Month: July 2026

By Sam Landstra

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    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WXMI) — As top soccer talent competes in the World Cup this week, a 15-year-old from the Grand Rapids area will try to earn the right to represent Guatemala.

Angel Mendez-Lopez plays the center back position for Michigan Futbol Academy, the official development program of Grand Rapids’ first professional soccer team, AC Grand Rapids.

Last year, Mendez-Lopez met a scout at a soccer tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. The connection, as well as his own prowess and potential, has earned him a tryout for Guatemala’s U17 team.

“I’m beyond grateful,” said Mendez-Lopez, who recently finished his freshman year at Southwest Middle High, a school in the Grand Rapids Public Schools system.

“All glory to God,” he said.

While he was born in the United States, Mendez-Lopez’s parents emigrated from Guatemala and other family members, including his grandmother, still live in the Central American country.

“Always wanted to represent, always wanted to wear that badge for Guatemala,” he said. “Every time I step on the pitch, I always remember I’m playing for them. I’m playing for my brothers, I’m playing for my mom and my dad, I’m playing for my grandma.”

This week, Mendez-Lopez will compete in Guatemala for a spot on the country’s U17 team, which is comprised of players ages 17 and younger.

“This dream is coming true,” Anmer Mendez, Angel’s uncle, said.

Anmer currently trains and even previously coached his nephew.

“He’s ready to show what he’s got,” he said. “I wish Angel the best, and I wish all these kids that love the game that one day they get a chance as well.”

While a spot on the roster is not a certainty, support from family has always been guaranteed.

“I’m entirely grateful,” Mendez-Lopez 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 Matt Sczesny

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    VERO BEACH, Florida (WPTV) — A Vero Beach homeowner says skyrocketing insurance costs may soon force her out of her home, and her story is one many Florida homeowners know all too well.

Kelly Hagen reached out to share her frustration over the relentless rise in her homeowners insurance premiums. Her home, which has three bedrooms and two baths, is about 1,500 square feet and was built in 1994.

“My homeowners insurance is $9,000 a year, which equates to $750 a month on top of my mortgage payment,” Hagen said. “It went from $6,000 to the next year it was $8,000. Now it’s over $9,000. I mean, it just keeps going up and up and up.”

Hagen says the financial pressure goes beyond the premium itself. Her insurance company requires impact windows — an expensive upgrade she has struggled to afford while working two jobs.

“Impact windows are very expensive. I’m by myself. I work two jobs. I work a full-time job, and then I work Instacart nights and weekends,” Hagen said.

Her situation was made worse when she was turned away for a $10,000 My Safe Florida Home grant after it took too long to find a contractor — a roadblock many Florida homeowners have faced.

State leaders say now is the time for homeowners to shop around, pointing to new insurers entering the market with competitive rates. One new company, Stand Insurance, is offering to help homeowners connect with affordable contractors. Stand uses AI technology to study homes and then works to pair homeowners with vendors and contractors to make repairs.

“If you can actually help someone be safer and have their home be safer, it’s beneficial to everyone involved; we don’t have to pay out in claims and customers pay less in premiums,” Dan Preston, the CEO of Stand Insurance, said.

For Hagen, the window to find a solution is closing fast.

“How much longer can you hang on with these increases in insurance?” WPTV consumer reporter Matt Sczesny asked her.

“Probably just a couple more months, and then I can’t do it,” Hagen said.

“What will you do?” Sczesny asked.

“I’m going to have to leave my house. I’ll have to try and sell my house,” Hagen said. “Leaving would be devastating.”

Experts advise homeowners in similar situations to explore workable changes to their policy and shop around for lower premiums with other insurance companies.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WPTV 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 Sarah Horbacewicz

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    DENVER, Colorado (KCNC) — As e-bikes are seen more often on Boulder’s bike paths, doctors say they’re also seeing a growing number of serious injuries tied to e-bike crashes, while states across the country weigh new regulations.

For lifelong cyclist Jaclyn Orent, that trend became personal last month.

