Month: July 2026

By Nikki DeMentri

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — More than 20 years ago, Insomnia Cookies was founded in Philadelphia as a cookie brand geared toward college students. Now, it’s gone international.

Seth Berkowitz, founder and CEO of Insomnia Cookies, said they now sell over 20 million cookies a quarter across more than 350 locations worldwide.

“We’re in major cities, suburbs,” Berkowitz said. “We’re in transportation areas. We’re in stadiums. The brand has meant a lot more than college, even though college is so core.”

The recipe for Insomnia Cookies’ success starts in Philadelphia. Berkowitz started the company his junior year at the University of Pennsylvania in 2003.

“I lived in a college house with eight of my incredibly good friends,” Berkowitz said. “We would order pizza and sandwiches — anything. All throughout all hours of the night, but I had this tremendous sweet tooth.”

Insomnia still calls Philly home more than two decades later. The company is headquartered in Center City — with its flagship bakery.

“I definitely didn’t envision this,” Berkowitz said. “This is more than I ever could’ve imagined or dreamed of.”

Insomnia boasts not only an international footprint, but an expansive menu. Of course there are cookies: classic, including vegan and gluten-free options, plus deluxe options. And then there are brownies, “Wiches,” cookie cakes and ice cream.

“We are Philly born and bred,” Berkowitz said. “We spend a tremendous amount of our time thinking about Philly and how the brand resonates in Philly, and I think the community embraces us.”

East Passyunk is home to the company’s “Cookie Lab,” which was its first experiential store. That opened in 2021 and offers customers a speakeasy experience featuring milkshakes and cookies.

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 Kilee Thomas

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    OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) — A 3-year-old battling cancer received a powerful reminder that she isn’t fighting alone.

Thousands of Oklahomans came together at a tattoo fundraiser to raise $32,000 for 3-year-old Sophia Hernandez, who was recently diagnosed with stage four high-risk neuroblastoma. The event, hosted by Krybaby’s Tattoo Studios this past Sunday, drew an overwhelming response.

“We had over 5,000 people that signed up in line,” said Sarah Lewis, owner of Krybaby’s Tattoo Studios.

The funds raised include $22,000 from the fundraiser, a $10,000 donation from the family’s mortgage company, Front Porch Homes, and additional contributions through a GoFundMe campaign.

For Sophia’s father, Rodrigo Hernandez, the support means six months of uninterrupted time at home with his daughter.

“What money can buy is a little relief,” he said. “Having people dedicate a full day to raising money for me and my family, that meant more than the world to me. If I could say it, it means the universe to me.”

Sophia, who recently had to shave her head due to her treatments, made an appearance at the event to meet the supporters.

“We made our rounds, kind of went around every shop, stopped by, and made sure she made an appearance so they could see what we were doing it for,” Rodrigo said.

Rodrigo shared how the funds will allow him to focus on what matters most.

“I’m hoping to just focus on them. Focus on having more fun, getting her treatments dealt with—not worrying about so much other responsibilities of life and try to just enjoy the time. You never know when it’s going to be the last moments, so I’m trying to focus on the good things,” he said.

The overwhelming support has inspired Sarah Lewis to continue helping the family.

“If we got to do this all over again until Sophia rings that bell, then we’ll do it again,” she 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 Rachael Perry

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    STUART, Florida (WPBF) — The Martin County Sheriff’s Office rescued 92 animals, including 80 cats and 12 dogs, from a home in the Foxwood community of Stuart, in what Sheriff John Budensiek described as the worst case of animal hoarding he has seen in the county.

Body camera footage from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office shows the conditions inside the home in the Foxwood community, which Sheriff John Budensiek described as “horrific.”

“These are squalor conditions; this is a nice house, nice neighborhood, but the conditions are horrific,” Budensiek said. “We’re talking about in some places a foot of animal feces in that house. There is no air conditioning in that house. So when we cracked the door on it earlier today, the stench was unreal, the air was stifling hot.”

The sheriff’s office said animal control had been trying to access the home for about a week, but the homeowner, Gail Giustino, 77, refused to cooperate. Court records show Giustino was issued over 40 citations in 2015 for improper care or treatment of animals, though the case was dismissed. Investigators now believe Giustino, a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier since 1997, collected many of the cats while working her route in the Port Salerno and Coral Gardens areas.

Early Tuesday morning, all 92 animals were transported to the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast, where they are now receiving medical attention and evaluations.

“A lot are underweight. Some are missing fur. They do that when they are under a lot of stress,” said Sarah Fisher, of the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast.

Fisher added that while some of the animals appear to be feral, others are friendly and could potentially be adopted. “Half [are] very friendly. Those who can’t go to a normal home [will need] a lot of land area [to] live their happiest lives,” she said.

Residents in the area are now wondering if their missing pets could be among the rescued animals. Megan Remick, a Martin County resident, said her cat Savannah went missing three years ago.

