Latest news with #NewsChannel5
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Escaped zebra captured in Rutherford County after more than a week on the loose
An elusive zebra who's evaded capture in Middle Tennessee for more than a week has finally been captured. The fugitive zebra — who had been nicknamed 'Ed' by the social media users tracking his escapades — has been on the loose since May 31. Eight days later, the zebra was finally captured in a field in Christiana, south of Murfreesboro in Rutherford County. Earlier in the weekend, law enforcement officials were tracking the zebra with a drone. Those efforts paid off on June 8 — News Channel 5 reports that the zebra was hit with a tranquilizer dart, then strapped in and airlifted via helicopter to be returned to captivity and seen by a veterinarian. It's been a busy week since the zebra escaped from the home of a Rutherford County couple the night of May 31. Ed's runaway journey has taken him everywhere from neighborhood streets to a parkway near Interstate 24, about 35 miles south of downtown Nashville. That spawned plenty of memes, jokes and amusement overall as Tennesseans pored over videos of the zebra plodding through suburban cul-de-sacs and galloping along country highways. Now, there's one more rare sight to add to the list — of the zebra soaring through the air, tethered to the helicopter, with just its head poking out of the bag used to execute the airlift. Austin Hornbostel is the Metro reporter for The Tennessean. Have a question about local government you want an answer to? Reach him at ahornbostel@ Get Davidson County news delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Escaped zebra captured in Rutherford County after more than a week on the loose
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Escaped zebra captured in Rutherford County after more than a week on the loose
An elusive zebra who's evaded capture in Middle Tennessee for more than a week has finally been captured. The fugitive zebra — who had been nicknamed 'Ed' by the social media users tracking his escapades — has been on the loose since May 31. Eight days later, the zebra was finally captured in a field in Christiana, south of Murfreesboro in Rutherford County. Earlier in the weekend, law enforcement officials were tracking the zebra with a drone. Those efforts paid off on June 8 — News Channel 5 reports that the zebra was hit with a tranquilizer dart, then strapped in and airlifted via helicopter to be returned to captivity and seen by a veterinarian. It's been a busy week since the zebra escaped from the home of a Rutherford County couple the night of May 31. Ed's runaway journey has taken him everywhere from neighborhood streets to a parkway near Interstate 24, about 35 miles south of downtown Nashville. That spawned plenty of memes, jokes and amusement overall as Tennesseans pored over videos of the zebra plodding through suburban cul-de-sacs and galloping along country highways. Now, there's one more rare sight to add to the list — of the zebra soaring through the air, tethered to the helicopter, with just its head poking out of the bag used to execute the airlift. Austin Hornbostel is the Metro reporter for The Tennessean. Have a question about local government you want an answer to? Reach him at ahornbostel@ Get Davidson County news delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Escaped zebra captured in Rutherford County after more than a week on the loose
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Deepfakes? Revenge porn? Trump signs bi-partisan Take It Down Act to combat fake intimate images
Take it down is the newest chant and act coming from Congress to curtail non-consensual intimate imagery, including deepfakes and revenge porn. On May 19, President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan "Take It Down" Act, which has received support from both sides of the aisle. The act mirrors some state acts and proposed bills in the effort to combat the distribution of intimate images that the parties represented in did not consent to, including a bill from Tennessee. The national bill, first introduced last year by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, is championed by Melania Trump as part of the first lady's recently reupped "Be Best" campaign. Here's a look at what the act entails. While state legislations can put penalties on the distribution of these intimate images, victims have struggled to have images depicting them removed from websites, increasing the likelihood that the images will be continuously spread and the victims retraumatized by it. "The Take It Down Act will protect victims of digital exploitation, hold internet platforms accountable by requiring them to remove such imagery from their platform and provide justice for victims by allowing prosecutors to go after those who publish nonconsensual explicit images online," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. The Take it Down Act now criminalizes the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery, including deepfakes that are usually AI-generated images that may impose a person's face onto an image or even video to make it look like them. Here are some of the key elements of the act: Makes non-consensual intimate imagery a federal crime. Meaning if a person knowingly publishes or shares it on social media and other online platforms, they can be charged. Also clarifies language so that the consent to create an image does not mean consent to share it. Social media sites, websites or any online platform have to remove non-consensual intimate imagery upon notice from the victim within 48 hours of the verified request. Non-consensual intimate imagery, also known as NCII in the act, includes realistic, computer-generated pornographic images and videos that depict identifiable, real people. In April, former NewsChannel 5 meteorologist Bree Smith pushed the Tennessee House legislature to pass a bill the would make it illegal in the state for someone to post "intimate" deep fakes online. Smith, a deepfake victim, testified before the House that images of a "semi-nude body" with her face superimposed on it had been circulating online. She was happy to hear that the House of Representatives listened to her story and passed the bill. "I am a flood of emotions," Smith posted on Facebook. "I'm most proud of the fact that my boys were with me … that they got to see first hand that justice is possible." The Preventing Deep Fake Images Act, passed the House with no opposition April 21 and a week later passed the Senate 32-0. Here's what it includes: Makes it a felony "to disclose or threaten to disclose or solicit the disclosure of an intimate digital depiction with the intent to harass, annoy, threaten, alarm, or cause substantial harm to the finances or reputation of the depicted individual." People who are the victim of a deepfake are able to sue the person who posted images or videos without consent for financial damages. USA TODAY and Brad Schmitt with The Tennessean contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What is the Take It Down Act? Congress tackles deepfakes, revenge porn
