Category: CNN Regional

By A.J. Nwoko

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    HENRICO COUNTY, Virginia (WTVR) — When Mickey Spencer arrived at Darby House senior apartments in east Henrico Sunday morning and saw the damage from the night before, the reality of what had happened set in.

“When you come and look at it and actually see it, it’s a different kind of real,” Spencer said.

Spencer’s friend and former classmate are among the more than 60 seniors displaced when a three-alarm fire tore through the four-story building late Saturday night. Henrico Fire crews battled intense flames in extreme heat while evacuating residents, many of whom had mobility issues.

“A lot of damage. I’m thankful that it’s not as bad as it’s perceived to be and I’m thankful that everyone got out,” Spencer said.

Now, Spencer said the challenge is helping her friend access belongings, medications and mobility equipment still inside the damaged building.

“I’m hoping that all who had health or medical challenges are able to resolve them,” Spencer said. “We have to do what we can to help her out and that’s what we plan to do.”

Her concern was echoed by David Brown, who came to the scene hoping to retrieve an oxygen tank and wheelchair for his daughter’s grandmother, a fourth-floor resident now recovering in the hospital.

“I came here to support and help remove, hopefully, what I thought was going to be an easy thing to get — an oxygen tank and wheelchair,” Brown said.

Brown said the cost of the equipment makes the situation even more stressful.

“The wheelchair alone was almost $10,000. An oxygen tank $700 without insurance. It’s so much to think about,” Brown said.

He said the family is holding out hope they will be able to retrieve the items once they are allowed back inside.

“We’ll come back whenever they let us in, hopefully, to grab those things for her so she can move forward with transportation and hopefully a new place to live,” Brown said.

Rob Rowley, Henrico’s Emergency Management Chief, said the county recognized early on that a traditional shelter would not meet the needs of this population.

“This population has unique needs that are just not appropriately addressed in a congregate shelter,” Rowley said.

The county assisted the American Red Cross by paying for 49 hotel rooms at the Marriott at Virginia Center Commons. GRTC bused residents there after they were rescued from the fire. Rowley said the rooms are secured through Wednesday to give the Red Cross and the property owner time to work on longer-term solutions.

“We have gone ahead and secured the rooms through Wednesday to make sure that we have the time that we need to get the Red Cross and the property owner engaged and give them the time they need to make things happen,” Rowley said.

Rowley said the county is committed to making sure no one is left without a place to go.

“We are not going to allow someone to be left standing in a parking lot,” Rowley said.

Brown said the community response has given his family hope.

“That’s why our family all gathered up here to help out and to be supportive and help anyone that needs it,” Brown said. “Because that’s what we need now is people to come out in the community to help out in these tough times.”

Spencer said the situation is a reminder of the community’s responsibility to its oldest residents.

“These are seniors. These are elders. We have to take care of them,” Spencer said.

Firefighters were called to the 1400 block of Shirleydale Avenue, off Darbytown Road about two miles east of downtown Richmond, after an automatic fire alarm triggered just after 10:05 p.m., according to Henrico Division of Fire officials.

When crews arrived, they found heavy fire coming from the back of the building, with flames extending into the roof, Henrico Fire Chief Douglas Clevert Jr. said.

The incident was escalated to a third-alarm assignment, bringing more than 30 fire, EMS, command and support units to the scene.

Clevert said dozens of rescues were made during the incident, with Henrico Police playing a significant role alongside firefighters — at one point transporting a wheelchair on top of a police car to make sure a resident had what they needed to reach the waiting buses.

At least four residents were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No life-threatening injuries were reported among residents or fire personnel.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Henrico County Fire Marshal’s Office.

Darby House, which opened in late July 2006, offers 108 affordable one and two-bedroom apartments for residents 62 and older.

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WTVR 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.

By Sarah Martin, KSL

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    MAPLETON, Utah (KSL) — For 16 years, a Utah boy lived with just one kidney working at far below normal levels.

When a kidney donation became his only option, he found a match right in his backyard.

Collin Chournos spends three hours, three days a week at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City hooked up to a dialysis machine. But soon, he will get a kidney donation from a neighbor who says he felt a prompting to get tested.

“It’s pretty exciting, finally coming to head,” Collin says. His family has been anticipating this moment since before he was born.

