Category: CNN Regional

By Todd Feurer, Ellie Coatar

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    Illinois (WBBM) — An investigation is underway in the northwest suburbs, involving AI-generated pornographic images of high school students.

Both Lake Zurich Police and Lake Zurich High School officials confirmed the investigation.

Police said they are investigating potential transmission of lewd material, including AI-generated content, among students. Police wouldn’t comment further because minors are involved.

School officials said they first received a report about the possible use of artificial intelligence to create pornographic images of students in late February. They notified police and contacted families of the impacted students.

In a statement, Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95 called this a “disturbing incident.”

“We understand the profound impact this has on the individuals involved, their families, and our learning community. Please know that we are taking this matter with the utmost seriousness, as such actions are a fundamental violation of the values we work to instill in our students every day,” District 95 Superintendent Dr. Kelley Gallt wrote in a letter to school families.

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 Penny Kmitt

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    BOSTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Judy Church, the Salisbury, Massachusetts woman convicted of murdering her boyfriend by poisoning him with an antifreeze ingredient, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Church, 67, was found guilty of first-degree murder “with premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty” Monday in the Nov. 2022 death of 55-year-old Leroy Fowler.

Judy Church sentencing

The judge said Thursday that he was mandated to issue a life sentence without the possibility of parole, but added “That is the exact sentence I would impose if I did have discretion.”

Prosecutors said Church deliberately poisoned Fowler with ethylene glycol because she was jealous of his relationship with another woman.

“Losing a loved one is painful no matter what, but when it happens at the hands of someone else it brings a pain like you’ve never felt before,” Fowler’s older sister, Tammy Carbone, said while reading a victim impact statement in court Thursday.

Church was accused of poisoning Fowler’s fruit punch-flavored Powerade on Nov. 11, his birthday. The poison, usually found in antifreeze, deicing fluid and hydraulic brake fluid, has a sweet taste that was masked by the drink, prosecutors said.

They added that Church videotaped Fowler struggling in their bedroom and asked him “are you having fun?” She didn’t call 911 for 30 minutes and told the dispatcher that Fowler “must have ingested something.”

That “something” was the drug Percocet, Church’s lawyers claimed. Fowler ended up in the hospital and died two days later.

“No one deserves to suffer like that”

Neither side disputed that Fowler was dating another woman named Barbara Randall while he was with Church and that the women knew each other. Prosecutors showed the jury a picture of a voodoo doll that Church allegedly kept of Randall. Fowler’s son testified that she would stick pins in it and throw it around.

Randall had her written victim impact statement read on her behalf in court Thursday. She said Church didn’t just take Fowler away from her, but also from his family who loved him.

“No one deserves to suffer like that. No one deserves to have their life ended in fear and pain at the hands of someone he thought he could trust,” Randall said.

The defense argued that Church and Fowler had a good relationship, were planning to move to Florida together and called this whole thing a conspiracy by Fowler’s family.

The Essex Superior Court jury deliberated for just about a day before reaching their guilty verdict Monday.

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 Chase Houle

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    MARIETTA, Georgia (WXIA) — The family of Tamirah Dix is grieving an unimaginable loss after Dix suffered a head injury and died in Puerto Rico.

While they did not want to speak on camera as they made arrangements to bring Dix’s body to Atlanta, they shared what happened in her final hours.

They say the 40-year-old was hit in the head at some point while zip-lining on Saturday. She made it through the rest of her day, but later that night, after going to sleep, she began having seizures.

On the way to the hospital, she died.

Back in Marietta, the loss is being felt deeply—especially with Marietta High School alums, where she graduated in 2004.

Among those remembering her is her best friend, Brittani Hebron.

“She’ll lift me up, pick me up. She likes to elevate people,” said Hebron.

The two met in the ninth grade and quickly became inseparable.

They considered themselves sisters.

“We called ourselves the Golden Girls; we were old ladies. We didn’t like to go out. Even though she was the life of the party when she was there, but most of the time we enjoyed being home, on the phone. You know, chit-chatting, talking crap,” said Hebron as she laughed at their times together.

Dix’s family describes the incident as a “freak accident.”

“I’m really crushed because that’s my everyday person. I’m on the phone with her at work, I’m on the phone with her after work. I was just crushed. I had to pull over. I was on the way to do some hair, and on the highway, I had to pull over when I got the news,” said Hebron.

