Category: CNN Regional

By Todd Feurer, Beth Godvik

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — Families in the Little Village neighborhood bundled up Tuesday morning for the community’s annual Our Lady of Guadalupe procession on the West Side of Chicago.

It started at Epiphany Catholic School, with students leading the procession to Good Shepherd Catholic Church for mass.

People carried roses to lay at the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Every December, Catholics celebrate when the Virgin Mary appeared in Mexico City in 1531 to Saint Juan Diego, offering a message of compassion and unity.

Worshippers brought roses to place at the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe during the mass.

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By Cecil Hannibal

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    STOCKTON, Calif. (KCRA) — As people across the city of Stockton come to grips with the Nov. 29 mass shooting at a child’s birthday party that left four dead, including three children, two local music artists are using their platforms to “give every child their voice back” while also calling for peace.

“I don’t even know why we have to explain why children’s lives are valuable, but that’s what I want to do,” said DeOzene Stone.

Stone is a Stockton native and recording artist who goes by the name “DeOzene” in her music.

KCRA 3 met Stone inside Traffic Records, owned by Brian Williams, who goes by the name “Fast Traffic” as a recording artist and producer.

The two artists decided to work together on a project to create a “peace anthem,” where they’d invite children from across the city to record a song DeOzene wrote while driving back home the night of the shooting.

She was 12 hours away in Arizona when she first heard the news that multiple people were shot, including children.

She, along with the rest of the Stockton community, would later learn the names and faces of the kids that were killed, with the youngest victims being 8-year-old girls.

“Kids are innocent, they deserve better … we’re in a tough city already that’s been known for being a tough city,” said Brian Williams. “I was at home with my lady, and our phone just started blowing up because her cousin was there, and I know artists that were there that were hit.”

Williams said his girlfriend’s cousin is one of the 13 people hit by gunfire at the party and is currently in the hospital. He also says that the same cousin’s boyfriend is one of the four victims who died.

KCRA has identified 21-year-old Susano Archuleta as one of the victims. Williams says he didn’t know Archuleta well but had met the young man everyone called “Chooch.”

Investigators with the San Joaquin District Attorney’s office have confirmed the shooting was targeted and gang-related. But those familiar with the city’s music scene say it goes a step further.

“This is gang-related, but it’s rappers that are in gangs. It’s tough because I can’t say too much, but it’s, it’s real gangs from different sides of town that have real bloodshed on both sides,” said Williams. “Then you have the social media beefing, you know, they’re on [Instagram] Live, trolling each other and arguing with each other. I mean, even the day of the party that was happening.”

Williams said he’s very familiar with the Stockton rap scene, which has gained national attention after several local artists have garnered attention. Most notably, an artist named EBK Jaybo recently made XXL’s Freshmen of Class of 2025, which has long been seen as a rite of passage for up-and-coming hip hop artists.

While people consume the music created by Stockton artists, Williams says what they don’t know is that the lyrics are often tied to real issues in the community, like gang violence and murder.

“I don’t want to quote some of the lyrics, but … what happened to respecting the dead?” said Williams. “The whole smoking dead people in songs, I’m smoking on so-and-so.”

Williams is referring to a form of “taunting” in lyrics when a rapper references the name of homicide victims as if they’re rolling them up and “smoking” them.

“It’s just a new low, you know, an all-time low,” said Williams.

After the shooting, the two music artists wanted to create a song that could uplift the community after so much loss.

“I wrote this song for the kids because it’s just like, if this started because of rap beef, then I wanted to give the kids a voice back,” said DeOzene Stone.

KCRA 3 captured the moments that Traffic Records was full of children enjoying pizza and learning the song before recording it in the studio.

There was a room full of children singing at once, “I just want to grow up.”

Lyrics that both artists believe need to echo through the city after so many children and families were impacted by the mass shooting.

Authorities are still searching for those responsible and are asking the public for any tips that can lead to an arrest and conviction. The reward for information as of Monday, Dec. 8, is up to $130,000.

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

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By Craig Smith

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    MARANA, Arizona (KGUN) — Aviation is big business in Arizona—and it’s about to get a lot bigger in Marana. At Pinal Air Park a partnership of companies is hiring for the big job of converting jumbo jets into cargo carriers.

The Boeing 777 is a widely used long haul airliner. But after a few years of carrying passengers, some plane owners see carrying cargo as a way to elevate profits with an older aircraft.

That’s where two large hangars at Pinal Airpark come in.

They will be the new home of a partnership between Ascent Aviation Services and IAI—Israel Aerospace Industries.

IAI is the pioneer in converting Boeing 777s into wide body cargo carriers.

The companies say they’re hiring about three hundred workers with an average pay of $77,000 a year.

They estimate once those employees start spending their pay the ripple effect will land $35 to $40 million dollars into the local economy.

Cary Benjamin of Done Rite Services anticipates some of that business rippling his way.

“Those are people that buy homes. They’re going to go out to new businesses that are going to need services that we provide, HVAC, plumbing and electrical. So to us as a service provider in the Marana area, it’s definitely going to have a positive impact on us.”

The Chamber of Southern Arizona works to convince businesses to come here. Joe Snell of the Chamber says Arizona’s aviation history and the resources of Pinal Air Park helped attract this cargo conversion partnership.