“I saw the other bike in my lane swerve, and then I just remember getting hit, and then off I went,” Orent said.

Orent was riding her road bike along the Boulder Creek Path when she collided with an electric bike. Even though she says she was wearing a helmet, the crash sent her to the hospital.

“I have a separated shoulder. I don’t know if you can see it, but there’s now a bump there that I’m gonna have for the rest of my life. And now all my backpacking trips are canceled for the summer,” Orent said.

Doctors at Boulder Community Health Foothills Hospital say crashes involving e-bikes and electric scooters are becoming more common.

Foothills Hospital emergency physician Dr. Shannon Sovndal estimates that e-bike-related injuries now arrive in the emergency department every shift. A new report from Boulder Community Health shows the hospital most commonly treats e-bike-related patients between the ages of 18 and 24 and pediatric cases have doubled.

Beyond Boulder, Children’s Hospital Colorado reported a 184% increase in traumatic injuries related to e-bikes treated at its Anschutz campus between 2024 and 2025. Hospital leaders say the rapid growth mirrors the increasing popularity of electric bicycles among both adults and children.

The American College of Surgeons also says e-bike injuries are becoming a growing public health concern. According to the organization, more than 20,000 people are injured while riding electric bicycles each year, with approximately 3,000 requiring hospitalization. The group notes that those figures are likely underreported.

“The asphalt doesn’t care whether you’re on the motorcycle or the bicycle, and if you’re going at a high speed and you hit the ground, you know you have significant injuries, just like a motorcycle accident,” Sovndal said.

Under Colorado law, an electric bicycle is generally defined as a bicycle with a motor of less than 750 watts and a top assisted speed of up to 28 mph, depending on its class. Vehicles that exceed those limits are legally treated as a low-powered scooter or a type of motorcycle.

In Orent’s crash, the police report did not specify how fast the electric bike was traveling or how powerful its motor was. Orent says she wants to see more detailed reporting on e-bike crashes, along with regulations that improve safety.

“Let’s start classifying these things based off of actually the weight of them too, because it might go 15 mph, but this thing with 100 pounds, right? What happens when someone riding a 15-pound bike hits a 100-pound bike? That’s a fundamental problem,” Orent said.

Orent also noted that because the bike crash was not classified as a motor vehicle crash, she has limited options for insurance claims.

As e-bikes become more common, lawmakers and transportation officials in multiple states are reviewing regulations surrounding their use, including questions about speed, vehicle classifications, rider age requirements, and where higher-powered models should be allowed to operate.

The issue has also drawn attention in Colorado. In previous reporting by CBS Colorado, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office also reported concerns with modified e-bikes that essentially become e-motorcycles.

“We actually pulled over an electric motorcycle the other day, and it was 59 mph on an electric motorcycle, and it was a 14-year-old riding it,” a Boulder County Sheriff’s Office deputy told CBS Colorado.

Despite the increase in injuries, Sovndal says he supports the use of e-bikes and scooters, provided riders use them responsibly.

“I utilize e-bikes as well, and scooters; they’re a great way to get around,” Sovndal said. “I do think that a little more, kind of regulation to make sure that people aren’t riding these things in a crazy way… You just need to use them safely.”

For Orent, the conversation extends beyond her own injuries, but she believes in a holistic approach from the community to bring down crashes.

“This isn’t just a me problem, this isn’t just a bike problem, can we all come together around a shared vision of creating a safe Boulder?” Orent 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 Madeleine Wright

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    LAWNSIDE, New Jersey (KYW) — A South Jersey summer camp is bringing Black history to life through hands-on learning centered on the Underground Railroad.

The Lawnside Historical Society kicked off its Underground Railroad summer camp Monday, giving middle school students the opportunity to visit sites tied to the fight for freedom and learn beyond the classroom.

“I was excited,” 10-year-old summer camper Harlan Jenifer III from Lawnside said. “I was happy to learn about my heritage and history.”

