Author: CNN Newsource

By Meghan Daniels

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    TROY, Michigan (WXYZ) — Michigan is home to several species of owls, but their future depends on having the right habitats. From old trees with nesting cavities to quiet wooded areas, experts say these raptors rely on spaces that are disappearing across the state.

The Troy Nature Center is educating visitors about why protecting owl habitats is crucial to our ecosystem through hands-on encounters with rescued owls.

When you walk through the trails at the Troy Nature Center, you might not expect to come face-to-face with a great horned or screech owl. But staff say these raptors aren’t just crowd-pleasers—they’re teaching visitors why owls are so important to Michigan’s ecosystem.

“This is Rito. He is an eastern screech owl, and this is one of the most common species that you’re going to see living around your neighborhoods,” said Christina Funk, lead naturalist for the Stage Nature Center in Troy.

Rito and his fellow owl Sam each have their own story.

“Sam was rescued when she was a baby. She was a nestling. She had fallen out of the nest and been attacked by a dog,” Funk said.

“She’s what we call an imprint, which means that she relates more to other people than they do their own species,” Funk said.

The center uses these raptors as ambassadors to explain to visitors the crucial role owls play in the environment.

“Mice are a pretty good meal for them,” Funk said.

“They can also eat little types of bugs … out in the wild, they’ll eat little insects, sometimes things like moths, beetles,” Funk said.

But while they’re good hunters, the biggest threat to their survival isn’t prey—it’s people.

“Screech owls like to have their nests inside of cavities and trees. And if we’re cutting down those kind of trees, especially since those are oftentimes the trees that don’t look as nice, then they’re losing their homes and they don’t have a place to nest,” Funk said.

An even bigger danger is rat poison. Funk says there are safer ways we can keep rodent populations in check.

“Putting up a screech owl house is a great thing to do because if you attract screech owls, they will eat the rodents,” Funk said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. WXYZ’s editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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By Ford Hatchett

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    GLENDALE, AZ (KNXV) — A Valley family continues searching for their beloved emotional support dog Sir Chauncey, who was allegedly stolen more than a year ago from their front yard in broad daylight.

On September 19, 2024, at approximately 6:45 p.m., surveillance video captured a white Jeep arriving in front of the victim’s residence in Glendale.

Per court paperwork, the detailed surveillance footage shows a male and female getting out of their vehicle on the sidewalk in front of the residence and trying to call the dog sitting in the front yard to them. The dog does not respond initially and appears to walk out of camera view toward the back gate before returning to the front yard.

The paperwork says the woman is then seen trying to call the dog to her, but it continues to not respond. She eventually enters the front yard and moves toward the dog until she is next to it. The dog continues to not acknowledge her. She then picks Sir Chauncey up and carries him out of the front yard and across the street to the Jeep.

The video shows the suspects conversing with an unknown neighbor walking by, who appears to point toward the victim’s residence. Court paperwork says the video ends as they open the rear driver’s door of the Jeep with the dog standing on the ground with them, prior to the dog being loaded and the vehicle leaving.

A dog’s breeder provided purchase documents showing Sir Chauncey was valued at $10,000, though the family paid $5,300 for him. Initially, the Jeep and its occupants could not be identified and the case was discontinued.

On December 23, 2024, the victim reached out to police with information about a Jeep they observed that matched the vehicle and occupants from the surveillance footage. The license plate was found to be registered to a male subject who matched the appearance of the man seen in the video. Court records say through surveillance of the Jeep, police identified the male’s girlfriend, who matched the female seen in the video surveillance footage.

On February 12, 2025, the girlfriend was contacted, read her Miranda rights and interviewed. She admitted to being the female in the video and confirmed her boyfriend and his Jeep were also seen in the footage.

However, court records say she stated they did not steal the dog. She said they were in the area because she was getting her hair done a couple houses away and observed the dog running around the street. She allegedly told investigators she loves dogs and wanted to check on it.

She said they checked the collar and did not see any contact information. She said they spoke to a neighbor who pointed out where the dog belonged, but thought the house looked vacant. She said they tried to contact the residence, and no one answered. She told police they did not take the dog and left it there with water. She claimed the video should show them returning the dog and leaving without it.

Records say police discovered the victim’s video surveillance camera is motion-activated and records for a set amount of time with no further movement. The camera recorded the suspects when they were in the front yard area and stopped recording after they crossed the street to their Jeep, believed to be because they were out of range for motion activation.

