Category: CNN Regional

By Jermont Terry

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A commute downtown to work for one woman left her fuming and fighting off her attacker after getting assaulted on a CTA train on Tuesday morning.

A trip to the police station wasn’t on Chiquita Brown’s plan, but she walked into the 1st District to file a complaint.

“I believe I was sexually assaulted on the Red Line this morning,” she said.

Brown hopped on the “L” at 63rd Street, and by the time she got to the 35th Street station, she couldn’t believe what had occurred.

“It was crowded this morning, so I was standing up, and a guy passed me and groped my behind,” she said.

Brown said the man didn’t just touch her backside, saying the offender touched her between her legs from behind.

She said she was violated on the crowded CTA train, and her defense instincts kicked in.

“I lost it,” she said. “I started hitting him, and I said, ‘ You don’t touch me, why are you putting your hands on me?'”

She was in the first train next to the conductor, who radioed the police, but when the doors opened, the man ran off. The assault left brown furious.

The conductor described the offender as a Black male with a tan jacket, blue jeans, and short dreads.

This incident comes as the Federal Transit Administration has called for CTA to revamp its safety plan or risk losing funding. The CTA last month said it plans to increase policing hours by 75%, but Brown said she didn’t see a single officer.

“Whatever their tactic is, we need results. So you can threaten to hold back money, but at the end of the day, we need results. I feel like they do need to go back to the drawing board,” Brown said.

More than 400,000 people ride the CTA trains weekly, and for those like Brown who depend on the transit system to get to work, they wait for a resolution.

She’s not happy the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Illinois’ law barring concealed carry of guns on public transit

“They denied the appeal to bring your firearms on the train because we may need to have it because people will think twice,” Brown said.

Officers met Brown at the Clark/Lake Station when the train arrived, but as of Tuesday night, no arrests were made.

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 Pete Caggiano

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    HONOLULU (KITV) — A new storm system approaches and brings a flood risk through Friday.

Tonight, expect cloudy skies with temperatures in the upper 60 degrees. Rain is expected for Maui County and the Big Island.

On Wednesday, mostly cloudy skies with scattered rain is forecast, mainly in the afternoon and evening. Some rains will be heavier. Winds will be from the south/east at 5 to 10 mph. High temperatures will be in the upper 70 degrees to near 80 degrees.

A Flood Watch goes into effect from 6 a.m. on Wednesday through Friday at 6 p.m.

Weather Alert Days are in effect from Wednesday to Friday due to the flood risk. Gusty Kona winds will also develop on Thursday and Friday. Expect winds gusts over 40 mph in some downslope spots as winds shift from the southeast to south from Thursday through Friday. Computer models indicate possible rainfall totals of 5 to 12 inches.

A Winter Storm Advisory is in effect for the summits of the Big Island.

Surf heights will increase: north-facing shores 6 to 10 feet, west-facing shores 5 to 7 feet, south-facing shores 6 to 10 feet, and east-facing shores 1 to 3 feet. High Surf Advisories possible for the south shores.

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 Gracie Palmer

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Black bears naturally thrive in heavily forested environments with dense vegetation and access to water. But as construction expands into those areas, their habitats are being disrupted and, in many cases, reduced.

“Their habitat kind of needs to be a wide range of different elements and complexities, which our mountains provide,” WNC Nature Center’s Animal Wellness Coordinator Chesley Hollander said of bears.

As more roads and homes are built, bears are increasingly pushed closer to humans.

“We are unfortunately their biggest predators, and that’s because we are driving around in their habitats, we’re developing in their homes and trees,” Hollander added.

At the same time, North Carolina’s black bear population has grown significantly — more than quadrupling over the past two decades to an estimated 20,000 bears statewide. With shrinking habitats and a growing population, sightings in urban areas are becoming more common.

While experts say that it is impossible to stop all development, there are other ways to support bear populations in western North Carolina.

“Accommodating for the natural space, allowing for the forest areas to happen, providing natural forging options for them in landscaping, things like that,” Hollander said.

Custom home builder Brian Sineath, owner of Sineath Construction, says certain communities have implemented rules to limit human interactions with the bears.

“Some communities you have to keep the dumpsters covered, or signage up that’s saying no food trash, and we try to police that very closely,” Sineath added.

Sineath says preserving natural vegetation during construction is also a priority for him.

“We use native trees. You know, if there’s wildlife corridors, we want to protect those. Try to leave as much buffer around the streams, and around those pathways as we can,” he 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.

By KTBS staff

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    LEESVILLE, Louisiana (KTBS) — Residents near Fort Polk and surrounding areas may notice large balloons in the sky this week as the military conducts high-altitude training.

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), in coordination with the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), will operate the balloons from Wednesday through Saturday. The flights are part of a scheduled rotational training exercise.

The balloons are similar in appearance to weather balloons and will be visible during daylight hours. Military officials said the assets operate at significant altitudes and do not pose a risk to commercial or private aviation.

Military and civilian aviation authorities are monitoring flight paths. Once the mission is complete, military personnel will recover the equipment in designated landing zones.

The balloons are expected to be visible from the Sabine County area.

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 WDJT News Staff

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    WAUWATOSA, Wisconsin (WDJT) — Wauwatosa police are investigating after they say a driver fired shots at another vehicle in a road rage incident Tuesday, April 7.

Officers responded to the area of I-41 and W. Capitol Drive around 3:10 p.m.

