Category: CNN Regional

By Meredith Bruckner

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    DETROIT (WWJ) — Perfect Pair was founded by a University of Michigan student in 2020 to curb social isolation during the pandemic.

Emily Lerner came up with the idea to pair students with older adults living in assisted living facilities in the Ann Arbor area.

They meet weekly, and, over the years, many have forged lasting friendships.

Since then, Perfect Pair has expanded to 35 campuses in 23 states, and more than 40 “pairs” meet on a regular basis.

A new grant from the Government Employees Health Association, Inc. will help the nonprofit strengthen its current chapters in Ann Arbor, Boston, Columbus, Denver and Seattle and launch new chapters in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Miami, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.

“Six years ago, I witnessed first-hand the impact of the real friendships Perfect Pair created between older adults and college students, with decreased social isolation and loneliness for both groups,” said Lerner. “I feel so lucky to have G.E.H.A’s support to expand that access across the country.”

Student Alyssa Jaster and retiree Anita Rochefort began meeting in the fall of 2024.

“It’s just been the highlight of my week coming here,” said Jaster. “I love talking to Anita.”

“It’s the highlight of my week, too,” said Rochefort.

As part of a leadership role at U-M’s chapter, Jaster matches students and residents in the Ann Arbor area based on a number of factors.

“Hobbies, interests, even similar career paths,” Jaster said. “Anita worked in medical technology, and I’m in pre-med, so matching us together was kind of a no-brainer.”

“No matter how busy she is, she makes sure she comes for that hour a week,” said Rochefort.

Rochefort shared that she and her husband had no children, so she has no grandchildren.

“For me, this was sort of like that experience,” she said.

They said it’s refreshing to be friends with someone from a different generation.

“We’ve really become great friends,” said Jaster.

“It’s made a big difference in my life,” said Rochefort. “It really has.”

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 John Lauritsen

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    GRANITE FALLS, Minnesota (WCCO) — When a loved one starts to lose their memory, it creates new challenges for family members. But in a western Minnesota town, they’re battling Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with music.

Jan Lerohl is the music director for Building Bridges Choir in Granite Falls.

“We have people who maybe lost a spouse, and socialization is important. And we all know the more you sing, it stimulates your memories, it keeps your memories alive,” Lerohl said.

It’s the method behind the music. Besides singing, nearly everyone here has something in common. Either they, or a loved one, have suffered from some form of memory loss.

Lerohl has watched the choir more than double in size over the past decade. Her mother was even part of the choir before passing away from a form of dementia.

“She enjoyed the fellowship and friendships, even though she was struggling,” Lerohl said.

The fellowship is what appealed to Danny and Rosalene Mooney.

“We like singing together, so we enjoy it very much,” said Danny Mooney.

The Mooneys were high school sweethearts and have been married for 62 years.

“Danny has Parkinson’s and some dementia, so I’m his wife and caregiver,” said Rosalene Mooney. “It’s been a real good support for me as well.

The songs we sing, and that, bring back memories,” said Danny Mooney.

Research shows that musical memories are the last memories to leave you, so the choir performs church hymns and patriotic songs at senior living facilities and veterans homes.

“We’ve gotten standing ovations, yes we have,” Lerohl said. “A sense of belonging, that they are important, that they still have something to contribute.”

It’s a different kind of trip down memory lane; one that every person in this choir is happy to take.

“We’re a family. I don’t know how else to describe it. We have become a family. It’s been wonderful over the years to see how they care for one another,” Lerohl said.

The Building Bridges Choir practices every Thursday morning at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Granite Falls.

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 John Lauritsen

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    WASECA, Minnesota (WCCO) — For nearly 50 years, Farmamerica has been sowing agricultural knowledge near Waseca, Minnesota.

Jessica Rollins lives on one farm and works on another.

“I am always surrounded by farm life. I would not have it any other way,” Rollins said.

But her day job goes far beyond her regular chores.

“Farmamerica is Minnesota’s agricultural interpretive center,” she said.

She’s the executive director of Farmamerica. The state opened the center in 1978, thanks to a land donation from the Lukken family.

Traveling the Farmamerica path is like going for a stroll back in time.

“This is what it would look like in the 1850s, when folks would’ve started to call this location home,” she said.

There’s a dugout on the side of a hill that pioneer families would have lived in before they eventually upgraded to a sod-roof house. And then if they were lucky, a log cabin — giving this part of Farmamerica a “Little House on the Prairie” feel.

On this farm, you can travel from the 1850s to the 1930s by walking a few hundred feet.

