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Tag: norwalk

  • Local Human Trafficking Investigation Leads to Bust of Local Teacher

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    Source: General / Radio One

    A local human trafficking investigation leads to bust of nine people in Norwalk, including a teacher.

    The HEAL Human Trafficking Task Force led the operation. Officers worked with multiple police departments across several counties.

    Investigators conducted undercover operations targeting prostitution and trafficking activity. Law enforcement arrested suspects during the coordinated sting.

    Authorities said some suspects carried weapons during the operation. Officers secured evidence as part of the investigation.

    The task force includes agencies from Huron, Erie, Ashland, and Lorain counties. Norwalk, Perkins Township, and Willard police assisted in the arrests.

    Officials have not released all names or formal charges. Prosecutors will review evidence before filing charges.

    Anyone with information can contact the HEAL tip line. Victims seeking help can reach statewide support services.

    The local human trafficking investigation leads to bust efforts that authorities say will continue across the region.

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    Matty Willz

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  • Deputy receives coffee cup with pig drawing from Norwalk Starbucks

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    An LA County Sheriff’s deputy was served a cup of coffee with a hand-drawn image of a pig at a Starbucks in Norwalk.

    The LASD said they were “deeply concerned” with the incident after a deputy shared he had received the cup Jan. 9 during a 16-hour shift.

    “When I received my drink, I noticed an employee had drawn a pig on the cup. It felt discouraging and disrespectful, especially after a long day of serving the community. All I wanted was caffeine, but instead I left feeling uneasy,” wrote the deputy on his social media.

    The deputy reported the cup to the store manager, who said they would look into the matter, according to the LASD.

    In response, Starbucks said it launched an investigation and apologized to the customer and the department.

    “We have a deep appreciation and respect for law enforcement, who are dedicated to keeping our communities safe,” wrote a Starbucks spokesperson.

    The drawing was meant to resemble a popular online meme and was never intended to be given to any customer, according to the spokesperson.

    The figure appears to resemble “John Pork,” a popular social media meme. The TikTok meme shows an incoming call from an unusual animated pig.

    The meme recently made it on Jeopardy, where even host Ken Jennings expressed his confusion after posing the clue to contestants.

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    Missael Soto

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  • Woman who lost her ability to speak due to ALS got it back in an unexpected way

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    KCCI EIGHT NEWS AT TEN. A NORWALK WOMAN WHO LOST HER VOICE TO ALS GOT IT BACK IN AN UNEXPECTED WAY. KCCI ABIGAIL CURTIN SPOKE WITH HER THIS EVENING. ABIGAIL, TELL US A LITTLE MORE ABOUT HER STORY. WELL, THIS IS A PRETTY INCREDIBLE STORY, AND THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS THAT PEOPLE CAN STRUGGLE WITH WHEN THEY HAVE ALS. MUSCLE WEAKNESS. DIFFICULTY EATING, EATING, AND COMMUNICATING. THOSE CAN BE HARD. AND THOSE ARE JUST SOME OF THE STRUGGLES THAT ROBIN LEEPER HAS HAD TO OVERCOME SINCE SHE WAS DIAGNOSED BACK IN 2023. BUT NEW TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN ABLE TO EASE SOME OF THAT STRUGGLE AND GIVE HER A PART OF HERSELF BACK. WHEN ROBIN LEEPER WAS DIAGNOSED WITH ALS IN 2023, IT WAS ONE OF THE HARDEST MOMENTS OF HER LIFE. BUT WHEN SHE LOST HER ABILITY TO TALK, IT WAS EVEN HARDER. I CRIED, AND FOR THE FIRST YEAR I COULDN’T EVEN SAY ALS WITHOUT CRYING. AT THE TIME, SHE WAS THE PARKS AND REC DIRECTOR FOR THE CITY OF NORWALK. FOR A WHILE, SHE TRIED OTHER FORMS OF COMMUNICATION LIKE TEXT TO SPEECH, SOFTWARE OR SIGN LANGUAGE. BUT THAT’S WHERE THE CITY’S MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST, TY LUE, CAME IN. WE HAVE FIVE SWIMMING POOLS. SHE COMBED THROUGH HOURS OF PUBLIC MEETINGS, RECORDS ISOLATING CLIPS OF ROBIN SPEAKING FROM WHEN SHE STILL COULD. FROM THERE, SHE UPLOADED THEM INTO AN AI SOFTWARE TO RECREATE ROBIN’S VOICE, WHICH SHE USED TO ACCEPT. NORWALK CITIZEN OF THE YEAR AWARD. I AM TRULY, DEEPLY HUMBLED AND GRATEFUL FOR THIS RECOGNITION. IT SOUNDED AS IF SHE WAS JUST STANDING THERE SPEAKING ON HER OWN. IN FACT, I HAD SEVERAL PEOPLE SAY I DIDN’T REALIZE THAT SHE WAS PLAYING A RECORDING OF HER VOICE. BUT FOR LEEPER, IT WASN’T JUST EXCITING TO BE ABLE TO HEAR HER OWN VOICE AGAIN. IT WAS A CHANCE TO FEEL LIKE HERSELF AGAIN. IT’S YOUR IDENTITY. PEOPLE CAN HEAR YOUR VOICE WITHOUT SEEING YOUR FACE, AND THEY KNOW THAT’S YOU. AS FOR WHAT’S NEXT, SHE’S GOT A NEW PRIORITY. FINDING A CURE. BOXHOLM. LIKE I SAID, A PRETTY INCREDIBLE STORY. AND SPEAKING OF FINDING A CURE, LEEPER WILL BE AT THIS SATURDAY’S WALK TO DEFEAT ALS IN ALTOONA. FOR MORE DETAILS ON THAT WALK AND HOW YOU CAN HELP SUPPORT LEEPER. BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THIS STORY ON KCCI.COM. FIRST OF ALL, AN AMAZING EXAMPLE OF THE GOOD THAT TECHNOLOGY CAN DO. ABSOLUTELY A CREDIT TO EVERYBODY WHO HELPED THIS HAPPEN. AND ROBIN, YOU KNOW, WE’RE THINKING OF YOU AND ADMIRE YOUR STRENGTH. AND I KNO

