Category: CNN Regional

By Tyler Watkins, Madison Zaleski, Edward Franco

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    LEE COUNTY, Florida (WBBH) — A man was arrested Monday after Lee County deputies said they received a tip that he made concerning calls to Rep. Byron Donalds’ office in Cape Coral.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said Daniel Eberly, 43, threatened to blow up Donalds’ office and “shoot every cop” during the erratic phone calls.

Detectives were able to find Eberly at his Cape Coral home and take him into custody within hours of the reported threats.

“In just a matter of hours, detectives took him into custody and charged him accordingly. Frankly, that phone call was the investigative equivalent of a self-addressed stamped envelope,” Marceno said.

Body camera footage shows Eberly being taken into custody on Northeast 15th Avenue and Northeast Pine Island Lane. Alex, a neighbor who witnessed the arrest, said, “The guy was threatening the congressman! That’s crazy! Two houses down from my house. That’s nuts!”

Donalds’ team shared a statement from him with Gulf Coast News that said, “Thank you, Sheriff Marceno and all the fine law enforcement officers who quickly handled this threat. There is no place for violence in our politics, and there is no place for violence against law enforcement.”

Eberly is facing charges of making a false report of a weapon of mass destruction and making a threat against a public servant. He has a lengthy criminal record in Lee County dating back a decade.

Eberly was arrested in 2024 for arson after Lee County deputies said video showed him setting a fire outside of a business.

Neighbors expressed concerns about the frequent law enforcement presence at the home. Paul, another neighbor, said, “Safety concern for everybody in the neighborhood.”

The home is reportedly a transitional living and addiction recovery house, which neighbors say is too close to families and a school bus stop. Alex added, “It’s no surprising that the cops come here sometimes every day in the week!”

Another man was previously arrested on May 27 for threatening to kill Donalds. The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said Dominic Ambrosia, 30, posted the threats to his X account.

Alex commented, “He’s moved up a lot to have some punk guy just threaten his life, his safety, his well-being.”

Back near U.S. Rep. Donalds’ office, Chriss Hoffman from Lee County, who was passing by, said, “I do think violence is on the uptick. And just in general, it just seems a lot more is happening around the world and even in our own neighborhoods, to be honest.”

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 Graham Cawthon

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    FLORENCE, S.C. (WJCL) — A Mexican man accused of helping lead a major drug trafficking operation that moved cocaine, fentanyl and heroin into South Carolina has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge, prosecutors said.

Rafael Contreras Ramos, 40, pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute controlled substances in the state, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina.

Large-scale trafficking operation Federal prosecutors said evidence presented during Contreras’ plea hearing showed he was a leader of an international drug trafficking organization that brought more than 40 kilograms of cocaine, 14 kilograms of fentanyl and 1 kilogram of heroin into the state for distribution.

Authorities said the organization operated mainly out of Tucson, Arizona, and had connections in Las Vegas; Burlington, North Carolina; and Horry County, South Carolina. Prosecutors said the group received narcotics and logistical support from a Mexican cartel.

Investigators identified the organization in 2021 during a joint probe involving local, state and federal agencies. Authorities later determined that Contreras and his associates had been moving drugs into Horry County since at least 2016, continuing until the operation was disrupted by federal charges in 2022.

Prosecutors also said the group collected more than $5 million in drug proceeds during that time.

Officials say case targeted broader network U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling said the case reflects a broader effort to stop dangerous narcotics before they reach communities in South Carolina.

“With our Homeland Security Task Force partners, we are stopping the influx of dangerous, illegal narcotics at the source,” Stirling said. “Dismantling drug organizations like this makes South Carolina safer.”

FBI Columbia Special Agent in Charge Kevin Moore said investigators focused not just on street-level dealers, but on the larger supply chain behind the trafficking.

“The defendant played a direct role in flooding Horry County with illegal drugs, and the consequences were that of violence on our streets, addiction in our neighborhoods, and real harm to people,” Moore said.

Extradited from Mexico, awaiting sentencing Contreras was arrested in Mexico and extradited to the United States for prosecution. He remains in custody while awaiting sentencing.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Dawson accepted the guilty plea and will sentence Contreras after a presentence investigation is completed. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and could receive up to life behind bars. Prosecutors said he will be deported to Mexico after serving his sentence.

Part of federal task force initiative Prosecutors said the case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative, a federal effort aimed at dismantling cartels, transnational criminal organizations, gangs, and human trafficking and smuggling networks.

The case was investigated by the FBI Columbia Field Office, the Horry County Sheriff’s Office, the Myrtle Beach Police Department and the Horry County Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Everett McMillian is prosecuting the case.

