Category: CNN Regional

By Aki Nace, Conor Wight

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    TODD COUNTY, Minnesota (WCCO) — The Minnesota Department of Health says it has identified two separate measles outbreaks in southeastern and central Minnesota, leaded to 25 cases in the last month.

The clusters in Fillmore and Todd counties in recent weeks make up more than half of the measles cases in Minnesota this year. According to the state’s department of health, all the people who got sick were unvaccinated.

Beth Parilla, who manages the Vaccine Preventable Diseases Section with the Minnesota Department of Health, said that the clusters in Fillmore and Todd counties are unrelated to one another but began in similar ways. She said that in each county, they began with someone picking up measles while travelling elsewhere in the United States and bringing the disease back to communities with low vaccination rates.

“The more people that get measles, the more likely we are to see people with severe complications,” Parilla said, “with a disease like this, we will do our best, but it is really hard to contain measles.”

Jackie Och, the Health and Human Services Director in Todd County, said that her team is concerned about declining MMR vaccine rates in children. As of 2021, the county reported a vaccine rate amongst children born that year of 74.6%; that rate dropped to 61.6% by 2023.

Parilla said that given how contagious measles are, vaccination rates need to be near 100 percent to prevent spread.

“It spreads really really fast. and we have a lot of groups in Minnesota that now have concerningly low immunization coverage,” Parilla said.

Linda Widmer said that she wishes she had the vaccine available to her when she was a young child. Widmer said that she was vacationing at a Minnesota lake at the age of seven when she found herself fighting an incredibly high fever for up to five days thanks to a measles infection. She believes the prolonged fever impacted her brain long-term.

“I felt terrible and just stayed in bed,” Widmer said, “I was miserable and I couldn’t go out and play. It was terrible.”

This was 1955; the vaccine became available to the public in 1963. By the year 2000, the United States declared the disease eradicated within the country. Among the more than 4,000 cases recorded in 2026 in the United States, Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services has confirmed at least 267 cases.

Measles, which was eliminated in the U.S. for decades, is classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the most contagious infectious diseases. The best way to prevent the disease is through vaccination, the department of health says.

“There are pockets of unvaccinated or under-vaccinated people across Minnesota, and anyone who isn’t vaccinated against measles is at risk, especially right now,” the health department said in a statement.

Overall, the U.S. has seen 4,000 cases of measles this year. Forty-two of those cases have happened in Minnesota. Last year, Minnesota saw 26 total cases.

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 Victor Jacobo

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    CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — A pair of class-action lawsuits filed in Chicago accuse two robot delivery companies of illegally collecting private biometric information.

The complaints against Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics accuse the companies of violating Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting people’s facial and hand data through their robots’ cameras.

A representative from Coco denied the allegations.

“This lawsuit fundamentally misunderstands our technology, we have not collected biometric data in Chicago, and we are confident that this frivolous lawsuit will go away,” a Coco spokesperson said in an email.

A spokesperson for Serve also denied any privacy violations.

“Serve Robotics is aware of the complaint and will defend against it,” the spokesperson said. “Our robots use cameras and sensors to navigate the sidewalks of Chicago safely. Serve does not use that data to identify individuals and our systems are not designed to identify individuals or create biometric profiles.”

Josh Robertson, who created a petition to pause the robot delivery pilot program in Chicago, said Chicagoans’ privacy concerns are valid. The petition, dubbed No Sidewalk Bots, urges the city to halt the sidewalk robot program until the technology’s impact is evaluated and rules can be implemented.

“We’ve had over 4,600 Chicagoans add their name to our petition,” he said. “Those who signed and have added their name to the petition have used the optional incident field to voice concerns like privacy-related risks.”

Robertson said the lawsuits against Coco and Serve are the latest examples of concerns over the robots.

“Concerns that folks raise run the gamut,” he said.

Robertson said those concerns include obstruction of pedestrian and car traffic, collisions into infrastructure, and effects on pets and children.

The Personal Delivery Device (PDD) Pilot Program was first introduced to the Chicago City Council by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2022. Under the pilot program, companies like Coco and Serve partner with restaurants as a courier service to deliver food orders to customers using robots.

In November 2024, Coco was licensed by the Chicago Department of Business Affairs & Consumer Protection (BACP), with the terms jointly managed with the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT). Serve launched in September 2025. BACP & CDOT say the pilot program is designed to assess both the “benefits and risks.”