“I saw one of the rescuers, animal control officers, bring out a cage with a tiny white cat in it,” Remick said. “I know there’s other white cats in the world, but man, something just hit me, and just the thought that she could have been sitting in that filth, not being able to breathe in a cage for three years is just absolutely horrifying.”

Another resident, Shannon, said her cat Tux disappeared two weeks ago.

“I didn’t really even know about the news story until about two random people called me and said, ‘You live next to Sunshine Mobile, right? The mail lady got arrested,'” Shannon said.

She added, “I looked on the news and saw a video of one of the tuxedo cats inside the cage that they were taking out of the house. And I’m very hopeful that it’s my cat. And I’m really hoping to be reunited with my cat.”

The sheriff’s office has so far identified the owners of five of the animals and is asking anyone who believes one of the 80 cats could belong to them to file a missing pet report and schedule a time to be reunited with their pet.

A missing pet report can be filed at 772-463-3211.

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By Hayley Crombleholme

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    MOUNT DORA, Florida (WESH) — Mount Dora residents are being cautioned to stay away from monkeys after multiple sightings in the area, with officials emphasizing the importance of keeping a safe distance.

A woman shared a video she said she took on July 15 at the Forest Preserve, a wooded area behind the Mount Dora Public Library. Animal Control said they received two reports of monkey sightings in that area on Sunday. They believe it’s just one monkey that has been spotted multiple times.

Last month, a monkey was also spotted in Gilbert Park.

On Tuesday, WESH 2 News spoke with Priscilla Spears, who said she saw a monkey just last week while driving near a shopping plaza in Mount Dora.

“You don’t think you’re going to see a monkey just driving down the road, you know?” Spears said.

She said at first, she thought she saw a dog on the road before realizing it was a monkey.

“I was like, ‘Who would have their dog out on a busy road?’ And as I got closer, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a monkey,'” Spears said.

The city of Mount Dora issued a monkey-sighting advisory on Tuesday, reminding residents that these are feral animals “that should be admired from a distance.”

“There were a couple posts on Facebook about how to feed these monkeys and stuff like that,” Animal Control Officer Gerry Hodge said. “And what they need to do if they’re confronted with one, they need to just back away, let the monkey go on about its way. They don’t need to try to feed, touch, try to pet it or anything like that.”

Hodge also warned that the monkeys could carry diseases, “mainly the herpes complex,” and advised residents to give the animals their space.

Hodge said the city isn’t trying to trap the monkey. It’s just waiting for it to move along.

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 Elaina Athans

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    NASHVILLE, North Carolina (WTVD) — A Nash County deputy who spent a week in Venezuela assisting in earthquake rescue operations says the mission left him physically and emotionally drained after working long hours in dangerous conditions.

Deputy Jack Thorpe was deployed through the U.S. State Department following a 4.8-magnitude earthquake that caused widespread destruction. He said he had “pretty much almost no downtime,” adding, “There’s a little bit of sleep here and there, but not much.”

Thorpe shared photos from the mission, showing collapsed high-rise buildings, rubble piles and rescue crews searching for survivors. In one image, he is seen wearing a red helmet and walking across a beam several feet above the ground. He was paired with a K9 named Joey, who squeezed through slabs of concrete to search for trapped people.

A video from the scene shows crews digging after Joey detected a human. Thorpe said a man was pulled out alive one day later.

“It’s always tedious,” Thorpe said. “So, you, when you’re on these buildings and when you’re working these rubble piles, you’re climbing in a place where it’s unstable. It may be shored up properly. It may not. But we have a job to do.”

Thorpe said he helped rescue three people during the deployment. His canine partner also detected more than three dozen people killed in the earthquake.

“Even though the dent we made was very small compared to the entire incident or to the entire disaster,” Thorpe said, “we still went and made a difference. And we were able to bring three people back. And we were able to give closure to at least 38 families.”

Thorpe described extensive devastation and extremely difficult working conditions for both himself and Joey.

“There’s nothing I’ve seen like this, though. I’ve never seen anything like this one,” he said.

He recalled arriving at one site where a man was frantically digging through rubble in search of his wife and two daughters. K9s trained to detect humans did not find anything. Another set of dogs, trained to detect human remains, later confirmed the family had died.

“He knows that his family is gone and deceased, but we confirmed it for him,” Thorpe said. “And so I think that was really hard on him. He actually hugged me. That was pretty tough.”

After returning home, Thorpe spent time decompressing before resuming work with his cadaver dog, Fiji. The dog receives up to 100 requests a year to detect human remains.

In 2024, Fiji located a fisherman’s remains 16 feet underwater at Harris Lake. She has also worked Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina and floods in Texas.

Thorpe runs the North Carolina Troopers Association K9 Unit, a volunteer nonprofit that assists during natural disasters.

