Month: February 2026

By Stef Manchen

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    TULSA, Oklahoma (KJRH) — A monument in Tulsa’s oldest park is sparking calls for removal or relocation, with community members citing concerns about honoring known Ku Klux Klan members.

The eight-foot stone statue in Owen Park bears the names of W. Tate Brady and Willard McCullough, identified as KKK members by historians. The monument pays homage to Tulsa’s earliest settlers.

“As a Muscogee citizen, living on my reservation, seeing this on my reservation, it’s a desecration, it’s a dishonor, it’s a disservice,” said Aaron Griffith.

Griffith, a concerned citizen, said he’s seen the monument vandalized over the years and questions the use of public funds for its maintenance.

“Considering the fact that this is a private monument and the group that originally erected it is now defunct, is no longer active, that shifts the burden of maintaining the upkeep of it onto the City of Tulsa,” he said.

The Tulsa Association of Pioneers was behind the monument, erected in 1935, honoring members from then through 1964.

Local sustainability group Kitty Gang Family Foundation offered to help fundraise, so money isn’t the reason change doesn’t occur.

“I don’t think it belongs in the park personally,” said James Taylor, treasurer of the group. “It would be fun to raise that money, you know, people are really giving. To me, the rock is like, they own the park, but really, it’s our park. It’s the people’s park, and we should be able to have say in what is deserving of being in our public spaces.”

When asked what a positive resolution for the monument would be, Taylor said he’d like to see it moved to a museum or for context to be added to the area to explain what the statue stands for.

The question of who would be responsible for removing it or relocating it remains unclear.

City Councilor Laura Bellis, whose district the park falls in, said that it falls to the parks department.

The parks department deferred 2 News to the city.

A city spokesperson said they are working to learn more about the effort and ‘will provide more information as the situation warrants.’

“I just find it kind of absurd to suggest or imply that the council is impotent to act in that regard, because they are absolutely able to do something to address the public’s concerns that are being expressed about this,” said Griffith.

2 News did find a petition asking former Tulsa Mayor G. T. Bynum to remove the monument, showing the issue has been a topic of conversation for years across the community.

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 Bianca Holman

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    LUCAMA, North Carolina (WTVD) — Springfield School, built in 1951 as a school for Black children during segregation, provided education to those denied equal opportunities.

Once a source of pride and a premier facility in North Carolina, it now sits abandoned, vandalized and neglected. Alumni are now uniting to preserve the historic campus.

Located in Lucama on Springfield School Road, it was the first local high school for Black children, succeeding the Rosenwald School that only served children through the sixth grade.

Rickey Kirby, a 1968 graduate, said: “It was just the perfect place for me to be because I wanted to know everything.”

Brenda Carter, another graduate, said her elementary school teachers made writing and arithmetic come alive.

“It feels so good to come back,” Carter said, “like you are at home again.”

In the ’50s, Black families were excited to finally have access to a high school education, however, not everybody was happy about it in Wilson County.

It made headlines. The Wilson Daily Times publisher even writing that “white folks should bring a lawsuit.”

“There were some very negative comments about Black kids getting a brand new school,” Kirby recalled. “Some person said ‘why did they get a new school? They don’t even know how to use indoor bathrooms.”

Even with a new facility, the district only provided Springfield students with used and outdated books from all white schools. Despite facing prejudice — such as criticism over its construction — Black students excelled, with Kirby later serving in the Marines.

Carter said they was a sense of pride that came with being a Springfield Wildcat.

“I looked forward to coming to school because it was you get the leave home, come play with your friends, and you learn something different every day,” she added.

In the 1970s, the school was integrated and became a middle school. High school students later attended Rock Ridge School, The school later closed in the 1980s.

Carter bought the property from a construction company. He and Kirby joined forces after Kirby shared a similar vision of creating opportunities for his rural hometown.

“It has so much potential, and it’s in a community where there’s no arts,” Kirby said.