“I had two kidneys. The first one died when I was born. The second was working 33%.” For years, his determined parents and a team of doctors kept that kidney working, “getting 16 years off a kidney, working 30%. It’s pretty crazy.”

But over the last 12 months, that kidney has finally failed. “Now I’m on HD, which is hemodialysis, and that filters my blood through a port near my heart.”

Collin has been on the transplant list for years, but now a donor has been found at the perfect time.

Jesse Craig lives right behind Collin with his wife and six children. Both families moved into their Mapleton neighborhood around the same time six years ago and became close through school activities and walks around the block.

“I feel like I was prompted to go get tested,” said Craig. “My kidney was meant for Collin at this point in time.”

Craig is a physical therapist and will need to take about eight weeks off of work to recover from the surgery, but says he’s never second-guessed this decision. “I feel God led us to each other, to give Collin an opportunity to do the things that he’s supposed to do in his life that he wouldn’t be able to do, without having, having a healthy kidney.”

Recovery will take about a year, but already Collin is ready to get back to volleyball and soccer. “I’m looking forward to definitely playing sports again. It’s going to be exciting.” He’s also got his sights set on a long career helping kids just like him; “Since I was like, 7, I wanted to be a nephrologist.”

A kidney doctor.

While some of the surgeries are covered by insurance, both Collin and Craig will incur significant medical expenses to make this transplant happen.

More than 100,000 people are on the transplant list across the country awaiting an organ donation; more than 80% of those are kidney donations just like Collin. You can get tested by signing up with the Health Resources and Services Administration or speaking with your primary care physician.

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 Robbie Owens

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    PONDER, Texas (KTVT) — From a medically induced coma to a heartwarming welcome home, a freak accident at a spring track meet is teaching Ponder coach Blake Crutsinger a little something about miracles.

“I mean, with the brain injury, you just never know,” said Leslie, his wife. “He’s done everything so much faster than anybody thought he would, and continues to do that and to prove people wrong.”

Two months ago, at a regional track meet in Tyler, Coach Crutsinger was hit in the head with a shot put. But his wife, Leslie, refused to believe that it was as bad as the doctors warned. She’s recalling the difficult days that followed.

“And they called me about 6:30 and said, ‘The swelling’s not going down, and we’re going to have to do the craniectomy,'” Leslie said. “So they removed part of his skull for that. It was terrifying. That was a long, hard day – a really long, hard day. But he did good.”

The Crutsingers knew it would be a long road to recovery. But they also knew they’d get there… one hug, one prayer at a time. And they tell me they could feel those prayers coming from all over.

“Faith,” said an emphatic Ginger Dieter, nothing he coached her son, and he’s just a “good guy.” So her prayers were among those keeping the family supported.

Leslie, his wife, kept everyone updated on his progress through social media posts. And when she learned that Blake was coming home instead of entering an extended-stay inpatient rehab facility, the community moved quickly.

“When we turned the corner and saw everybody in our yard and on the street, we both got emotional,” Leslie said. “I knew it was going to happen, but until you see it… he got very emotional, and I told him, ‘Just be ready for what’s coming.'”

While Bill Withers’ Lean on Me blasted on a nearby car radio, student athletes and cheerleaders, fellow coaches, and family friends linked arms and sang along.

Coach Crutsinger still has lots of outpatient rehab ahead. The brain injury means he is re‑learning the connections that support his verbal skills. For now, his wife of more than 20 years does most of the talking, as he nods in agreement.

Still, when asked about the family’s message to the community, well… there are some moments that need no words. His eyes pooled with tears, and one rolled down his cheek as he hurriedly wiped it away.

“We just want to say thank you,” Leslie said. “The outpouring from people we don’t know, the people that have reached out on Facebook, social media, the prayers, the churches – everybody that has come together and prayed for him. I firmly believe that’s why he is the way he is right now.”

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 Ashley Paul

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Maryland Zoo is home to more than 50 different species of animals from all over the world. While some of them are used to extreme heat, others are not so much.

Therefore, the zoo has all kinds of protocols in place to make sure that all 1,800 animals stay cool and healthy.

You wouldn’t have found a red panda in sight if you had visited The Maryland Zoo on Friday, despite having air-conditioned logs, shaded areas, and temperature-controlled water bowls.

“The first choice the animals have is the choice of whether to be outside or whether to be inside where it’s cool and air-conditioned. So right now, the red pandas are exercising that choice,” Mike Evitts, Director of Communications at the Maryland Zoo, said.

