Dog abandoned at Las Vegas airport sparks legal questions about reclaim rights under Nevada law

CNN Newsource on February 25, 2026

By Alyssa Bethencourt

Click here for updates on this story

    LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A case about a dog abandoned at Harry Reid International Airport is now raising broader questions about Nevada law and whether pet owners cited for abandonment can still legally reclaim their animals.

The 2-year-old doodle, later named “JetBlue,” drew national attention after police said his owner tied him to a ticket counter inside the airport and attempted to board a flight. The case quickly went viral, prompting thousands of adoption requests and a closer look at how abandoned animals are handled under Nevada law.

According to an arrest report and documents obtained by Channel 13, officers were called to a JetBlue ticket counter at Harry Reid International Airport on Feb. 2 after an airline employee reported a dog had been left behind.

Police allege that 26-year-old Germiran Bryson arrived at the counter with the dog but was told the animal was not registered to fly and that additional paperwork would be required. According to the report, Bryson allegedly told an airline employee to call animal control because she did not want to miss her flight.

Investigators say Bryson then tied the dog’s leash to a metal baggage sizer and walked toward a security checkpoint. Airline staff denied her boarding and contacted police.

Officers later cited Bryson on a misdemeanor charge of animal abandonment. She also faces misdemeanor counts of resisting a public officer and providing false information to or obstructing a public officer, according to the arrest report. Bryson is scheduled to appear in court March 31.

What happened to the dog

Clark County Animal Protection Services took custody of the dog following the incident.

County officials told Channel 13 that the dog was placed on a 10-day legal hold from Feb. 3 through Feb. 13. During that time, the owner could have come forward to retrieve the animal. The dog was never picked up.

“When it comes to reclaiming an abandoned pet, it depends on the circumstances of the case. In the case you are referring to, the dog could have been reclaimed by its owner. This dog had a 10-day legal hold placed on it from February 3 – February 13. It was cleared to be adopted after that date,” said a Clark County spokesperson.

After the hold period expired, the dog was cleared for adoption and transferred to Retriever Rescue of Las Vegas, which later placed him in a permanent home. The dog was ultimately adopted by one of the officers who responded to the call, according to rescue officials.

Why reclaim was legally possible

The case has prompted questions from viewers about how someone cited for animal abandonment could still have had the opportunity to retrieve the dog.

Animal advocates say the answer lies in how Nevada law treats pets. Under Nevada law, dogs and other companion animals are generally treated as personal property. That means ownership does not automatically transfer simply because an animal is impounded or because an owner is cited for abandonment.

Because Bryson was cited on misdemeanor charges and there was no immediate court-ordered forfeiture of the animal, county officials confirmed the dog remained legally eligible to be reclaimed during the standard holding period.

Advocates call for possible legal changes

The case has sparked renewed discussion among some animal advocates about whether Nevada law should be updated to limit reclaim rights in certain abandonment or neglect cases.

“We need to clean that language up just a little bit and send a strong message that yeah, we’re not playing around in Nevada anymore when it comes to animal cruelty and that’s what it is, plain and simple,” said John Waudby, founder of Nevada Animal Advocates.

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.

Georgia man charged with human trafficking after robbery case leads to arrest, police say

CNN Newsource on February 25, 2026

By Dan Raby

Click here for updates on this story

    GWINNETT COUNTY, Georgia (WUPA) — A Gwinnett County man is in custody facing human trafficking and other charges after police say a separate robbery investigation helped them make an arrest.

Gwinnett County police say their investigation began on Jan. 20, when they responded to a robbery call on the 2000 block of Satellite Pointe in Duluth.

When officers got to the scene, they met with 28-year-old Changze Li, who let them into the apartment where he said a burglary was taking place. As the officers entered the apartment, they reported hearing glass breaking and seeing 30-year-old Dominique Gray bleeding from his hand. Officers used a Taser on Gray after they said he didn’t comply with their commands and threw his phone at them.

Gray was charged with reckless conduct, pandering, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, armed robbery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and kidnapping. During their investigation, officers charged Li with pimping and keeping a place of prostitution.