With experience in general contracting, Kirby enlisted his daughter’s help to establish the nonprofit Springfield Community Center for Arts, Education, and Civil Rights Legacy. The group aims to raise awareness of the history and crowdfund donations to support the project.

“A nice, safe space for kids and people of really all ages to come in, to be creative and to learn and to enjoy community,” said Chandler Kirby, Rickey’s daughter.

The group plans to include multipurpose spaces, a cafe, a youth esports arena, and a makers space.

“The hope for this space is that we bring it back alive, have people to come in and learn different things and just have some for the community, ” Carter said.

“I think it sets a precedent for other rural areas,” Chandler said, “as well to be more intentional about providing things that aren’t necessarily just the basic needs.”

The project seeks to preserve history while building a new beacon of hope for future generations.

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 KABC staff

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    LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Traffic came to a halt on the 405 Freeway for a tiny rescue mission in the Harbor Gateway area, and it was all caught on video.

Last week, Officer Osorio responded to a call about a cat stuck in northbound lanes near Normandie Avenue, according to the California Highway Patrol.

He stopped all lanes of traffic, got out of his car and gently grabbed the feline who was pressed against the freeway’s center divider.

The kitten was then taken to a nearby animal shelter.

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 Molly Bernard

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    EAGLE, Wisconsin (WISN) — Roses and buckthorn have thorns, but one is a sign of love while the other is an invasive species in southeast Wisconsin.

Waukesha County Land Conservancy is hoping to turn some heartbreak this Valentine’s Day into habitat restoration through a unique fundraiser, centered around clearing Buckthorn.

“It creates these really dense thickets that shade out the ground layer. And once you introduce too much shade into these, these native ecosystems, like prairies in oak openings, they start to die,” said Aaron Feggestad, an ecologist on Waukesha County Land Conservancy’s board of directors.

Feggestad said Eagle Centre Prairie State Natural Area, in Eagle, Wisconsin, is one of those impacted prairies. Just walking through the landscape, it’s easy to see where volunteers have cleared buckthorn, creating more open spaces with prairie grasses. Meanwhile, other parts of the kettle are completely covered in thick patches of buckthorn, with no prairie grass growing underneath.

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, the nonprofit is helping donors metaphorically take an ax to their ex, and buckthorn, for just $5.

“The whole premise is to name a buckthorn tree, which is an invasive plant here in Wisconsin, after your ex, and it’s open to interpretation,” said Helen Holtz, land management director for Waukesha County Land Conservancy.

Holtz suggested using ex-partners, ex-friends, even a past or current boss or co-worker you don’t see eye to eye with, as possible names to submit.

“After cutting it, we will also write the name of that person on the stump. And then we treat it with herbicide as well, so it never comes back. So it’s never a thorn in your side again,” Holtz said.

To add a little icing on top, all the cut-down buckthorn will also be safely burned. Each donor will also get a picture of the stump with their ex’s name on it. Holtz said she’s already heard back from a few individuals who said it felt cathartic.

“Really just kind of a great way to let go and start over and start fresh,” Holtz said.

Each donation will go toward prairie seeds. Since buckthorn shade out and eventually kill natural plants, new native species need to be planted to help restore the landscape and ecosystem.

Like some exes, buckthorn can be hard to get rid of. It easily spreads in southeast Wisconsin, but the work to save these landscapes doesn’t end with one organization or one fundraiser.

“It takes, again, a community, and it takes a long outlook, right? We can’t just be out here once working. We got to be out here caring for the land indefinitely, and that’s what we plan to do,” Feggestad said.

You can find the direct link to the “Let’s Get Rid Of The Thorn In Your Side” fundraiser here. It will be open through Feb. 14.

Waukesha County Land Conservancy is holding a volunteer event this weekend to help clear even more buckthorn at Eagle Centre Prairie State Natural Area. You can register to volunteer.

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.