Category: CNN Regional

By Maricela De La Cruz

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    YUBA CITY, California (KCRA) — A McDonald’s employee in Yuba City is recovering in the UC Davis ICU burn unit after police say a coworker threw hot liquid on him Saturday night.

Jacob Smith, 20, suffered burns on the side of his face, neck, right arm, and back, according to investigators. His mother, Amber Smith, said her son was preparing to end his shift when the assault occurred.

“He was in the office getting ready to count the money when he saw out of the corner of his eye something, and he just turned, and the oil was just thrown on him,” Amber Smith said.

Nearly a week after the alleged assault, Jacob remains hospitalized, undergoing specialized treatment for his injuries. His family believes the liquid thrown on him was hot oil.

“The pain he’s experiencing is so excruciating that they can’t give him a level of pain medicine outside of the ICU,” Amber Smith said.

She added that medical staff are working to reduce the size of the burns on Jacob’s back and neck to minimize the need for skin grafts, though she fears it could potentially become more painful.

The Yuba City Police Department identified the suspected assailant as Jalani Bluett. Authorities say Bluett left the McDonald’s after the incident and was later arrested by Sutter County deputies. But what led up to the alleged assault remains unclear.

He faces multiple felony charges, and according to police, he was being held at the Sutter County jail without bail as of Friday.

Amber Smith expressed her hope for accountability in the case.

“I want justice to be served. I want him to serve the time he needs to serve for what he’s done to my son. I mean, I don’t wish bad things towards him. I just want him to understand that what he did—really understand what he did—and the pain that he caused to my son is excruciating,” she said.

Jacob is expected to undergo surgery next week, but his family doesn’t know how long his recovery will take, so they’re taking it day by day and staying by his side. The family has set up a GoFundMe to help cover expenses as he remains hospitalized.

KCRA 3 reached out to McDonald’s for a statement, and we haven’t heard back.

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 Emily Pofahl

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    WEST ALLIS, Wisconsin (WISN) — West Allis police and the bomb squad responded to Metropolitan Maintenance and Landscaping near Rogers and Highway 100 on New Year’s Eve, after receiving a report of a man allegedly making bombs inside the business.

The search led to prosecutors charging Joseph Godlewski with one felony count of possessing an improvised explosive device. Officers searched Metropolitan Maintenance and Landscaping and found what police say were materials to make bombs.

Body camera footage from that day shows officers searching the property, where they found various powders, fuses, glue sticks, a scale, and disassembled bombs with wicks. Investigators photographed the materials, which an expert on Milwaukee police’s hazardous device unit said were consistent with bomb-making supplies, according to court documents.

The suspect, identified as 48-year-old Godlewski, was an employee at the business. Court records show that an anonymous individual told police Godlewski “…was making pipe bombs…” at the site, and claimed to have been given a bomb by Godlewski in July 2025. The individual also alleged they saw Godlewski detonate a bomb behind the business that same month.

Godlewski has been charged with felony possession of an improvised explosive device. He is currently out on bond and awaiting his plea and sentencing hearing next month.

Godlewski declined an interview but told 12 News over the phone that he was not making bombs. When asked what he was doing with the materials, he said, “No comment.”

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 Waverle Monro

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    OMAHA (KETV) — The Douglas County Health Department is using wastewater surveillance to monitor pathogens and protect public health during the College World Series in Omaha.

Dr. Justin Frederick, Chief of Infectious Disease Epidemiology for the department, said the method is relatively new.

“I would say within the last year, two years, it’s very new,” Frederick said.

Frederick explained that wastewater testing involves collecting water from treatment facilities and sending it to a laboratory for analysis.

“It’s based on the wastewater treatment facilities; they collect the water and actually send it off to the laboratory for testing,” Frederick said.

The process works by detecting pathogens and illnesses shed in stool and urine, making it a community-wide test that can identify emerging infections.

“The way the wastewater surveillance works is that all of us can shed the pathogens and illnesses in stool and urine. It’s a community-wide kind of test, and it’s good to identify any emerging infections,” Frederick said.

Samples are taken from one of Omaha’s wastewater treatment facilities and sent to the Nebraska Public Health Lab for molecular testing.

“It’s a molecular test where it detects the genetic material of these viruses and bacteria,” Frederick said.

If a pathogen is detected, Frederick said health officials are alerted promptly.