On Day 1, the Lawnside Historical Society brought students to the home of Peter Mott, a free Black man who opened his house as a place of refuge for freedom seekers escaping enslavement.

“The most interesting thing I learned so far was that this house was in Lawnside,” 13-year-old summer camper Stacey Johnson from Somerdale said. “I didn’t realize that the Underground Railroad was connected to New Jersey at all at one point.”

The weeklong camp includes scavenger hunts, tours and writing activities designed to deepen students’ understanding of what they learn in school.

“You will not find Peter Mott’s name most likely in the history books, but I want students to know that Lawnside, alongside Free Haven and Snow Hill, had a big part in the Underground Railroad,” Joyce Fowler, vice president of the Lawnside Historical Society, said.

Camp leaders said the program goes beyond traditional classroom lessons, highlighting details such as coded communication and the ways enslaved people navigated their journey to freedom.

“A lot of times the teachers don’t go into the study of the communication that enhanced and actually had to do with the struggle for freedom,” camp director Jacqueline Miller Bentley said.

Throughout the week, students will visit additional Underground Railroad sites across South Jersey, including Mt. Zion AME Church in Woolwich, Gloucester County, and museums.

Harlan said the camp has already changed his perspective.

“I just thought it was a history of something that was back in the past that I didn’t need to care about,” Harland said. “But right now, it’s making me want to learn more about it.”

The camp runs through Friday, when students will present paintings, poems and other creative projects inspired by what they’ve learned.

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 Christina Fan, Nick Caloway, Jesse Zanger

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    OCEAN TOWNSHIP, New Jersey (WCBS) — The roof of a BJ’s Wholeale Club partially collapsed Monday morning amid heavy flooding in Ocean Township, N.J.

It happened at around 11:30 a.m. at the store on NJ-35 in the Oakhurst neighborhood, the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office said.

Surveillance video captures the moment of the partial ceiling collapse and torrential flooding that followed, which left about a foot of water inside the store. A large chunk of the roof gave way under the weight of the water.

The video shows shoppers inside BJ’s in the bakery section. The colllapsed roof unleashed a torrent of water that shoved several displays in the area across the floor. One table filled with products can be seen striking and pushing a person trying to get away.

Some 27 people were in the store at the time of the collapse. Fortunately, there were no injuries, authorities said.

“Several reports of several people trapped inside the building, so we activated the mass casualty protocol, Ocean Township Police Chief Michael Sorrentino said.

The store was evacuated. Urban search and rescue crews moved in with dogs and drones to make sure everyone got out. Incredibly, no one was injured.

Two people were partially trapped, but freed themselves and safely left the store with everyone else, Sorrentino and Ocean Township Sheriff Shaun Golden said in a statement.

“This incident is another reminder of how quickly severe weather can create dangerous and unpredictable conditions,” Golden said.

The Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office posted an image from Route 35 that showed several vehicles deep in floodwater.

“Please stay clear of the area and allow emergency personnel to safely respond,” the MCSO wrote on social media.

Flash flooding caused havoc on the roads.

“It just got bad. Like, all of a sudden, within minutes, it was low, then it just got high,” motorist Duval Moore said.

Alexandros Gavakis got a call from his girlfriend, so he raced over to help her get out of her flooded car.

“I was trying to push her car. It wasn’t working. So I just opened the door, picked her up, and I walked her out of there,” he said.

“We already had vehicles that have stalled and are in the way of traffic, particularly first responders that need to get to actual emergencies,” Golden said.

In Paramus, the cleanup was still going strong Monday as crews cleared trees off homes and power lines.

The ongoing severe weather conditions has families in the area feeling on edge.

Block by block, wood chippers have been grinding their way through Saturday’s storm debris.

“From first look, it doesn’t look too bad. But I am curious to see what we are supposed to do next,” Paramus homeowner Kevin Kim said.

Kim just bought his house a month ago. He’s waiting to find out if his roof is still in one piece.