Evitts says especially for animals like red pandas, who are naturally found in cold weather, it’s important that they can stay cool all summer, especially when the temperatures reach over 100 degrees.

“Unlike people, most animals do not sweat. So, they can deal with hot temperatures in a couple of different ways. Obviously, they can drink water. They exchange hot air through panting and breathing like your dog at home might. They also just lie down. They don’t move much; they stay in the shade, and they conserve their core temperature to try and keep their body temperature low,” Evitts explained.

On the other hand, African Elephants are accustomed to the heat.

“They’ve lived in Maryland for many years, so we like to call them our Maryland elephants,” Sarah Balzer, a zookeeper, told WJZ’s Ashley Paul.

Tuffy, the 44-year-old African Elephant, was loving the water cannon on Friday, one of many ways he stays cool during the heat wave.

“The sand, the mud, they will put that all over their bodies, and that helps with bug repellent, all the nasty flies and everything, so that will help keep them from that. And it will act as a natural sunscreen too,” Balzer added.

Elephants have many blood vessels behind their ears, so when they flap them, they can lower their body temperature by up to 10 degrees.

They also have the option to hang out in the mud wallows or swim.

That’s what the otters had been doing all day.

“Obviously the otters have a really amazing pool of water and waterfalls and a lot of area to swim, but also if they want to dry out or want to use the restroom, they have lots of shore and sandy areas,” Evitts said.

Otters also have hollow logs to lay in that are ventilated if they need a break from swimming but want to stay cool.

During the winter months, the zoo has a separate set of protocols to ensure the animals can stay warm and healthy.

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 McGill

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    SACRAMENTO, California (KOVR) — As another Independence Day comes to a close, safety advocates hope one message sticks with families long after the fireworks have faded.

For Rhea Vidhun, the dangers of fireworks are deeply personal.

She was 12 years old when a sparkler ignited her dress during her family’s Diwali celebration, leaving her with severe burns.

“In less than a minute, everything was just on fire,” Vidhun recalled. “I went on the floor. I stopped, dropped, and rolled.”

She spent months recovering in the hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries and physical therapy. While she has returned to the activities she loves, she says the scars serve as a constant reminder of that day.

“It definitely isn’t an easy injury, and you’re left with the scars of what happened for the rest of your life,” she said.

Her story comes as the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates about 13,000 people were treated for fireworks-related injuries last year, including roughly 1,300 involving sparklers.

Burn specialists say what happens in the first few minutes after an injury can have a lasting impact.

“The first thing is to get the person away from the firework and put the burn under cool running water,” said Dr. Tina Palmieri, chief of the Burn Division at UC Davis Health. “Keep it under cool running water for about 20 minutes. That can decrease the need for skin grafting by about 30 percent.”

Today, Vidhun volunteers in the same burn unit where she was once a patient and hopes to become a doctor, using her own experience to help others.

As the holiday wraps up, she hopes her story reminds families that a few simple precautions can prevent life-changing injuries.

“If you’re going to do it,” Vidhun said, “at least keep a bucket of water or something. Try to keep safe, keep watch of your kids, and don’t have too many going at the same time.”

Doctors say even after the holiday, anyone treating a burn should cool the injury with running water and seek medical attention if the burn is severe.

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 Olivia Young

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    ASPEN ACRES, Colorado (KCNC) — The Aspen Acres Fire has forced at least 11,000 people from their homes. Many of those displaced don’t know if they have a home to go back to.

As fire crews battle the ever-growing wildfire, more Colorado communities are packing the essentials and fleeing the flames.

“Never thought I’d see my hometown burning,” said Ethan Dunn, who evacuated from his Colorado City home Friday. “I had to pack in a hurry. It’s just a bunch of things that have been gathered up over time throughout my life, and then I have other people’s stuff in my car, too.”

“Little eerie. It’s pretty frightening out there,” another Colorado City evacuee said. “It’s always in the back of your mind, and it’s in your peripheral vision wherever you look, it’s really all-consuming, so I feel for everyone who has lost their house so far.”

Many of the latest evacuees fled to Pueblo, where they joined thousands of others displaced by the fire in recent days.

“Beulah is the paradise that I always wanted to find, and I found it just too late,” said Daisy Weeks.

