Category: CNN Regional

By Britt Leoni

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    CAPE CORAL, Florida (WBBH) — In between the streets and canals that call Cape Coral home, no neighborhood lawn is safe from 18-year-old Braylon Beckers.

A month ago, when Braylon started cutting lawns for neighbors, he decided to offer an unbeatable price.

“They were like, what?! For free?!” said Braylon.

So far, Braylon’s mowed over 50 lawns, free of charge. While profits are low, the feeling of giving back is high.

“They’re really thankful and appreciative,” said Braylon. “It’s just awesome to see.”

Like most acts of kindness, Braylon’s are inspired by a mentor who came before him.

Rodney Smith Junior is the owner of “Raising Men and Women Lawn Care.” He cuts lawns for veterans, seniors, and people with disabilities, for free.

“I was leaving school one day, and I came across an elderly man outside mowing his lawn,” said Rodney. “It looked like he was struggling, so I did what anyone would do: I pulled over and helped him out. Little did I know that one small act of kindness would vastly change my life forever.”

In 2016, Rodney started “the 50-yard challenge.” A call to action for kids to cut 50 yards for free in their communities.

“It started off small, and then it eventually grew,” said Rodney. “Once COVID-19 hit, that’s when we saw a big explosion of kids signing up.”

Today, over 6,000 kids and teens, like Braylon, have participated across the country.

“A lot of the people we help are on fixed income, especially the elderly, the disabled, and the veterans,” said Rodney. “The kids get a sense of pride in knowing they’re giving back and they’re gaining character.”

What started as one neighbor helping another has grown into a movement, and, for Braylon, mowing lawns is bigger than starting his business.

“Never let your thoughts bring you down,” said Braylon.

It’s determination to move kindness forward one cut at a time.

“Never let your brain tell you that you can’t do this because you can. You can achieve,” said Braylon.

You can learn more about Raising Men and Women Lawn Care Service on its website.

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 Alys Martinez

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    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — As recent events have demonstrated, there is a great need for more people to fight wildfires in the state, and now two nonprofits have joined to address the shortage and provide jobs to underserved communities.

When Eddie Herrera is not fighting fires for Cal Fire, he’s training the next generation at the Future Fire Academy. Herrera spent nearly two decades in prison, and while incarcerated, he became an institutional municipal firefighter.

When he was released from prison, he started working for the state, and now he’s giving back.

“We’re allowing individuals to overcome a lot of the trauma they’ve experienced in their lives, redirecting it in a positive way,” Herrera said.

“What better way than being in a life of service and that’s what they are doing now.”

Anthony Pedro spent nine years in prison and turned his life around by becoming a firefighter and starting the Future Fire Academy.

“There’s this narrative on folks that come from our background. The thing is, we are changing it,” Pedro said.

He devotes his time to helping others like him find a pathway into the fire service.

“Maybe folks that normally wouldn’t have access, we have grant funding to provide it to them for free. We pay them while they are here training,” Pedro said. “Everyone will leave her with a few thousand dollars to go home once they graduate.”

The Future Academy has teamed up with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, which has its own training center. With the two nonprofits joining forces, fewer people are getting turned away, as recruiting continues in schools, jails and juvenile halls.

“We started hitting every institution. We would plant the seed. Hundreds of people have been directly impacted by those recruitment trips,” Jon Cesario/ARC, firefighter recruitment specialist, said.

Jason Rojas was recruited from juvenile hall, and the 21-year-old just completed the Future Fire Academy, along with 18 others. This isn’t the end of the road for them; they will also get the help they need to apply for a job.

“It’s a new direction I’m heading in life. I want to be successful and make a change, not just for myself but for my family and those around me,” Rojas 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.

By Olivia Young

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    DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colorado (KCNC) — Sunday is the last day of the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo, a special tradition that goes back more than a century in the community. It now includes a new event that allows those with disabilities to experience the rodeo firsthand.

The second year of the “Unbridled Rodeo” at the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo is providing an accessible and inclusive experience. It’s put on through a partnership with Developmental Pathways.

The Unbridled Rodeo welcomes everyone.

“Everybody deserves to experience the rodeo, and especially when we live in a community where rodeo is a big part of Douglas County, that right there means everybody who lives down here hears about it and wants to participate in it. So we just want to make that happen,” said Dinah Frey, director of community engagement at Developmental Pathways. “People with disabilities can have their needs met and be part of it and have an experience of, you know, Colorado’s historic rodeo in Douglas County.”

For some with disabilities, attending a traditional rodeo could be challenging.

