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Make-A-Wish grants teen battling brain tumor a new bike

By CNN

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    BAKERSFIELD, California (KERO) — A limousine pulled up to Action Sports in Bakersfield on Wednesday, and 15-year-old Luis Rodriguez had no idea what was waiting inside.

Luis, a sophomore at Liberty High School, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in October 2021 after suffering intense, debilitating head pain. Since then, he has endured 2 brain surgeries and continues to take ongoing medication. Doctors continue closely monitoring his condition through routine MRI scans. The illness has made reading and speaking more challenging, but Luis has made meaningful progress and continues to improve, working hard toward his goals even when exhausted.

Even during his toughest battles, riding a bike gave him strength, freedom, and the chance to build one of the most meaningful friendships of his life.

“Biking got me closer with the first friend that I ever made when I moved over here,” Luis said. He always was a big lover of friendship, and having a bike is a big part of that for him.

When his previous bike was stolen, Luis lost more than a way to get around. He lost the way he often visited friends, spent time outside, and felt more independent. When Make-A-Wish asked what he wanted most, his answer was simple, a bike of his own.

Action Sports found the exact model Luis wanted and added anti-flat sealant, 2 locks, a phone holder, a water pack, and a helmet to help keep him safe on the road with the bike secure.

“He doesn’t want anything. You have to say, ‘Hey, this is for you, so you can pick something.’ And then he’s like, ‘Are you sure? My mom doesn’t have to pay for it?’ He’s just that kid,” Kerry Ryan, owner of Action Sports, said.

Westchester Kiwanis helped bring the wish to life through funds raised at local community events. Natalie Martinez, president of Westchester Kiwanis, said the group rallied quickly once they heard Luis’s story.

“This kid just wants a bike. And then now he can get sunglasses, he can get a helmet, he can get all this stuff. It’s just all the difference in our hearts that makes the difference in the student’s life,” Martinez said.

Crown Limozine, a longtime Make-A-Wish partner for nearly 3 years, provided a special ride for Luis and his family to and from the store as well.

For Make-A-Wish Central Coast and Southern Central Valley, the moment was about more than a new bike, it was about giving Luis new adventures, lasting memories, and more chances to experience the joy of riding alongside his friends.

“I just hope he leaves with hope, strength and joy… and that he is able to make so many memories with his friends while he’s riding his bike,” Laura Corsello, wish coordinator for Make-A-Wish, said.

Corsello, who has worked as a wish coordinator for 10 years after starting as a volunteer with the organization, said Luis left a lasting impression.

“He’s an extremely humble, amazing young man who you wouldn’t know has been through everything he’s been through,” Corsello said.

Pattie Mullins, CEO of Make-A-Wish Central Coast and Southern Central Valley, said the community’s response made the moment possible.

“The power of a wish is at its best when the community comes together like this. Luis is a warrior among us, and this wish celebrates not only his perseverance and courage but also reminds us of the strength of this community when it comes together,” Mullins said.

Luis said his new bike will let him visit his friends without always relying on his mom or sister for a ride. One of the first things he plans to do is hit the road with his friends, a milestone that once felt out of reach.

“To be honest, I was in shock,” Luis said.

Make-A-Wish Central Coast and Southern Central Valley grants wishes for children with critical medical conditions across Kern, Kings, Tulare, Inyo, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. Today, more than 200 children in the region are still waiting for their wish experience. The organization is currently holding a Summer of Wishes toy drive and is seeking community partnerships and donations to help make more wishes happen.

For more information or to help grant a wish, visit wish.org/cvs.

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

Trump admin pressures law enforcement groups to support controversial cryptocurrency legislation