Daisy Weeks had been living on her father’s Beulah property while she waited for a double lung transplant.

“About a year ago, I’ve discovered I was very sick, and so in the last year, I’ve quit my job, sold my house, I made a plan, bought an RV — a fifth wheel — moved it to my father’s property, and I really thought, this is where this is my last, this is my final move, this is where I’m going for the rest of my life,” said Weeks. “We’re at the top of a hill, and I can see I have a picture window, I can see out over this valley with fields and llamas and deer.”

Monday morning, the Aspen Acres Fire encroached on that paradise.

“We could look up and the sun was red, we’re starting to experience ashes like snow, and we knew that we had to leave,” said Weeks.

But Daisy’s 82-year-old father refused to leave his beloved home.

“He was just… he was not going to leave,” said Weeks. “I actually said the words, ‘this is literally the hill you’re going to die on? Here? Now?'”

After her pleas to her father were ignored, Daisy finally proceeded down the driveway, where she continued to call her father and loved ones for help.

“Somebody’s got to convince him, I haven’t left yet, he can still come down to my car. He didn’t, and they called me back and said, ‘You need to go, you can’t breathe, you got to get out of there,'” said Weeks.

Finally, unable to breathe, she left.

“I really thought this is the last time I see my father and I thought he was gone with the house, because I knew the fire was coming,” said Weeks.

But hours later, she got a miraculous call from law enforcement.

“Told me ‘I have your father, I’m taking him to the shelter,'” said Weeks.

She says her father had been rescued after climbing down a cliff when the fire overtook their land. The pair were reunited at a shelter. Her father was not injured.

“I’m going to cry right now. I couldn’t believe it. He’s there, and he had his cat,” said Weeks. “We got each other, and that’s all right. We got each other. Because we have nothing else. We have no other possessions.”

A neighbor confirmed the fire had destroyed their beloved home, along with all their belongings, Daisy’s fifth wheel RV, her artwork and their chickens.

“It’s in the morning when you first wake up when you remember,” said Weeks.

Daisy’s paradise is lost, and her small community likely won’t be the last to fall victim to this fire.

“Whenever somebody had a problem in town, everybody would help and chip in. It’s that kind of community,” said Weeks. “I’ve really come to love the people there, and this is just the worst thing I could imagine for them. I’m so sorry.”

Daisy and her father are currently staying with friends. She says he plans to rebuild on the land, but she’s not sure she will be able to go back.

“I don’t know if I can deal with the emotions of being there,” said Weeks.

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 Rachelle Graham

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    DETROIT (WWJ) — The Detroit Auto Show has spent more than a century evolving alongside the auto industry. It has grown from a small, local exhibition into one of the world’s premier automotive events.

The show started in 1907 at a beer garden near the Belle Isle Bridge and was inspired by the Paris Auto Show, according to Detroit Historical Society Automotive and Industrial Curator Dave Marchioni.

“The Detroit Auto Show actually started as the mirror to France,” Marchioni said. “The French auto show was the biggest auto show when it was first done, and then Detroit immediately parroted. If you remember, for a long time, Detroit was called the Paris of the East.”

As attendance grew, the show moved from the beer garden to the Light Guard Armory, then the Michigan State Fairgrounds, before finding a permanent home at Cobo Hall in 1965.

For decades, the event gave consumers a rare opportunity to compare vehicles from multiple automakers in one place before the internet transformed the car buying process.

“I’m old enough to remember when there wasn’t the internet, so it was a chance to get these cars. You could look at a Chrysler, look at a Ford, look at a Dodge. You could look at a GM product all in the same place and really sit in them, see what they felt like and see what they looked like without a salesman being around you,” Marchioni said.

As online shopping changed how consumers researched and purchased vehicles, the Detroit Auto Show shifted its focus from selling cars to creating memorable experiences.

Today’s event features concept vehicles, interactive exhibits, indoor test tracks, vehicle demonstrations and attractions designed to appeal to enthusiasts and families alike.

“What the auto shows had to do is kind of adapt itself to less of a marketing tool and to more of the enthusiast group,” Marchioni said.

The show’s influence expanded beyond Detroit as foreign automakers increased their presence in North America. In 1989, it was renamed the North American International Auto Show, reflecting its growing international significance.

Marchioni said the new identity helped attract global automakers and media while reinforcing Detroit’s status as the Motor City.

