Free Omaha triathlon program helps nearly 200 girls cross finish line, build confidence

CNN Newsource on July 27, 2026

By Jocelynn Messersmith World-Herald Staff Writer

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (Omaha World-Herald) — For many Ironhawk Juniors, their triathlon journey began with uncertainty.

But despite the race’s innate challenges — and temperatures triggering an extreme heat warning — 195 young women crossed the finish line Sunday morning at the College of Saint Mary for the nonprofit’s ninth annual race.

The race began at 8 a.m. when participants kicked off with the swim course inside the Lied Fitness Center on the college’s campus.

Addie Scherb, a 10-year-old from Council Bluffs, said that her favorite part of the event was swimming.

“It’s really fun for me and I like doing different types of strokes,” Scherb said.

After completing the swim, the girls transitioned to the bike course on the Keystone Trail and finished with a run around the campus.

Unlike her older sister, 8-year-old Maggie Scherb was most excited for the bike course because she enjoys biking outside of triathlon practice.

The Ironhawk Juniors triathlon program wraps up a free eight-week program that teaches girls ages 7 to 14 fitness, biking, running and swimming, but also lifelong skills of teamwork and confidence.

Erin Sullivan, co-founder and president of Ironhawk Juniors, said that the girls grow close throughout the regimen.

“One of the kids fell last week,” Sullivan said. “She was so embarrassed … and every single kid in her group came over to her to hug her, to tell her she’d be okay. It’s just how it goes.”

Sullivan said the adults don’t have to tell them to help; the girls just do it.

Mandy Bender volunteers with the group and works on creating activities at their practices. She said she’s been able to see many participants grow over the course of their practices.

“There are some girls that this is the first time doing the program, so to see them come in kind of shy and timid, and now they’re all just excited,” Bender said.

The event splits juniors into two different age groups. Girls 7 to 10 years old swam 100 yards, biked three miles and completed a 0.75-mile run. The 11- to 14-year-old age group consisted of a 200-yard swim, 6-mile bike ride and 1.5-mile run.

The program started in 2018 and over the years has helped more than 1,000 girls — of all athletic backgrounds — cross the finish line.

Since then, some girls who have grown out of eligibility have come back and volunteered for the event. Evelyn Ferguson, 18, was a former Ironhawk who now helps her younger sisters participate in the event.

“It’s like a rite of passage,” Ferguson said. “I know it sounds so cliche, but I’m like a role model for them.”

Ferguson said that she loves volunteering because of the connections she gets to make with the girls, which she finds fulfilling.

“The community just kind of shaped me into who I was so then I just thought I’d give back,” Ferguson said.

Ironhawk organizers said they don’t want financial struggles to be the reason any young girl couldn’t participate. So, all necessary equipment, including bikes, is provided free of charge.

“If you can’t like, sign up for a sport, then you can do this for free,” Addie Scherb said.

Free swimming and biking lessons started in April to prepare for July’s event.

Since 2018, Ironhawk Juniors has provided more than 200 swimsuits, 300 bicycles, 350 helmets and 250 pairs of running shoes to participants at no cost, according to program directors.

Michelle Bandur, a co-founder of Ironhawk Juniors, said that the event isn’t just about the triathlon or physical fitness, but about having a place where the girls can support each other and help work together on self-confidence.

“There’s a lot of things for boys out there, but for girls to come together and do this and feel safe and they can be themselves,” Bandur said.

Ferguson said that girls considering joining in the future should just do it.

“It’s worth it,” Ferguson said. “It sounds scary, but it’s so fun and everyone’s here to help you.”

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.

MURDER-SUICIDE: Owasso police release details

CNN Newsource on July 27, 2026

By KJRH Digital , Sharon Phillips

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    OWASSO, Oklahoma (KJRH) — Investigators with the Owasso Police Department say Jeremiah Shawn Duffey shot and killed his wife, Sara, before killing himself the evening of July 23.

Owasso police responded to a domestic violence call from Sara, after dispatchers heard a gunshot on the call. They said the caller stopped responding after the shot.

A second 911 call then came in from Sara’s son, who called from a neighbor’s home after he witnessed the shooting. Police found two people dead inside the home.

Sara filed a protective order against Shawn last month, in the paperwork she alleged he got caught kissing a child on one of the basketball teams that he coaches. The protective order claims after being confronted, Shawn threatened suicide and went on the run. She’d filed two previous protective orders against him in 2021, one for abuse and one for stalking.