The victim confirmed there was no further video showing the suspects returning to the yard with the dog, indicating there was no other time they came close enough to activate the camera.

The suspect faces a felony theft charge with an initial court date scheduled for October. However, Sir Chauncey has still not been found or reunited with his family.

The family continues desperately searching and hoping to find their emotional support dog. Anyone with information about Sir Chauncey’s whereabouts should contact Glendale police.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KNXV’s editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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By Eric Fink

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    MARANA, Arizona (KVOA) — The Pima County Sheriff’s Department confirmed 24 guinea pigs that were stolen from a Marana animal rescue on Tuesday, were recovered Saturday.

Authorities say a joint investigation with the Phoenix Police Department led to the recovery of the two dozen guinea pigs after a search warrant was executed at a Phoenix home on Friday. Law enforcement confirms one guinea pig died before it could be recovered.

Surveillance footage from the night of the theft showed two juvenile females at the scene. The suspects were identified as two 14-year-old girls from Phoenix. Heather Jenson, the mother of one of the juveniles and known to the rescue, was also identified as a suspect.

The investigation is ongoing. PCSD said possible charges include burglary and possession of stolen property. The Pima County Attorney’s Office will review the charges.

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By Lucas Kihmm

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    MONONA, Wis. (WKOW) — A dramatic police chase unfolded on Saturday as authorities responded to a reckless driving report involving a tow truck on Highway 51 leaving a Madison police officer injured.

The tow truck was driven by 36-year-old Christopher P. Brugger from Madison and reportedly endangered multiple vehicles before fleeing from police.

Officers arrived at a BP gas station on East Broadway, where the tow truck was spotted. As officers approached, the driver took off and lead police on a pursuit through several parking lots and roads, including Monona Drive and Broadway.

During the chase, a sedan on the truck’s flatbed slid onto the roadway, and the truck struck an object on Highway 51.

The pursuit ended on Terminal Drive when the tow truck collided with a Madison police squad car, causing serious injuries to the officer inside.

Brugger attempted to flee on foot but was apprehended shortly after. He faces charges including felony eluding, reckless driving, and resisting an officer, with additional traffic violations pending.

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office and Wisconsin State Patrol are investigating the crash involving the Madison squad car.

“Our thoughts are with the injured MPD officer, their family and co-workers,” Assistant Chief Deuman said.

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By KADN News Staff

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    LAFAYETTE, Louisiana (KADN) — New details have emerged about a fight at Northside High School that resulted in the arrests of four students. The incident occurred in a boys’ restroom and was captured on video obtained by News 15.

It began as a fistfight between two students and quickly escalated to involve four teens, aged 15 to 18. Police reported that one student used a pair of scissors to cut another during the brawl. All four students were arrested and charged by Lafayette police, with three being charged as juveniles.

Lafayette Parish Superintendent Francis Touchet emphasized the importance of parental involvement in discussing violence in schools.

“And it’s so important that all of our parents understand that they need to make sure they have conversations that violence that is taking place in schools is just a total disruption to the educational experience,” he said.

In addition to facing criminal charges, students involved in such fights can also face expulsion from school, according to LPSS.

A.I. assisted with the formatting of this story.

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By Adam Kight

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    PETERSBURG, Indiana (WEVV) — A month-long sting operation to find child predators online resulted in the arrest of four men, according to the Petersburg Police Department.

A news release shared by PPD says the department used “decoys” acting as young children on social media sites as a part of the operation.

According to Petersburg Police, the suspects contacted one of the decoys online, and one of the suspects traveled to meet the child after having a sexually explicit conversation.

Police say they arrested 44-year-old Jason Loveless of Petersburg for felony Child Solicitation when he arrived to meet the child.

Andrew Brothers, 38 of Greencastle, was arrested on a warrant for felony Child Solicitation with the assistance of the Greencastle Police Department.

Kyle Nelson, 30, of Princeton, was arrested on a warrant for felony Child Solicitation with the assistance of the Gibson County Sheriff’s Office.

Logan McKinney, 34, of Huntingburg, was arrested on a warrant for inappropriate communications with a child, a misdemeanor, with the assistance of the Huntingburg Police Department.

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By Niki Kelly

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    Indiana (WFFT) — Gov. Mike Braun denied clemency to death row inmate Roy Lee Ward in an announcement early Monday morning.

