FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A pregnant woman was walking her dog in Broward County when the two were attacked by a larger dog.

Little Messi still has the scars from the attack.

For her owners, the scars are physical and emotional.

Danielle Lowell is seven months pregnant. She showed Local 10 News’ Hatzel Vela pictures of the cuts and scrapes from Monday morning’s attack.

“I honestly just keep having flashbacks,” she said. “This owner knew his dog was...something was wrong and he had issues.”

She was walking 4-year-old Messi on Davie Boulevard, just around the corner from her house on Southwest 4th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale.

“All of a sudden the dog is barreling towards us,” Lowell said. “It just attacked and went straight for my dog and I got dragged down into it because I was holding on the leash.”

Her husband said he snapped a photo of the dog’s owner when he showed up on scene to help his wife and dog.

“I’m screaming, ‘Get off my dog, help, help,’ and he’s screaming that his dog has problems, he has problems. I just didn’t understand what that meant,” Lowell said. “My dog is screaming, crying and there was no separating the two because his jaw was just locked.”

After talking to neighbors, Local 10 News was able to track down the other dog’s owner Ruben Rohloff.

“I feel bad,” he said.

He said his three-year-old dog Zoey is also a rescue, and she was abused by her previous owner.

Rohloff described what happened on the day of the attack.

“When she backed off, she slipped out of the leash,” he said.

Danielle’s husband Alec said it was traumatizing to see his wife and dog covered in blood.

“When I answered the phone, she was hysterically, naturally,” he said, highly concerned about his wife, as she is 32 weeks pregnant.

Danielle Lowell did get checked out at the hospital after the attack and her baby is just fine.

Rohloff said his dog does have all its shots.

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TYNGSBORO — Owners of MJ’s Market, the proposed cannabis dispensary at 405-409 Middlesex Road, have turned to the Select Board for help while they fight a lawsuit brought by an existing cannabis dispensary just up the street.

Nature’s Remedy, located at 426 Middlesex Road, appealed the special permit and variance granted to MJ’s Market last year. With that appeal underway, MJ’s Market cannot begin work on the property. Nature’s Remedy has also raised traffic safety issues in its objections to MJ’s Market.

The property at 405-409 Middlesex Road is the site of what Tyngsboro residents disparagingly call “the yellow house.” It is an unoccupied, ramshackle ranch-style house, which Town Administrator Matt Hanson says is “the gateway to our town.”

At this week’s Select Board meeting, Hanson said he tried to convince Nature’s Remedy to drop the suit in a discussion with officials of the Florida-based holding company which now owns the local dispensary. He was unsuccessful.

“We want to see something worthwhile go where the yellow house is,” Select Board Member Katerina Kalabokis said as the board discussed its options with the lawsuit.

The Tyngsboro Select Board, Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals are also named in the lawsuit filed in Massachusetts Superior Court last November.

Brian Foley, co-founder of MJ’s Market, told Select Board members, “These actions have gravely damaged MJ’s Market’s prospects of success at 405-409 with nine months of lawsuit delays so far.”

Foley told the board that his company has a backup location if the lawsuit drags on. That plan calls for a dispensary to open at 80 Locust Ave., behind the Dream Diner which faces Middlesex Road.

Nature’s Remedy, which opened two years ago, is located on the southbound side of the highway with traffic coming down from New Hampshire. MJ’s Market would be located on the northbound side with traffic headed into New Hampshire, the only New England state which does not now allow dispensaries for recreational use of marijuana.

A year after Nature’s Remedy opened, Florida-based Jushi Holdings Inc., acquired it for $91.2 million. The sale included a second dispensary in Millbury and a cultivation facility in Lakeville.

Foley gave an update on the lawsuit, telling the board that the discovery period ended last week, and he is slated to give a deposition on Friday. Jushi/Nature’s Remedy has until Aug. 31 to submit expert reports and a traffic study. MJ’s then will have until Sept. 30 to present its rebuttal.

A traffic study has been conducted for a proposed warehouse, unrelated to the dispensaries, to be located next to Nature’s Remedy. That study was intended to support putting a traffic light at its entrance.

