Boynton Beach man accused of murder-for-hire plot against ex-wife asks court to dismiss case

CNN Newsource on November 17, 2025

By Malcolm Shields

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    FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (WPBF) — A Boynton Beach man accused of paying an undercover Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputy to kill his ex-wife has asked a judge to dismiss his case.

According to court documents in Broward County, Michael D. Pine, 56, submitted on Oct. 29 a motion to dismiss attempted first-degree murder and first-degree solicitation of murder charges against him.

According to documents submitted by Pine in his own handwriting, Pine argues that the Broward County Sheriff’s Office engaged in entrapment.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, entrapment says “Government agents may not originate a criminal design, implant in an innocent person’s mind the disposition to commit a criminal act and then induce commission of the crime so that the Government may prosecute.”

Pine argues that the state attorney’s office in Broward County has not established or been able to provide evidence of any criminal activity prior to his encounter with law enforcement or the confidential source.

Pine argues that because of that, he should not be in jail, and the court must discharge the case.

Pine also requested in another motion on Oct. 29 that his court-appointed public defender be taken off his case, claiming that the attorney has not prepared a defense for the case and has failed to contact Pine in recent weeks about the case.

Pine has a scheduled Tuesday court hearing in Fort Lauderdale.

[related id=’d20f83d1-129c-45d8-8701-b3b822ec1b0b’ align=’center’ source=”][/related] Pine is accused of wanting his ex-wife dead so he could get his kid back and also blamed her for him going to state prison.

Pine initially requested someone to kill his ex-wife in February while serving a prison sentence for stalking, written threats and insurance claim fraud that occurred in Palm Beach County.

When Pine was released from prison on Feb. 26, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office continued its investigation into Pine.

Pine allegedly offered an undercover detective $10,000 to kill his ex-wife and in March, he paid an undercover detective $2,000 as a down payment for the murder.

After the undercover agent told Pine he killed his ex-wife, Pine allegedly agreed to pay the remaining $8,000.

Pine, who was born in New York, was arrested on March 6 and has pleaded not guilty.

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Shooting victim seeking answers after trial dismissal against son who shot him

CNN Newsource on November 17, 2025

By Waverle Monroe

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — While holding his Bible, 64-year-old Sabir shares his story.

“This is the blood, the only blood I was seeing after I came home,” Sabir said.

He was shot in the head back in February of 2021.

“So now, I’m blind on one side. The bullet, still in my head, and it leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth,” Sabir said.

And he says he knows the shooter.

“I was shot by my son. I don’t know why,” Sabir said.

The suspect was charged with first-degree assault back in 2021.

The charge carries up to 50 years in prison, if convicted.

The suspect never went to trial, and Sabir’s spent the last four years wondering why.

He said that’s why he called KETV Investigates.

“Finally, somebody is listening to me. Finally, somebody hears me. Finally, somebody is going to help me to get answers,” Sabir said.

He points the finger at the prosecutor’s office.

“I see Donald Kleine on the television a lot. ‘Well, I’m going to do this. I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to do this. I’m looking to do that.’ Well, what happened?” Sabir said.

KETV went to the Douglas County Attorney’s Office to find those answers.

“I don’t disagree with him. This should not have happened,” Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said.

Kleine said the defendant got off on a technicality.

Basically, a paperwork mistake that Kleine said all came apart when a trial date was set.

“We rely on the judges; we don’t set their calendar,” Kleine said. “They set their own calendar.”

According to court records, the trial was initially set for Oct. 18, but district court judge Honorable Marlon Polk had another trial that would overlap.

Polk moved the new trial date to Valentine’s Day 2022, a date that would fall four months outside the six-month window for a speedy trial.

“But the way the record was made was not good enough, and so we should have caught that and we didn’t,” Kleine said.

The case made its way all to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

The high court ruled emails and statements of unavailability were “insufficient to show docket congestion existed” or that there was “good cause” to continue the jury trial past that six-month speedy trial window.

