Author: CNN Newsource

By Sharon Chin

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    FAIRFIELD, California (KPIX) — Nearly two decades after a popular Fairfield councilmember was gunned down in a case of mistaken identity, his mother and stepfather are carrying on his legacy of public service.

Together, Teresa and Raymond Courtemanche have walked a horrific journey in memory of their son, Matt Garcia.

“He loved his community. He loved Fairfield,” Teresa Courtemanche said.

Garcia had just made headlines in 2007. At age 21, he was elected the youngest city council member in Fairfield and one of the youngest in California history. Then, 10 months later, at the age of 22, he was shot to death, apparently mistaken for a drug dealer.

As his mom Teresa and his stepdad Raymond grappled with their grief, they vowed not to let go of Garcia’s dream.

“Matthew was a donor, so we were talking about his organs to meet needs. And it became real crystal clear to me, ‘Keep the dream alive,” said Raymond.

Teresa added, “We need to invest in our young people. That’s what he did, and we just want to keep that going.”

Three months after Garcia died, the Courtemanches began a nonprofit in his name. The Matt Garcia Foundation continued the work of the Fairfield native who declared as a sixth grader that he would one day hold public office.

“So, the idea is ‘community’ for us, really. That’s Matt’s message. Period,” said Raymond.

Teresa and Raymond organize volunteers a wide range of activities, from arts and crafts events, to grocery giveaways, to monthly downtown cleanup days, all funded by proceeds from an annual golf tournament.

The foundation works to support organ donation and gun buyback programs, and fight youth homelessness and human trafficking. Once a month, Teresa helps lead a Homicide Survivors Support Group, the only one of its kind in Solano County.

Licensed clinical social worker Patty Ayala comes alongside the participants and says the meetings foster hope and resilience.

“They say hurt people hurt people. And it doesn’t have to be like that. People who are healing can share their healing with other people,” Ayala said.

The foundation also presents thousands of dollars in scholarships to about a dozen students a year, including volunteer Autumn Carabajal. She’s thankful to the Courtemanches for the financial aid that allows her to study at community college and follow her dream to become a paleontologist.

“They’re really supportive with everyone around them. There’s no judgments. There’s just lots of love,” Carabajal said.

The foundation’s logo, “FFINEST”, for “Fairfield’s Finest”, was Garcia’s personalized license plate. It now embodies his parents’ hope for the lives they touch.

“That’s really the theme behind it – encouraging people to be the finest that you can be. Your friends, your family, your future,” said Raymond.

When asked what Matt would say to what his parents are accomplishing in his name?

“I feel him all the time, and he’s so proud,” said his Mom. “We can stand up in the most devastating of times and make change for the better.”

For carrying on Matt Garcia’s legacy of service to their community, this week’s CBS News Bay Area ICON Award goes to Raymond and Teresa Courtemanche.

This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.

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By Laurie Perez

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    PASADENA, California (KCAL, KCBS) — After losing their Pasadena home in the Eaton Fire, Jun Li Lujan and her husband were among the first to finish rebuilding their home and move back in time for Thanksgiving.

“I’m a fighter,” Lujan said. “I fight back to my house.”

She’s thankful not only for a new home but also for a new beginning. Lujan’s rebuilding process in the fire zone was made a lot easier thanks to her expertise as a home builder and designer.

It has not been as smooth for many others. Los Angeles County’s recovery dashboard shows that officials have received more than 2,400 rebuilding applications, 367 of which are under construction. Other than Lujan’s, only one other home has finished rebuilding.

Lujan said she designed her home to be fire-resistant, with new aluminum siding, non-flammable furniture and a metal roof.

“That’s a big lesson for me,” she said. “When I design the new house, the first thing I think about, I need a metal roof.”

On Tuesday, Lujan and her husband hosted an open house for their neighbors, fellow fire survivors and city leaders.

“My house burned down, I never cried,” Lujan said. “Yesterday, I see them all come, I have tears.”

Hanging on Lujan’s fence is a sign that she found just weeks after the fire. It reads, “And so they built a life they loved.” The couple said they knew they would put it up once they rebuilt.

Lujan hopes the sign and the house inspire others to rebuild.

“If I can do, they can too,” she said.

This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.

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By Stephanie Stahl

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — A family with a daughter receiving treatment at Shriners Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia says this Thanksgiving, they have a lot to be grateful for.

Eleven-year-old Desa Kaiser, a young dancer who was paralyzed in an accident, is back on the dance floor thanks to some special ingenuity.

The sixth grader is paralyzed from the waist down after a car crash.

“I was sad, but I knew that I’ll have a lot of people around me to help me,” Desa said.

That help is at Shriners Children’s, where she gets physical therapy. The Shriners team even helped get Desa back on the dance floor in a specialized dancing wheelchair.

