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Denver Broncos fans gift playoff ticket to neighborhood “handyman”

CNN on January 19, 2026

KCNC

By Chierstin Roth

FORT COLLINS, Colorado (KCNC) — As the Denver Broncos punched their ticket to the AFC Championship for the first time in a decade, two Fort Collins neighbors had an experience they’ll never forget.

“He’s always doing stuff for everybody,” said Kevin Brown. “He’s always got his garage open in the neighborhood. He’s just that kind of guy that would bend over backwards and do anything for you.”

Paul Andrews has been dubbed the neighborhood “handyman” and the neighborhood “hero” for the way he shows up for his community.

“Without asking, he just came out and started helping me shovel the driveway, because my husband was at work,” said Kinsey Brown.

Andrews is also a Broncos superfan.

“Can you see it?” Andrews asked as she showed off the Broncos tattoo on his arm.

So, when Kinsey and Kevin landed tickets to Saturday’s game against the Bills, Kinsey knew there would be someone to whom it might mean more.

“I knew that I would have more joy and I’d have more fun, like seeing him get excited about it, and I would have fun at the game itself,” said Kinsey.

“Kinsey and I just thought, ‘Paul’s the man,'” Kevin added.

The ticket was Andrews’.

“I wasn’t expecting nothing,” he said. “I just heard him knocking on the door, and he asked me, and I said, Yeah, I’ll go.”

“He was like, ‘I might have to work that day, but I’m going to call him and tell him I’m not coming to work. I’m going to that game,'” Kevin added.

CBS News Colorado caught up with the group having breakfast together before the game. Hours later, the real fun began.

“Just to get out there, support the team, be a part of Bronco nation, is what it’s all about,” said Kevin. “To go there with great company, it’s just, it’s like you couldn’t ask for a better day.”

They cheered as the Broncos kept their Super Bowl hopes alive.

“I was screaming with everybody else,” said Andrews.

“Yeah, I think we’re about losing our voice here,” Kevin added.

Still, some moments are more important than wins and losses.

“It was a blessing, just a blessing,” said Andrews.

Andrews has been to a few Broncos games over the years, but he told CBS Colorado that Saturday’s win over the Bills was by far the best.

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.

Libyan man in Minnesota for medical treatment for rare skin condition is detained by ICE agents

CNN Newsource on January 19, 2026

By Conor Wight

Click here for updates on this story

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Hani Duglof and his brother Mohamad Duklef arrived in Minnesota looking for help in 2014. They’d left Libya, unable to find relief for a rare condition that threatens to leave their skin torn and blistered at even the slightest provocation.

After spending more than a decade studying, working and participating in clinical trials, Duglof found himself detained by ICE, unable to access the kind of food and care he needs.

The brothers say that it happened on Jan. 10 of this year. Duglof was driving in Wisconsin when he said that two ICE vehicles pulled him over. Duklef was on the phone with him, expecting a call back soon, assuming he had been pulled over for some kind of driving infraction.

Instead, Duglof found himself being taken to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling. He said that he was confused when ICE agents said that he no longer had legal status, given that he had been in the asylum process for the better part of a decade after first entering the country on a visitor visa.

“Since they handcuffed me, I felt like (I was) being treated like a criminal,” Duglof said. “They tried to take my fingerprints, but because of my condition, I don’t have fingerprints.”

Duglof and his brother have Epidermolysis Bullosa, or EB. Their skin is extremely fragile, causing it to tear easily. The condition also affects the esophagus, meaning Duglof can only eat soft foods. He said that the cramped concrete rooms of the Whipple building immediately caused his skin to blister.

Medical documents he says came from M Health Fairview Southdale’s emergency department show that officials at the Whipple eventually believed he needed additional care, taking him to the hospital after Duglof said he was at the Whipple building for about 13 hours. Doctors in the documents seem to note that Duglof was not in need of emergency medical attention, but recorded the fact that the agents who brought him to the hospital were concerned that they could not provide food that he could actually eat.

Duglof soon found himself back at the Whipple building regardless. He said that, at one point, he was placed in a room with standing water in the corner. Often, he said, his pleas for soft food were ignored.

“‘I’m sorry, this isn’t a five-star hotel,'” Duglof said one official told him.

