Southwest
Texas shelter dog becomes impressive police K-9 as he combats fentanyl crisis
A shelter dog has found a new mission in life as a drug-sniffing police K-9 — a transformation that took place just months after the pup was rescued from the streets of Fort Worth, Texas.
“If you talk to me in five years, I guarantee you we’re going to have kilos of records to reflect his service to the city,” Sgt. Charles Hubbard of the Fort Worth Police Department told Fox News Digital.
Rock, a long and dark-coated German shepherd mix, is part of narcotics detection operations that have taken hundreds of thousands of pills off the streets — making him a vital tool in combating today’s fentanyl crisis.
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“I’m talking 20,000, 100,000, 500,000 pills off the street before they ever get out into our community,” Hubbard said of the role narcotics detection K-9s play in law enforcement.
Last summer, then-six-month-old Rock was found wandering around the city with his sister.
The dogs were brought to the Fort Worth Animal Control’s Chuck & Brenda Silcox Animal Care & Adoption Center, where shelter superintendent Anastasia Ramsey recognized that the two pups were special.
“We took them out in the yard, and we did some tennis ball exercises where we tossed the ball to see if they had any interest,” Ramsey said — adding that she and her team tossed the dogs treats to see if they were able to “learn things quickly.”
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“Rock passed with flying colors,” she said.
“He just blew everything out of the water.”
Ramsey’s own husband is a K-9 police officer with the Dallas Police Department, so she said she’s aware of what law enforcement is looking for in a K-9 dog.
She recorded videos of Rock and his sister — and the team from Fort Worth Police Department then took the pair for a two-week trial.
“Anastasia [Ramsey] has got a good eye,” Hubbard said.
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“She knows the traits that we’re looking for … We trusted what she was evaluating out there and everything that she believed proved true because both Rock and his sister completed narcotics training,” Hubbard said.
The officers decided that with Rock’s high energy and high prey-and-hunt drive, the pup would definitely be a fit and would excel.
“You want a dog that’s going to want to go to work every day,” Hubbard said.
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“And I’ll tell you what, every time I get him out of the car, and even when he’s at home off duty — when he comes out of his kennel, he’s sniffing.”
Hubbard said Rock wants to sniff cars, boxes — anything he can get his nose on.
“We can’t do this job without a K-9 like him. It’s the most effective way for us to combat fentanyl, heroin, meth, cocaine, all of it.”
“That’s the most desired trait — that you don’t have to work your dog up,” Hubbard said. “You’re not always saying, ‘Buddy, let’s go, let’s go.’ You just get him out, and he’s ready to go.”
Rock’s sister, Jade, while just as smart, turned out to have a softer personality. She was placed as a school resource K-9.
“Rock is super friendly, very fun-loving,” Ramsey said.
“He seems to enjoy working. He has a lot of energy. And so, pairing those types of dogs with someone who can give them something to do, like a police department, is instrumental in making sure that we set those dogs up for success,” she said.
Rock continued to show his skills. He soon went to work with Hubbard as his handler in a specialized segment of narcotics called K-9 interdiction.
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Dogs in this unit do not apprehend suspects, but work strictly as sniffers to find drugs and contraband.
“In the particular unit we are in, we are task force officers with Homeland Security,” Hubbard said.
“So we’re federal agents under Customs and Border Patrol,” Hubbard added.
“Besides the southern border, international shipments are where both the base opioids are coming through as well as the finished pills.”
Hubbard and Rock can be found on duty at any distribution facility — such as UPS, FedEx or the U.S. Postal Service — checking out bulk shipments.
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“If [we] don’t work the bulk side and have a K-9 that can tell you, ‘Hey, there’s 100,000 pills in this box,’ we’re just never going to know,” Hubbard said.
“And once that hits the street and starts getting dispersed, you’re going to have mass overdoses, and then you’re behind the eight ball — you can’t catch up. So, plainly, we can’t do this job without a K-9 like him. It’s the most effective way for us to combat fentanyl, heroin, meth, cocaine, all of it.”
Rock also has discovered fentanyl in the field on traffic stops, had cocaine alerts in storage facilities and made multiple marijuana finds, Hubbard said.
At the end of a hard day’s work, Hubbard takes Rock home to his family and to his other two dogs, one of whom is a retired police K-9.
“All of our dogs go home with us,” Hubbard said.
“We spend more time with our K-9s than we do with our family because we’re at home with them all the time on the weekends, and then they go to work with us,” he said.
“Three of our six K-9s are shelter rescues now.”
Hubbard said he hopes Rock’s story inspires other police departments to give their local shelters a look when trying to identify a K-9.
“Three of our six K-9s are shelter rescues now,” Hubbard.
“I don’t know that you’ll find another unit [in which] half of their K-9 makeup are rescues.”
Ramsey said she sees it as a win-win situation.
“It’s a double positive,” she said.
“[It’s] for the dogs and the image of shelter pets. Maybe for someone who thinks, ‘Oh, shelter dogs — they’re not what I’m looking for. I want something that can do X, Y and Z’ — well, shelter dogs, in most cases, can do that, too.”
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Southwest
Cowboys' Dak Prescott will not face charges in 2017 alleged assault case: report
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will not face any charges in connection to an investigation into an alleged assault that took place in 2017 after police said they found insufficient evidence to support that a crime had taken place, according to a report.
Prescott, 30, was accused earlier this year of assaulting a woman in the back of a vehicle in a strip club parking lot back in February 2017.
According to The Associated Press, attorneys representing the woman sent a letter to Prescott in January requesting $100 million in exchange for her silence, including that she would not pursue criminal charges in connection with the alleged assault.
