Tribune Media Wire

Recent Articles

  • 4-year-old Milwaukee girl left in van overnight after vehicle towed to city lot

    MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee family is speaking out after city workers towed a van with a 4-year-old girl inside and left it overnight in a lot amid frigid temperatures, according to WITI. Milwaukee police stopped the minivan around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday near 39th and Forest Home Avenue and arrested the driver of the minivan – who they suspected was intoxicated. Officers took custody of a 10-month-old child but apparently didn’t notice the 4-year-old before the vehicle was towed to the […]

  • Boy with cerebral palsy told to lie down in water – he was then used as a bridge

    Canadian police are investigating after a boy with cerebral palsy was forced to lie down in a stream so students could walk over him. A Facebook video viewed 300,000 times shows 14-year-old Brett Corbett acting as a human bridge across the waterway outside Nova Scotia’s Glace Bay High School as a female student steps on his back without getting wet. “It started as a dare. But then someone threatened to push me,” Brett tells the CBC. “He was told if he didn’t get […]

  • $1.5 Billion Mega Millions jackpot is still unclaimed 3 weeks after drawing

    SIMPSONVILLE, S.C. – Three weeks after one ticket earned the record-breaking $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials are still waiting for a winner to come forward, WLTX reports. Lottery officials confirmed that a ticket purchased at a convenience store in Simpsonville, South Carolina, matched all six numbers in the Oct. 23 drawing. After the monumental win, the lottery urged the potential winner to sign the ticket, drop it in a safe and get financial advice from a planner or […]

  • Meet Chicago’s newest first responder, ‘Pawcifer Gizmo’

    CHICAGO – The Chicago Police Department has a new officer, and he’s already making a pawsitive impact. Meet Gizmo, the new “pawfficer” of the Chicago Police Department 14th District. The 8-year-old cat comes from a police family and is now a part of the department’s community outreach program. It all started with a K-9 unit visit at an elementary school. One student asked why there were no police cats. After that, the police precinct tweeted if they got 500 retweets, […]

  • ‘Secret Sister’ holiday gift exchange scam is back, police warn

    Now that the holidays are here, so are social media posts about a gift exchange that promises you’ll get between 6 and 36 gifts if you participate. Don’t fall for it — it’s a scam! The same scam surfaced in previous years, too. The so-called “secret sister” gift exchange has circulated widely on Facebook, Reddit and various forums, according to Snopes.  The posts often promise participants 36 gifts in exchange for one present valued at $10. Snopes pointed out that, despite […]

  • Newly elected Tennessee state lawmaker calls the state ‘racist’ in Facebook video

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A newly-elected state lawmaker from Memphis is facing criticism for controversial comments made in a now-deleted Facebook video. Democrat London Lamar, who ran uncontested in House District 91, posted the video following last week’s election. “Tennessee’s racist. Period. Period. Like, Tennessee is racist,” Lamar said in the video. She also said, “most of the Tennesseeans who voted Republican are uneducated.” In another part of the video, Lamar said: “White men voted Republican over – well over 60 […]

  • 89-year-old scholar who fled Nazis dies after subway shove from rushing commuter

    The New York Times calls Dr. Kurt Salzinger’s death “a tragic end to the everyday jostle of straphangers,” which the New York Post paints as “a daily underground hazard.” His stepdaughter calls it “a complete disregard for the elderly,” per the Times. Salzinger died on Oct. 27, after he was shoved to a subway platform in New York City’s Penn Station by a fellow commuter rushing to catch a train to Brooklyn. The Hofstra community is saddened to learn of the passing of Professor Emeritus […]

  • Uber driver charged with kidnapping, kissing 15-year-old girl in Colorado

    JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — A Colorado Uber driver was arrested over the weekend for allegedly kidnapping and forcing himself onto a teenage passenger. According to deputies, just after 10 p.m. on Saturday, Uber driver Ahmed Muse picked up the teen at her job in the 100 block of North Rubey Drive in Golden using UberPOOL to go to her home 10 miles away, according to KDVR. Brianna Allen lives just 15 minutes away from work at the Cast Iron Tavern, […]

  • Firefighter protected neighbors’ homes as his burned

    VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. – Although some homes were lost in one Southern California neighborhood, many residents say the damage could have been much worse had it not been for a local firefighter and his family. Neighbors said that the reason so many of their homes are still standing is because of firefighter Mike Williams, who is stationed at Ventura County Fire Department Station 36 in Oak Park. The Williams family did lose their home to the fire, but they escaped […]

  • Utah father, 9-year-old son killed in barn fire were inseparable, family says

    PROVO, Utah – A Utah father and his 9-year-old son have died together, trapped in a stall during a barn fire, family members told KSTU. The blaze started around 1:30 a.m. Monday morning, and neighbors said they quickly raced to the farm to save the animals. “Me and a couple other guys were running into the stalls, pulling goats out of them,” said Preston Arnoldsen, who lives down the street and said his uncle owns the farm. Flames tore through three […]

  • Police shoot, kill black security guard detaining suspect after Illinois bar shooting

    ROBBINS, Ill. — Police shot and killed an armed, black security guard who was detaining a suspect after several people were shot early Sunday morning at a suburban Illinois bar, witnesses told WGN. Jemel Roberson, 26, was shot dead by a Midlothian police officer responding to a shooting about 4 a.m. Sunday inside Manny’s Blue Room Bar in Robbins, Illinois. Witnesses said officers shot at the wrong man. “Everybody was screaming out ‘Security!’ He was a security guard,” said witness […]