Duklef said he had been working from the get-go with Duglof’s lawyer, the same lawyer who had been working on his asylum case for years, to get him released. He was freed on bond on Jan. 15, with a court case pending in February related to his asylum case. Duklef said that he often hears, or late, that people want immigrants to come in the right way; he said his brother was doing just that.

“Hani followed every single process legally,” Duklef said.

Duglof works as an IT specialist after studying at Saint Paul College, and was featured in school promotional material on a billboard and other advertisements. He said he’s nervous about returning to Libya, first applying for asylum after the country descended into civil war.

Duglof is one of the reported 2,500 people ICE said the agency has detained since the start of Operation Metro Surge in early December. The Department of Homeland Security and its leadership have repeatedly stated that the operation is targeting criminals who are in the country illegally. While the agency has listed dozens of names of people convicted of past crimes, hundreds of people are not publicly listed, nor are their alleged offenses.

‘Costco Club’ gives Utah men a safe place to open up, find emotional support

CNN Newsource on January 19, 2026

By Mya Constantino

Click here for updates on this story

OREM, Utah (KSTU) — Nearly every month, a group of Utah men come together in an unexpected place to talk about mental health while building connections and finding support.

We all need someone to lean on. For men across the state, that’s exactly what they’re finding once a week inside the Costco food court in Orem.

“Like, in my darkest moments and things when I’ve been sad, they’re just there to listen,” said Jaxon Smith, the group’s organizer. “It’s something that men don’t have an outlet to where they can express their emotion or feel like they won’t be judged.”

Smith started the Men’s Mental Health Community Club two months ago, continuing a tradition of hanging out at the food court with his friends a couple of times a week, just to hang out.

“The idea just popped in my head of let’s just invite everybody, and let’s get all the boys together,” Smith explained.

Now, the club is a space for men of all ages to get together, eat, and share stories.

“Just creating a low-pressure environment where you can open up about feelings, if you want to, but really you’re there just to connect,” said Smith.

Jaxon said creating a space like the Men’s Mental Health Community Club matters.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis of 2022 survey data found that 26.1 percent of men said they lack social or emotional support compared to 22.3% of women. The CDC added that as of 2023, men are about four times as likely to die by suicide compared to women.

Luke Christensen is a member of the Costco group, showing up to deal with the stresses of school and deadlines.

“When you’re in a group, and you feel included, then it’s easy to just feel welcomed and have that sense of belonging,” Christensen shared, “and that can really help soothe the stress.”

Although the group started at Costco, Smith plans to take it to other locations across Utah.

“People want to help make a change and help men understand that it is OK to show emotion,” said Smith, “and that you’re not any less of a man if you do.”

Draper woman with MS finds freedom on the slopes thanks to local nonprofit

CNN Newsource on January 19, 2026

By Amy Nay

Click here for updates on this story

SNOWBIRD, Utah (KSTU) — A Draper woman living with multiple sclerosis has reached new heights thanks to a local group.

“It is a great feeling. I mean, it just wipes out the whole feeling you have about yourself as being somebody who can’t do anything,” said Maggi Welliver, 75, after skiing for the first time with the help of Wasatch Adaptive Sports.

“When I first started with them,” Welliver said, “I started cycling, and then when winter came, my instructor, who I trust with my life, said we need to go skiing, but I said, ‘Uh, I’ve never been a big skier.’”

Her trust in the instructors and what she calls her new family she found at the nonprofit gave her the confidence to try and to discover a sense of freedom she hadn’t felt in years.

“I’ve been in a wheelchair for … over 20 years, and what I have is chronic progressive multiple sclerosis,” Welliver said. “So slowly I’ve been getting to this position in my life. And it’s OK, it’s OK,” she said, describing a gradual decline since her diagnosis three decades ago.

Wasatch Adaptive Sports connects people with physical disabilities to adaptive outdoor programs. They were able to expand offerings this season after a $100,000 donation match from Utah outdoor brand KUHL helped the nonprofit reach a $500,000 fundraising goal. That support, Welliver said, made experiences like skiing at Snowbird and reaching the top of Hidden Peak possible for people who might otherwise never try. It was Welliver’s daughter who encouraged her to look into ‘WAS’ and what they offered.