The parent of that student contacted Owasso police on June 9. She said Duffey inappropriately touched her child.

Owasso police released more details about this investigation on July 25th.

They got a call from the mother around 8 p.m. on June 9th. The mother said that evening while at basketball practice for a competitive traveling team another coach witnessed Shawn Duffey inappropriately touch a child on the team. Duffey also coached the team.

The mother reported similar conduct by this coach towards her daughter over an extended period of time, in multiple law enforcement jurisdictions, across multiple states prior to this incident.

When the other coach witnessed the incident he stopped it and called the child’s mother. Police said Duffey took off and didn’t see him again after the incident.

Since Duffy was Osage the incident is federal jurisdiction, Owasso police turned their report over to the investigating agency.

The child’s mother also filed a protective order against Shawn, claiming he gave her daughter to stay quiet about inappropriate messages and actions.

Neighbors in Owasso are stunned.

“Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate,” said Brittany Fisher. “It does not pick you because you have a nice home, socially or economically, it does not matter.”

2 News Oklahoma previously interviewed Shawn and Sara following a story involving embezzlement at a nearby school.

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Family provides meals and clothing to neighbors in need

CNN Newsource on July 27, 2026

By Clifton Haskin

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    MUSKOGEE, Oklahoma (KJRH) — A red tent at 12th Street and West Okmulgee Avenue became a place of hope on July 25 as a Muskogee family served hundreds of free meals and gave away clothing to people in need.

The event welcomed families and people experiencing homelessness, offering hot meals, clothing and a chance to connect with others in the community. Among those who stopped by was Rhonda Keeling.

“I have no clothing, just one pair, and I saw the sign saying free clothing and food,” Keeling said.

Keeling said the event reminded her that people in the community still care.

“Very humble, taking time out of their own lives just to help out people who don’t have anything,” Keeling said.

Organizer Kendra Justus said helping others is what motivated her family to host the giveaway.

“It just makes me feel so good helping other people that need it,” Justus 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.

Teen baker with celiac disease shares her gluten-free recipes with the world

CNN Newsource on July 27, 2026

By Ethan Carlson

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    BOULDER, Colorado (KMGH) — Paloma Atkins has been baking her whole life. Growing up, her grandmother would visit and make cinnamon rolls, sparking a love of baking from a very young age.

“You can just kind of not think about like any of your other issues and just kind of bake something,” Atkins said.

But her life got more complicated at age 11.

“I had lost a significant amount of weight and so we began to do… just a bunch of blood tests,” Atkins said.

She was diagnosed with celiac disease.

Dr. Edwin Liu, director of the Children’s Hospital Colorado Center for Celiac Disease, treated Atkins. He said the treatment for celiac is simple — but it’s not easy, especially for an aspiring baker.

“Right now the only treatment for celiac disease is the gluten-free diet,” Liu said.

Celiac disease can have serious consequences if left untreated, Liu said, particularly in children.

“In kids, it can lead to micronutrient deficiency, and it can affect their growth and development,” Liu said.

For Atkins, the diagnosis hit close to home in the kitchen.

“I tried to make chocolate chip cookies that were gluten free,” Atkins said. “I took them out, and they were like completely flat, like one giant cookie pancake, and I just started crying on the spot… I almost felt like I had lost like a little bit of my identity,” she said.

After a three-week break to process the diagnosis, she was back at it — mastering the art of gluten-free baking through years of trial, error and determination. Now 16, she is sharing her recipes with the world.

“When she can share these recipes and show other kids how you can take control of the situation and all the options that you have, I think a lot of kids can take a lot of joy out of that,” Liu said.

Atkins plans to publish her gluten-free recipes on a website for free.

“It can maybe make some family who’s just been diagnosed a little bit happier because they made you know some pretzels that they didn’t think that was possible being gluten free,” Atkins said. “It’s just really nice to bring people a little bit of joy,” she said.

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

‘Do hard things’: Meet the water advocate, ultra runner running the 2000-mile length of the Colorado River

CNN Newsource on July 27, 2026

By Kaylee Harter

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    DENVER (KMGH) — The headwaters of the Colorado River were not what Mina Guli expected them to be.

