Month: February 2026

By Hannah Hilyard

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    MILWAUKEE (WISN) — It’s a brutal story of survival.

A wrong-way driver slammed head-on into a Milwaukee mom as she drove home from her third shift job at Amazon last October.

The victim is Jae Morgan, 33. For the first time, she is talking about the devastating crash.

“I’m just curious why you wanted to come forward and share your story?” WISN 12 News’ Hannah Hilyard asked Morgan.

“I really would like to meet the officers that saved my life,” she replied.

Morgan was on her way home Oct. 26 when prosecutors said Jorge Alvarez Mathizuma took a downtown exit ramp to enter Interstate 43 on Plankinton Avenue heading in the wrong direction. A criminal complaint said his blood alcohol level was twice the legal driving limit.

Moments later, it said he slammed into Morgan’s car.

“I just remember lights,” she recalled. “And then I just remember them yelling at me: ‘You have to get out!'”

Body camera footage captured Milwaukee County deputies pulling Morgan from her fiery car.

“I remember being in the ambulance, just like yelling at them like, ‘I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant! My baby!'” she said.

Her biggest priority: her unborn baby boy. Morgan was 22-weeks pregnant. Tragically, the crash killed her unborn son. She named him Tyme.

“I named him Tyme because time is something very precious. It’s the most valuable thing that we have. And it’s the only thing we can’t get back,” she said.

Morgan, who has two older children at home, spent the next month in the hospital recovering from serious injuries, including broken bones and burns. She has progressed from using a wheelchair to a walker and is now on a mission to meet the deputies who saved her life.

“I would thank them,” Morgan said. “I would thank them for everything that they did that night, jumping into action, saving my life for my children.”

She also expressed gratitude toward her supportive family, the medical staff, and her children’s school, Cumberland Elementary, for all their help in the days, weeks and months following the crash.

Morgan said she had to move since the crash and hasn’t been able to work. She’s started an online fundraiser to help in her recovery.

She’s also said she has forgiven Alvarez Mathizuma, who remains in custody.

“I was angry at first. And then, I had to think about my kids, my children who are still here, and I still have to get better for them,” she said. “I had forgiven him, probably like two days after all of this had happened for myself, so I wouldn’t dwell in that anger and rage. And doing that helped lift a lot of my anger off.”

Tyme’s due date was Feb. 22, the same day as Morgan’s late father. She celebrated both on Sunday.

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 Alex Howard

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    LEE COUNTY, Florida (WBBH) — College is meant to prepare students for the real world. That often involves textbooks, lectures, and long hours on a computer.

But in a field like nursing, the most valuable learning happens at a patient’s bedside — a high-stakes environment where mistakes can carry serious consequences.

That’s why Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) is introducing a new virtual reality lab designed to give students hands-on clinical experience without putting real patients at risk.

Gulf Coast News anchor Alex Howard put on a headset to see how the technology works.

Applause filled the room as faculty and students gathered for a first look at the immersive training environment.

“It’s incredibly realistic,” one observer remarked while watching a simulation unfold.

Inside FSW’s new VR lab, students step into detailed hospital scenarios that mirror real clinical settings.

“In terms of just going into a room and checking on a patient, this is just so accurate,” a participant said.

Registered nurse Olnise Exavier tried the virtual tool and said she wishes it had been available when she was in school.

“When I was in school, they had simulations, but it wasn’t where you are physically doing it,” Exavier said. “You were sitting down at a computer and going through the experience — not immersed — where you are actually feeling the whole thing.”

Lab manager Mon Navarro says the VR headsets serve two key purposes: hands-on experience and observation.

“Everything the student is doing from the inside is reflected in an overhead view,” Navarro explained. “It’s displayed here along with a checklist of what he or she needs to do.”

FSW’s nursing leadership plans to integrate the technology into regular clinical training.

“Eventually, this will be part of their clinical day,” the nursing school dean said. “We’ll bring 18 students twice during the day into the VR lab. They will be graded individually on their skills, and we will see what we can improve.”

The simulations can extend beyond nursing, placing students into realistic scenarios where they can make mistakes and learn from them without real-world consequences.

Students navigating the system appeared confident — though not every attempt was flawless.

“Oh no, I screwed up,” one student said during a simulation.

“You are put in a virtual environment where interactivity is key,” Navarro added. “Studies show that students learn more when they are actually doing the task instead of just reading about it.”

With precision training and lifelike scenarios, the virtual lab aims to sharpen clinical skills before students enter real emergency situations — where preparation can make all the difference.

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 Ayron Lewallen

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    HOOVER, Alabama (WVTM) — In a Hoover High School classroom, art teacher Ahmad Austin uses art to show students that Black history is woven into American history, helping them discover their identities and aspirations.

“Black history is American history. A part of American history wouldn’t be where it is today because of Black history. I think they intertwine together,” Austin said.

As the art teacher at Hoover High School, Austin makes sure students know the names and legacy they’re part of, mentioning artists like Basquiat, Alma Thomas, Jacob Lawrence, and Romare Bearden.

For many students, art is where they find their voice and a place where they feel seen.

