Author: CNN Newsource

By Justin Schecker

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    VOLUSIA COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — A devastated Volusia County family is praising the final selfless and heroic act by 43-year-old Nicole Grayson.

“My mom was literally my hero,” Grayson’s oldest daughter Montraevia Adams said.

Some of Grayson’s many loved ones embraced during a visit to Ed Stone Park in Deland Sunday evening.

“I just want her to be remembered as a positive person,” Adams said, “because she always had a smile on her face no matter what.”

Grayson passed away in the hospital Saturday night, hours after the Volusia Sheriff’s Office said she jumped into the St. Johns River to rescue her 4-year-old son.

The boy fell into the water trying to retrieve something he dropped over a wooden fence, VSO said.

“She was always there for you,” Grayson’s 17-year-old son Dafino Devega said. “She would have did that for any of her kids, and we would have done the same for her.”

Less than 24 hours later, Laronda Morris said she was still in shock about the tragic death of the mother of three of her grandchildren.

“She was really special to me,” Morris said, “and I’m gonna miss her. And the hardest part is looking at my grandkids and knowing that their mother is not here.”

Grayson cared for others as a hospice nurse. But the role she embraced the most was being a mom to her six children.

“These kids were her world,” Morris said. “They were her life.”

Nine-year-old Koron was with his mother and younger brother Saturday afternoon at the river.

“I love my mom,” he said. “She did all of that for my little brother. She pushed me aside because she didn’t want us to get hurt. She saved my little brother, but she didn’t worry about herself. She worried about my little brother.”

Morris shared a message for the boater who pulled her four-year-old grandson to safety.

“I want to thank them because if it was not for them being there, it may have been a different outcome,” she said. “We could have lost both of them.”

Morris told WESH 2 she’s leaning on her faith as she tries to process this unimaginable loss.

“I know that God has a seat in the kingdom waiting for her until we meet again,” Morris said, “and you know life is just short, and we have to start loving each other because we never know the time, the second, or the hour.”

Grayson’s oldest daughter has set up an online fundraiser. Donations will go toward her mother’s funeral and to help the family navigate this unexpected loss.

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 Kyle Schmidt

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    GOLDEN GATE, Florida (WBBH) — A Naples teenager is devastated after two dogs broke into her backyard chicken coop, killing 19 of her chickens that she considered pets and family.

“I’ve always just liked small birds, I always thought birds were cute,” Rylee OConnell said.

The OConnell family’s chicken coop, which produced about 20 eggs a day, was managed by Rylee, who her family affectionately calls the “chicken tender.”

“I’m the chicken tender because I don’t like the idea of eating them, but I tend to them,” Rylee said.

Her mother, Julienne OConnell, explained how much the chickens meant to her daughter. “They are her pets, they are her compatibility, they’re kind of her escape from school. She goes out, she lets them out, she spends time with them,” she said.

As Rylee prepares to enter high school, she had started selling eggs to save money for her first car, a Jeep like her mom’s. The coop housed 29 birds, all part of her plan to achieve that goal.

But tragedy struck early Friday morning.

“My mom opened the door and told me my chickens, like, sorry, um, dead, and when I came out I just couldn’t really look at it, so I just went back inside,” Rylee said, wiping away tears.

According to Julienne OConnell, two dogs broke into the coop by tearing through the chicken wire. “Right below the chicken wire was one of the dogs’ zap collars,” she said.

Rylee expressed her grief, saying, “They weren’t just livestock, they were pets, so I would like them to understand they meant more to me than just that.”

The OConnell family is now seeking accountability from the dogs’ owners and an apology for Rylee.

“We will rebuild our flock. It will take some time, just as it took two years for them. We will make it more secure,” Julienne said.

The family plans to meet with animal control on Saturday to get more answers.

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 Charlie Keegan

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    KANSAS CITY (KSHB) — The World Cup ends Sunday, after more than a month of soccer that included six matches in Kansas City. From FIFA Fan Festival, to shuttle buses, security and more, KSHB 41 News local government reporter Charlie Keegan explored how many tax dollars went to hosting the soccer tournament.