Daily Mail
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
TV meteorologist shaken after sultry video of 'herself' makes rounds on the internet in chilling new craze
A beloved former Nashville meteorologist is speaking out after discovering lifelike deepfake pornographic videos of herself online - a chilling violation that left her shaken and humiliated. 'I cry myself to sleep most nights... mostly because I don't want my kids to see me,' Bree Smith, 43, said in an emotional interview with CBS News. The mother and former NewsChannel 5 weather anchor found her face digitally pasted onto another woman's body in explicit content, with AI-generated audio perfectly mimicking her voice. The disturbing videos are part of a fast-growing trend of digital impersonation fueled by artificial intelligence. The content, shared through fake social media accounts, has been used in sextortion schemes targeting Smith's fans. Smith's nightmare began with a simple email. 'I got an email from someone saying "Bree, I think you should know that there is an impersonator," she recalled. What she discovered next was worse than she imagined - dozens of convincing fake accounts using her image and AI-altered voice to scam unsuspecting followers. In one AI-generated video, Smith appears to speak directly to the viewer in what looks like a newsroom, saying, 'Yes dear, it is me, it is really me.' The video is completely fake - but eerily real in sound, tone and expression. Watching it back, Smith said: 'I mean you're basically taking someone's identity and you're weaponizing them.' 'These imposters are trying to take my story, and my story is mine,' she said. 'This is my life. I'm 43 years old and I have worked hard and I have loved well, and I'm not going to just roll over and take this.' In one case, she said a viewer received a few fake videos in which it appeared Smith 'promised many sexual acts and asked the viewer to send them money to book a two-night stay at the Conrad Hotel.' By doing so, those social media users 'violated me and they preyed on Tennesseans,' Smith said. When she then reached out to WTVF, where she formerly worked, she claims she was 'told that nothing could be done - it was not illegal and I had no recourse.' 'I felt humiliated and scared,' Smith recounted. 'I didn't know what to do or how to fight it and I didn't know how to protect the viewers and the people that trusted me online from being subject to this kind of extortion.' WTVF station manager Richard Eller has since told the Tennessean the station 'wholeheartedly' shares her frustrations as he explained how staff tried to stop the imposters. 'We did everything in our power to help her, seeking expert advice to make sure we were doing all we could,' he said. 'We exhausted our options with the social media platforms to try to get them to take action, reported the situation to Metro Police and launched an investigation through our corporate security team. Nothing worked.' The whole situation wound up being 'very degrading' for Smith, who said it caused her to face a 'very dark depression. 'Having my face, my reputation and my identity distorted into something so vile and vulnerable traumatized me and my family,' Smith told lawmakers. 'This has devastated my life's work,' she added, saying she became a meteorologist 'because I believed that I could help people. 'I believed that when severe weather was happening, I could save people's lives,' Smith explained. 'So to then have my face, my reputation, the trust this community put in me now being weaponized, to hurt the very people I spent my career trying to protect? I mean it essentially, it stole what I worked so hard to create and put me in an impossible place where now I was the threat to the people I spent my career protecting.' Since leaving her role at the news station, Smith has taken it upon herself to fight back. She's begun tracking the impersonators, compiling a spreadsheet of the fraudulent accounts using her image. 'This is a Google Sheet, only a week old, and in a week there are 24 [different accounts]. And I don't catch all of them,' she explained. Her experience reflects a broader, deeply alarming trend. According to the FBI, more than 50,000 Americans were targeted by sextortion schemes in the past year, with the most common victims being teenage boys. But experts say adults, especially public figures, are increasingly in the crosshairs. 'These offenders, their whole game is to make money,' Hayley Elizondo, who investigates sextortion crimes at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said. 'I'm not surprised that we are seeing adults also become the target of financial sextortion. Frankly, they're going to reach out to those who can pay them.' For Smith, the trauma is still raw - but so is her resolve. She's now working with lawmakers and advocacy groups to protect others from suffering the same fate. 'I'm not going to be silent,' she said. Last month, the Tennessee legislature has passed the Preventing Deepfake Images Act following emotional testimony from the Nashville-based meteorologist. The bill, HB 1299/SB 1346, passed in the Senate on April 15 and passed in the House on Monday, April 21. The legislation now creates civil and criminal actions for individuals who are the subject of an intimate digital depiction that is disclosed without the person's consent. Smith testified at the Tennessee House Criminal Justice Subcommittee and shared her experience of finding her face edited onto other people's semi-nude bodies. 'We don't get to choose the traumatic things that happen in our lives, but we do get to choose what we do with it,' Smith said.
Daily Mirror
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Lulu Roman dead: Hee Haw star who called herself 'the fat girl' dies as son pays tribute
Comedian and gospel singer Lulu Roman has died at the age of 78, her son has confirmed. The star of Hee Haw died seven months after moving to Washington to be with her son. No cause of death has been determined. Her publicist Ben Laurro shared a brief statement to confirm the sad news. It read: "Lulu Roman was unsung. She endured much adversity in her life that helped her become a joy to others." Lulu had starred on CBS show Hee Haw for a number of decades, appearing on over 150 episodes between 1969 and 1992. She previously claimed that she had been "hired to be the fat girl". She said in an interview with News Channel 5 in 2024: "They needed one boy next door, one fat dumb man, one fat dumb woman. Buck [Owens] said, "I got your girl! She's in Dallas!"' During her time on the show, Lulu reinvented herself as a gospel singer. She would later go on to release over a dozen albums while also performing regularly in concert. Among those she recorded with included Dolly Parton. Speaking to The 700 Club in 2010 she revealed how she lost 200 pounds after the show had ended.
