Month: May 2026

By Patrick Talbot

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    EL RENO, Oklahoma (KOCO) — The El Reno community is mourning the loss of four individuals who died in a crash early Friday morning, including two seniors who graduated this year.

Brad Palmer and Quincy Jones graduated from El Reno just days ago, Haliegh Salazar graduated from El Reno in 2025, and Kiercy Hickson was the fourth victim in the crash.

The group was killed after a suspected drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 40 near Czech Hall Road in Canadian County crashed into the vehicle they were traveling in.

The victims were described as a close group of friends with bright futures ahead of them.

A memorial has been placed on the interstate near the crash site to honor Brad and Kiercy. Flowers, pictures, and stuffed animals have been left to commemorate their lives.

GoFundMe fundraisers have been set up to help the families of the victims with funeral costs and other expenses.

GoFundMe pages have been created for Palmer, Salazar, Hickson and Jones.

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 Kathryn Merck

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    MILWAUKEE (WDJT) — A course created to combat gun violence in Milwaukee is nearing completion for its first class.

The initiative is called “I Will Not Die to Gun Violence” is a 10-week program for adults and young people involved in gun related cases. The goal is to make them re-evaluate their lives and rehabilitate those who are on dangerous paths.

Monte Mabra is leading this program, because on December 15th, his brother, Latroy Harris, was murdered at Dee’s Elegance Bar.

“It hurts,” Mabra said. “He was shot 15 times. It all started over a fight. It’s real taboo for me to the point where I’m fighting tears.”

On Sunday, May 24, CBS 58 got a look at a week of the curriculum that simulated a funeral service for a young boy in Milwaukee. Students were able to discuss the perspectives of the victim’s family and the perspective of the victimizer.

Mabra said 10 students will graduate next week. Some found the course online while others were directed to the class through a court order.

“It’s a great way to break certain cycles and how to educate my children better,” said Dan Cross, a student. “What they’re able to do is make it relatable and provide actual feedback so you can actually take it and create action with it.”

Antonio D. Brown has been charged with Harris’ murder. He was arrested in April, after months on the run from police, and will make his first court appearance on Friday. As his family prepares for a difficult week in court, Mabra says his family is finding peace in this program.

“I never wanted physical revenge,” Mabra said. “I just wanted to give back where it would save lives, not take lives. It’s coming to fruition.”

For questions or information about the initiative, Mabra can be contacted at votfc@att.net or you can call 414-306-2107

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 Gracie Palmer

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    FAIRVIEW, North Carolina (WLOS) — A local high schooler was recognized on Sunday, May 24, for earning her Girl Scout Gold Award, but her project is making an impact far beyond the ceremony.

A.C. Reynolds High School freshman Chloe Button created emergency communication packs for the Fairview Fire Department and nearby churches to help communities stay connected during future disasters.

The packs include radios, chargers, flashlights, and other emergency supplies.

“So, there are radios in there, the charger for the radios, a flashlight if power goes out,” Button said.

Button handed out the packs during her Girl Scout Gold dedication ceremony.

Fairview Fire Department Battalion Chief TJ Hill says the project addresses a major issue the department faced during Hurricane Helene.

“It’s very, very important to us because one of the reasons Hurricane Helene, we ended up, everybody was kind of trapped in their own place and no communications,” Hill said.

One of the most meaningful items in each pack is a card honoring Chloe’s late brother, Nathan Button.

The project was inspired by Nathan, who was killed by a distracted driver the night before Helene hit the area.

Chloe says that when her mother was flown to Charlotte for organ donation surgery, the storm made communication impossible.

She says that tragedy motivated her to help others avoid the same fear and uncertainty during emergencies.

“I hope people feel safer knowing that they have somewhere to go to and somewhere that we’ll be able to communicate and get them the help that they need,” Button said.

The radios at the fire department will serve as a backup communication system. Emma’s Grove Baptist and Oak Grove Baptist churches each received two emergency packs.

“[It will leave] a big impact on the community for sure, especially as many as she spread throughout the community,” Hill said.

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 Keith BieryGolick

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    FLORENCE, Kentucky (WCPO) — Randy Flexner points into the backseat of his car.

“There’s my kitchen,” Flexner said.

He walks around the front, reaching inside.

“And here’s my coffee counter,” Flexner said.

He pulls out a baby blue cup that says: Let the adventure begin.

