Found trapped in a cage meant for an opossum by an animal control officer in another state, a small Shih Tzu from Louisiana looked like she’d been through a lot of trouble.
But with a little luck an an amazing coincidence regarding the dog’s name, the weary pet has left Arkansas and is back with its loving owners.
(WATCH the video below, or READ their report from Arkansas Matters)
Story tip from Lauren Kenneth Lambert
Speedskater Gilmore Junio made worldwide headlines when he stepped aside from the men’s 1000 meters at the 2014 Sochi Olympics so that Canadian teammate Denny Morrison could compete, a selfless act for which Junio today received a special commemorative, crowdfunded medal.
Morrison, who’s from B.C., fell during an earlier qualifying round. But after Junio stepped aside, Morrison got another chance, and went on to win a silver medal.
The “Thanks Gilmore” campaign to give Junio his own medal started with Toronto design agency Jacknife calling for fundraising on social media — and earning enough to get the medal made of gold, silver and maplewood.
(READ the story w/ photos from CBC – also WATCH video news clips of his Olympic gesture)
Story tip from Scott Walker
Last Sunday was a landmark occasion for 18-year-old Skyler James, and not just because she celebrated graduating from high school.
For the first time, she got to meet the firefighter who, on a bitterly cold November morning in 1995, found her — a newborn baby — abandoned beneath a snow-laden pine tree in an Illinois cemetery.
The air was brutally frigid that night and emergency workers could not find the infant left in a cemetery after an anonymous caller named the location where she’d left a baby.
A volunteer firefighter, Charlie Heflin, used his intuition and went back a second time to check around the tree once more. Then he heard the whimper.
Both the graduate and her savior were moved to tears with gratitude for the reunion
(READ the story from TODAY)
For the past several years the Quechan Tribe has been working with the City of Yuma, Arizona landowners and federal agencies to restore the wetlands on both sides of the lower Colorado River. About 1,200 acres have been restored thanks to a collaborative effort, reports Indian Country Today.
The results of this teamwork and collaboration are stunning and serve as an example of what is possible when tribal members, wildlife officials, landowners, and business people can accomplish together.
Check out these ten photos showing what the land looked like before 2005 and what it looked like five years later.
(SEE the photo gallery at Indian Country Today)
Photo credit: Fred Phillips Consulting
JUSTIN ST. VINCENT is the Director and Founder of Xtreme Music: where Music meets Spirituality, based in Auckland, New Zealand. He served on the Fetzer Institute’s Advisory Council for the Arts, and created a website embracing the beauty and diversity of Music and Spirituality.
Why does art and music resonate with the human spirit? Who are the artists that are uniting artistic expression with emotional healing? In this guest blog post, we explore these key questions and discover a spirit of artistry, faith, and unity.
Art has served humanity throughout the ages: from ritualistic and symbolic functions to expressions of the personal and mystical, and as a record of culture, community, and creed. Those who create art have discovered a unique path of creative expression that suits their abilities and interests and serves art’s many functions. Through their craft, these artists convey an experience, expression, story, or mood, all to share an idea, sell a product, or simply offer an aesthetic expression of their personal beliefs.
Art often appeals to and connects with our human emotions. It can arouse pleasure, disgust, sadness, or joy as well as elicit complex moral considerations or judgments. When artists convey love and forgiveness and other emotions and values through their medium of choice, they are inviting a deeper consideration of their work, allowing an audience to consider both the emotional and aesthetic. Art has a profound capacity to explore and express the complexity of the human condition and artists who are highly attuned to their craft can do this effortlessly.
For artists, their attention to their craft allows them a deep understanding of the symbiotic relationship of artist and audience. They hope that the presentation of their work offers the space and time for an audience to learn or process their emotional responses. They also understand the inherent and ongoing exploration of their own inner life that their artistry offers.
Exploring this theme further is LOVE LIVE FORGIVE, a FREE eBook with an exciting collection of exclusive interviews with many of the world’s most visionary artists, authors, and musicians. A unique anthology that explores the transformative power of love, forgiveness, and the creative spirit, sharing insights and reflections on the powerful intersections that exist between artists and creativity. This book embraces contributors from a dynamic spectrum of artistic, cultural, and faith-based backgrounds. Individually they offer their unique perspective on the human experience. Collectively they embrace a shared passion for art and its ability to transform our lives and the world around us.
