North Carolina removes children from a nature therapy program’s care amid a probe of a boy’s death

LAKE TOXAWAY, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina health officials say they are removing all children from the care of a nature-based therapy program nearly two weeks after the death of a 12-year-old New York boy. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday the action “needed to be taken to ensure the health and safety of the children” at Trails Carolina. Officials say parents have been notified and the children will temporarily be taken into the Transylvania County Department of Social Services’ care. The cause of the boy’s Feb. 3 death is pending, but the sheriff’s office says a pathologist who conducted the autopsy told investigators his death appeared not to be natural. Trails Carolina said later Friday that “everything points to an accidental death.”