Weeks later, VICE investigators say they found an online listing believed to be connected with prostitution that matched Li’s phone number.

The investigators set up an undercover sting at an apartment in unincorporated Duluth. There, they say they found Li hiding in a room and arrested him again.

Li is now facing additional charges of keeping a place of prostitution, pimping, human trafficking, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

The Buford man is now in the Gwinnett County Jail without bond.

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.

Woman accused of poisoning family on Thanksgiving could face death penalty

CNN Newsource on February 25, 2026

By Marisa Sardonia

Click here for updates on this story

    HENDERSON COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — A North Carolina woman indicted on murder charges after she allegedly poisoned family members with wine during a Thanksgiving dinner could face the death penalty.

On Tuesday, Feb. 17, the office of District Attorney Andrew Murray filed a motion to hold a Rule 24 pretrial conference in the case of Gudrun Linda Jean Casper-Leinenkugel. A Rule 24 hearing in North Carolina is mandatory for cases where the defendant is charged with a crime punishable by death, as is the case for Casper-Leinenkugel.

Casper-Leinenkugel, 52, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and multiple counts of distributing a prohibited food or beverage, according to arrest warrants.

Court records allege Casper-Leinenkugel killed her daughter, Leela Jean Livis, and is responsible for the 2007 death of Michael Schmidt, both by poisoning. Investigators also allege she attempted to kill her other daughter, Mia Lacey, and Lacey’s boyfriend, Richard Pegg, during a Thanksgiving gathering in November 2025.

Sheriff’s investigators say the wine served during that meal was allegedly laced with acetonitrile, an industrial solvent that converts into cyanide once ingested. Warrants charge Casper-Leinenkugel with knowingly distributing a beverage containing the toxic chemical, which authorities say caused death or serious physical injury.

The warrants state the alleged poisoning of Schmidt occurred in October 2007, while the more recent allegations involve the 2025 Thanksgiving gathering in Henderson County.

Casper-Leinenkugel is being held without bond and is scheduled for a court hearing on Thursday, Feb. 26.

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.

NYC Mayor Mamdani says controversial snowball fight “got out of hand”

CNN Newsource on February 25, 2026

By Jared Ochacher

Click here for updates on this story

    NEW YORK (WCBS) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined Wednesday to say whether he agreed with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch on whether or not people who hurled snowballs at police officers in Washington Square Park Monday should face charges.

At a news conference Wednesday, multiple reporters pressed Mamdani about the incident, and whether his stance that those involved should not be charged has changed.

Tisch said what took place with the officers was “criminal,” and the NYPD has released the images of four people it is looking for in the incident, saying that two officers took themselves to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

“I’ve said that what I saw was a snowball fight, it should be treated accordingly,” Mamdani said Wednesday. “It was one that got out of hand, but that’s what it was.”

He again reiterated that NYPD officers, and all city workers, deserve to be treated with respect.

Separately, reporters also asked Mamdani about President Trump’s comments about emergency snow shovelers at the State of the Union. Mr. Trump praised Mamdani as a “nice guy,” but added “if you apply for that job you need to show two original forms of ID and a social security card.”

“Yet they don’t want identification for the greatest privilege in America,” Mr. Trump added, referring to voting.

“I can tell you I didn’t expect this much attention nationwide on our emergency snow shoveler program,” Mamdani said. He added that more than 1,400 New Yorkers signed up.

Mamdani declined to discuss how often he’s in touch with the president.

“I’ll keep the conversations that I have with the president private,” Mamdani said. “Whenever they do happen, they always focus on how to better our city.”

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.

College student dies of carbon monoxide poisoning after charging phone in car during blizzard

CNN Newsource on February 25, 2026

By Neal Riley

Click here for updates on this story

    NEWPORT, Rhode Island (WBZ) — Police say a college student in Newport, Rhode Island died of carbon monoxide poisoning Monday after charging his phone in a car during the Blizzard of 2026.

