Category: CNN Regional

By Barry Pintar

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    BEAVER COUNTY, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A dog missing for six days during a snowstorm and sub-zero temperatures was reunited with her owners after first responders rescued her from under a train trestle in Beaver County.

First responders said they were flagged on Tuesday night by a homeless man who spotted a dog below a train trestle in Bridgewater. They knew about a dog named Willow who had been missing for days, and it turned out she was down there, still alive.

“She did not want to come to us initially,” said David Shipman, a firefighter with the New Brighton Volunteer Fire Department. “You could tell she was cold. Scared of us, a bunch of strangers. She’s been down there for six days. She was covered in ice, like on the backend.”

Video taken by another first responder showed Willow being hoisted up. They think she had been down there for days, digging a trench and hunkering down to stay warm. The rest is anyone’s guess. But what matters is she’s safe.

“The sheer fact of a successful rescue and being able to reunite Willow with the family, it was great, right?” said Bridgewater Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chuck Bates. “Where the dog was, I’m surprised that she survived, and I’m very glad that she did, as is the family.” Willow is now happy to be back home with her family. How did she survive all that time? Her family says the answer may be in her DNA. She’s half Pomeranian and half husky.

“She has a lot of husky in her,” Willow’s owner Sydney Anderson said. “I think her cold survival instincts took place. I think she was able to find shelter and drink water, whatever she could find.”

The Beaver County lost and found pets Facebook page is collecting money to buy items to help out the “hero” who found Willow.

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 Stephanie Stahl

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — A Philadelphia nonprofit is helping people with mental health and intellectual challenges find job opportunities.

Joan Vargas is restocking the shelves at a North Philadelphia ShopRite. She has an intellectual disability and at 36 years old, this is her first job.

“I am a changed person here,” Vargas said.

Vargas obtained the job through COMHAR Inc., a nonprofit that supports people with mental health and intellectual challenges.

“This is about empowerment. It’s about having people make choices about what they want to do,” COMHAR CEO Trapeta Mayson said. “Being able to earn a living, being able to have agency in your life.”

Vargas works with a coach, Jeremiah Cousins.

“She’s bubbly, she knows how to — she’s focused, she’s very serious about what she does,” Cousins said.

Cousins says COMHAR provides job training and placement to support people who often face barriers because of the stigma that people with with these types of disabilities can’t work or are unreliable.

“They can do jobs, in fact many do a better job than current employees,” Cousins said.

A job giving her purpose, dignity and joy.

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 Jessica Moore

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — The New York City Police Department has been slapped with a lawsuit claiming officers are engaging in “stop-and-frisk on wheels.”

The department is accused of using traffic stops to target and humiliate tens of thousands of Black and Brown New Yorkers without cause, but the NYPD says their enforcement is data-driven.

NYPD accused of racially discriminatory car searches The NAACP of New York and two Black New Yorkers are suing the NYPD over what they call “widespread, unconstitutional use of racially discriminatory vehicle searches.”

“The searches are not driven by the evidence. They’re driven by racial bias,” New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said.

The NYCLU sued to obtain NYPD data showing more than 84% of vehicles searched from 2022 through September 2025 were driven by Black or Latino drivers, while White drivers made up less than 4% of vehicle searches.

That same data shows most of the searches occurred in Black and Latino neighborhoods. The three precincts with the highest search count were the 75th Precinct in Brooklyn, 113th Precinct in Queens, and the 44th precinct in the Bronx, all of which are comprised of at least 83% Black or Latino residents.

When asked to respond to the lawsuit, the NYPD referred CBS News New York to testimony from an April 2025 City Council hearing, in which the department said it sends more officers to high crime areas.

“And this stuff is objective. It’s, like, from 911 calls, OK? It’s not us, right? It’s the public telling us this,” said Joshua Levin, former NYPD director of legislative affairs. “And so as a result, any time that you have more police officers in a certain area, as a result, you are going to see more enforcement.”

The lawsuit seeks systemic changes within the NYPD that ensure Black and Brown New Yorkers are not unconstitutionally searched.

Justin Cohen is one of the two New Yorkers included in the lawsuit.

Video posted by the NYCLU shows his 2023 traffic stop in the Bronx, recorded by NYPD body cameras.

An officer appears to frisk Cohen as he gets out of the driver’s seat of the car, and at one point, the officer grabs both of Cohen’s hands and raises them from his sides to his shoulders.

“Wait, why are you searching me?” Cohen asks.

“Because when you moved around like that, that makes me think you might–” the officer says.

“Alright, I don’t, I don’t have anything,” Cohen says.

The NYPD found nothing illegal, but seized the car and arrested Cohen, issuing him a speeding ticket which was later dismissed.

