Latest news with #Champion
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
3 injured in Champion car accident, fire
CHAMPION, Ohio (WKBN) — Three were taken to the hospital Saturday following a car accident in Champion. According to the township's fire department, emergency crews were called around 2:30 p.m. to the 5500 block of Mahoning Avenue NW outside the Dollar General for a head-on motor vehicle accident with entrapment and fire conditions. Champion police and bystanders assisted people out of their vehicles. Three people were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Fire departments for Bristol and Bazetta also provided mutual aid. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Resident issues warning after security cameras capture surprising footage of mountain lion in yard: 'If that cat attacks, it's going to hurt you'
One Las Vegas resident, after receiving a motion alert for his backyard security camera, was surprised to see that a mountain lion had entered his yard, local NBC affiliate 3LV reported. The homeowner, William Champion, told 3LV that he was surprised by the sighting. While he's seen coyotes over the years, he said, he had never seen a mountain lion — let alone in his own backyard. It was unnerving, he told reporters. "That was maybe a 100-pound cat, and if that cat attacks, it's going to hurt you," he said. In the video, the mountain lion can be seen sniffing briefly around the yard before settling in for a quick "cat nap" and then continuing on to jump into a neighboring backyard. Champion was perplexed by the lion's foray, describing his area — situated close to a major highway — as a "busy junction" with "lots of moving up and down" and "people on the move pretty much 24/7." He alerted his neighbors of the sighting, warning them to bring their pets inside at night to protect them from any encounters. "Nobody's ever seen anything like that in this area," he said. While this particular neighborhood hadn't seen a mountain lion before, human-animal encounters have become increasingly common with the continued expansion of human settlements. The global human population has exploded in the last two centuries, growing more than eight times its size since 1800, according to Our World in Data. This has resulted in the rapid expansion of settlements, which has meant a corresponding reduction in wildlife habitat. And unfortunately for many species, that means either being forced to struggle in near-urban environments or simply dying off. And in the case of an accidental encounter, both the human(s) and the animal(s) involved can find themselves in grave danger. This can even happen when an encounter has not occurred, but is merely likely. It's a common situation in national parks, where animals can become accustomed to human presence and therefore euthanized to avoid any unwanted interaction. Do you think America is in a housing crisis? Definitely Not sure No way Only in some cities Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. In the case of the Vegas mountain lion, Champion notified Nevada's Department of Wildlife in order to contribute to their monitoring efforts. The agency generally advises residents to contain their pets at night in addition to removing anything that might attract wildlife, particularly food scraps and trash. They also suggested installing motion-activated lights and sprinkler systems to scare animals away. More broadly, in order to coexist with wildlife, you can learn about the native species in your area and how to respond calmly and safely in the event of an encounter. You may also find yourself in a position to rescue a wounded animal and help wildlife in that way. You can also promote continued biodiversity and ecosystem health by installing native plants in order to provide habitat for local pollinators and other species. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
'Devil in the Ozarks': FBI offers $20K reward for capture of former Arkansas police chief on the run
The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the re-capture of a former Arkansas police chief serving time for murder and rape — dubbed "the Devil in the Ozarks" — who escaped on the afternoon of May 25. Former Gateway Police Department Chief Grant Hardin, 56, escaped from the North Central Unit, a medium-security prison, that Sunday afternoon in Calico Rock, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC). The FBI said Hardin has ties to Garfield, Eureka Springs, Holiday Island and Huntsville. "The FBI's Little Rock Field Office is assisting the U.S. Marshal Service, the Arkansas Department of Corrections, and the Arkansas State Police with the search for and apprehension of Grant Matthew Hardin," reads an FBI wanted poster. Texas Escaped Inmate Considered Armed And Dangerous After Psychiatric Hospital Break Former FBI agent Rob D'Amico told "Fox & Friends" Friday morning that Hardin's past as a police chief may give him a unique advantage on the run. Read On The Fox News App "I think it makes it a lot more challenging. He knows how they do it. He knows what they look for, he knows how they follow leads. He knows how they do surveillance," D'Amico said. 