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 Kirsten Maselka

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    GLENNVILLE, Georgia (WJCL) — Residents packed Glennville City Hall on Tuesday night for a tense public meeting as city leaders faced mounting backlash over a viral video that captured the mayor and three council members making derogatory remarks about community members.

Every seat in the chamber was filled, with attendees spilling into the hallway for what many saw as the first real opportunity for the public to confront city officials directly since the video began circulating online weeks ago.

“You have broken the trust of the citizens and taxpayers,” resident and pastor Reba King Feliciano told city leaders during public comment.

The video, which has fueled weeks of controversy in the city, prompted residents to demand accountability from elected officials. Feliciano called for both an apology and resignations, saying, “We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Public comment was limited to residents who signed up in advance, allowing only a small number of people to speak. Several who addressed the council said the remarks heard in the video were unacceptable.

“Citizens should never have to question if they will be treated differently simply because of their religion,” said resident and pastor Roger Nelson.

Not all attendees agreed on how the city should respond. Resident Donna Blocker urged the community to show restraint, saying, “I do not believe that anyone should be judged solely by their worst moment.”

When council members addressed the crowd, however, residents received little in the way of explanation. The mayor and two council members allegedly heard in the video declined to comment. One council member thanked attendees for coming, but no one issued an apology.

Council member Cynthia Miller, who was not a part of the video but was the subject of some of the derogatory comments, thanked residents who spoke in her defense.

The meeting did little to settle the controversy. Some residents left City Hall angry and disappointed.

“It was a spit in the face,” resident Jo Ann Anderson said.

Others said the city must find a way to move forward together.

The uproar has dominated public discussion in Glennville for weeks, and Tuesday’s standing-room-only meeting suggested the divide in the community remains deep — and unresolved.

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By Ayron Lewallen

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    BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (WVTM) — The search continues for missing Auburn student James “Weston” Higginbotham who was last seen five days ago at a train station in Kyoto, Japan.

As his family searches for answers overseas, support is growing back home in Central Alabama, where loved ones, friends and community members gathered Tuesday at Asbury United Methodist Church to pray for his safe return.

With heads bowed and eyes closed, the church sanctuary was filled with prayers for Higginbotham and for the family members desperately waiting. Dozens came together to ask for strength, comfort and hope as the search stretches into another day.

Higginbotham’s grandfather, Robert Holt, said the family is facing obstacles but is deeply grateful for the support pouring in from so many people.

“Try to assure them that they’re not alone—that they have a whole lot of people—and most importantly, they’ve got God,” he said. “It’s his decision on how things go in our daily lives—period. Whatever your beliefs may or may not be, mine is very simple. God is in control, and with that said, ‘God, please.’”

Holt described his grandson as a strong young man who just finished an Ironman triathlon and said the family is doing everything possible to bring him home.

Family friend Clay Farrington described Higginbotham as a smart, kind and respectful athlete. He said the uncertainty has been heartbreaking, but the community is determined to stand beside the Higginbotham family. He still believes there is reason to hope.

“Keith and Nancy and Grayton, we love y’all,” he said. “Weston, if you see this, buddy, love y’all. Can’t wait to see y’all back in Birmingham.”

At the prayer gathering, that hope was at the center of every message. Higginbotham’s family is working to spread word of his disappearance as widely as possible and hopes anyone with information will come forward. They say they are thankful for the support they have received so far and are asking people to continue praying for his safe return.

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 Madeline Montgomery

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — In metro Atlanta, the game of table tennis is helping people with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and people who have had strokes.

Linda Bramhall was once a wallflower when it came to playing the sport.

“I just wanted to do nothing but sit on the sidelines the first few times that I came, and I kind of gradually worked my way into playing. But it was scary at first,” she said.

Bramhall now comes to the Lucky Shoals Park Community Recreation Center in Norcross twice a week for table tennis.

“Everybody’s very supportive of one another. And we all play one another. We all play the children, we all play the elderly,” said Bramhall.

For Bramhall, table tennis is also physical therapy. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease eight years ago, a neurological disorder that damages brain cells, leading to symptoms like uncontrollable movements, tremors, and balance issues.

She decided to start playing table tennis when she saw one of Nenad Bach’s videos. Bach is the founder of PingPong Parkinson. He started playing on a whim with a friend and noticed a difference in his Parkinson’s symptoms.

“I said, ‘If it can help me, why not others?’ So it was March 1, 2017, when we started, and nine years later, we are on six continents, in 36 countries, and around 4 to 500 chapters in the world,” Bach said.