But, according to Heath Gaffney, the other co-founder of MJ’s Market, that report showed there is insufficient traffic to justify a light. Speaking after the meeting, Gaffney noted that the warehouse plans call for a shared driveway with Nature’s Remedy.

Gaffney also noted that a craft brewery is in the works at 394 Middlesex Road in the building that once housed Best Friends Pet Hotel. Nature’s Remedy has not raised traffic objections to either the warehouse or the brewery.

The Select Board has asked for more detailed information, especially financial information and plans for the yellow house.

Select Board Chair Ron Keohane asked that Foley and Gaffney provide that information a week before the Aug. 22 board meeting so that members will have time to review it.

Harris Shain, attorney for Jushi Holdings, did not return requests for comment.

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It’s Thursday, August 4^th - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.

No. 1 - It was early Monday morning on Davie Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale when a pregnant woman walking her dog was suddenly attacked.

“I haven’t really left the house, and the dog certainly hasn’t either. She’s got tubes coming out of her neck and drains," Danielle Lowell said. Lowell described the nearly life-threatening injuries her dog Messi got after being attacked by another dog. Fortunately, the 4-year-old Jack Russell's heart wasn't punctured. But her neck, scars, and wounds will take some time to heal. Lowell is 32 weeks pregnant and said it was a regular walk with Messi on their usual route when a pit bull suddenly lunged at them. Lowell says the pitbull’s owner was nearby. Click here for more on this story in a report from NBC 6’s Jamie Guirola.

No. 2 - The jurors in the Parkland school shooting sentencing will be touring the building where the tragedy occurred on Thursday.

Judge Elizabeth Scherer told jurors Wednesday that they will be taken by bus Thursday morning to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where they'll tour the 1200 building that was the site of the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting that left 17 dead and 17 others wounded. The jurors will be guided floor-by floor by bailiffs and must adhere to strict rules that include not touching any items. Shortly after the shooting, the building was fenced off and sealed — the dried blood, Valentine's Day gifts and bullet holes still in place. Gunman Nikolas Cruz, now 23, pleaded guilty to the murders in October. Jurors are deciding whether he'll be sentenced to death or spend the rest of his life in prison.

No. 3 - As monkeypox cases rise in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he won't be declaring a state of emergency over the disease.

"Do not listen to their nonsense ... I'm so sick of politicians, and we saw this with COVID, trying to sew fear into the population," he said in a news conference near Orlando on Wednesday. Currently, there are more than 500 cases in Florida, which is more than double from last week. South Florida has a bulk of new cases — 384 between Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties. DeSantis compared monkeypox public education campaigns to the likes of COVID. Right now, monkeypox is spreading fast among men who have sex with men. But there are concerns that as school is set to start, transmission could dramatically increase among other populations.

No. 4 - The U.S. Coast Guard in South Florida is asking family members to discourage their relatives from Cuba and elsewhere from making dangerous and illegal voyages by sea to the country.

The trek for a better life in the U.S. is nothing new but with Cuban migration numbers on the rise, the Coast Guard wants migrants to weigh the risks. "People are getting hurt, people are dying. It is safest if they try to come to the U.S. and migrate legally," said Petty Officer Nicole Groll with the Coast Guard's 7th District in Miami. Since Oct. 1, 2021, Coast Guard crews have interdicted nearly 3,800 Cubans, the most since 2016. U.S. Border Patrol officials said Wednesday that a group of 25 Cuban migrants arrived in Key West on a "rustic vessel."

No. 5 - The images on the Broward County Principal and Assistants Twitter page show what it looked like at the end of July when the principals gathered at the Ritz Carlton in Naples. The professional association they belong to said they did more than 11 hours of required professional training in those seminars.

But the head of the Broward Teachers Union questioned Wednesday why the association was asking for the school board to reimburse a large share of the expenses. Ana Fusco said she respects the principals and works well with them, but believed many of the other images on social media show more fun than work. Fusco says traditionally the school board had reimbursed the association for the seminars and that the principals have requested the same thing this time. Click here for more in a report from NBC 6 investigator Willard Shepard.

No. 6 - The first day of school is just around the corner, and school-based professionals are getting ready.