“Electricity was the main excitement on the farm in the 1930s,” Rollins said. “Farmers in the 1930s were still using horses quite a bit, but they were starting to introduce the tractor.”

Each of the buildings on site is an original, though they may have been relocated from other parts of the state. That includes a 172-year-old Baptist church that was carefully brought in from Nicollet County. There’s also a blacksmith shop.

“These are horseshoes, and that was the No. 1 job for a blacksmith in this time is providing horseshoes for farmers as well as sharpening plow blades,” said program director Kari Wadd.

But the main attraction is the animals. There are a dozen different species of animals at Farmamerica. That includes Ferdinand, a 2-year-old mini highlander.

“He is very shy. Yep, easygoing,” Wadd said.

There are goats, chickens, piglets and two famous turkeys named Peach and Blossom.

“They went to Washington, D.C., were pardoned by President Biden, driven back to Farmamerica and they have been here for two plus years,” Wadd said.

Baby chicks and ducklings can be found inside the Interpretive Center, but the real purpose here is to highlight farming today to show just how far we’ve come.

It’s immersive, interactive and an educational harvest for people of all ages.

“Our goal is to help people understand and respect and be excited about the story of agriculture and all that it can bring into the future,” Rollins said.

Farmamerica is a nonprofit and sits on 360 acres of farmland, and they grow their own crops. Over 1,000 Minnesota students visit each year.

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 Derek James

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    MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Brittany Haeg is living with the deep scars of gun violence. Her three children attend Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, and her 6-year-old son David was hurt during the deadly mass shooting on Aug. 27, 2025.

“If you had asked me seven months ago what healing was, I would say Aug. 26. That’s the goal. I want to be on Aug. 26,” Haeg said.

Her son’s recovery includes numerous medical appointments as bits of shrapnel are still in his body.

“It’s hard to disentangle the physical and the mental. You know, disrupted sleep is physical, but it is also a mental health question,” Haeg said.

NAMI Minnesota, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is among those providing healing and mental health recovery following the Annunciation shooting and other recent traumas related to gun violence.

“In order to heal and recover, we first need to get to a place where we feel safe enough to begin that process,” said Calista Wery, family peer education coordinator at NAMI Minnesota.

NAMI provides support through education, support groups and advocacy. But all of us have a role as well.

“Being a good listener and just listening and offering that support,” Wery said.

Haeg says those conversations are the most impactful.

“People who have listened, and they have heard me and they have not tried to solve the problem,” Haeg said.

For the Haeg family, part of their healing is redefining hope not as a feeling but as a choice.

“A choice to not be stuck on Aug 27. To let Aug. 27 be a part of our lives,” Haeg said. “But it’s not our endpoint. It is a moment, and there’s a lot of story that comes after that.”

Haeg and NAMI are among those calling for the Minnesota House to pass the comprehensive gun violence bill that passed Monday in the state Senate.

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 Reg Chapman

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    ST. PAUL, Minnesota (WCCO) — St. Paul police are looking into a recent rash of people stealing gas. Not from the pumps — the thieves are drilling holes in gas tanks to get it.

It’s happening in several St. Paul neighborhoods in the middle of the night. Thieves drill a hole in the gas tank, making off with what’s inside.

“Most of them are trucks because there is more room to get under and they take it into must be a huge container because I had a full tank of gas,” John Holzem said.

Holzem says his Chevy Silverado was targeted late at night about two weeks ago.

He didn’t notice until he was on the highway heading home from a doctor’s appointment.

“All of a sudden, it went weird, and it was slowing down, and I’m looking in my mirror and traffic was behind me. I had just enough fumes to get off to the side,” Holzem said.

He called AAA, and when someone arrived, he learned his truck had stopped because it had no gas in it.

“He went and got more gas, he poured the gas right in and it ran right out,” Holzem said.

Holzem had to have the truck towed.

“I had it towed to St. Paul Automotive, and they said it was the third one they brought in there like that,” Holzem said.

St. Paul Automotive says it is working on four vehicles, all with the same problem: someone drilled a hole in the gas tank and took the gas.

St. Paul police say they have about a half dozen reports of these gas thefts.

The thieves are hitting targets along the Mississippi River, the west end, the west side, and St Paul’s central neighborhoods.

“By the time it was all said and done with the towing, it was $600,” Holzem said.

Holzem and his neighbors are now on alert, and they want others in St. Paul to be as well.

“They are going to do it at night. You are sleeping and no one is going to sit up all night and watch them. Since then, I put a security system in,” Holzem said.

