6 years ago today, Diego the Hood Island tortoise retired with honors to the Galapagos Islands, after decades of captivity at the San Diego Zoo where his libido was credited with saving his species. Like many animals of the Galapagos Archipelago, the giant tortoises on each island are species unto themselves. To that end, his siring of 900 tortoises will no doubt be one of the primary reasons the Hood Island species of giant tortoise survives. READ a bit more… (2020)
Bird Snuggles into Photographer’s Chest And Stayed With Her for Warmth on a Snowy Day (LOOK)
A wildlife lover shared her heart-warming encounter with a robin last Monday.
Photographer Fay Wadsworth from Sheffield, England, was visiting a park in Doncaster when the friendly bird came over and nestled right atop her camera near the warmth of her jacket.
“I was blessed by this very friendly—and presumably cold—robin at Yorkshire Wildlife Park,” the 31-year-old explained.
She was standing by the Amur leopard enclosure waiting to photograph the new cubs when she heard a flapping.
“It was a little robin that sat on my camera… (and) it decided my hair was the perfect nestling spot.”
“Initially thinking it must’ve flown into me and got caught up in my hair, I freed his legs and opened out my hand, expecting him to fly away as quickly as he possibly could.
“But he didn’t; he stayed.”
“I discussed what was best to do with the rangers and followed their guidance to stay near the woodland area while he was sat with me.”
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“He eventually flew into a tree and began singing.”
SHARE THE PHOTOS–AND Your Own Bird Experiences–on Social Media…
Veteran Becomes First Double-Amputee to Climb Highest Peak on Every Continent: Conquering the 7 Summits
A British war veteran who lost both his legs in Afghanistan has become the first above-the-knee double amputee to reach the summit of the highest peaks on every continent in the world.
On Tuesday, 46-year-old Hari Budha Magar summited the highest mountain in Antarctica—Mount Vinson, the final peak in his epic mission—after a grueling three-day climb that saw him battle through 13-below-zero temperatures.
The summit not only marked another mountaineering ‘world’s first’ for the climber but also a major landmark in Hari’s mission to boost disability awareness and ‘inspire others to climb their own mountain—whatever that might be’.
Upon completing the world record, the veteran from Canterbury, Kent, said the climb was very tough. “The conditions and difficulty meant that I was literally crawling on all fours, battling my way up the mountain.”
But crawling along, he was able to “look up and take in the incredible views where spectacular Antarctic mountain peaks pierced a thin layer of cloud below”.
“A disability shouldn’t limit the size of your dream, or your ability to achieve it.
“Yes, you might need to adapt your approach, get help, or think differently, but you can do it!” he told SWNS news agency.
“If a family man like me from Canterbury can do it, why can’t anyone else?”
After having lost both legs fifteen years ago in an IED explosion while serving in the British Army, Hari struggled with his mental and physical recovery, suicidal thoughts and addiction.
But Hari found a new purpose in the world of adventure and sports, starting with a skydive, and skiing—and then he decided to conquer a childhood dream to climb Mount Everest.
According to Google, fewer than 500 people in the world have ever climbed the 7 Summits, the tallest on each continent.
Hari’s Seven Summit journey took only six years, and officially started in 2018 when he first applied to climb the world’s highest mountain—only to be denied by the Nepalese authorities who ban climbers with disabilities, a ruling he was key in challenging, and overturning, in the high court.
Four years later, Hari stood atop Everest—almost 13 years from the day he lost his legs.
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“Losing my legs was devastating. Harder than you can ever imagine. Yet through the dark, disappointment, and loss of self-worth in the world, I was given support and love to find a way through.
“That IED should have killed me, but now I had a second chance and wanted to do something positive, and be an inspiration to others.
“So, I trained and trained and trained.
“I found amazing people who believed in me. They even helped design new prosthetics to allow me to physically take on the challenge.”
He worked with prosthetic experts at Ottobock to create new legs, feet, and sockets—and, to cope with the harsh Antarctic conditions, he worked with para-jumpers to develop a suit designed specifically for his needs.
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His determination and charity work has been recognized by The Pride of Britain, an annual event celebrating the extraordinary achievements of ordinary people and unsung heroes, and he’s been named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
“All of the 7 summits presented different and hugely challenge problems like the cold and snow conditions of Antarctic, but when people come together and help, and you adapt processes and equipment for the needs of disabled person, anything is possible!”
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“If I had the opportunity to bring my legs back today, I would actually decline because my mission in life is now to help, inspire and empower others because there is a lot of work that needs to be done around disability, so I have dedicated the rest of my life to make awareness.”