Newport police said first responders were called at about 7:20 p.m. to a Bellevue Avenue parking lot to check on a person inside a vehicle. Joseph Boutros, a 21-year-old Salve Regina University student, was found unconscious inside the running car.

“This vehicle was covered in snow and the exhaust pipe was embedded in the snow,” Newport police said in a statement.

Boutros was rushed to a hospital emergency room, where he was pronounced dead of carbon monoxide poisoning.

“This tragic incident was accidental and a reminder to be vigilant to keep exhaust pipes clear of snow and debris when vehicles are idling,” police said.

Boutros was an offensive lineman on the Salve Regina University Seahawks football team. He was a criminal justice and criminology major from Bohemia, New York, according to the school’s athletics website.

“Our community mourns this tragic loss,” Salve president Kelli J. Armstrong said in a statement. “Our hearts ache with Joseph’s family, teammates, faculty, coaches, friends and all who loved him. May perpetual light shine upon him and may he rest in peace.”

According to a National Weather Service report, Newport picked up 34 inches of snow from the storm. The city shared photos of the heavy snow falling on Facebook Monday, and said residents should stay home so crews could clean up the roads.

In Scituate, Massachusetts, officials issued a warning Tuesday about carbon monoxide after four people were hospitalized due to “improperly placed and ventilated generators.”

One generator was put inside a closed garage, the Scituate Emergency Management Agency said.

“Make sure that your generators are at least 20-25 feet away from your home!” the agency said.

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.

Man whose daughter is battling cancer arrested by ICE

CNN Newsource on February 25, 2026

By Chris Hoffman

Click here for updates on this story

    SEWICKLEY, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — A Sewickley man whose daughter is battling cancer was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Family representatives said Bruno Guedes da Silva was arrested Sunday morning while on his way to work at the corner of Beaver Road and Orchard Street in Glen Osborne. They said a black SUV pulled him over and agents in green vests took him without asking for any documentation.

In a statement, ICE said Guedes da Silva was wanted on a warrant for felony charges of sale or transfer of firearms and unsworn falsification to authorities. Congressman Chris Deluzio said Guedes da Silva had a work authorization, but ICE said that employment authorization doesn’t confer any legal status.

Family representatives said he and his wife were seeking asylum from Brazil. ICE said he came to the United States in 2022.

“This is the last thing somebody in that position needs, to have their life interrupted in that way, unilaterally with very little options,” said immigration attorney Joseph Murphy, who is not working with Guedes da Silva.

This is the latest ICE arrest in the Pittsburgh region. Last month, Oakmont father Jose Flores was arrested while getting ready to take his daughter to school. He was released days later.

Murphy believes the idea is to arrest fathers and cut off income to the family.

“I believe the thinking is to send dad back and maybe they will follow him back home. It also has the convenient effect of avoiding the kids in cages problem because you don’t have to detain the family,” Murphy said.

Murphy says the administration appears to be trying to turn back the clock and detain people now when they should have been detained at the border.

“From a sociological perspective, it’s chaos,” Murphy said.

Guedes da Silva is at a detention facility in West Virginia. A family representative said he last spoke with his wife while he was still in Pittsburgh. His wife is now taking care of the couple’s children, including a daughter battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Murphy said it’s becoming hard to give clients advice on what they should be doing to prevent being detained.

“The laws seem to change every couple of weeks,” Murphy said. “Advice I gave people three months ago is no longer good. This is a big problem.”

Sewickley Borough Council has a meeting on Tuesday night, and people plan to attend to voice their concerns on the situation.

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.

NICU patient heads home after 285 days – decades after her mother was born at same hospital

CNN Newsource on February 25, 2026

By Natasha Brown, Nate Sylves

Click here for updates on this story

    VOORHEES TOWNSHIP, New Jersey (KYW) — A celebration months in the making unfolded Tuesday for Baby Myla in South Jersey. After spending more than nine months in the neonatal intensive care unit at Virtua Voorhees Hospital, Myla was discharged and headed home with her mother.