She had imagined a big, bubbling brook that appeared out of the ground or spouted from the side of a mountain. Instead, she found herself traipsing through a bright green meadow in Rocky Mountain National Park, surrounded by mountains that should have had more snowpack, with navigation apps in hand.

“Then there’s this point where all these tiny little channels, we’re talking like channels that aren’t even as wide as your hand, all start to join together to become like this little bubbling stream,” Guli says. “That is the start of the Colorado River.”

That unassuming start of the very big river also marked the start of the Australian ultra runner’s very big quest to run the entire length of the waterway in 100 days — a 2,000 mile journey taking her through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Mexico and California.

Just as those tiny channels grow into something more powerful, Guli hopes each step she takes will build energy for protecting this mighty river.

“Every single time I go and run a marathon, it’s not a marathon. It’s a multitude of steps, but every single step counts,” the 55-year-old told Denver7 from a campsite in Utah just after setting up camp for the night 26 days into her journey. “Every small step in the right direction creates forward momentum, and forward momentum is what the river needs right now.”

Guli, who founded the water nonprofit Thirst Foundation in 2012, has lived through “incredible drought” growing up in Australia and has seen the consequences firsthand. It’s something she says she doesn’t want anyone else to experience.

She previously ran 200 marathons in one year ahead of the 2023 UN Water Conference to raise awareness on global water stress. Now, she’s running close to a marathon a day for 100 days for the Colorado River.

“[The Colorado River] supports $1.4 trillion of economic activity. Over 40 million people depend on the water from this river,” she said. “It is one of those rivers where if we can’t get this right, what hope do we have for other rivers around the world?”

About 95% of the Colorado River Basin is currently in a drought, according to the national drought monitor, and the river’s two largest reservoirs — Lake Powell and Lake Mead — are expected to reach new historic lows every day until spring, according to an analysis from Colorado River experts published last week.

On the day Guli talked with Denver7, she was 26 days into the 100-day journey and had already seen the reality of those statistics firsthand.

She’s stood at Lake Powell and seen the water level the equivalent of a multi-story building below where it should be. She’s crisscrossed the river on foot where she had expected to packraft, leaving the raft in her crew’s car.

“I am absolutely shocked, horrified, and heartbroken at how sick this river really is,” she said. “It is very hard to explain just how low the flows are until you’ve seen it, until you have stood on the riverbank with your feet in mud, looking at where the river should be, and seeing where it is now.”

“It is devastating,” she added. “We didn’t have to be here, but here we are.”

Guli describes the journey itself as a rollercoaster — one with highs and lows and unexpected twists and turns.

She’s experienced awe-inspiring nature, an ever-changing landscape of grand mountains, towering cliffs, extreme desserts and green forests.

But as drought plagues the basin and creates a tinderbox, fires have required unplanned detours. She had to reroute because of the Snyder Fire, which forced evacuations from the river corridor and charred more than 30,000 acres near the Colorado-Utah border, and then again later for the Babylon Fire in Utah, one of the country’s largest wildfires so far this year at more than 107,000 acres.

Running around the Babylon Fire, Guli and her crew could see the red blaze at night and “nuclear mushroom clouds” of smoke during the day.

As the extreme conditions and distance rub her nerves raw, the reality hits even harder.

“When you do these long distance events, you also become very much more emotionally vulnerable because you’re exhausted all the time, and everything gets stripped away,” she said. “Physically you break down, mentally you break down. Emotionally, you break down.”

Her feet are blistered, and she’s faced challenges with altitude after coming from sea level. Day after day, she has run through triple-digit, “diabolical” heat, with little relief in her tent at night.

She insists she’s “really bad at running,” saying “I’m old. I break down. I’m like the slowest person on the planet. I find it really hard to navigate across rivers. I fall in.”

She’s cried tears of frustration and tears of sadness. But for Guli, the trying conditions are the whole point.

“This is hard,” she said. “But the other thing I remind myself is we can do hard things, whether it’s running 2000 miles down the Colorado River, or whether it’s sitting in boardrooms and holds the power of government and making the decisions that need to be made to protect and preserve and create a resilient river basin. They’re all hard, but I know that when we work together, we can make them happen.”

As she traces the river, she’s talked with farmers, ranchers, raft guides, anglers and all manner of people who rely on the river. Each night, she writes in her dairy, keeping a log of the people she meets and the stories they tell her.

