Nearly 2 years after Helene, recovery varies across western North Carolina

By Gracie Palmer

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — This month marks two years since Helene devastated western North Carolina. While communities across the mountains have made major progress, recovery does not look the same everywhere.

“Some days it feels like two weeks. Some days it feels like 20 years,” said Buncombe County Helene Recovery Officer Kevin Madsen.

Madsen said there are 114 projects across Buncombe County municipalities, along with 31 projects focused on the county’s own recovery efforts. The work includes restoring parks, working with property owners on hazard mitigation and building up supplies of generators and backup power sources.

“We’ve learned a lot from Tropical Storm Helene, how we’ve responded,” Madsen said. “And we’ve built those partnerships and those collaborations. So I feel like we are better prepared today than we were.”

But in Bat Cave, a community in Henderson County, the landscape still carries clear signs of Helene’s destruction.

Bat Cave Fire and Rescue Chief Steve Freeman said some roads and bridges remain missing or under repair. In one area, he said, residents have limited windows to travel while crews work on the road.

“The residents can only get out every 45 minutes for a 15-minute thing on the hour because they’re working on the road to get that back,” Freeman said. “They’ve been dealing with that ever since the start of this.”

Freeman said the community has made significant progress. In the first days after Helene, he said, the only way out was by helicopter. Still, he said the recovery remains vulnerable. Debris remains along creeks, and he worries another storm could threaten work already completed downstream in Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.

“We’ve come a long way with that. There are some things that could be done better,” Freeman said when asked whether western North Carolina could handle another natural disaster. “All it takes is for one hurricane to come through. Not as bad as Helene. But all the work that has been done in Lake Lure and Chimney Rock — water runs downhill.”

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12-year-old delivers nearly 30,000 diapers to help Valley families in need

By Cameron Polom

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    PHOENIX (KNXV) — Most middle schoolers spent their summer hanging out with friends.

Twelve-year-old Sloan spent hers collecting nearly 30,000 diapers.

The Valley youngster recently delivered one of the largest diaper donations Nourish Phoenix has ever received, filling a U-Haul with diapers destined for families across the community.

And that’s no small gift.

Nourish Phoenix helps families with food, clothing, hygiene products and job assistance, and staff say diapers are among the most requested items they provide. Unlike food, there are no government assistance programs specifically designed to help families afford diapers, making donations like Sloan’s especially valuable.

What’s even more impressive is that this wasn’t her first diaper drive.

Sloan has been volunteering with Nourish Phoenix since she was seven years old. After seeing the need firsthand, she launched her first diaper drive, collecting about 7,000 diapers. Five years later, her annual effort has grown into a community-wide movement fueled by donations from family, friends and supporters through Sloan’s Diaper Drive.

ABC15’s Cameron Polom caught up with Sloan as she helped stock shelves at Nourish Phoenix and learned why she believes helping others is always worth the effort.

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AI Concerns Shake Markets, 10-Year Near 5%, Fed Decision Ahead

By Tom LoBianco | Quincy News Correspondent

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    Washington (Quincy News) — Market Recap: U.S. stocks fell Monday after leading artificial intelligence executives called for slowing development of the most advanced AI models over safety concerns. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slower pace of development over the weekend, with other major AI industry figures expressing support. The selloff was concentrated in technology and semiconductor shares.

The Dow declined 0.3%, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.6%. Treasury yields also moved higher, with the 10-year yield briefly rising above 5% before retreating later in the day.

Oil prices remained high after drone attacks forced Saudi Arabia to shut a major pipeline used to move oil around the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude climbed close to $110 a barrel Monday before settling at $105.68.

Today’s Focus: The Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting Tuesday, with an interest-rate decision due Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET. Markets are pricing in a high probability of a quarter-point increase, which would be the Fed’s first rate hike since July 2023.

