Category: CNN Regional

By Meghan Schiller

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    BETHEL PARK, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A Bethel Park homeowner says he’s out thousands of dollars after hiring a contractor to replace his front porch.

Jeffrey Markoff says he hired Quaker State Construction and Supply for an $8,500 porch replacement project and paid a $2,833 deposit to secure a spot on the company’s schedule. According to paperwork reviewed by KDKA Investigates, the contract listed an approximate start date in the spring with an estimated completion time of two weeks.

Months later, Markoff says no construction crew ever arrived. He then tried to contact the owner, Gabe Clouse.

“I call the company number, and there’s no answer. The number had been disconnected, called the designer, and he gave me the cell number for the owner,” said Markoff.

When asked if he ever heard back, Markoff responded: “Never heard back and called that number twice.”

Markoff says losing the money has been frustrating.

“It’s money out of your pocket you feel somebody stole from you,” said Markoff.

KDKA Investigates took Markoff’s concerns to attorney Mike Fiffik of the Fiffik Law Group, a LegalShield provider firm, to find out what consumers can do in situations like this.

“In this situation, he has a couple of different options available to him,” said Fiffik. “If he paid the deposit with his credit card, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act will permit him to submit a dispute.”

That process is known as a chargeback and is generally most effective when initiated within 60 days of receiving the statement. However, Markoff paid by check, meaning that the option was unavailable to him.

Instead, Fiffik recommends several other steps consumers can take:

Contact local police and report the incident as a theft File a complaint with the local magistrate if the amount lost is under $12,000 File a complaint with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General When asked where homeowners should file if the contractor lives elsewhere, Fiffik said, “I would file with the magistrate where the homeowner lives.”

KDKA Investigates also attempted to contact Clouse multiple times, but our messages were not returned.

KDKA Investigates learned Clouse recently took over Quaker State and Supply as the new owner. The previous owner told KDKA he sold the business to Clouse in 2024, when the company still held an A-plus rating with the Better Business Bureau. The business is now listed as closed.

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 Neal Riley, Samantha Chaney

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    GLOUCESTER, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is appealing to the U.S. Navy to help retrieve a “key piece of equipment” from the fishing vessel Lily Jean, which sank off the coast of Gloucester earlier this year.

Seven crew members were lost at sea after the 72-foot vessel activated its emergency beacon about 20 miles off Cape Ann on Jan. 30. But the families of those who died still have no answers about what went wrong.

Healey and Gloucester state Sen. Bruce Tarr wrote to Secretary of the Navy Sec. Hung Cao this week, asking for help.

“Officials from the Massachusetts State Police have received information suggesting that a video recorder and hard drive installed on the F/V Lily Jean remains intact, with the potential to provide essential details in the immediate moments before the ship was lost,” the letter states. “The company that installed the technology believes the video captured is retrievable.”

Healey and Tarr also asked the Navy to “assess the feasibility of recovering the remains of lost crew members.” Only one body has been recovered so far.

“While we understand the potential risk to personnel and substantial cost, we believe it is a worthwhile investment to provide closure to the families of those lost, improve safety for future vessels, and prevent further loss of life,” they wrote.

The seven people who were on board the Lily Jean were: • Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo, captain • Paul Beal Sr., crew • Paul Beal Jr., crew • John Rousanidis, crew • Freeman Short, crew • Sean Therrien, crew • Jada Samitt, NOAA fisheries observer

Tiffany Leigh has not lost hope that the remains of her boyfriend, Freeman Short, will be brought back home for a proper goodbye. “I would like some humanity to be shown, because if you know where your loved one was and you couldn’t reach them, it’s devastating,” Leigh said.

For more than 100 days, she has been making a desperate plea to state officials, asking them for help. “They lost their lives at sea, but they’re not lost at sea,” Leigh said. “We’ve known from February 4, maybe, where the boat was. We know the exact coordinates. We know it’s 320 feet deep.”

Sen. Tarr said the U.S. Navy has confirmed receipt of that letter and in the next few days, he’s hoping to hear back on whether the request is feasible.

“Some of the families have certainly expressed the desire to have remains recovered from the vessel. Others, I do not believe, hold that same opinion,” Sen. Tarr told WBZ News.