Now, because of the law, the defendant cannot be tried again.

“It makes me feel like I’ve been victimized twice,” Sabir said.

Kleine said he wants to make sure this never happens again.

“It should bother everybody that’s involved in this side of the business that this is not the way things should happen, and so, it’s a problem, a big problem because it caused dismissal of the case,” Kleine said.

Sabir told KETV he is looking at possibly filing a lawsuit in order to get some justice in his case.

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Milwaukee mother charged with neglect in 3-year-old son’s death

CNN Newsource on November 17, 2025

By Sam Schmitz

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    MILWAUKEE (WISN) — A Milwaukee mother has been charged in the death of her 3-year-old son, Da’Quarius Berry, after he was found unresponsive earlier this month near 29th Street and Concordia Avenue.

Prosecutors charged Zaquitta Joiner-Murphy, 34, with child neglect, resulting in death.

According to the criminal complaint, Joiner-Murphy said on Nov. 6 at around 5:40 a.m., she was getting her other four children ready for school. She claimed Berry was awake and appeared to be fine. She also said that other than being sick two weeks before with a stomach virus, Berry was in good health. Joiner-Murphy said she then left to drive the other children to a bus stop for school. She then returned home after claiming to be gone for ten minutes or less.

When Joiner-Murphy arrived back at home, she went to check on Berry. According to the complaint, Berry at that point was lifeless and had a faint pulse.

Berry was taken to a hospital where doctors found “a large hemorrhage in Berry’s abdomen that would have been caused by non-accidental trauma.”

Investigators said the injuries Berry sustained showed “complete utter disregard for human life.

Berry died at the hospital.

During an interview with police, Joiner-Murphy said there were only three caretakers for the children, according to the complaint. Herself, her boyfriend and a woman who lived upstairs from them. Joiner-Murphy told police that she was a bartender and worked from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. to raise money for her kids. She would get back from work just before 6 a.m. She would ask the upstairs neighbor occasionally to check on her kids while she was working. The upstairs neighbor eventually spoke with police and said she was living on and off there, but she was staying with her grandmother from Nov. 5 to 7, so she wasn’t responsible for checking on the kids during those days. Police later confirmed the neighbor was at her grandmother’s house through surveillance video, according to the complaint.

The complaint states that Joiner-Murphy was with her children during the day on Nov. 5 and that they were all fine. At 10:30 p.m., she left her home to pick up her boyfriend. The two returned to her home and hung out until around midnight. Afterwards, they went to get food. Joiner-Murphy admitted to leaving her five children home alone during this time, according to the complaint.

Both Joiner-Murphy and her boyfriend returned to her home around 1:30 a.m. so she could go to work from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Her boyfriend was with her the entire time while she was working. Before leaving, she claimed she yelled to her neighbor to watch the kids, according to the complaint.

When they returned to her home around 5:45 a.m., Joiner-Murphy said she some of her kids for school, according to the complaint. Berry also woke up during this time, while sitting on a couch. Berry was still on the couch when she left to drop her kids off at the bus stop. Her boyfriend was sleeping in her bed, according to the complaint. Some of her kids were picked up by the school bus in front of the house at 6:30 a.m. At 6:40 a.m., she drove the other two children to a corner to be picked up by another school bus. Once those children were picked up, she drove to a corner store to pick up food for Berry.

According to the complaint, when she returned home, Berry was asleep on the couch. The complaint did not give a specific time when she returned home. Joiner-Murphy then took a shower and went to change Berry. At this time, she realized Berry was unresponsive. She then told her boyfriend to call 911 as she began CPR on Berry.

A detective confronted Joiner-Murphy with the fact that her neighbor was not at the home 47 minutes into her interview with a detective. According to the complaint, Joiner-Murphy confirmed that she left her five children alone the night of Nov. 6 to the morning of Nov. 6.

Investigators are still looking into Berry’s death. Prosecutors wrote at the time of filing the complaint that Joiner-Murphy was one of two suspects who had the opportunity to inflict blunt force trauma to Berry’s abdomen. It’s unclear who the second suspect is in the complaint.