“It’s an amazing chair that’s different from others,” Desa said, “because you can be more free in it and you can express a lot more in it.”

Desa showed us how she could bend all the way back and touch the ground while staying in the chair.

With this help, she’s already returned to the stage.

“I do jazz, ballet, lyrical, and some funk, hip-hop sometimes,” Desa said.

Physical therapist Maggie Reilly says strength training helps Desa move more freely in the customized wheelchair.

“We wanted to bring her a chair that would allow her to dance and do what she loves,” Reilly said. “One thing that we strive most to do here at Shriners is letting children achieve their goals in whatever way that may be possible.”

Possibilities have blossomed since the accident three years ago, when the family spent that Thanksgiving at Shriners.

“Nobody wants to spend Thanksgiving in a hospital, but they make you feel as at home as they can make you,” Allyson Keiser, Desa’s mother, said.

Allyson Keiser says the family has a lot to be thankful for with Desa back on the dance floor.

“It is a huge sense of hope for her and it’s just a huge relief to be able to give her something that we thought she lost,” Allyson Keiser said.

Desa may have lost some mobility, but she’s found a new identity.

“It’s cool to be different from other people and more unique in different ways,” Desa said.

While she plans to keep up with dancing, Desa says because of her experience at Shriners, she’s also thinking about becoming a pediatric nurse.

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By Sean Coffey

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    RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) — North Carolina is hosting two special guests this Thanksgiving: Gobble, the 2025 National Thanksgiving Turkey, and his alternate, Waddle.

After receiving a Presidential pardon, the two birds will retire at NC State University, marking the second time the university has provided a home for the National Thanksgiving Turkeys, following Chocolate and Chip in 2022.

Gobble and Waddle, both North Carolina natives, were raised on a farm in Wayne County.

“It’s amazing for the state of North Carolina,” said Garey Fox, the university’s dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “We are a major poultry producer within the nation. And it’s just awesome to have these turkeys at NC State and to be entrusted with these wonderful birds.”

The two birds will also serve as educational ambassadors in their retirement, creating opportunities for students, the turkey industry, and the public.

“They really do create a lot of opportunities with the students as well as with the Turkey industry and the public at large. That’s kind of a focus point. Everybody likes to talk about turkeys and Thanksgiving, and it just gives us an opportunity to branch out from there on a lot of subject matter,” said Jesse Grimes, an Extension Turkey Specialist with the university.

North Carolina leads the nation in turkey production by weight and ranks second in turkey headcount. The poultry industry contributes approximately $40 billion annually to the state’s economy.

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By Nick Caloway

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    NORWOOD, New Jersey (WCBS) — A Norwood, New Jersey couple is celebrating a big milestone: 75 years of marriage.

They say it all started with one little lie.

Stanley, 97, and Leatrice Dvoskin, 94, like to keep things light.

“Her favorite meal to make is reservations,” Stanley said. “You’ve got to laugh at some things, because things get rough at times. So a sense of humor helps.”

The two met at a dance at City College in Manhattan in 1949. Stanley, from Brooklyn, gave Leatrice a ride home to the Bronx.

“And I called and told him I lost a pair of earrings in his car, which was not true,” Leatrice said.

“It’s called entrapment,” Stanley said.

“So he said he’d look for the earrings and call me back. Then he called me back and said he didn’t find the earrings. And that was the beginning of our relationship,” Leatrice said.

A year later, they were married. They recently celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary.

They now live in an apartment building for seniors in North Jersey, where shelves and walls are filled with pictures of their three daughters, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Seventy fire years of marriage is an incredibly rare milestone to reach. So what’s their secret?

“We have happy hour every night at 5 p.m.,” Leatrice said.

“I’m the bartender,” Stanley said.

A little alone time doesn’t hurt either. Every day, Stanley heads out and goes for a drive. He takes his Pontiac on a 10-minute trip over the New York border to his favorite gym, where he’s the oldest member.

“They call me the mayor,” Stanley said.

“When he comes home, it’s something else to talk about. I don’t know them, but instead of just talking about this hurts and that hurts, it gives me something else to talk about with him,” Leatrice said.

After decades together, there are plenty of aches and pains, but more laughs to come.

“Listen to what they say, and then tell them where they’re wrong,” Stanley said.

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By Adi Guajardo

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — Two 17-year-olds are trying to make it easier for New Yorkers to find affordable housing, a problem city leaders have long struggled to solve.

The innovative teens continue their work on a website called Realer Estate, which is designed to help make a difference for renters who feel priced out.

The website has consumed every moment outside of class for friends Beckett Zahedi and Derrick Webster Jr. Both say they gave up basketball and their last two summers to help tackle the city’s housing crisis.