“All of them have said the same thing: the river is in a dire place, and that means that their businesses are suffering,” she said.

She’s also experienced “incredible kindness, interest, and passion of a local community for this river, and the desire of all of them to see a much more resilient river and river basin.”

Along the way, people have pulled over to ask if she’s OK and offer her water. One family gave her a whole sheet of popsicles — called icy poles in Australia.

Guli said her curiosity to stop and talk with locals along the way often pushes her runs later into the hot days.

“Change is made by communities of people working together,” she said. “And when I witness the power of the people, when I witness the desire for them and by them for change, I’m like, what is it going to take for these politicians and bureaucrats and people in positions of power to listen to the people?”

Throughout the journey, she’s taking the stories she hears to people in power through summits that bring together policymakers, scientists, water managers, Tribal leaders and business stakeholders.

But it’s not just people she’s gotten to know.

“The river is my friend now,” she said. “I’ve run by it for thousands of steps, and it’s become my friend. We talk, we cry, we laugh, we share experiences together.”

Now, more than 30 days into her journey, she’s entering the Grand Canyon where extreme heat will often require hiking through the night, carrying everything she needs on her back. In a video posted Friday, she said it’s going to require skills she doesn’t have, but is going to have to learn.

“I don’t know quite how to explain to you how scared I am, but I’m going to do this,” she said in the video. “I’m going to keep reminding myself I’m not a mouse, I’m a lion, and just focus on getting this thing done, one step in front of the other.”

She doesn’t know what lies ahead, but she’s sure of one thing.

“No matter where I go, no matter what I do, for the rest of my life,” she told Denver7, “this river will be a part of who I am.”

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.

Community honors 14 years of resilience, community healing while remembering victims of 2012 shooting

CNN Newsource on July 27, 2026

By Alex Dowd

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    AURORA, Colorado (KMGH) — Survivors and family members of the victims of the 2012 Century 16 theater shooting in Aurora gathered Saturday morning for the 11th annual Resilience Day Festival to honor those they lost and those who helped the community heal.

This week marks 14 years since a gunman opened fire in the Century 16 theater in Aurora. Twelve people were killed and 70 were injured.

In the following year, the 7/20 Memorial Foundation has invited the Aurora community to a festival designed to remember the victims of the shooting and honor the town’s resilience.

Many survivors and family members of victims spent their Saturday morning at the Aurora Water Wise Park, like Heather Dearman.

Dearman is the volunteer CEO of the 7/20 Memorial Foundation. She’s one of the festival’s annual organizers.

Fourteen years ago, she says her life was one of the hundreds forever changed.

“My cousin Ashley, she was in the theater that night,” Dearman said. “She was with her six-year-old daughter Veronica, and Ashley was also pregnant at the time. Unfortunately, she was shot. Ashley was shot, and she’s now paralyzed, and she lost her unborn child and our little six-year-old cousin Veronica.”

Still, Veronica’s memory lives on. Dearman calls her the family’s “little angel,” setting up a lemonade stand in her honor at the Resilience Day Festival each year.

“Veronica loved everyone she met,” Dearman said. “She was a friend to everyone, and lots of children are like that. They see the world with such beauty, and it’s a lesson of what we should be like if we honor Veronica. We’re going to be kind to everyone. We’re going to be friends with everyone.”

More than a decade later, through the festival and the lemonade stand, Veronica can keep making friends.

“We have this really fun little passport for kids who come to this event, where they can visit if they visit three chalk artists and three wellness booths, and then draw something that gives them hope,” Dearman said. “They can turn in the passport for a free cup of lemonade.”

Aurora’s Day of Resilience is a way to thank those who helped survivors and the community heal in the days, months and years following the shooting.

That holds true for those like Zack Golditch, who was shot and injured at the theater ahead of his senior year of high school. After two seasons in the NFL, Golditch returned to Aurora, joining the South Metro Fire Department. Every year, he leads the Hero’s Journey 5k run and walk at the festival.

“We’re here to celebrate the everyday heroes,” Golditch said. “The people who continuously show up day in and day out and ask for nothing in return, and then also the heroes that showed up that night to help people in need.”

Golditch is paying that forward by raising money for an annual scholarship that helps a first-generation Aurora Public School student athlete go to college.

“It’s just a really wholesome community event that warms my heart every single year it comes around, and it really reminds us you know what a helping hand can do for someone else,” he said.