Dix’s family says she was the youngest of four, and that she was adventurous, fearless, and caring—someone who loved deeply, especially when it came to her nieces and nephews.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Dix’s family says they are still waiting for autopsy results.

A vigil is planned for Saturday, April 4, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 545 Washington Avenue, Marietta, GA, 30060. A GoFundMe has been created to support the family.

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 Lisa Hughes

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    BOSTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Standing 6’8″ it is impossible to miss Bouba Dieme as he weaves through the tables at the East Boston Senior Center. His Heart of a Giant Foundation has been providing health care screenings and heart health information at the facility for more than two years. In that time, members’ blood pressure readings have been dropping.

“It means a lot to be able to help other people,” he said, before asking a group of women whether they are eating well and exercising. “What we’ve noticed when we get into communities is that we have people who are more curious about their health. They start with blood pressure. But then, after a conversation, they will have more questions with the nurses.”

One of those nurses, Patricia Nunn, is in another room greeting a woman who has arrived for her regular blood pressure screening. Patricia explains the process and reminds the woman that drinking coffee before the screening can affect the results. “If you have early intervention, you have better positive outcomes. So screening is very important,” Patricia explained, adding that heart disease is still the deadliest killer in the U.S.

Working with Heart of a Giant fulfills her need to provide care to people in underserved communities. “The access is not equal across the board, and neither is health care,” she said, reflecting on years of nursing experience.

That inequity, and his own journey as a chronically ill patient, motivated Bouba to create Heart of a Giant. It’s been almost four years since his transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Clearly, he is still thankful for the factors that influenced his successful outcome: access to good health care, resources (including mental health care), information, and support from family and friends.

He remembers, vividly, the shock of learning that he had heart disease as a very young man. Bouba was 25 years old when he came down with flu-like symptoms and chest pain. He was otherwise active, healthy, and living a full life. He had met Desiree who would, later, become his wife. The future he imagined was suddenly in question. He was diagnosed with left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy, a rare, congenital heart defect. His doctor explained that his heart was too big. It was dilated, trying to pump more blood and in the process getting bigger. The condition would only get worse. “It was traumatic in hindsight. It was really depressing,” he explains. He searched the internet for information but there wasn’t much to find and even fewer relatable patient stories.

Medication helped for a while. But after he moved to Boston in 2016, now married with a little boy, his symptoms returned. Doctors determined he would need a surgically implanted mechanical heart pump. He relied on the LVAD 24 hours a day, seven days a week, plugging it into the wall to charge it at night. The LVAD kept Bouba alive for six years until he finally received the transplant in 2022. Among the most touching photographs taken post-transplant shows one of his sons listening to his new heart through a stethoscope. “I think our journey to the transplant is really what defined our next step,” he said.

That next step was Heart of a Giant. In an effort to provide answers to other patients, Bouba had been writing a blog. He volunteered with the American Heart Association. Although he had moments of despair, he tried to process the negative emotions by taking an active role in his own health. Growing up, Bouba saw how his mother, a doctor, treated patients and how often their outcomes depended on their willingness to follow advice and make healthy changes. As a patient, he set an example for people around him. “I tried to be the emotional leader when I could be, a physical leader when I can be,” he said. “I just try to lead in certain areas and that’s kind of how I’ve been pushing it.”

His Heart of a Giant foundation now serves 19 Greater Boston communities right now with plans to grow in 2026. It has received grants from the American Heart Association and CVS and works with community groups, municipalities, and research institutions. The event at the East Boston Senior Center also showcased a partnership with the City of Boston’s Age Strong Commission.

Bouba says, in addition to screenings and education, one key to healthier communities is human connection; the camaraderie that develops when people encourage one another. The trust that grows between Bouba’s team and the communities they serve also makes it possible for the foundation to connect people with doctors and additional care when necessary.

Bouba leads a full life. In addition to serving as the “Chief Inspiration Officer” at Heart of a Giant, he’s a busy dad to his three sons, and leads public affairs, engagement, communications, and sustainability on energy infrastructure projects. He leads with gratitude for his health, his family, and the community he’s helped create through Heart of a Giant. Looking around at the crowd at the senior center, he explains how the foundation’s name also focuses his commitment to the people his foundation serves and the supporters whose donations make the work possible. “The people are all the goodwill, all the support, all the love we’re getting,” he said. “It must come from people that have a big heart—the heart of a giant.”