U.S. Federal Government: $79,358,568

$59 million through a FIFA grant program $14.2 million for counter-drone efforts $6.1 million for public safety and transportation projects.

Missouri: $125 million

According to the Office of the House Budget Chairman, the state set aside roughly $125 million. Most of that will be reimbursed to qualifying agencies, so not all the money will be expended if agencies don’t file for reimbursements.

Most of Missouri’s money was for public safety purposes. Roughly $50 million went to renovations at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

FY2024: $52 million FY2025: $17,500,000 FY2026: $40,500,000 FY2027: $15,171,720

Kansas: $28 million

Kansas used mostly American Rescue Plan Act money to pay for its contribution to the World Cup. About $10 million went to infrastructure improvements at and around Sporting KC’s stadium, which hosted World Cup watch parties.

Kansas City: $15 million

Most of Kansas City’s contribution went to the KC2026 organization, which coordinated Fan Festival and shuttle services to the stadium, the airport, and Fan Festival.

Grand total: $248 million

“To be honest with you, I had no idea,” said Ryan Haverty, owner of KC Hooley House.

He said business at his Irish Pub in the KC Live! block did great during the World Cup. He believes the money the government spent bringing the games to Kansas City helped generate new sales taxes at businesses like his which the city can reinvest in projects.

He also said the event put Kansas City on the map.

“It’s something we can’t track, but will affect us positively for years to come,” Haverty said.

Others have said the government could have better spent the money on potholes, homeless outreach, social services, or bus service.

KCATA announced it will cut bus routes after the World Cup.

“It’s a little frustrating,” said bus rider Jerry Breault. “There’s a lot of us who rely on public transportation and we’re being warned for the last couple months now to be prepared later this summer that we may lose our routes.”

The World Cup money is a one-time investment, which may not be the most applicable to longer term social services.

Kansas City announced a $24 million investment in affordable housing initiatives Thursday.

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By Ricky Podgorski

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    LONDONDERRY, New Hampshire (WMUR) — New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye is hosting three football camps for youth athletes this week, including one in New Hampshire.

Maye was in Auburn and Mansfield, Massachusetts, on Thursday, and on Friday, he visited young athletes at a sold-out camp in Londonderry.

Maye said he was happy to be back in the Granite State, and the fans couldn’t be more excited.

“I’m so excited to see Drake Maye today,” one fan said. “I mean I love him. He’s the best.”

“Yeah, I’m going to freak out,” said a girl wearing a Patriots jersey.

“I have been wanting to meet him for years,” said another young fan.

Maye said he loves hosting events like the youth football camp in Londonderry.

“Some of these kids, I’m getting invited to 6-year-olds’ birthday parties, and it’s one of the coolest parts of playing quarterback,” Maye said.

It was a chance for last year’s NFL MVP finalist to visit New England fans in the Granite State.

“I think it’s awesome,” Maye said. “It’s my second year doing it back here. It’s a great crowd, great kids. I love meeting the new kids. And they’re a bunch of Patriots fans, so it’s fun to be out here.”

The camp is for athletes ages 6 to 16. Some even got a chance to catch some passes from Maye.

Patriots training camp starts next weekend, and Maye said events like this help him get focused, with the NFL season right around the corner.

“It’s something to get my mind off, kind of, the work we’re about to go into,” he said. “It’s awesome for me to get out here and kind of get a fresh start for what we’re about to get into in our own camp.”

Maye said he’s ready to suit up for the Pats and get back to work. He said he has already been getting some reps in with his new weapons, such as wide receiver A.J. Brown.

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 Natalia Gomez del Campo

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    CUMMING, Iowa (KCCI) — Activism and finding ways to help fellow Iowans both play a role in the artwork of Edward Kelley and Emily Newman. They both work in the art department at Drake University and are married with two children.

For America 250 Declarations, the couple proposed creating a quilt that addresses water quality issues. Made with contained algae, the quilt filters out the nitrates from the water around it.

Fred and Charlotte Hubbell funded the project through Group Creative Services.

The piece is titled “It’s in the Water.” It was made out of recycled plastic pieced together, a process that dumpsters, Facebook Marketplace and volunteers all helped with.