ON THE SCHEDULE FOR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2026

-Federal Reserve meeting begins

-Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. ET – August retail sales and import/export prices

-Wednesday, 9:15 a.m. ET – August industrial production and capacity utilization

-Wednesday, 10 a.m. ET – September NAHB Housing Market Index and July business inventories

-Wednesday, 2 p.m. ET – Federal Reserve interest-rate decision and economic projections

-Wednesday, 2:30 p.m. ET – Fed Chair Kevin Warsh press conference

-Thursday, 8:30 a.m. ET – Weekly jobless claims, August housing starts and building permits

-Thursday, 10 a.m. ET – August pending home sales

-Thursday, 1 p.m. ET – Treasury 10-year TIPS auction

-Friday, 9:30 a.m. ET – Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman speaks

-Friday, 10 a.m. ET – Conference Board Leading Economic Index

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Houston’s Paul Cornish Comes Home Swinging as DACAMERA Launches Jazz Season with Joshua Redman

By Francis Page Jr.

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    September 14, 2026 (Houston Style Magazine) — Houston has never been shy about producing musicians who leave home, conquer bigger stages and eventually return carrying a little more musical thunder in their luggage.

On Saturday, October 17, 2026, DACAMERA opens its 2026–27 Jazz Series with saxophone giant Joshua Redman at the Cullen Theater inside Wortham Theater Center. But Houston audiences have an especially good reason to lean forward when the lights come down: seated at the piano will be Paul Cornish, the Houston-born, Kinder HSPVA-trained pianist whose rapidly rising career now places him squarely in Blue Note Records’ next generation of jazz innovators.

Cornish joins Redman, bassist Philip Norris and drummer Nazir Ebo in the working quartet introduced on Redman’s latest Blue Note album, Words Fall Short. Released in June 2025, the recording grew organically from months of touring together and features eight Redman originals shaped by improvisation, conversation and the kind of musical trust that cannot be manufactured in rehearsal.

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Redman knows something about longevity. The Recording Academy lists him with 10 Grammy nominations, and DACAMERA audiences already know him from previous Houston appearances, including projects with his Still Dreaming Quartet, 3×3 Trio and his where are weensemble. Translation: this is not a first date between Redman and Houston. It is a continuing musical relationship.

Yet Cornish gives this return engagement its unmistakable H-Town splash.

Born and raised in Houston, Cornish studied at HSPVA before earning a full fellowship at UCLA’s Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. He became a finalist in both the 2023 American Pianists Awards and the Herbie Hancock International Jazz Piano Competition and has performed with artists ranging from Redman and Terrace Martin to HAIM and Louis Cole.

His story also extends one of Houston jazz’s proudest traditions. Blue Note places Cornish in the same HSPVA lineage that includes Jason Moran, Robert Glasper, Kendrick Scott, Chris Dave, Walter Smith III and James Francies. His own Blue Note debut, You’re Exaggerating!arrived in 2025, confirming what Houston jazz lovers already suspected: another hometown pianist has joined the international conversation.

Houston Style Magazine readers, before the 8 p.m. concert, DACAMERA plans to turn downtown into something of a sophisticated jazz crawl with its Fall Jazz Kickoff Party at 6:30 p.m. at Lynn Wyatt Square, directly across from the Wortham. Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, live music and jazzy attire set the mood before guests walk across the street for the main event. Lynn Wyatt Square sits at 600 Louisiana Street, making the evening conveniently park-once-and-swing-twice.

Concert tickets are currently listed at $60.50–$101, with the Joshua Redman Quartet beginning at 8 p.m.

For Houston, Saturday, October 17 will be more than a jazz concert. It will be a reminder that our city does not simply welcome world-class jazz.

Houston helps make it.

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Event Information: Joshua Redman Quartet — DACAMERA Tickets: Purchase DACAMERA Tickets Fall Jazz Kickoff Party: DACAMERA Fall Jazz Kickoff Party Joshua Redman: Joshua Redman at Blue Note Records Paul Cornish: Paul Cornish at Blue Note Records

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The Cat Is Back! ‘The Cat in the Hat’ Brings Big-Screen Mischief, Magic and Family Fun This November

By Francis Page Jr.

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    September 14, 2026 (Houston Style Magazine) — SomeTHING big is coming to movie theaters—and Houston families may want to hold onto their hats.

