Category: CNN Regional

By Marielle Mohs

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    MINNESOTA (WCCO) — Two Woodbury, Minnesota, sisters competed for rival dance teams in college. Now, they’re reuniting on the same team as professionals.

For the better part of the last decade, the University of Minnesota and the Ohio State University have been taking home the top two spots in jazz and pom at Universal Dance Association College Nationals.

But this rivalry was personal for Woodbury sisters Ava and Ellie Wagner.

“We grew up together, we went to school together, we did everything together, so I think it was really important for us to take our own paths and what was best for both of us,” Ellie Wagner said.

Ellie Wagner competed for the Buckeyes for the last four years. Her younger sister, Ava Wagner has been a standout for the Gophers the last two years. They welcomed the intense competition each season.

“It just pushes each program to be so much better,” Ellie Wagner said.

It put their parents in a unique position of rooting for both competitors. And they had fun with it, wearing split jerseys to nationals.

“I know they were loving it last year. They were sprinting from arena to arena,” Ellie Wagner said.

Even though they’re done competing, the Wagner sisters still have their mark on the competition. Ava Wagner choreographed her former team’s jazz this year, which earned a third-place finish.

“I’ve never really got to watch all my best friends dance before because I’m always focused on myself to see if I hit all my stuff. So, just to be on that side and be able to watch it [and] just acknowledge everything they’ve worked so hard for, it was honestly just a blessing and I was really grateful to be there,” Ava Wagner said.

The two are no longer rivals but teammates. They work as professional dancers, teaching kids of all ages at a dance convention that travels across the country.

“When we were at another convention when I was little, I was like, ‘I want to do this when I’m older.’ Now that we get to do it now, it’s like a dream come true,” Ava Wagner said.

“And we get to do it together. I said this is the most I’ve seen her in like five years,” Ellie Wagner said.

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.

KTVT

By Erin Jones

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    TEXAS (KTVT) — After rumors started swirling that a massive building off I-45 near I-20 could become an immigration detention center, Hutchins resident Paul James started digging and documenting what he found on social media.

“Finding out who is the realty company that’s involved, who is the owner of the current property, and whether or not there is such a thing going on,” he said.

Monday night, he brought his concerns to the City Council meeting, where Mayor Mario Vasquez addressed residents directly.

“I know we’re all here and you have a lot of questions,” he said.

Vasquez said the city has not been contacted by the federal government. There have been no applications, building permits, or certificates of occupancy filed.

“So in other words, we haven’t had no communication with nobody,” he said.

Last week, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told CBS News Texas that while the agency is actively working to expand detention space nationwide, there are no new detention centers to announce at this time.

During the meeting, Vasquez directed everyone’s attention to a new billboard campaign: “A city on the rise.”

“We’re building a community here, and this doesn’t match what we’re trying to do here, so if you think that anybody up here is on board with it, you’re in the wrong building,” he said.

Several residents told him that’s exactly what they wanted to hear.

“It’s crazy what’s going on in this world,” one resident said. “I got four kids, I don’t want my kids having to go to school and deal with this in our city.”

The mayor said that when the city does receive new information, the citizens will be the first to know.

He also suggested hosting a town hall to provide updates and reminded residents that the city council will meet with the city attorney on Wednesday to further discuss the building.

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 Erin Jones

Click here for updates on this story

    TEXAS (KTVT) — After rumors started swirling that a massive building off I-45 near I-20 could become an immigration detention center, Hutchins resident Paul James started digging and documenting what he found on social media.

“Finding out who is the realty company that’s involved, who is the owner of the current property, and whether or not there is such a thing going on,” he said.

Monday night, he brought his concerns to the City Council meeting, where Mayor Mario Vasquez addressed residents directly.

“I know we’re all here and you have a lot of questions,” he said.

Vasquez said the city has not been contacted by the federal government. There have been no applications, building permits, or certificates of occupancy filed.