The festival serves as a fundraiser for the 7/20 Memorial Foundation to keep supporting survivors of the tragedy and their stories of resilience year after year. If you missed the event, but want to support, you can donate to the mission on their website.

These are the lives lost that we continue to remember today:

AJ (Alexander) Boik. AJ had just graduated from Gateway High School, where he played baseball, said a family friend. Boik had planned on attending the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in the fall. His dream was to become an art teacher and open his own studio, his family said.

Jonathan Blunk. The father of two served three tours in the Persian Gulf and the North Arabian Sea between 2004 and 2009, a close friend, James Gill of Brighton, Colorado, told the Associated Press. He had high hopes for his future, with plans to re-enlist in the Navy and the goal of becoming a Navy SEAL. He died in the shooting after he pushed his girlfriend, Jansen Young, under the theater seat, saving her life.

Jesse Childress, 29, was a staff sergeant at Buckley Space Force Base and worked as a cyber-systems operator. Friends said he spent nearly every day of the week playing sports — softball on Mondays, bowling on Tuesdays, according to the Denver Post. Childress loved comics and superhero movies. He had recently bought a black Scion — a car he nicknamed the “Batmobile.”

Gordon Cowden. Gordon loved life and his family. He went to the midnight movie premiere with his two teenage children. The father of four, who lived in Aurora, was described as a “true Texas gentleman” in a family statement. He loved the outdoors and owned his own business. Cowden’s teenage children escaped the shooting unharmed.

Micayla Medek, 23, was saving money for a trip to India. She was working at Subway and attended Aurora Community College. Her father, Greg Medek, told the Los Angeles Times that Micayla loved Hello Kitty, hot pink, and Beanie Babies. At her funeral service, mourners wore pink ribbons, some with Hello Kitty faces on them, in honor of her fondness for the color and the character.

Matt McQuinn died trying to protect his girlfriend. As the gunman opened fire, McQuinn dove on top of Samantha Yowler. McQuinn’s stepfather, David Jackson, told the Dayton Daily News that McQuinn was a hero. Yowler was injured in the leg, a family spokesman said. McQuinn, a 27-year-old Ohio native, had moved to Colorado just a few months earlier.

Jessica Ghawi was a journalist and blogger who also went by the name Jessica Redfield. Ghawi had recently moved to Denver from San Antonio, Texas, to pursue her dream of becoming a sportscaster. “She had a huge heart,” Ghawi’s mother, Sandy Phillips, said. “Cared deeply for other people.” A few months earlier, Ghawi was visiting Toronto with her boyfriend, a minor league hockey player, when they narrowly escaped a deadly shooting in the city’s main downtown mall.

Veronica Moser Sullivan, 6, went to see the Batman movie with her mother, Ashley Moser, 25. Veronica died from her injuries. Ashley was left in critical condition, with gunshot wounds to her neck and abdomen. She was paralyzed below the waist. “(Veronica was) a vibrant little girl … just was bragging about learning how to swim on Tuesday,” Annie Dalton, Ashley’s aunt, said.

Alex Sullivan was at the midnight showing of the new Batman movie as part of his birthday celebration. “#TheDarkKnightRises OMG COUNTING down till it start can’t wait going to be the best birthday ever,” Sullivan wrote on Facebook. His family called him “their real-life superhero. Alex was smart, funny, and above all loved dearly by his friends and family,” the family statement said.

Alex Teves, 24, was originally from Arizona but had been living in the Denver area since graduating from the University of Denver. Teves’ father, Tom Teves, told ABC News that his son had blocked a bullet from hitting his girlfriend when he was himself shot and killed. His father said Alex would do anything to save his girlfriend.

Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32, was a devoted mother who always sat in the front row at church. Shannon Dominguez, who worked with Wingo on weekends, said she was friendly with everyone and always seemed to be in a good mood. “She had a really bubbly personality,” Dominguez said. “She was a pretty happy person. She just never really seemed … like with work, she never got irritated. She was pretty happy to be here.”

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.

Cal Fire reopens Ramona Air Attack Base with new aircraft and faster refueling upgrades

CNN Newsource on July 27, 2026

By Karina Vargas

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    RAMONA, California (KGTV) — As wildfire season intensifies, Cal Fire has officially reopened the Ramona Air Attack Base following a major rebuild — bringing with it expanded air power and faster response capabilities for San Diego County.