    Woman who lost her ability to speak due to ALS got it back in an unexpected way

    Updated: 4:02 AM PDT Oct 11, 2025

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    An Iowa woman who lost her ability to speak due to ALS got it back in an unexpected way.Robin Leaper was diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in 2023. Since then, she’s struggled with muscle weakness and difficulty eating, and she’s no longer able to speak. It’s been an adjustment, to say the least.”For the first year, I couldn’t even say ALS without crying,” she said. When she was diagnosed, she was the Parks and Recreation director for the city of Norwalk.Since then, she’s tried to communicate in other ways, like text-to-speech software or sign language, but neither one has allowed her to use her own voice.Until the city’s marketing and communications specialist, Tai Lieu, came in.Lieu combed through hours of public meeting recordings in which Leaper spoke, isolating her vocals and uploading them to an AI voice recreation software.That software allows Leaper to type her words, which are then read aloud in her own voice.”It sounded as if she was just standing there, speaking on her own,” Lieu said of Leaper’s first attempt at using the software when she won Norwalk’s Citizen of the Year Award last year. “I had several people say, ‘I didn’t realize she was playing a recording of her voice.’”But for Leaper, the AI recreation does more than allow her to use her own voice; it allows her to feel like herself again.”It’s your identity,” she said. “People can hear your voice without seeing, and they know it’s you. It gave me back a little piece ALS stole from me.”As for what’s next, Leaper says she has a new priority: finding a cure.She plans to start with Altoona’s Walk to Defeat ALS on Saturday.

    An Iowa woman who lost her ability to speak due to ALS got it back in an unexpected way.

    Robin Leaper was diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in 2023. Since then, she’s struggled with muscle weakness and difficulty eating, and she’s no longer able to speak.

    It’s been an adjustment, to say the least.

    “For the first year, I couldn’t even say ALS without crying,” she said.

    When she was diagnosed, she was the Parks and Recreation director for the city of Norwalk.

    Since then, she’s tried to communicate in other ways, like text-to-speech software or sign language, but neither one has allowed her to use her own voice.

    Until the city’s marketing and communications specialist, Tai Lieu, came in.

    Lieu combed through hours of public meeting recordings in which Leaper spoke, isolating her vocals and uploading them to an AI voice recreation software.

    That software allows Leaper to type her words, which are then read aloud in her own voice.

    “It sounded as if she was just standing there, speaking on her own,” Lieu said of Leaper’s first attempt at using the software when she won Norwalk’s Citizen of the Year Award last year. “I had several people say, ‘I didn’t realize she was playing a recording of her voice.’”

    But for Leaper, the AI recreation does more than allow her to use her own voice; it allows her to feel like herself again.

    “It’s your identity,” she said. “People can hear your voice without seeing, and they know it’s you. It gave me back a little piece ALS stole from me.”

    As for what’s next, Leaper says she has a new priority: finding a cure.