“She came at 24 weeks on the dot, she was 1 pound. This was the hardest thing I’ve ever in my life been through, it’s very, very challenging,” Myla’s mother Chi Obidike said.

Obidike was also born prematurely at the same hospital more than 30 years ago and cared for by some of the same doctors who helped save her daughter’s life.

“I was born here 31 years ago by the same doctor, Dr. Goldsmith, so it was an honor for him to also take care of my baby girl as well,” Obidike said.

“I took care of mom 30 years ago, and now I’m taking care of mom’s baby, so technically that would make her my grand patient,” neonatologist Dr. Leonard Goldsmith said.

Myla was born prematurely and faced significant health challenges, including lung disease and a congenital heart defect. Her road to recovery was lengthy and required extreme care.

Myla became such a member of the Virtua NICU family that doctors say there was a line of people on any given day waiting to give her cuddles.

“Two hundred and eighty-five days, that’s nine months, and as a mom myself, you know, you think about how much happens in those first nine months, and she had to do all of that here,” NICU social worker Kasey Hewitt said.

“She is going home oxygen-free, she is going home without a feeding tube, it’s a really big day and an important day in her life, in her family’s life and in our lives in the NICU,” said Renee Smith, the hospital’s NICU nursing director.

Myla left the hospital with all the love and fanfare she deserves. She’s a happy, healthy, unforgettable baby who’s inspired and touched many.

“I appreciate it so much,” Obidike said. “I think it’s beautiful to see the amount of love everyone pours into her. Sometimes it overwhelmes me because I’m like, I hope I can give her that amount of love at home.”

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.

Video shows plow driver blast man with snow. He believes it was intentional.

CNN Newsource on February 25, 2026

By Ross DiMattei

Click here for updates on this story

    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — A man in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood said a snowplow driver deliberately dropped his blade and blasted him with snow and ice while he was shoveling before work Monday morning.

Jeff Hart, a longtime Fishtown resident, said he believes the act was intentional and is speaking out because he fears someone could be seriously hurt.

Hart said he woke up early to shovel a path connecting the office building where he works to York Street. As he cleared snow along the sidewalk shortly before 9 a.m., a plow truck approached.

“I got to right about here, and I just started shoveling back,” Hart said. “I turned a little bit this way, and that’s when I just heard boom! And it just plowed me with snow.”

Hart said he wasn’t hurt, but chunks of ice struck him with force.

“I guess I got lucky because I felt the chunks hit me,” he said. “It definitely felt like getting punched, because it was big blocks, chunks of ice.”

Hart reviewed footage from multiple surveillance cameras and said it shows the plow blade was raised as the truck approached, then lowered just before it reached him.

“His plow stays up in the air — no snow, no slush is moving — until he gets kind of where we’re standing, like two cars before it, and then the plow goes down,” Hart said. “And right after he passes me, the plow goes back up again.”

About a block away, Hart said he saw the same truck spray snow and ice onto an elderly man carrying bags on the opposite side of the street. That changed his reaction to the incident.

“I didn’t mind so much when it happened to me because me and my friends thought it was hilarious,” Hart said. “For me, luckily, I didn’t get hurt. But seeing what he did to that guy, it’s like, ‘That’s dangerous,’ especially because I know it was ice and snow.”

Using surveillance video, Hart isolated a freeze-frame image of the unmarked truck. He believes it may belong to a private plow driver and wants the person responsible held accountable.

“To hit someone that I’m pretty certain was a senior citizen, that’s just not right,” Hart said. “At that point, you’ve got to be held accountable for something like that. That’s not a joke anymore.”

Hart said he is considering filing a police report.

Philadelphia police said they have not received other reports of similar behavior. A spokesperson said if investigators can prove the act was intentional, it could be considered a crime.

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.

Man set multiple fires around his home because he “needed to kill the spiders,” police say

CNN Newsource on February 25, 2026

By Joe Brandt

Click here for updates on this story

    POCONO PINES, Pennsylvania (KYW) — Police in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains region are looking for a man who allegedly burned down his home and his neighbors’ homes in an effort to avoid spiders.