Investigators are looking for any video or information about these thefts. If you have any information, call the St. Paul Police Department.

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 Frankie McLister

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    MINNESOTA (WCCO) — It’s not your ordinary garage sale in Minnesota or Wisconsin; it’s 100 miles long.

“You’re gonna find clothes, antiques. You’re gonna find President’s cologne bottles!” said Missy Filkins of River Falls, Wisconsin.

Buyers and sellers are flocking to dozens of Mississippi River towns this weekend.

All along the river is the 100 Mile Garage Sale.

“Bring some sales on! Bring some money!” said Denise Vandeusen of Hager City, Wisconsin.

“We had people here before we were ready yesterday and today, wanting to start at like 7:30 or so, and we were open at 8,” said Sheila of Prescott, Wisconsin.

It happens every first full weekend of May, stretching from Thursday through Sunday.

“There’s so many people,” said Kim Stai of Amery, Wisconsin. “You can pretty much get whatever you want.”

It’s an event bringing boatloads of people to the dozens of towns throughout the 100-mile Minnesota/Wisconsin circle.

“There are truly thousands of garage sales that happen,” said Kate Carlson of Visit Winona.

Visit Winona is the organizer for the decades-long tradition.

“It starts south in Winona here, goes up to Hastings, then the intention is to go into Prescott, Wisconsin and come all the way down the Wisconsin Great River Road to Fountain City,” said Carlson.

Along the route, you’re likely to see a little bit of everything under the sun.

“We had a lady here yesterday that had monkeys in her backpack. Finger monkeys!” Vandeusen told WCCO. “I thought they were kittens!”

The stories are truly endless.

“We stay overnight usually in Red Wing and meet my sisters there,” said Sandra of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota.

“We had people from Arizona, Texas. I think they drove in,” said Wendy Dodson of Hastings, Minnesota.

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 Conor Wight

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    ST. FRANCIS, Minnesota (WCCO) — A fire at a St. Francis, Minnesota, home and beloved cat rescue claimed the lives of nearly two dozen cats just after midnight on Tuesday.

Grace Thompson said she barely made it out herself as her home was engulfed by fire in less than a minute. Her house doubled as a location for Kitten Kam Rescue, which she started four years ago to expand her passion for helping animals.

She said that there were 44 cats inside at the time of the fire, including cats waiting for a foster home and her own pets. Firefighters from three companies in the St. Francis area pivoted to providing oxygen and medical care for the cats once they extinguished the fire, as neighbors poured out into the road to help.

“All my neighbors were around grabbing kennels and carriers and helping hand kennels and carriers to firefighters so they could grab as many cats as they could out of the house,” Thompson said. “I never imagined the kind of support I had that night helping the cats.”

The support in the days since has been overwhelming, with Thompson’s dedication over the years earning her helpers from local veterinarians to other rescues.

SNAP’T Cat Rescue in Blaine, Minnesota, got in touch with former Vikings quarterbacks Tommy Kramer and Daunte Culpepper to lend a hand. Executive Director Sonja Larson said that for anyone who can donate at least $100 to help Thompson, SNAP’T will provide a signed jersey from either Kramer or Culpepper.

“Rescues need to stick together Like I said, it could be any one of us,” Larson said.

The help extended to the streets as volunteers worked to try to track down the sole cat that was unaccounted for in the aftermath of the fire. Thompson said that Arthur was spotted on Friday morning; on Friday evening, she got the phone call that he was found and was on his way to see a vet.

“I love my community,” Thompson said. “It takes a village. We say that a lot in rescue, it takes a village, and there is a village out there and they’re all helping.”

Thompson said that she was told an issue with electrical wiring caused the fire. Her intention is not only to bring back her house, but to bring back the rescue.

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 Marissa Armas

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    TEXAS (KTVT) — Eight years later, Julie Barron‑Wells still struggles with the loss of her daughter, Kiley Lane.

“Anytime you have to relive that loss, it’s not fun. It’s hard,” Barron‑Wells told CBS News Texas. “As a mom, I’m just proud of the person that she was, and even telling her story again today makes me very proud.”

As she reflects on her daughter’s death, new cases of hantavirus are drawing national attention. Two Texans were aboard a cruise ship now linked to an outbreak that has killed three people and produced several confirmed and suspected cases.

Lane was 27 when she died in 2018 after contracting hantavirus. Barron‑Wells said her daughter, who was also a mom, first experienced severe abdominal pain, followed by fever and difficulty breathing. She said Lane went to the emergency room multiple times before doctors began to take her symptoms seriously. It took 10 days for doctors to diagnose her with the virus.