'Devil In The Ozarks' Who Escaped Prison Likely Still In Arkansas Area: Officials The former FBI agent noted that there are likely many unmanned, unlocked cabins and sheds in wooded areas around Stone County, which is located East of the Ozark Mountains. ADC Communications Director Rand Champion said during a Wednesday news conference that authorities are fairly confident in the route they believe Hardin took when he escaped prison and his current location in the region. Manhunt Underway After Disgraced Former Police Chief Convicted Of Murder, Rape Escapes Arkansas Prison "Based on the information that we have and the experience of our teams, they feel fairly confident that he is still fairly close to this region," Champion said, noting that "all it takes is one vehicle" for Hardin to use to travel elsewhere, though officials have established a perimeter around the area of Stone County. "As of this time, they are still very confident that he is in the area," Champion said. Massive Jail Break In New Orleans 'Impossible' Without Staff Involvement, Says Ex-fbi Fugitive Hunter Champion said the public should assume Hardin is "a very dangerous individual," and there is a risk he may commit more crimes while he is on the run. It took less than 30 minutes for prison officials to notice that Hardin had disappeared from prison. Photos that the Stone County Sheriff's Office posted to social media show Hardin wearing an ADC-style uniform during his escape through a sally port, though Champion said the uniform he was wearing was not an official uniform. Louisiana Ag Confident Remaining Jailbreak Fugitives Will Be Captured After Officials Make 14Th Arrest Hardin was sentenced to 30 years for murder plus additional time for rape. He pleaded guilty to the 2017 murder of James Appleton, 59, a city water employee who was found shot in the face inside his work truck, KNWA reported. While Hardin was being booked into the state prison around that time, officials submitted his DNA sample into a database. His DNA ended up linking him to the rape cold case of a teacher in 1997, the outlet reported. Hardin ended up pleading guilty in that case in 2019, according to KNWA. The former police chief's escape came two days after 10 prisoners escaped a correctional facility in New Orleans, eight of whom have since been re-captured while two remain at large. Hardin is described as a 6 ft. white male, weighing approximately 259 pounds. The FBI is asking tipsters to call 1-800-CALL-FBI with any information concerning the escapee. Fox News' Stepheny Price and Louis Casiano contributed to this article source: 'Devil in the Ozarks': FBI offers $20K reward for capture of former Arkansas police chief on the run
2 days ago
Bloodhounds hunting 'Devil in the Ozarks' fugitive are seen as key part of manhunt
A bloodhound picked up the scent shortly after the ' Devil in the Ozarks ' escaped from a lockup in northern Arkansas. The hound didn't have to go far to begin the hunt — it lives at the prison as part of a specialized unit that uses man's best friend to help track fugitives. Although the scent of convicted killer Grant Hardin was lost because of heavy rain, experts say that even days after Sunday's escape, the animal's highly developed sense of small can still pick up a fresh trail. Bloodhounds are known for being tenacious trackers, said Brian Tierney, president of the National Police Bloodhound Association. They're playing a key role in the search for Hardin, now in its sixth day. They also save lives, as one young bloodhound did just two weeks ago in Maine. Millie, a 10-month-old hound tracked a 5-year-old girl with autism who went missing from her home on May 16, Maine State Police said. The dog found the girl waist-deep in water in a cedar swamp, the agency said. Authorities credited Millie's dedication and 'incredible nose' for saving the girl. Bad weather confounded the hunt for Hardin, who was serving a 30-year sentence for murder when he escaped from the North Central Unit, a medium-security prison in Calico Rock, Arkansas. The hound found - then lost - Hardin's scent when heavy rains blew through the area, said state prison spokesman Rand Champion. Hardin was tracked for less than a quarter of a mile when the bloodhound lost the trail. The fugitive could have gone in any direction after that. 'That was one of the most frustrating things, that they were able to track him but then they lost him because of the rain,' Champion said. Hardin took almost nothing with him and left behind plenty of clothes, bedsheets and other items that are used to familiarize the bloodhounds with his scent, Champion said. Those items are shared with the dogs to give them the initial scent of the person they are seeking, Tierney said. It's a process that's standard operating procedure for Arkansas' prison dogs. A former police chief in the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, Hardin had been held at the Calico Rock prison since 2017 after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in a fatal shooting for which he was serving a 30-year sentence. Hardin's DNA was matched to the 1997 rape of a teacher at an elementary school in Rogers, north of Fayetteville. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for that crime. Eventually, his notoriety led to a TV documentary, 'Devil in the Ozarks.' Champion said that someone should have checked Hardin's identity before he was allowed to leave, describing the lack of verification as a 'lapse' that is being investigated. Authorities haven't disclosed how many dogs are involved in the manhunt, but the Calico Rock prison is known for its bloodhounds that live in a kennel on prison property. The nearly one dozen dogs at the prison have helped many other agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to track a variety of people over the years, according to a 2021 state audit report on the prison. Southern prisons have a long history of keeping bloodhounds around in case of escapes, like the one featured in country artist Blake Shelton's song 'Ol' Red," about a hound that hunts escaped inmates with "a nose that could smell a two-day trail." Dogs in Arkansas' prison system have also been used to help other agencies find people who are not dangerous, such as missing children, people with special needs or elderly people, Champion said. The bloodhounds tend to raise a ruckus when they find their mark. But the prison system uses other types of dogs in searching for children and vulnerable people who go missing, and those dogs tend to lick people and make friends with them when they are found, Champion said. Fugitives being hunted by bloodhounds have been known to take extreme steps to throw the dogs off their trail, Tierney said. Two convicted killers who broke out of a maximum-security prison in upstate New York in 2015 collected dozens of containers of black and cayenne pepper before their escape. They had intended to use the pepper 'to interfere with tracking dogs they assumed would be part of a manhunt for them after the escape,' a state investigation found. One of the men was shot and killed during the manhunt; another was also shot but survived and was captured. Tierney said he's heard of other methods used by fugitives to evade tracking dogs. Among them: Sleeping in trees could allow one's scent to disperse before reaching the ground, he said. In his first job as a police officer 35 years ago in the college town of Fayetteville, home of the University of Arkansas, Hardin struggled almost immediately, his supervisors said. 'Other recruits do not like Grant,' one wrote in a performance review. After a few months on the job, most shift supervisors concluded that he was 'not suited for police work,' Fayetteville's police chief at the time wrote to the director of the state commission on enforcement standards in the spring of 1991. But after being dismissed by Fayetteville police, he kept getting hired for other law enforcement jobs in northwest Arkansas. In documents and interviews, other police leaders echoed what Fayetteville's police chief had said — that Grant should not have become a police officer. By the time he was the police chief in the small town of Gateway in 2016, 'he was out chasing cars for no reason,' Cheryl Tillman, the town's current mayor, recalled in the documentary 'Devil in the Ozarks.' He's also been described by those who know him as a smart and cunning person who has learned many police tactics over the years and knows how law officers hunt fugitives. 'That individual probably watched the extended forecast before he went out,' Tierney said. 'He would know that heavy rain is going to hinder the dogs.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Bloodhounds hunting 'Devil in the Ozarks' fugitive are seen as key part of manhunt
A bloodhound picked up the scent shortly after the ' Devil in the Ozarks ' escaped from a lockup in northern Arkansas. The hound didn't have to go far to begin the hunt — it lives at the prison as part of a specialized unit that uses man's best friend to help track fugitives. Although the scent of convicted killer Grant Hardin was lost because of heavy rain, experts say that even days after Sunday's escape, the animal's highly developed sense of small can still pick up a fresh trail. Bloodhounds are known for being tenacious trackers, said Brian Tierney, president of the National Police Bloodhound Association. They're playing a key role in the search for Hardin, now in its sixth day. They also save lives, as one young bloodhound did just two weeks ago in Maine. Millie, a 10-month-old hound tracked a 5-year-old girl with autism who went missing from her home on May 16, Maine State Police said. The dog found the girl waist-deep in water in a cedar swamp, the agency said. Authorities credited Millie's dedication and 'incredible nose' for saving the girl. Heavy ra in interrupted the search for Hardin Bad weather confounded the hunt for Hardin, who was serving a 30-year sentence for murder when he escaped from the North Central Unit, a medium-security prison in Calico Rock, Arkansas. The hound found - then lost - Hardin's scent when heavy rains blew through the area, said state prison spokesman Rand Champion. Hardin was tracked for less than a quarter of a mile when the bloodhound lost the trail. The fugitive could have gone in any direction after that. 