There’s no lack of bad economic news. And yet, amid the gloom, there are a growing number of economists that see a recovery on the horizon — perhaps even a strong rebound. “The economy could be as close to four months away from a recovery,” said one.
Readings on long-term and short-term economic indicators give him significantly more hope that the economy is closer to a turnaround than he had thought even a month ago.
$10 million dollars of California’s stimulus money will fund the Green Corps, a new program that will provide training for underprivileged youth to learn jobs in green construction, energy, and technology.
1,000 youth, ages 16-24, will be enrolled in the program, which will also receive $10 million from public-private partnerships, announced Gov. Schwarzenegger last week.
The NRDC recently reported that between 52,000 and 114,000 new workers will be needed by 2010 to fill jobs created by green investments.
Christian churches in the U.S. are turning over a new leaf for Palm Sunday.
About 2,500 congregations from every major denomination used fair-trade palm fronds to celebrate Palm Sunday, the annual observance of the day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem a week before his crucifixion. They say it’s the Christian thing to do.
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
Fresh signs that factories are coming back to life and a bank CEO’s encouraging outlook fueled more hopes Thursday that the economy may soon emerge from the cellar, and briefly lifted the Dow Jones industrials beyond 8,000 for the first time in two months.
Meet a pair of lion cubs in New Jersey’s Six Flags Safari Park, rejected by their mother but getting excellent care from humans who do all they can to help the babies thrive.
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A pet dog that fell overboard in rough seas off Australia has been reunited with its owners after surviving alone on an island for four months, reports said.
The dog was believed to have drowned and the Griffith family was devastated.
But out of sight of the family, Sophie Tucker was swimming doggedly and finally made it to St Bees Island, five nautical miles away, and began the sort of life popularised by the TV reality show “Survivor.” Belonging to an Australian cattle dog breed, she took to eating baby goats to keep herself alive.
(Read the AFP story at Sydney Morning Herald)
Thanks to Sienna for sending the story tip!
45 people volunteered on a recent night to carry salamanders, frogs and newts across the road during their annual migration to mate.
On rainy nights in early spring, roads between forests and vernal pools are hopping and crawling with activity. On some nights, hundreds of amphibians cross small stretches of asphalt to mate. But many don’t make it.
A British teenager’s suicide note on Facebook sparked a transatlantic rescue mission which saved his life.
The 16-year-old boy’s threat to kill himself, sent to a girl 3,600 miles away, in Maryland, America, was the starting point for an extraordinary race against time.
When she read his private post at 11.30pm on Wednesday night his American friend told her parents, who called the local state police.
The only details they were given were his name and the fact he went to school in Oxfordshire.
13 Palestinian girls and boys from a West Bank refugee camp traveled on March 25 with their musical director to Israel to sing for elderly Holocaust survivors. The event, held at the Holocaust Survivors Center in Holon, was part of “Good Deeds Day,” an annual event there.
Most of the elderly did not know the youths were Palestinians from the tough area of the West Bank until it was announced. Amidst surprised gasps, the choir burst into songs for peace, and the audience broke out in applause.
During the medley of Arabic and classical tunes, the Holocaust survivors clapped along to the violins and the oriental drumming.
(READ more about the inspiring event in this AP story)
File photo by padesucre (Flickr-CC) / Story tip from Beth Gern
Jennifer Gold recycled at home with her family, but when she realized her school lacked a recycling program, she took action.
She got tired of seeing overflowing trash cans filled with plastic bottles or glass, and decided to do something. She become known in her school as “the Recycling Girl” for her efforts to get bins organized and kids to change their habits.
(Watch the video on NBC San Diego)
When it comes to college, Minneapolis, Minn. native Camille Thomas has two philosophies: it’s never too early to plan to attend and it’s never too soon to start helping a young person get there. Putting her money where her mouth is, Thomas has established a scholarship for students at her high school alma mater.
Just a couple of years out of college herself, Thomas, a 2002 graduate of Washburn High School in Minneapolis, Minn., has decided to create and coordinate a scholarship fund to raise awareness and educate others about the importance of higher education. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in holistic health in the College of St. Catherine’s Henrietta Schmoll School of Health.
Thomas also serves as the director of the non-profit community organization, Preparing Healthy Youth to Transform Tomorrow (PHYTT), a center of college preparation, personal and community health development and employment readiness. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
The Camille A. Thomas Scholarship was created with the intent to provide financial assistance to committed and highly motivated African-American and Latino-American college students.
The scholarship provides up to $3,000 to first-year college students who are graduates of the Minneapolis Public Schools, students studying abroad and students studying a form of health education.
Camille Thomas also hosts a show on the holistic health of the community with Tiffany Scott-Knox on KMOJ-FM (89.9), Mondays, 6-6:30 p.m.