Lamon Jarman, a student, said, “All of us shape ourselves to be seen by other people. If you’re going to shape yourself, you might as well do in a way that you like personally and not just because someone told you to style your hair this way, or draw this way, or move that way.”

Capri Parks, another student, finds the classroom a safe space to create without fear.

“Being in this classroom, it’s a lot of discovering that art isn’t about perfecting it and making it look good. It’s about how it makes you feel and if you feel accomplished by that,” Parks said.

Austin hopes his students walk away from his class knowing that art doesn’t stop when the bell rings.

Parks added, “He’s just very good at making sure that art that is done in this room expands outside of it, and that we use that as we go forward through our high school and figure out what we want to do.”

Austin said, “When I was younger, my dad used to play jazz music around the house all the time. At that time, I was all about hip hop and jazz music. I wanted to see that missed. And then as I got older, I can appreciate support. And then I started to kind of implement in my art with the jazz.”

Now, Austin is inspiring the next generation of artists, teaching students that Black art is a living, breathing part of America’s story still being painted, creating a colorful story of our past, present, and future.

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 Guy Rawlings

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    BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (WVTM) — Seventy-five years after its founding, the Birmingham Museum of Art is asking the public to help locate the missing works the first Black artist to have an exhibition at the museum during segregation – Corietta Mitchell.

The Birmingham Museum of Art was established in 1951 during the height of Jim Crow laws, which mandated segregation in public venues.

Graham Boettcher, the museum’s director, said, “Because the museum was founded in the era of Jim Crow, all of the racist, segregationist laws that were in place at that time applied to all public venues… for this institution, that meant that Black visitors could only attend one day a week.”

For decades, Black patrons were turned away simply for showing up on the wrong day, a reality the museum now openly acknowledges.

“It’s something that’s a shameful part of our history, but it’s something we have to acknowledge to be able to move forward and really fully serve this community,” Boettcher said.

In March 1963, four months before Birmingham officially repealed segregation laws, the museum’s founding director, Richard Howard, made a historic decision.

“He accorded a one-woman show to an artist named Corietta Mitchell, who was a major figure in the Birmingham art scene at that time. Now, the art scene in Birmingham was segregated as well. And there were two Birmingham art clubs, one all black, one all white,” Boettcher said.

Mitchell was a leader of Birmingham’s Black Art Club, an educator, a classically trained pianist, and a trailblazer. Her exhibition drew more than 600 people and made headlines across Alabama.

“In later years, as Corietta Mitchell continued to exhibit her work here in Birmingham, it was often brought up she was the first Black artist to have an exhibition at the Birmingham Museum of Art. That’s something she became known for as a trailblazer. Sadly, I will say, though, to this day we have not been able to locate a single example of her work,” Boettcher said.

Not one painting, not one print, just a checklist and a grainy newspaper photo remain. As the museum celebrates its 75th anniversary, that absence feels impossible to ignore.

“As we look ahead at the future, we’re also looking back at the past, and acknowledging our history — that’s the good, the bad, and the ugly,” Boettcher said.

Boettcher, an art historian, says the search for Mitchell has become deeply personal, part scholarship, part moral obligation.

“From, thank goodness, newspapers.com we do know little bits and pieces. We know Richard Howard was going to exhibitions of the work of Black-American artists that were being hosted in the auditorium at the AG Gaston building,” Boettcher said. “I really want to know how it was that he defied the Jim Crow laws of the time… and that Coretta Mitchell was able to have this very successful exhibition.”

The museum is now asking for the public’s help – family members, former students, anyone who might know where Mitchell’s work went.

“If any of your viewers knew Corietta Mitchell, took piano with her, friends socially, I wish I knew what church she went to – that would be another lead we could look into. But, someone in the Magic City has to remember her,” Boettcher said.

Finding her art wouldn’t just fill a gap in the museum’s collection; it would restore a name nearly lost to history.

“Sometimes you hear the term ‘revisionist history.’ This is not revisionist history. This is getting it right,” Boettcher said.

More than sixty years after that groundbreaking exhibition, the Birmingham Museum of Art is working to give credit where credit is due. If you have any information about Corietta Mitchell or her artwork, the museum is urging you to come forward.

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 Brooklyn Joyner

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    JACKSON, Mississippi (WAPT) — Solomon Ray, an AI gospel artist, is touching the hearts of listeners with his song “Find Your Rest.”

“When somebody says this song helps me find my way back to Jesus, that’s everything,” said Solomon Ray.

Solomon Ray may be talking, but someone else is telling him what to say.

Topher Townsend, a content creator and musician from Philadelphia, Mississippi, is the mind behind Solomon Ray, brought to life through artificial intelligence.

Townsend was inspired by Grammy-winning producer Timbaland, who was promoting his new AI artist, Tata, and began experimenting with AI software in early 2025. He said, “He doesn’t release anything without me. I sit and meditate on the songs, a lot of them are based in scripture. I make sure it’s something the Lord would be pleased with.”

Solomon has more than 500,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. His number one song, “Find Your Rest,” topped the Billboard Gospel Music Charts in 2025.

