A Pittsburgh police pursuit drove Detective Jack Mook, a perennial bachelor, to become a father.
Mook, a trainer at Steel City Boxing, told himself that the troubles of brothers Josh and Jessee Lyle were not his own as long as the boys arrived at the North Side gym for their almost-daily workouts. Then they stopped showing up and their guardian fled from police, crashing into a car and an embankment in the North Side.
“I said, ‘Enough is enough. I want those kids,’ ” said Mook, 44. “They could’ve been in that car.”
And he’s pursuing permanent adoption with the support of the boys’ mother, a drug addict.
“This is an amazing story about a cop (who I grew up with) stepping up and adopting two at risk youth,” said Christopher Lazzara, who sent the link to us.
A heroic stray dog has saved her puppies from a drainage canal after rescue teams asked for her help in the southwestern Turkish province of Muğla on June 7.
Erhan Erol, a resident, called firefighters as he noticed eight puppies that were stuck in a drainage canal at the beach near the tourist town of Bodrum. The puppies were about to be drowned as the canal was slowly filling with seawater.
Warren Buffett, the $65.6-billion man, proclaimed last week that he would double his investment in renewable energy across the United States.
Having already invested $15 billion in wind and solar farms in Iowa, Wyoming, California and Arizona, for instance, Buffett spoke at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual convention in Las Vegas, saying he was ready with another $15 billion.
Jesse Jackson is a Miami musician whose dad fought in WWII. Yesterday, June 15th, was the 70th anniversary of his father’s landing at the battle of Saipan where he received wounds for which he was awarded one of his two Purple Hearts. Yesterday was also Father’s Day in the U.S. and Jackson recorded a song, not only for his father, but for another Marine who is crossing the United States on horseback to benefit wounded warriors.
A former infantryman, Matt Litrell is riding with two mustang from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to Camp Pendleton, California. He, too, is a Purple Heart combat marine, yet after he returned home from two tours in Iraq, Litrell began contemplating suicide. Now, to raise awareness of the high suicide rate among veterans, he is crossing the country on a horse, something Jackson, as a musician, has always wanted to do to spread his music.
”I was truly moved and inspired when I heard about Matt Litrell,” Jackson told the Good News Network. “Not only because this cowboy Marine decided to do something different, but also because I could relate to him because I came close to committing suicide.”
The John Mayer-esque Miami singer-songwriter knew that his song, “Son of a Marine,” was a perfect fit for the moment.
“I wrote this song in Wyoming and it just came to me.”
Jackson performed “Son of a Marine” yesterday on Father’s Day –on his dad’s combat anniversary– so he could use the video to promote Matt Litrell’s fundraising page benefitting the Semper Fi Fund.
Dubbed the Long Trail Home Fund, it has raised $3,400 of $10,000 since Littrell launched the 2700-mile journey on May 1.
“I don’t think the average American is aware that we are losing more than 22 veterans per day (to suicide) in our country,” he told the Jackson, NC Daily News.
(By the way, Jesse’s dad, Harry Jackson was an artist in the New York Abstract Impressionist movement joining the likes of Jackson Pollock. He died in 2011 but you can explore his art and life at www.harryjacksonstudios.com.)
The newly-elected government in India plans to plant 2 billion trees along the network of National Highways across the country to employ jobless youth.
“I have asked officials to come out with a plan to plant 200 crore (2 billion) trees along these stretches which in turn would create jobs for the unemployed on the one hand and protect the environment on the other,” Road Transport, Highways, Shipping and Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari said here today.
Malians wait in line before seeing medics with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Mission in Mali who give free daily medical consultations at a clinic in Gao, in northern Mali.
George Pike’s father was an active farmer and chauffeur at age 70, until he went into the hospital for hip replacement surgery in March 2013.
He was kept off his feet for months by an unseen infection. George was told a new round of drugs would clear it from his blood, so he left on a scheduled 6-month internship in Australia with a film production company in Sydney. When the job ended in February, the 22-year-old began a year long road trip across the continent that he had spent months dreaming about.