Deadline to apply for the scholarship was April 1, 2009. More information about St. Kate’s: www.stkate.edu.
Demi’s Twitter fascination may have been a lifesaver for one very troubled woman.
Moore reposted the woman’s promise to kill herself and many who read it flew into action calling the police. The woman is in the hospital now for a 72-hour psychological evaluation.
(Watch the video on NBC San Diego)
George Harrison will get a star on Hollywood’s glittering Walk of Fame.
A star bearing Harrison’s name will be added to the famous sidewalk in a ceremony on April 14 to be attended by his widow, Olivia, and son, Dhani, organizers said.
Harrison died of cancer in 2001 at the age of 58.
(AFP story and family photo on Google)
Last month, Dan Leone was fired from his part-time job with the Philadelphia Eagles after criticizing the team for letting veteran Brian Dawkins leave via free agency.
The employee worked during the Eagles’ 10 home dates each season and his termination meant he would have been unlikely to attend any of those games in 2009. But now help is coming from the football player himself.
(It is easy to see why most people in Philly didn’t want to see such a class act like Dawkins leave town.)
An inspirational new film set to premiere at the 2009 Full Frame Film Festival in April tells the story of an aspiring fashion photographer whose career took an unexpected turn when she discovers a hidden world of beauty within the lives of people with significant disabilities.
SHOOTING BEAUTY: Everyone deserves a shot was filmed over the span of a decade. It puts you in Courtney Bent’s shoes as she works to invent cameras for use by her new friends with disabilities. The group’s efforts snowballed into an award winning photography program called “Picture This”—and became the backdrop for this eye-opening story about romance, daring, loss and laughter that will change what you thought you knew about people living
with disabilities—and people without them.
“This is good news indeed!” said filmmaker, George Kachadorian, who invites you to watch the film’s trailer below.
Visit the film’s official site: www.everyonedeservesashot.com
SHOOTING BEAUTY trailer from George Kachadorian on Vimeo.
Contact George via email with any comments and/or questions: [email protected]
An NPR Story Corps recording of two friends, a hotel owner and one of his guests. The hotel owner shows kindness to a family, helping them get back on their feet after losing their home. The businessman and the family started out as strangers, but became friends.
Hernandez says, “When I had money, I had a lot of friends, but when I didn’t, Sid was there.”
(Listen to the inspiring entry to NPR’s StoryCorps)
A jewelry store called Gems of La Costa, in Carlsbad, CA, wanted to steer media reporting in a more positive direction.
“After so much negative news reporting over the last months,” gemologist Marianne Laleuf told the Good News Network, “our store decided to help people keep a positive attitude by displaying “No Hablo Recesion” signs, and handing out “Doom Gloom Prohibited” stickers.”
An overwhelming positive customer response to the signs and stickers brought a flurry of media coverage from local San Diego news shows and newspapers, like the San Diego Union Tribune.
Neighborhood business owners are displaying the signs and agree that media reporting is affecting consumer confidence. Watch or read this report on the TV News 8 website, featuring the jewelry store’s owner explaining, “Bad news is bad for business.”
With only 52 Mexican gray wolves remaining in the American Southwest, a decision by a federal judge gives these native inhabitants a fighting chance.
On March 29, 1998, captive-reared Mexican wolves were released to the wild for the first time in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area. Here, 11 vanguards of the rarest and most unique subspecies of gray wolf in the United States began an historic journey – the journey of recovery.
Read more about the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program at the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
RELATED STORY: Read a 2006 Good News Network story from Yellowstone, Reintroduction of Wolves an Environmental Success.
There is history being made in London this week and it has nothing to do with the G-20’s response to our economic difficulties.
Negotiations will begin immediately for a new treaty to verifiably reduce nuclear weapons held by Russia and the United States and commit “to achieving a nuclear free world,” as the START treaty is set to expire in 2009.
“We, the leaders of Russia and the United States, are ready to move beyond Cold War mentalities and chart a fresh start in relations between our two countries.”
(Read analysis in the Huffington Post)
(White House photo)
President Obama emerged from the global summit of G20 leaders with an agreement to provide funding for $1 trillion in additional loans and credits for struggling emerging markets and low-income countries through the International Monetary Fund and other institutions.
The summit also started the process of clamping down on tax havens for the wealthy and loosely regulated investment funds for the rich.
Mr. Obama said the G-20 meeting approved critical, bold steps. He said there is no guarantee they will all work, but he stressed the healing process has begun.
“I think we applied the right medicine,” he said. “I think the patient is stabilized. There are still wounds that have to heal. There are still emergencies that could arise. But I think you have some pretty good care being applied.”