The base is now home to one of the largest firefighting aircraft in Cal Fire’s fleet: a C-130 Hercules air tanker capable of carrying up to 4,000 gallons of fire retardant. The base also houses a new Cal Fire Hawk helicopter, giving crews a more powerful combined aerial response to fast-moving wildfires.

Behind the scenes, the rebuild addressed aging infrastructure that had slowed operations for decades. The original base was constructed in 1957, and outdated, undersized pipes had made refueling a lengthy process.

Fire Chief Tony Mecham said the improvements have already changed what crews can accomplish in the critical early moments of a fire.

“The infrastructure was built here in 1957, so you know we had pipes that were, you know, 70 years old in the ground that were undersized, and so it would take us over 20 minutes to refill that C-130. Now we can fill that C-130 in about 8 minutes because we enlarged the pipe,” Mecham said.

The faster turnaround means the aircraft can return to the air sooner — a critical advantage when wildfires can spread rapidly.

“We’re able to put more retardant on the ground in the early critical stages of a fire and then immediately backed up by that higher horsepower helicopter. And so fires. Maybe a year ago, that would have gotten larger. We’re seeing that those fires be held at, you know, under 10 acres, which is our goal,” Mecham said.

The new aircraft have already been put to use. During last week’s Thorne Fire, crews deployed both the C-130 and the Cal Fire Hawk helicopter.

Mecham said the aerial resources don’t replace ground crews — they make the overall response more effective.

“The ground troops still have to get in there and lay hose and chop and squirt and do what they do, but rather than having a 100-acre fire, we’re having a 20-acre fire, and so ultimately it also gets those ground resources back in their stations ready for the next call,” Mecham said.

Fire officials say the goal is a faster, safer, and more effective wildfire response — and that every minute matters when fire conditions can change rapidly.

“We will fly into the cities or any here because it’s truly about, you know, let’s just put the fire out,” Mecham said.

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

Comic book artist returns to Comic Con for 35th year

CNN Newsource on July 27, 2026

By Dani Miskell – South Bay Reporter

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    SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Chula Vista comic book artist Erik Arreaga is drawing attention at Comic-Con this week for his 35th year in attendance.

Arreaga is hoping his new projects will keep San Diego comic book artists on the map.

Arreaga’s said he’s draws his inspiration for his comic book characters from the 1990s.

“So I feel that I carry that era here. My artwork has been known to be very gritty, dark, but with some great motion,” Arreaga said.

But he is not staying in the past. He is creating characters that live beyond the comic book page — including one who exists exclusively on social media.

“I have a character that is not really in the book. You have to follow her on social media,” Arreaga said. “I feel we have to move forward with creativity in our books and just bring in the new generation who are all on social media into comic books.”

Arreaga’s booth is located in the 700 row, toward the back, under Section E, in the Exhibitor area.

Fans can find Arreaga not only inside the convention center, but also on social media. Over the years, Arreaga has also built a following as San Diego’s unofficial Comic-Con tour guide. With his 35 years of expertise, fans look to him for tips on navigating the convention.

“When social media was building, I was always getting messages asking how do I come to Comic-Con. It seems like a cool place,” Arreaga said.

Arreaga said the most common questions he gets are what the best ways are to get to the convention center and what great spots are there to eat around Comic-Con.

Arreaga said it’s become a mission of his to really open up the world’s eyes to all of San Diego: “I tell them not how to come to Comic-Con, but how to come to my city of San Diego.”

With Comic-Con now locked in through 2030, Arreaga hopes the experience expands beyond downtown — with more activations in places like Liberty Station, Chula Vista, and more to give local artists their own origin story.

“It allows the world to see the rest of San Diego,” Arreaga said. “I think we’re missing out on a great opportunity to house more artists, especially local artists, at Liberty Station or in Chula Vista, and I feel that’s what needs to happen in the city to really show that Comic-Con needs to be permanent in San Diego for moving on forward after 2030.”

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.

99-year-old woman being remembered, after collision on morning walk

CNN Newsource on July 27, 2026

By Michael Chen

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    SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A 99-year-old College Area woman is being remembered as a beloved neighbor after she was struck and killed by an SUV during her morning walk Wednesday.