“What made it really special is I was able to ski with my daughter, and she just cried and said never in her wildest dreams thought she’d be on the slope with me, so now I want to ski with everybody,” Welliver said.

On the slopes, she said she doesn’t feel defined by her disability.

“I don’t feel disabled. I feel able to do most anything I want to do. It’s just different,” she said, adding that adaptive skiing has changed her perspective.

“It just really opens you up to feel good about yourself,” she said. When asked why that matters, Welliver replied, “It’s pretty important because it’s easy to fall into ‘poor me’ and give up.”

She urged others in similar situations to take the first step.

“It doesn’t cost you anything. You just have to step out and take advantage of it,” she said. “Just try it. I mean, it’s scary, but you can do it.”

Her advice for anyone starting is simple: “Start slow and just keep building on that. You can do it, and it’s all about accommodations and that’s life. It’s just what you do in life.”

Sweet Beginnings urban beehives helping former prisoners build new lives

CNN on January 19, 2026

WBBM

By Edie Kasten, Irika Sargent

Click here for updates on this story

CHICAGO (WBBM) — Helping people make the move from incarceration to inspiration. It’s all happening in a sweet way in North Lawndale.

The folks at Sweet Beginnings are busy as bees, producing skin care products made from honey.

Sweet Beginnings is a social impact business headquartered at the North Lawndale Employment Network.

Its staff has turned their lives around, spending their days at work after doing their time in prison. The goal is to help them achieve self-reliance and self-worth.

“What I want for people who come through our program is, first of all, to know they matter; that they have made a mistake, but they aren’t their mistake. It was a moment, it was a poor decision, but they have paid the price for that,” said president and CEO Brenda Palms.

Sweet Beginnings production specialist and trainer Charlotte Austin is at the top of her game. It’s a big win after a long journey.

“I’m thinking they ain’t going to help me, but they did. Look where I’m at today,” she said.

In December 1996, Charlotte was arrested on bank robbery charges.

“They dropped four, I pleaded guilty to five,” she said. “I got 30 years. I did 20.”

After she got out of prison, Charlotte’s sister, Elaine, told her about Sweet Beginnings. Charlotte got a spot in the training program called “U-turn Permitted.”

She remembers when she got the call.

“‘You start Monday, you’ve got to be here at 8 o’clock.’ I’m there. I was there at 7, because I was excited and it was something positive,” she said.

Her first assignment was at a small apiary, or beehive collection. Her coach, Jose Wilson, taught Charlotte about bees and much more.

“Jose taught me deal with my attitude. ‘Why you always mad? The world didn’t make you angry.’ He taught me how to talk to people,” she added. “He taught me how to deal with Charlotte.”

Sweet Beginnings has hired more than 1,000 people, helping them build new lives. It began in 2004, with the simple question: how do we get people back to work?

“After a whole host of really, really, really bad ideas, a friend of mine – actually, she served on the board at the time – and she said, ‘You know, I have a friend who’s a beekeeper,'” Brenda said.

So Brenda set out to get the buzz.

“Beekeeping is passed on through coaching. There’s a mentorship relationship there,” she said. “You can learn on the job, right? So I thought, ‘Hmm, that might work.'”

The first bees were bought with a seed grant from the Illinois Department of Corrections, and everything blossomed from there.

“We entered into Whole Foods in 2006. We’re also in Mariano’s,” Brenda said. “Our largest apiary’s actually at O’Hare Airport, which is one of the first in the country.”

Another North Lawndale Employment Network program is the beelove café, which sells locally sourced coffees, teas, pastries, and quick lunch bites.

Many of the people who work at the café live in North Lawndale, a community eager to fight misconceptions.

“People see that we have a high unemployment rate there and make the automatic assumption that, ‘Oh, those people don’t want to work,'” Brenda said. “I can assure you that is not what I have learned, that is not what I have witnessed.”

She said there are many reasons someone might not work, from medical problems to mental health issues, in addition to the stigma of a criminal record.

For Charlotte, that stigma has slowly eased, as she now helps trainees learn the art, craft, and business of bees.

“When the participants come, and I tell them, ‘Good job, you did that,’ they smile. Because they probably never hear ‘good job’ or ‘thank you,'” she said. “They need help and love. I can give it to them.”