Not just teachers and administrators, but hundreds of mental health counselors, social workers, and nurses gathered at Ronald Reagan Senior High School in Doral for The Children’s Trust annual training conference, an exercise designed to get the attendees up to speed in time for the first school bell to ring. In one of the workshops, mental health professionals were discussing a variety of issues, including the imperative that all staff on campus, not just counselors, learn how to spot the warning signs that a student might be in crisis. That training process has already begun, according to Sally Alayon, who heads the mental health services department of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Click here for more in a report from NBC 6’s Ari Odzer.

Motionless In White, Black Veil Brides and Ice Nine Kills have expanded their triple co-headline ‘Trinity of Terror’ tour, with new shows booked for the fall. Atreyu will support — all shows are listed below.

The trek reveal states, “Thanks to the reception of fans, the bands are happy to announce a third leg of North American dates that will extend the Trinity Of Terror tour through December. The fall dates will see three of the biggest names in modern hard rock once again bringing their incendiary live shows to the same stage each night along with special guests Atreyu.”

They add, “The new dates, which will see the three bands alternating closing sets each night, are set to begin on October 31st at El Paso County Coliseum in El Paso, TX with stops in Houston, Baltimore, New York City, Toronto and more, with additional dates to be announced in the coming weeks.”

Newly announced tour dates: October 31 – El Paso, TX – El Paso County Coliseum^ [TIX] November 01 – Lubbock, TX – Lonestar Events Center^+ November 05 – Charleston, WV – Charleston Civic Center Coliseum^ [TIX] November 07 – Biloxi, MS – Mississippi Coast Coliseum^ November 08 – Houston, TX – Bayou Music Center^ [TIX] November 10 – Peoria, IL – Peoria Civic Center Arena^ [TIX] November 11 – Cedar Rapids, IA – Alliant Energy PowerHouse^ [TIX] November 12 – Minneapolis, MN – The Armory^ [TIX] November 13 – Gary, IN – Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana^ [TIX] November 15 – Baltimore, MD – Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena^ [TIX] November 17 – Lowell, MA – Tsongas Arena^+ November 18 – Albany, NY – MVP Arena^+ [TIX] November 19 – Toronto, ON – Coca Cola Coliseum^ [TIX] November 21 – Laval, QC – Place Bell^ [TIX] November 22 – Rochester, NY – The Armory^+ November 23 – New York, NY – HULU Theater at Madison Square Garden^ [TIX] November 26 – Orlando, FL – Orlando Amphitheater^ [TIX] November 27 – Boca Raton, FL – Sunset Cove Ampitheater^+ November 29 – Corbin, KY – Corbin Arena^+ [TIX] December 11 – Portland, OR – Theater of the Clouds at Moda Center^ [TIX] December 12 – Seattle, WA – WAMU Theater^ [TIX]

Previously confirmed shows: August 30 – Denver, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre# September 3 – Omaha, NE – Liberty First Credit Union Arena [TIX] September 4 – Pryor, OK – Rocklahoma* September 6 – Fort Wayne, IN – Allen County War Memorial Expo Center [TIX] September 7 – Cleveland, OH – Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica [TIX] September 9 – Scranton, PA – Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain [TIX] September 10 – Alton, VA – Blue Ridge Rock Fest* September 11 – Asheville, NC – Exploreasheville.com Arena [TIX] September 13 – Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Ballroom [TIX] September 14 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill [TIX] September 16 – Bonner Springs, MO – Azura Amphitheater [TIX] September 17 – Saint Charles, MO – The Family Arena [TIX] September 18 – Cincinnati, OH – ICON at The Andrew J Brady Music Center [TIX] October 7 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock* [TIX] October 22 – Las Vegas, NV – When We Were Young* [TIX] October 23 – Las Vegas, NV – When We Were Young* [TIX] October 29 – Las Vegas, NV – When We Were Young* [TIX] _____ ^Newly Added Leg 3 Date | #Radio Show | *Festival Date | + Not A Live Nation Date | (October 7 – No Black Veil Brides)

Also Check Out: Converge, Full of Hell & Petbrick announce European tour

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LOWELL — Armed with her bright yellow backpack, trekking pole and hiking dress, Arlette Laan took the last few steps of the National Park Service’s Ice Age trail in Wisconsin on July 11, marking the end of a long and historic journey.