    She plans to start with Altoona’s Walk to Defeat ALS on Saturday.

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  • Norwalk defies Newsom’s threat, extends homeless shelter ban

    Norwalk defies Newsom’s threat, extends homeless shelter ban

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    Despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s threat of a possible lawsuit against the city of Norwalk over its emergency ordinance that bans homeless shelters and supporting housing facilities, the city council voted Tuesday to extend the moratorium through August 2025.

    The vote came a day after Gov. Newsom sent a notice of violation letter to the city, saying the moratorium on various establishments, such as emergency shelters, single-room occupancy, supportive housing and transitional housing is “unlawful.”

    City staff recommended during the city council meeting that the council pass the motion to extend the moratorium, so it can conduct a further study on how prohibiting the types of facilities would impact the community and whether the city would need zoning amendments.

    A man who described himself to be a lifelong resident of Norwalk spoke during the city council meeting, criticizing Newsom’s threat of a possible lawsuit against the small city. 

    “Norwalk should not be forced to bear the brunt of the region’s homeless population,” Brian Lopez said. “There are 88 cities in this county. Why is the focus placed on our working class community of color?”

    Another resident, who was speaking on behalf of Mr. Rosewood Family Restaurant, urged the council to extend the moratorium as he said the area surrounding the restaurant was a “disaster scene” while the city ran a Project Roomkey site in front of the eatery.

    “We’ve seen a lot of hanging out, a lot of loitering that people don’t need to see when they’re going to go eat with their families,” Jason Perez recalled. “I commend you for listening and making sure that you take care of Norwalk and make the right decision.”

    Before Tuesday’s council meeting, Norwalk Mayor Margarita Rios urged Newsom to acknowledge her city’s “proactive measures” to address homelessness while asking for “direct resources to support” its efforts.

    “Norwalk also hosted one of the largest Project Roomkey sites during the pandemic. Despite these efforts, Norwalk has received no Measure H funding,” Rios said.

    Measure H passed in 2017 to establish a quarter cent sales tax for homeless services. 

    Mayor Rios said because the city couldn’t tap into Measure H funding, the city was forced to “use its own resources to manage the fallout from abandoned state-mandated programs, which puts both residents’ safety and the city’s finances at risk.”

    The city council had noted the city’s power to make and enforce ordinances to regulate the use of land within its jurisdictional boundaries when it passed the ordinance.

    Although Norwalk passed the moratorium based on the Housing Crisis Act, which allows local governments to issue a housing or facility ban when there’s “an imminent threat” to public health and safety, the state argued in the letter that “there are no findings of a threat specific to the housing subject to the moratorium, nor any finding of a citywide threat.”

    With the notice of violation, the state implied the Los Angeles County city with the population of 100,000 could face the same fate as Anaheim and Huntington Beach. The two Orange County cities were forced to bring forward new housing plans after they lost lawsuits brought on by the state in similar fashion.

    In a statement, Newsom’s team condemned the city’s decision.

    “The Norwalk City Council’s decision is disgraceful and clearly violates the law,” the statement read. “The state will act swiftly to address this dereliction of duty. Stay tuned.”

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    Helen Jeong

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  • I-95 fully open in Norwalk, Connecticut days after dramatic tanker fire. What to know for Monday’s commute.

    I-95 fully open in Norwalk, Connecticut days after dramatic tanker fire. What to know for Monday’s commute.

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    Northbound I-95 lanes reopen, southbound lanes remain closed


    Northbound I-95 lanes reopen, southbound lanes remain closed

    01:08

    NORWALK, Conn. — Interstate 95 reopened in both directions Sunday in Norwalk, Connecticut, days after a tanker truck caught fire and badly damaged a bridge above.

    The northbound lanes reopened Saturday, and Gov. Ned Lamont announced the highway would fully reopen around 10 a.m. Sunday. Officials previously said they hoped to have everything open by the Monday commute. 

    “It is truly amazing that in less than 80 hours from that fiery crash Thursday that shut down traffic in both directions, the highway again is fully open,” Lamont said in his statement. 

    The Connecticut Department of Transportation shared a photo on social media showing the work that was done between 9 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday. 

    “It takes a village, and from the response from local and state police and fire departments to the environmental cleanup by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the demolition and rebuilding by the Connecticut Department of Transportation and contractors, everyone did their part,” the governor’s statement continued. “I am impressed by these efforts and thankful for the dedication, skill, and labor of everyone who has been involved.”

    Chain-reaction crash leads to massive tanker fire

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    Interstate 95 is completely shut down for the morning commute in Norwalk, Connecticut. 

