Month: September 2025

By Riley Rourke

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    ATTLEBORO, Massachusetts (WBZ) — The story of a dog that was abandoned in a cage in Attleboro, Massachusetts, with a sign that said “free” on it was a hoax, police said on Friday.

Originally, police were searching for the owner of a 6-month-old Yorkshire Terrier puppy after it had been left near Bliss Dairy on Park Street on Monday. Two people said they had found the dog on the side of the road and took it to the 24-Hour Seasons Corner Market just before 2 a.m.

They left it with the employee after saying they didn’t know what to do with it. The employee allowed a Pawtucket resident to take the dog home, but later reported the incident to the police after being concerned for the dog’s well-being.

But days later, police confirmed the Attleboro Sun Chronicle’s reporting that the couple who dropped the dog off did not find it on the side of the road, and the story had been made up.

Attleboro Police Chief Kyle Heagney said that the wife had been given the dog by her coworker and brought it home to her husband in Cumberland. Her husband did not want the puppy, so they drove to the store and came up with the story to leave it there, Heagney told the Chronicle.

The dog was handed over to Attleboro Animal Control after police tracked down the Pawtucket resident. The adorable dog will be available for adoption after the city works through the legalities of ownership. Heagney said that there is a significant public interest in adopting the animal.

Police told the Chronicle that they will not press charges for abandonment since it does not meet the legal standard for the charge. The names of the couple have not been released.

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By JT Moodee Lockman, Janay Reece

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    BALTIMORE, Maryland (WJZ) — A 16-year-old girl who was in the custody of the Maryland Department of Human Services (DHS) was found dead in a Baltimore hotel, according to police.

Officers said Kanaiyah Ward was found dead at a hotel in the 800 block of North Wolfe Street on Monday, Sept. 22.

Her cause of death has not yet been determined, but police said the case is listed as questionable, as there were no signs of foul play or trauma.

DHS said it is investigating Ward’s death and said it would hold its contractors accountable if it finds that their standards for care were not met.

“The well-being of Maryland’s children is our top priority, and we will not rest until every child in our state is safe, thriving in a permanent home, and surrounded by loving family,” the agency said in a statement.

Maryland lawmakers react

News of the teen’s death shocked all sides of the political spectrum in the state.

Maryland House Minority Leader Jason Buckel said the incident is “as tragic as it is outrageous.”

“Had this occurred a week ago, it would seem like a terrible but isolated incident. Coming on the heels of the DHS audit last week, we know this is not the case,” Buckel said in a statement. “This appears to be another horrific example of the failure of this department to keep children safe, this time with fatal consequences.”

Ward’s death comes after that audit found that the Maryland Social Services Administration and DHS failed to protect some children in its care from sex offenders and provide basic medical needs to thousands of minors.

“We take the findings of this audit with the utmost seriousness,” Maryland’s Secretary of Human Services, Rafael López, said in response to the audit. “In the one-and-a-half years of the four-year audit period during which I served as Secretary, our leadership team has moved with urgency and challenged the status quo not only with the Social Services Administration, but across the entire department.”

Sen. Clarence Lam, a Democrat who represents Howard and Anne Arundel Counties, previously chaired the audit committee and called the entire incident heartbreaking.

“It’s still early to know the details of what happened here,” said Lam. “I think this is a really tragic case. I think any time that a young individual dies under the state’s care, it is the responsibility that we all have to get to the bottom of what happened here.”

Lam added, “The audit that came last week has indicated that there are many repeat audit findings from several years ago that extend all the way back to 2017.”

Gov. Wes Moore addressed the DHS audit on Monday, saying that the issues with the department did not begin with his administration.

“While these problems might have happened before our administration came on board, we are committed to making sure that they’re being addressed in our time,” Moore said.

Social Services Administration, DHS audit

The audit, carried out by the Joint Audit and Evaluation Committee, also highlighted that children in the care of DHS were being housed in hotels. In one case, a contracted worker had a prior murder conviction in one of the hotels.

“It’s very difficult, I think, for the state to continue to monitor how these children are doing in these types of locations,” Lam said. “In an ideal world, you know, I would hope that we can move away from housing children in hotels and motels, moving forward.”

During a meeting with the state spending board a week before the audit was released, López said the agency has made progress in getting children out of hotels, saying the state moved with “great urgency.”

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By Stephanie Stahl, Nate Sylves

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    PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — A first-of-its-kind medical robot is helping doctors at Nemours Children’s Hospital perform spinal surgeries.

Doctors at Nemours said this robot is making surgery faster and more precise, and it means a quicker and easier recovery for patients.

Rhiannon Groff, 16, is recovering from a new kind of spine surgery performed by Dr. Brett Shannon at Nemours.

The 11th grader has scoliosis, a curvature of the spine.

“I would have a lot of soreness and aching, especially in my lower back,” she said.

To relieve the pain and straighten her back, surgeons place rods like these that are held in place with a series of screws.

“It’s important to make sure that they’re placed exactly in the bone rather than outside into the lung or to the blood vessels or to the nerve roots,” said Shannon.

Doctors said the robot makes spine surgery faster and more accurate. Nemours is the first facility on the East Coast to have this new spinal robot.

“This elevates us to another generation of being able to see what is unseen beneath the surface and understand the three-dimensional geometry much better,” said Dr. Suken Shah of Nemours.

The robot is equipped with imaging to pinpoint the location of the screws. It can also assist in getting them precisely inserted, not touching nearby vital structures, just millimeters away.

Groff said there’s no more pain two months after the surgery.

“When I first heard that it was gonna be assisted by a robot, I honestly thought it was really cool,” she said. “And I’m so glad that it’s helping people like me and people with more serious conditions recover and get better.”

Groff is already stretching, ready to head back to running track pain-free.

The team at Nemours said they’re using the new robot to assist in a variety of spinal surgeries.

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