“After carefully reviewing the unanimous recommendation from the State Parole Board, I have decided to allow the execution of Roy Lee Ward to proceed as planned for October 10,” he said.

Unless a court intervenes, Ward will be the third person executed since Indiana resumed capital punishment in December 2024, after more than a decade-long pause. Braun denied clemency for another death row inmate, Benjamin Ritchie, earlier this year.

The Indiana Parole Board last week recommended against granting clemency to Ward.

The five-member panel cited the “brutal nature” of Ward’s 2001 rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne, emphasizing that Payne was conscious during the attack and her “final hours living with the injuries that Roy Lee Ward inflicted on her.”

“Candidly, this Board reviews thousands of cases a year, many with gruesome facts, but the victimization of Stacy Payne stood out to us,” wrote parole board chairperson Gwen Horth.

Ward’s legal team has argued in court that Indiana’s current protocol creates a constitutionally unacceptable risk of pain and suffering, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

The inmate’s legal team continues to challenge the use of the drug pentobarbital, citing evidence that it can cause flash pulmonary edema and sensations of drowning. They point to Ritchie’s execution in May, when witnesses reportedly saw the inmate “lurch upward, as if to sit up, in a spasm” after the injection, a reaction they say is “inconsistent with the normal effects of unadulterated pentobarbital.”

In pending federal litigation brought by Ward, the Indiana Attorney General’s office confirmed last week that the Department of Correction has obtained “three sets” of pentobarbital.

Indiana State Prison Warden Ron Neal said in a sworn declaration submitted to the Northern District judge that two of those sets will expire at the end of October and the third set expires in March 2026.

The governor previously disclosed that state officials spent $1.175 million on lethal injection doses over the past year — $600,000 of which was spent by former Gov. Eric Holcomb’s administration on drugs that expired before use. The cost has been between $275,000 and $300,000 per dose.

State officials have not responded to the Indiana Capital Chronicle’s questions about the amount paid for the latest three doses.

The state’s court filings also stressed that DOC is using “manufactured injectable pentobarbital” — not a compounded version — to carry out executions. Manufactured pentobarbital is produced in sterile facilities under federal quality controls, with longer shelf lives and stricter oversight than compounded alternatives, according to court filings.

Ward’s attorneys proposed that executions could be carried out more humanely if DOC administered a “pre-dose” of fentanyl or another opioid before pentobarbital, but Neal said in his declaration that the department “does not intend to use fentanyl as part of carrying out the death sentence” and that it is not included in the prison’s directives.

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By Aaron Hegarty

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — An Omaha mom is celebrating the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of elamipretide for Barth syndrome.

The sign Jordan Karle held outside the White House in late August makes the alternative clear: “We implore the FDA to rescue our babies from certain death.”

Karle’s 1-year-old son Jaylin has Barth syndrome, a condition only 150 people in the U.S. are estimated to have.

At birth, Jaylin’s heart was failing, Karle said. But after beginning elamipretide, Jaylin left the hospital after a month, she said.

Jaylin has had a nightly injection of elamipretide since then, Karle said, but the manufacturer, Stealth BioTherapeutics, would not have been able to support creation for much longer without any FDA approval.

Elamipretide, which has a brand name of Forzinity, was granted accelerated approval on Sept. 19.

Karle and other advocates traveled to Washington, D.C., in August after a second FDA denial this year. While they were there, they landed a meeting with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, Karle said.

Annie Kennedy, the director of policy and advocacy at the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases, says their advocacy and data marked the reasons why the drug ultimately received approval.

Kennedy said approval was complicated by the fact that clinical trial data were for those 12 and older, though infants who see the onset of the condition in early life are the most adversely affected.

Karle said her advocacy is not done because the approval is only for those 66 pounds and above.

She said one in 10 Americans has a rare disease, and not many have an FDA-approved treatment.

“Disease communities tend to work together,” she said. She said they’re collectively advocating for funding for research for those diseases now. That’s something we’re all depending on right now, is to make sure that our federal agencies, our public health systems remain funded.”

The executive director of the Barth Syndrome Foundation, Emily Milligan, told KETV in a statement that she hopes the FDA’s turnaround marks the beginning of a new chapter for rare disease communities.

“We will continue to encourage the FDA to exercise this logic in the post-approval space regarding confirmatory evidence,” she told KETV. “The FDA’s bar must be achievable and realistic for such small populations like the Barth syndrome community to retain access and preserve children’s rights to life-saving medications.”

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