“If we’ve identified it in the wastewater and we can warn our health care community, then it’s on their radar,” Frederick said.

Frederick emphasized the importance of this preventative work to ensure the College World Series remains a safe event for attendees.

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 Caleb Califano

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    WELLINGTON, Florida (WPBF) — Law enforcement maintained a visible presence at the Mall at Wellington Green on Friday after an online post promoted a “teen takeover” event at the shopping center.

The viral trend involves large groups of teenagers gathering at unsanctioned events, sometimes drawing hundreds of people. Similar events across Florida in recent months have resulted in arrests, fights and shootings.

By Friday afternoon, signs posted at entrances to the mall read, “The mall takeover is over.”

Inside the mall, operations appeared largely normal. However, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies were visible throughout the property, particularly near the food court.

PBSO said it became aware of the planned gathering after seeing reports of social media posts advertising the event. One flyer stated, “Let’s take over.”

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the number of deputies assigned to the mall was consistent with what would normally be expected, but additional resources were available if needed.

By Friday afternoon, signs posted at entrances to the mall read, “The mall takeover is over.”

Inside the mall, operations appeared largely normal. However, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies were visible throughout the property, particularly near the food court.

PBSO said it became aware of the planned gathering after seeing reports of social media posts advertising the event. One flyer stated, “Let’s take over.”

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the number of deputies assigned to the mall was consistent with what would normally be expected, but additional resources were available if needed.

The trend has also drawn attention from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.

Earlier this week, Uthmeier posted on social media that his office is developing plans to investigate and prosecute those responsible for organizing teen takeover events.

“Whoever is organizing these ‘teen takeovers,’ congrats: You have my attention,” Uthmeier wrote. “This behavior is unacceptable, and I’m having our statewide prosecutors develop a plan to investigate and prosecute those who are responsible for these events.”

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 WRAL Staff

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    VANCE COUNTY, North Carolina (WRAL) — The FBI joined the search on Thursday for two armed and dangerous inmates who escaped the Vance County Detention Center.

The FBI and Vance County Crime Stoppers are offering a combined reward of up to $40,000 to find and capture Michael Miles, 33, and Lishawn Knott, 21, who escaped around 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Officials said a reward of up to $20,000 is offered for each individual.

On Thursday, the FBI and Vance County Sheriff’s Office distributed a brief clip of the two men running down a hallway at the detention center. Authorities believe they were sprinting toward two vehicles.

Digital billboards are going up across the state to expand the search.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, both Miles and Knott knew each other before they were arrested. Officials said both men were being held for multiple state drug trafficking and gun-related charges.

WRAL’s Sky 5 flew over a nearby scene on Ransom and Breckenridge streets where authorities were searching for the two missing inmates. Sheriff’s Deputies say both are considered armed and dangerous.

Not long after the search began in Vance County, law enforcement in Wake County was told to be alert.

“Wake units, be advised of a jail break: inmates from Vance County, going to be two black males heading towards the apartments on Young Street, two possible suspect vehicles, including an older model Chevy Tahoe… a black Ford pickup truck,” according to Broadcastify emergency response radio traffic.

Officials said Miles is 6 feet tall and weighs about 180 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes and a prominent neck tattoo.

Knott is 5’11 and weighs about 160 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes, and has numerous face tattoos, including a large cross on his forehead.

Officials ask nearby residents to check their home security cameras or trail/hunting camera footage to assist in real-time tracking of the two inmates.

Officials also ask residents to lock their cars, close their garage doors and lock up their sheds.

This escape had brought other concerns about safety and security at the jail to light. Ashley McSwain, whose fiancé is incarcerated there, said she contacted jail officials in the last week about safety and security concerns, including cell doors not locking and a lack of inmate supervision.

“There has been reports that a lot of the cells are broken; they don’t lock or latch,” McSwain said. “So if there is an inmate with some issues on the streets, you’re probably gonna get beat down because the cells are not locking.”

In April, a Vance County jail supervisor was accused of raping an inmate. During a January county commissioners meeting, Sheriff Curtis Brame said the detention center was “scrambling” and “hurting” and that he worried for officer and inmate safety.

WRAL News reached out to the Vance County Sheriff’s Office about McSwain’s claims, as well as how the inmates were able to escape and how they were able to gain access to a firearm so quickly after getting out. We have not yet received a response.