Flexner is in the parking lot of Florence Christian Church. Because church officials run a program that offers free showers for people experiencing homelessness.

And Flexner knows it costs $18 for one at TravelCenters of America and $17 at Flying J.

“Being homeless is hard enough,” Flexner said. “Being grimy makes it feel all the worse.”

Inside the building, in what used to be storage space, Danielle Woods folds laundry. She’s been volunteering at the Fresh Start Shower Ministry for two years now. Before that, after her mom died, she mostly lived in the woods and took showers here for nine months.

“Mondays was our favorite day,” Woods said. “Because two days without a shower is kind of wild.”

Now, she’s found housing and tries to help people get into rehab. She says her work here helps her stay sober.

“We make ourselves a family,” Woods said. “Because they don’t get treated like human beings out there. But you come in here, and we treat everyone the same — whether we like you or not.”

She laughs and throws a load of clothes into the washer. Woods tells me that her daughter is now in her second semester of college. She smiles while telling me her GPA is 3.0.

Beyond showers, volunteers here wash clothes for people and try to connect them to other services — including dental visits, haircuts and medicaid assistance. In the courtyard, there’s a half-gallon of chocolate milk on the ground. Under the bench, there are a pair of black socks. A bottle of milk from Chick-fil-A sits on top.

This is just outside Pastor Susan Diamond’s office.

“All I can tell you is that when people get a shower, they feel human,” Diamond said. “We’ve seen lives change.”

In the last year, the organization says it’s had more than 12,000 visits. And now that summer is approaching, Diamond tells me they need help more than ever. Because other programs offered by county officials during the cold weather have subsided.

“Every person deserves grace, and that is what we’re here to do,” said Sam Combs, the operations director at the shower ministry. “To provide grace for folks that oftentimes are looked down upon.”

Outside the front door, Flexner pours a bottle of water into an empty McDonald’s cup. Then, he throws a blanket onto the ground. His dog, Lois, tries to eat my camera’s microphone.

He offers the dog a piece of fried chicken from inside the church.

“It feels like I’m in the right place,” Flexner said. “I’m happy.”

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 Rob Cardwell

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    HANOVER COUNTY, Virginia (WTVR) — At Cold Harbor Elementary School in Hanover County, two teachers share more than a hallway — they share a history that spans decades.

Elementary teacher Sophie Johnson and first grade teacher Stacey Duke work in classrooms right next to each other. They coordinate their lessons, including phonics, and support each other’s students. But their connection goes far deeper than professional collaboration.

Johnson went to elementary school at Cold Harbor Elementary — and she learned in the very same classroom she teaches in today.

“It’s amazing. It felt like coming back to my own home. I feel very attached to the room now and, um, it just feels like my own, the same but different,” Johnson said.

Her teacher back then was Duke, who now works right next door.

Johnson said her early days as a student were not easy.

“I was a little bit of an emotional mess. I didn’t want to leave home. I was so happy just to hang out there all day, but her being there really comforted me. She’s amazing at being there for her kids emotionally and she really loves her kids, and I felt that love when I was in her class,” Johnson said.

Duke remembered those early days, too.

“Her mom reached out to me and said that she was nervous. And she came in and helped me set my classroom up during teacher work week,” Duke said.

The confidence Duke helped build in Johnson carried her all the way back to Hanover County as an educator herself — one focused on passing that same love of learning on to her own students.

“Helping my kids learn to love learning and make them want to come to school every day and excited to be there and to learn,” Johnson said.

Now, teaching side by side, both women say they hope to leave a lasting mark on the next generation of learners.

“I want them to walk out of my door feeling like they had a great second grade year this year, or in her case, kindergarten and first grade, and that I was part of that. It means a lot when I saw her name on the list and then she walked down the hall. It meant the world to me that I knew I had made an impact on her,” Duke said.

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 Fernanda Silva

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    KANSAS CITY (KSHB) — Three Argentine cyclists have spent the last nine months biking more than 10,000 miles through 17 countries — all to watch their national team play in Kansas City.

Vicente Conculini, 29, Miguel Silio, 56, and Yamundu Martínez, 49, left their hometown of Gualeguaychu, Argentina, in August. They are now in Oklahoma, with Kansas City nearly in sight.

“You have to be a little crazy to go on this kind of adventure,” Conculini said.

To make the trip possible, they quit their jobs and have been living off their savings. Along the way, strangers have helped keep them going.