By CNN
(CNN) — The Trump administration in recent weeks has pressured current and former US law enforcement officials to help corral support for a milestone cryptocurrency law that critics say could be exploited by narcotraffickers, terrorists, and other criminal groups, according to multiple people briefed on the matter.The pressure comes as the legislation has faced headwinds in the Senate, including from lawmakers who say it allows President Donald Trump to continue to benefit from his cryptocurrency earnings while in office.The campaign on law enforcement groups is part of a broad push led by White House officials, Republican lawmakers and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to rebut concerns raised about parts of the proposed Clarity Act.The administration and cryptocurrency industry groups say, if passed, the law would bring regulatory certainty to the digital currency industry and ensure the sharing of information about illicit activity with law enforcement. At the urging of Democrats, the White House agreed to new ethics provisions that ban government officials, including Trump, from issuing new digital currency.Some critics, though, are focused on a part of the bill that allows Trump to keep benefiting from his cryptocurrency ventures, including $TRUMP memecoin, which was launched days before he took office. The proposed legislation wouldn’t prohibit those earnings. Those lawmakers also say the bill includes “loopholes” that leave room for Trump to enter new ventures and does not include an enforcement mechanism if he is found to be in violation in the restrictions that are included in the legislation.Supporters of the bill are hopeful it can pass before the Senate recess in August, but Senate leaders have warned about challenges ahead.Trump campaigned on promises to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet,” and since taking office in his second term, his administration has embraced the crypto industry. Trump issued an executive order to reduce regulatory burdens on the industry and to establish a national cryptocurrency reserve. At the Justice Department, Blanche shut down some cryptocurrency criminal investigations and disbanded a group of prosecutors and investigators who focused on cryptocurrency crimes as part of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team.Some law enforcement groups, including the National District Attorneys Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, have warned that the proposed law does not do enough to ensure transparency and accountability among crypto companies. Their public safety concerns have complicated efforts to pass the legislation.Patrick Witt, a Pentagon official and executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, leaned on officials at the FBI and other agencies to try to join the effort in support of the Clarity Act, one US official briefed on the discussions told CNN.The outside agencies who represent current and former law enforcement and wield influence on legislation say they got a full court press. “Everybody in the law enforcement got hammered to support that legislation,” says an official with one law enforcement group who received calls from Trump administration officials and supporters of the bill.Reached on the phone, Witt declined to speak to CNN other than to point to law enforcement groups that have come out in support of the bill. These include the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives and National Fraternal Order of Police, according to letters the groups have made public.The White House didn’t immediately return a request for comment.Crypto industry supporters say the legislation is needed because it helps companies better comply with legal requirements and keep criminals from using their platforms.“Nobody can say the bill doesn’t advance law enforcement’s ability to go after illicit activity,” Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer for Coinbase, a cryptocurrency platform, told CNN in an interview.The critical groups took issue with possible gaps the law could leave in preventing the use of crypto to finance terrorism.“Several provisions throughout the bill will reduce transparency, limit accountability, and create gaps in the anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism framework that law enforcement relies upon to identify criminal activity, protect victims, and safeguard national security,” a slate of law enforcement associations said in a joint letter to Blanche last month.Trump’s stance on cryptoThe Trump administration’s embrace of crypto rewards an industry that boosted his election campaign millions of dollars in donations. Trump has since reported making more than $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency ventures in his first year back in office, according to the president’s most recent financial disclosures.Despite bipartisan support in the House, which passed a version of the legislation last year, the proposed bill has run into obstacles in the Senate. As some Democrats have used Trump’s own crypto profits to raise ethical questions about the law, the banking industry has assailed the bill as a giveaway to competitors.At issue are many of the anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations that banks and money service companies have to abide by. The US government has for years used those regulations to try to stop the flow of money to terrorist groups and narcotraffickers.Some cryptocurrency industry companies already register with regulators and follow some of the same rules. But in recent years, during the first Trump administration and the Biden administration, prosecutors have targeted some crypto-industry companies for running afoul of some registration requirements. The lack of regulations specific to the cryptocurrency industry has been a major problem, critics and supporters of the Clarity Act agree. Whether the proposed law goes far enough is another matter.Blanche, who is trying to win votes for his nomination as attorney general, has also spent time briefing outside groups to urge their support and seeking to assuage concerns, according to people involved in the discussions.A Justice Department spokesperson rejected some claims in the critical letter from the law enforcement groups.“The Administration works tirelessly to champion law enforcement through policy, funding, and legislation. The letter from these groups contains factual inaccuracies and mischaracterizes Administration policy,” the Justice spokesperson said. “The bill does not restrict DOJ’s ability to investigate or prosecute criminal activity involving digital assets, including drug trafficking, human smuggling, and terrorism financing.”At a Capitol Hill event this week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, highlighted the testimony of Americans who said they lost tens of thousands of dollars after investing in Trump cryptocurrency launched before the president’s second inauguration.Blumenthal cited the examples to call for more ethics safeguards in the Clarity Act.Scott Greytak, deputy executive director of Transparency International U.S. echoed Blumenthal and criticized new ethics provisions made to the bill, which ban the president from issuing new cryptocurrency. The provision applies only until the end of Trump’s term.“I’ve never seen ethics language that was cast so clearly only to accommodate a politician, President Trump,” he said.Among other issues, Greytak finds fault with the law’s exemptions for certain so-called decentralized financial transactions, which allow people to trade assets using software that doesn’t go through a third-party such as a bank.“You are legitimizing the ability of criminals to use this medium of value to commit crimes,” he said.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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