'That was one of the most frustrating things, that they were able to track him but then they lost him because of the rain,' Champion said. Hardin took almost nothing with him and left behind plenty of clothes, bedsheets and other items that are used to familiarize the bloodhounds with his scent, Champion said. Those items are shared with the dogs to give them the initial scent of the person they are seeking, Tierney said. It's a process that's standard operating procedure for Arkansas' prison dogs. Who is Grant Hardin? A former police chief in the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, Hardin had been held at the Calico Rock prison since 2017 after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in a fatal shooting for which he was serving a 30-year sentence. Hardin's DNA was matched to the 1997 rape of a teacher at an elementary school in Rogers, north of Fayetteville. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for that crime. Eventually, his notoriety led to a TV documentary, 'Devil in the Ozarks.' Champion said that someone should have checked Hardin's identity before he was allowed to leave, describing the lack of verification as a 'lapse' that is being investigated. Bloodhounds live at Calico Rock prison Authorities haven't disclosed how many dogs are involved in the manhunt, but the Calico Rock prison is known for its bloodhounds that live in a kennel on prison property. The nearly one dozen dogs at the prison have helped many other agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to track a variety of people over the years, according to a 2021 state audit report on the prison. Southern prisons have a long history of keeping bloodhounds around in case of escapes, like the one featured in country artist Blake Shelton's song 'Ol' Red," about a hound that hunts escaped inmates with "a nose that could smell a two-day trail." Dogs in Arkansas' prison system have also been used to help other agencies find people who are not dangerous, such as missing children, people with special needs or elderly people, Champion said. The bloodhounds tend to raise a ruckus when they find their mark. But the prison system uses other types of dogs in searching for children and vulnerable people who go missing, and those dogs tend to lick people and make friends with them when they are found, Champion said. Fugitives use spices, other means to foil bloodhounds Fugitives being hunted by bloodhounds have been known to take extreme steps to throw the dogs off their trail, Tierney said. Two convicted killers who broke out of a maximum-security prison in upstate New York in 2015 collected dozens of containers of black and cayenne pepper before their escape. They had intended to use the pepper 'to interfere with tracking dogs they assumed would be part of a manhunt for them after the escape,' a state investigation found. One of the men was shot and killed during the manhunt; another was also shot but survived and was captured. Tierney said he's heard of other methods used by fugitives to evade tracking dogs. Among them: Sleeping in trees could allow one's scent to disperse before reaching the ground, he said. Hardin has troubled past in law enforcement In his first job as a police officer 35 years ago in the college town of Fayetteville, home of the University of Arkansas, Hardin struggled almost immediately, his supervisors said. 'Other recruits do not like Grant,' one wrote in a performance review. After a few months on the job, most shift supervisors concluded that he was 'not suited for police work,' Fayetteville's police chief at the time wrote to the director of the state commission on enforcement standards in the spring of 1991. But after being dismissed by Fayetteville police, he kept getting hired for other law enforcement jobs in northwest Arkansas. In documents and interviews, other police leaders echoed what Fayetteville's police chief had said — that Grant should not have become a police officer. By the time he was the police chief in the small town of Gateway in 2016, 'he was out chasing cars for no reason,' Cheryl Tillman, the town's current mayor, recalled in the documentary 'Devil in the Ozarks.' He's also been described by those who know him as a smart and cunning person who has learned many police tactics over the years and knows how law officers hunt fugitives. 'That individual probably watched the extended forecast before he went out,' Tierney said. 'He would know that heavy rain is going to hinder the dogs.' ___ Associated Press Writer Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
