Category: CNN Regional

By Jordan Bontke

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    ARIZONA (KNXV) — An anonymous grant to ALS Arizona is giving people living with ALS easier access to wheelchair-accessible vehicle rentals, but the funding may only last through this summer.

John Brumbaugh is in his third year since his ALS diagnosis. The disease, which destroys motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, has limited his mobility to a wheelchair. His voice sometimes starts to give out as the day goes on.

“I came home, and I was talking like Chewbacca,” Brumbaugh said.

The disease has progressed since his first symptoms appeared.

“First started with stiff ankles,” Brumbaugh said.

Despite his diagnosis, Brumbaugh still plays guitar — a skill he developed over the years playing in Nashville, where he met his wife, Angie.

“I’ll play guitar until my hands don’t work,” Brumbaugh said as he pulls a slow bend on one of his Fender Stratocasters.

Getting around, however, presents a significant challenge. A power wheelchair can weigh more than 400 pounds, and wheelchair-accessible vehicles can cost around $80,000. Finding and affording transportation is something Brumbaugh and his family will face for the rest of their lives.

“(Would) love to do a road trip out to Tennessee to see our friends,” Brumbaugh said, turning to Angie.

When a family emergency recently required Brumbaugh and his wife, Angie, to travel to California, they reached out to ALS Arizona. The organization explained it had recently received an anonymous grant to cover van rentals for wheelchair users. Those rentals come through United Access, a Valley-based wheelchair-accessible vehicle provider.

ALS Arizona estimates the grant may only be available through this summer.

The Brumbaugh family has also received help from another nonprofit, Help Hope Live, a medical fundraising site. Combined with support from family and friends, they were able to afford their own accessible van.

“I would love to get to Yellowstone,” Brumbaugh said.

For Brumbaugh, independence is everything.

“I just choose to not wallow in self-pity; it’s like this is the card I’m dealt, I’m going to make the most of life while I still can,” Brumbaugh said.

While ALS has no cure, several FDA-approved medications are available to help slow disease progression, manage symptoms, and preserve independence. The wheelchair-accessible vehicle rental program through ALS Arizona is only available for a few more months.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KNXV 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 Ethan Carlson

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    DENVER (KMGH) — Denver’s Baker neighborhood is getting a new music festival this fall and the stages will be people’s front porches.

Denver PorchFest is set for Saturday, October 3, and organizers say more than 340 bands have already applied to perform.

“Baker is to me like the hub of art and music of Denver,” lead organizer Bradley Schwartz said. “A lot of our musicians have been from Baker who have applied, and they’re people who not only want to play, but they live here, and they’re excited about it, because it’s a cool opportunity for them.”

The concept is simple: volunteer homeowners open their porches to musicians, and festivalgoers walk the neighborhood to catch performances throughout the day.

“There are no real stages, there’s no big production. It’s just people volunteer their houses who want to host a party and have a good time,” Schwartz said.

Dawn McNulty, a Baker resident of 25 years, has already signed up to host her porch.

“I love the historic charm. I love the eclectic community, and the walkability,” McNulty said. “Walking around the community and being in these charming homes with live music, it’s going to be amazing.”

It was originally planned as a ticketed event. Organizers, instead, recently decided to make it free of charge. The logistics of ticketing a festival as large as a whole neighborhood quickly became too complicated.

Organizers plan to raise money through online donations, merchandise sales, and sponsorships with local businesses. They have committed to paying each participating musician $100, although that number is subject to increase if they raise enough money.

Remaining funds will go to East 7th Arts, a nonprofit that provides music therapy to children with autism in public schools.

Jay Gindi, who runs the nonprofit, said music therapy is more than just an enrichment activity.

“Music therapy helps children with their individuality, inclusion, and independence. It helps with their social interactions, it helps with their academics, and it helps with regulating behavior,” Gindi said.

East 7th Arts partnered with Denver Public Schools (DPS) for a 15-classroom trial run. It’s set to expand the program into every special needs classroom in DPS next year.

“The way we communicate might be different, or the way that they express themselves might be different. With music, it becomes a common ground where we all understand it together on the same level,” Gindi said.

Schwartz said the response from the Baker community has been overwhelmingly positive, and they are still looking for Baker residents willing to host a porch for the festival.