Through his ‘Conquering Dreams–7 Summits’ challenge, Hari raises money for disability and veterans’ charities.
In six years, he completed the 7 Summit challenge:
- Europe’s Mount Blanc in August 2019 (4,810m)
- Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro in January 2020 (5,895m)
- Asia’s Mount Everest in May 2023 (8,849m)
- North America’s Denali in June 2024 (6,190m)
- South America’s Aconcagua in February 2025 (6,961m)
- Oceania’s Puncak Jaya in October 2025 (4,884m)
- Antarctica’s Mount Vinson in January 2026 (4,892m)
“His courage, determination, and unwavering commitment to creating positive change reflect everything we stand for as an organization,” said one of the charities, Team Forces, that he is supporting. (Visit the campaign to donate…)
KEEP HIS CONQUEST GOING ROUND THE WORLD By Sharing This on Social Media…
Plushie Kindness Confetti: Hockey Team’s Teddy Bear Toss Collects 80,000 Stuffed Animals With Help From Local Teen
Once a year, stuffed animals take flight inside an arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, flying through the air in a cavalcade of color creating ‘sweet cuddly mayhem’ on the ice.
For a quarter century, the Hershey Bears, a minor league team in the American Hockey League, has been hosting the epic Teddy Bear Toss game for charity.
In the annual event, as soon as the home team scores its first goal, excited fans launch thousands of stuffed animals onto the ice—a chaos of colorful creatures, big and small, raining down from the stadium seats above the players.
Play stops, so all those stuffed animals can be collected and later donated to children in need throughout central Pennsylvania. For nearly an hour, workers corral thousands of plush toys scattered across the ice.
Last year, the Hershey Bears set a world record by collecting 102,343 stuffed animals during the Teddy Bear Toss. On Sunday, the team held its latest ceremony, during which Bears defenseman Louie Belpedio scored just three minutes into the game, to unleash an aerial assault featuring 81,796 donated stuffed animals.
“He scores!” the Bears announcer said on the video broadcast. “Sweet cuddly mayhem! It’s a sky full of stuffies! It’s the Teddy Bear Toss magic in Hershey.”
Since its inception in 2001, the Teddy Bear Toss has provided almost 650,000 stuffed animals to less fortunate kids and families. And one local teenager made it her mission to help maintain the supply of plushies and all the joy they provide.
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Gabby Kerchner, a high school junior in nearby Mechanicsburg, and has been a long-time season ticket holder for the Hershey Bears. After witnessing the Teddy Bear Toss the first time, she was so inspired that she worked with her family to create the nonprofit Gabby’s Acts of Kindness to solicit donations for her favorite hockey team’s Teddy Bear Toss every year.
“I think about it every day when I wake up. It’s just so incredible,” Gabby recently told WMPT News–Fox 43. “I realize how much more (those stuffed animals on the ice) mean. That’s why I’m on the edge of my seat during the game. It’s just insane and always an insane number.”
Gabby’s group has helped collect more than 125,000 stuffed animals since it was first created—and thousands of her latest contributions hit the ice on Sunday.
KINDNESS ON THE ICE: Boy in Wheelchair Lights Up as Stranger Takes Him for Spin on the Ice (WATCH)
“I definitely think a lot of people don’t really understand what that (Teddy Bear Toss) number means. All the places that it goes puts a tear in my eye,” Gabby said.
Kids across central Pennsylvania got unexpected cuddles from their new plushie friends this week. Many of the fluffy toys were distributed to students at the nearby Milton Hershey School. Others were sent to neighboring schools, children’s hospitals, and military families throughout the area.
And Gabby got another dose of satisfaction knowing she played a small part in it.
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“Throw kindness around like confetti,” Gabby said. “You never know what a person’s going through… Do something good and you’ll get it right back.”