“All of the wind started to just pick up, and we saw this first tree fall, and then it landed right in front of our doorstep. And while we were looking at that, we saw this one start to slowly fall and then it – when it hit the roof – the whole house shook,” Kim said.

Trees toppled on cars, power lines, roads, fences and homes in Paramus. Many families in the area are now relying on generators.

“The timeline, earliest, would be sometime today. The latest estimate would be Friday this week,” Mary Ferrazzano said.

Paramus Mayor Chris DiPiazza said his office has received 250 calls since Saturday night, and crews have been responding ever since the storm hit.

“We are asking our residents to just be patient. Our departments are all hard at work,” DiPiazza 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 Daniel Wilkerson

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — A metro Atlanta man is helping his fellow food and beverage workers struggling with addiction and alcoholism by holding weekly meetings that foster support.

“I’ve been cooking for 11 years. I started when I was a teenager. I’ve been with the company ever since,” said Jonah Jacobson, a sous chef at Pricci in Buckhead.

Jacobson said he began to experience repercussions while in active addiction five years ago.

“Things got bad enough to the point where I was fired from my first job,” he said.

Jacobson said once he started using alcohol and drugs, he could not stop.

“Where everybody else would call it a night after 1, 2 and go home like a normal person, I realized I did not have that luxury. I was not like everybody else,” said Jacobson.’

He helps lead the local chapter of Ben’s Friends, a national organization that organizes meetings for people struggling with addiction and alcoholism.

“We would always talk about another restaurant person who was either destroying their lives or, unfortunately, had just taken their lives due to alcohol and drugs. At one point, we just said enough is enough,” said Ben’s Friends co-founder Mickey Bakst.

Bakst has been sober for 43 years. He said the food and beverage industry fosters an environment in which alcohol and drugs are common and makes it easy for workers to fall into active addiction.

Adam Mauk with Edge Treatment Center in Roswell said programs like Ben’s Friends are often more successful after a person completes an initial inpatient or outpatient treatment plan. But he said people often reason they cannot afford to take the time off from work to complete initial treatment.

“It’s been proven time and time again that if you put anything ahead of your sobriety or ahead of trying to get clean or sober, then you’re going to lose that too,” said Mauk.

Jacobson has now been sober for five years.

“It (recovery) gave me a new outlook on life and gave me a sense of belonging that I was looking for, partially in a kitchen, partially outside of my life,” said Jacobson.

Ben’s Friends has more than 40 chapters across the country, offering free peer support to people working in the food and beverage industry.

Jacobson encourages anyone to attend a meeting on Mondays at 11 a.m. at Pricci, located on Pharr Road.

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By Jamal Goss

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — For one Atlanta family, Argentina’s World Cup match is about more than soccer. It’s about carrying a family tradition from one generation to the next.

As Argentina takes the field in Atlanta, four generations of the Benitez family: grandmother Marielena Frances-Benitez, daughter Marcela Benitez, Marcela’s wife Rachel Benitez, and 1-year-old Luisa Benitez are celebrating a love for their home country, Lionel Messi, and the memories that have connected their family for decades.

“Even though I don’t maybe remember the details,” Marcela Benitez said, “I remember the feeling.”

Marcela spent childhood summers in Buenos Aires before moving to Atlanta a decade ago. Now, she and Rachel are raising Luisa to embrace the same Argentine traditions that shaped her childhood.

That tradition began with Marcela’s mother, Marielena, a lifelong Messi supporter who has followed his career since his earliest days as a professional.

“To marry into the Argentina soccer culture is a whole thing,” Rachel Benitez said. “I’ve learned a lot.”

Inside their Atlanta home, Messi represents more than championships.

He represents family.

At the center of that story is Marcela’s late father, Rubén Benitez, a poet and professor of Spanish literature.

In 2012, before Messi won a World Cup with Argentina, Rubén wrote a poem celebrating the soccer star and the pride they shared in their hometown of Rosario.

“Rubén wrote a poem for Messi and gave it to me as a present,” Marielena Frances-Benitez said. “I just felt that was the greatest present.”