“I love live music. I think it’s really fantastic that the Baker community is going to have this inaugural Porch Fest in Denver,” McNulty said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KMGH 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 Tyler Melito

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    BOULDER, Colorado (KMGH) — Colorado’s Jewish community gathered in Boulder on Sunday for the 30th anniversary of the Boulder Jewish Festival, one year after a person threw Molotov cocktails at attendees gathered on Pearl Street, killing 82-year-old Karen Diamond and injuring more than a dozen others.

The anniversary brought heightened emotion as survivors, officials, and neighbors came together to honor Diamond and those who lived through the attack — while also celebrating resilience, community, and Jewish identity.

“So we came here today carrying grief, and we leave here carrying each other. Every voice in this space, the survivors, the officials, the neighbors who simply showed up, is proof that what happened here one year ago did not break us,” one speaker said.

For survivors, the memories of the attack remain vivid.

“In an instant, every. Exploded. I remember the crash, the rush of wind, the terrifying heat rising up my back. I dropped my banner and ran,” shared Michelle Goldman, a survivor of the attack last year shared.

For some who grew up in Boulder, like Marlene Sorota the attack shattered a sense of safety they had long taken for granted.

“Growing up here, like I said, a very innocent, naive person, no, not in Boulder, maybe somewhere else, but you just never know,” described Sorota.

A moment of silence and candle lighting honored Diamond and the other survivors of the Pearl Street attack.

Speakers remembered Diamond’s final message to her family.

“Who in her dying days expressed to her family that the only way to respond to such hate and darkness is with love and light,” said Rabbi Mark Soloway.

But the festival was also a celebration. Attendees marked the resilience of a community that has faced hatred for generations.

“There’s no room for hate anywhere, so you know that’s just what just I mean, the Jewish people have been been under hate for years and years and years going way back, so you know it’s nothing new to them, but you know, especially to have something like that happen in this community is, is kind of surprising, but shocking, can happen anywhere,” Al Sorota said.

Others spoke to the broader meaning of the gathering.

“This event is about solidarity and joining the Jewish people and other cultures in efforts to create peace and harmony,” described Steve Finsilver

The message of unity extended beyond any single faith or background.

“We’re all one, it’s just, it’s not, we’re no different than any of the other communities, we just all need to respect everybody’s beliefs and rights and come together,” Sorota said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KMGH 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 Ajay Patel

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    CLAY COUNTY, Kentucky (WLEX) — A Clay County couple’s tiny home was stolen from their property, while their locked shed, containing generators and tools, was also broken into. All that remains where their tiny home once sat are tire tracks.

Tiny home owner Lester Hurst said the theft appeared to be carefully planned.

“As it being a calculated event, 100%. It took some work. It took some skill. The driveway coming out is very narrow. You’ve got to be a good driver,” he said. “And you’ve got to have a place to go with it, because it’s very noticeable and you can’t park by the road or in your driveway or something. You have to have a predetermined place to hide it.”

The couple built the home from scratch in 2018 and had been living on the property for just a year. Hurt’s wife, Helena Peters, said they were still settling in.

“We were in the middle of setting everything up. Yes, we still had the wheels on it,” Peters said.

For the couple, the loss goes far beyond the cost of replacing the structure.

“My dad when he passed, all of us children, we got some sentimental stuff from his. So, it’s all in there and it’s like I have nothing,” Peters said.

Peters questioned why someone would want these items.

“It’s not worth to them anything. It’s not theirs, then for them, they can’t sell it to make money out of my little things,” she said.

Hurst described the scene left behind.

“It looks like a hurricane just ransacked,” Hurst said.

When LEX News asked what the couple misses most, they pointed to something beyond the physical structure.

“Security, you feel uprooted,” Hurst said.

“There is not one thing that I don’t miss about it,” said Peters.

Despite the loss, the couple said the experience reminded them of other’s kindness.

“It’s like everybody’s against you. Do you have to watch over your shoulder all the time? That’s actually not true, and it’s just really been reminded me of how good that people could be,” Hurst said.

Peters said the home and everything in it meant the world to them.

“It’s our dream. It means everything to us,” Peters said.

Residents with additional information about the stolen tiny home is asked to contact the Clay County Sheriff’s Office at (606) 598-3471.