“An independent investigation by the [Civilian Complaint Review Board] confirmed what I already knew — that I was being racially profiled by the police,” Cohen said Thursday. “So more than two years later I still ask myself, why me? Why did this happen?”

Cohen said he’s still afraid of police two years later.

“They’re supposed to be people who protect us, but apparently they can do what they want,” he said.

The NYPD would not comment on Cohen’s case specifically but said there are mechanisms like the CCRB by which citizens can and should report any traffic stop believed to be improper or illegal.

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 Shelby Lofton

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    TOOELE (KSL) — A fire destroyed a Tooele couple’s home and took the life of one of their pets Friday night.

It happened about 6 p.m.

“We were actually just getting ready to eat a roast,” homeowner Brittany Johnson said. “Our fire alarms started to go off, which sometimes they randomly do that anyway, which is a little inconvenient, but, if we shower, hot water is running too long, they just kind of go off and do their own thing.”

She said they didn’t rush to get up because their smoke alarms have a history of being sensitive.

Johnson said she tried to fan the smoke alarm, but it didn’t work. That’s when they rounded up their cats and five dogs.

“We felt an insane explosion,” Johnson said. “I lost my hearing for probably about two minutes. Everything was very muffled. I remember my husband screaming my name.”

Smoke was coming from their swamp cooler.

They ran outside to safety with their pets.

Johnson said several fire trucks came to her house, and she remembers they spent 12 hours looking over every corner of her home.

“There was for sure a very large explosion,” she said. “Personally, my guess is faulty wiring, but investigators from insurance should be coming out sometime this week.”

Firefighters haven’t shared the official cause.

They did find one of the Johnsons’ pets inside, border collie-Aussie mix, Kenzie. Johnson said she died from smoke inhalation.

“I’m pretty sure she did come out when we were out, when we were trying to gather all of the animals out,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, she was kind of skittish, and she actually had, ironically, in that room that we saw the flames firsthand, she actually had a little closet area that she would go and hide.”

The Johnsons said Brittany’s clothing, furniture and so much more is destroyed. It could be nine to 12 months before they’re back home.

“Just to see everything that you’ve built, the first quarter of our lives is just, it’s gone,” Johnson said.

They’re intent on staying in Tooele, where they run Coffee Barn and where they have a community.

“There has been multiple businesses, even some of our competitors have come out and donated a proceeds of their sales to us,” Johnson said. “We’ve never felt alone in this, not once.”

The Johnsons’ family members set up a GoFundMe* to help them with expenses.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KSL verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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 Josh Haskell

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    PACIFIC PALISADES, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — As if losing your home of 34 years wasn’t bad enough, the rebuilding process for Pacific Palisades residents Chris and Jeff Spitz has been anything but smooth.

“Fire department came back and said, ‘Well, before we approve this permit, we need a new hydrant to be put in because you guys are more than twice the legal limit from the closest fire hydrant. And please contact LADWP to get a cost estimate for what you’ll have to pay to build and install this new hydrant,'” Jeff Spitz recalled.

“It was so shocking that I was nauseated by it because our insurance certainly wouldn’t have covered that,” said Chris Spitz.

The Spitzs felt they were being punished for wanting to rebuild. Adding to the confusion, this hydrant issue didn’t come up for their neighbors who built new homes within the last ten years before the fire.

“We didn’t just tear this down willy-nilly and say we want to build a brand-new house. This is just trying to come back,” said Chris.

The closest fire hydrant to the Spitz’s home is roughly 1,000 feet away. All of the homes in the neighborhood, especially the homes closer to the fire hydrant, burned in the Palisades Fire.

There are currently two fire hydrants near the Spitz’s home. One at Lombard Avenue and Via de Las Olas and one at Lombard Avenue and Friends Street.

“My level of outrage is through the roof. I really can’t imagine something much more insulting to someone who has lost their home… that they need to pay to put in a new fire hydrant,” said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park.

Park represents Pacific Palisades and arranged a meeting with the Los Angeles Fire Department and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power last month to resolve this issue.

After being stalled in the rebuilding process for 11 weeks, the Spitzs were told by their councilwoman the issue had been resolved.

The LADWP tells Eyewitness News they will cover the cost of installing a new fire hydrant at the price tag of $35,000. During the Palisades Fire, LADWP says demand for water in the Palisades reached four times normal use, resulting in water pressure issues that prevented water from coming out of some hydrants.

“They’re aware fires happen here all the time. In all that time, nobody did anything about the fire hydrants,” said Chris Spitz.

The LADWP told Eyewitness News “placement of hydrants is determined by the LAFD” and that a future water mainline upgrade in the Spitz’s neighborhood “will increase the hydrant’s flow-rate.” Based on discussions with the LAFD, DWP doesn’t “anticipate that additional fire hydrants will be needed” in the Palisades, but if they are, who pays for “it will be determined on a case-by-case basis.”

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.