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 JT Moodee Lockman, Adam Thompson

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    BALTIMORE, Maryland (WJZ) — A mother is being praised for returning money that her son took from a Baltimore food truck run by a popular Twitch streamer.

The video, captured from Musa_USA’s stream, has since gone viral on social media.

“When I first saw it, I said, ‘That is not how he was raised, that’s not what we do. You don’t steal from anybody,” the mother, identified as Pastor Tonya Gray, told WJZ exclusively.

In the video, Gray is seen approaching the window of the hot dog truck as Muhsin Sarac, or Musa, was working.

Gray identifies herself as the mother of a man who was seen in a previous stream taking money from Sarac’s tip jar while he was not looking.

In the video, Gray asks Sarac how much money her son took. He eventually tells her it was about $30.

Gray reaches into her purse for the money as she says, “My son wasn’t raised like that. My son drinks, and when he drinks, he does stupid stuff.”

“I want to pay you back because you don’t deserve to be stolen from,” she said as she added the money back to the tip jar.

Gray said Sarac, or anyone working hard for money, doesn’t deserve to be a victim of theft.

“My son had no right to go in and take anything from him,” Gray told WJZ. “He deserved to be made whole. He’s on a corner, he’s doing a service, he’s helping a community. He has the right to what he has worked hard for, to be whole.”

In the video, Gray goes on to say that she put her son into treatment and prays that he gets better.

“But I want you to be OK,” she says to Sarac, who then exits the truck to hug her.

“I always love peace, respect, love,” he says as he thanks Gray.

According to his Twitch account, Sarac is originally from Turkey and was born in 1981. He is known for his daily livestreams featuring his business and his personal life.

“I love Baltimore!” Sarac declared after the interaction.

Sarac told WJZ on Thursday, “She almost made me cry.”

“She’s so lovely,” he added. “I don’t have any kids but if you have kids, you feel more responsible.

“Hold your child accountable”

Gray told WJZ that just because she held her son accountable for stealing doesn’t mean she doesn’t love him.

“We have to care about them enough to check them and say you were wrong, and if you need treatment, let’s find you some treatment, but we will not let you walk around broken,” Gray said. “No matter what he did, at the end of the day, that’s my son.”

Gray offers that advice to other parents, to not give up on their children, but to still hold them accountable for their actions.

“Hold your child accountable, don’t ignore it, don’t look away from it,” Gray said. “Don’t allow the incident or the situation to embarrass you to the point that you are not willing to stand up. Our children are not trash, they are troubled. If they are troubled, we need to address it.”

In addressing the youth, Gray hopes they make better choices.

“You have to be accountable for your actions because every action has a reaction,” Gray said. “If you are going to do something wrong, prepare for the consequences, or better yet, just don’t do it.”

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 Amanda Boettcher

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    TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — The sister of a man wanted for placing a bomb outside the MacDill Air Force Base visitors center is accused of using ChatGPT prompts to help her brother flee the country.

Ann Mary Zheng of Land O’ Lakes is charged with helping her brother, 20-year-old Alen Zheng, flee to China and destroying evidence after he placed an improvised explosive device (IED) outside of the base’s visitor center on March 10. The device did not detonate.

Ann was in federal court on March 31 for a bond hearing. Prosecutors said Ann used ChatGPT to try to find out how to obtain a Chinese visa, transfer property in her brother’s name to her, and find schools Alen could attend in China.

The court is giving the government until 5 p.m. on April 3 to respond to the 27-year-old defendant’s motion to set a reasonable bond.

The Department of Justice said Alen is still at large and believed to be in China. He faces federal charges of attempted damage of government property by fire or explosion, unlawful making of a destructive device, and possession of an unregistered destructive device.

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 Mercy Sackor, Bob Jones

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    AKRON, Ohio (WEWS) — After running away from his Akron home and being missing for months, a Pomeranian Husky named after the Greek god of sky and thunder recently had a heartwarming reunion with his owners, Rose Baun and Gio Diago.

Zeus is cute and fluffy, but proved he has his own brand of strength and toughness.

“He’s got his little thunderbolt we like to say on his head,” Baun said. “I think he’s a very resilient dog.”

The 22-pound dog is also a bit of a troublemaker.

