Month: September 2026

By Raquel Ciampi, Felicity Taylor

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    MCKEESPORT, Pennsylvania (WTAE) — A bakery that has spent more than 100 years serving the community has closed its doors.

Minerva Bakery announced it was closing after 103 years in business.

In a statement on its Facebook page, Minerva Bakery thanked the McKeesport area for allowing them to be a part of the family, traditions and memories.

“For more than a century, these doors have been open to generations of families, friends, neighbors, and visitors. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has walked through our doors, shared our baked goods with their families, and supported us throughout the years While saying goodbye is difficult, we are proud of the legacy we leave behind and humbled to be a small part of so many lives for 103 years,” the post said, in part.

On Aug. 20, the bakery announced a temporary closure due to an “emergency.” A week before that, it posted about putting their products on DoorDash.

Mayor Tom Maglicco’s office also released a statement explaining the decision, citing “unforeseen circumstances including health concerns and staffing issues impacting business.” The statement added, “Mayor Maglicco and the City of McKeesport offer sincere gratitude for Minerva’s decades of business along with heartbreak to see the bakery closing.”

McKeesport residents said they were distraught over the closure, saying every product was top-notch and all employees were friendly.

“It’s going to be a loss for the community, that’s for sure,” said Josh Slafka of McKeesport. “I don’t know where else to go besides there.”

Michael Miller, another McKeesport resident, shared his memories of the bakery.

“I would always stop in there and get me some doughnuts, cupcakes and birthday cakes, so that’s a hurt piece to know that they’re shutting down for good,” he said. “You should see them Easter time when the line is outside waiting for people to pick up their dinner rolls.”

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 Molly Ormsbee

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    LAKE PLACID, New York (WPTZ) — This week’s WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series is just the beginning of a packed calendar for the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which will host several international competitions at the Olympic sites in Lake Placid between October and March.

Many international competitions will return for another season, including events in skiing, sliding, hockey, biathlon, and figure skating. The Olympic Jumping Complex will host the FIS Freestyle Aerials World Cup in January, followed by the return of the men’s and women’s FIS Ski Jumping World Cups. The FIS Nordic Combined World Cup will also return to Lake Placid for the first time since 1989.

The sport combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The score for the ski jumping event is determined by distance and style. The ski jumping scores then determine the starting order for the cross-country event. The first athlete to cross the finish line wins.

Lake Placid hosted Nordic Combined events in the 1932 and 1980 Olympics. The FIS Nordic Combined World Cup wasn’t introduced until 1983 — just six years before Lake Placid hosted its first and only Nordic Combined World Cup event — until now.

The United States has only hosted a handful of FIS Nordic Combined World Cup events since 1983 and it wasn’t until 2010 that the U.S. won an Olympic medal in the sport.

Nordic Combined is the only Winter Olympic sport that has not featured a women’s event. Women compete in the FIS World Cup circuit, but women’s events weren’t introduced to the professional World Cup circuit until 2020.

There have been petitions to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include a women’s event in the Games, but officials have declined due to “low interest,” saying the entire program, including the men’s event, was already at risk.

In July, the IOC announced the Nordic Combined program would be cut from the Games in 2030. Officials said the decision was the result of a lack of involved nations and interest outside of Europe.

FIS has taken steps in an attempt to keep Nordic Combined in the Olympic Winter Games, including training, fundraising, and international partnerships to help grow the sport. Historically, Norway has dominated the podium, but in the 2025/2026 season, FIS said seven nations were represented in the top 10 in the women’s overall standings.

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 Jacquelyn Quinones

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    WATSONVILLE, California (KSBW) — Alex Rocha-Alvarez, who grew up in Jardines del Valle, also known as Murphy’s Camp, a former labor camp turned farmworker community, is using photography to share the stories of farmworkers.

“Both of my parents are farm workers from Michoacán, Mexico, and I feel like my story and my drive has always come from the stories that I heard from people like my parents, from my neighbors,” Rocha-Alvarez said.

Growing up on farmland without internet access, Rocha-Alvarez said she often felt isolated but found connection through the stories of her neighbors.

“I felt always very surrounded by the stories of farm workers growing up and felt like nobody else in the world really understood what it was like to grow up in a place like this,” she said.

