Category: CNN Regional

By Josh Sanders, Jim McHugh

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    PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — For most of his life, Kevin Christ couldn’t take a breath without help.

Born prematurely with serious lung issues, the Bucks County man spent his early childhood on a ventilator and the next three decades tethered to oxygen, never without a tube in his neck or therapy to help him breathe.

But on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park, Christ stood tall on the mound, took a deep breath and let it fly. His first pitch crossed home plate, cheered on by thousands, including his proud family and the medical team who helped save his life.

“Now that I’m free from oxygen, it feels amazing,” Christ said moments after his pitch.

Christ’s journey to this moment has been anything but easy.

Doctors at Temple University Hospital first met Christ 11 years ago. Despite the challenges of breathing through medical devices, he graduated from high school and held a job, determined to live life as fully as he could.

“Despite having a tube in his neck and being on oxygen, he graduated from high school. He had a job,” Dr. Gerard Criner, the director of the Temple Lung Center, said. “He’s always shown incredible strength.”

Last summer, Christ’s health took a turn for the worse. As he was struggling to breathe, his mother, Jennifer Giarrartano, rushed him to Temple. By January, he was listed for a double lung transplant. The following month, his condition worsened, and doctors placed him on ECMO, a form of life support, as they waited for donor lungs.

On March 7, Christ underwent a successful double lung transplant. He returned home on April 2, finally free from oxygen tanks for the first time in his life.

“I wish I could meet the person who donated their lungs to me,” he said. “To thank them.”

Six months later, Christ is not only thriving; he’s making memories. Tuesday’s Phillies-Mets game marked more than just a rivalry on the field. For Christ, it was a celebration of survival.

“Just seeing him finally get the reward from all the long suffering of 36 years … we’ve come a long way,” Jim Christ, Kevin’s father, said. “He’s done a great job. He’s so strong.”

The emotional moment was capped off by long-time Phillies PA announcer Dan Baker, who introduced him to the crowd:

“Please welcome double lung transplant recipient Kevin Christ,” Baker said at Citizens Bank Park.

Kevin Christ’s pitch sailed over the plate, a small throw, but a giant leap for someone who once relied on machines to breathe.

One pitch. One moment. One breath of freedom.

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By Natalie Duddridge

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    NEW YORK, New York (WCBS) — A vast archive of more than 1,000 hours of 9/11 footage is being donated to the New York Public Library.

Filmmakers who turned their cameras towards the people and asked New Yorkers to share their stories are now opening the collection to the public. Much of it has never seen before, even by the creators themselves.

“Point in the opposite direction”

On Sept. 11, 2001, filmmakers Steven Rosenbaum and his partner Pamela Yoder sent their crews to shoot a dating show for dog owners in Midtown Manhattan.

But when the first plane hit the North Tower, they rushed to redirect their cameras to Lower Manhattan.

“I said to these seven crews, if anyone needs to go home and be with their family, that’s fine. And everyone said no, we’re going,” Rosenbaum said.

He added, “One – I’ll never forget – he turned to me, one of the shooters, and he said, ‘What do we shoot?’ And I said, ‘There will be all of these news crews down there. Just look and see where they’re pointing, and point in the opposite direction.’ And that turned out to be pretty good advice.”

For the next week, they captured hundreds of hours of video showing not the wreckage, but the emotions and the humanity, unfiltered.

“My wife and I have seen more hours of 9/11 footage than any other two people on Earth”

To gather an even wider perspective, they put out a public request for footage.

“We put an ad in The Village Voice, and we said, if you saw 9/11 and have a camera, we want to talk to you,” Rosenbaum said.

The result was more than 1,200 hours of videos and interviews. So much poured in, it’s never been viewed in its entirety.

Rosenbaum says watching the footage now, the moment comes back to life.

“Literally like I was standing there,” he said.

The filmmakers released a documentary the following year using a fraction of the footage.

“My wife and I have seen more hours of 9/11 footage than any other two people on Earth. I’m positive of this. We still will look at a drive and be stunned at something we’ve never seen before,” he said.

The rest — about 1,000 hours — sat in their apartment until they decided to donate it to the NYPL archives.

“We’re just now beginning to look at 9/11 in the scope of a historical event”

The library will now take on the massive job of archiving the material responsibly.

“Archivists have an incredibly thoughtful attention to questions of privacy and violence, and it’s a very challenging tightrope that we walk because it is not our job to censor,” NYPL Curator Julia Golia said. “But it is our job to create structures of safety so that people can watch them in the right environment.”

The hope is the footage may eventually help shape new research, books and documentaries.

But above all, Rosenbaum wants to give future generations a deeper understanding of how New Yorkers lived through 9/11.

“News is the first draft of history. History begins in 20 years. We’re just now beginning to look at 9/11 in the scope of a historical event,” Rosenbaum said.

Curators say the archive will open by 2027 in phases: first in the library’s reading rooms, and later, when ready, online through the public library’s website.