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By Abel Garcia

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    LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada is under increased hospice oversight as state and federal officials investigate concerns about fraud and patient care standards.

The Silver State previously put a pause on new hospice licenses while regulators investigate. And with more than 300 licensed hospice providers in Clark County, advocates say patients have a lot of options when deciding the best fit for their loved one.

As I’ve continued to look into hospice care and concerns in Southern Nevada, one issue kept coming up: How do you navigate those decisions? To get a better idea, I spoke to a local family about their experience with hospice care:

Mikiya Davis found herself navigating hospice care for the first time when her mother, Deborah Johnson, suffered a stroke, and Davis moved her from California to Las Vegas to care for her herself.

Davis says she eventually realized how much the quality of care, staffing, and support can vary depending on the provider.

“I didn’t know my rights. It was my first time on hospice, and If you don’t know, you just don’t know,” she said.

Without naming the hospices involved, Davis tells me she saw major differences between the provider she started with and the one she transferred to after just a few weeks.

“They didn’t have many nurses. They didn’t have many CNAs,” Davis said. “My mom would miss baths; she would miss a lot of things. Her medication was late or things like that. It was my first time ever taking care of someone on hospice, so I didn’t have anything to compare it to until I was with a new company, and I could tell the difference.”

Davis says one of the biggest lessons was learning what services families should ask about from the beginning — including the right medical equipment and supplies for a person’s hospice situation and the in-home support they can provide.

“The bedding — I didn’t have a bed. My mom was sleeping on the couch when I first got her,” Davis said. “They were able to give me a hospital bed, a chair for the shower. My mother was bigger than me, so I would have to lift her, feed her, change her, and it was hard on me.”

Davis says her experience raised questions about oversight and accountability.

“I would sign off for hours that were not complete,” she said. “I would do that, and I’m ashamed to say that because they weren’t, but I knew that they didn’t have the resources.”

While the company that Davis was first working with acknowledged that every hospice can make mistakes, they denied these allegations and said they do not ask patients or families to sign time sheets.

As part of our reporting, I reviewed Nevada’s ongoing hospice oversight concerns, including the state’s pause on new hospice licenses to identify potential fraud and ensure quality of care.

Because of that, hospice administrators, clinicians and healthcare advocates have been meeting monthly, pushing for stronger oversight and more transparency. They say stories like Davis’s show why families should research providers carefully and ask questions before making end-of-life decisions for loved ones.

“I didn’t know my mom had a right to have a medical bed and her insurance pay for it,” Davis said. “You just have to ask, but how do you know to ask questions that you don’t know?”

I reached out to the Nevada Health Authority for this report, and officials told me that anyone who suspects Medicaid fraud should report it to the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.

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By Morrissey Walsh

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    YORK, Pennsylvania (WGAL) — A Susquehanna Valley man was given a 5% chance of survival after collapsing from a sudden heart attack while hiking. The York County man beat those odds and ended up with quite the story to tell while forming new friendships along the road to recovery.

“There was a lot of people that helped save my life,” said George Taylor, who survived a heart attack while hiking in a York County park in the fall of 2023.

“I was almost done; we were pretty close to the finish. I said, I feel faint. So I sat down, and I got up and I just collapsed,” Taylor said.

The friend Taylor was hiking with jumped in to start CPR, while the paramedics rushed to the scene. The rescue effort faced an unusual challenge when paramedics arrived.

“When they showed up, they stopped on a yellow jacket nest, and everyone got stung. Two of the paramedics were actually treated for anaphylactic shock,” Taylor said.

Doctors discovered that Taylor’s carotid arteries were nearly completely blocked, requiring open-heart surgery. That day, he was given just a 5% chance of survival.

“The doctors told the people, told my friends, that I wasn’t going to survive. They told them, call my kids, have them come because this might be the last time they see their father,” Taylor said.

But Taylor pulled through, beating the odds.

“I told everyone the day afterwards, I’m going to do an Ironman. I’ll be fine,” said Taylor.

After months of cardiac rehabilitation and physical therapy, Taylor made a full recovery. Taylor doesn’t have family in the area, but over the course of treatment, he was able to form some special bonds with his care team.

“We were out for a stroll, and George plucked one of the tomatoes off the tomato plant, which we’ll have patients work with and stuff. And he popped it in his mouth; he wanted to see how it was,” WellSpan physical therapist Julia O’Donnell said.

Taylor and O’Donnell bonded over tomatoes in the WellSpan patient garden, a bond that is still going strong.

“Oftentimes, you see your patients, they go home, and then if they’re not following up within WellSpan or nearby, you don’t see them, or almost, you know, by chance, in the community. But it’s nice to be able to get to see the full circle and see people get back to their life,” O’Donnell said.

Originally from Connecticut, Taylor now calls York County home, a decision influenced in part by the care he received. “You know, I want to live a long time, and I intend to,” Taylor 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.