But his father had to have another operation to have his hip taken out and replaced with ‘cement’ in order to try and kill the infection that had not dissipated with drugs along. He was in hospital for 3 and a half weeks and during recovery at home he had no ability to do any of the things he had done his entire life — farming, driving, cycling etc.
”After being away during his second operation and speaking to him on Skype daily and seeing how depressed he was, I considered coming back to take care of him a lot earlier than I had planned,” he told the Good News Network.
After a month of traveling, from Sydney to Perth, George was having the time of his life, but his dad was forever in his thoughts.
“My dad is the sole reason I am the person I am today, and I owe him everything I have for everything he has done for me since he brought my brother and I up from an early age. So I made the decision to end my journey, sell my car, and return home.”
Without his father knowing, his brother picked him up from the airport and took him straight to the house on April 1 where his dad had been pretty much chair bound for the previous 14 months.
His brother walked in first with George’s phone to discreetly record a video or the surprise. WATCH the heartwarming reunion above.
Tomorrow George’s father heads back to surgery, with the infection almost gone, to hopefully turn the corner with a final hip operation and end 15 months of pain.
“Since arriving home I have been helping him by working on the farm and driving clients for his chauffeur job, he hasn’t been able to make any money for so long so he really needed the help financially,” said George. “I have also been able to drive him around and take him out of the house — so lots of restaurants and pubs!”
(Watch George’s well-edited Australia travel video below.)
A man who turned the other cheek when a homeless man in Bradford, England shouted racist slurs at him has since helped his abuser find a home and work.
Aminur Chowdhury hopes his forgiving nature and the subsequent turn-around of Ben Gallon’s attitude will help educate others.
The 30-year-old was racially abused by Mr Gallon, 27, outside the Delius pub, Claremont, Bradford on May 14. But rather than retaliate or ignore Mr Gallon, he instead talked to him.
Teenage cancer hero Stephen Sutton has been awarded appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after his courageous and selfless campaign to raise cash to fight the disease.
The 19-year-old was told just days before he died in May that he had been included on the’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Proud mum Jane said when she broke the news to her son, who raised nearly £4million for the Teenage Cancer Trust, he gave a thumbs up and declared: “Awesome.”
Last year Stephen posted a bucket list online and start blogging about his journey on Facebook.com/stephensstory. Soon after, “Stephen’s Story” grew into an inspiring global fundraising opportunity.
“I’ve achieved all kinds of fun and wonderful things.”
Painting the streets in Brazil has become an annual tradition, bringing generations of soccer fans together and spreading joy and pride throughout the community.
Every four years Brazilians paint their streets for the love of football. This year it is even more exciting with the FIFA World Cup being hosted in their own country.
With the help of Google Maps, people around the world can see how the green and yellow enthusiasm is brought to life in every neighborhood.
“He was like I’m really sorry, I couldn’t make it. I was like ‘It’s ok Paul, I know if you could be here you would’,” Tondaleya Robinson told Fox 29.
Tondaleya’s son Marine Corporal Paul Robinson is stationed at Quantico, Virginia, and hasn’t been home to Philadelphia in 5 months, so it was a huge surprise when he walked on stage during her commencement ceremony.
The Philly mom had put off her education so she could raise three children.
During the Iraqi parliamentary elections held April 30, female candidates outperformed many of their male peers and transformed themselves into key players in the electoral scene. In the previous elections, there were 73 female candidates, while on the April 30 elections, there were 83.
Volunteering to work on an archaeological dig in Pompeii inspired Jim Bachor to become a mosaic artist.
Today he is not appreciating art in volcano debris but in the everyday rubble of potholes.
His mosaics can be seen around Chicago in the middle of roads — first on North Kenneth in front of his home and later on Wabash, Argyle, Kenton and other streets.