“With their kind of a disability, they will be cranky. They’ll have more sorts of needs where they don’t feel themselves, and they’ll be bothered by their environment with so much crowd and not having a safe space,” said Jaimi Doshi, Douglas County mother of developmentally delayed twins.

But the Unbridled Rodeo caters to special needs.

“This just allows a space for people with all abilities to come and gather and experience it together,” Frey said.

The event allows attendees to step into the cowboy boots themselves.

“They had all sorts of saddles, sensory experiences to touch. Autism Community Store was here with a sensory area. There was square dancing, crafts,” Frey said.

From stick horse racing to steer roping to the mechanical bull, there’s no shortage of Western activities to enjoy.

“Here we brought the speed down, help people get it on and off of it, and really take it and tailor it to what somebody’s needs are,” Frey said.

“We’ve had all of our friends come out, and they have been able to ride stick horses with us, and then we’ve had our team out doing face paint,” said Meghann Guentensberger, executive director of nonprofit The Mane Mission.

“I see smiles, I see joy, but also a level of belief in themselves that is super encouraging to all of us,” said Abe Laydon, Douglas County Commissioner. “Our goal is to let them know that they are unbridled, unrestricted, unlimited, and that there’s nothing that they can’t do.”

More than 500 people took part in this year’s Unbridled Rodeo.

“I love it. It feels so safe, and you feel like the kids are with their own kind of a community, where they feel welcomed and enjoyable,” Doshi said.

“There’s such joy,” said Guentensberger. “It breaks down barriers.”

“Just so much fun. Everybody’s having fun out here, and that is the goal: is that people get to experience rodeo and have fun,” Frey 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.

By Stephanie Stahl

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    MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pennsylvania (KYW) — The Chick Mission, a nonprofit, rolled into Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Monday. Its mission is to save fertility for young women who have cancer by providing grants.

It also aims to get more states to mandate insurance coverage for the treatments and to help women become moms.

“My baby, his name is Tino. He is a little boy, and he’s perfect,” said Rebecca Aguado, a new mom.

Aguado said she always wanted to be a mom, but a cancer diagnosis almost derailed that dream.

Doctors said she should have her eggs removed and preserved before cancer treatments because chemotherapy can hurt fertility. But Aguado’s insurance company refused to cover the cost, which can range from $10,000 to $20,000.

“It’s truly insane to me,” Aguado said.

But Chick Mission came to her rescue with a Hope Grant that paid for her fertility preservation.

“It was very important to me, obviously, from a monetary standpoint, but more from an emotional standpoint,” Aguado said.

The Chick Mission has a camper that’s traveling across the country to raise awareness, making a stop Monday at Shady Grove Fertility in Chesterbrook.

“Nobody should be denied the opportunity to have a family,” Dr. Isaac Sasson, of Shady Grove, said.

Sasson said the issue is that some states like Pennsylvania don’t mandate that insurance companies pay for fertility preservation for cancer patients. But a bill that could change that is pending in the Pennsylvania legislature.

“We have worked with phenomenal legislators across the aisle to get people to pay attention to this,” said Amanda Rice, who founded Chick Mission.

Rice started the nonprofit when she had cancer and her insurance refused to pay to preserve her eggs.

“I just thought, you know, wouldn’t it be great if I could help the next woman?” Rice said.

Rice didn’t end up having children, but the Chick Mission Hope Grants have resulted in 14 babies for other women.

“So I consider all those bundles of joy a piece of me,” Rice said.

Currently, just 22 states mandate insurance coverage for fertility treatments for cancer patients.

The Chick Mission camper will travel the country trying to change that and raise awareness.

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 Ali Bauman

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — Some 9/11 families are defending New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inclusion in this year’s solemn remembrance ceremony after an online petition asked he not attend.

“The focus should be on where are we in this world, 25 years later?” Elizabeth Miller said.

Miller’s father was killed in the 9/11 terror attacks nearly a quarter-century ago. She’s been attending the annual remembrance ceremony in Lower Manhattan since, and is now nearly the age he was when he died.

Year after year, mayors, presidents and politicians on both sides of the aisle have paid their respects at the ceremony.

“Mayor Mamdani has assured 9/11 families that he wants to be there to honor our loved ones, and I think he should be allowed to do that,” Miller said.

Miller is speaking out after an online petition garnered more than 72,000 signatures from the public asking ceremony organizers to carefully consider Mamdani’s participation this year.