“It invites international press, it invites international manufacturers and it really gives Detroit the chance to show everybody what they’re built, made of and how they can compete within the international market,” he said.

The event has continued to evolve through economic downturns, changes in consumer demand and advances in automotive technology.

“If it would’ve stayed as it was in the 50s, it wouldn’t be around now,” Marchioni said.

Today, the Detroit Auto Show is held at Huntington Place, continuing a tradition that began more than 100 years and demonstrating how adapting to change has helped keep one of Michigan’s most recognizable events relevant for generations.

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By Ubah Ali

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    MINNEAPOLIS-ST.PAUL, Minnesota (WCCO) — A Twin Cities family is asking for answers after their loved one somehow ended up on the interstate in the middle of the night. The Minnesota State Patrol said 61-year-old Sonja Brown was a passenger in a car and “fell out” before other drivers hit her early Wednesday morning. But Brown’s family say they believe someone inside the vehicle she was riding in is responsible for her death. Her daughter Enjeania Brown says her mother was picked up from her sister’s house by two people she knew. She says she wanted to go to the ATM then home. She never made it. “I honestly think she was pushed,” said her daughter Enjeania Brown. “I’m being told that she was threatened, and she was fearful. I know my mom and anybody who’s heard this version immediately says: Sonja wouldn’t do that. She wasn’t afraid of anything.” The family describes Sonja Brown as a fearless woman, who loved to cook and feed anyone who came around. It’s one of the things her granddaughter Ta’Myah Bramlett says she will miss most.

“My grandma and I talked a lot and one thing that I did love, and I will miss about her is she always just randomly spoke life into me and she would always tell me like I’m so proud of you,” Bramlett said. While investigators piece together what happened, Sonja Brown’s family say they are focused on finding the truth. They say they will continue fighting for answers and justice for as long as it takes. WCCO reached out to the State Patrol for an update, but they said they couldn’t comment. They did say they’re still investigating what exactly happened.

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 Ken Molestina

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    KERRVILLE, Texas (KTVT) — A recently released single, “27 Little Butterflies,” by country singer and songwriter Josh Abbott, pays tribute to the Camp Mystic campers and counselors who died during the July 4th, 2025, floods that swept through the Texas Hill Country.

In an interview with CBS News Texas, Josh Abbott of the Josh Abbott Band opened up about why he wrote the song, and the kind of healing he hopes it might offer the grief-stricken families.

“I knew that I wanted to write a song about it, but I didn’t want to rush that process,” Abbott said. “I didn’t want it to be just a super somber sad song…Then on Feb. 13 of this year, I couldn’t sleep, and I just went into my little writing room and started writing the song, and it came pretty naturally.”

Abbott is a father of two himself and says he personally knew families who sent their daughters to Camp Mystic. One of those girls included Mary Barrett Stevens, his daughter’s friend, who tragically died in the floods.

“Mary Barrett Stevens and my daughter grew up together,” said Abbott. “We sent our kids to the same little pre-school here in Austin, TX, and that’s where we met the Stevens family and became friends.”

Abbott said he chose to refer to the victims as butterflies because it was fitting, adding, “Butterflies was essentially personal to us because this hat I’m wearing is the symbol for Mary Barrett Stevens and ‘Live like Mary Barrett,’ the foundations that the Stevens founded, and so I was just picturing this little butterfly, and I pictured a whole group of them. A whole cluster of them.”

“When I wrote this song, I just kept picturing Mary Barrett and those girls smiling,” he said. “That’s what I pictured the entire time I wrote it. That’s why I use certain terms and descriptions, because I wanted it to feel bright and happy. Like little girls playing the field with.”

The song itself is described as a departure from the kind of music Abbott and his band usually record.

On this song, Abbott traded in the more upbeat tunes he’s known for for one that uses love and remembrance to honor the lives lost.

He told CBS News Texas that he hopes the song offers a cathartic experience for anyone still grieving and needs to hear it.

“You know these communities…they say time heals everything, I don’t know. I don’t know how it ever heals from this,” Abbott said. “It’s just something I think everyone who lived through it will always remember.”

In a stripped-down acoustic version, Abbott played the song for CBS News Texas and said all the proceeds made on this recording will directly go to fund the Heaven’s Foundation, benefiting Camp Mystic families.

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.