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Jose Alfaro grew up in a small, conservative town in Texas. “I wasn’t as masculine as the other boys in school. And I really, really struggled with that,” he told Inside Edition Digital. After he was forced to leave home as a teen because of his sexuality, Jose got into the car of an older man he’d met on MySpace. “I think that at a time where you’re so isolated and you feel so alone, the one thing that you want is to form a connection with somebody who understands you,”

Watch here.

About 80% of emergency departments aren’t fully prepared to care for kids. Upgrading them would be a highly cost-effective way to save lives, a study found.

Most U.S. hospital emergency departments — lacking staffing, training and equipment — are not fully prepared to care for children. Maximizing their readiness to handle pediatric emergencies would be a cost-effective way to save children’s lives, according to a new Stanford Medicine-led study.

The study, which published Oct. 7 in Health Affairs, is based on data from hundreds of hospitals in 11 states. About 80% of emergency departments are not highly prepared to treat children, they found. The research team studied whether it would be cost-effective to upgrade these less-prepared emergency departments to make them more ready to treat babies, children and teens.

Read more here. 

A confirmed Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang member has been arrested for allegedly recruiting students from two Houston middle schools to become new gang members.

Jorgenys Robertson Cova, an illegal alien from Venezuela, entered the United States two years ago, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The 32-year-old was arrested Monday after a string of alleged thefts.

Cova is also alleged to have recruited middle school students from Jane Long Academy and Las Americas, which are part of Houston Independent School District.

One resident of the Bellaire community in Houston, where both schools are located, told FOX 26 Houston “a lot of things have happened that are on the news. So, if it’s happening elsewhere, it might also be happening in our neighborhoods as well, and we’re unaware of it.”

Read more here. 

t’s Mental Illness Awareness Week, and we want to remind everyone how important it is to prioritize your mental health. If you are living with a mental illness and need extra emotional support, the 988 Lifeline is available, 24/7/365. Call or text 988.

The sex trafficking trial against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to begin May 5, a judge announced Thursday.

The trial is expected to last about a month, but prosecutors said the length could change if more charges are added.

Combs is already charged with sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors allege he ran an “enterprise that he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor or, kidnapping, arson and other crimes,” according to the indictment unsealed last month.

Read more here. 

In its covert form, abuse is as treacherous as carbon monoxide poisoning — invisible, inodorous, fatal for the heart and the brain. It can lurk in crowded buses, empty hallways, anonymous browsers, and in the secrecy of bedrooms. Abuse denies agency to its survivor while arming the abuser with the violence of power.

But what happens when it’s directed at a three-year-old child who understands little about agency or violation? What happens when familial abuse unfolds in places and objects a child least expects — a doll, a parent, language learning, or a lesson in morals?

I met Jessica (pseudonym), a survivor of familial sex trafficking, and Audrey Baedke from the nonprofit REST (Real Escape from the Sex Trade) to understand the invisible reality of child abuse. REST offers support services to stabilize, recover, and reclaim the lives of over 800 survivors each year across the Greater Seattle area.

Read more here.

Learn more here. 

Make a plan today. Your family may not be together if a disaster strikes, so it is important to know which types of disasters could affect your area. Know how you’ll contact one another and reconnect if separated. Establish a family meeting place that’s familiar and easy to find.

Make a Plan. 

Helene tore a deadly path through the mountains of western North Carolina, dumping extreme rainfall and causing catastrophic flash flooding. Several locations received 20 inches of rain or more over a four-day period. Some towns are in ruins. There are toppled trees everywhere; roads, bridges, and driveways are washed out; homes and businesses have been destroyed by flooding and landslides. Many homes remain without power or running water.

At our sites across North Carolina, we are doing tree work, mudding out homes, removing debris, and tarping roofs. Heavy equipment is being used to clear private driveways and private roads. In some areas, we are also offering water and potable water to the community.

Numerous communities in the rugged mountains of North Carolina and far eastern Tennessee are cut off by Helene’s devastation. Samaritan’s Purse is coordinating airlifts to some of these locations—delivering basic necessities to those in dire straits using our own helicopter as well as the aircraft of other organizations. We praise God that, through more than 30 flights so far, we have been able to deliver food, water, medical kits, and other relief to those isolated by the storm.

Learn more and find out how you can help.

This report brings together expert research and data, industry perspectives, and the voices of survivors, providing a unique view into the scope and impact of financial crime – and the scale of coordination needed to address it. We should be discussing THIS nonstop. In 2023, an estimated $3.1T in illicit funds flowed through the global financial system. Money laundering accounted for trillions of dollars funding a range of destructive crimes, including an estimated $346.7B in human trafficking and $782.9B in drug trafficking activity, as well as $11.5B in terrorist financing.

Learn more here.