Police say a driver struck several construction barrels before sideswiping a second vehicle. After the crash, the driver of the first vehicle fired multiple shots at the other vehicle, striking it twice before fleeing the scene.

No injuries were reported.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Wauwatosa Police Department at 414-471-8430.

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By Lance Allan

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    WAUWATOSA, Wisconsin (WDJT) — Twins from Wauwatosa are making the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Eagles soar. Grant and Aidan Matthai have won multiple national and conference titles in cross country, and track and field. Now they want to end their collegiate careers at home with a bang.

‘The bond doesn’t. It doesn’t break,” Aidan Matthai said. “Let’s go!”

When you look at the Matthai twins — you’re nearly seeing double.

“If people meet us for the first time? We give them leniency because we’re identical twins,” Grant Matthai said. “So I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna be mad at you if you get us wrong the first few times. But if you’ve known us for at least a year? You gotta get it right!”

Grant and Aidan Matthai are twins from Wauwatosa. But you should know who’s who.

“Three strikes and you’re out kind of deal,” Aidan Matthai says.

Competing for UW-La Crosse, they’ve won back-to-back national cross-country championships.

“The first time we won the national title was 2024,” Grant Matthai said. “And I would say the main emotion from that one was relief just like to get that off your back and say ok, like I knew we were capable of doing this. But we hadn’t proved it yet. And we finally were able to prove it. So you get that weight off your shoulders. This time around? It was mostly just like pure joy.”

“Oh I’ll go with that one. Especially with Grant,” Aidan Matthai said. “It’s like, it’s kind of the stuff that you dream about when you first enter as a freshman. And then it becomes a reality. And you’re like wow, this is like gonna be one of my all-time moments that I look back on.”

Next month, in their last season together, they have a goal of a 3-peat for a men’s national outdoor track title.

“Outdoor nationals is at La Crosse,” Aidan Matthai said. “So it’s kind of symbolic in a way where as a senior? I get to end my collegiate career at the place where it started. So I mean, outdoor season is really when I wanna have my best performances. And winning a team title at home would just be the greatest.”

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 Tom Ignudo, Kerri Corrado, Grant Gilmore

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    PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — A meteor spotted in the Philadelphia region Tuesday afternoon traveled more than 100 miles before disintegrating, NASA said.

More than 200 people from Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut reported seeing the meteor, according to the American Meteor Society.

NASA said that February through April is peak fireball season, and meteors are quite common, but they usually occur over the ocean or unpopulated areas.

NASA report on meteor

In a report, NASA said the meteor was seen in the sky at around 2:30 p.m.

An analysis of the accounts and publicly accessible cameras shows the meteor first became visible 48 miles above the Atlantic Ocean, off the shore of Mastic Beach in Long Island, New York.

According to NASA, the meteor was moving at 30,000 miles per hour and traveled 117 miles through the upper atmosphere before it disintegrated 27 miles above Galloway, which is just north of Atlantic City.

Witnesses react to seeing meteor in New Jersey

Nicholas Samuelian said he was driving on Route 70 in Medford Lakes, and he saw a bright light in the sky and originally thought it was the sun reflecting off an airplane.

“I didn’t know what to think at first I never seen anything like that, so it was one of the craziest things I have ever seen,” Samuelian said.

“Immediately after that it started breaking up into pieces and there were all different flashes of light and that’s when I realized I should grab my phone and start taking a video,” he added.

Nicholas Brucato, of Manchester Township, said he saw the same streak moving across the sky.

“I had my phone in my hand thankfully and I started recording it and I thought it was pretty cool, and then two to three minutes later I heard a big boom,” Brucato said. “I don’t know if that was related at all. I’m not sure.”

Many others on social media said they also heard a boom.

NASA said when meteors travel through Earth’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds, exceeding the speed of sound, which eventually leads to sonic booms.

“After that I posted it to a Facebook group and it just blew up from there,” Brucato said.

What are the differences between a fireball, meteoroid, meteor and meteorite?

A meteoroid is small asteroid in space. It becomes a meteor when the light is emitted from a meteoroid or asteroid as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere and beings to burn.

A fireball is a meteor brighter than the planet Venus, and a meteorite is a fragment that survives passage through the atmosphere and hits the ground.

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By WUPA Digital Team

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    ATLANTA, Georgia (WUPA) — A former correctional officer at U.S. Penitentiary Atlanta has been convicted of taking bribes to help smuggle drugs and other contraband into the facility, federal prosecutors said.

A jury found 51-year-old Patrick Shackelford guilty after a six-day trial. He was taken into custody immediately following the verdict on April 2.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Shackelford worked with inmates to bring drugs, including methamphetamine and marijuana, into the prison between 2018 and 2019.

Prosecutors said the group used a hidden space connected to the visitation area, where visitors passed packages of contraband through a small hole under a restroom sink. Inmates would then retrieve the items and move them throughout the prison.

Authorities said Shackelford helped by allowing inmates access to restricted areas, hiding drugs in a staff office ceiling, and escorting inmates through checkpoints to distribute the contraband.

In exchange, Shackelford received about $5,000 and pain pills, officials said.

Investigators later uncovered one of the largest contraband seizures in the prison’s history, including more than a pound of pure methamphetamine, marijuana, cell phones, and other items hidden inside the facility.

“This conduct endangered the safety of the prison,” U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said in a statement.

Several inmates involved in the scheme have already pleaded guilty.

Shackelford is scheduled to be sentenced on July 20 and faces a minimum of 10 years in prison.

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.