Southwest
Texas community for special needs adults is a model for others: 'A joyful place'
“We all need more light today. We need more positivity. We need family and faith, hope and strength — that’s what these stories are all about.”
Those are the words of SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt, co-founders of the Godwinks brands and based in Massachusetts, who shared the following story with Fox News Digital.
The couple specialize in what they call “Godwinks” stories — and believe that the Lord works in mysterious ways.
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“Godwink is the new word of the language,” Rushnell told Fox News Digital. “It means an event that seems like a coincidence — but you know it comes from a divine origin.”
Read on to see what he means.
Nurtured by prayer & persistence
The Brookwood Community for Adults with Special Needs lies on 485 idyllic acres, a half-hour west of Houston, near the village of Brookshire, Texas.
The Brookwood Community for Adults with Special Needs Educators in Texas, just west of Houston. Educators have traveled from all over the world to learn how Brookwood has become a model of success. (Brookwood)
Educators have traveled from all over the globe to learn how Brookwood has become a model of success.
From a low-altitude aircraft, one might mistake Brookwood for a small college campus. A chapel steeple rises from a gathering of charming brick buildings, connected by orderly walkways and rolling green lawns, to homes like those in gated residential areas.
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It may be difficult to imagine that the magnificent property of Brookwood Community grew from the seeds of tragedy — nurtured by the power of prayer and persistence.
The Brookwood story began with its tall and straight-speaking founder, Yvonne Streit, the mother of a severely brain-damaged daughter, Vicki.
Conventional wisdom told the mom that she’d better put her child away.
As a child, she could neither speak nor move.
Conventional wisdom told the mom that she’d better put her child away.
But “oh no, that was not for me,” said Streit.
She found experts who suggested that children with special needs could do many more things than people thought they could. And that, like everyone else, they “needed to be needed” and yearned to have a purpose.
Yvonne Streit, left, is pictured with her daughter Vicki. Streit found experts who suggested that children with special needs could do many more things than people thought they could — and that, like everyone else, they “needed to be needed” and yearned to have a purpose. (Brookwood)
Subsequently, after months and years of patient training, Streit taught her daughter how to grasp, lift and release an object in order to feed herself.
Years later, when Brookwood was started, the girl’s simple skill allowed her to grasp a potted seedling plant, lift it into a tray — and release it.
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To this day, Vicki Streit reportedly has repeated that process with over 15,000 plants in Brookwood’s horticultural enterprise.
So she’s significantly contributed to one of the largest annual crops of Christmas poinsettias in the state of Texas.
Like so many things in life that people start out to do — it often takes a good number of Godwinks to get there.
Yvonne Streit recalled that when her daughter approached the age of 18, it became clear to her that while many places were teaching special needs children, very few facilities were providing life-skills training for special needs adults.
That gave birth to Yvonne Streit’s dream of starting a place called Brookwood.
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Yet, like so many things in life that people start out to do, it often takes a good number of “Godwinks” to get there.
Carefully articulated plan
An undertaking like that needed to begin with a carefully articulated plan.
To create the blueprint for Brookwood Community, Yvonne Streit appeared before Rotary clubs, churches, and chambers of commerce — explaining to anyone standing still that she needed seed money for the necessary travel and study.
One night, her husband, Dave Streit, looked at his wife. Seeing the disappointment on her face, he asked how it went at Rotary that day.
Yvonne Streit, founder of Brookwood, with several community members. (Brookwood)
She shook her head and sighed. “One more speech with no takers.”
In her bedtime prayers, she choked back tears, she said later.
“God, I know you placed this desire on my heart. And I was sure you had given me the ‘Go’ sign. But, did I misunderstand you?” she prayed. “Because I’m ready to throw in the towel.”
A man was standing there with an envelope. He said, “Here’s $10,000 for you to study the idea of Brookwood.”
The next morning, she got up and put on the face that many put on sometimes. On the outside, it signals to the world, “I’m good” — but it’s really hiding feelings of sadness, worry or fear that exist on the inside.