TOSS THIS ONTO SOCIAL MEDIA to Keep the Cuddly Kindness Growing…
2026 Big Picture Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny
Our partner Rob Brezsny, who has a new book out, Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)
Here is your weekly horoscope…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week of January 10, 2026
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. He helped ensure its core technologies were released to the world without patents or royalties. Universal, open access mattered more to him than personal profit. That single decision was a profound gift to the world. Billions benefited. In his generous spirit, dear Capricorn, I’ll ask whether there are any ideas, knowledge, or resources you’re holding in reserve that could multiply through sharing. In 2026, I invite you to be like Berners-Lee: a magnanimous strategist who understands that things may gain value through distribution, not restriction. Your intelligence will be worth more unleashed than protected. Your innovations will need the crowd to fulfill their purpose.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
In the myths of Mali’s Dogon people, Nommo is an amphibious, telepathic being who brought language, rhythm, and balance to Earth—and then departed. If things fall out of harmony, it’s believed, Nommo will return, speaking the lost syllables that realign the cosmos. You’re a bit like Nommo in 2026, Aquarius. Parts of your world may be in disarray, and your sacred task is to listen for the lost syllables. What’s missing in the dialogue? What notes aren’t being sung? If you seek gently and speak truly, restoration will follow.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
The longest chess game theoretically possible is 5,949 moves, but most games end in under 40. Chess masters don’t win by seeing every possibility. Instead, they recognize patterns and anticipate which paths are worth exploring. Let’s apply this as a useful metaphor, Pisces. In 2026, it’s crucial that you don’t waste energy by considering improbable scenarios that will never materialize. You should be determined not to miss emerging themes because you’re too busy calculating unlikely variations. According to my prognosis, you don’t need to see further; you need to see more precisely and accurately. The chess master’s advantage isn’t exhaustive analysis; it’s knowing what to ignore. Ninety percent of your options don’t matter. Ten percent do.
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Before major eruptions, volcanoes may emit harmonic tremors. Lasting for hours or days, they are signals that pressure is building. A similar phenomenon is simmering in your sphere, Aries. Be alert in 2026. What rhythmic clues are vibrating through your system? What pressure is mounting that could eventually erupt? I’m not saying you should interpret them with a worried mind. In fact, they are offering you valuable intelligence about what needs to be released. You can either ignore them and let the eruption surprise you, or you can pay attention and arrange for controlled venting.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
As far back as the 19th century, daredevil college students in the UK have reveled in the practice of “night climbing.” They clamber up chapels, spires, towers, and bridges under cover of darkness. Why? Mainly for adventure, mischief, and altered perspectives. In the coming months, Taurus, you may be ready for your own symbolic version of night climbing. If that sounds fun, seek out vantage points you’ve never accessed. Experiment with possibilities you’ve dismissed as off-limits or outside your range. Be safe, of course, but also be joyfully exploratory. I bet the view from the frontiers will change you in inspiring ways.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
In the coming months, I’m confident you will see and understand subtleties that most people miss. You’ll be a maestro at tuning in to nuanced subtexts in conversations and hidden openings in stale situations. Everyone else may assume that familiar situations will never change, but you will have the power to tease out creative possibilities. You might even decode seemingly contradictory truths with such aplomb that you surprise yourself. Use this superpower with as much kindness as you can, Gemini. Some discoveries may tempt you toward clever mischief, but I hope that instead you will choose inspired guidance. Your expanded spectrum, if spiced with compassion, can consistently reveal your next leap.
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
The honeyguide bird of Africa has a lucrative arrangement with humans. It calls out to honey-hunters, leading them through brush to wild beehives built into trees. The people harvest the honey, and the bird eats the leftover wax and larvae. This cooperation is passed down over generations and benefits both species. Let’s use this as a metaphor for your future in 2026. You will have extra power to notice where mutual benefit is possible, even with unexpected allies. They may be able to guide you toward resources you couldn’t find alone, and you will have value to give in return. Keep an ear out for signals that say, “Come with me, and we’ll both gain.”
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
The cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris took years to build. Work began in 1163 and continued till 1345. Generations of architects, masons, and artisans contributed to the project, and those who began it didn’t live to see it completed. Yet they labored with devotion, trusting that the holy beauty they facilitated would endure beyond their lifetimes. I hope you’re inspired by this story, Leo. It’s an apt metaphor for you. In the coming months, you could and should lay stones for creations you may not see fully accomplished for months or even years. I encourage you to redefine and refine what faith means to you, and summon it in abundance.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Ready to decommission your inner censor? Interested in dropping the mask, relaxing your guard, and rewilding your gorgeous but slightly inhibited self? That’s what I recommend. Here are ways to fully enjoy the liberating grace period of the coming months: 1. Don’t deny yourself pleasures that would be healthy to indulge. 2. Shed taboos that were smart safeguards once upon a time but are no longer. 3. Re-evaluate why you treat certain fun activities as questionable. 4. Be brightly compassionate toward aspects of yourself you regard as wounded or inferior. 5. Be receptive to rebellious urges.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
French artist Louis Daguerre perfected the daguerreotype, an early type of photography. The images were so detailed that you could count the threads in a subject’s clothing. The only downside: They required minutes of perfect stillness to capture. A slight twitch or squirm could blur the picture. People held their breath and resisted the urge to fidget, hoping to preserve the magic moment. In this spirit, Libra, let’s make the long exposure your power metaphor during the coming months. The most useful truths will reveal themselves best if you give them time to develop. In conversations, resist filling every silence. In projects, don’t rush the pace. Have patient fun lingering on the threshold as the mysteries coalesce and clarify.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
In 1907, Scorpio artist Pablo Picasso painted Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. It was a work so radically different from his earlier art and from the era’s norms that even his friends were stunned. Some called it ugly; others, incomprehensible. Yet the painting became a foundation of Cubism and reshaped modern art. Dear Scorpio, I suspect you may be on the verge of your own “Les Demoiselles” phase in 2026: unveiling novel approaches and innovative changes so original that they rattle comfortable assumptions. Don’t be discouraged if the initial responses don’t bring you appreciation. The root-shaking breakthroughs you’re consorting with may take others a while to recognize and welcome.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
You Sagittarians are often drawn to teaching. You have a predilection and a passion for sharing what you have learned from your adventures and explorations. Many of you also possess a related gift: helping people make the journey to where enlightening lessons can best occur. You have a knack for opening their minds and clearing the way so they can awaken to new ways of seeing and imagining the world. I hope you will provide both of these blessings in abundance during the coming months. Your ability to inspire and educate will be at a peak.
WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com
(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)
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“The ability to tell your own story, in words or images, is already a victory.” – Rebecca Solnit
Quote of the Day: “The ability to tell your own story, in words or images, is already a victory.” – Rebecca Solnit
Image by: Ashlyn Ciara
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, January 10
250 years ago today, Thomas Paine published the sensational pamphlet simply entitled Common Sense. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. Officially called Common Sense addressed to the inhabitants of America on the following interesting subjects, it was sold mainly from taverns at first in Philadelphia, and it’s estimated between 100K and 500K units were thusly distributed; and as of 2006, it remained the all-time best-selling American title. READ about this famous American document… (1776)
Some Dogs Learn New Words by Eavesdropping on Their Owners, Shows New Science
Clever canines that have a talent for learning vocabulary can pick up new words by simply overhearing their handlers’ conversations, say scientists.
Parents and dog owners know that some words should not be spoken, but only spelled, to prevent small ears from eavesdropping on the conversation, and previous research has shown that, at the age of 18 months, toddlers can already learn new words by overhearing other people.
Now a groundbreaking study, published in the journal Science, reveals that a special group of dogs are also able to learn names for objects just by overhearing their owners’ interactions.
Similarly to the 18-month-old toddlers, scientists say gifted dogs also excel in learning from both situations of direct speech, and indirect speech.
Although dogs excel at learning actions such as “sit” or “down”, the research team explained that only a very small group of canines have shown the ability to learn object names.
Dubbed Gifted Word Learner (GWL) dogs, they can quickly learn hundreds of toy names through natural play sessions with their owners. Until now, it wasn’t known whether GWL dogs could also learn new object labels when not directly addressed.
Children can, but they must monitor the speakers’ gaze and attention, detect communicative cues, and extract the target words from a continuous stream of speech.
“Our findings show that the socio-cognitive processes enabling word learning from overheard speech are not uniquely human,” said lead author on the study, Dr. Shany Dror. “Under the right conditions, some dogs present behaviors strikingly similar to those of young children.”
In an experiment, the research team tested 10 gifted dogs in two situations. In the first, owners introduced two new toys and repeatedly labelled them while interacting directly with the dog.
In the second, the dogs passively watched as their owners talked to another person about the toys, without addressing the dog at all. Overall, in each situation, the dogs heard the name of each new toy for a total of only eight minutes, distributed across several brief exposure sessions.
To test whether the dogs had learned the new labels, the toys were placed in a different room, and the owners asked the dogs to retrieve each toy by name. The dog’s performance was very accurate already at the first trials of the test, with 80% correct choices in the addressed condition and 100% in the overhearing condition.
Overall, the gifted dogs performed just as well when learning from overheard speech, as when they were directly taught, mirroring findings from studies of toddlers.
In a second experiment, the researchers introduced a new challenge where owners first showed the dogs the toys and then placed them inside a bucket, naming the toys only when they were out of the dogs’ sight.
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The research team explained that it created a temporal separation between seeing the object and hearing its name. Despite the discontinuity, most of the gifted dogs successfully found the named toy.
The authors suggest that the ability to learn from overheard speech may rely on general “socio-cognitive mechanisms” shared across species, rather than being uniquely tied to human language.
But the researchers emphasized that GWL dogs are extremely rare, and their “remarkable” abilities likely reflect a combination of individual predispositions and unique life experiences.
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Dr. Dror added that the dogs provide an exceptional model for exploring some of the cognitive abilities that enabled humans to develop language.
“But we do not suggest that all dogs learn in this way—far from it,” she said.