“So in other words, we haven’t had no communication with nobody,” he said.

Last week, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told CBS News Texas that while the agency is actively working to expand detention space nationwide, there are no new detention centers to announce at this time.

During the meeting, Vasquez directed everyone’s attention to a new billboard campaign: “A city on the rise.”

“We’re building a community here, and this doesn’t match what we’re trying to do here, so if you think that anybody up here is on board with it, you’re in the wrong building,” he said.

Several residents told him that’s exactly what they wanted to hear.

“It’s crazy what’s going on in this world,” one resident said. “I got four kids, I don’t want my kids having to go to school and deal with this in our city.”

The mayor said that when the city does receive new information, the citizens will be the first to know.

He also suggested hosting a town hall to provide updates and reminded residents that the city council will meet with the city attorney on Wednesday to further discuss the building.

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 Adam Harrington, Jessica Popowcer

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A nurse was expected back in court on Tuesday after she was charged with giving fake Ozempic to patients in Chicago.

Prosecutors said Sharon Charitine Sackman, 52, gave the counterfeit weight loss drugs to three people in Chicago in 2023.

The drugs were labeled as Ozempic, but were not manufactured by Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk, and did not even contain semaglutide, the active ingredient in the weight loss drug, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors Sackman was a registered professional nurse, but did not have a license to prescribe, administer, dispense, or sell Ozempic.

Sackman previously pleaded not guilty to one count of distributing misbranded drugs and three counts of dispensing counterfeit drugs, prosecutors said. Each count could result in a year in federal prison upon conviction.

Sackman’s status hearing is set for 11 a.m. at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

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.

WBBM

By Adam Harrington, Jessica Popowcer

Click here for updates on this story

    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A nurse was expected back in court on Tuesday after she was charged with giving fake Ozempic to patients in Chicago.

Prosecutors said Sharon Charitine Sackman, 52, gave the counterfeit weight loss drugs to three people in Chicago in 2023.

The drugs were labeled as Ozempic, but were not manufactured by Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk, and did not even contain semaglutide, the active ingredient in the weight loss drug, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors Sackman was a registered professional nurse, but did not have a license to prescribe, administer, dispense, or sell Ozempic.

Sackman previously pleaded not guilty to one count of distributing misbranded drugs and three counts of dispensing counterfeit drugs, prosecutors said. Each count could result in a year in federal prison upon conviction.

Sackman’s status hearing is set for 11 a.m. at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

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.

WBBM

By Dave Savini

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — The civil rights trial of a wrongful Chicago police raid on an innocent family began on Monday.

The case involves a Chicago grandmother, her daughter, and her four grandchildren, who all said police pointed guns at them. It’s a case CBS Chicago first exposed years ago.

The botched raid happened back in 2018. The family said they’ve been living with trauma from it ever since. On Monday in a packed courtroom, they sat behind the officers involved as a jury was selected.

Attorney: “How did you feel when all this happened?

Lakai’ya: Scared.

Attorney: Why were you scared?

Lakai’ya: Because I didn’t know what was going on.”

Lakai’ya Booth and her siblings answered questions during a pre-trial deposition as part of their federal civil rights lawsuit against the city. She was just four years old when CPD officers wrongly raided her family’s home.

She’s one of dozens of children documented over the last eight years who said police pointed guns at them during similar raids.

Attorney: What do you remember happening that day?

La’niya: A big boom sound.

Her older sister, Laniya, was 11 at the time of the raid.

“A lot of like five to 10 police officers rushing in with these big guns,” she said.

One after another, they relived that moment in 2018 when officers burst into their family’s home in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Attorney: Why do you think you felt afraid when the guns were pointed at you?

E’Monie: Because there’s weapons pointed at a 13-year-old.

Now, over seven years after the raid, they will testify against the officers involved, accusing them of excessive force, pointing guns at them, and leaving them traumatized.

Their mother and grandmother were also there when police raided the home looking for a gang member and a handgun, but an investigation by CBS News Chicago found they were in the wrong house.