The city’s pilot program allowing the robots is set to expire in May 2027 unless the City Council votes to end it sooner or extends it further. Robertson said he hopes city leaders consider concerns, including privacy, when constructing a path forward for delivery robots.

“I think it’s prudent that we’re now talking about this issue about the robots’ effect on privacy and the risks that might come with their presence in our neighborhoods,” 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 Noel Brennan

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    COOK COUNTY, Illinois (WBBM) — Hundreds of donated purses will soon be in the hands of domestic violence survivors across Cook County.

The purses are essentially care packages collected by staff at the Cook County Clerk’s Office for the annual “Love Purse” drive.

Beside the pile of purses and heap of handbags, there’s a lot of love in the room.

“It just feels overwhelmingly great,” said Maria Castro, CEO and founder of the nonprofit #LovePurse. “These little notes go on the outside, and they’re our tagline. It says, ‘Putting love on the shoulders of women in need, one Love Purse at a time.'”

#LovePurse collects new purses and fills them with toiletries and other necessities for women who need them most.

“Hundreds of women who have been unfortunately, either in a shelter – homeless or domestic violence shelters,” Castro said.

The purses piled up at the Cook County Clerk’s Office on Thursday were collected by employees from for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“Together, we’re showing that even a simple act of kindness can have a lasting impact,” Clerk Monica Gordon said. “There’s a lot of love out there. People want to help each other, and that’s what community is about – helping each other.”

Every single purse is packed with essentials, including important words every survivor needs to hear.

“Every time a woman opens one of these cards, they know that that somebody took the time to write it,” Castro said.

They’re messages a woman can carry with her for a lifetime.

“This is from somebody who loves you, and you will never meet me, but I have met you where you are. Love you. Maria,” Castro said, reading from one of the cards.

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 Doug Myers

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    AZLE, Texas (KTVT) — A North Texas community is grieving the loss of a former high school football standout who died Thursday, five days after suffering a traumatic injury during a college football game in Arkansas.

Tyler Ulrich, a 21-year-old former Azle High School player and sophomore safety at Southern Nazarene University, was injured Saturday during a game against Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, about 65 miles southwest of Little Rock.

His father, Mark Ulrich, announced his son’s death in a Facebook post.

“Our family is truly blessed to receive all the love and prayers for our young Tyler and we are ever grateful. But as much support and love that was given, it is with a heavy heart I am writing to say the Lord called Tyler this morning at 11:13 a.m.” Mark Ulrich said. “Tyler will join many of our loved ones that have passed. Tyler led a life full of faith, passion and being a BEAST on the football field!!! He will be remembered always.”

While playing football at Azle High School, Ulrich earned second-team all-district and academic all-state honors. He also competed in powerlifting at the state level.

At Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, Ulrich was majoring in finance. According to his university biography, he enjoyed attending church, working out and water sports.

In a statement, Southern Nazarene University President Keith Newman confirmed Ulrich’s death, calling him a “beloved member of our SNU football team and student body,” and asking the university community to keep his family in its prayers.

Newman said that as students, faculty, and staff gathered Tuesday for the university’s campuswide prayer chapel, “we anchored our hearts in the truths of Psalm 62 – reminding ourselves that ‘my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly, He is my rock and my salvation; He is my refuge, I will never be shaken.’ In this moment of deep grief, we lean into that very rock and source of comfort.”

He urged the SNU community to “keep Tyler’s family, teammates, coaches, and friends in your continued prayers during this unimaginably difficult time.”

Southern Nazarene University’s Renew Counseling Center and campus pastors are available to support students and other members of the campus community.

“May God’s peace and comfort be with us all,” Newman 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 Nicole Alarcon

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    NEW YORK, New York (WCBS) — Two New York City men are facing federal charges after prosecutors say fentanyl disguised as cocaine killed a college student, nearly killed another and led to the alleged sexual assault of one of the victims in a campus dorm earlier this year in Manhattan.

Moises Freire, 19, of the Bronx and Brian Peralta Cabrera, 18, of Queens are accused of conspiring to distribute fentanyl that was falsely represented as cocaine to two college students in March, according to an indictment released Thursday by The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Federal prosecutors allege Freire brought the fentanyl to the victims’ residence hall on March 18 and told the women the substance was “pure cocaine,” despite allegedly knowing it contained fentanyl. After the women ingested the drug, both quickly lost consciousness, according to the indictment.

