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It began as a fifth-grade field trip on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon. By nightfall, a whole school community was holdin...
25/09/2026

It began as a fifth-grade field trip on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon. By nightfall, a whole school community was holding its breath, and two of their own would not be coming home.

Students from Borlaug Elementary were at Lake Macbride State Park in Johnson County, Iowa, for a School of the Wild trip when something went terribly wrong in the water near the Coralville Reservoir spillway. Emergency crews were called just after 12:10 p.m. to reports of people in the lake.

What followed was an enormous response. Fire departments, water rescue teams, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, State Patrol, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and University of Iowa Air Care all converged on the reservoir. Crews worked through the afternoon and into the night, and then again the next day, until both of the missing had been brought out of the water.

They were Hannah Jorgensen, 24, a fifth-grade teacher, and one of her students, 10-year-old Ahmed Osman. A young educator near the start of her career, and a little boy who was in her care that day. Both were lost in the space of a single afternoon.

The Iowa City Community School District called it heartbreaking and said its heart was shattered by the loss of two beloved members of the Borlaug family. Counselors and support staff were brought in as students and teachers returned to class, trying to make sense of something that has no sense to it. The district canceled all School of the Wild trips for the foreseeable future.

Colleagues remembered Hannah for her calm presence and her willingness to go above and beyond for every child. Ahmed was 10, with his whole life still ahead of him. The investigation into what happened continues.

What do you hope the families of Hannah and Ahmed feel from all the strangers grieving alongside them tonight?

Her two young daughters said their mother loved their father more than anyone in the world, and they could not understan...
25/09/2026

Her two young daughters said their mother loved their father more than anyone in the world, and they could not understand why he did not love her back the same way.

Ashley Flynn was 37. In Tipp City, Ohio, she was found dead in her home this past February, and the loss has left her family searching for answers ever since. She leaves behind two daughters, now 10 and 12.

Her husband, Caleb Flynn, a former American Idol contestant and worship pastor, now stands trial in connection with her death. He faces charges of murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence, and staging a crime scene. He has pleaded not guilty, and as with any trial, the case will be decided by a jury on the evidence presented.

This week the testimony turned toward the people left behind. Ashley's sister, Kayla Keyt, took the stand and described how the two girls reacted as the family's world came apart. She said they were shocked and heartbroken for their mother.

Kayla told the court she had once believed completely in Caleb's innocence. She described learning what investigators had found as something she could barely take in, asking them to repeat themselves more than once before it settled.

The family has chosen not to tell the girls everything about the case against their father. For now they are trying to hold two children steady through something no child should have to carry.

Ashley was a mother of two with people who loved her deeply, and a family that now sits through each day of testimony holding onto each other.

What do you hope the days ahead bring for Ashley's two daughters as their family waits for the trial to run its course?

By the time anyone reached her, a 27-year-old wife and mother near Barnesville, Georgia was already gone, and it was sti...
25/09/2026

By the time anyone reached her, a 27-year-old wife and mother near Barnesville, Georgia was already gone, and it was still just past 8:30 on a Saturday night.

Her name was Haley Manahan. In Lamar County, she was riding a four-wheeler on the evening of September 19 when it crashed, and she did not survive her injuries.

State troopers did not leave the scene empty-handed. One person was arrested that same night in connection with the crash. Beyond that, the answers thin out fast. The county coroner confirmed Haley's identity. The name of the person arrested has not been made public, and no charges have been announced.

What she leaves behind is easier to put into words than what happened that night. Her husband, Robert. Her parents, Alan and Jennifer. And two children, Ray and Riley, young enough that they may grow up knowing their mother through the stories other people tell them.

Those who loved her tried to capture who she was. "If you've ever had the pleasure of meeting Haley, you are a better person," her family wrote. "She made everyone smile. She had the biggest heart. She was selfless. She put others before herself." They described a dedicated wife and mother who could light up any room, hardworking and fiercely loyal.

The investigation is still open, and Georgia State Patrol has asked anyone with information about the crash to come forward.

If you would like to help her family, the fundraiser is on GoFundMe under "Support for Haley's Family and Funeral."

What would you want Haley's two children to know someday about the mother so many people loved?

Everyone was watching Weston fight. What his family wants people to know is that they were watching his parents too.West...
25/09/2026

Everyone was watching Weston fight. What his family wants people to know is that they were watching his parents too.

Weston Thelen is one year old. Three weeks ago, near Bunker Hill Road in Acme Township, Michigan, his mother Carissa is believed to have suffered a seizure behind the wheel, and their vehicle went into a pond. He was underwater for an estimated 11 minutes, and it took 52 minutes of CPR before his heart started again.