Joiner-Murphy appeared in court Saturday for an initial appearance, wearing an anti-suicide smock.

The court commissioner set Joiner-Murphy’s bond at $50,000.

“I am confronted by an extremely serious case involving the death of a child as a result of a significant amount injury I guess to the abdomen and substantial internal bleeding with very limited explanation in the criminal complaint except that the child was under the care of Ms. Joiner-Murphy,” said Milwaukee County Court Commissioner J.C. Moore during Joiner-Murphy’s initial court appearance on Nov. 15.

If convicted, Joiner-Murphy could face up to 25 years in jail.

Family told WISN 12 News reporter Kendall Keys Joiner-Murphy’s boyfriend was arrested at the hospital on a probation violation. The district attorney’s office said it had not received a referral for charges against him on Nov. 13.

Berry’s grandmother said the other children are now in the care of family members.

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‘He has permanent brain damage’: Man remains hospitalized following attack outside Sacramento club

CNN Newsource on November 17, 2025

By Web Staff

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — Weeks after a Halloween party, a Sacramento resident remains hospitalized after an attack that the Sacramento Police Department is investigating as a hate crime.

The attack happened after 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 1 at Badlands Sacramento, one of the city’s most prominent LGBT+ friendly nightclubs. Officers who went to the Lavender Heights district found a man with serious injuries.

Andrea Prasad told KCRA 3 that she went to Badlands with her father, Alvin Prasad, whom she described as being very close to. They were celebrating Halloween with their friend Jonathon Wisniske and left the club around 2 a.m. when they were approached by a man as they were heading back to their car.

“A guy walked past me and my dad and just called him weird, insulted him for the way he was dressed. My dad is gay, and he likes to dress up a lot when going out dancing. So he was dressed more flamboyantly,” Andrea Prasad recalled.

Andrea Prasad said her father turned to confront the man and asked Jonathon to check on him. Wisniske said Andrea had not even finished her sentence when he saw the man cock back and punch Alvin Prasad “right in the forehead.”

“My dad hit the ground pretty quickly,” Andrea Prasad said. “The back of his head hit the concrete.”

After the initial punch, Wisniske said he threw himself in the middle of them and confronted the man.

“He cocks back again to punch me,” Wisniske recalled, explaining that he punched back in self-defense. “I wasn’t going to let him go. The first thing I said to him was, ‘Why are you running?’ That’s when he went into the street.”

After the confrontation ended, Wisniske said he rushed back to help Alvin Prasad, noting that he saw blood underneath his head.

Alvin Prasad has been in the hospital ever since that night. Andrea Prasad said he is in a coma and has permanent brain damage.

“He’s never going to be who he was,” Andrea Prasad said. “He can’t express himself, can’t go out dancing.”

That night has also been traumatic for Wisniske, who said he can’t even look at his hands without seeing Alvin Prasad’s blood on them.

Police said they arrested 24-year-old Sean Payton in connection with the attack. He faces a felony charge for assault with great bodily injury with a hate crime enhancement and a misdemeanor charge for resisting arrest, according to a complaint obtained by KCRA 3.

As her father recovers, Andrea Prasad remains overwhelmed by a mix of emotions, one of them anger.

“I don’t understand why someone would choose to do something to someone they don’t even know,” Andrea Prasad said.

When asked what she would tell her dad, she said that she would tell him that she misses him, wants him to get better, a lot of people care about him and that “he should still be happy and proud to be gay.”

“Last thing I said to him was the dimmest light shines brightest in the dark, that he’s that light and that he should keep shining,” Wisniske said.

Payton is due in court on Monday.

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Deadly Iowa police shooting: Suspect killed in exchange of gunfire with officers

CNN Newsource on November 17, 2025

By Web Staff

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    GRUNDY COUNTY, Iowa (KCCI) — The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating a deadly police shooting in Grundy County.