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By Alice Gainer

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    NEW YORK, New York (WCBS) — In the 24 years since the 9/11 terror attacks, over 1,600 victims have been identified, but there are 1,100 more who remain unidentified.

Scientists say the commitment they made in 2001 to bring everyone home has not been forgotten.

The search for remains after 9/11

On Sept. 11, 2001, Mark Desire was at the World Trade Center site with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to preserve evidence and set up a temporary morgue when the South Tower collapsed.

“I thought I was dead. I thought that was it,” he said.

He ran as the tower fell, was hit by debris and went crashing through a window, suffering several injuries.

He came to work the next day on crutches and was put in charge of doing DNA identifications at Ground Zero.

“To do proper searching, it needed to be spread out more,” he said.

The decision was quickly made to use the recently shuttered Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island.

1.2 million tons of debris sorted, sifted and buried

Michael Mucci, who was the Department of Sanitation’s director of the site at the time, oversaw its reopening hours after the terror attacks.

“Two a.m. on [September] 12th was when we got our first two loads of material,” he said. “From there, it just ramped up.”

It was a tremendous and deeply personal around-the-clock, multiagency forensic operation with a view of the skyline where the towers once stood.

“There was a tractor operator who lost his son. There was a crane engineer who lost his wife,” he said. “I tell you what really got me, when they started bringing in crushed fire trucks … And you knew, everybody on Staten Island knew a fireman or a policeman that was in the towers, so when they started bringing in the crushed fire trucks, that kinda hit home.”

Material was sorted and sifted, some of it passing through quarter-inch sieves.

After it was all sorted, 1.2 million tons of debris was buried at the site.

More than 100 DSNY workers, including members of the medical examiner’s office, have died from 9/11-related illnesses.

Evolving technology helps identify victims decades later

Mucci explained material that had victims’ remains was in its own section.

“We tried to keep it as dignified as possible,” he said.

Desire, who worked at Fresh Kills and is now the assistant director of the NYC OCME, said remains, some as small as the size of a pea, were then transported to the medical examiner’s DNA lab. Years later, more would be found in Lower Manhattan.

“They were finding remains on rooftops, in manholes, so the search kept getting a little bit more expanded,” said Dr. Jennifer Odien, a forensic anthropologist with NYC OCME.

Scientists say 24 years later, they continue to test and retest remains as technology evolves. They urge family members to contact them, saying they could make more identifications today if they had familial DNA.

“If they want to check on the DNA that was submitted early on to make sure that everything we have is the most sufficient for comparison,” Odien said.

Three more victims were just identified in August, thanks to advanced DNA testing.

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By Mauricio Maldonado

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    MIAMI, Florida (WFOR) — A group filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Miami Beach, the mayor and a commissioner, alleging violations of the First Amendment during a pro-Palestine protest in December 2023 outside the city’s convention center during Art Basel.

“As much as Mayor Meiner and Commissioner Suarez wish to silence our voices they will not succeed,” said Donna Nevel, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace.

That morning, members Jewish Voice for Peace stood in front of Miami Beach City Hall holding signs that read, “We will not be silenced.” The lawsuit had been filed only hours before their announcement.

Lawsuit details alleged violations The lawsuit claims the group’s right to protest was violated when Miami Beach police ordered them off a public sidewalk on Dec. 8, 2023.

It also points to what it calls further violations through an ordinance passed on March 13, 2024, which was sponsored by Mayor Steven Meiner and co-sponsored by Commissioner David Suarez.

The resolution directs the city administration to implement and enforce time, place and manner restrictions on future protests “to the fullest extent permitted by law, with the aim of ensuring public safety and protecting city residents, preventing disturbances, and preserving the rights of all.”

It also requires the Miami Beach Police Department to notify the mayor and commission of protests of any size within one hour of learning about them.

“The tactics of the mayor and the commissioner, including yelling over us and shutting off the mics when we try to speak at public meetings,” Nevel said.

“The Miami Beach commission passed a flattening unconstitutional anti-protest ordinance that attempts to give police 100% discretion to silence protesters whenever they or the mayor sees fit,” said Katherine Giannamore, the attorney for Jewish Voice for Peace.

City leaders defend ordinance

Mayor Meiner defended the ordinance, saying it is intended to protect residents.

“Free speech is obviously sacrament and they will have that and they can have that. But you’re not going to intimidate and surround residence and that is what our legislation does,” Meiner said.

Commissioner Suarez also pledged to stand by the ordinance.

“We will defend it tooth and nail because we are on the right side of this fight and we’re also on the right side of history,” Suarez said.

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By Cecilio Padilla

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    California (KOVR) — Firefighters in Central California have been working to protect a grove of giant sequoia trees from a massive wildfire.

The Garnet Fire has been burning in the Sierra National Forest in eastern Fresno County since it was sparked by lightning on Aug. 24. As of Wednesday, it has grown to 56,795 acres with containment holding at 15 percent.