Rocha-Alvarez said she wanted to help others understand the lives of farmworkers.

“There’s a lot here, and people who come from the outside see it almost as if they’re looking down on farmworkers,” she said. “I always thought that there is wisdom here, resilience here, there’s stories here that if other people heard them, it would make them better.”

As the first in her family to attend college, Rocha-Alvarez studied on the East Coast before pursuing a Ph.D. in ethnic studies at UC Berkeley.

“I studied on the East Coast and felt always like my community is like the wind on my back, making me want to make it further and further,” she said.

After graduating, Rocha-Alvarez returned to Watsonville and began a photography project inspired by her upbringing. She visited labor camps like the one she grew up in, taking portraits of farmworkers and encouraging them to share their stories.

“We always see them out on the fields, bent over. I wanted to get pictures of themselves in a place that they feel powerful, that they feel at home,” she said.

As she collected portraits and oral histories, Rocha-Alvarez said the experience was transformative.

“The sort of stories that I was hearing were not unfamiliar to me. They were very similar to my parents’ stories, but it made it so I wasn’t feeling as isolated or as alone anymore,” she said.

This work led to the creation of “Palabra Campesina,” or “The Farmworker’s Word,” a platform where Rocha-Alvarez shares these stories online with limited public access to protect the privacy of the farmworker community.

Rocha-Alvarez has since been recognized by the Santa Cruz Arts Council Fellowship Program for her efforts to highlight the farmworking community and preserve their stories.

“It’s making them feel like the seeds that they’ve planted for us are being watered, they’re growing,” 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 KGUN News Staff

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    PIMA COUNTY, Arizona (KGUN) — The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI are working to determine if a “new possible ransom note” in the Nancy Guthrie disappearance is credible.

Sheriff’s officials said the agency and the FBI’s task force working on the Guthrie investigation were “recently made aware” of the note and they are “also aware of social media comments being made regarding this note.”

See previous coverage in the search for Nancy Guthrie in the player above.

According to sheriff’s officials, investigators are trying to determine the note’s credibility.

“We do not have any additional information to provide at this time,” officials stated.

Guthrie, 84, the mother of NBC “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie, was last seen at her home on the evening of Jan. 31.

Her disappearance has drawn national attention and sparked a months-long investigation involving the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, the FBI and private forensic labs across the country.

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 Christiana Ford

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    PLYMOUTH, Michigan (WXYZ) — A scarecrow depicting Frank-N-Furter from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” will remain on display in downtown Plymouth after the organization behind it decided against covering it up following complaints.

The display is part of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce’s annual Scarecrows in Park event, where creative and imaginative entries, from Lego to Nemo to Michael Meyers fill the area for visitors.

Artist Patrick Cox said he and his daughter, who is transgender, spent significant time and money bringing the depiction of Tim Curry’s Frank-N-Furter character to life.

“We bought a mannequin head on Facebook marketplace and then she painted the face,” Cox said.

Cox said every detail of the display was carefully selected.

“The top is a crop top. It’s not lingerie and then we glued beads on it,” Cox said. “We went above and beyond to make sure it wasn’t offensive,” Cox said.

Laurie Mayers, president of Plymouth Canton PFLAG, an LGBTQ advocacy group and the organization behind the display, said not everyone shared that view.

“The chamber of commerce told us they had some complaints and we had considered their suggestion of covering it up partly with a surgical gown,” Mayers said.

The chamber left the decision up to the organization. After board members discussed the matter and the community weighed in, Mayers said the organization decided to leave the display exactly as it is.

“It took us a while to work through these things to talk about all the issues. I mean we don’t want to upset people but what’s really more important is that it’s a symbol and that’s what it is,” Mayers said.

Visitors to the display had mixed but largely enthusiastic reactions. One visitor said the display caught their attention immediately.

“My eye was drawn to it right away because it’s familiar,” Andrea Toro-Fraser said.

Another visitor said the display brought a smile to their face.

Cox said he is grateful for the support and hopes the display continues to be a positive tribute.

“The majority of the responses have been positive that’s what fills me with positivity,” Cox said.

The scarecrows, including the Frank-N-Furter display, are up 24/7 through November 2.

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.