The researchers encourage dog owners who believe their dogs know multiple toy names, to contact them at the Genius Dog Challenge Research project at ELTE University in Budapest, Hungary.
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Early Human Ancestor Found in Morocco Dates Back 700,000 Years May Be Major Missing Link
Remains of an early human ancestor from a critically important period in our evolutionary history have been found in Morocco.
Dated back 700,000 years using precise geo-magnetic methods, the assemblage of jawbones and teeth may come from the epoch during which African and Eurasian hominins diverged from their common ancestor.
The discovery was found in a cave at Thomas Quarry near Casablaca, called Grotte à Hominidés. A nearly-complete adult jawbone, a partial adult jawbone, the jawbone of a child, a vertebrae and some teeth were discovered along with a femur that bared the teeth marks of a predator.
At the time, the coastal landscape would have looked very different than today’s desert. A lush coastal wetland, it would have looked much like parts of sub-Saharan Africa today, where crocodiles, hyenas, hippos, and large cats dealt among the greenery.
The oldest known remains of our species, Homo sapiens, were also found in Morocco—at Jebel Irhoud—which dated back 330,000 years. Before us, there were a number of hominins, and scientists aren’t sure who came first, and from where.
Jean-Jacques Hublin, an anthropologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and the lead author of the new paper presenting the discovery, believes the finds reinforce a deep-African origin of our species, rather than a Eurasian one.
There is limited hard evidence to support what is a generally-accepted theory of human evolution: that the African hominin lineage branched off into Homo sapiens while the lineage of Eurasia evolved into the Neanderthals and Denisovans.
What evidence there is comes primarily from Gran Dolina, Spain, where fossils including cranial fragments revealed the existence of a creature named Homo antecessor, which lived in Europe between 772,000 and 949,000 years ago. The Grotte à Hominidés fossils bear a striking resemblance to the Spanish fossils.
The Gran Dolina Homo antecessor was what reinforced this theory, that Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa before evolving into distinct groups across Eurasia. Previously it had been believed that hominins existed across the Old World, and that a species spread out of Africa and replaced all the others.
Considering the speed of evolution, the Gran Dolina hominin and the distinctly different Grotte à Hominidés man almost certainly lived in the same period, and that the mosaic of traits and facial features suggest a common ancestor that had also lived on both sides of the Mediterranean.
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In short, neither Homo sapiens, nor potentially even our predecessors, H. antecessor and Homo heidelbergensis, were the ones that migrated out of Africa, but that the travel bug may have bit an even more distant relative.
The limitations in the fossil evidence make it difficult to say concretely. It’s believed that Homo sapiens in Africa, and the Neanderthals and Denisovans in Eurasia, all come from a common ancestor that lived after Homo erectus, but there’s a big time gap between H. erectus and H. heidelbergensis, our second-closest relative.
MORE EARLY MAN: Staggering Finds Show Early Humans Lived Alongside the Very Apes They Evolved from
Could the Moroccan individual fit in that gap? Dr. Hublin, speaking to the New York Times, declined to be drawn into specifics.
“Human evolution is largely a history of extinctions,” he said. “It is difficult to say whether the small Grotte à Hominidés population left any descendants, but it provides a good picture of what the last common ancestor may have been like.”
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Mom and Baby Beat 1-in-a-Million Odds to Survive the ‘Rarest of Pregnancies’
A Los Angeles woman recently celebrated the first Christmas with her baby boy, Ryu, born to truly remarkable circumstances.
Ryu developed outside his mother’s womb, and remained hidden for months behind an ovarian cyst that grew to be the size of a basketball. It was so unbelievable, the surgical/OBGYN team that delivered Ryu documented it for a case study in a medical journal.
The manner in which Ryu came into being represents a circumstance that’s “far, far less than 1 in a million,” said Dr. John Ozimek, medical director of labor and delivery at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, where Ryu was born. “I mean, this is really insane.”
Now 41, Suze Lopez has always had an irregular cycle, so missed periods—even consecutive ones—are a normal occurrence. It was almost 20 years ago that she was diagnoses with a pair of ovarian cysts, one of which was removed immediately, and one of which was not.
So in early 2025 when Lopez noted her abdomen swelling, her first thought was the cyst. She never felt kicking, and never had morning sickness—and indeed her instinct was at least partly correct.
The pressure and pain in her abdomen grew as days passed, and she was certain that, even if it risked her ability to conceive again, it was time to remove the other cyst which unbeknownst to her had grown to weigh a mind-boggling 22 pounds.