“I think we’ve done a good job as a community of laying out why this is a good opportunity for them, and they were smart enough to take it and run with it. You know, in southern Arizona, aerospace and defense, we have the fifth highest concentration of workers in that field in the country right now. So it’s really, we really should be doing more in this space than others.”

And Snell says when companies locate here it attracts the attention of other companies that may decide Southern Arizona is a good place for them too.

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

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By Jacqueline Aguilar

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    TUCSON, Arizona (KGUN) — Several Taco Giro restaurants have reopened following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in southern Arizona Friday that led to dozens of arrests and ignited local protests.

Three of the eight Taco Giro locations across southern Arizona have returned to normal operations after ICE executed 16 search warrants at multiple restaurant locations in Tucson, Casa Grande and Sierra Vista on Friday, Dec. 5.

I went to Taco Giro on Valencia Monday morning to speak with the owner or manager about what happened Friday. I was told I can interview the manager, but then was told they preferred I go on-camera with a server.

Genesis Mora, a server at the Taco Giro location on Valencia, confirmed which locations have reopened.

“So, the locations that are currently reopened are the ones in Casa Grande, Sierra Vista and Valencia,” Mora said.

She shares an update on the other five locations.

“They’re gonna be opening soon. I don’t have a set date, but they’ll be opening soon,” Mora said.

The ICE operation on Friday resulted in the arrests of 46 people across the restaurant chain’s locations.

Mora tells me they are just glad to see their tables full again.

“We honestly really appreciate it, seeing all the customers coming in and supporting us like always it means a lot. Again, if you’re from the community, and you’re coming in to support us, that means so much, and it keeps us pushing forward,” Mora said.

KGUN 9 will continue following this story and keep you updated both on-air and online.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KGUN’s editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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

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By Mallory Anderson

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    MADISON, Wis. (WISN) — As the one-year anniversary of the tragic shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison approaches, doctors who responded to the emergency are sharing their experiences and the importance of preparedness in saving lives.

A career in the medical field means never knowing when the next emergency will strike. Dr. Adam Brinkman, pediatric trauma medical director at American Family Children’s Hospital, said, “December 16 started for me like any typical day.” However, that mid-December day in 2024 quickly turned into one of the darkest for Madison doctors.

Dr. Megan Gussick, a prehospital medicine doctor at UW Health, recalled, “It started like most weekdays. I was just doing emails and administrative work, and then I received a phone call telling me that there had been a shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School. And obviously that’s when my day completely changed.”

The shooting resulted in the deaths of student Rubi Vergara and teacher Erin West. The shooter, Natalie Rupnow, also injured six others before taking her own life.

Gussick was one of the first doctors on the scene, equipped with her emergency “go bag.”

“I at least had things to take care of bleeding like bandages, tourniquets, just really ABC management of patients in those first few minutes,” Gussick said.

Gussick organized the emergency response on scene and works with the Madison Fire Department to prepare for mass shootings.

“The training that we did absolutely made us respond the best way we could that day. Samy and River had life-threatening injuries where literal minutes mattered,” Gussick said. “So despite the fact that we don’t want to train for these events, because we just don’t want them to happen, it’s imperative that we do because it absolutely saved those kids’ lives.”

Samuel ‘Samy’ Garduno-Martinez and River Clardy were critically wounded in the shooting. Both were rushed to American Family Children’s Hospital, where Brinkman performed surgery.

“This was the first time that I think many people in the emergency room saw this number of critically ill children with this amount of bodily injury, truly grasping for life,” Brinkman said.

The hospital staff’s quick actions and surgical precision saved Samy and River, who are both now out of the hospital.

“I still think about Samy and River and all the children that were affected, and the adults at the school,” said Brinkman. “It was beautiful to watch Samy and River leave the hospital. I still think about them all the time. I still think about the decisions we made. I still think that our response to caring for these kids was the best it could be. I’m very proud of everyone who cared for River and Samy. Not only the day that they came into the hospital, but every subsequent day until they went home.”

Gussick was able to organize a reunion between Samy and River and the first responders who saved them at their school.

“This was a very traumatic event for our first responders, too,” Gussick said. “When they were transporting those kids, they were dying. And that’s the last memory they have of them. So to be able to replace that with a picture of them healed and as a kid again, I think that was really important for the first responders and their healing process.”

Brinkman emphasized the importance of acknowledging emotions in the healing process, noting that medical professionals often do not fully understand the trauma they see during these incidents.

“Something that I learned about myself is that it’s OK to cry. It’s OK to name those feelings of anger and frustration, to call something sickening or disgusting, or to say, this feels like I’ve been eviscerated,” Brinkman said. “I think there’s a tendency for all of us to say, ‘I’m OK, I’ll think about this later, I’m just here to do my work and take care of these patients.’ I can tell you by processing that and by thinking through those thoughts, naming those feelings, talking about it with mental health providers that have training, it’s helped me be a better doctor. It’s helped me be more compassionate. It’s helped me be a better father, a better friend.”

“Anniversaries are always hard. It brings back a lot of feelings, grief that you thought you had dealt with resurfaces,” said Gussick. “I really think that my hope is that we continue to support the Abundant Life community and that we just continue to support each other. I think one thing that we can all take away from this is that our kids deserve better.”

Natalie Rupnow died by suicide during the shooting. Her father, Jeffrey Rupnow, is currently facing charges, accused of supplying his daughter with the gun used in the shooting.

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

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