Sean McDermott, 36, of Pocono Pines, is wanted on charges of felony arson and aggravated arson, as well as other offenses, according to the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department.

Authorities were called out to the residences near the Pinecrest Lake Golf and Country Club around 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23, for a report of a fire.

The fire started in one townhome on Uncus Lane, but spread to and consumed three other homes connected to it, according to police.

Fire crews battled the blaze for about eight hours, braving high winds, ice and frigid temperatures before bringing it under control, according to the Tobyhanna Township Volunteer Fire Company. At least seven neighboring fire companies assisted in the response.

An unidentified witness told officers they saw McDermott setting multiple fires in his home throughout the day, and that he had a smoldering fire going on the floor of his home. He then put a loveseat on top of the fire, the witness said.

“McDermott stated that he needed to kill the spiders within the residence,” the police report stated.

The witness said he kept putting out the fires, but McDermott kept re-lighting them. The two eventually left McDermott’s home and returned to find it engulfed in flames, according to police.

McDermott then fled the area in a U-Haul truck and has not yet been located. He is considered a fugitive, and anyone with knowledge of his location should call 911 or contact Pocono Mountain Regional Police.

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.

How Negro Leagues star Mahlon Duckett’s legacy is being kept alive on Pennsylvania Turnpike

CNN Newsource on February 25, 2026

By Kim Hudson

Click here for updates on this story

    BUCKS COUNTY, Pennsylvania (KYW) — Drivers might not realize it while heading down the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but local Black history and sports history are being celebrated just off the highway, with the tip of an unusual baseball hat.

In an unassuming building by the Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls in Bensalem, Bucks County, 33-year Turnpike Commission veteran Eric Paul settles in every day with that hat on display over his shoulder.

“I have to keep it close,” said Paul, the commission’s regional facilities operations manager.

Meanwhile, at the commission offices in King of Prussia, Montgomery County, retired coworker, 73-year-old Ronald Duckett, pored over memories of his late dad.

“Pictures in here that I love,” Duckett said. “It’s a legacy.”

Paul and Duckett bonded over their work for the turnpike and that same hat. The white letter G on the red cap stands for Grays, as in the Homestead Grays Negro Leagues baseball team out of Pittsburgh. Paul sees it to remember Duckett’s father, Mahlon Duckett.

Ronald Duckett said the hat speaks to the team where his dad ended his career after starting with the Philadelphia Stars in 1940.

“He played for the Stars,” Ronald Duckett said. “He actually played for 10 years in the league, and he played for nine years with the Stars. His last year was with the Grays.”

After Ronald Duckett shared memories of his father, Paul said he rushed to get the hat.

“I went instantaneously online and purchased it,” Paul said.

What did Paul learn about the player? Thanks to a documentary by the Philadelphia Phillies, fans could hear from Mahlon Duckett himself.

“My father was for it, but my mother wasn’t,” Mahlon Duckett said in an interview for the documentary titled “They Said We Couldn’t Play.” “Because at that time in 1940, we had a lot of problems in the South. She knew a lot of the games would be played there.”

But the second baseman bravely played for the Stars despite fears he would be assaulted when Negro League teams sometimes played White teams.

“They would sharpen their spikes,” Mahlon said. “You had to know how to get that ball and make the double play and get out of the way. Like I said, I have a couple scars on my knee now.”

Rob Holiday, director of amateur scouting administration for the Phillies, which held a ceremonious Negro Leagues draft in 2008, said Mahlon Duckett’s famous speed would have made the player a perfect fit in today’s major league team.

“I could see him being a good utility infielder playing all around the infield and coming in and steal a base at the end of the game and helping the Phillies win,” Holiday said.

Playing through it all is what inspired Paul to tell anyone who would listen about Mahlon Duckett, even after the player died in 2015 at 92 years old.

“Just bring notice to them that because of those men that did sacrifice, I am where I am now,” Paul said.

And to think, this story lives on with the passing on of this baseball cap.

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.