Two petitioners whose spouses were killed in the attacks told CBS News New York’s Lisa Rozner last week that their concern stems from the mayor’s public positions and rhetoric.

“We felt that having Mamdani there would show a disrespect to our family members because of the people he supports,” Giovanni Galante told Rozner. Galante’s wife died on 9/11.

Miller is the project director of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, which has over 250 members. In a statement, that organization responded, in part, “We strongly condemn the anti-American accusations and Islamophobic sentiment underlying the effort seeking to prevent him from being at Ground Zero.”

“Clearly calling for the mayor of New York City to skip the 9/11 memorial because he’s a Muslim, or because these guilt-by-association smears, is anti-Muslim bigotry, plain and simple,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Mamdani has reaffirmed his commitment to attend.

“I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them,” Mamdani said last week.

Miller said she hopes this debate does not overshadow the true reason they’re all there.

“The focus really shouldn’t be on who’s there, who’s not there,” Miller said. “It should be on our loved ones.”

A spokesperson for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum said, in part, “we have intentionally worked to keep the commemoration free of politics because remembering those we lost on 9/11 should never be a partisan issue.”

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 Cindy Hsu

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    DUTCHESS COUNTY, New York (WCBS) — For most kids, summer camp is a time to make new friends and explore the outdoors, but at a Girl Scout camp in upstate New York, campers are learning a different skill: knitting.

The activity at Camp Kaufman is meant to foster community, boost self-esteem, and demonstrate a sense of accomplishment.

“This is a place where we give them the permission to learn by doing and to do it in the most fun way possible,” said Kristen Glass, the director of camps and outdoor education for the Girl Scouts of Greater New York. “Community is essential and that’s what we provide here at camp.”

The camp is situated on 425 acres in Dutchess County and allows the campers to have all the normal camp experiences, but it’s the knitting that is the standout.

“To find ways to work together and individually to find inner peace, to be able to have positive relationships with ourselves and with others,” Glass explained.

“It’s so great to see them move away from the screens and just scrolling and being able to do something, not only just a good use of their hands, but be able to make something at the end of it,” said lead knitting instructor Cecilia Nelson-Hurt.

The campers love it.

“Both knitting and zip-lining can challenge your mind in a positive way because it makes you think. It’s like processing. So it helps you challenge yourself,” said camper A’tijah.

“It’s like a conversation opener because when you’re knitting with someone else, it’s like, ‘Oh, do you need help? How are you doing so far?'” another camper said.

Knitting is also shown to have a plethora of health benefits, like reduced stress, mitigated anxiety and depression, and more, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“The non-pharmaceutical treatments for mild to moderate depression, malaise, isolation, anhedonia – call it what you want to – is social activities,” said psychologist and expert on young adult mental health Dr. Nicholas Kardaras. “The pride that comes from some kind of arts and crafts can be really healing.”

Campers say they already feel the benefits.

“You’re able to use something that you could feel and touch and physically see and that it helps your brain feel better and your mood feel better,” a camper named Morireoluwa said.

“Sometimes you’re like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t do this,’ but it also kind of makes me feel accomplished when I finally work through what I’ve done, and I’m like, ‘Yay!'” said camper Alyssa.

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 Najahe Sherman

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    BROWARD COUNTY, Florida (WFOR) — A Broward County educator and author is helping young children build confidence from an early age with a new book celebrating individuality.

Every child deserves to feel seen, valued, and confident. That’s the message Heather Binns hopes to share through her children’s book, Perfectly Made.

Inspired by conversations with her own daughter, the Broward County Public Schools administrator recently released the book, designed for children ages 4 to 8.

“I noticed my daughter was going to school, having issues with representation, and she was asking questions that I at the age of 4 or 5 was asking my own mother,” said Binns.

Binns shared the book with girls at the Embrace Girls Foundation, a nonprofit that invests in girls from underserved communities. She recently hosted a community event at the historic Lyric Theatre, celebrating literacy, confidence, and representation. She says confidence starts long before the teenage years.

“Why are we waiting until the girls become teenagers that we’re pouring into them when they’ve already compared themselves to the world, and they’re already allowing society to tell them who they are. If there’s an opportunity to tell them that they are loved, they are worthy and they are perfectly made, do it as early as possible,” said Binns.

It’s a message that resonates with her 6-year-old daughter, Carter.

“It makes me glad and happy,” she said.

And with community leaders like the former director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, Stephanie Daniels, who purchased books for every girl attending the event.

“The young girls can find some commonality in the book. By reading this book, and understanding who they are, and again not comparing themselves to other people,” Daniels said.