While Leigh says she does respect that decision for some families. She says she won’t rest until Freeman is brought back home. “I want to know where his body is and I want to sit by his gravesite and for him to have a tombstone,” Leigh 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 Mike Sullivan

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    WOBURN, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Karen Read’s now famous Lexus SUV drew the eyeballs of the nation for years as she fought in court to prove her innocence. On Thursday, the vehicle was up for auction, but it was called off 30 minutes before a bid even came in.

“Usually that would be followed by some boos, and sighs and awes,” said auctioneer Justin Manning while addressing bidders and Read supporters at Manzi Appraisers in Woburn, Massachusetts.

Manning told the crowd the owner, Bill Brusard, was presented an offer prior to the auction. He chose to take the deal after hearing that the bidder turnout was in the single digits. Brusard is the owner of JB Auto, which is the same group that worked to repair the vehicle. The number of Karen Read supporters and trial followers far outweighed the total number of bidders.

“I know what they did to the car,” said Danielle Archer, a follower of the trial who came, but didn’t plan to bid. “I don’t know how they put it back together.”

Manning says Brusard was expected to give the proceeds from the auction back to Karen Read. He added that the deal went through with a group, but it’s unclear who that is or what their intentions are. The Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Tennessee says they were in talks to purchase the car last year but decided to pass. It became less of a fit once they realized the car had been repaired.

“There has been steady interest from those two groups prior to today, and I think today was a little bit more investor-driven group than those type of groups,” said Manning.

He expects the deal to be official in the coming days.

Read was charged with murder in the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe and stood trial twice. She was accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV during a blizzard after a night of heavy drinking and leaving him to die in the snow outside of a Canton, Massachusetts home.

Read’s first trial ended in a mistrial due to hung jury. During her retrial in 2025, Read was acquitted of the most serious charges and found guilty of operating under the influence of liquor. She received one year of probation.

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 Daniel Wilkerson

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    ATLANTA, Georgia (WUPA) — Georgians with chronic pain and dispensary operators are hopeful for a new law that expands access to medical marijuana in the state.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 220 into law on Tuesday, removing a cap on the amount of THC in medical products and allowing vaping as one of the acceptable uses.

The law also drops some restrictions on what illnesses medical marijuana can be used to treat.

Juan Merced said THC helped him move away from years of opioid use tied to his severe chronic pain.

“It has been a godsend, actually,” said Merced. “I spent 16 years on opiates, medication, pain medications.”

Merced said doctors repeatedly increased his dosage over the years as he struggled with chronic pain tied to nerve damage and neck injuries.

“Someone suggested THC, and I had – I tried to replace that with my opioid medication with THC, which helped me tremendously,” he said.

Inside Fine Fettle’s Lawrenceville dispensary, workers are already preparing for the expansion.

Judson Hill, the market president for the dispensary, said supporters believe the changes could help patients who previously relied on low-THC oil products.

“It completely changes things,” said Hill. “What we’ve had to date has been a low-THC oil program. So that was really giving the weakest medicine to the sickest people.”

Hill said the new products could provide faster relief for some patients dealing with severe medical conditions.

“SB 220 adds flower and vape as products that can be purchased by the patients,” said Hill. “So those products have immediate efficacy.”

He said many patients are also asking questions about cost and whether insurance could eventually help cover medical cannabis products.

“Short story is to date, it’s been all out-of-pocket purchase,” said Hill.

Hill said products currently range from a few dollars for some single-use products to more expensive options designed to last weeks.

“I would say we have products that range from as low as $5 to $10 for a single-use product to, you know, 60 to $75 for maybe a pack of gummies or let’s say, a vape that someone may purchase that should last them two weeks to a month’s supply of medicine,” said Hill.

Merced said as Georgia’s medical cannabis program expands, affordability will remain important for patients looking for long-term relief options.

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 Larry Seward

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    MIAMI BEACH, Florida (WFOR) — A couple from Sweden is suing the owners of a Miami Beach resort and demanding at least $15 million, claiming the facility provided “grossly inadequate security.” The lawsuit follows an alleged attack on their 11-year-old daughter at the resort pool in October 2025.

The family, including the parents and their three daughters, ages 19, 14, and 11, was vacationing in South Florida for the first time, spending a week at the Radisson Resort Miami Beach.