Rubén died three years ago, but his poem remains one of the family’s most treasured possessions.

“My dad passed away three years ago,” Marcela Benitez said. “He was a poet, he was a professor of Spanish literature.”

Before each World Cup, the family reads the poem together and has carried it to matches over the years, hoping Messi will one day see it.

“I wish Messi could ever read this poem,” Marielena Frances-Benitez said. “Because he wrote it before Messi had won anything with Argentina.”

For Rachel, the poem has become a way to keep Rubén’s legacy alive while introducing Luisa to the family’s history.

“His art lives on in our lives,” Rachel Benitez said. “His mannerisms, his face lives on in the next generation.”

Whether they watch inside the stadium or alongside fellow Argentina supporters at a local watch party, the Benitez family says this World Cup is about more than the outcome of a match.

It is a celebration of a husband, a father and a grandfather whose words continue bringing his family together one World Cup, and one generation, at a time.

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 Juli McDonald

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    QUINCY, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Renze Daley had been enjoying an ice cream along Wollaston Beach in Quincy, Massachusetts Sunday, when she and her friend noticed a woman bobbing in an out of the water. Daley called out to her, but the response was faint. Then someone from the nearby yacht club called out that the woman needed help.

“I didn’t think too much about it. I took off my shoes and I just went into the water,” she recalled.

The 22-year-old Daley is a strong swimmer who grew up on the swim team and now works as an instructor at her local Y. Even with her experience and training, the conditions were challenging.

“It’s one thing to perform a rescue in a pool. It’s another to swim against currents and tides and the wind in regular clothes with no tube,” she said.

Daley, only 5’2″, was smaller than the woman, who was exhausted.

“She’s not able to kick or anything like that. I’m holding her and trying my best not to go under the water. I put my arm around her, I had my left arm around her, and I tell her to lean her body weight onto me,” she said.

Thanks to her calm and quick thinking, Daley safely helped the woman back to the beach and called 911. The outcome was extremely rewarding, and a reminder of the priceless importance of the work she loves.

“Moms and dads bringing their babies who can’t even walk, and I teach the elderly too. I was teaching water yoga too. It really is for everybody,” she said of swim instruction.

And she feels everyone has some responsibility to be ready and able to help.

“The water, as much as it’s fun, it’s so dangerous. I feel like everyone should know a little CPR and at least how to swim,” Daley said. “Knowing how to at least keep your ahead afloat is very, very important.”

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 Steven Yablonski, Morgan Rynor

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — First responders from South Florida who raced to Venezuela in the aftermath of the devastating and deadly earthquakes in Venezuela at the end of June have returned home after a weeklong deployment.

Members of Florida’s Task Force 1 and Task Force 2 (FL-TF1 and FL-TF2) spent the week helping with the search-and-rescue operations, working alongside Venezuela’s Urban Search and Rescue teams and other international partners.

The mission held a special significance in their hearts as South Florida hold one of the largest Venezuelan populations in the U.S., making this mission even more personal.

One of the task force members said he was searching through the rubble of the neighborhood where he grew up.

Cameras captured the emotional moment when FL-TF1 and FL-TF2 arrived at Miami International Airport with people in the terminal clapping and cheering for those who raced into the disaster zone to help the victims of the deadly back-to-back earthquakes.

Friends and family were there to welcome them all home, with many carrying signs and American flags.

And for many first responders, the mission was personal.

“It was very hard, because I grew up in that area, Caraballeda,” FL-TF1 Captain German Leal said. “Which was the area that I grew up as a kid. We used to ride bikes with my cousins, go to McDonald’s, listen to music, have hamburgers. So, being there and seeing all that area destroyed was very hard to absorb. You know, the builds were down and people were there. It was very difficult.”

He added that while they were there to help the local Venezuelans, the locals couldn’t have been nicer to the task force members.

They offered them whatever food and water they had left.

Now that the members of FL-TF1 and FL-TF2 are back in Miami, they will be given some much-needed time off before returning to work.

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.