Following claims of toxic mold at the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, the Michigan Department of Corrections says testing did not show “evidence of systemic black or toxic mold conditions.”

MDOC says it hired Mold Quest International, a third-party contractor, to conduct testing in 2022 and in February and March 2026. Follow-up testing was conducted in May 2026. According to the report, the air quality was “normal at nearly all locations tested, and the limited HVAC vent locations that exhibited minor growth indicators have since been resolved via staff cleaning efforts.”

The report also noted that the “overall indoor air quality exposure at the facility, with respect to fungal contamination, falls within acceptable norms for facilities of this type.”

“The safety and wellbeing of the people in our care is our top priority and that starts with ensuring our facilities are clean, safe, and humane. That’s why we have taken several deliberate steps in recent weeks to improve conditions at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility,” MDOC Director Heidi E. Washington said in a statement. “When I committed to transparency and releasing the summary of environmental findings, I meant it. At the same time, I want to be clear that we recognize this is an ongoing responsibility. We will continue to closely monitor the conditions at the facility and conduct regular cleanings.”  

This comes as women who were formerly incarcerated and Michigan lawmakers have been expressing concerns over conditions at the facility. A class-action lawsuit filed in 2019 alleged that the prison was “operating under a state of degradation, filth and inhumanity.” It was eventually dismissed, and then an amended complaint was filed.   

In the last month, three women have died. Their causes of death are currently unknown, but an investigation is ongoing.

The family of Khaira Howard, who died on May 13, claims the 28-year-old was denied proper medical care while in prison. They claim red flags started almost immediately once she was transferred to the Washtenaw County facility. Meanwhile, two women who served sentences at the prison claimed waiting to see a doctor was just one barrier to getting healthcare.

The MDOC says it has taken “meaningful actions” at the facility to improve health and safety, such as bringing in additional healthcare staff, improving communication processes, and working to hire more full-time medical staff.

Note: The video above originally aired on June 9, 2026.

A 68-year-old Minnesota woman missing for three days was found alive almost completely submerged in mud over the weekend, her rescuers told a local news station.

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Kathryn Jane Woessner, of Alexandria, was found west of Backus, around 80 miles away from the city where she lives, on Saturday, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said this week.

Woessner had been reported missing and had last been seen on June 3, the sheriff’s office said.

The two people who found her, Adam Sandbeck and Mike Gravalin, told NBC affiliate KARE if Minneapolis that they had been riding an off-road vehicle on trails around Backus and Hackensack on Saturday when they found Woessner’s van stuck in the muddy area.

A closer examination showed that there was more than just a vehicle — what they said they thought was a body in a puddle next to the van.

“And then she whispered, ‘Help me,’ and it scared the crap out of me,” Sandbeck told KARE.

All that could be seen was “the round part of her face, like her mouth, her lips,” he told the station. The two men pulled her out and called 911, they told KARE.

Woessner told Sandbeck that she’d fallen in the puddle, which she said “was like quicksand,” he told the station.

She was taken to a hospital after being rescued, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

JEFFERSON CITY — New World Screwworms are back in the United States, with the insect being detected in Texas on June 3rd.

There are currently nine confirmed animal cases in the United States, in Texas and New Mexico.

Because insects are known to affect wildlife, the Missouri Department of Agriculture is working with local producers to mitigate the potential spread.

“We’ve known it’s been moving up through Mexico for quite a while. So, I think most cattle producers, most people knew that it was a matter of time,” said Callaway County cattle producer Doug Frank of Frank/Hazelrigg Cattle Co.

The CDC defines a screwworm as a “parasitic fly that completes its lifecycle by feeding on the tissue or flesh of warm-blooded animals.” The larvae are also referred to as maggots and have been known to be a larger issue for livestock.

“Right now, we’re talking about it a lot in the context of cattle because it’s a huge pest for the livestock industry, obviously…It’ll cause those wounds to be much deeper and much more intense. And especially if they have multiple wounds, that can be really concerning,” said MU Extension assistant professor and entomologist Emily Althoff.

Althoff says the strategy has been to mass-produce sterile males and release them into the wild.

This method controlled their spread in the past, but she believes budget cuts for those programs, and increasingly, illegal cattle trafficking, allow for the invasive spread of screwworms.

“I think the last time that we had them here in the States was in the 1980s. So, we’ve had quite a long period of time for success with this program…in 2022-2023, that time range, we started to see that buffer zone gets breached,” said Althoff.

Althoff added that past migration patterns led screwworms to Missouri.

This is why the Missouri Department of Agriculture is strengthening protocol and being diligent when it comes to transferring livestock in and out of the state.

“Now there are a lot of movement restrictions that have to be followed and monitored to prevent it from moving about,” said Steve Strubberg, State Veterinarian and Director of Animal Health at the Missouri Department of Agriculture.

The most important thing for ranchers and producers to do is to keep a keen eye out for unusual behaviors or signs of illness in their livestock.

“Just signs of an injured or sick animal. So those animals are feverish, not eating well, maybe acting noticeably different, and so forth,” said Strubberg.

The USDA wants people to know this is not a food safety issue.

The screwworm does not pose a risk to beef consumers.

However, the fly’s larvae can cause infestations in humans and all mammals, including pets, such as dogs and cats.

On June 12, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for a drug to treat domestic animals with confirmed cases of screwworm.

The drug is generic nitenpyram.