She needed a CT scan to prepare for surgery, which required a pregnancy test for the radiation, and to her utter surprise the test came back positive. Lopez was delighted, but the pain and discomfort grew and soon she had to be hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai where her medical team found a near fully-developed fetus in an amniotic sack lodged against her pelvis.
The term for where the fetus develops is “implants” and the term for a fetus that implants outside of the womb is an “ectopic pregnancy.” Almost all of these go on to rupture and hemorrhage. As such, fetal mortality can be as high as 90% in such cases and birth defects are seen in about 1 in 5 surviving babies, SF Gate reports.
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However, because fetal Ryu implanted against the pelvic wall and not against the liver, it was far more manageable, and the reason why Lopez didn’t have more pain earlier.
Lopez and her boy beat the odds, despite a mammoth surgical procedure that both delivered Ryu at 8 pounds and removed the ovarian cyst—together weighing as much as an adult bobcat. During the procedure, Lopez lost half her blood, and had to be continually given transfusions.
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“The whole time, I might have seemed calm on the outside, but I was doing nothing but praying on the inside,” Andrew Lopez, Suze’s husband, told SF Gate. “It was just something that scared me half to death, knowing that at any point I could lose my wife or my child.”
Instead, they both survived without any maleffects. Ryu “completes” their family, said his mother, and recently celebrated his first Christmas alongside his older sister Kaila.
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‘Great Iowa Treasure Hunt’ Reunites Rightful Owners with Lost Assets, Returns $33 Million Last Year
If government is supposed to be a bureaucracy that operates on behalf of the citizens, one couldn’t hope to find a better example than a yearly tradition at the state treasury of Iowa known as the “Great Iowa Treasure Hunt.”
That makes it sound like there’s a big state tax refund buried in a field somewhere. Instead, the hunt is a program wherein employees at the treasury work to identify misplaced or lost assets and post them to a sort-of financial lost and found for Iowa citizens.
Where do the assets come from? The program works with businesses in the event that they lose contact with the owners of accounts if they’re registered in Iowa. The treasury then safeguards the assets for a period of time.
But rather than seek out the owner or their descendants, they got the idea to invite the whole of the state population to occasionally check the records and see if they have any unclaimed assets waiting for them.
One example of this came 2 years ago, when the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt reunited an Iowa woman with $4.5 million in McDonald’s common stock and paid dividends that had accumulated without her knowledge after she invested $15,000 decades earlier.
Last year, the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt returned $33.6 million in unclaimed property to individuals and businesses that had lost track of them, or hadn’t known of their existence. It’s the highest amount on record, and several million more than the previous year. That $33.5 million was paid out across 53,000 claims.
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According to the State Treasurer’s Office, there is currently more than $648 million worth of property waiting to be claimed, and since its inception, the treasure hunt has reunited property worth $408 million to its rightful owners.
According to the Des Moines Register, 1 in 7 Iowans have something waiting for them at the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt. Searching for it is quick, easy, and free.
SHARE This Unique Government Service With The Iowan In Your Life…
“Dear Lord, I’m so grateful I’m still loved.” – Vivien Leigh
Quote of the Day: “Dear Lord, I’m so grateful I’m still loved.” – Vivien Leigh
Image by: Getty Images for Unsplash+
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, January 9
123 years ago today, Wind Cave National Park was established by Congress as the 6th US National Park. It was the first cave to receive government protection of any kind in the modern era. The cave is recognized as the densest cave system in the world, with the greatest passage volume per cubic mile. Wind Cave is the seventh longest cave in the world, with 154.2 miles (248.16 km) of explored cave passageways (as of 2021), and the third longest cave in the United States. READ more… (1903)
Gorgeous Bridge Allows for Walking and Biking Between US and Canada Set to Open in 2026
20 years in the making, the Gordie Howe International Bridge is set to open in early 2026, providing the first new link between the US and Canada in many years.
The impressive bridge with its graceful bending approaches is reminiscent of the signature ambidexterity of its namesake Howe, often considered the most complete hockey player to ever live, who could shoot both left and right-handed.
The bridge also enters a very narrow company of riverine crossing points that are open to cyclists and pedestrians.
“People didn’t want us to lose a unique opportunity to design a new international crossing without considering the incorporation of a multiuse path for pedestrians and cyclists,” said Heather Grondin, chief relations officer for the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
Linking the cities of Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit, GNN last reported on the bridge in 2024, when the span was missing exactly the length of a regulation NHL hockey rink—pertinent.
It will have the longest steel and concrete composite deck for any cable-stayed bridge in the world, Engineering News Record reported at the time, and will feature 6 lanes of traffic, three in each direction, with overflow parking zones located in the ports of entry to ease congestion across the bridge.
