Los Angeles, Ca

Dog hospitalized after ingesting meth at Anaheim park

Published

6 months ago

June 22, 2024

Dog hospitalized after ingesting meth at Anaheim park

A family is distressed after their dog was hospitalized for ingesting methamphetamine while walking at a local Anaheim park.

On Thursday night, Amy Robbins took her dog, Abbey, a 12-year-old Chihuahua mix, for a short walk from their home to Stoddard Park located at 1901 9th Street.

After visiting the park, they went back home. However, that’s when Robbins said Abbey began acting strangely.

“She was standing very statue-like,” Robbins recalled. “She just stood there for hours, just staring up at the ceiling in my bedroom. That is not like her at all.”

Robbins became increasingly worried. Her husband asked if the dog had eaten anything out of the ordinary during their walk.

“I was like, ‘You know what? She did sniff something. She licked the floor,’” Robbins said. “I went right back down to the park to where it had happened. I looked all around the floor and I found weed.”

Several hours passed by and Abbey’s behavior became more erratic.

“She’s zooming all over the house and can’t stay still,” Robbins said. “She was looking everywhere. I can’t get her to calm down. She was very in distress. She was very anxious.”

Robbins rushed Abbey to an emergency veterinary clinic and told the staff her dog had possibly ingested marijuana.

Upon further examination, however, the veterinarian suspected weed was not involved and asked to run a full blood panel test on Abbey.

“He comes back a few minutes later and he’s like, ‘We found meth in your dog. The test results came back positive for meth,’” she said. “My mouth just dropped.”

The vet said Abbey was at risk of going into cardiac arrest and would need to be hospitalized overnight.

“I was leaving her behind and I didn’t know if I was going to see her again,” Robbins said.

The next morning, Robbins went to the Anaheim Police Department to file a report on the presence of drugs at the neighborhood park. However, she claimed officers were not eager to help or investigate.

“They took down all the details,” she said. “They took down my phone number and then they said, ‘Okay, we’re taking down your phone number, but don’t expect a call from us. We’re not going to do anything about it.’”

Frustrated and upset, Robbins said she went back to the park and spotted drug-related debris that she cleaned up.

“This is the neighborhood park,” Robbins said in disbelief. “People take their dogs on walks here. There is an elementary school right on the other side.”

Since the park has a playground and is in close proximity to a school, Robbins wondered what would’ve happened had a child accidentally ingested the methamphetamine or other narcotics that were littered on the ground.

“There are cars parked on the curb all day,” she said. “There are also homeless encampments all throughout the park. I don’t know if people there are using [drugs].”

As for Abbey, she was treated and is expected to recover. Robbins said the ordeal wreaked havoc on her family emotionally and financially. Abbey spent two nights in the hospital and the bill for her treatment had surged to over $2,000.

“I put it all on my credit card,” Robbins said. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay it all off. I will figure it out. It definitely cost me a lot of stress and money, but I’m just glad that Abbey’s okay. I would’ve paid $1 million if it meant saving her life. I cannot imagine my life without her.”

Robbins said she hopes her story will serve as a warning to other dog owners to be on the lookout the next time they bring their dogs to Stoddard Park.

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Los Angeles, Ca

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins. Here's the history

Published

8 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins. Here's the history

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – Jews around the world are marking the start of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, which celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C. after it was defiled by Syrian Greeks.

This eight-day holiday starts on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, usually falling in December. In 2024, Hanukkah begins at sundown on December 25 and ends at sundown on January 2, 2025.

The story of Hanukkah begins in 168 B.C. when the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes banned Jewish religious practices and desecrated the Second Temple by setting up an altar to Zeus and sacrificing pigs.

This led to a revolt led by the Jewish priest Mattathias and his five sons, known as the Maccabees.