According to a police report filed by the family, the attack occurred just two days into their trip. Miami Beach Police said that Osvaldo Diaz, 68, attacked the 11-year-old girl in the resort pool. Diaz was not a resort guest and allegedly sneaked around the hotel’s key card security system.

Once in the pool, Diaz grabbed and groped the girl, police said.

Investigators noted that the girl’s family was on the pool deck when the attack happened. The girl was able to get away from Diaz and immediately told her sisters and parents, according to authorities.

The girl’s father called the police and followed Diaz, who left the property by going through a neighboring hotel. Officers subsequently arrested the suspect on Collins Avenue.

The family’s attorney, Justin Shapiro, said the resort lacked proper security.

“There was no supervision, no access control,” Shapiro said. “Anyone could have followed guests into that pool area from the beach (or) from the lobby”.

The lawsuit, filed by Shapiro on behalf of his clients, targets Radisson Resort Miami Beach’s owners, operators, managers, and Diaz.

“We have no indication that (the resort) had visible presence of security anywhere on that hotel’s grounds, which is grossly inadequate,” Shapiro said, adding that such a lack of security is “highly unusual in Miami Beach.”

The parents said the incident has caused their daughter “life-changing trauma”.

“Our daughter is not the same anymore,” the father said. “She is scared of things that she was not scared of before. She comes to our bedroom and sleeps now in our bedroom often.” The father declined to provide his name to protect his daughter’s privacy.

The girl’s mother added, “We just want to make sure this never, ever happens to any other child”.

CBS News Miami called and messaged the owners of the resort, but no one responded before the deadline.

Diaz remains in jail without bond. Last month, his public defender filed a motion asking for a speedy trial, claiming the statutory period for securing one ended in April.

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 Greg Coy

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    SAVANNAH, Georgia (WJCL) — The woman injured in a December acid attack in Forsyth Park is criticizing Savannah Mayor Van Johnson over remarks she says were speculative and unhelpful, while also faulting police for not publicly releasing a description of a possible suspect.

Ashley Wasielewski, through a family member, said the mayor’s recent comments during his weekly news conference were “irresponsible” and risked distracting from the search for the person who attacked her.

Mayor suggests attack may have been personal During the briefing, Johnson was asked whether the Dec. 10 attack appeared to be random. He said he would leave that determination to police, but added that the case did not make sense to him and that, in his view, an acid attack “is really a really personal thing.”

Johnson also said he was unfamiliar with any similar acid attack in Savannah and noted that officers he had spoken with could not recall one either.

Wasielewski’s family pushed back strongly.

“From our family’s perspective, we want to be very clear — there is no known personal connection between Ashley and her attacker,” the family said in a statement. “The mayor suggesting on multiple occasions that this attack ‘feels personal’ — without any evidence — not only risks shifting focus away from identifying the attacker but directly undermines the need for credible leads.”

The family added that Wasielewski, her relatives and friends were “personally offended and angered” by the mayor’s remarks.

Family says suspect description should be public The family also criticized Savannah police and city officials for not sharing a description of the possible attacker, saying both Wasielewski and a witness had provided information that could help identify him.

A witness, K. Kendal, told WJCL 22 News in January that he saw a man on the same footpath as Wasielewski shortly before the attack. Kendal described him as about 6 feet tall, with what appeared to be dreadlocks, and dressed in black.

Kendal said the man seemed to calm down before screams rang out.

“That is when I heard her screaming, ‘Help me, help me,’” Kendal said.

The family said authorities should release any information that could help the public identify the person responsible. They noted that more than $100,000 in reward money has been offered in the case.

They also said video recently referenced by officials comes from a heat-sensor camera near the park and does not show visually identifiable features of the attacker.

City defends decision not to release video At the same news conference, Johnson backed law enforcement’s decision not to release the video, saying doing so could fuel speculation, generate unreliable tips and drain investigative resources.

He said releasing the footage could also interfere with efforts to build a prosecutable case.

After Wasielewski’s criticism, the mayor’s office issued a statement defending Johnson’s remarks and accusing media outlets of mischaracterizing them.

“I categorically reject any attempt by WJCL, or any other media outlet, to mischaracterize my words, sensationalize, or capitalize off the pain of the victim and victim’s family,” the statement said.

The mayor’s office added that the city’s “top and only priority is finding justice for Ms. Wasielewski” and said that focus would remain unchanged.

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.