Federal authorities further allege that Freire sexually assaulted one of the women while she was unconscious. Prosecutors say he then waited about 45 minutes before seeking help and initially told campus security that the women had consumed too much alcohol.

Both students were taken to hospitals after security personnel administered emergency aid, including Narcan. Toxicology testing later confirmed the women had ingested fentanyl and not cocaine, prosecutors said.

One student survived after receiving life-saving treatment. The other remained in critical condition and later died from complications of acute fentanyl intoxication, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Investigators allege Freire previously told Peralta Cabrera he wanted drugs that would “last the entire night” and could cause users to become addicted.

Freire and Peralta Cabrera are each charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance resulting in death and serious bodily injury, a charge that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Freire also faces additional charges of distributing a controlled substance resulting in death and serious bodily injury, as well as distributing a controlled substance with intent to commit rape.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

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 Alexa Herrera, Adi Guajardo, Naveen Dhaliwal, Christina Fan

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    NEW YORK, New York (WCBS) — The mother of a 5-year-old girl who was found unconscious and unresponsive, with blood around her mouth and nose, inside a Queens home was arrested Thursday, according to police.

Police identified the mother as Francis Cabello, 32, of Queens. Cabello is facing murder charges.

Cabello allegedly confessed to killing the girl inside the residence on 110th Street in the South Richmond Hill neighborhood, police sources said. Cabello called 911 just before 7 p.m. Wednesday claiming she killed the 5-year-old, police sources said.

Kuldeep Singh, the girl’s father, told CBS News New York’s Adi Guajardo he believes her mother loved their daughter deeply and that the tragedy was an accident.

Singh described his daughter as kind, caring and loving as he recalled their final moments together.

“I feel like I lose everything,” Singh said.

He said his daughter showered him with affection the last time he saw her.

“She was kissing me like 100 times,” Singh said. “She was chasing me, saying, ‘I love you. I miss you.'”

Singh said his daughter lived with her mother and grandparents.

The child’s maternal grandfather described what he remembered when his daughter took his granddaughter, Fabiana Cabello, inside a bedroom before police arrived.

“I see nothing. She was inside the bedroom. She closed the door. We see nothing,” Franklin Cabello said. “She closed the door and, I don’t know, she take this decision.”

EMS personnel transported the girl to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in critical condition, where she was later pronounced dead, the NYPD said.

“The mother has mental problems. She was taking medication and she left the medication,” Franklin Cabello said.

Investigators taped off the house, treating it as a crime scene.

Cabello said his daughter had been seeking treatment for mental health issues for some time, but added he did not expect what happened Wednesday night.

Neighbors said the news left them devastated.

“She used to play here with my cousin and now she won’t,” Emmanuel Rosario said.

The medical examiner’s office will investigate the cause of death.

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By Shelley Bortz

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    DONORA, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — Video of an arrest in Donora that shows an officer punching a man sitting in a chair and using a Taser on him is prompting calls for an investigation.

The video shows Shawn Bowman sitting in a chair as an officer tries to handcuff him after being called to his home for a domestic disturbance.

In the video, you see Bowman move his hand toward the officer’s hands. Then the officer punches him in the face twice and uses a Taser. Bowman falls to the ground.

Longtime Donora resident Dennis Hawkins Jr. said the video raises questions.

“I just started shaking,” Hawkins said. “I can’t believe that someone in our town is going through this from a person who is supposed to protect and serve the people of this community.”

There’s no audio on the video we reviewed, so we can’t hear their exchange.

In the criminal complaint, the officer writes that after he used the Taser, he repeatedly ordered Bowman to get on the ground and put his hands behind his back before Bowman eventually complied.

“If they’re not resisting arrest or causing any threat to you, that force shouldn’t be taken,” Hawkins said.

“It looks like a rogue officer exercising his right to do whatever he wants to do because he has a badge on,” he added.

Hawkins often uses his Facebook page to bring attention to community concerns. After he shared this video, questions about the officer’s use of force poured in.

He says the reaction goes beyond anger.

“People are scared,” he said. “It seems like no one is safe cause that guy was probably 60 years old.”

KDKA-TV took those concerns to Donora police to ask whether they were aware of the video. The chief wasn’t in, and we didn’t hear back by airtime.

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 Erika Stanish

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    PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A motorcyclist said she and two other bikers were almost run off the road by a Pittsburgh-area contractor’s pickup truck in an apparent road rage incident that was caught on camera and has since gone viral.