The Cat in the Hat bounds onto the big screen November 6, 2026, bringing Dr. Seuss’ wonderfully mischievous character into his first animated theatrical feature. Warner Bros. Pictures Animation is promising a whirlwind of imagination, comedy and colorful chaos designed to entertain children while giving parents and grandparents plenty to smile about.

This time, the Cat—voiced by Emmy-winning comedian Bill Hader—actually has a job. He works for the wonderfully ridiculous Institute for the Institution of Imagination and Inspiration, or I.I.I.I., and receives what could be his toughest assignment: helping siblings Gabby and Sebastian cope with moving to a new town.

photo (L-R) The Cat in the Hat voiced by Bill Hader, Gabby voiced by Xochitl Gomez, Sebastian voiced by Tiago Martinez, and Waffles voiced by Matt Berry in Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s “The Cat in the Hat,” a Warner Bros.

Naturally, when the Cat tries to make things better, “better” tends to become bigger, louder and considerably more complicated.

The newly released Main Trailer offers families a glimpse of a dazzling fantasy world filled with outrageous inventions, fast-moving adventure and the kind of rule-bending humor that has helped make Dr. Seuss a childhood favorite across generations.

Hader leads an impressive voice cast featuring Xochitl Gomez, Tiago Martinez, Quinta Brunson, Matt Berry, Giancarlo Esposito, America Ferrera, Bowen Yang, Paula Pell and Tituss Burgess. Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni direct the adventure.

photo (L-R) Sebastian voiced by Tiago Martinez, Waffles voice by Matt Berry, and Things 1 and 3 in Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s “The Cat in the Hat,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release

And the Cat apparently plans to arrive with his own soundtrack. A new theme written by Tim Minchin, performed by FITZ & Minchin featuring Hader, has already been released, with composer Lorne Balfe’s full movie soundtrack scheduled for October 30.

For Houston families looking for a cheerful fall movie outing, November 6 could become one very Seuss-sational Friday. The Cat In The Hat Is Back!

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What Is the Value of Ben & Jerry’s Without the Values of Ben and Jerry?

By Ben Jealous

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    September 14, 2026 (Houston Style Magazine) — For almost as long as I can remember loving ice cream, I have loved Ben & Jerry’s for its boldness. Bold flavors. Bold crunch. And most uniquely, for boldly standing up for the values that define America’s highest aspirations: freedom, fairness, peace and love.

If you feel like it is slipping toward becoming just another soulless corporate product, you are not alone.

Prince lost control of his own name because a record company owned it. He fought for years and won it back. Ben and Jerry have their names on every pint, but they say illegal corporate decisions are gutting what those names stand for.

What is the value of Ben & Jerry’s without the values of Ben and of Jerry?

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened Ben & Jerry’s in an old Vermont gas station in 1978. Jerry stayed 47 years.

Then this time last year Jerry did the unthinkable and walked out, disappointed in where the company’s new owners were taking his and Ben’s namesake.

He did not leave over money. Standing up for justice and our shared humanity, he wrote, has never mattered more than it does right now. And yet Ben & Jerry’s had been “silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power.”

In 2000, Unilever offered more money than shareholders could refuse. They could not stop the sale. So they got key assurances in writing.

The deal created an independent board with the last word on the social mission, the ice cream, and the name. Only those directors could remove one of their own. The parent company could not remove anyone. The lawyers said it would last in perpetuity. That is lawyer talk for forever.

Forever lasted twenty-five years. In December 2025 Unilever spun its ice cream brands into a company called Magnum. By New Year’s Day, every independent director was gone.

They had already gone to federal court. They said a Black History Month post was blocked. They said it could not name President Trump on wages, health care, and climate. They said it could not call for a ceasefire in Gaza. They said chief executive David Stever was pushed out for listening to them.

Magnum, Ben says, has done this to “a brand that was built to speak.”

This summer Magnum cut the funding and took the offices of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, which has backed grassroots justice work since 1985. It has announced it will close this December unless the lawsuit succeeds.