“Sometimes people invite you to sleep in their homes, sometimes they give you water on the road, give you food, ask how you’re doing, and honestly that’s something really beautiful about this trip,” Conculini said.

The journey has not been without its challenges. The group says they climbed to more than 15,700 feet in elevation at one point.

“The body suffers — you really feel it,” Silio said.

“We already knew about the physical suffering, the problems that could come up, whether bike breakdowns or harsh weather conditions — rain, cold and headwinds,” Martínez said.

But for the trio, the hardships are part of the point.

“The journey is the road itself. The final destination is only the finish line, but along the way you live, look around, enjoy and discover the places you travel through — that’s what it’s all about,” Silio said.

The three combined their shared passions for cycling, soccer and travel to plan the ride.

“We brought together those three passions we have and decided to cross all of the Americas — 17 countries, more than 10,500 miles — to reach Kansas City, where Argentina is based,” Conculini said.

Martínez said the motivation was simple.

“For the Argentine national team, for football, to get to know countries, to meet people,” Martínez said.

Now that the finish line is close, the emotions are mixed.

“There’s a kind of stress in knowing that you’re arriving, and the anxiety that creates. And on the other hand, you start to feel a small emptiness of finishing this trip. It’s a mix of feelings and emotions,” Silio said.

There are also personal deadlines to meet. Conculini noted that Miguel’s wife set a firm limit on the trip.

“Miguel’s wife only gave him one year to be away from home — he can’t go beyond that,” Conculini said.

The group plans to arrive in Kansas City as the Argentine national team arrives and intends to follow the team throughout the competition.

For Conculini, the greatest reward of the journey has been the people they met along the way.

“I think the most important thing is the people and how you connect with them,” Conculini said.

The group is also making a public call for cyclists in Kansas City to join them for the final hour of their ride into the city.

“We want to make a public call to everyone who has a bicycle to join us for the final hour of our 10-month journey across the continent,” Silio said.

“We would love for people at the finish line to also be part of this, and to give us that small gesture of affection, which would mean so much to us,” Silio continued.

Details on the final route and meeting point are still being worked out.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KSHB verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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 Hannah McDonald

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    COOPERTOWN, Tennessee (WTVF) — A Coopertown man says the IRS sent him a $20,000 tax refund by mistake — and that trying to return it cost him years of frustration, interest charges, and eventually his entire tax refund.

Wilson Perry Kirby, 76, a retired Montgomery County Highway Department worker who describes himself as plain-spoken and country, received the erroneous refund on May 10, 2022. He says he immediately tried to give the money back, but ran into wall after wall, even with his accountant’s help.

“She didn’t make a mistake, I didn’t make a mistake, they made a mistake,” Kirby said.

A Coopertown man says the IRS sent him a $20,000 tax refund by mistake — and that trying to return it cost him years of frustration, interest charges, and eventually his entire tax refund.

Wilson Perry Kirby, 76, a retired Montgomery County Highway Department worker who describes himself as plain-spoken and country, received the erroneous refund on May 10, 2022. He says he immediately tried to give the money back, but ran into wall after wall, even with his accountant’s help.

“She didn’t make a mistake, I didn’t make a mistake, they made a mistake,” Kirby said.

“I’ve tried the president, governor, mayor, they don’t mind asking you to vote for them, but when you need help you can’t get ahold of nobody,” Kirby said.

Kirby lost his wife, Norma Jean, in August 2024 and has been fighting the battle largely on his own since then.

“She knew how to text, she got a computer in there. I don’t even know how to cut it on,” Kirby said. “But she stuck by me and I wouldn’t have what I have today.”

Kirby says things finally started moving after I got involved. By the end of the month, he says he is expecting this year’s refund, which would bring the case to a close.

“And if it hadn’t been for you I wouldn’t of gotten nothing done,” Kirby said.

Kirby has also done significant advocating for himself throughout this process and never gave up — something he credits in part to his own stubbornness.

“I’m hard-headed, and I get set in my ways, and I’m that way,” Kirby said.

“Might’ve helped,” I said.

“Yeah,” Kirby said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WTVF verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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 Tony Geftos

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    WEST BLOOMFIELD, Michigan (WXYZ) — Five women staying at Grace Centers of Hope in Pontiac received free makeovers at Lush Hair Studio in West Bloomfield, giving them a fresh start as they prepare to re-enter the workforce.

