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Rebuilt Little Free Library honoring 12 year old boy who died in 2017 to be unveiled

By CNN

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    NORFOLK, Virginia (WTKR) — A Little Free Library created to honor a 12-year-old boy killed in 2017 will be rebuilt and unveiled in Norfolk this weekend after the original memorial was destroyed by vandals earlier this year.

Deshawn Parker created the Little Free Library in memory of his son, Israel Parker, who was struck and killed by a driver in Suffolk in 2017. The memorial was intended to encourage literacy while keeping Israel’s legacy alive in the community.

When the library was vandalized and destroyed several months ago, Parker described the loss as another heartbreaking setback.

“It’s been stressful because we have been trying to get the community engaged, trying to get somebody to repair it, see if we can get an artist to paint it,” Parker said.

But Parker said the community’s response after the vandalism reminded him that his son’s memory continues to resonate with others.

“The community, they have really came through and let me know that Israel is not forgotten. We got your back,” he said.

Parker said community support made it possible to rebuild the memorial. On Saturday, Aug. 1, organizers will unveil the new Little Free Library along with two additional Little Free Libraries. Families attending the event will also receive free books and other giveaways for children as part of the effort to continue promoting literacy in Israel’s name.

Parker has not yet seen the rebuilt library and plans to wait until the public unveiling.

“It’ll be the first day that I’m going to see it,” Parker said. “I want to be surprised like everyone else.”

He hopes the project continues to grow beyond Norfolk, with plans to bring additional Little Free Libraries to other Hampton Roads communities.

“We’re revealing all three of them. Hopefully we can get another pop-up library in the City of Virginia Beach, maybe by Mount Trashmore, or the City of Suffolk where he passed away,” Parker said.

For Parker, each new library represents another opportunity to ensure his son’s story continues inspiring children for years to come.

“WTKR News 3 is keeping my son’s name alive. You are keeping his legacy alive,” Parker said.

The unveiling will take place Saturday at 9 a.m. at the corner of Virginia Beach Boulevard and Park Avenue in Norfolk. Organizers say the event is open to the public.

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.

Chinese rocket carrying satellite explodes seconds after launch

By CNN
Hong Kong (CNN) — A Chinese rocket set to launch a satellite into orbit blew-up seconds after liftoff Monday, marking the relatively rare failure for a rocket considered a workhorse of Beijing’s space program.The Long March 7A rocket erupted into a massive fireball just 85 seconds after blasting off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the island of Hainan on Monday night, video showed.State news agency Xinhua confirmed the failure three hours after the launch, saying “the rocket experienced an anomaly during flight.” The cause is under investigation, it added, without providing further information.SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who has watched a number of his own rockets explode after launch, commented on X saying: “Rockets are insanely hard.”Long March 7A is a satellite delivery rocket designed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the main state-owned contractor for China’s space program.This was to be the Long March 7A’s 18th mission – it’s only failed on one previous occasion, during its maiden flight in 2020. The second attempt in March 2021 succeeded, with images showing crowds that had gathered to witness the launch.Wenchang, home to one of China’s major rocket launch sites, is known for its space tourism. Tourists and residents often gather at Wenchang Space Launch Viewing Center and other locations to watch launches where there’s a clear view.Gasps could be heard on one video posted online after Monday’s failed launch, as the rocket appeared to break apart midair just after 8 p.m.. The rocket was carrying the Zhongxing-4B or ChinaSat-4B, to provide radio, television and other communications services to users around the world, according to Chinese state media.Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ambitions to make China a world leader in space science by 2050, and the country’s locked in an intense competition with the US on multiple fronts, including reusable launch technology, moon research and satellite launches.Following the failure of the Long March 7A on Monday, the much-anticipated launch of the Zhuque-3, planned for Tuesday morning at Jiuquan satellite launching station, was delayed, according to Yicai, a Shanghai-based financial news outlet citing sourced information.The Zhuque-3, developed by Chinese private rocket company LandSpace, is the country’s first serious attempt to build a reusable launch rocket. It made its first voyage in December 2025, but the first stage of the rocket caught fire before crashing near the target recovery site.Last month, China successfully recovered the first stage of the rocket during a subsequent test – a breakthrough for the country’s reusable rocket program. In that test, the first-stage booster returned to a floating platform about six minutes after ⁠the separation of its first and upper stage, according to state broadcaster CCTV.“This mission … signifies a historic breakthrough in China’s reusable rocket technology and a solid foundation for accelerating the improvement of China’s space access capabilities,” the rocket-maker China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said in a post to social media at the time.Unlike the Zhuque-3, the Long March 7A is a three-stage rocket that’s not designed for re-use.Measuring almost 200 feet (60 meters) in length, the rocket has four boosters and the capacity to send seven metric tons of payload to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) – approximately around 22,000 miles (35,405 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface.CNN’s Fred He contributed to the reporting.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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