Stocks rose Friday after the release of a surprisingly strong monthly jobs report.
The U.S. economy added a better-than-expected 204,000 jobs in October despite a federal government shutdown that was expected to limit payroll growth. Despite the gains, the unemployment rate edged up to 7.3% from 7.2%.
In addition, numbers for the prior two months — Aug and Sept — were revised up by a total 60,000 jobs.
(READ the story from USA Today)
Pope Francis’ embrace of a severely disfigured man has touched world.
The Pontiff stopped to pray and lay his hands on a man whose skin was covered in painful tumors.
The ailing man gently buried his head in the Pope’s chest, on Wednesday at the end of the general audience, which had about 50,000 attendees.
Because Starbucks values the skills and talents of men and women in the U.S. military, it has announced a strategic plan to hire at least 10,000 veterans and active-duty spouses over the next five years.
In addition, a store in Lakewood, WA and a store in San Antonio, TX will begin sharing a portion of each transaction with non-profit programs Operation GoodJobs and Vested in Vets as part of a commitment to establish five such stores in joint base communities around the United States.
A Wisconsin couple on vacation huddled together for days eating what food they’d brought in the car after they became trapped in deep snow on a closed pass near Yellowstone Park in Wyoming.
Fearing her life might be over, Kris Wathke used notebook paper stowed in her purse to write letters to all her loved ones telling them how much they meant to her.
The couple ran the car every four hours in frigid temperatures to get warm while preserving the battery and save gas.
Fortunately, on their sixth day, rancher Troy Barnett, whose wife read on Facebook that the couple was missing, decided to board his snowmobile and look for them.
(WATCH the video or READ the full story from ABC News via Yahoo)
It’s one of America’s great recycling success stories: Every year, hundreds of thousands of discarded Christmas trees are collected and reused.
Many are picked up curbside by local garbage collection services and turned into mulch. Some are placed on beaches to shore up dunes and sunk in lakes as fish habitats. They’ve even been milled into lumber for use in building homes.
If you buy a cut Christmas tree this season, please recycle it for its many benefits…
(READ the full AP story at El Paso Inc.)
A group of Marines on their way home from Afghanistan got something they didn’t expect after spending five days getting on and off planes on their way to San Diego: cheers from a crowd of police officers, a fire truck water salute and first-class plane tickets.
The 13 Marines found themselves treated like heroes Monday night at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Beyond the spirited welcome at the terminal, American Airlines had six empty seats in first class for the next flight to San Diego. That gesture was followed by seven first-class passengers who jumped out of their seats for the other Marines so they could all sit together.
“They were just so thankful,” said Linda Kozma, an American Airlines employee who helped arrange the upgrade of their tickets to first class.
(READ the story from Fox News-Chicago)
The Vatican has launched its own cricket club — a move aimed at forging ties with teams of other faiths.
Rome’s Capannelle Cricket Club is hosting training matches that will lead to the creation of the Vatican team, the St. Peter’s Cricket Club.
Today, the Vatican says, cricket is one of the world’s most popular sports, with a mass following in Asia and Oceania.
(LISTEN to the audio or READ the story at NPR)
Quarterback superstar Aaron Rodgers surprised a young lady, who is a big Packers fan, bringing her onstage at The Pabst Theater in Milwaukee to produce some music. He also wanted to raise awareness for Independence First, an organization she works with that is run by and for the benefit of people who have disabilities.
Aaron and David Gruber host an online series of videos where they surprise guests and invest time into helping them achieve their goals and ambitions. You can find more of them at www.ItsAaron.com.
(WATCH the fun video below or READ the story from Wisconsin Free)
In 2009, Matthew and Amy Shack celebrated their 6th anniversary at Outback Steakhouse with Aussie cheese fries, several rounds of bread and butter, an 18-ounce prime rib and dessert. That’s when the couple realized they had to change their ways.
Four years later, the couple has combined to lose over 400 pounds. Here’s how they did it…
(READ the story from MyFox-8)
A full-page ad in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch yesterday might have made you choke up with emotion.
The Boston Red Sox purchased the ad in the newspaper to say ‘thank you’ to the St. Louis Cardinals organization and its fans.
With the headline, “From One Great Baseball Town to Another” the color ad features a picture of two boys at a baseball game, one a Cardinals fans and the other a Red Sox fan.
“The warm Midwestern welcome you extended to our team and our fans during this year’s hard-fought World Series is truly appreciated. Your region, its people and the entire Cardinals organization represent everything that’s great about baseball.”
(WATCH the video below or READ the reactions, and SEE the ad at Fox-2 News)
The power of one person to make a difference can never be overstated.
One woman, Eva Whitmore, decided she would use her exceptional organizational talents to spread some happiness to women living in shelters.
Because of Whitmore, her city of Winnipeg now benefits from The Shoebox Project, a Canadian non-profit group that distributes gifts in the form of shoeboxes to women living in shelters across the country.