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When she got to the office, a man named Frank was standing there with an envelope. He said, “Here’s $10,000 for you to study the idea of Brookwood.”
She was flabbergasted.
Then a few minutes later, her assistant said someone had just called and was “sending over a check for $7,500.”
An aerial view of Brookwood’s central campus in Texas, near Houston. Streit had been ready to throw in the towel — until a remarkable series of events took place shortly after her pleas to God. (Brookwood)
What?
Then, at 10 o’clock, St Luke’s Church phoned. The church was sending a check for $25,000 “to study Brookwood.”
And at 11 a.m., the Barrow Foundation called: “We’re sending you $30,000.”
Streit couldn’t believe it. She now felt a string of hope, all stemming from her heartfelt prayers of the night before.
It was $72,500 worth of Godwinks — and definitely giving her the “Go” sign.
Long into the future
Today, the Brookwood Community is home to more than 250 citizens.
Some individuals paint pottery in stone casting that is then displayed in the gift shop, which looks like it belongs in the pages of a home and garden magazine.
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Other citizens are servers or assistants in the kitchen at the Brookwood Café, a popular luncheon spot for the garden clubs of Houston.
Here, reservations are recommended.
After 24 years, Streit turned over the daily operations to her daughter, Vivian Shudde, herself the mother of a special needs child.
Brookwood in Texas maintains a significant horticultural enterprise. (Brookwood)
For the past 17 years, Shudde, with a degree in special education, has overseen an impressive expansion of the Brookwood campus, developed a succession plan and secured the evolution of the Brookwood Community philosophy long into the future.
“Our vision is to change the way the world thinks about adults with disabilities,” the community’s website notes.
Now, a new 20-minute docufilm produced by Crescent Moon Productions, “A Joyful Place – The Brookwood Community,” celebrates the culture of joy that springs from all those who visit the Brookwood campus.
For more details and history — including a view of the new film — anyone can check out the Brookwood Community’s website at www.brookwoodcommunity.org.
Several stories about Brookwood are included in “Godwink Christmas Stories,” a book by SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt, while Yvonne Streit’s book, coauthored by Jana Mullins, “Everybody’s Got A Seed to Grow,” describes Brookwood’s story.
Rushnell and DuArt are also working on a new book due out next year. Anyone can learn more about the Godwinks projects at www.godwinks.com.
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Southwest
Arizona governor vetoes Charlie Kirk memorial license plate, sparking GOP outrage: ‘This bill falls short’
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Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is facing fierce backlash after vetoing a bill that would have created a specialty license plate honoring slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, a move Republicans are blasting as a stunning act of partisanship after his assassination.
Kirk, who was assassinated while speaking at a Sept. 10 Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University, lived in Arizona with his wife, Erika, and two children.
The proposed specialty plate, referred to as the “Charlie Kirk memorial” plate or the “Conservative grassroots network special plate,” featured a photo of the late Kirk and the TPUSA logo in front of an American flag background.
Below the license plate number were the words “FOR CHARLIE.”
A custom Arizona license plate, featuring a Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk design, shared by state Sen. Jake Hoffman. (Senator Jake Hoffman via X)
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Of the $25 fee required for the plate, $17 would be an annual donation deposited into the Conservative Grassroots Network Special Plate Fund, according to the legislation.
While the recipient of the Grassroots Network Special Plate Fund was not explicitly designated as TPUSA in the bill, it noted the director of the fund would allocate revenue annually to a nonprofit organization, founded in 2012, that focuses on restoring traditional values, maintaining a grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses in Arizona, and assisting college students with voter registration and absentee ballots.
People gather at a memorial to mourn Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk outside Turning Point USA headquarters Sept. 12, 2025, in Phoenix. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
TPUSA, founded by Kirk in 2012, is well known for its grassroots activist networks on high school and college campuses. It is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
The $25 fee and annual $17 donation are consistent with the fees for the other 109 nonprofit license plates offered by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT).
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The state Senate passed the bill, 16-2, with the House of Representatives voting 31-23 in favor prior to Hobbs’ veto.
