture, serves as the perfect breeding ground for the Turkestan cockroach.

They’re easy to misidentify, which can be a problem because different species require different extermination techniques.

“Traditional methods for treating exterior roaches aren’t as effective on these guys as, say, oriental roaches that we used to deal with consistently,” Fleenor said.

Fleenor has been in the industry for 26 years and said their phones have been ringing off the hook recently for the Turkestan cockroach. He suspects our past few milder winters might have something to do with it.

“They tolerate the heat fairly well, to a certain extent. It starts getting warm enough they’re going to push inside. However, they do not tolerate the cold weather well at all. So if we get to freezing temperatures, you’re going to see a population drop,” he said.

But it’s not just the weather helping these pests spread. Fleenor said rapid development is creating the ideal habitat for the roaches to thrive.

“We’re building all over the place –– West Roseville, Elk Grove, all over. We’re creating these new communities with new lawns and lots of moisture and new irrigation boxes,” Fleenor said.

The cockroaches are most commonly found in irrigation boxes, but also within cracks in the concrete, underneath bark, in leaves and in drains. And the pests will even enter homes if they’re in search of water.

“There was an exterior cockroach season, but we’re getting calls January through December, all year,” Fleenor said.

Experts say the best defense is prevention. Eliminate standing water, patch up any leaky pipes and seal your entryways because with Turkestan cockroaches, the one you see is a sign of a much larger population nearby.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. 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 Austin Turner, Chelsea Hylton, Iris Salem, Dean Fioresi, Julie Sharp, Matthew Rodriguez

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    LOS ANGELES, California (KCAL, KCBS) — Officials are confident that the fire at a cold storage facility can be extinguished in the near future, after about a week of the blaze creating health hazards in the East Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights.

In a news conference on Wednesday morning, Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Jacob Raabe said crews are “very close to final extinguishment” on the blaze that started last week at the 500,000-square-foot Lineage Big Bear cold storage facility at 1400 S. Los Palos Street.

“The fire chief has set a goal for us … to get this fire put out today,” Raabe said.

The LAFD said in an update Tuesday evening that smoke conditions have improved significantly and residents in the nearby area should expect better air quality in the days to come. Some smoke could remain in the area through the week, Raabe said, even after the blaze is extinguished.

Raabe on Wednesday detailed the firefighting strategy, which included knocking down exterior walls in order to reach the flames in the center of the massive building with what he called “water cannons.”

“We’re using those large volumes of water from the exterior of the building,” he said. “Half of this building has been peeled back.” When the fire is fully extinguished, the LAFD will partner with private contractors to remove the food stored inside the building. Raabe described the building as a massive “ice chest,” and said there’s more than 85 million pounds of food inside, and some has already burned or spoiled. It’s unlikely

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined, Raabe said, but Lineage, the building’s tenant and operator, said that the fire may have originated from work being performed by a third-party contractor handling solar panels on the roof.

“Lineage is the tenant-operator of this building,” the company said in a statement. “At this time, we believe the fire began while testing was being conducted by contractors of the third-party owner of the solar array located on the facility’s roof. This facility is not used for the storage of hazardous materials. It primarily serves as a temperature-controlled storage facility for frozen food before it makes its way to Greater Los Angeles area communities and beyond. Our understanding from LAFD and AQMD is that there have been no measurable ammonia concentrations recorded in the community since the fire started. Additionally, Lineage has proactively taken additional steps to pump out the ammonia and transport it offsite, removing the possibility of ammonia posing a risk to the community. This facility and the supply chain it connects with employ hundreds of local jobs. We are grateful that no team members at the facility were harmed.”

On Monday, Lineage told CBS LA that the building is owned by Chill Build Los Angeles I, LLC, and that the solar array on the building is owned by Los Palos Street Operating, LLC, which is a subsidiary of Altus Power. The building’s solar contractor is Pearce, which is a subsidiary of CBRE.

In a statement, Altus said the cause of the fire was yet to be determined.

“Our first concern is for the residents of Boyle Heights, everyone affected by this fire, and for the firefighters working to contain it. The cause of the fire where our rooftop solar array is located at the Los Palos Street facility has yet to be determined,” the statement said. “We are cooperating fully with the authorities as they investigate.”

The South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Particle Pollution Advisory will remain in effect until at least 12:30 p.m. Wednesday for parts of LA County. No shelter-in-place orders were in effect, but officials recommended that those in affected areas limit their exposure to the outside air and to consider wearing an N95 mask.

A spokesperson for Adventist Health White Memorial hospital in Boyle Heights told CBS LA that its emergency department has seen a moderate increase in visits related to respiratory issues since the fire began last week.

Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday declared a state of emergency in Boyle Heights, enabling state resources to be used.

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ratified a local emergency proclamation as well to expand community support, environmental monitoring and business recovery assistance. The emergency proclamation was declared by Supervisor Hilda Solis, who said that thousands of air purifiers and masks have been distributed to residents impacted by fire and smoke.

LAUSD relocates schools due to fire Monday was the first day of summer school for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Citing air quality concerns, the LAUSD has relocated students in the Boyle Heights area to different campuses through Wednesday.

Dean Elementary and Dacotah Early Education Center students will be moved to Sunrise Elementary at 2821 E. 7th St., Los Angeles, 90023.

Eastman Early Education Center will relocate to Humphreys Elementary at 500 S. Humphreys Ave., Los Angeles, 90022.

Stevenson Middle School students will report to Belvedere Middle School at 312 N. Record Ave., Los Angeles, 90063

“At all surrounding sites, all activities will take place indoors to support the health and safety of students and staff,” the district said. “We will continue to closely monitor conditions and work with Los Angeles Unified Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Air Quality Management District (AQMD), and public safety partners.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. 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 Jennifer McRae

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    RIFLE, Colorado (KCNC) — The Dry Creek Fire burning south of Rifle on Colorado’s Western Slope was estimated at 315 acres on Wednesday morning. The fire has destroyed one home and one outbuilding since it sparked on Gage Road on Tuesday afternoon, prompting evacuations.

According to Colorado River Fire Rescue, evacuation orders are expected to remain in place throughout the day on Wednesday due to extreme fire behavior conditions and forecasted winds.

Areas under evacuation include Grass Mesa Road north of Guage Road, Sunset Lane, and Gage Road north of mile marker 1. A pre-evacuation notice has been issued for residents of Grass Mesa Road south of Rodeo Drive and Coyote Trail. Authorities asked residents in these areas to prepare for possible evacuation orders.

Residents can stay informed about evacuation orders online.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Due to the fire’s growth and threat, the Mountain Area Mutual Aid system was activated to bring in additional resources from Eagle and Pitkin counties to help with suppression efforts.

Colorado River Rescue said Garfield County will move into Stage II Burn Restrictions on Friday, June 25. Officials said current conditions are extremely dry and any spark could ignite a fast-moving wildfire.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. 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 Gabriela Vidal

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    COMMERCE CITY, Colorado (KCNC) — Debris and boarded walls are now a reminder of the night a truck barreled into Evelyn Luevano’s Commerce City home.

“It was just terrible and just a nightmare,” said Luevano. “I mean, it all happened so, so quickly. The lights went out. The whole house started shaking. I started seeing the ceiling coming down on us, and then just hearing screaming from [all] areas of the home.

Commerce City police say the incident happened just before midnight on Friday. After striking three cars on Interstate 270, a suspected drunk driver allegedly veered off the road and plowed into a home on East 54th Avenue.

Luevano’s whole family was getting ready for bed moments before the crash.

“Me and my brother were in our rooms, my mom was taking a shower, and my dad was lying in bed,” she said. “My younger sister, she wanted a late-night snack, so she was the one who was in the kitchen on the island where the main impact was.”

In the moments after the crash, Luevano’s family scrambled to get out.

“We knew my sister was in the kitchen, and the hallway was collapsed fully with the truck just blocking it,” she said. Luevano’s father and brother broke into the windows in the front of their home to save the 11-year-old girl, who was just feet away from the car.

“[She’is in] a lot of shock, [has] a lot of trauma, a lot of nightmares, and just post-traumatic trauma,” said Luevano. “She’s obviously scared of the dark, not wanting to be away from us. Any loud sound just scares her terribly.”

Scarred emotionally and physically from the incident, Luevano says the pain is even more frustrating knowing the driver was suspected of being under the influence.

“I truly think it’s disgusting. We, we saw the individual right in front of us, no sense of remorse. He tried to leave the scene,” she said. “I think that he definitely deserves all the punishment that there can be. I don’t know what message it would send to the public if someone can cause such emotional damage and ache to a family and just get a slap on the wrist and roam the streets freely.”

Now, the family is fundraising to try to rebuild what they’ve lost and is urging others to be more considerate when getting behind the wheel.

“Today it was us, but tomorrow it could be your family, and it could happen to really anyone,” said Luevano.

The driver was taken to the hospital and also arrested for suspicion of DUI.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. 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 Joseph Buczek

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    WARREN, Michigan (WWJ) — A 17-year-old accused of leading Warren police on a chase that ended in a deadly crash near the Warren-Detroit border last week has been charged with felony murder.

Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido announced Wednesday that the teen from Detroit, who is being charged as an adult, is facing charges of felony murder, second-degree murder, first-degree fleeing and eluding causing death, leaving the scene of an accident-causing death, receiving and concealing a motor vehicle, burglary tools and possession with intent to steal a motor vehicle, and resisting and obstructing an officer.

According to Warren police, officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a silver Dodge Ram near Fairfield and Georgiana streets around 2 a.m. on June 18, after seeing that several occupants in the truck were wearing ski masks. Police say the truck was reported stolen out of the Grosse Pointe area.

Police say the driver did not stop and fled from officers, driving southbound on Schoenherr Road toward 8 Mile Road. When the driver reached the intersection of 8 Mile and Schoenherr, authorities say the driver disregarded a red light and struck another vehicle, which was stopped at the intersection and occupied by a 48-year-old Remions Washington of Detroit.

The driver of the other vehicle was taken to a local hospital, where he later died. Police say the man pulled over to the right lane to let emergency vehicles pass when his car was struck by the truck.

After the crash, the five occupants of the Ram, who police say range in age from 11 to 17 years old, ran away from the scene. Police arrested four of the occupants on June 18, and the fifth juvenile was arrested earlier this week.

“We must hold individuals accountable when their choices break the law, and they flee from authorities, and it leads to such devastating consequences,” Warren Police Commissioner Eric Hawkins said.

Police believe the suspects are responsible for as many as 15 vehicle-related crimes, including attempted vehicle thefts and thefts, in southeast Warren over a 48-hour period last week during the overnight hours.

Hawkins said police have tied the suspects to most, if not all, of the thefts that occurred during that period and, in all likelihood, to several more thefts that occurred earlier in the city and in other jurisdictions.

“I have never seen this many crimes where people just have disrespected and disregarded the law,” Lucido said. “Why even have a law on the books if you’re not going to enforce it?”

Two 15-year-olds, a 14-year-old, and an 11-year-old have also been charged with receiving and concealing a motor vehicle, burglary tools-possession with intent to steal a motor vehicle, and resisting and obstructing an officer. All are charged as juveniles.

The 17-year-old driver will be arraigned at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the 37th District Court. The suspect’s name is being withheld until after the arraignment.

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By Paula Wethington

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    GROSSE POINTE PARK, Michigan (WWJ) — A Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, man and his 11-year-old daughter escaped safely after he realized early Wednesday that there was a fire in their home.

The fire was discovered shortly before 7 a.m. at the home on Wayburn Street, near Vernor Highway.

“I heard something, then I started smelling smoke,” Pierre Vinson said as he stood outside. Once he noticed there was a fire, he alerted his 11-year-old daughter and called 911.

“I wanted to make sure my daughter was all right,” he added.

Vinson said he tried to put out the blaze with a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived, but the fire was too much to work with.

First responder agencies on scene included Grosse Pointe Park Fire Department, Grosse Pointe Fire and Grosse Pointe Farms Police Department.

A fire department report was not available on Wednesday morning.

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By Jason Rantala

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    MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (WCCO) — Employees at a south Minneapolis child care center said they are increasingly concerned about drug use and safety issues, as a homeless encampment grows nearby under the Cedar Avenue and Highway 55 overpass.

Staff at Baby’s Space child care, which has served the neighborhood for more than 25 years, said things have gotten especially bad over the past month.

Yolanda Reyes is an administrative assistant at Baby’s Space, which is just blocks away from the encampment.

“The encampment was moving and then the cops would clear it out, and they’d wait a few hours and they were right back,” said Reyes.

Staff said a fence installed to discourage people from gathering at the encampment has been ineffective. A WCCO camera captured an opening in the fence that allowed people to continue gathering on the sidewalk.

Drug use has become more visible and has moved right outside the child care center’s front door, Reyes said.

“Open use, just freely using their drugs. I had to go out the front door and say, ‘Hey, this is a child care center,'” she said.

The concerns have affected daily activities at the facility. Debbie Lund, executive director for Baby’s Space, said staff worry about what children could encounter while playing outside. She said Minneapolis police now stand watch by their playground.

“It’s hard for us to play outside because we’re not sure what the kids are going to be exposed to,” said Lund.

The concerns have drawn the attention of city leaders. On Tuesday, Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez sent an email to city officials, including Mayor Jacob Frey and Public Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette, requesting immediate support for unhoused residents in the area.

A city spokesperson said the fencing is temporary to allow time for a better long-term solution, in collaboration with the county, Metro Transit, and the Minnesota Department of Transportation, who all have facilities in the area.

In the meantime, the city said they are working to help people move from unsheltered homelessness into stable housing.