“It was excruciating,” Barron‑Wells said. “There’s really not anything you can do except for hold her hand and pray.”

Lane spent 72 days in the hospital before she died. Barron‑Wells said her family still does not know exactly how she contracted the virus.

“I think a lot of people were just in shock and awe because she was a healthy 27‑year‑old mom and newlywed, and there wasn’t a thing, and there wasn’t any kind of idea that she would get anything and pass away so suddenly,” said Barron‑Wells.

On Thursday, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed that two Texans were among the passengers aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise ship linked to a hantavirus outbreak in the Atlantic Ocean. At least three people have died. Health officials said there are five confirmed cases and at least eight suspected cases tied to the outbreak. Doctors around the world – and in Texas – are watching closely.

“We’re not sure exactly how it spread here,” said David Winter, a doctor at Baylor Scott & White Health. “You don’t usually get it from person to person; you get it from being around rats, so think that’s a big thing. Be careful when you’re around rats, for sure, but you shouldn’t worry in crowds at this point, because we’ve not seen that in the past, and this virus has been around for a long time.”

While there are still many questions about hantavirus, Barron‑Wells said she hopes Kiley’s story will help raise awareness and encourage more research.

“Kiley’s legacy has not gone without helping a lot of people,” said Barron‑Wells. “Her story is still important, and I know that somehow, someway, keeping her story alive is going to help make a difference.”

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 Amelia Mugavero

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    NORTH TEXAS (KTVT) — Just days before Mother’s Day, a North Texas father is grieving the sudden loss of his wife and unborn son after she died unexpectedly, only days before her due date. Avi Carey said he is still in shock over the death of his wife, Tiffany, whom he described as his “rock” and “soulmate.”

“Tiffany’s smile, her radiance, her presence … she didn’t meet a stranger,” Carey said.

The couple had been together for nearly two decades, raising two children, Kingston and Kasyn, and preparing to welcome their third child, a baby boy they planned to name Kylo.

Carey said Tiffany began complaining of a severe headache just days before she was due to give birth. He recalled her sitting on the couch, dozing off multiple times – something he said was unusual.

A short time later, Carey found her unresponsive.

“I saw her face … her lips were blue. And I already knew,” he said with tears in his eyes.

Tiffany Carey and her unborn son died May 2, leaving behind a grieving husband and two children. The loss came less than a week after the family had celebrated a baby shower.

“We went from celebrating the baby shower to planning a funeral in less than five days,” Carey said.

Health officials say cases like this highlight a broader crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women in the United States are more than three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy‑related causes, and most of those deaths – around 80% – are considered preventable.

Carey said he is still searching for answers and now lives with questions about whether warning signs were missed.

“I would say educate yourself. Take everything seriously,” he said. “That should have been a red flag … the headache.”

Now, surrounded by baby supplies meant for a child who never arrived, Carey said he is focused on honoring Tiffany’s memory and raising their children with the values she lived by.

“She always said, ‘You’ve got to lead with love,'” he said. “She did that in everything.”

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 Erin Jones

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    NORTH TEXAS (KTVT) — Just ahead of Mother’s Day, one North Texas family is taking a decades‑old tradition to a whole new level.

Tonight, they’re gathering for a Wheel of Fortune watch party that’s turning their nightly routine into a moment they’ll never forget.

For years, Sukhdev Kaur has spent her evenings in front of the TV, watching Wheel of Fortune with her family.

“From 1985.. I’ve watched from 85,” she said.

“Every day, basically from 6:30 to 7 o’clock, nobody in our household is allowed to touch the remote,” Sawinder Singh said.

They say it took auditions, interviews, and months of waiting before they were finally selected.

“I was very excited!” Kaur said.

“It was once in a lifetime opportunity, especially for people in the Sikh community, Sikh faith,” Gurvinder Singh said.

“Thousands and thousands of people apply every year, which is a little intimidating, but at the end of the day, it didn’t deter me because I feel that I have a personality fitting for TV,” Sawinder said.

On the show, they introduced Ryan Seacrest to a special dance form popular in their culture, and although they didn’t win the grand prize, they still walked away with $13,000.

Having family and friends – and of course, their mom – cheering for every spin and puzzle solve made the moment even more special.

“It was amazing,” she said. “Absolutely amazing!”

Kaur says this Mother’s Day, she couldn’t be prouder of her sons, and now she’s even considering applying to be on the show herself.

“I will try!” 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.