CINCINNATI —

The letters that spelled out the name of football legend Paul Brown were taken off of the front gate of the stadium Wednesday to make way for a new name.

However, it seems like the county is more interested in the fine print of the naming rights contract.

“From a fan perspective, I was excited about it, but also as a county commissioner,” said Hamilton County commissioner Alicia Reece. “But, let’s put the emotion aside and get into what’s in black and white.”

Reece said she’s in favor of the new naming rights that will make the home of the Bengals, Paycor Stadium, but she’s concerned about some of the details.

The contract says that after the first $16.6 million, they split naming rights money with the Bengals getting 70% and the county getting 30%.

Reece said there are some other layers to the contract that her financial team has analyzed and determined that the county will get a much smaller amount than that.

There is also a clause that has the county paying for “fulfillment costs.”

Those are things like advertising, private suites, club seats and tickets among others and there is no cap on those costs.

Reese wants to renegotiate the deal because the county contract only extends to 2026 and the naming rights contract runs 13 years beyond that.

“We’re happy that it’s a local company. We’re happy for the Bengals. What I’m trying to get to is a win, win, a win for the local company, a win for the Bengals and a win for the taxpayers,” Reese said.

A little town nestled in rural Indiana is named after the man in the big red suit, and that’s not by accident. Santa Claus, Indiana, is home to the only Santa Claus post office in America. He gets thousands of letters every year from kids all over the world.

“Santa needs a lot of help because Santa is busy making toys, busy getting ready for the big trip, getting the sleigh ready. The elves are working very hard, so we have to ask for help for Santa to answer all these letters," Mrs. Koch said. “I grew up with Santa Claus in my home.”

Her father found his calling early, as one of Santa's helpers

“And by the way, the beginning of my father being Santa Claus happened when he was 19 years old on the USS New York on Brooklyn navy yard as a young sailor," Mrs. Koch said. “And he said, and these are his words, 'Dear God, if I live through this war, this is what I will do. I will make children happy by being Santa Claus,' and he was.”

For 54 years, he carried out that work in Santa Claus, Indiana.

“I found those letters that my father had answered in the 30s and of course children were asking for underwear, socks and mittens. Now Xbox and computers and sometimes I don’t even know what they are talking about," Mrs. Koch said.

Mrs. Koch is an expert when it comes to the letters written in English, but when she gets letters in other languages, that’s when more of Santa’s helpers step in. Anja is from Switzerland. She read a letter from a girl in Germany who is worried about the pandemic.

"She says, 'I hope all the people will learn to live with COVID next year,'" Anja said.

It’s some of the same things kids in America are writing about.

“One child said, please wear gloves when you get my letter out of the envelope," Mrs. Koch said.

This is an opportunity for these foreign-exchange helpers to see just how similar kids are all over the world.

“It’s so cool to see that it’s all over the world and that we have something in common," Anja said.

“Santa is real. Santa is just so special and so magical and so much beyond what our world is," Mrs. Koch said. “Santa Claus is what’s wonderful. A caring, loving, giving, selfless human being that makes people happy, that sacrifices on that sleigh by going all over the world to make everybody happy, not picking and choosing everybody.”

The letters are far beyond a piece of paper. They are magic, spirit, and a reminder that every child, no matter where they are, is being heard and is loved by Santa.

“Ya know, I always say we should keep the spirit all year. What a wonderful world it would be," Mrs. Koch said.

If you'd like to donate to help keep the letters alive every year, click here.

KENOSHA, Wis. —

In the days following the not guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, clerks filed more than 100 pages of letters to the court expressing praise and anger.

Copies of the letters, obtained by sister station WISN, show some of them were written as the jury deliberated Rittenhouse's fate and after the jurors acquitted the now 18-year-old from Illinois.

The letters were from at least 22 states outside Wisconsin and mainly focused on the polarizing circuit judge, Bruce Schroeder.

"If it had not been for you, that precious, intelligent, wholesome, motivated & alltogether [sic] adorable young man would have been a life wasted," a woman from Ohio wrote.

One of the most high-profile letters of support came from a special prosecutor in Louisiana, Hugo Holland, who also had previously been forced to resign in a firearms acquisition scandal.

"I would not have even bothered to take the Rittenhouse case to a grand jury. I would have pronounced it a good shoot and been done with it," Holland wrote to Schroeder.

The judge did receive several letters from critics as well.

A person from Ohio voiced their "displeasure towards Bruce E. Schroeder because of his obvious and blatant ways of favoritism that he has shown towards the defense."

The person added, "I hope this old and senile person who claims to be a man of the law can rest his head at night..."

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A man watching the trial from New Mexico took his criticism further, writing, "It is disgraceful to interrupt justice as it appears you are trying to do."

He added, "I am going to write to the board of judicial review and ask that you be seriously reviewed by them."

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Among the 115 pages filed Nov. 22 and 23 were two letters addressed to Rittenhouse directly.

"If I had been your father, I never would have let you go downtown," a man from New York wrote to Rittenhouse.

He added in the next sentence he thought Rittenhouse's intentions were "laudable and well meaning."

Investigative producer Jennie Fritz contributed to this report.

MOORHEAD, Minn. (Video: WDAY via CNN) —

For more than 30 days, Val Laidlaw wrote letters to her son while he was hospitalized with COVID-19.

Although she became a cheerleader for her son, the words she wrote have brought comfort to others.

Kyle Roos had gone to North Dakota State University to become a pharmacist, later worked and raised his family in the Twin Cities and was "a proud hockey dad of a girl," his mom said.

Because he had asthma, Roos was careful when the pandemic hit, but eventually tested positive and was hospitalized.

Laidlaw told WDAY she wrote her son a letter the first day of his battle.

"Dear Kyle, I know you are fighting. It is in your Viking blood. I remember you before your first breath. So still that for a moment, then you breathed in and let out a strong cry," her letter read. "You are a warrior, you are fighting a tough battle and you needed another weapon. Now you have it. We are all hopeful and praying for you, Kyle."

Every day, Laidlaw continued writing a letter to her son. She never missed a day.

"I just wanted him to know how proud I am of him and how happy and honored I am to have been his mom," Laidlaw said.

The hope was that Roos would recover and be able to come home and read the letters and share them with his daughters. But just hours before Christmas, his loved ones and friends said goodbye to him on a video call.

That's when Laidlaw wrote a letter no mom could imagine writing. The last one.

"You put up such a strong battle Kyle, I am so proud of you," she wrote.