Last month a judge threw out most of the directors’ claims. Two survive, over money Unilever promised and never paid. Magnum calls that charge nonsensical. It says the brand is thriving and points to three new directors.

Those directors, Ben says, “were added illegally.” A board can be full of good people and still have no say.

Frederick Douglass said it plain. “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” A contract is only as strong as those who enforce it.

I led the NAACP for half a decade. We asked big box chains to hire people coming home from prison. Most said no, worried about image.

Walmart said yes. Its leadership said it was simply right. Executives told me the courage had been noticed. It was very good for business.

The charge is that Magnum made the other choice. They ignored Jerry’s warning, Ben says, and proved his point. Magnum is “on course to destroy the Ben & Jerry’s brand.”

Ben is seventy-five and determined that the company bearing their names stay true to their values. He asks three things of us.

He asks us to sign. More than 200,000 have signed at FreeBenAndJerrys.com, asking Magnum to sell to owners who will keep the promise and let it speak.

He asks us to pledge. Not against Ben & Jerry’s. He wants shoppers to skip Magnum’s other brands: Breyers, Klondike, Talenti, Yasso. Keep buying the good stuff. Ben and Jerry “plan on eventually owning it.”

He asks us to organize. Supporters are forming brigades in Vermont.

My family and I are Ben & Jerry’s people. Its boldness made the bold flavors taste better. Magnum’s heavy hand has added a bitterness to our favorite dessert that is hard to swallow.

Recently we added our family to the petition and ordered stickers for the refrigerator door. We are always down to help good people get their names back. And when dad needs to eat his feelings, he does not need a corporation giving him indigestion.

Ben Jealous is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and the former national president and CEO of the NAACP. photo Ben Jealous

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Houston City College Selected for ‘National Workforce Futures Accelerator’

By Francis Page Jr.

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    September 14, 2026 (Houston Style Magazine) — Houston has never been shy about building the future. From energy and medicine to aerospace, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing, this city likes its innovation supersized. Now, Houston City College is bringing that same ambition directly into the classroom.

Houston City College has been selected for the inaugural Workforce Futures Accelerator, a three-year national initiative led by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) with support from Google.org. HCC joins a select cohort of 15 community colleges from across the country working to rethink how students gain something employers consistently ask for: real-world experience before graduation.

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That last part matters.

Traditional education can teach students what they need to know. The Workforce Futures Accelerator is designed to give them opportunities to demonstrate what they can actually do.

Through the initiative, HCC will identify two workforce programs where virtual, employer-sponsored projects can be incorporated directly into coursework. Students will tackle genuine business challenges, develop portfolios, make professional connections and gain career experience without necessarily having to squeeze a traditional internship around jobs, childcare, transportation and other responsibilities.

For community-college students, that flexibility can be a game changer.

“Participation by HCC will strengthen how we provide students with career-connected learning experiences that complement their classroom education and align with the needs of employers,” said HCC Chancellor Margaret Ford Fisher, Ed.D., emphasizing the College’s focus on “future forward” strategies.

And “future forward” is increasingly becoming HCC’s calling card.

The Accelerator complements a rapidly expanding HCC workforce ecosystem. The College recently received a $103,000 investment from NRG Energy to expand apprenticeship pathways in instrumentation and controls for the Texas energy workforce. HCC also has strengthened its partnership with Space Center Houston, connecting students to opportunities involving artificial intelligence, robotics, aerospace and emerging technologies. HCC now serves more than 100,000 students annually, giving initiatives like these potential impact at true Houston scale. Google.org Helps Bring Employers Into the Classroom The Google.org-supported Accelerator tackles a persistent workforce-development paradox: employers want experienced workers, but students often need employers to give them an opportunity before they can gain that experience.

Consider that résumé riddle officially challenged.

ACCT is partnering with Riipen, an experiential-learning platform connecting students and educators with employer projects, while Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Project-Based Learning will help participating faculty incorporate project-based learning strategies into workforce curricula.

That combination gives the initiative importance far beyond one classroom or one graduating class. Lessons developed by participating colleges are expected to help create publicly available tools, templates and implementation practices that other community colleges can eventually use.