Specialty plates in Arizona are authorized by the legislature and sent to the governor to be signed into law. They have been offered since 1989.
In a letter explaining the veto, Hobbs cited concerns with the bill “bring[ing] people together,” claiming it would “insert politics into a function of government that should remain nonpartisan.”
Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is facing fierce backlash after vetoing a bill that would have created a specialty license plate honoring slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
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“Charlie Kirk’s assassination is tragic and a horrifying act of violence,” Hobbs wrote. “In America, we resolve our political differences at the ballot box. No matter who it targets, political violence puts us all in harm’s way and damages our sacred democratic institutions.
“I will continue working toward solutions that bring people together, but this bill falls short of that standard.”
Specialty license plates with political interests already approved by the state include the “Choose Life” Plate, which benefits the Arizona Life Coalition and its mission to promote anti-abortion advocacy and education; the “In God We Trust” Plate, which benefits conservative Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom; and the Arizona Realtors’ “Homes for All” Plate, which funds affordable housing projects.
Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, speaks during the Turning Point Action conference in 2023 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Lynne Sladky/AP Photo)
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Another approved plate, “Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Plate,” which benefits Solid Rock Teen Centers, features a portrait of the legendary musician, who has made political comments about social issues including gender identity.
Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman, who sponsored the bill, posted a fiery statement on social media after the governor’s action, claiming her “grotesque partisanship knows no bounds.”
“Even in the wake of a global civil rights leader — an Arizona resident and her own constituent — being assassinated in broad daylight for his defense of the First Amendment, Hobbs couldn’t find the human decency to put her far-Left extremism aside simply to allow those how wish to honor him to do so,” Hoffman wrote. “Katie Hobbs will forever be known as a stain on the pages of Arizona’s story.”
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On Saturday, TPUSA COO Tyler Bowyer shared an X post that said, “Deport Katie Hobbs.”
TPUSA, Bowyer and Hobbs’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
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Southwest
Air Force veteran warns ‘cartels don’t collapse — they fracture’ after notorious drug lord killed
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Nearly two weeks after Mexican forces killed notorious cartel boss Ruben “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, questions remain about how the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) will respond and whether the blow will meaningfully disrupt the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
Carlos De La Cruz, a 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran who deployed after 9/11 and later served along the southern border, told Fox News the cartel leader’s death marked a major victory, but warned Americans should not mistake it for the end of the fight.
“When I say that this is a significant win, I mean it,” De La Cruz said. “El Mencho ran one of the most violent cartels on the planet.”
Oseguera, who rose to prominence in the post–El Chapo era, oversaw CJNG’s aggressive expansion across Mexico and into key trafficking corridors feeding U.S. drug markets. Under his leadership, the cartel became a central architect of fentanyl and methamphetamine trafficking and drew a $15 million U.S. reward for information leading to his capture.
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Smoke rises from burning vehicles after a military operation that a government source said killed Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, known as “El Mencho,” in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Feb. 22, 2026. (Screen grab obtained from a social media video. @morelifediares via Instagram/YouTube via Reuters)
But De La Cruz cautioned that removing a cartel kingpin does not dismantle the organization.
“Cartels don’t collapse when you just cut the head off — they fracture,” he said. “And part of that fracture is going to see a lot of short-term violence while all these factions fight over territory.”
Following Oseguera’s killing on Feb. 22, the U.S. State Department issued travel alerts in multiple Mexican states, citing road blockages and criminal activity tied to security operations, underscoring concerns about instability in the aftermath.
Drawing on his military background studying enemy command structures, De La Cruz described the cartel fight as a long-term campaign requiring sustained pressure.
A mughsot of Ruben “Nemesio” Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” beside graffiti depicting the letters of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, covering the facade of an abandoned home in El Limoncito, in the Michoacan state of Mexico. (Eduardo Verdugo/AP Images; Drug Enforcement Administration)
“You don’t win a war with just one airstrike,” he said. “The goal is dismantling the networks and going after their financing.”