One of those chapters is in Norcross and plays along with the Atlanta Table Tennis Association.

“It kind of makes me feel strong again. Not feeble or fragile. But you feel a sense of strength. Confidence, it gives you confidence, it just helps… You just generally feel overall much better,” said Bramhall.

Coach Oscar Rodriguez coaches every level of player in the high-speed game.

“Five-year-old, 6-year-old girls that are quite good. They will beat you. And then we have octogenarians,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez sees the healing across the table.

“I think this is helping with the neurons firing in the people’s brains in the people that have Parkinson’s,” he said.

Doctors agree, saying sports like table tennis are beneficial for more than just Parkinson’s patients. People who’ve suffered a stroke or have alzheimers also benefit.

“You’ve got a lot of evidence that has accrued that shows that it’s likely that exercise slows down the progression of these neurodegenerative conditions,” said Dr. Madeleine Hackney, a research scientist with Emory School of Medicine’s Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation.

Hackney works with people with Parkinson’s, Alzheimers, and people who’ve had strokes. She encourages movement as a form of medicine and even teaches dance to help ease symptoms.

“Try to find something that’s fun. Something that will engage your mind. Something that will make you feel good about yourself, something that will make you feel good throughout the day,” said Hackney.

That fun keeps Bramhall bouncing back.

“Having a purpose, every week, two days a week, you know you’re going to be somewhere, you’re going to be doing something fun, doing something good for your health, around your friends, people that you like to be with, so there’s that consistency,” said Bramhall.

It’s consistency that’s been key to keeping her healthy.

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By Diane Morris

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    DULLES, Virginia (WTOP) — Two groups of travelers leaving Dulles International Airport over Memorial Day weekend had nearly $100,000 in cash seized after authorities said they went to unusual lengths to hide money — even though carrying large amounts of currency out of the United States is legal.

On Saturday, May 23, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and Vito, a nearly 2-year-old German Shepherd trained to sniff out currency, stopped a U.S. citizen and his family before they boarded a flight from Dulles to Brussels, Belgium, CBP wrote in a statement Monday.

Officers said the man initially said he and his wife were each carrying $7,000. After CBP officers explained the reporting requirement, the family revised the total to $20,000, then listed $22,500 when completing the official currency reporting form, the agency said.

But a later inspection found additional cash concealed inside a small purse, CBP said. Officers also reported frisking the man and finding another $1,450 hidden in the pockets of a second pair of pants he was wearing. Their final count: $46,520.

The next day, officers came across another case involving a woman and her mother, who’s from Cameroon — also attempting to board a flight to Brussels, CBP said.

After officers explained the currency reporting rules, the pair at first said they had $15,000, the agency said. The daughter, a U.S. citizen, then wrote $22,361 on the required reporting form, CBP said. Then, during a baggage inspection, CBP officers said they discovered even more money stitched inside women’s undergarments.

Their final count in that case totaled $52,923.

CBP seized the cash in both cases, totaling $99,443. The travelers were released and were not criminally charged.

“These are two seizures in which travelers went to extreme measures to unnecessarily conceal currency from Customs and Border Protection officers during a departure inspection,” said Christine Waugh, CBP area port director for D.C., in a news release.

Waugh said the currency reporting requirement is not designed to stop travelers from carrying their own money abroad.

“Currency reporting laws don’t restrict how much currency people can take overseas, nor is the currency taxed,” she said. “The law is focused on identifying bulk currency smuggling attempts that may be associated with illegal activity.”

CBP emphasized that the travelers were not accused of breaking the law by carrying large sums of money. Federal rules allow travelers to move any amount of cash internationally, but anyone carrying more than $10,000 must accurately report it to the U.S. Treasury.

According to CBP, both groups would have been allowed to keep their money and continue their trips if they had accurately reported the full amounts they were carrying. Instead, they both faced delays or missed flights.

The agency said Dulles officers have repeatedly encountered similar cases this year. In April, officers seized more than $163,000 in unreported currency from four travelers, and in January seized more than $119,000 from four others, CBP said.

Nationwide, CBP officers and agents seized more than $182,000 per day in unreported or illicit currency from October 2024 through September 2025, according to filings from the U.S. Border Patrol and CBP’s Office of Field Operations.

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By Lauren Linder

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    Pennsylvania (KDKA) — The two men who were wounded in a shooting during then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s 2024 rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds are suing the United States.

James Copenhaver and David Dutch were shot during the attempted assassination of Trump on July 13, 2024, in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Their attorneys filed federal lawsuits against the United States for their “life altering physical and emotional injuries,” claiming those injuries were a direct result of negligence on the part of the United States Secret Service. Dutch was shot in the stomach, while Copenhaver was shot twice.