Authorities say a man wanted out of Waterloo led them on a chase last night before his vehicle was disabled and came to a stop on the side of the road.

“The subject exited his vehicle, produced a firearm, and fired at officers,” according to a news release. “Deputies with the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office and a Trooper with the Iowa State Patrol returned fire, striking the subject.”

According to the Iowa DCI, “officers performed lifesaving measures on the subject at the scene” before he was transported to a Waterloo hospital where he was pronounced dead. He has not yet been publicly identified.

No law enforcement officials were hurt. The officers involved are on critical incident leave.

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Lack of SNAP and WIC benefits during government shutdown could have lasting effects

CNN Newsource on November 17, 2025

By Joshua Davis

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    WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (WXII) — Days after the longest government shutdown in history came to a close, families across the triad are looking forward to once again getting their full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and WIC benefits. However, some recipients and local food pantries say that the effects of the last few weeks won’t disappear overnight.

Kayla Lawson of Rockingham County says WIC benefits play an important role in supporting her family.

“I was really happy that it’s finally coming to an end,” she said. “Really thankful that, you know, people don’t have to continue to struggle.”

She says she and other families she knows are relieved that benefits are getting funding again now that the government shutdown has finally come to an end.

“There were a lot of people who were really scared and upset,” she said. “Not being sure if you’re going to have enough money to make it through the end of the month, to buy groceries and, you know, other essentials.”

However, even though the federal government is back to business as usual, some people and even food pantries are worried about what happens if benefits lapse again.

Heather Schenck of Maple Springs United Methodist Church manages the food pantry. She said they saw a sharp uptick of people in need of food assistance during the shutdown, and they expect the need to continue to grow, just at a slower rate.

“I would imagine, as grocery prices are continuing to stay high, that people are going to continue coming to the food pantry in record numbers,” she said to WXII.

But there is a silver lining; Schenck says during the shutdown, the Triad came together in incredible ways to make sure families in need were able to eat.

She says if it happened once, it’ll happen again.

“Every time a person walked up to me and gave me a check, I had tears in my eyes,” she said. “Every time people dropped off food, they did it out of the kindness of their hearts, and it was so uplifting to see so many people stepping up to help our neighbors that are the most vulnerable among us.”

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Whitman-Hanson Regional High School students walk out of class to protest layoffs

CNN Newsource on November 17, 2025

By Matt Reed

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    HANSON, Massachusetts (WCVB) — Students at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School walked out of class Monday morning in protest after a massive budget deficit led to layoffs.

The district laid off five teachers, two long-term substitutes, 11 paraprofessionals and five non-union workers on Friday.

“We are not doing this for ourselves but for our future students,” senior Ella Leach said.

Last month, the district revealed a $1.4 million shortfall in this year’s budget.

The Whitman-Hanson Teachers Union has issued a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Jeff Szymaniak.

“The responsibility ultimately lies with me. Looking back how we got here, it is clear that I didn’t maintain a close enough watch over our payroll in fiscal year 25,” Szymaniak said.

The district said it is hopeful that some positions may be restored in the future.

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Coral from the sea is being used in some knee surgeries in NYC. Here’s how, and why.

CNN Newsource on November 17, 2025

By Jenna DeAngelis

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    NEW YORK, NY (WCBS) — Coral from the sea is being used in knee surgeries in Manhattan.

The innovative, new procedure using natural coral is being used to help those suffering from knee osteoarthritis who may not need a total knee replacement.

“Hearing that this was an option … felt like a miracle” Tanya Iacono, 47, has been an athlete all her life. Her passion for competitive powerlifting started in 2019, and took her to nationals back in June. It was a tough journey to get there.

“I finished fourth in my weight and age class,” Iacono said. “So that’s pretty cool.”

While training, she experienced extreme discomfort in her knee, excessive swelling, and mixed advice from doctors.

“I was basically told by some to just not move,” Iacono said. “For somebody that’s really active, you know, that can be really crushing.”

She was also told she would need a knee replacement.