HCC Board of Trustees Chair Eva Loredo called Houston City College a leader in creating opportunities for the region and welcomed the partnership with ACCT and Google.org.

HCC Trustee Pretta VanDible Stallworth, Ph.D., chair-elect of the ACCT Board of Directors, similarly connected the initiative to HCC’s mission of providing affordable education, workforce training and pathways toward economic security.

For Houston Style Magazine readers, the bigger story is unmistakable: workforce education is evolving from “learn it, then look for work” to “learn it while doing the work.”

That is a powerful distinction.

For Houston’s students, it means experience can begin before the diploma hits the frame. For employers, it creates another avenue to identify emerging talent. And for Houston City College, selection for the Workforce Futures Accelerator further positions the institution not merely as a place preparing students for the workforce of tomorrow — but as one helping design what tomorrow’s workforce education should look like.

In Houston, the future rarely waits politely at the door.

HCC appears determined to meet it on the way in.

National Workforce Futures Accelerator

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Injured climber rescued from 700-foot cliff in Sierra Nevada

By KFSN Digital Team

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    California (KFSN) — Dramatic video has been released of the rescue of an injured climber from a 700-foot cliff at Courtright Reservoir.

The CHP Coastal Division Air Operations received a request for the rescue Friday afternoon.

The aircraft responded from its base at Paso Robles Airport and headed to the southwestern area of the Sierra Nevada.

A climber had fallen off a steep rock face and was in urgent need of medical care.

The man was hoisted and taken to an awaiting ambulance.

Various agencies responded, including the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, CAL FIRE, Shaver Lake Volunteer Fire Department and the Forest Service.

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.

Video shows car crashing through backyard fence, narrowly missing toddler in pool

By Briauna Brown

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    FORT WORTH, Texas (KTVT) — A car crashed through a fence into a Fort Worth backyard Sunday evening, narrowly missing a toddler and two other children who were playing, the family said.

According to the Fort Worth Police Department, at about 7 p.m. Sunday, officers were called to a major accident near the 1500 block of Heritage Trace. When officers arrived, they found a car had collided with a fence.

The family who lived in the home told CBS News Texas that their three children were playing in the pool when the crash happened, and the car almost hit their 2-year-old child.

The family’s surveillance video captured the moment, showing their 2-year-old walking away just seconds before debris flew in the toddler’s direction. The parents called it an “act of God” that their child wasn’t struck. They rushed to gather their children, and all three were okay. Then, the father went to check on the driver.

FWPD said there were two people inside the vehicle that crashed, the driver and one passenger. The passenger was transported to the hospital in an unknown condition.

Police said the driver, who hasn’t been identified, “was cited” for reckless driving.

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Trial begins for man charged with killing 1-year-old Wichita boy

By KAKE Staff

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    WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) — Trial begins this week for one of the three people accused in the shooting death of a 1-year-old Wichita boy in 2024.

Sedgwick County court records show the trial for 20-year-old Roames Bonner is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Monday. It’s unclear when opening statements, which typically follow jury selection, will begin.

Bonner is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of criminal discharge of a firearm, and two counts of aggravated battery.

The shooting happened on February 19, 2024, at Sugar Creek Apartments in the 2500 block of South Oliver. Police arrived to find Taidyn Anderson, who also went by the name Blaire Jobe, and two 24-year-old women with gunshot wounds. The baby was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Prosecutors claimed the shooting stemmed from an argument over an Amazon package.

Bonner was allegedly was a major contributor to the DNA found on the fence and had pictures on his phone of the gun used in the shooting. He was 17 at the time and is charged as an adult

A co-defendant, 27-year-old K’veion Richard, was sentenced in April 2025 to life in prison. He’s eligible for parole after serving 54 years.

The third suspect, 23-year-old Jonathan Tillery-Matthias, faces a jury trial scheduled for September 21. He’s also charged with first-degree murder, two counts each of aggravated battery, and two counts of criminal discharge of a firearm.

Bonner and Tillery-Matthias remain in the Sedgwick County Jail.

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.