Reyes and Lund emphasized that they sympathize with people living in the encampment who are struggling with addiction.

“It’s so hard because our hearts go out to everybody, and yet we really need to keep our children safe,” said Lund.

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By Brooklyn Joyner

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    JACKSON, Mississippi (WAPT) — The Mississippi Department of Public Safety plans to install artificial intelligence cameras in crash-prone areas to monitor driver behavior, a move that has sparked privacy concerns among lawmakers.

The contract between DPS and Acusensus Inc. was approved last week by the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services Board and will cost at least $2 million. The cameras will monitor drivers for cell phone use and seat belt compliance.

State Sen. Bradford Blackmon is concerned about the initiative.

“That type of technology can be good if it’s been thoroughly vetted and everything along those lines, but it hasn’t been,” Blackmon said. “This isn’t something that has come before the Legislature for us to even see about this type of technology.”

DPS officials defended the plan, emphasizing the cameras’ ability to detect violations that are often missed by patrol cars.

“A lot of times you can’t see the violations from the patrol car, but if you have the camera system overhead, now you can see the truck driver on his cellphone, or now you can see the children standing up on the front seat of the car,” DPS officials said.

The funding for the cameras comes from two grants, and DPS said similar technology has already been installed in five other states, including Minnesota and North Carolina. They added that the cameras have reduced crashes to zero percent in some areas.

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By Brian New, Lexi Salazar, Mike Lozano

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    KERR COUNTY, Texas (KTVT) — When a catastrophic flood hit Kerr County last summer, killing more than 100 people, residents across the state demanded to know what went wrong. One of the major issues identified: in much of the affected area, communities did not have outdoor warning sirens.

Lawmakers vowed to address the problem. Gov. Greg Abbott called a special legislative session and lawmakers passed a new state law to help some communities pay for siren systems.

As residents in the Hill Country mark one year since the tragedy, Texas is rolling out those new flood warning sirens in the hardest hit areas. But a CBS News Texas I-Team investigation found big gaps still exist, leaving some Texans wondering whether lawmakers fixed the problem or just responded to a crisis.

In the days after the July 4th weekend flooding last year, State Sen. Paul Bettencourt pushed to install outdoor warning sirens in flood-prone areas.

“It was obvious that if sirens had gone off down the upper Guadalupe River shed as this wall of water was coming down, then people could have had a last-minute warning to get to higher ground,” Bettencourt said in a recent interview.

Lawmakers passed Senate Bill 3, the legislation authored by Bettencourt that set aside $50 million for a grant program to help flood-prone counties pay for siren installation.

Twenty-nine Hill Country counties have signed agreements with the state, including Kerr County, where eight sirens have been installed. The sirens have been strategically located near campsites, along the south and north fork of the Guadalupe River.

Not everyone in the area is convinced these new sirens will keep them safe.

Kerr County resident Randy Murphy’s family owns property along the Guadalupe. He says last year, when the floods hit, he was able to work quickly to make sure everyone got to higher ground. But while he believes the new sirens are “better than nothing” in a confined area like the campsites, he questions how effective they will be to homeowners along the river in the event of a flash flood.

He doesn’t think they would have made a difference during last year’s flood:

“You wouldn’t have been able to hear them in that kind of a storm.”

Murphy said he believes lawmakers oversimplified a complex problem. He argues what’s needed is something more sophisticated: a connected network of sensors feeding real-time data, capable of pushing targeted alerts to cell phones, radios and sirens.

“If they said sirens are going to be it, we’re no further along today than we were back on July 4th,” Murphy said.

Thirty counties are eligible for funding through the state’s new grant program. But in many of Texas’ other 224 counties, communities either don’t have sirens, or have systems that are outdated. There is no statewide standard for how sirens should be used or maintained. There is not even a database.

The I-Team reached out to every county in the state in an effort to create one, and in the process uncovered a patchwork of protection, where safety can depend entirely on your zip code. The I-Team identified more than 2,000 sirens, nearly half of them in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. But large parts of the state are without any.

Cost remains a deterrent for many county governments. The price tag for sirens can vary depending on size, features and installation.

The eight recently installed in Kerr County cost $716,000, a little less than $100,000 per siren. These are on the pricier end as they include software and an integration system. Others can cost under $50,000, but even then some local communities have told the I-Team they can’t afford to install new systems.

Bettencourt said the state had to start somewhere and it made sense for lawmakers to focus on areas of Texas hit by last year’s floods first, but he warned communities shouldn’t wait for the state to invest in the technology.

“We don’t need to go through another natural disaster for everybody to realize that we need to get outdoor warning sirens up and running,” Bettencourt said. “Use our local monies wisely.”

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