De La Cruz, who is running for Congress and is the brother of Texas Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, argued that CJNG’s Foreign Terrorist Organization designation gives U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies expanded tools to target cartel infrastructure and financial pipelines.
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A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle after it was set on fire in Cointzio, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, after the cartel leader’s death. (Armando Solis/AP Photo)
But he stressed that the fentanyl crisis should be viewed as a domestic security emergency, not a distant foreign problem.
“For decades, they were using their territories as launching pads to pump chemical weapons into America — because that’s exactly what fentanyl is,” he said.
De La Cruz, who said he worked side by side with Customs agents while deployed to the border, warned that cartel networks are highly adaptive and that any gains could be temporary without sustained follow-through.
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Smoke rises after violence hit Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (Courtesy of Scott Posilkin)
“These networks, they’re going to adjust. They’re going to adapt and they’re going to adapt quickly,” he said. “We have to continue to go after the money launderers, especially on our side of the border, because that’s the full fight.”
While Oseguera’s death removes one of the most dominant figures in Mexico’s criminal underworld, De La Cruz said the mission is personal.
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“I took an oath to defend this country,” he said. “And I intend to stand by that oath.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
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TUCSON, Ariz. — More than five weeks after the suspected abduction of Nancy Guthrie — the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie — Arizona authorities say cadaver dogs used earlier in the investigation are not currently being deployed as the search continues.
The elder Guthrie is believed to have been kidnapped from her home in the Catalina Foothills in northern Tucson around 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 1.
While no suspects have been publicly identified, and she has not been found, cadaver dogs had been deployed earlier in the case, according to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. They have not been visible in weeks.
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A member of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office remains outside of Nancy Guthrie’s home, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil; Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
“They are available if needed in the future,” he told Fox News Digital.
There are a number of reasons not to be using cadaver dogs at this stage in the investigation, according to Betsy Brantner Smith, a retired police sergeant and spokeswoman for the National Police Association.
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Savannah Guthrie visits the Today show at Rockefeller Plaza in New York on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
One would be if there’s credible information that Guthrie is still alive.
“Anything is possible,” Nanos told Fox News Digital last week, adding that he would not discuss specific leads or evidence in the case.
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Brantner Smith, who is not involved in the case, said departments may hold back K-9 resources for several reasons. Those could be that authorities don’t have a good idea of where to search, they think she might be concealed in a place where dogs would have a hard time detecting her, or they believe she’s been taken to Mexico, according to Brantner Smith.
Law enforcement agents walk around the neighborhood where Annie Guthrie, whose mother Nancy Guthrie has been missing for more than a week, lives just outside Tucson, Ariz. (Ty ONeil/AP Photo)
“I do believe that the sheriff’s department has much more information that they are not releasing to the public,” she told Fox News Digital. “And I’m not sure at this point why that would be, unless they have a solid suspect and don’t want to tip them off.”
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Most departments, including the Pima County Sheriff’s, don’t have their own cadaver dogs and borrow them from state and federal authorities or neighboring jurisdictions.
An investigator looks inside a culvert in the neighborhood where Annie Guthrie, whose mother Nancy Guthrie has been missing for more than a week, lives just outside Tucson, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (Ty ONeil/AP Photo)
In Guthrie’s case, the sheriff’s department sought K-9 assistance from the local Border Patrol office earlier in the investigation.
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PCSD deferred further comment on the K-9s to Customs and Border Protection, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A member of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office walks around Nancy Guthrie’s home on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026 in Tucson, Ariz. (Ty ONeil/AP Photo)
The biggest lead so far has been Nest camera video showing a masked intruder on Guthrie’s doorstep the morning of her abduction.
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He is described as about 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall and of medium build.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, has been missing from her Arizona home since Jan. 31, 2026. (Don Arnold/WireImage/Getty Images)
He was wearing a black Ozark Trail backpack.
Authorities have said they won’t consider the case cold until they run out of viable leads to follow up on — and tens of thousands have come in so far.
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Savannah Guthrie has asked anyone with information to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.
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There’s a combined reward of more than $1.2 million for information that leads to her mother’s recovery.
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