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 Amanda Merrell

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    WILLOUGHBY HILLS, Ohio (WEWS) — One woman’s mission has united an entire community behind a common cause. It’s all about to come together just in time for our nation’s big 250th birthday celebration.

A couple of weeks ago, News 5 was honored to welcome Steve and Robbie McKee to our station to meet News 5 anchor Rob Powers and share some of the letters they received from their son, Kyle, before he was killed in a helicopter crash in Egypt. During their time here, Steve shared some of the ways the couple honors Kyle’s memory.

“Another group I’m involved with, they’re restoring a cemetery in Willoughby Hills,” Steve McKee told us. “That is a Revolutionary War and Civil War cemetery.”

We had to see for ourselves. Not only did we find a rich history tucked away in Lake County, but also a determined woman who spent years ensuring the dead buried in that cemetery were treated with the dignity they deserved.

Linda J. O’Brien is the founder of Liberty Camp USA, where kids can learn about the Revolutionary War and the founding of our country.

“I love America,” she said, choking up. It was someone she knew through camp who told her about Chardon Road Cemetery in Willoughby Hills.

Tucked between a commercial building and two homes, the cemetery was in bad shape. It was overgrown with weeds. Headstones, thick with the grime of centuries passing, were toppled and out of place.

At first, O’Brien tried to clean them up herself.

“The second one that I was going to clean, it was Edward’s,” O’Brien said. She was referring to Edward Halston, a soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War. The very war she teaches kids about at her camp. It took hours to clean the fronts of two stones that day. She knew this job was bigger than her and called Stonehugger Cemetery Restoration. It was going to cost $50,000.

“That’s where the Men of Honor came into play,” O’Brien said, referring to the group McKee is a part of.

Edward Jones is the chairman of the Men of Honor Foundation, describing the group as “a men’s social club.”

O’Brien had heard of them before. Men of Honor did some work at another cemetery in Lake County. She was telling a friend all about it at dinner.

“My friend says, ‘Right there is one of the men of honor,’” O’Brien said.

Just like that, she was in. The group began fundraising for her cause, hosting raffles and connecting with community donors. This mission became personal for everyone who got involved.

“The first time I came out here was really sobering,” said Jones. The teamwork didn’t stop there. The cemetery needed a new fence. That’s when Bob Sparent got the call.

“They knew right away, as soon as they needed a fence, he wanted to bring me involved with the project,” Sparent said.

Sparent is the owner of Shannon Fence and a childhood friend of one of the Men of Honor members. He’s providing the cemetery’s fencing free of charge.

“It’s going to be meant to simulate a true wrought-iron fence which would have been done 200 years ago,” Sparent said.

Sparent also arranged for a new sign for the space from a fabricator in Middlefield.

All of this, because one woman was inspired to do better for those who came before us.

“These people, they sacrificed their lives, their families, they had tremendous struggles,” O’Brien said, standing amid the final resting places of some 70 people. “They made this country. They made what we now call Willoughby Hills.”

O’Brien stumbled upon that soldier’s grave when she showed up with a cleaning solution, a scrub brush, and a healthy dose of determination.

She connected with Stonehugger when someone was already planning a trip to northeast Ohio to look for an ancestor’s grave site in Willoughby.

And, she found a Man of Honor at dinner, right when she needed one.

“Yeah, what a coincidence, huh?” O’Brien said with a smile. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”

No, this was no coincidence. O’Brien says it was something much bigger that brought all these people together to serve a common purpose.

“It has to be God,” O’Brien said with a laugh.

No matter how or why the stars aligned behind this cause, the project O’Brien started three years ago is about to wrap up just as Americans celebrate this country’s 250th birthday. The fully restored Chardon Road Cemetery will be unveiled in a ceremony on June 15, complete with a new headstone provided by the V.A. for that soldier.

They haven’t quite reached their fundraising goal for this project yet.

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 Tod Palmer

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    KANSAS CITY (KSHB) — Two weeks before his seventh birthday, Matteo Rodriguez was diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, an extremely unlucky circumstance.

But the 10-year-old boy from Olathe, who credits soccer for helping him fight through treatments, may have been the luckiest kid in Kansas City on Wednesday — shaking hands with Lionel Messi and meeting Argentina’s soccer team before practice at Compass Minerals National Performance Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

After he was diagnosed in 2022, Sporting Kansas City honored Matteo and his family at a game in 2023, and it was the team’s work with the Victory Project that made meeting La Albiceleste and Messi possible.