Congestion was a big consideration when designing the project, as the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel have been afflicted by routine slowdowns for years.
“This bridge, along with the adjacent infrastructure, will connect directly from Interstate 75 to the Ontario highway system, known as Highway 401, without trucks or cars having to stop at traffic lights along the way,” Grondin told Bridge Detroit.
The roughly $4.4 billion bridge was financed by Canada, and as such the northern neighbor will reap the toll revenue, while providing the maintenance for the next 36 years.
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For as much as bridge tourism is a thing in Michigan and the United States, the Gordie Howe Bridge will join the Peace and Rainbow bridges in Niagara Falls, and the Thousand Islands Bridge in New York that feature pedestrian and cycling routes along the flanks of the span.
And it’s far from merely being there to provide visitors with a chance to snap a photo from the middle: each side connects with wider trail systems along the banks of the Detroit River, where waterfront redevelopment has included several charming parks to pass through.
The bridge won’t only connect Detroit and Windsor, Interstate 75 and its Canadian equivalent, and the United States and Canada, but also two hockey-loving nations who shared in a great man’s sporting capacities: one by the nation of his birth, and the other by the city in which he dominated for so long as a forward for the Red Wings.
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Naughty Golden Retriever Rescued After Falling Through Frozen Pond–No Bones for a Month
For a pair of Maine dog owners, 2026 started with a dreadful scare after their naughty golden retriever ran out onto a frozen pond and broke through the ice.
Without any means of rescuing their pooch or resisting the deathly chill of the frozen water, the owners called 911 and hoped that firefighters could arrive in time.
Bedecked in vibrant orange wetsuits, the emergency services got to work in the icy pond, with one rescuer gently sliding across the ice and eventually paddling out to meet the dog who had done a great job keeping its head above water.
In water that cold, warm-blooded animals not adapted to life in the Arctic or far north/south have mere minutes before the low temperatures bring on hypothermia, an inability to command and control the muscles in the extremities, and therefore the ability to continue to tread water.
But the goldie looked sharp and ready, phone camera footage revealed, when the rescuer arrived at the middle point of the pond.
Securing it around the neck, the fireman gave the signal to pull in the rope attached to him, and the pair made it back to shore safely.
DOG RESCUES: Dog Rescued from Boston Tunnel During Rush Hour After Playing ‘Will I Won’t I’ with Police – WATCH
Rescuers and dog were examined for signs of hypothermia, but there were none to be found, and all got to retire to warmer environs; the pooch to a pair of presumably relieved yet disappointed owners. No kitchen scraps for Fido tonight.
WATCH the rescue below…
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Montana Program Makes Youth Offenders Talk with Their Victims and Recidivism Plummets
In Montana, a focus on restorative justice is reducing juvenile recidivism through a nonprofit program that engages them, rather than punishes them.
The nonprofit believes that it’s actually far more challenging for juvenile offenders to look their victims in the eye and explain why they behaved antisocially than it is to simply serve a suspension from school, where they’re distanced from friends and mentors, and often fall behind in their education.
The Center for Restorative Youth Justice (CRYJ), is not a new organization, but their influence in Montana is growing. From a background of success in the city of Kalispell, their programs eventually expanded to include Missoula County, and via another group, neighboring Flathead County as well.
By 2023, the number of Kalispell youth receiving out-of-school suspensions decreased, CRYJ recorded, to just 82 individuals compared to over 200 five years earlier. The recidivism rate dropped to just 10%, compared to 23% in the nearby Flathead County.
At its most elemental, CRYJ receives referrals from Youth Court probation officers, school administrators, or school resource officers made on behalf of a juvenile offender who’s broken the law.
CRYJ then has a conference with the youth and their parent or guardian, and creates a tailormade program of restorative justice. This can involve peer group discussion, victim-offender meetings, and other situations where the youth is given the forum to reestablish a relationship with the community, rather than something like a school suspension.
CRYJ believes that by limiting the overuse of exclusionary discipline and emphasizing a community-driven approach, it can help at-risk youth avoid falling behind in school which often compounds the problems that caused them to offend in the first place.
“We spend a lot of time separating people after there’s been harm, but often the deepest healing and learning and moving forward can happen … when we can actually come together and talk about what happened and how to make things right.”
Those were the thoughts of Emma Schmeltzer, co-director of CRYJ’s Missoula program, who along with her colleague Kaya Juda-Nelson and University of Montana master’s student Tara Cook, receive referrals for students and organize meetings one-on-one or in groups to identify the offense and the best way to reestablish that student’s place in society after something like drug or alcohol use, bullying, assault, or theft.