The 50-year-old Lowell resident became the first woman — and sixth person ever — to traverse all 11 National Scenic Trails, a 17,830-mile feat that took her nearly two decades to complete.

“I love hiking and exploring, I love being outside, so to be able to spend months outside sounded like an amazing experience and a test of my endurance,” Laan said. “I get to see this beautiful scenery every day, and, ‘Can I do it?’ There’s that sense of exploration, seeing something new.”

Her journey began in California, where she lived at the time and backpacked frequently. The 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches through California, Oregon and Washington, caught Laan’s eye back in 2003. The hike through California alone took three months, but Laan was already hooked.

The very next year, Laan finished the Continental Divide Trail that takes hikers from the north of Montana to the south of New Mexico, followed by the Appalachian Trail along the East Coast, thus completing “the big three” National Scenic Trails.

Funnily enough, it wasn’t until Laan hiked seven of these national trails — including the Arizona Trail in 2009 and the Florida Trail soon after — that she understood their distinction. Laan ran into Nimblewill Nomad, a famous American hiker who had already completed all 11 trails, who told her she could be the first woman to do so.

Laan was intrigued. She said she thought it would be “kind of cool,” especially since she had “only” four left, but wondered whether it would be “tedious,” considering one was more than 4,000 miles.

“That’s how it became a goal, and that wasn’t until 2018 that I really was like, ‘Oh, I guess I could finish this list,’ and then I started to focus on it,” she said.

The last two years have been hectic, as Laan had a few more trails to get under her belt, but to hear how women responded to her big accomplishment has made the arduous hike all the more rewarding.

“People’s reactions are really cool,” she said. “It’s empowering and inspiring to women, and I’m also not a young person and I have a little bit of weight on me, so it’s kind of like people are really inspired by it, or they just like that fact.”

The hardest part of her journey was the North Country Trail: a whopping 4,600-mile trek and the longest of the 11 National Scenic Trails. That one took Laan just under 300 days to complete, which she did in February.

Laan said the North Country “was just miserable,” and there were other points in her travels when the weather was bad, the environment wasn’t too interesting — specifically “some of New York and most of Ohio” — or the solo hike made her feel extra alone.

In moments of discouragement, Laan said she reminded herself of the end goal and tried to break up each trail into sections, celebrating each small achievement by getting ice cream or walking “half a mile to get to Dunkin’.” Clearly, Laan never lost touch with Massachusetts.

“My main mindset is, ‘Well, might as well muster on through,’” she said. “You put music on or podcasts or you take a day off or you go lay in a river for an hour, something just to take your mind off of it.”

Laan’s sponsor, Gossamer Gear, supplied her with several backpacks and lots of trekking poles, “because I kept breaking them,” which she said was a lifesaver and money-saver while she was out for months at a time.

Most hikers have a trail name, Laan said, and hers, “Apple Pie,” has a special sentimental meaning.

“I coined it because I like my desserts and my pastries, and then Dutch apple pie is one of my favorite dessert pies,” Laan said. “It reminds me of my mom and having apple pie at home with my mom in Holland.”

Laan, who is originally from the Netherlands, moved to Lowell with her husband, Rich Gambale, of Tewksbury, in 2008. When she’s off the trail, Laan works as a fiber artist at Western Avenue Studios, where she makes sock dolls. For the past couple years, she has also been guiding people up and down the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

Gambale joined his wife for several sections of her hikes, including parts of the North Country Trail during the winter and the Pacific Northwest Trail, and they completed the entirety of the Arizona Trail and New England Trail together.

Since she walked her last trail, Laan said she is taking it easy at home in Lowell, continuing to take guided tours in local mountain ranges and spend time at work and with family. The adventure still doesn’t feel real quite yet.

“For me, it’s like, ‘OK, well I did that, that was really cool,’ and now I have to go back to work and I can do some other hikes and not work on a list,” Laan said. “I thought that that would be this big feeling, and it wasn’t … so I think it still hasn’t quite sunk in.”

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