The concept is simple — fill up a shoebox with items valued at $50 that a woman in hard times would enjoy but never splurge on for herself.
“Some of these women will tell you that they haven’t had a birthday gift or a Christmas gift in years,” Whitmore told the Winnipeg Free Press. “These shoeboxes help brighten the holiday season during difficult times and let these women know that they are special and not forgotten.”
(READ the story in the Winnipeg Free Press)
Chum salmon are spawning again at an urban creek in the heart of East Vancouver.
The salmon returned this week to Still Creek, which sits in a ravine surrounded by warehouses and was once thoroughly polluted by urban garbage, sewage and toxic chemicals.
“I thought we had done such terrible things to the creek that the fish just couldn’t survive, but here they were coming back and spawning in our creek,” one resident told the CBC News.
Much of the credit goes to people who have painstakingly restored their habitat.
(READ the story from CBC News)
In Berlin recently, a lone street musician with his guitar was covering the Bronski Beat tune “Smalltown Boy” when the most unlikely thing happened.
Bronski Beat co-founder Jimmy Somerville happened to be out walking his dog and stepped in to sing harmony on the duet!
Random music lovers caught the act on video and shared the amazing moment on YouTube.
In honor of his mother, a breast cancer survivor, and for Breast Cancer Awareness month, Ryan Marotta bought pink sneakers to wear to school. The NFL does it, so it must be cool.
But, some of his middle school classmates harassed him because he was a boy wearing pink.
When his friends found out why he was wearing the shoes, everyone started wearing pink: Pink socks, pink shoes, pink hats, pink ribbons.
“My mom cried tears of joy last night when she found out,” he said.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from CNN New Day)
Steve Sparks is a former white supremacist who denounced his former gang of haters to pursue a relationship with a black woman.
To this day, members of the Aryan Brotherhood in Oklahoma have vowed retribution.
Sparks simply realized he was tired of hating. “Hate was eating my soul up and I didn’t even really know why I hated anyone.”
He also had a big secret that wracked him with anxiety – he loved black women.
Eventually he married one.
He met his new wife online at a social media website in 2010 and today they have a beautiful 15-month-old mixed race son together.
(Source: BeyondBlackWhite.com)
Though he crossed the finish line hours after everyone else did, Jimmy Jenson still was first at the New York City Marathon Sunday.
The 48-year-old was first in the history books — the first person with Down syndrome ever to complete the race that wanders through five New York boroughs.
He finished the race in just over eight hours, and he helped other runners to finish too, telling them that if he could do it, they could do it.
(WATCH the inspiring video below from NBC)
Superstorm Sandy showed New York’s vulnerability to big weather, and offered a warning to the world.
Now the Rockefeller Foundation is offering $100 million dollars in grants to help cities face up to Sandy-like events and prepare, so they can come out the other side.
Its 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge looks to catalyze infrastructure investment, improve coordination within governments, open up access to useful software and services, and spread good ideas.
(READ the article from Fast Coexist)
A collection of 1,500 artworks confiscated by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s has been found in the German city of Munich, media reports say.
The trove is believed to include works by Matisse, Picasso and Chagall, the news magazine Focus reports.
Some of the works were declared as degenerate by the Nazis, while others were stolen from or forcibly sold for a pittance by Jewish art collectors.
(READ the story from the BBC)
Between classes, they schemed and conspired. For weeks, the football players at a middle school in Olivet, Mich., secretly planned their remarkable play. Not even the coaches knew.
The goal was not to score, but to “make someone’s day, make someone’s week, make them happy.”
Keith Orr is a little kid who’s learning disabled and struggles with boundaries — but in the sweetest possible way. What is surprising is how the team has embraced him.
A single mom in Durham, North Carolina had her faith restored in her own parenting abilities by a complete stranger.
The mom, whose kids are often hard to handle in restaurants, received a kind note applauding her patience and parenting skills from a young man at a nearby table.
After signing the note, Jake even paid for the family’s dinner and included a Pizza Hut Gift Card for the next time they want to dine out.
The mother, who is remaining anonymous, told WTVD that her 6-year-old boy has ADHD and Asperger’s, the other, a 4-year-old shows bullying tendencies, so they often sound loud in restaurants.
But Jake focused on the good in the situation, and wrote the following:
“I do not know your back story, but I have had the privilege of watching you parent your children for the past 30 minutes. I have to say thank you for parenting your children in such a loving manner.
“I have watched you teach your children about the importance of respect, education, proper manners, communication, self control, and kindness all while being very patient. I will never cross your path again but am positive that you and your children have amazing futures.
“Keep up the good work and when it starts to get tough do not forget that others may be watching and will need the encouragement of seeing a good family being raised. God bless! -Jake”
(WATCH the video below or READ the article from WTVD, via KTRK)