The complaints said, “The assassination attempt on President Trump’s life was entirely preventable and was caused, in whole or in part, by the failures of the USSS in the days leading up to the event as well as on the day of the assassination attempt.”

The families allege the lack of action by the Secret Service allowed the shooter, Thomas Crooks, who was seen “acting erratically in the hours before the shooting,” to climb onto the roof of the AGR building and fire eight shots before being killed by a countersniper.

They said in the lawsuit that agents failed to secure the roof of the AGR building, had “inadequate and improper lines of communication” with local and state agencies, failed to find and question Crooks, and failed to use “drone technology” that would have located Crooks “more than two hours prior to the shooting.”

The plaintiffs said when local law enforcement saw Crooks “acting erratically” and using a range finder, they shared an alert with a photo of him, but because of “USSS policies and procedures this information was not widely disseminated to all USSS personnel.”

The suit also referenced congressional investigations revealing a “cascade of preventable failures” and the Secret Service acknowledging them. They said if the Secret Service followed its policies and procedures, the shooting wouldn’t have happened, and the plaintiffs wouldn’t have been injured or had to undergo the many more surgeries expected in their future.

Both families are seeking in excess of $150,000. A spokesperson for the Secret Service told KDKA that it does not comment on pending litigation. KDKA also reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice for a statement but has not heard back as of Tuesday evening.

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By Tara Lynch

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The death of a Baltimore Department of Transportation (DOT) worker who was attacked during a parking dispute in 2025 has been ruled a homicide.

Kiannah Bonaparte, 49, denied a plea deal on Tuesday. State prosecutors said she will now face more serious charges.

The new charges have not yet been served to Bonaparte, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office said Wednesday morning.

The charges come after 71-year-old Gregory Turnipseed, a transportation investigator with the Baltimore DOT, was beaten in October 2025 while on the job, according to investigators. He died from his injuries in November 2025.

Bonaparte and her daughter are accused of punching and kicking Turnipseed after a verbal dispute.

“I just can’t believe he’s not here. It’s just different,” the victim’s daughter, La’Cheryl Turnipseed-White, said outside of court Tuesday.

DOT worker dies after parking dispute Court records say Turnipseed was at work when he walked up to an SUV on St. Paul Street. He asked the driver, Bonaparte, to move her vehicle because another car was waiting for the parking space.

Bonaparte’s daughter, who was 15 years old at the time, got out of the car and began punching Turnipseed in the face, according to court documents. Later, as Turnipseed tried to restrain the teen, Bonaparte also exited the vehicle and jumped on Turnipseed’s back, causing him to fall, according to investigators.

Bonaparte is accused of kicking Turnipseed in the head multiple times while he was on the ground.

Turnipseed was able to give statements to police and even identify his attacker out of a photo lineup. His family reported to investigators that he had memory loss and slurred speech from the altercation. He died the day before Thanksgiving from a brain bleed.

Woman arrested Bonaparte was arrested and charged with assault before Turnipseed’s death. She has been in custody since November 2025.

In court Tuesday, the defense requested that the case be postponed to give their experts more time to review the victim’s autopsy and medical records. That request was denied by the judge.

Instead, Bonaparte was given an option to accept a plea deal offered by prosecutors or allow the state’s attorney’s office to file new charges in the case.

The medical examiner’s office finished its review in early May, which was revealed in court. The officer ruled Turnipseed’s death a homicide.

The elevated charges, which prosecutors say will be filed on Tuesday, will be in connection with the homicide. Investigators are slated to bring the new charges before a district court commissioner Tuesday afternoon, who will then decide what charge is appropriate.

The public defender representing Bonaparte said an expert has been retained to review the manner and cause of death. A private investigator was also contracted to review the scene and other evidence.

Family reacts to Turnipseed’s death Turnipseed is remembered as a loving father, grandfather and even great-grandfather. His family described the moment they learned their father was allegedly attacked.

“I just thought it wasn’t real. I didn’t believe it until I actually saw him, so I just couldn’t believe that someone would do that to him,” Turnipseed-White said.

The family says justice needs to be served in this case.

“It’s very emotional seeing Miss Bonaparte today. Justice would mean that she would meet the fate that she should for doing such a horrendous thing,” Deborah Carrington, the victim’s cousin, told WJZ.

Bonaparte is still being held behind bars. She will be before a judge again once the new charges are filed.

It is unclear if the 15-year-old faced any charges in this case.

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