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Schmeltzer and Juda-Nelson spoke with the Montana Free Press about their work in Missoula which began this year, with the latter saying that while it might sound like a lighter touch than Youth Court and probation, it doesn’t let the kids off easy.
“I think that asking a kid to sit down and actually talk about what happened and work through it and express that vulnerability and really have to have an honest conversation about what was going on for them and why they engaged in whatever behavior or incident they engaged in, I think that is often much more challenging, for a teenager especially,” she said.
Montana Free Press reported that in the 2024/25 scholastic year, CRYJ received referrals for 118 youths at a program cost of $430 per person, while in nearby Flathead County, the 40 youths eventually detained and sent to Youth Court during the same period cost the taxpayers $6,815 per person.
MORE RESTORATIVE JUSTICE WORK: 24 Prison Inmates Get College Degrees, Graduate Together Thanks to UC Program: ‘I literally feel free’
A similar, unaffiliated organization called the Center for Youth Justice at Georgetown University, is applying the Kalispell program template from CRYJ in Flathead County, to more of the same success.
Called “Diversion in Action,” organizers stress another benefit of the restorative justice model: it lightens the workload for county attorneys—who have less cases coming across their desks; for school resource officers—who can spend more time keeping the school safe rather than doing paperwork for citations; for school administrators—who can hand off behavioral issues to those who are actually trained to handle them.
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Determined Engineering Student Builds Prototype Modular Home to Help Homelessness
A driven Ontario teen is determined to end homelessness in his city, and has designed a modular tiny home system to tackle the problem.
Ribal Zebian is only 18, but he’s wasted no time in finding his purpose. At 17, his passion for engineering had seen him build a child-scale model of a Mercedes G-class out of wood and electrics and donate it to a museum.
Now he’s working on something a little more practical: precision fiberglass molding that can create small, insulated shelters to support London Ontario’s 1,800 homeless residents.
Zebian isn’t only focused on the present, “I’m concerned about the people in the future that will end up facing that problem, right, because house prices are increasing and increasing and increasing,” he told CTV News.
The fiberglass panels, molded with utility cavities, can be quickly duplicated to form modular structures of larger or smaller area. The ceiling uses insulated cores of PET plastic that support the roof structure and should resist all weather all year.
Beginning in May, Zebian, who attends Western University, will attempt to live in the modular home for 12 months.
OTHER SHELTER SOLUTIONS: Sixth Tiny Home Village is Ending Homelessness for Veterans Across the US: ‘This place saved me’
Like this, he told CTV, he can see every defect and flaw, and experience the shelter in every kind of climate to understand exactly how it can be perfected. He thoroughly believes it can be mass produced and utilized to help alleviate homelessness.
“Are tiny homes the entire answer? No, but it’s a part of the solution,” said London affordable housing advocate Gary Brown, again to CTV. “I’ve seen quite a few going up in other cities, and it’s something London itself is kind of lagging behind a little bit.”
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“What love we’ve given, we’ll have forever.” – Leo Buscaglia
Quote of the Day: “What love we’ve given, we’ll have forever.” – Leo Buscaglia
Image by: Dan Musat
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Good News in History, January 8
60 years ago today, The Beatles reached No.1 on the US album chart with the groundbreaking Rubber Soul. Their 7th chart-topping LP, it stayed on the Billboard list for 56 weeks, with album sales that were unprecedented. At the same time, their single “We Can Work It Out” became the group’s 11th US. CHECK OUT the iconic track list… (1966)
New York City Had the Lowest Number of Shootings in its History Last Year
Of all the challenges Zohran Mamdani will face taking charge of the biggest city in the US, shootings isn’t one of them, as the Big Apple recorded fewer in 2025 than any year on record.
“In 2025, New York City recorded 688 shooting incidents, the lowest number in the city’s history. That didn’t just break the previous record set in 2018, it shattered it, with 66 fewer shootings than that benchmark year,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Tuesday morning news conference.
“In the month of December, shootings fell 43%, with just 35 shooting incidents citywide. That is the lowest number of shootings ever in any month of year, beating the previous record of 36 shooting incidents set in February of 2018. We see the headlines and we hear the pundits talk about crime being out of control in our city. These numbers tell a very different story.”
“Make no mistake about it. These reductions are the product of our precision policing strategy,” Tisch said. “Putting an unprecedented number of cops on the streets, and in the neighborhoods driving violence, including thousands of additional officers on foot posts and conducting targeted takedowns of the most violent gangs in our city.”
Crime in general fell, though nothing as dramatic as what was seen in the number of shootings. Incidents of theft fell 4%, of burglary by 5%, and of armed robbery by 10%.
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