Then she learned of the new, innovative procedure at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

“Hearing that this was an option really, truly felt like a miracle,” Iacono said.

Iacono spoke with CBS News New York ahead of her procedure, which uses a tiny cartilage repair implant called Cartiheal Agili-C. It’s made from coral, from the sea.

Treatment useful for early arthritis, doctors say “Coral, at baseline, is over 90% identical to bone, to be honest. The same chemical building blocks, is almost the same structure. So it’s already very similar, and then the body fully integrates that and makes it your own,” Dr. Andreas Gomoll of the Hospital for Special Surgery said.

Gomoll and Dr. Sabrina Strickland said it offers a less invasive option for patients who may not need or be ready for knee replacement.

“There are some patients who have, for example, a very long, skinny cartilage defect, which really hurts,” Strickland said. “And for that type of defect, we didn’t really have any great options before.”

“If you are at a stage where everything is destroyed in your knee, essentially, a new replacement is still by far the best option. This is really for the person with what we call early arthritis,” Gomoll said.

CBS News New York was invited into the operating room to observe the procedure. The first step is to remove the damaged cartilage, which had detached from the bone. Doctors said that can leave what they call a “pothole,” which can eventually lead to arthritis.

“Cartilage – it doesn’t heal on its own. So this is a way to help the body heal and reform cartilage,” Gomoll said.

The next step is to create a hole in the bone in order to insert the small implants.

“Much, much less pain” The procedure takes about a half an hour.

“[Iacono]’s nowhere near ready to have a knee replacement, and so by putting these coral plugs in, it stimulates the body the grow over the coral cartilage, which hopefully gives her a knee that’s going to last a whole lot longer,” Strickland said. “Much, much less pain. Much smaller incision. I would say most patients at six weeks look pretty good.”

The surgeons were part of the clinical trial which got Cartiheal FDA approval in 2022. They have done nearly 80 of the procedures outside of the clinical trial, and follow their patients closely.

Heidi Jones had the surgery a year and a half ago.

“I’m box jumping. I’m running. I’m squatting. I just did a 12,000-foot mountain. I’m just elated to have had it done and to be resuming everything I wanted to do on the other side,” Jones said.

Iacono can’t wait to get back to the gym, but says her main motivation is her son.

“I think any parent of a special needs child is always looking for ways to be indestructible, because you have to around for your kid as long as possible,” she said.

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Video shows man being run over by ocean rescue worker at Miami Beach in 2024, department reveals

CNN Newsource on November 17, 2025

By Alyssa Dzikowski

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    MIAMI, Florida (WFOR) — The Miami Beach Police Department has released footage of a 2024 incident that left a man seriously injured after he was run over by a truck on the beach.

According to the police department, the incident happened on the beach near 4th Street in November 2024.

In a newly released video, a 59-year-old man is seen lying on the beach when a truck driven by an ocean rescue worker runs him over. The man was taken to the hospital with serious injuries; however, police said, he was released later that same day.

CBS News Miami is working to gather information on what happened to the ocean rescue worker involved in the incident and if there are any pending charges.

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Video shows Orange County firefighters rescuing man trapped above rushing water during rainstorm

CNN Newsource on November 17, 2025

By Dean Fioresi

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    ORANGE COUNTY, California (KCAL/KCBS) — Orange County firefighters rescued a man who was trapped above rushing water over the weekend after a powerful storm brought heavy rainfall to the area.

Firefighters were called to Buena Park early Sunday upon learning of a man who was stranded on a ledge above a channel of water, according to a post on X from the Orange County Fire Authority.

The man was swept more than a mile downstream by the fast-moving water before he managed to climb out, firefighters said.

“A good Samaritan heard him calling for help and safely dropped a rope to keep him secure until crews arrived,” the social media post said. “Our firefighters, including swift water rescue resources pre-positioned for the weather event, quickly brought him to safety using the fire truck’s aerial ladder.”

The man was taken to the hospital in stable condition, according to firefighters.

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