Deputies encourage anyone who may see the inmates not to approach them but instead to call the Vance County Sheriff’s Office at (252) 738-2200 or Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers at (252) 492-1925. People can also submit anonymous tips through the P3 Tips mobile app.

The investigation is still ongoing.

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 Willie Daniely, WRAL reporter

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    DURHA, COUNTY, North Carolina (WRAL) — Durham County officials reversed a decision to remove Pride Month displays from public libraries just one day after the directive was issued, a move that sparked criticism from library workers, LGBTQ advocates and community members.

The controversy prompted supporters of the LGBTQ community to gather at Durham’s main library, where drag performer Stormie Daie hosted a children’s reading event to show solidarity with librarians and residents concerned about the decision.

“If the librarians are having their hands forced, we as a community see them, understand them and are going to help them have Pride despite administration’s decisions,” Daie said.

Several Durham County librarians told WRAL News that the directive to remove Pride displays was not an isolated incident. They said library staff have repeatedly been instructed over the past year to remove displays or alter programming that officials believed could fall under diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives.

According to those librarians, this was the first time such instructions were communicated in writing.

Library staff who spoke with WRAL said many library leaders disagreed with the decision but believed county officials were attempting to avoid potential federal scrutiny or retaliation tied to DEI-related policies.

Daie said the controversy reflects broader concerns about the political climate surrounding LGBTQ issues.

“It is truly a time that we are living in where the discriminations are coming from the highest of offices and they are happening right in front of the faces of even the most liberal communities like Durham,” Daie said.

Not everyone attending Saturday’s event supported the displays.

“You’re kind of forcing stuff down other Durham residents’ throats that they may not want to deal with,” attendee Justin said.

In a statement, Durham Library Workers United called for transparency surrounding the decision.

“We want transparency from all parties involved to understand what happened and appropriate, measured actions to restore confidence in the public and staff,” organizers told WRAL News.

Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam attended the event with her children. She said local leaders must be clear about their support for marginalized communities amid political debates playing out across the country.

“We’re trying to learn and grow in the face of this fascist government ourselves, and we don’t want that to be at the detriment of any of our marginalized minority community members,” Allam said.

WRAL News reached out to the Durham County Library director seeking answers about why Pride Month displays were initially ordered removed and what led officials to reverse the decision.

While the displays remain in place, library workers and community advocates say questions remain about how the decision was made and whether similar directives could be issued in the future.

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 Sooji Nam

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    DALY CITY, California (KPIX) — Members of the Bay Area’s Filipino community expressed worry about loved ones back home after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the southern part of the country.

Christian Flaviano thousands of miles away from his homeland of the Philippines, but that’s the only thing on his mind.

“I’ve seen it on social media earlier. And then I worried about all the students in the school because today is the first day in school. Yeah, I worry about a lot of the students there,” Flaviano told CBS News Bay Area.

He’s been working as a chef at Karilagan in South San Francisco for the past seven years. He moved from the Philippines to the Bay Area back in 2017.

After he heard of the terrifying earthquake online, he urgently called his family back home. Fortunately, he said, his family is safe.

Officials said the epicenter of the earthquake was roughly 10 to 20 miles off the southern coast of Mindanao around 7:30 a.m. Monday local time.

“It’s close enough to cause severe shaking and damage, but fortunately, it wasn’t under a major city which would have caused a lot more damage,” Paul Earle, a seismologist with USGS, told CBS News Bay Area. “For example, the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco is comparable size to this earthquake. We’ve seen pictures of what happened in that earthquake.”

“This area is also much more complicated than the Bay Area, where you have two large plates that are moving towards each other at about 3 inches per year. But in between those large plates, you have lots of little plates. You have about five small plates interacting in different ways. So, the Philippines are much more seismically active than California,” he added.

Earle said the Bay Area should not be seeing any ripple effects from the earthquake.

“You’re not going to see any effects in California. It’s possible if you have a larger earthquake, you can send a tsunami across the ocean. This earthquake was not large enough to send a tsunami,” he said.

Alyza Garcia was born in the Philippines and moved to the Bay Area when she was eight years old. She said she also checked in with her family back home who are safe.

“It is devastating to see families sometimes displaced and also, unfortunately, it’s hard for families to get resources or help. And then that they always have to rebuild, but it’s always very admiring to see how much community helps each other,” Garcia told CBS News Bay Area.