New Sewickley Township police said an investigation is underway after video appears to show a truck driver trying to run over several motorcyclists in Beaver County.

“I was like, ‘I’m going in the grass. I’m gone,'” said Sarah Miller, one of the motorcyclists.

Miller said she and two other bikers were taking their last joy ride of the season on Tuesday when the incident happened.

“We’re out enjoying our ride, it was probably going to be the last ride of the season, given that the weather’s turning. There were two lanes; we were in the left lane, the truck’s in the right lane. He had already been driving pretty aggressive at that point. He tried to cut us off and kind of break up our group so that some would be ahead, some would be behind, and he could kind of get in the middle and I guess control whatever traffic he wanted to,” Miller said.

Miller’s video, taken on an Insta 360 camera, shows the white truck approaching behind her before the driver cuts off another motorcyclist.

“Truck cut him off, and we go and merge, and then he gets behind us, and I get ran off road, my buddy gets ran off the road,” Miller said.

In the video, you can see CE Little Contracting on the side of the truck before Miller speeds ahead to get away from the truck.

As the video continues, you can see the white truck cross into the opposite lane of traffic to catch up to Miller when she began pointing at her camera.

“As soon as I pointed to that camera, it looks like he kind of backs off and slows down a little bit. Maybe he didn’t realize I was recording,” Miller said.

KDKA-TV asked Miller what led up to the encounter.

“No idea. We weren’t really doing anything you shouldn’t be doing. Just out trying to enjoy the last ride, and he came out of nowhere on that side lane or whatever, and tried to get in front of us. He couldn’t,” Miller said.

She said nothing like this has ever happened to her on the road before and believes it could have ended a lot differently.

“I’m only 115 pounds. My bike’s probably 450 pounds. Truck’s at least 10,000 pounds, if not. I mean, a slight bump, it really could have been a different kind of story,” Miller said.

Since Miller posted the video on social media, it’s gone viral. KDKA-TV asked her what she wanted to see happen to the driver involved.

“I didn’t post the video to get anybody in trouble. I just posted it to bring attention to bad drivers in Pittsburgh. We have a lot of those,” Miller said. “It was very dangerous what he did. Hopefully, he can learn from this.”

She said she plans to take extra precautions moving forward and will always have the camera rolling.

“We just want to get point A to point B safely, just as cars do. We’re never looking for any trouble. We just want to enjoy the ride, the wind, the sun,” Miller said.

KDKA-TV reached out to CE Little Contracting several times for comment. We never heard back.

New Sewickley Township police said they are investigating the incident and are asking all of those involved to give them a call at 724-774-2473.

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By Joe Holden, Will Kenworthy

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    PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — Bones were discovered outside the so-called house of horrors in the Olney section of Philadelphia, but it’s unclear whether they are related to the ongoing investigation into Raymond “R.C.” Horsch, a suspected serial killer who died last year, sources told CBS News Philadelphia on Thursday.

The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office responded to the house at 417 West Chew Ave. on Thursday, sources close to the investigation confirmed.

The bones were found in the backyard, where agents and detectives have been painstakingly searching for any sign of human remains and any evidence of at least seven women connected to Horsch and the house, some of whom are feared dead, sources told CBS News Philadelphia.

It’s not clear whether they were human or animal bones, sources stressed. More testing is needed to determine the bones’ origin and whether they are connected to the investigation.

Richard Marx, a retired FBI supervisory agent who specialized in evidence collection, said the presence of the medical examiner is a significant development.

“If they find something related to the body, then that’s when they would want to call the medical examiner, bring them aboard, have them collect it, and have them take it to their office for examination,” Marx said.

Investigators have been methodically sifting through the soil in layers, going down about 3 feet.

Investigators found human DNA when they used luminol to search the home, police sources confirmed earlier this week.

A source also said investigators had found opossum carcasses near the house. The remnants of a brick outhouse were also uncovered in the yard.

The investigation at the house is expected to continue until at least the middle of next week, sources said. Investigators are set to dig up the front yard when they are finished in the back.

Investigators believe Horsch used a process known as alkaline hydrolysis to dispose of bodies, law enforcement sources said. He detailed the steps in one of his books in which he called himself an empathetic serial killer. Chemicals found in the home have been sent to laboratories for testing.

Before his death, Horsch lived in the house with his son, Eugene, whose arrest during a traffic stop in June kicked off this massive investigation.

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