Risha Raskin, 9, Brattleboro, Vt., and her bother Nochum, 4, sing a song before lighting a candle on their menorahs while preparing for Hanukkah on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (Kristopher Radder /The Brattleboro Reformer via AP)
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, top left, with others including Rabbi Abraham Shemtov and Rabbi Levi Shemtov, light the National Menorah in celebration of the first night of Hanukkah, during an event sponsored by the American Friends of Lubavitch, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024, on The Ellipse in Washington. The eight-day Jewish holiday began at sundown and this year coincided with Christmas Day. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, left, and Rabbi Shmuel Segal, right, dance in front of a giant Hanukkah Menorah, after it was set up by the Jewish Chabad Educational Center ahead of the Jewish Hanukkah holiday, in front of the Brandenburg Gate at the Pariser Platz in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
People leave the National Menorah Lighting, an event sponsored by the American Friends of Lubavitch, on The Ellipse in Washington, on the first night of Hanukkah, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. The eight-day Jewish holiday began at sundown and coincided this year with Christmas Day. At center is the White House, with the National Christmas Tree at right. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The Seleucid Empire, one of the successor states of Alexander the Great’s empire, was vast and powerful.

Judah Maccabee, one of Mattathias’s sons, and his followers fought a guerrilla war against the Seleucids.

Despite being vastly outnumbered, the Maccabees won several battles and eventually took back Jerusalem. When they reclaimed the Temple, they found only a small amount of oil left to light the menorah, the Temple’s candelabrum. The oil, believed to only be enough for one day, lasted for eight days.

This ancient miracle is the basis of Hanukkah, which means “dedication” in Hebrew.

Jews celebrate the holiday by lighting the menorah, with one more candle lit each night until all eight are lit on the final night. Traditional foods like latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts) are fried in oil, symbolizing the miracle of the oil.

Other customs include playing the game of dreidle and exchanging gifts.

Although Hanukkah is not as religiously significant as holidays such as Passover or Yom Kippur, it holds a special place in Jewish culture as a reminder of the Jewish people’s resilience and faith in the face of oppression.

Los Angeles, Ca

Loved ones searching for missing Los Angeles County woman

Published

19 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Loved ones searching for missing Los Angeles County woman

Homicide detectives and loved ones are searching for a missing Los Angeles County woman.

Maria Benitez, 41, was reported missing on Dec. 21, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The woman, who is considered at-risk, was last seen on the 5500 block of Lindsey Avenue in Pico Rivera around 12:30 p.m.

Maria Benitez, 41, was reported missing on Dec. 21, 2024. (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)
Maria Benitez’s gray 2008 Nissan Altima sedan with California license plate number 6EPB787. (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department)

Family members said Benitez suffers from medical conditions and requires medication. They haven’t heard from her since her disappearance concerned for her well-being and asking for the public’s help.

She is described as a Hispanic woman standing 5 feet tall and weighing around 100 pounds. She has brown hair, brown eyes and a scar on her right ankle. She was last seen wearing a black shirt and black pants.

Her vehicle is described as a gray 2008 Nissan Altima with California license plate 6EPB787.

Anyone who knows Benitez’s whereabouts or has information on her disappearance is urged to call the LASD’s Homicide Bureau Missing Persons unit at 323-890-5500.

Anonymous tips can be provided to L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.

Los Angeles, Ca

Outage leaves 40K Southern California Edison customers in dark on Christmas Eve

Published

1 day ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

Outage leaves 40K Southern California Edison customers in dark on Christmas Eve

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) – Some 40,000 Southern California Edison customers were without power on Christmas Eve after a transformer failed in the Downey-Norwalk area earlier in the afternoon.

According to SCE’s outage map, the problems began around 1:30 p.m., with Kathleen Dunleavy, a spokesperson for Southern California Edison, telling KTLA that the utility company did not have a timeframe for when power would be restored.

“Our crews are on scene working to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible. We recognize that this is a tough time to be without power, right before a holiday,” Dunleavy said. “We recognize that this is an incredibly important situation, and we want to get the power back up for our customers.”

A view from Sky5 of a power outage in the Downey-Norwalk area affecting some 40,000 customers on Dec. 24, 2024. (KTLA)

Metro’s C (Green) Line trains were temporarily halted between the Norwalk and Willowbrook/Rose Park stops as a result of the outage, though normal C Line train service resumed right around 5 p.m., Metro officials said in a post to X, formerly Twitter.

Officials in the City of Downey deployed police to help manage traffic control at intersections where traffic lights were out.

“We encourage residents to exercise caution when driving through affected areas,” officials said in a statement.

There were also reports of last-minute Christmas shoppers perusing the darkened aisles of local retailers also affected by the outage.