After an X-ray revealed a tumor that covered most of Matteo’s chest, he endured more than 100 hours-long hospital visits, lumbar punctures and blood transfusions on the road to recovery.

“When I was hospitalized, I would sit in bed, and I wouldn’t be able to get up and go see my friends at all,” Matteo said. “That was really hard for me.”

Soccer helped Matteo cope with his treatments, offering a welcome distraction via video games or watching Messi play.

“I love how he is a good soccer player,” Matteo said. “He’s kind to others, and he just makes my heart blossom.”

Meeting Messi, who helped Inter Miami CF win the MLS Cup last year after more than a decade starring in Europe, and the rest of Argentina’s team was a dream come true.

“It’s beautiful,” Matteo said. “It’s awesome to think that this is the world’s best player and the champions of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, so it’s just huge to meet Messi and Argentina.”

Emiliano Martinez — Argentina’s starting goalkeeper, who also stars for Aston Villa in the English Premier League — was also among the players who posed for a picture with Matteo and his brother.

“He was kind and offered to take a picture with us,” Matteo said. “We shook hands, and I love how he has my brother’s name, Emiliano. It was lovely just meeting his star.”

Matteo is entering fifth grade and plays right wing on his youth soccer team. When asked if he was approaching Messi’s skill level, he gave an honest assessment.

“I’m starting to get up to the skill level, but so far, no,” Matteo said.

He is, however, already an inspiration. Perhaps one day he will be a kind star soccer player making a young boy’s dream come true.

“I look forward to that day, and I hope it comes,” Matteo said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KSHB 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 Megan Abundis

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    KANSAS CITY (KSHB) — Davis Roethler doesn’t just clean windows — he tells the stories behind them.

Roethler, the owner of Window Wolf, has been approaching small businesses in the Kansas City area, offering to clean their windows for free and then interviewing the owners on camera.

The videos shared on social media have helped businesses reach thousands of viewers, and in some cases, sell out of inventory entirely.

“It’s a window into their store, their story, their life,” Roethler said.

The idea grew from a simple connection. Roethler stumbled upon two restaurants in Grandview and asked to clean their windows — what followed surprised even the business owners.

For Gerald Dunn, pitmaster at Dunn Deal BBQ, the offer was easy to accept.

“For free? Free is good,” Dunn said. “Little did I know I was in for a treat.”

The results were immediate. After Roethler posted his video featuring Dunn, the response was significant.

“Wow, this social media thing is where it’s at,” Dunn said. “This has really impacted me in a big way — it helped me understand that anything is possible if you work together.”

Mary Kay Bader, owner of Simply Grand, described a similar experience after Roethler visited her business for breakfast and cleaned the windows.

“Within 30 minutes of the video being posted, I had a few people that had come in and said, ‘Oh my gosh, I just saw you on Instagram,'” Bader said. “On Friday when I opened, there was a line at the door at 11:30 a.m.”

Bader said she prepared extra inventory in anticipation of the response.

“I had triple prepped,” Bader said.

It was not enough.

“Within two hours, I was sold out, completely sold out,” Bader said.

For Bader, the videos did more than drive foot traffic — they gave her customers a deeper look at who she is.

“I don’t talk very much about myself, so getting it out, even some of my regulars were like, ‘I had no idea any of that about you,'” Bader said. “It becomes everything for a small business owner who is struggling.”

Roethler said the personal element is exactly the point.

“Every video I do, I want someone to walk away and learn something from it — something about the owner, something about what they sell. To me, that’s way more interesting than watching me clean a window,” Roethler said.

“I feel like I’m giving them that opportunity to really shine,” Roethler continued. “I pride myself in it being as good as possible because maybe that’s their only shot at reaching a customer. If we want to be a local business, we need to have a connection with the people of Kansas City.”

Dunn said the experience changed his perspective on collaboration.

“Working together and finding each other’s strengths,” Dunn said. “Definitely say yes to a window wash for sure.”

Roethler also starts GoFundMe campaigns for businesses, raising thousands of dollars. While he does not charge small businesses for his services, he does charge commercial buildings to keep his work funded.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KSHB 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.