He was airlifted to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids with life-threatening injuries. In the PICU, the days came one after another, each with its own weight. An MRI showed some injury from the lack of oxygen, which doctors had expected, but no damage to his lower brain or brainstem. Small mercies the family held onto.

Then the turns they prayed for. Weston opened his eyes. He came off the ventilator. And this week, sooner than anyone dared promise, his parents walked out of the hospital with their son.

"We are grateful that we get to bring our baby home someday," Carissa wrote. "We know there is still a long road ahead, and our journey is far from over, but today we are choosing to celebrate this miracle."

Through all of it, the people around them saw something in Carissa and Bryce. As one wrote, strength does not always look like having the answers. Sometimes it looks like patience. Sometimes it looks like faith. Sometimes it is simply getting up and doing it all again tomorrow.

Weston has now started the next chapter at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, where the work of healing continues.

What have Carissa and Bryce shown you about what it means to keep showing up?

The field where his heart stopped is the same field hundreds walked back onto Saturday, on purpose, holding candles for ...
25/09/2026

The field where his heart stopped is the same field hundreds walked back onto Saturday, on purpose, holding candles for him.

His name is Xavier Taylor. He is 12 years old, and in Maple Shade, New Jersey, the community has not stopped showing up for him.

Nearly four months ago, during warmups, a baseball caught him in the neck and he collapsed on the spot. He was airlifted to Cooper University Hospital. He has been in a coma ever since.

Saturday evening, Kenny Karcher Jr. Memorial Field sounded nothing like a ballgame. There was music. There were prayers said out loud, one after another. Many wore his number, 6. Around town, families have quietly left baseball bats out on their porches, no explanation needed.

"Xavier loves baseball, he loves our community and he loves Jesus," his father, Gregory Taylor, told the crowd. "He would be so happy to see everyone supporting him."

Sarah DiPhillipo, one of the organizers, said the hope stretched past one boy. "We are here because we are believing God for a miracle for Xavier, but we are also believing for a move of God throughout our entire community and nation."

Four months is a long time to keep coming back. Gregory Taylor says his family feels every day of it, and that every card, every video, every message reaches them.

Doctors have not offered a timeline, and the family has stopped asking for one. They are asking for prayer, and for people to keep Xavier in their hearts.

What would you say to a family that has kept believing for their son through four long months?

It was a Sunday afternoon on the Route 90 bridge in Ocean City, Maryland when the screech of tires changed everything fo...
25/09/2026

It was a Sunday afternoon on the Route 90 bridge in Ocean City, Maryland when the screech of tires changed everything for Jonathan Bauer and his 13-year-old daughter.

A pickup truck lost control, struck a barrier, and flipped onto the guardrail above Assawoman Bay, setting off a five-vehicle crash. Once Jonathan knew his own daughter was safe, he ran toward the truck teetering off the edge of the bridge. A man climbing out of the wreck did not stop to explain. He simply pointed down toward the water.

Jonathan looked over the edge and saw something no parent ever wants to see. A car seat floating in the bay, and a few feet away, a 2-year-old girl in a pink dress. At first she was on her back, head above water, arms moving, legs kicking. He glanced at his daughter for one brief second, and when he looked again, the little girl had flipped face down.

He did not stop to think. He kicked off his shoes, told his daughter to grab the first firefighter or officer she could find, and jumped roughly 25 feet straight down into the bay. He swam to the girl, pulled her high against his shoulder, and firmly patted her back. Within seconds she coughed up water. Then she took a breath.

A nearby family out on their pontoon boat rushed over, pulling them both aboard and bringing them to shore. The little girl was airlifted to a children's hospital in Baltimore and released the very next day, expected to make a full recovery.

Jonathan had never met that child or her family. He just saw a toddler in the water and went. Later honored by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, he stayed humble, saying only that he was in the right place at the right time.

What do you think makes someone jump without hesitation for a child who is a total stranger?

Nine years old is far too young to have spent three and a half of them fighting something as relentless as Ewing sarcoma...
25/09/2026

Nine years old is far too young to have spent three and a half of them fighting something as relentless as Ewing sarcoma, and this morning, a little girl named Josie lost that fight.

Josie had battled the rare and aggressive cancer, one that mostly strikes children and teenagers, for more than a third of her entire life. Her aunt is the one carrying the weight of sharing the news, and even in her grief, she wanted the world to know Josie as so much more than her illness.

One of the funniest kids she has ever known. One of the smartest. One of the most loving. That was Josie, a little girl whose spirit refused to be defined by the thing she was up against, no matter how big it got.

And in the end, she left behind something extraordinary. Josie chose to donate her tissue to medical research, hoping doctors might learn from her case and find better treatments for other children facing this same rare cancer. A 9-year-old girl, in the middle of her own hardest fight, was thinking about the kids who would come after her.