“[It’s] a platform trying to make, you know, affordable units and rent-stabilized units more accessible to everyday New Yorkers,” Zahedi said.

The teens launched the site last summer, following countless hours of podcasts, YouTube videos, and AI consultations.

Realer Estate combines public data with real estate listings, and helps New York renters easily identify rent-stabilized apartments and units below market value.

The teens said their site streamlines a cumbersome and time-consuming process for renters.

“We had very little clue what we were doing at first, and with so little coding experience. And so, when I started, it took about two months just to get two neighborhoods on the platform. And every single time I just like write some code, it’d be like some syntax error and I just see a big red, like, crash deployment on my screen,” Zahedi said.

While Zahedi coded, Webster tackled increasing their outreach.

“I knew our site wasn’t enough, [so I] built an email automation that alerts users whenever our algorithm finds a property and matches with their preferences,” Webster said.

Zahedi said his parents’ divorce — and watching his dad move out — exposed him to the housing problem, and in their 11th grade economics class at Brooklyn Friends School, they learned about the gravity of the crisis.

“Through the process of trying to help him find, you know, a more affordable apartment, I just noticed how difficult the whole process was,” Zahedi said.

So far, the site has garnered 27,000 visitors, and the teens estimate between 4,000 and 5,000 state listings are on it.

The problem-solving teens say they’re exploring additional features, including government assistance programs for homeowners.

Every day brings a new challenge, but they say they’re focused on helping as many New Yorkers as they can.

“I’ve always loved helping people,” Webster said.

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By Anna McAllister

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — An argument between two women inside a restaurant on Northwest 119th Street ended in a stabbing on Wednesday afternoon, according to Miami-Dade deputies.

Miami-Dade deputies said the incident happened at Fritanga Pinolandia on Northwest 119th Street.

Investigators said the suspect approached the victim, asking for money. When the victim declined, the woman allegedly followed her inside, got physical, and stabbed her.

Video from inside the restaurant shows the confrontation that led to the stabbing. Aerial footage captured the scene shortly after the attack around 2:30 p.m.

The restaurant manager told CBS News Miami the women had been arguing outside for days before the fight moved inside, frightening staff and customers.

Bernardo Ruiz, the restaurant manager, said the women were arguing outside before entering the restaurant.

“One of the lady – the skinny white lady – she came with scissors in her hands, and she start to hurt the other lady four times on the head inside of my business. So all the customers and our staff was scared to see that, you know?” Ruiz said.

“They running out. They was scared to see the lady with the scissors and blood coming out,” he added.

Deputies said the suspect fled after the stabbing, leaving staff and customers terrified. They quickly captured her nearby. Both the restaurant and a portion of NW 118th Street were taped off as investigators searched for evidence.

Ruiz said the women had been fighting outside his business for days, and Wednesday’s violence forced the restaurant to close for about four hours.

“This is a problem that been happening in Miami-Dade. We have a huge problem with the homeless and the police doesn’t do anything. We need help. Our business is getting worse with the situation that we have in Florida,” Ruiz said.

Deputies said the victim was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition. Authorities have not released the identities of either woman.

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By Donald Fountain

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — Inside the Iron Palm Tattoo Studio, artist Marlon Blake says he lives by one simple rule: “Wake up every day and do exactly what you love to do.”

For Blake, that’s been true for the past 12 years.

“I literally get the opportunity to wake up, come to work, draw on people,” he said.

When he inks his passion onto others, he says the work never feels like work.

“That’s when the job becomes less of a job and more just fun.”

Blake has seen countless designs come across his station, but these were different.

“It absolutely blew me away,” he said.

The drawings appeared simple for an experienced artist. Especially coming from someone like Sage Williams.

“I’m only like 6 years old. I’m only still a kid,” Sage said.

“Yeah! He’s only 6 years old,” Blake added.

Blake discovered Sage through his annual tattoo drawing competition, where the winner’s design gets used in the shop. Sage was the clear standout.

“What he submitted was like, okay, this can’t be real,” Blake said.

Sage has a passion for painting, and one of his pieces now hangs proudly in the studio.

“I worked very hard for this,” Sage said. “You just have to practice a lot.”

His dad helps guide him, but Sage insists he brings something special.

“I’m just very intelligent,” he said.

The two artists share more similarities than expected.

“Around that age is when I realized that I had the talent as an artist,” Blake said. “Seeing that in that kid, I would like to be a part of his life.”

Or maybe, Blake admitted, it’s the other way around.

No one used Sage’s winning design, so Blake made the artwork a permanent part of his own life, tattooing it onto himself.

“This is me begging you, Sage, to take your art serious, follow through with it, don’t look nowhere else,” Blake told him.

This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting.

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