Last August, Zeus somehow broke out of a window of his home and jumped outside. A neighbor grabbed Zeus and put him in a cage, but he escaped from that too, running off just a few weeks before his owners celebrated their daughter Gianna’s first birthday.

“This is like my first son. He was like my son before I had a daughter,” Diago said.

As Zeus was on the loose, the couple spent months searching different neighborhoods.

“We were really out there searching, and it was just dead on dead ends,” Diago said.

Baun added, “I did start to lose a little bit of hope after probably like four months.”

Still, the couple continued posting several messages on Facebook asking for help with bringing their dog home. Dozens of tips and possible sightings came in.

“People would say, ‘Oh, I think I saw him. I hear this, that and the other.’ But we couldn’t ever like track him down to an area,” Baun said.

Seven months after Zeus disappeared, Diago received a video via socail media on March 24 that apparently showed a man walking the dog in the Chapel Hill neighborhood.

“There were a couple of people that did confirm that he was being passed around,” Baun said.

The next day, Diago said he went to the area and talked with a homeless man who said Zeus was with a woman inside Summit Ridge Apartments. Police were called to the scene and remained on the scene for almost two hours, and after using a microchip scanner, they were able to confirm the dog was indeed Zeus.

Patrol officers Anderson and Davis, along with Sgt. Farr, assisted in the retrieval of the dog.

“This is a huge win. We understand the importance of the connection and the relationship that people have with their pets,” Akron Police Lt. Michael Murphy said.

“So he comes back with Zeus in hand, and I’m like, ‘Oh, thank God,'” Baun said. “It was amazing, like I cried, obviously.”

No charges were filed in the case. The owners are just happy Zeus is finally home.

“It means the world to me, like realistically to me, it feels like he was never gone. I always told her (Baun) he was gonna come back,” said Diago.

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 Kaylee Olivas

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    CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio (WEWS) — A college education isn’t cheap, but programs like the Cuyahoga County College Savings Account are supposed to alleviate some of that financial pain. The program shut down more than a decade ago, though, so now parents are wondering where that money went.

According to a pamphlet for the program, it was free to participate.

Each Cuyahoga County kindergartner, like now-senior in high school, Arianna Vaughn, was automatically enrolled at the start of this program.

Cuyahoga County deposited $100 into each account to get the ball rolling, and then families were provided physical deposit slips to continue adding to the pot.

“The College Savings Account program may secure donated funds to add to your account, but the primary way your child’s account will grow is through your contributions,” a pamphlet for the program says.

The account was opened through KeyBank. An account number associated with Vaughn’s name was created.

Vaughn’s mom, Deborah, said she didn’t use any of the deposit slips, so all that was sitting in this account was the county’s $100 contribution.

With Vaughn graduating soon and heading to Kent State in the fall for nursing, Deborah said she went to withdraw the $100 a couple of weeks ago, but found out the account had been closed and there was no money available to her.

“I went down to the bank to find out all the accounts had been closed out. I was asking every parent I could think of and parents couldn’t remember the program,” Deborah said.

She then shared her experience on Facebook. That’s when, through other parents, she found out all accounts had been allegedly closed in 2015.

“I was stunned. It was a bank account. I mean, I didn’t think you could just go in and withdraw money from somebody else’s bank account. Once you have a bank account, it’s secured I thought. Somebody else opened it, I didn’t think you could just go in and take the money out,” Deborah said.

Now she’s asking where the money intended for her daughter went and why she wasn’t notified of the program’s ending.

“I would just like to know what their ultimate plan was because this is a program that was started in kindergarten and the students are just becoming seniors now, so it was a long term investment,” Deborah said.

“Do you feel like the county owes you answers?,” I asked her.

Deborah said, “I think they should let us know. They should let us know.”

I reached out to Cuyahoga County Press Secretary Jennifer Ciaccia for information on Wednesday.

Ciaccia confirmed the program ended in 2015.

“At this time it appears that most everyone who participated received their money. The county does still have a small amount of funds that weren’t dispersed/collected because we could not locate the individuals to pay out, or they didn’t respond to notices that were sent out,” Ciaccia said.

The Vaughn family is now getting in touch with the county in an effort to collect the money.

If anyone else was a part of this program but has yet to see any money returned to them, email fiscalquestions@cuyahogacounty.gov.

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