While the area is sparsely populated, fire crews have focused efforts on protecting a number of cultural sites potentially threatened by the Garnet Fire – in particular, the McKinley Grove of giant sequoias.

McKinley Grove giant sequoias Similar to the famed groves in nearby Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, home to some of the world’s largest trees, McKinley Grove also houses around 200 towering sequoias.

U.S. Forest Service crews have been installing sprinkler systems around the McKinley Grove sequoias and have been removing brush built up on the base of the trees that could potentially fuel stronger fires.

Notably, scientists say wildfires are an important part of the lifecycle of giant sequoias. Prescribed fires have been used by forest managers to emulate the wildfires that would periodically clear the forest understory. However, large and intense wildfires are still a concern – with a significant percentage of large giant sequoias having been killed in recent wildfires, officials say.

Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig said Tuesday he had been told by Cal Fire and U.S. Forest Service representatives that the McKinley Grove area was affected by the Garnet Fire, but only the understory was burned. The famed giant sequoia trees appeared to be OK, Magsig was told.

Fire crews are continuing to battle the Garnet Fire, with forecasts showing that favorable weather is expected Wednesday. More than 2,600 personnel are working the incident, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

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By Cecil Hannibal

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — Ashkan Moghaddam has been identified as the worker who died after collapsing in a gas tank at a North Sacramento Costco gas station on Monday.

He was known as “Ash” by the Bay Area martial arts community, where he became a double black belt in Jiu-Jitsu and Judo.

The 37-year-old was also a husband and father to two teenage girls.

“He was a very genuine person, and the kind of guy who, if you ever need him, he would be there,” said Calder Powers, the executive director of Guardian Gym.

“He carried a selflessness that was rare — he could change the entire energy of a room just by being in it,” said Nwabueze Umeh, a former training partner.

Back in 2010, Ash began training in Jiu-Jitsu at Ralph Gracie Berkeley under Eduardo Fraga.

“I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye,” said Fraga about his former student turned lifelong friend.

His former teammates and peers describe him as a man who’d go above and beyond for his friends and family.

Moghaddam even helped create a GoFundMe page for Fraga to help raise money during his naturalization process.

A few months ago, Fraga says he finally became a United States citizen. He says this is just one example of the type of friend he was.

“We’re all martial artists, but at the end of the day, we’re fathers, we’re role models, and he was working really hard,” said Newton Casemiro, his former Judo instructor.

According to his LinkedIn, Moghaddam was an emergency response supervisor with Ponder Environmental Services based out of Benicia.

KCRA 3 contacted the company Monday and Tuesday, but the company declined to comment.

The crew was working to clean the Costco gas tank underneath the gas station on Exposition Boulevard when he collapsed in the tank. First responders attempted to rescue him, but he did not survive.

As of Tuesday, the Sacramento County Coroner has yet to release the exact cause of his death, but fire crews suspected the incident was caused by the toxic fumes and a lack of respiratory equipment.

Cal-OSHA is now leading the investigation into whether any protocols or proper procedures were not followed.

The agency tells KCRA it can take up to six months to fully investigate before any citations are issued.

As his family and friends wait for answers, tributes continue to pour in.

Nile Hollowell-Dhar, a DJ and musician known as KSHMR, and who’s performed at major music festivals such as Coachella and EDC, posted a photo of the two as children writing in part “Rest in Peace to my brother Ash. what you made this life; nobody could have done…He was the underdog story, he was the fighter, he was the leader…I love you brother Long Live Ashkan.”

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By Felix Cortez

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    HOLLISTER, California (KSBW) — Two former employees of the San Benito County Library in Hollister have been sentenced to jail time after pleading no contest to charges related to embezzling over $300,000.

Assistant librarian Erin Baxter was sentenced to one year in county jail and two years’ probation after pleading no contest to forgery, conspiracy, and embezzlement.

She was ordered to repay more than $330,000, which she used to purchase items on Amazon, including makeup, golfing equipment, and camping gear.

Accounting clerk Mary Alvarez received a sentence of 60 days in county jail and one year of probation after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy.

The $600 restitution amount for Alvarez was waived, as prosecutors noted she did not benefit financially from Baxter’s actions.

“However, it should be noted there’s no evidence she actually received any benefit, Ms. Alvarez, received any benefit from it. So that’s why the resolution was quite a bit less than Ms. Baxter,” said San Benito County District Attorney Joel Buckingham.

Buckingham emphasized the seriousness of the crime, stating, “It is taxpayer dollars that we’re looking at. And so when we see this happen and we see taxpayer dollars metaphorically go out the window to purposes they’re not intended to, it’s something we take very seriously to make sure that the public’s trust is maintained and that people are held accountable.”

Buckingham also commented on the nature of temptation, saying, “They may be very good people 95% of the time, but temptation can come to anyone. And if it does and you steal, we will prosecute you.”

Both women are scheduled to check in at the county jail on October 7 to begin serving their jail sentences.

Calls to attorneys for Baxter and Alvarez went unreturned.

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