They took the word of a paid informant and didn’t properly vet the information.

“I’m like, oh my god. Please don’t let him shoot my baby,” Cynthia Eason said in 2018.

The CBS News Chicago investigators have spent years exposing how innocent people are treated by officers during these raids, especially children.

Some of the children from other wrongful raid cases are also expected to testify as part of the trial. Attorneys for the family will work to prove that CPD engages in a pattern of pointing guns and using excessive force against children.

“What are you doing, pointing guns at innocent young children? Wake up,” said Attorney Al Hofeld Jr.

Hofeld is the family’s attorney and said the jury will also hear the traumatic impact on the adults who were in the home at the time of the raid, like Eason, the children’s grandmother, who was in her underwear when officers burst into the home.

Eason said police forced her outside in a state of undress in front of her neighbors.

“When I was sitting there, one officer was laughing at me,” she said.

She said she kept asking for clothes but was denied.

“I looked at him, he’s laughing, and imagine how that feels,” she said.

Data shows the cities already spent $600,000 on legal fees for private law firms to defend the officers involved, and that number is expected to increase as the trial is expected to last a month.

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 Dave Savini

Click here for updates on this story

    CHICAGO (WBBM) — The civil rights trial of a wrongful Chicago police raid on an innocent family began on Monday.

The case involves a Chicago grandmother, her daughter, and her four grandchildren, who all said police pointed guns at them. It’s a case CBS Chicago first exposed years ago.

The botched raid happened back in 2018. The family said they’ve been living with trauma from it ever since. On Monday in a packed courtroom, they sat behind the officers involved as a jury was selected.

Attorney: “How did you feel when all this happened?

Lakai’ya: Scared.

Attorney: Why were you scared?

Lakai’ya: Because I didn’t know what was going on.”

Lakai’ya Booth and her siblings answered questions during a pre-trial deposition as part of their federal civil rights lawsuit against the city. She was just four years old when CPD officers wrongly raided her family’s home.

She’s one of dozens of children documented over the last eight years who said police pointed guns at them during similar raids.

Attorney: What do you remember happening that day?

La’niya: A big boom sound.

Her older sister, Laniya, was 11 at the time of the raid.

“A lot of like five to 10 police officers rushing in with these big guns,” she said.

One after another, they relived that moment in 2018 when officers burst into their family’s home in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Attorney: Why do you think you felt afraid when the guns were pointed at you?

E’Monie: Because there’s weapons pointed at a 13-year-old.

Now, over seven years after the raid, they will testify against the officers involved, accusing them of excessive force, pointing guns at them, and leaving them traumatized.

Their mother and grandmother were also there when police raided the home looking for a gang member and a handgun, but an investigation by CBS News Chicago found they were in the wrong house.

They took the word of a paid informant and didn’t properly vet the information.

“I’m like, oh my god. Please don’t let him shoot my baby,” Cynthia Eason said in 2018.

The CBS News Chicago investigators have spent years exposing how innocent people are treated by officers during these raids, especially children.

Some of the children from other wrongful raid cases are also expected to testify as part of the trial. Attorneys for the family will work to prove that CPD engages in a pattern of pointing guns and using excessive force against children.

“What are you doing, pointing guns at innocent young children? Wake up,” said Attorney Al Hofeld Jr.

Hofeld is the family’s attorney and said the jury will also hear the traumatic impact on the adults who were in the home at the time of the raid, like Eason, the children’s grandmother, who was in her underwear when officers burst into the home.

Eason said police forced her outside in a state of undress in front of her neighbors.

“When I was sitting there, one officer was laughing at me,” she said.

She said she kept asking for clothes but was denied.

“I looked at him, he’s laughing, and imagine how that feels,” she said.

Data shows the cities already spent $600,000 on legal fees for private law firms to defend the officers involved, and that number is expected to increase as the trial is expected to last a month.

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.