Page 31 - atoday sept 24

PEOPLE & ARTS A31
Shelter dogs in new PBS series help Massachusetts county
SUE MANNING
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A
mutt from a Massachusetts
animal shelter who got a
new life as a K-9 drug-de-
tection dog stars in an up-
coming episode of a new
PBS series called “Shelter
Me: Partners for Life.”
The Worcester County sher-
iff’s department in cen-
tral Massachusetts turned
to the shelter when there
wasn’t enough money
in the budget to replace
its retiring tracking dogs.
The department covers
60 towns, a prison and a
million people. With drug
overdose deaths in Mas-
sachusetts rising, including
1,200 last year, the depart- In this Oct. 24, 2013 photo from the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office shows service dog Nikita visit-
ment needed a good drug ing a criminal justice class at Sutton Memorial High School in Sutton, Mass. Associated Press
detection dog.
Sheriff Lewis G. Evangeli- young, friendly, enthusias- Nikita. Their story is show- Bonaparte’s Retreat.
dis sent Lt. Tom Chabot to tic, smart and free.
find a shelter dog that was Chabot came back with “Shelter Me: Partners for a stray in San Juan, Puer-
Aretha Franklin
has a song _ and a
gift _ for the pope Study: Presidential campaign
In this Dec. 14, 2014 file photo,
singer Aretha Franklin attends
the premiere of “Selma” in
New York. historic visit to the U.S. He the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Val-
Associated Press D.C., on Tuesday, and will
NEKESA MUMBI MOODY
AP Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Getting
Aretha Franklin to sing for
you could be considered a
gift in itself. But the Queen
of Soul has something spe-
cial for Pope Francis when
she performs for him at the
Festival of Families concert
in Philadelphia on Satur-
day.
Franklin told The Associat-
ed Press that she’ll present
the pope with a box set of
sermons by her father, civil
rights activist C.L. Franklin,
a famous preacher in his
own right. “Almost every-
thing that he recorded is in
that set,” she said Wednes-
day.
She’s one of several sing-
ers, including Andrea Bo-
celli and Juanes, set to
perform during the pope’s
arrived in Washington,
visit New York before end-
ing his trip in Philadelphia.
Franklin praised the pope
for his attention to the
poor: “He impresses me in
just being a very, very kind- made more news at this
ly pope.” Franklin, who has
performed for presidents,
civil rights leaders and a
host of luminaries, sang for
Pope John Paul II when he
visited Detroit in 1987.
“When I was called to sing,
his motorcade was just
coming into Hart Plaza, so
I don’t know if he heard
the performance or not,
but the P.A. system was
so loud, I’m pretty sure he
did,” she said.
Franklin said she felt “most
appreciated” to be includ-
ed in the concert.
“Just to be held at this lev-
el of esteem at this junc-
ture of my career is really
great,” she said.q
Thursday 24 September
out to me, stuck to me,
screaming for us to take
him,” Chabot recalled.
In no time, Nikita was a lo-
cal rock star with a follow-
ing that counted students,
inmates and residents.
Drug seizures at the prison
even dropped.
Last year, another Sterling
dog named Jaxx, also from
San Juan, joined Nik on the
Worcester squad.
The department saved
tens of thousands of dollars
by picking dogs from shel-
ters, training them for eight
weeks instead of six months
or two years, and getting
that training from the near-
by Plymouth County Sher-
iff’s Department.
Chabot doesn’t have to
buy anything but food for
Nik, said filmmaker Steven
Latham, who created the
series. A veterinarian do-
nates the dog’s medical
care. A group of residents
got him a bulletproof vest
and an alarm that notifies
Chabot and opens patrol
car doors if it gets too hot
while he’s sitting inside.q
cased in an episode of Nikita was picked up as
Life” airing on PBS begin- to Rico, when he was 3
ning Oct. 1 (local listings at months old and 25 pounds,
ShelterMe.TV). A second and brought to the Sterling
profile on the show will look Animal Shelter in Sterling,
at singer Emmylou Har- Massachusetts, Chabot
ris and her animal rescue, said. “He was reaching
coverage outpacing past
In this Sept. 16, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candi- counted for two-thirds of
dates, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, right, and Donald Trump the coverage, partly be-
both speak during the CNN Republican presidential debate at cause of the two debates
and partly due to Donald
ley, Calif. Trump. The GOP front-
runner accounted for 29
Associated Press percent of the campaign
coverage himself, Tyndall
NEW YORK (AP) — By one an analysis by the Tyndall said. The two GOP debates
measure, the 2016 presi- Report, which studies the have attracted record-
dential campaign has content of these programs. setting audiences for Fox
The previous high of 462 News Channel and CNN.
early stage than any of the minutes at this point came The three programs have
six previous contests. in 2007, another year when also spent virtually the
ABC, CBS and NBC have no incumbent was run- same amount of time on
devoted 504 minutes to ning. Tyndall made no such the controversy involving
campaign news on their measurements prior to the Democrat Hillary Rodham
evening newscasts through 1992 campaign. Clinton’s emails as it has on
last Friday, according to Republicans have ac- her campaign, the report
said.
NBC’s “Nightly News” has
spent 215 minutes on the
campaign, the “CBS Eve-
ning News” 161 minutes
and ABC’s “World News
Tonight” 128 minutes, Tyn-
dall said.
Measurement of the presi-
dential campaign began
at the start of the 2015 cal-
endar year.q