Binns hopes the book encourages families to start conversations about self-worth early, reminding every child they are uniquely made and worthy of confidence from the very beginning.

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 Ivan Taylor

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — A 43-year-old North Miami woman is facing multiple felony charges after police say she carried out an antisemitic attack on a Jewish man inside the Starbucks located within a Target store in North Miami Beach.

According to North Miami Beach Police, the incident happened Sunday afternoon at the Target located at 14075 Biscayne Boulevard.

Investigators identified the suspect as Chyvonne Juanita Palmer, who was arrested at the scene and later appeared before a bond court judge.

Police said the victim was sitting at the Starbucks wearing a yarmulke, also known as a kippah, when Palmer “suddenly stood up” and approached him without provocation.

According to the arrest report, Palmer began screaming at the victim before striking him twice with a cellphone. Officers said she then returned to her seat, but the confrontation escalated moments later.

Investigators allege Palmer stood up again, grabbed a metal chair, raised it in an apparent attempt to strike the victim, and repeatedly shouted, “I hate them.”

Before she could allegedly hit the man with the chair, two bystanders intervened, according to police. One of them escorted the victim to the men’s restroom for safety while authorities responded.

On Monday evening, a Target spokesperson released a statement condemning the incident.

“We’re deeply saddened by this incident, as the safety of our guests and team is Target’s top priority,” the company said in a statement. “We do not tolerate this kind of behavior in our stores and we are cooperating fully with law enforcement.”

The attack has left members of the local Jewish community concerned.

“I would say nowadays, it’s very strange because we want to be free,” said Alex Klein, a Jewish customer who was sitting at the same Starbucks on Monday, though he did not know the victim.

Klein said incidents like this underscore the need for greater unity.

“We need to spread more light to the world and kindness,” he said.

Palmer has been charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with prejudice, and disorderly conduct.

During her first court appearance, a judge ordered that Palmer be released to the custody of Southern Winds Hospital in Hialeah for a mental health evaluation.

As of Monday night, she had posted bond and was no longer in custody.

The investigation remains ongoing.

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 Sharon Lawson

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    WINDER, Georgia (WUPA) — The mother of Apalachee High School shooting victim Mason Schermerhorn says she remains caught between gratitude for the time she had with her son and the pain of losing him too soon.

“I’m stuck in a weird place because I’m so privileged that I was his mom and I got to call him my son,” Breanna Schermerhorn said. “But I wish I had him longer.”

Now, her family is preparing to pursue accountability in civil court.

Attorney Mike Puglise, who represents the Schermerhorn family, said he plans to file a lawsuit against the Barrow County School System and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. He claims warning signs involving school shooter Colt Gray were missed before the deadly attack at Apalachee High School.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m dealing with the civil litigation, bringing those responsible — mainly the government entities — to account for what happened,” Puglise said.

Puglise pointed to the response on the morning of the shooting, when Gray’s mother reportedly contacted the school and warned that her son was acting erratically and had access to firearms.

“Thirty-six minutes elapsed from the time that they first received a call from the mother saying her son was acting delusional and he had access to firearms,” Puglise said. “They needed to get to him. You don’t just put it on the back burner, and when you receive the information, you make sure you get the right student.”

Puglise also raised questions about how the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office handled an FBI tip involving Gray months before the shooting.

Puglise claims the detective who investigated the tip should have taken additional steps.

“He didn’t report back to the FBI anything about what he found,” Puglise said. “He didn’t report it to the other schools in the surrounding areas — Barrow County — to say, ‘We have a problem. This kid needs to be red-flagged.'”

The family’s attorney said the planned civil case is not simply about financial compensation. He said it is intended to force accountability and strengthen protections for other students.

“I was at the funeral, at the celebration of life. What a remarkable young man,” Puglise said. “He had his whole future ahead of him. Tell me, how do I write a check for that? What is going to take that grief away? Nothing.”

“It’s about protecting those children, protecting those kids,” he added. “Priceless.”

Puglise had already filed the legal notices required under Georgia law.

They expect to file the civil lawsuit in the coming weeks.

CBS News Atlanta reached out to Jackson’s Sheriff’s Office and Barrow County School System. Jackson’s Sheriff Office did not respond by the time of publication.

In a statement, Barrow County School System said:

“Thank you for understanding that we cannot comment on potential litigation, court proceedings, or investigations. Our priority remains the well-being and safety of our students, staff, and families. We are committed to maintaining a supportive learning environment while serving our community with integrity and care.”

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.