Ray expressed gratitude for the song’s success, saying, “When someone tells me a song helped them through grief or temptation or just a hard morning, that’s bigger than numbers.”

Townsend explained that creating songs using AI software is not a quick and easy process.

“For me personally, I make sure that I add all the lyrics, one because I like that creative control as it does melodies. I also go in post-production, where we can generate sections or rearrange them. I do a lot of that,” he said.

Maalik Miles, director of digital marketing at Malaco Records, believes AI has a future in the music industry.

Miles demonstrated how this software is used, with their most recent project using AI to bring popular blues album covers to life, featuring artists like Little Milton and Z.Z. Hill.

“People love to see that come to life, as far as they knew that cover, they never seen video on most of those artists,” Miles said.

To create these music videos, Miles types in prompts of what he wants illustrated and adjusts them until he gets his desired outcome.

“I look at it like it’s an animation thing. We create things with AI to make an artist, music video,” he said.

Though AI musicians have faced criticism and calls for more regulation. State Sen. Bradford Blackmon is pushing “The Name Image and Voice Act,” a bill he says would protect Mississippians’ likeness from being used without their permission.

“If you have a law on the books that says, hey, you can be fined a minimum of $5,000 if not more for taking somebody’s image or their voice or their name and digitally altering it, putting it out there, maybe it’ll cause you to stop and think about it,” Blackmon said.

Blackmon noted that although creations like Solomon Ray are original, most content curated by AI is inspired by humans who already exist.

“It’s easy to say this is original. This is just an original voice, but that’s not the case. It has to be pulled from somewhere, it’s sourced from somewhere, and with the protections in place, you can try to figure out where that source is coming from,” he said.

Brooks Derryberry and Tim Avalon, members of the newly formed group “The Rangers,” often perform at Hal and Mal’s and feel AI could be a threat to real-life musicians.

“AI can take your song and make some changes, be almost the same song but with some material changes, and now you’ve basically lost your intellectual property,” Derryberry said. Avalon added, “It may produce things a human really can’t do or play that fast.”

Derryberry questioned how AI artists would connect to listeners, saying, “AI won’t ever be able to tell a story because it won’t ever have that connection to the story, that imagination.”

Townsend acknowledged the criticism, saying, “It’s a soulless machine. What does it know about the pain, the testimony, the trials that we go through as humans? And all I have to say is, yeah, it doesn’t, and that’s why the human can’t be ignored in the process.”

Townsend views his use of AI as a partnership. “There is a lot of music that we are going to have to reject if AI being involved is an issue,” he said.

Courtland Liddell, a Grammy-winning audio engineer at Malaco Records, said AI has been used in music since the 80s.

“If you ever wonder why an artist may sound different live versus on their studio album, because the voice has been modified in some shape, form, or fashion,” Liddell said.

He warned that the overuse of AI could lead to listener fatigue.

“All the music we are accustomed to hearing and making is not perfect, and AI, when you look at it, it’s correcting all those notes, it’s making everything perfect, and naturally, as humans, we’re gonna get tired of that,” he said.

The Rangers agree, saying, “It doesn’t scare me because it ain’t gonna never take my joy away.” They believe vulnerability and authenticity can only come from real-life musicians.

“AI music will never be able to interact with the audience and create a connection to the audience, and that’s what brings people out,” they said.

Townsend believes AI should be embraced, saying, “Now we have an opportunity, especially with the success of Solomon Ray, to help lead that. We can help put those guardrails in place that’s gonna make sure that this area remains human or this human element is not rid of.”

Solomon concluded, “I’m not a replacement for humanity, I’m an extension of it.”

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 Melissa Fry

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — Mike Albritton from Omaha underwent a pioneering heart valve replacement surgery using new laser-cut technology, offering him a renewed chance at an active life.

Albritton’s health had been declining rapidly after suffering two heart attacks in 2018.

“Terrible. It just felt like I couldn’t do what I used to be able to do,” Albritton said.

He described one of his heart attacks as a “widowmaker heart attack, which they corrected with a couple of stents.”

Last year, Albritton required a new heart valve, and Dr. Ali Khiabani performed a “sutureless” procedure at CHI Bergan Mercy.

“It became available the day of the surgery,” Dr. Khiabani said, noting that Albritton’s surgery was the first in the country to use this new technology.

The procedure involved a new “laser-cut” sutureless valve, which uses bovine tissue for improved durability and blood flow.

“The leaflets of the valve that are made from bovine tissue were cut with laser,” Dr. Khiabani said. He explained that “more precision gives us potentially better outcomes in terms of leaflet coadaptation, less valvular degeneration and better gradient across the valve.”

This innovative approach offers better longevity and may delay future operations, allowing Albritton more time to enjoy activities like biking, walking his dogs, and shopping with his wife.

“I’m real happy with the results, and I look forward to a new lease on life,” Albritton said.

His improved health is especially significant for his daughter, Bailey Albritton, who looks forward to her father walking her down the aisle at her upcoming wedding.

“He’s so special, so important for so many people, and I’m lucky to have him,” she said.

If Albritton requires another heart valve replacement in the future, doctors can perform the procedure intravenously, which involves minimal downtime.

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.