But Prescott instead filed an extortion lawsuit in Collin County, north of Dallas, against the woman in March.
“Sexual assault is a despicable crime that no person should ever endure,” the lawsuit read. “Defendants’ false claims in this regard undermine the courage of actual sexual assault survivors everywhere as well as the legitimacy of the horrific traumas they have endured.”
The woman then filed a countersuit and criminal charges, prompting the police investigation.
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But a police official told The Dallas Morning News on Thursday that investigators had found “insufficient evidence” to support the case.
“I want to thank the Dallas Police Department and Dallas County District Attorneys’ office for their thorough investigation of the allegations against Dak Prescott,” Prescott’s attorney Levi McCathern told the outlet. “As we knew they would, they found nothing in their extensive exploration of the facts that would support a criminal prosecution. We are confident that at the end of law enforcement’s investigation into the extortion case that they will find the accuser and her attorneys just as guilty as Dak is innocent.”
“As I have said from the beginning, Dak is a great football player, and an even better human. He would never assault any woman. These false accusations were brought up seven years after the alleged events for one reason and one reason only: to line the pockets of the accuser and her attorneys. Their behavior is an affront to all the true survivors of sexual assault.”
Attorneys for the woman have said they will continue to move forward with their counterclaim. According to ESPN, they filed a motion on Monday to have Prescott’s lawsuit dismissed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Los Angeles, Ca
Universal Studios shares update on new 'Fast & Furious' roller coaster
The new “Fast & Furious” themed roller coaster under construction at Universal Studios Hollywood will open in 2026, the theme park announced on Friday.
“Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift” will be the park’s first high-speed outdoor coaster and will feature “technological achievements never previously employed in a roller coaster,” USH said in a statement.
The ride will launch from the park’s upper lot and descend into the lower lot for a series of banked turns and inversions, including a loop around the Starway escalator. Park officials said its cars will be able to rotate 360 degrees to replicate the drifting seen in the movie franchise’s famous race scenes.
“As Universal Studios Hollywood continues to evolve, the arrival of ‘Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift’ will be a powerful game changer that will infuse a new level of thrill into our already dynamic theme park,” said Scott Strobl, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Universal Studios Hollywood.
The ride’s queue will be a large, red brick, “garage-style structure” in the upper lot, and cars will be modeled after those seen in the films.
The rotating cars, however, won’t just elicit screams. They will also spin riders away from nearby communities so those screams don’t cause a noise issue.
Two half-pipe shields and “pea gravel” filled tracks will also limit noise, the park says on its community outreach website.
Friday’s announcement coincides with the 60th anniversary of the park’s marquee attraction, the Universal Studios Tour, which predates any of its thrill rides.
To mark the anniversary, the park has revamped the tour to allow riders to step off and take photos next to the famous Psycho House and Bates Motel, among other updates.
Los Angeles, Ca
Long Beach declares public health emergency after deadly tuberculosis outbreak
City officials declared a public health emergency Thursday after a tuberculosis outbreak left one person dead and nine others hospitalized.
Health officials said the outbreak stemmed from a group of people who stayed together at a Long Beach hotel room.
As of April 29, 14 cases of tuberculosis (TB) are associated with this outbreak — nine of them required hospitalization and one case was fatal.
Investigators said around 170 people have likely been exposed to the illness. Health officials are in contact with any guests or individuals who were at the hotel during the time the infected people were present.
Tuberculosis is a serious illness that mainly affects the lungs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bacteria is spread through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks.
“Tuberculosis spreads easily where people gather in crowds or where people live in crowded conditions,” Long Beach health officials said. “People with HIV/AIDS and other people with weakened immune systems have a higher risk of catching tuberculosis than people with typical immune systems.”
“Symptoms of TB disease depend on where in the body the TB bacteria are growing,” the CDC explains. “TB bacteria usually grow in the lungs (pulmonary TB). TB disease in the lungs may cause symptoms such as:
- A bad cough that lasts 3 weeks or longer
- Pain in the chest
- Coughing up blood or sputum (phlegm from deep inside the lungs)
Other symptoms of TB disease include:
- Weakness or fatigue
- Weight loss
- No appetite
- Chills
- Fever
- Sweating at night
Most cases of tuberculosis can be treated with antibiotics. However, those taking medication may need to do so for around six to nine months.
The CDC also notes that not everyone infected with the TB bacteria will become sick. As a result, two TB-related conditions exist — latent TB infection and TB disease.
“People who have been infected but are not yet sick have what’s called latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI),” health officials explained. “People with LTBI can take medication so that they do not later get sick with active TB disease.”
The city’s emergency declaration will “streamline the Department’s ability to quickly secure resources and take additional action to contain the outbreak,” Long Beach officials explained. “The population of concern requires outreach and engagement, necessitating significant staff time to perform multiple interactions. The Department has exhausted their resources to manage this response without an emergency declaration.”
The declaration allows the city to implement preventive measures including:
- Mobilizing City resources
- Accelerating emergency planning
- Streamlining staffing
- Coordinating with other agencies
- Expediting the ability of the City to purchase necessary supplies to identify and treat TB
- Allowing for possible future reimbursement by the State and federal governments
- Raising awareness throughout Long Beach about TB
“The risk of TB for people who live, work, study or visit in Long Beach remains very low,” city officials noted. “The Health Department will continue to screen individuals associated with this outbreak and expects the number of cases and contacts to increase.”
The hotel’s name was not released “to protect patient privacy and comply with HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] regulations,” officials said.
More information on tuberculosis can be found on the California Department of Public Health’s website or through the CDC’s website.
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