Stylists spent the day doing hair, nails and makeup for the women who have faced addiction, abuse and homelessness.

Sandy Super, the owner of Lush Hair Studio, said the idea came after she and her staff toured the Grace Centers of Hope facility.

“They are women that have had some sort of addiction or had some kind of issues, abuse in their lives and had some really rough times. And as they’re getting through and getting ready to go out back into the workforce, we wanted to have them come in and give them full makeovers to make them feel beautiful from the inside out,” Super said.

Grace Centers of Hope offers women and their children a second chance, providing rehabilitation services, job assistance and pathways to stable housing.

Amber Smelser, one of the women receiving a makeover, described how her appearance had been tied to her pain.

“When you look all raggedy, you think about all the bad stuff that you’ve gone through,” Smelser said.

Laura Cardew, 40, has been at Grace Centers of Hope for one month. At one point before that, she lived in a tent.

“Being homeless really traumatizes you. Living outside really traumatizes you,” Cardew said. “If it wasn’t for Grace, where would I be right now? I’d be back on the street. I’d be back in that tent trying to work things out.”

Michelle Merritt, another resident, reflected on how far she has come.

“Before I went to Grace, I went to jail for 45 days. And then I went to Grace and I’ve been there ever since. Seven months and I’ve been seven months sober,” Merritt said.

Chrisynda Miller said she is focused on building a new future.

“I’m getting my GED. I’m learning new life skills,” Miller said.

The stylists said the experience was just as meaningful for them.

Chelsea Contway, a stylist at Lush Hair Studio, said she felt a personal connection to the women she was helping.

“I see myself in these women, and it could’ve been me, too,” Contway said.

Stylist Parker Berry said the event aligned with what she loves most about her work.

“I love making people feel confident and feel better about themselves and like their best selves. So, this really ties into it,” Berry said.

Stylist Madeline Exner said she was glad to contribute more than just her skills.

“Super stoked to be helping them out, and donating my time, donating products and color so that we can get them madeover for their new chapter,” Exner said.

Stylist Rianna Baughman described the broader mission of Grace Centers of Hope.

“From rehabilitation, to making sure that they have jobs, to making sure that they have homes that they can later call their own,” Baughman said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WXYZ verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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 Faraz Javed , Brandon Speagle

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    DEXTER, Michigan (WXYZ) — A Dexter mother found an unexpected way to connect with her nonverbal autistic son — through art.

Crissy Stratford, an artist showcasing her work at the Kensington Metropark Art Fair, said art has taken on a meaning far deeper than creative expression in her life.

“Art means to me, oh my goodness, art means communication,” Stratford said.

That communication traces back to her son, Chad, who is 27 years old and largely nonverbal. He was diagnosed with autism at age 3.

“I didn’t know what to do with that. So I just resorted to what I know best, which is drawing,” Stratford said.

Stratford began drawing books filled with images she knew would capture Chad’s interest. The approach worked.

“I drew Chad’s book and I drew things I knew that he would be interested in. And he loved these because they were areas of high interest. So he would be able to look at them and read them,” Stratford said.

She then gave Chad blank books of his own. What came back surprised her.

“He was able to tell me without words what was on his brain. And here he is, here we are in the living room. Here he is playing with his little toy when he was little. It’s not that he would be able to communicate with me without using his words, which is really cool,” Stratford said.

The discovery caught her completely off guard.

“Oh, yeah. Oh, it most certainly did, yes,” Stratford said.

Chad’s drawings reveal a rich inner world — scenes from family life, favorite places, and cherished memories. Among them are illustrations of the Country Bear Jamboree at Disney World, a place he loves.

“Just like things that he loves. Like he couldn’t tell me, I love writing this right, but he could actually write, this is Christmas. I love presents. He couldn’t say that, but he can draw,” Stratford said.

Through his artwork, Stratford said she has been able to experience a side of her son she never knew existed. Looking at his drawings still moves her.

“Always. Yeah. Oh, totally. Yeah, I love looking at his work,” Stratford said.

Stratford encourages other families navigating similar challenges to lean into visual communication.

“I recommend making everything more visual for your student or for your child. Visual is so important for people who have disabilities or who have autism,” Stratford said.

Stratford was among more than 130 artists participating in the 10th edition of the Kensington Metropark Art Fair. The Fair wraps up Monday, May 25th. To learn more about the fair head to: kensingtonartfair.com

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WXYZ verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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.