    Norwalk Police Department / X


    Early Thursday morning, authorities said a car swerved in front of a truck that was pulling a flatbed trailer near the Fairfield Avenue overpass just past exit 15 south. The truck then swerved to avoid the car and hit the back of a fuel tanker, which burst into flames under the overpass and spilled thousands of gallons of gasoline onto the highway.

    Firefighters and hazmat crews responded to contain the flames and the spill, and officials later said the air and water quality were not impacted in the area. 

    The bridge, however, was badly damaged and had to be demolished. DOT crews tore down the bridge Friday before repairs could begin on the roadway Saturday. 

    I-95 was shut down in both directions Thursday and Friday, causing a major traffic headache for commuters and residual delays on the Merritt Parkway, I-84 and I-87.

    Fairfield Avenue is expected to remain closed for at least a year while the overpass is replaced.

    State of emergency in CT

    Lamont declared a state of emergency after the crash, saying the impacted stretch of highway typically serves 160,000 vehicles per day. 

    Drivers received text alerts to avoid I-95, and trucking companies were told to use I-87 and I-84 instead. Schools were closed Friday in Norwalk, officials asked companies to let their employees work from home, if possible.

    “I worry about supply chain issues,” the governor said last Thursday. “I think it will definitely impact the local merchants.”

    CBS New York spoke with local business owners who said business was slow on Friday. 

    Sen. Richard Blumenthal said his office is looking into loans for the impacted businesses and to offset the estimated $20 million to repair and reopen the highway. 

    Renee Anderson

    Renee Anderson is a Digital Producer at CBS New York, where she covers breaking news and other local stories. She previously worked at WMUR-TV.

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  • Bodycam video released of deputies unleashing hail of gunfire on armed man in Norwalk

    Bodycam video released of deputies unleashing hail of gunfire on armed man in Norwalk

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    NORWALK, Calif. (KABC) — Body camera footage released Tuesday shows the moment sheriff’s deputies unleashed a hail of gunfire as they confronted an armed robbery suspect in Norwalk.

    The shooting happened Jan. 27 in a parking lot near Studebaker Road and Rosecrans Avenue.

    Deputies responded to the area after a report that a man armed with a shotgun had just robbed a liquor store, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

    Surveillance video from the business showed the suspect, 38-year-old Jerald Hardcastle of Lake Elsinore, hold the shotgun as the cashier hands over cash and merchandise. The armed robbery unfolded in front of several customers.

    When deputies located the suspect, they ordered him to surrender but he refused to comply.

    Deputies then approached him using a ballistic shield, a Taser and a 40-mm foam projectile launcher, authorities said. At the time, Hardcastle was behind the side of a vehicle.

    A witness captured the confrontation as the deputies moved in. A still image shows the shotgun in his Hardcastle’s hand. For a time, he holds the weapon above his head, but refuses to drop it. When he suddenly moves, deputies open fire.

    There’s a burst of gunfire from deputies. Despite the shots fired, Hardcastle remains holding his weapon. Deputies continue firing at him.

    Deputies then come around the car and begin to wrestle with the suspect. They eventually subdue him with a Taser. Harcastle suffered a gunshot wound to his left hand and was taken into custody.

    A loaded shotgun was recovered at the scene, authorities said. Hardcastle was also in possession of two assault rifles.

    Hardcastle was later charged with robbery, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

    The Sheriff’s Department is conducting its own investigation, and the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office will also review the shooting.

    Copyright © 2024 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.

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    KABC

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  • Sheriff’s deputies open fire on armed robbery suspect in Norwalk, authorities say

    Sheriff’s deputies open fire on armed robbery suspect in Norwalk, authorities say

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    Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies shot a man wielding a shotgun while responding to a robbery in Norwalk on Saturday, authorities said.

    Around 5:40 p.m., deputies were alerted to a robbery in progress in the 11000 block of Rosecrans Avenue, the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Sunday. The suspect, a man in his late 30s, stole money and merchandise from a business while pointing a shotgun at its employees, sheriff’s officials said.

    Upon arriving at the scene, deputies recognized the suspect based on clothing described in the 911 call. As they tried to detain him, the man “produced” a shotgun, according to the Sheriff’s Department statement. Four deputies opened fire, wounding the suspect, who was taken to a hospital with injuries that weren’t life-threatening, the statement said.

    Authorities didn’t name the man but said he robbed the business alone.

    The Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide and Internal Affairs bureaus are investigating the incident, which is standard procedure for all shootings involving deputies.

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    Matthew Ormseth

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