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 Eli Kuhn

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    EUGENE/KEIZER, Oregon (KEZI) — A LEGO Star Wars collection worth hundreds of thousands of dollars is at the center of a national controversy that has led to the closure of a Keizer store and raised questions about a Eugene location.

The national LEGO resale chain Bricks & Minifigs has permanently closed its location in Keizer following a dispute over a consignment agreement that has drawn tens of millions of views on social media.

Bryan Mansell says he and his 83-year-old father Ed spent years building a massive collection of Lego Star Wars sets, worth roughly $200,000. Mansell says he agreed to a consignment deal with the Keizer location of Bricks & Minifigs. But he alleges when the location changed ownership in 2024, the new ownership took full control of the inventory and refused to honor the consignment.

This led to a handful of lawsuits and national attention after the YouTuber Reckless Ben, or Benjamin Schneider, posted several videos investigating the case. Reckless Ben’s videos on the subject have gained more than 17 million views on YouTube as of Friday.

“Bricks & Minifigs is saying, ‘Yes we have all of Bryan’s LEGOs in our store, no we didn’t pay for them,'” Schneider said in a video uploaded May 23rd. “Their answer for that is: ‘We would never try to exploit an old man,’ but it seems like that’s what they’re doing, they’re exploiting an old man.”

In a statement released Thursday, Bricks & Minifigs says it has parted ways with Keizer franchise owners Joshua Johnson and Brandon Best following the closure of the Keizer location. However, the Oregon Secretary of State’s database shows Best is also listed as the owner of another franchise location in Eugene. It remains unclear whether he still owns or operates this location. Employees inside the West Eugene store declined to comment, but said that aside from the statement released on Thursday, they have not received any information related to the Eugene location.

In that statement, the company writes they “uncovered significant evidence of gross negligence in how the store was previously operated by the prior owner,” which they say led to complications with the consignment.

Bricks & Minifigs say the company has reached out to Mansell to meet and come to a mutual resolution. Reckless Ben also set up a GoFundMe for the Mansells, which as of Friday, has raised more than $400,000.

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 Andrew Adams, KSL

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    SANDY, Utah (KSL) — Severe burns can leave someone facing a mountain of physical, psychological and emotional trauma, but a program run by the University of Utah Health’s Burn Center is helping burn survivors to literally climb their way above it all.

Sixteen-year-old Atticus Jones-Wahlquist said the burns he received at the age of 2 took an incredible toll on many aspects of his life.

“It was a gasoline fire from my lawnmower at my grandma’s house,” Jones-Wahlquist said during an interview with KSL. “It spread all over me, caught fire.”

In addition to the physical scars on his face and chest, Jones-Wahlquist described emotional scarring as well.

“It made me really shy and made me a lot less confident of who I was,” the teen said. “There was a hot while where I struggled with confidence really bad.”

Jones-Wahlquist’s family and recreational therapist, Eric Bonin, believed the Burn Survivor Climbing Clinic could have positive results.

Bonin said the six-week clinic, which runs four times per year, brings groups of 10 to 15 burn survivors together, allowing them to express who they are and to work toward goals and improved life skills.

“It can hit a lot of those different domains,” Bonin said. “We use it a lot for emotional well-being, cognitive well-being and then there’s also a huge social aspect as well within the community.”

Volunteers and family members are also present to help the burn survivors through the experience.

“We frame it as never failing. There’s always, like, a project you can do,” Bonin said. “There are a lot of parallels between pushing yourself and trying and failing or trying and succeeding to life as well.”

Jones-Wahlquist’s father, Ammon Wahlquist, acknowledged he was initially apprehensive about the idea of climbing as therapy.

“I didn’t want him to get too frustrated or feel really discouraged if he couldn’t do a climb,” the dad said.

Wahlquist said the results he saw in his son, however, were significant.

“It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, honestly, to watch Atticus kind of go through the healing process of being really little and being burned, but kind of grow up and just work through the struggles that came with that,” Wahlquist said. “To just work through it and still be positive and the cool kid that he is, it’s been pretty awesome.”

Jones-Wahlquist, who now plays cornerback for West Jordan High School’s football team, said he had also noticed the changes within himself.

“It made me a lot more confident in who I am as a person,” Jones-Wahlquist said. “There might be a moment that’s really hard, but you can get through it, no matter what the situation is.”

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.