Her aunt says she is endlessly grateful for every moment she got to spend with Josie, moments now folded into memory instead of the future the whole family had hoped for and counted on.

Her fight helped write the next chapter for children she will never meet, a gift beyond measure from someone who had every reason to think only of herself and chose not to.

What do you think the rest of us can learn from a little girl who, even at the end, was thinking of others?

The basketball world lost one of its steadiest voices this week, as Chris Spatola, a former West Point guard turned Army...
25/09/2026

The basketball world lost one of its steadiest voices this week, as Chris Spatola, a former West Point guard turned Army combat veteran and ESPN analyst, died unexpectedly at 47.

Spatola's life ran along one remarkable thread. He was a four-year starting guard at Army, leading the team in scoring three seasons and finishing among the program's all-time leading scorers. After graduating from West Point in 2002, he served as an Army officer, deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and earning the Joint Service Commendation Medal for exceptional combat performance.

When his service ended, he returned to the game. He joined Mike Krzyzewski's coaching staff at Duke, helping the Blue Devils win a national championship, and worked alongside gold-medal-winning U.S. national teams. He also married Krzyzewski's daughter, Jamie, and the two built a family together with three children. In 2015, he joined ESPN and became a trusted, familiar presence in college basketball coverage.

Fellow analyst Jay Bilas paid tribute to a man he described as humble and of unusually high character, a devoted family man who was never in it for himself. For Spatola, Bilas said, the game was always about the players, the coaches, and the fans.

The Krzyzewski family said there were no words to adequately express their heartbreak, asking for privacy as they grieve alongside Jamie and the children. ESPN remembered him as thoughtful, prepared, and passionate, someone who earned the respect of everyone he worked with.

From a college court, to a battlefield, to a championship bench, to a broadcast booth, Chris Spatola showed up fully at every stop. What do you think a life lived across so many kinds of service leaves behind?

He was 20 years old and still learning the trade when, his attorney says, an electrical line came down on a young linema...
24/09/2026

He was 20 years old and still learning the trade when, his attorney says, an electrical line came down on a young lineman apprentice named Jackson Hodge.

Jackson was working on the power grid, doing the kind of dangerous work most people never think about until the lights go out. According to attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents him, the young apprentice was badly burned and nearly lost his life on the job. Now he faces what Buzbee describes as a long and difficult road to recovery.

Linemen climb the poles, work around enormous amounts of electricity, and put themselves in harm's way so the rest of us can simply flip a switch. For Jackson, that everyday risk turned into a life-changing injury before his career had barely begun.

Buzbee has filed a lawsuit in Harris County against Texas-New Mexico Power Company, alleging negligence involving the procedures and maintenance of an electrical pole. Those are allegations in a newly filed lawsuit, and the company has not yet responded. For now, though, the legal case is secondary. Behind it is a 20-year-old who was severely burned, came close to losing his life, and has an enormous recovery ahead.

The days in front of him will be hard ones. Burns that need time and care to heal. Procedures and setbacks. Pain that has to be managed one day at a time. And a family walking every step of that road beside him.

Right now, what he needs most is strength and support as he begins to heal. What would you want to say to a young man like Jackson as he faces the fight ahead?

His little legs had been moving less and less for weeks, and when his family found a bump on his back, they rushed a bab...
24/09/2026

His little legs had been moving less and less for weeks, and when his family found a bump on his back, they rushed a baby named Elias straight to a hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

On August 1, scans revealed a large tumor in his abdomen, growing into his spinal cord. The pressure had caused complete paralysis in both of his tiny legs, and surgeons rushed him into an emergency operation. Five hours later, the neurosurgeon had removed the entire tumor from his spine. Days later came the diagnosis. Neuroblastoma, in a baby only five weeks old.

Elias began chemotherapy, and at first there were reasons for hope. Genetic testing came back favorable, meaning he would need only two cycles, and a scan confirmed there was just the one tumor. He got through his first rounds and was able to go home after more than two weeks in the hospital.

Then the story turned. In mid-September, the bump on his back seemed larger, and his family brought him back in. On September 15, doctors confirmed the hardest news yet. The chemo was not working, and the tumor was growing again. His case went before the hospital's tumor board, where oncologists and surgeons weighed the best path forward.

Now, at just 12 weeks old, Elias is more than likely facing a second surgery, with the goal of removing at least half the tumor and hopefully sparing him more chemo. Through all of it, his family says, he is healing amazingly and is somehow almost always happy.

Every appointment is an hour from home, at least one a week, on top of the surgeries and hospital stays. If you would like to help, the fundraiser is on GoFundMe under "Elias's Neuroblastoma Fight."

What do you find yourself feeling, reading about a baby this small facing a fight this big?

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