Science also played a big role in the process.

“There’s numerous studies that show that algae remediates wastewater and collects carbon at a large scale, and can function,” said Kelley, a sculpture technician at Drake University.

So, they put that in a bucket, and soon realized it was also collecting nitrogen and nitrates.

“So, as the water is entering, it’s taking up nitrates and phosphorus,” Kelley said. “And as it grows, it’s taking carbon. And then it releases that cleaner water back into the larger substrate.”

“I think more and more people are understanding that we have water quality issues in Iowa, and we just want to call attention to it even further through any means that we can,” Newman said.

The quilt is open to the public at Wilson’s Orchard in Cumming for anyone to see until mid-September. Edward and Emily have another project coming up called Climate Beacon, which starts showing at Drake University by the end of the month.

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By Beau Bowman

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    DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — Lawyers for a woman accused of killing an Iowa realtor in 2011 say the prosecution’s key eyewitness changed their story in the days after the killing.

Kristin Ramsey is accused of killing Ashley Okland on April 8, 2011, while Okland was holding an open house at a townhome in West Des Moines. Ramsey was arrested nearly 15 years later and charged with first-degree murder.

Now, Ramsey’s lawyers are arguing for the case to be thrown out due to inconsistencies with what it calls “the State’s only eyewitness.”

Ramsey’s lawyers argue the witness, who was not identified by name in a motion to dismiss filed Friday, told police on multiple occasions that Ramsey did not arrive to the scene until after the shooting.

“On April 9, 2011—the day after the murder—the neighbor gave a third statement,” the motion reads. “She once again told Detective [Jeff] Lyon … that about ‘3 minutes after hearing the noises she noticed a white female drive up to unit 558 in a silver 4 door car and enter the unit. [The neighbor] said seconds after the women entered the building she observed the same female run from the building and drive away in her car very quickly.’ … Again, according to the neighbor, Ms. Ramsey did not arrive to the scene until after the shots were fired.”

The motion then details how the neighbor’s story changed a few days later. According to Ramsey’s lawyers, a detective told the neighbor she was “the prime suspect” on April 14. The neighbor’s story then changed, according to the defense, and she omitted details about seeing Ramsey drive up several minutes after the shooting, instead focusing her story on seeing Ramsey outside the townhome minutes later.

The neighbor also had a traumatic brain injury that impacted her memory, according to the defense:

“During the interview, the investigators, including Detective Lyon, pushed the neighbor on the inconsistencies in her statement, such as her now inability to recall the color of the cars outside the townhome,” the motion reads. “She responded by saying that ‘I had a concussion from a fractured skull, I do have some memory problems . . . I spend a lot of time, on things, like, I see trying to remember things.'”

When interviewed again by investigators in 2025, nearly 15 years after the shooting, the neighbor, now living in Florida, told investigators she did not remember who Ramsey was, according to the defense.

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By Scott Reister

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    IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCCI) — Jaidyn Coon comes to Iowa as a four-star recruit. After a decorated career at Storm Lake High School, he has big goals for his freshman year.

“I have the mentality that I just want to dunk on somebody, no matter how big,” Coon said.

The best part? He’s not afraid to do the dirty work.

“I grew up in a small town, 8,000 people,” he said. “I worked eight to nine hours a day on a pig farm.”

That’s right, a pig farm.

Teammate Tate Sage did a double take.

“I repeated myself,” he said. “I was like, ‘You grew up on a pig farm?'”

“My grandpa raises over a million hogs for the state of Iowa; it’s called Nutra Tech,” Coon said.

Coon has spent a lot of time on the farm. “A lot of maintenance work,” he said. “It’s 100 degrees out, I tear curtains down, powerwash, it’s a lot. It’s hard work. You’re drained. You take a shower, go to bed at 8 and wake up at 6, then just sleep.”

While his blue-collar upbringing will always be part of him, he’s happy to be sporting black and gold this summer.

“Summer workouts are definitely harder, but I actually enjoy it,” he said. “Pig farming — it’s good, but it gets kind of tiring after a while.”

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.