Since January, the city of Chicago, whose backlog of potholes is as deep as a volcano, has joined with a grateful public admiring the pop of color and whimsical helpfulness in display on roads.
A Kent seaside town is today alive with color after volunteers painted its drab gray steps with hues of pink, yellow, lime and violet. A local community group, Ramsgate Town Team, was inspired by a story in the Good News Network about a Turkish man painting dozens of steps in his hometown.
After getting permission from the Thanet council, the team and its helpers worked together over a long weekend painting the Augusta Steps that lead down to their pristine beach.
Ramsgate Town Team Facebook Page
They gave each of the 120 steps a different hue, much like Mr. Huseyin Cetinel’s rainbow steps in Istanbul. Cetinel spent four days and $800 decorating a huge staircase in the town’s center.
His story was hugely popular on social media and inspired Turks to start a kind of color uprising across the country.
It spread to England too, as someone there saw the photo and story on the Good News Network .
”Inspired by your story of Istanbul’s Mr Huseyin Cetinel and his rainbow steps, we decided to inject some colour into a tired old set of stairs here,” wrote the Ramsgate Town Team on the Good News Network Facebook Page. “Hope you like them as much as we do and thanks for your ‘breath of fresh air’ page!”
To further advance electric vehicle technology and address the carbon crisis, Tesla Motors has opened all its patents to its competitors, saying it will not initiate lawsuits against any who use their technology in good faith.
Four kids doing a 5th grade school project on skin cancer leads to early detection for one the mother of one of the students.
“I think the kids finally realized that, wow, we really did make a difference, not just in our school, but that this was something more life and death” said Julie Curtis, the group’s teacher.
After discovering his father has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, Graham decided to help him fulfill his bucket list.
The newly-collaborating father and son are the subjects of a beautiful video created by I Like Giving, a non-profit created to inspire a generous world.
The website ilikegiving.com serves as a platform for unique storytelling and idea sharing.
Teddy Beat Clinic, 2013 — Children’s Medical Center in Dallas
Medical students in Giessen, Germany, hosted a “Teddy Clinic” last week, dolling out free care to stuffed animals suffering from a range of imaginary illnesses.
The clinic aimed to ease anxiety among children, an estimated 90 percent of whom have fears about hospitals and doctors, according to a 2009 study. It also gave med students the chance to work with kids and save the day by bringing their plush pals back from the brink.
Britain’s 2,300 urban rivers are the cleanest they’ve been in over two decades, according to a 21-year study that measured the presence of clean-river invertebrates – a yardstick for river health – which during the days of heavy industry and poor sewage treatment had declined considerably, but now appear to be making a comeback.
Although climate change has warmed British rivers by around 1-2 degrees Celsius(3-6 °F) over recent decades, the findings from Cardiff University suggest that improved pollution control has managed to offset its damaging effects on river ecosystems.
This indicates that society can prevent some undesirable climate change effects on the environment by improving habitat quality.
Dr Ian Vaughan and Professor Steve Ormerod from the School of Biosciences analyzed changes in the occurrence and spread of insects, snails and other mini-beasts from major rivers between 1991 and 2011.
The researchers then asked whether water quality, temperature, or river flow best explained the biological changes they observed. Overwhelmingly, these trends were explained by reductions in gross pollution rather than warming or changing flow caused by climate change.
Improving water quality has allowed some clean-water organisms from upland rivers to return to previously polluted lowland rivers, and may even explain some northwards movement previously attributed to climate-change.
The researchers believe these results to be very encouraging in showing how reductions in pollution can help offset climate change impacts.
Dr Ian Vaughan said: “Our analysis showed clearly that many British river invertebrates are sensitive to climate – for example; because they require good supplies of oxygen that decline as rivers warm up. However, it seems that efforts over the last 2-3 decades to clean up pollution from sewage and other sources have allowed many of these sensitive organisms to expand their range despite warming trends and several periods of drought.”