Police say the woman was walking east on the north side of the 6400 block of Cleo Street, several houses from her own home, when she was struck by a Chevrolet Equinox. She was rushed to a hospital, where she died. The driver remained at the scene. No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.

Neighbor Brenda Washington said she saw the woman outside her home on Catoctin Drive around 7 a.m. Wednesday.

“I would say probably she took that walk every day,” Washington said. “Kept her young at heart.”

About an hour later, Washington heard sirens.

“Truthfully, pretty devastated, and it hits you even harder when you saw her that morning,” Washington said.

Washington described the woman as a fixture in the neighborhood.

“My son would leave for school in the morning and see her, and say hi to her. Just watching her do her thing,” Washington said.

Flowers have been placed on the woman’s doorstep by neighbors.

Washington believes the death could have been prevented and says traffic safety is a daily concern on the street, even as police have not yet addressed what caused the collision.

“Right here, my husband and I are like, ‘Slow down!’ It’s a curve, kind of a blind curve. You can see what’s right around it, and people race past all the time,” Washington said.

Washington is calling for speed bumps and speed limit signs to be placed in the area. I reached out to city officials for a response and am waiting to hear back.

“I just think it’s awful. 99 years old, walking every day, and that’s the way it happens,” Washington said.

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

Two brothers show the world that autism is no barrier to independence

CNN Newsource on July 27, 2026

By Faraz Javed , Brandon Speagle

Click here for updates on this story

    ALLEN PARK, Michigan (WXYZ) — More than 14 million people watched a Michigan man get a haircut. But this is not really a story about a haircut.

It is a story about two brothers, autism, independence, and a journey that is inspiring millions around the world.

At first glance, viewers watching a video filmed at Great Clips in Allen Park thought they were watching 32-year-old Jake Tilk accompany his younger brother, Max, to get a haircut. Jake says they were watching something much bigger.

“Mac prefers if I give him a little trim at home, because it’s a lot for him to get a haircut,” Jake said (longer hair).

Max Tilk is autistic. And even though the brothers are only a year apart in age, Jake says he never saw Max as different growing up.

“I don’t know who I would be without Max. He is my best friend,” Jake said.

When asked what they love about spending time together, Jake prompted his brother.

“Play games and what else?” Jake said.

“Hangout with Jake,” Max said.

That bond eventually found a much bigger audience. Jake says the social media journey began in 2008, when Max started facing challenges and his need for independence became clear.

“A lot of these sorts of challenges that I do with Max really make me nervous,” Jake said.

When asked what makes him nervous, Jake pointed to the possibility of negative reactions.

“I don’t know if Max goes into the barber shop, if he is going to get negative reactions,” Jake said.

Jake confirmed that has happened before. He also reflected on other obstacles Max has faced.

“A lot of times Max has faced adversity in life, like, when Max supposed to be graduating high school,” Jake said.

“In 2017,” Max added.

“In 2017, Max got held back 6 times,” Jake said.

Inside Great Clips, Salon Manager Britaney Gawne found the moment relatable.

“Being judged or what not on stuff growing up, got to navigate through a lot, and the bad memories stick more than the good sometimes,” Gawne said.

Franchise owner Janak Patel said the environment his staff creates is something he takes pride in.

“We have a platform called Great Clips University, where we have lots of training programs so we can accommodate all of our customers,” Patel said.

When Max completed the haircut on his own, the reaction was immediate.

Jake says the videos serve a purpose beyond social media.

“It’s hard to say that I’m changing the narrative because to me, I want to show what autism is and what that means. These videos give Max a lot of purpose, too. Back when Max was diagnosed with autism, the doctors actually said that Max would never, ever speak and that he’d need to be institutionalized,” Jake said.

Today, the brothers have 1.4 million followers on TikTok, 1.4 million followers on Instagram, and 1.1 million followers on Facebook.

“I did not dream that Max and I would be making content full time,” Jake said.

When asked what he would say to the millions of people who follow along, Max kept it simple.

“Love everyone,” Max said.

“You are going to give the world what?” Jake asked.

“Big smile and a hug,” Max said.

The brothers say they have no plans to slow down.

“We want to do a lot more challenges. We want to show that people like Max, can go out and do anything,” Jake said.

Their next video features Max ordering at a drive-thru on his own.

Here is how you can follow Jake and Max’s journey:

Instagram: instagram.com/mybrothermaxie Website: mybrothermax.xyz

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.