I feel that this project can strongly resonate with young artists; teenagers, students, and graduates alike, to help develop their own understanding of love, forgiveness, the creative spirit, and how to practically express these essential values in their world today.
JUSTIN ST. VINCENT is the author and managing editor of the new book, “LOVE LIVE FORGIVE: Insights from Artists” is available on June 1st 2014 from: http://www.LoveLiveForgive.org
Dramatic video of a Chinese man catching a young child after he fell from a second story window were released on Friday by Chinese state media.
A man walking past a building during a thunderstorm in the southern province of Guangdong spotted a baby who had climbed dangerously onto the window sill, provincial broadcaster Guangdong TV said.
(WATCH the video of the man catching the baby or READ the story at Sydney Morning Herald)
Pain management specialist Dr. Houman Danesh of Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York says there are some pains that you should never ignore.
They are:
A sharp ache between your shoulder blades
A ‘thunderclap’ headache
Dull stomach pain to the lower right of abdomen
Tooth pain that wakes you up
Mid-back pain with fever
Menstrual cramps that don’t get better with medication
A tender spot on your calf
In a TODAY show segment, she explains how to recognize when some pains, even if they seem small, need immediate attention.
(WATCH the segment below or READ the article from TODAY)
Photo credit: sancho panza via Flickr, CC
Eboni Stevenson, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver, won an award recently for devoting more than 3,000 hours of her time to volunteer work – a new record.
Her enthusiasm for helping other students and the community was sparked in middle school when she was paired with a mentor from the Metro Denver Partners.
When she got older, she came back to the group as a peer leader, logging hours working with girls, and also on volunteer projects there, like the annual food drive.
Eboni exceeded her school’s standard for community service by logging 3,840 volunteer hours. She will attend Colorado State University after graduation and is already planning a major in social work.
(WATCH the video or READ the story at 9-News Denver — *NOTE – Video starts immediately upon clicking)
Photos courtesy of Metro Denver Partners
A new study found that Border Collie patrols are an effective way to reduce the amount of E. coli bacteria at public beaches in Michigan.
Since the 1990s, booming gull populations around Lake Michigan have led to swim advisories and beach closings because of the abundance of E. coli bacteria in the sand and water.
A team of student researchers from Central Michigan University devised an environmentally friendly solution: They began using border collies in 2012 to chase away the congregating birds.
Two border collies, trained and experienced in chasing geese and other birds, were leased for the project, while students were trained as their handlers.
Gull droppings may contain bacteria with the potential to cause human disease, according to Elizabeth Alm, PhD, who led the two-year study and shot this photo. “Border collies are intelligent dogs that love to work and could be used by beach managers as part of a comprehensive management strategy to reduce bacterial contamination at public beaches,” said Alm.
Dogs are also being employed more widely at airports and military bases to keep large birds from congregating near air strips and threatening the safety of the air traffic. It’s a win-win situation because the dogs get to do what they like best, run freely and receive treats with a lot of love.
The research, funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes Restorative Initiative, was presented as part of the 2014 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology held May 17-20, 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts. You can read more at the BBC.
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Hero Charley Cullen swung into action when the 79 year-old, blacked out behind the wheel and put the car into the ditch.
The Irish schoolboy kept his cool even as the car hit 73mph, and pulled the vehicle back onto the road and managed to steer away from a busy main road.
He attributes his success to the hours of playing car-racing video games.
(READ the full story, w/ photo, in the Mirror)
Homemade biodigesters turn human and food waste into biogas, which can be used to heat water, cook food, or produce electricity.
Thomas H. Culhane enthusiastically promises the crowd gathered at a biodigester workshop that anyone can make enough clean-burning biogas to cook food every day using the scraps from yesterday’s meals.
All they need is a food grinder, some lengths of PVC pipe, a couple of 10-gallon buckets, and flexible plastic tubing.
“He really embraces the idea that there are no boundaries, that there are no categories and that we really are one human family.”
(READ the story from the CS Monitor)
A new study led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that a healthy intake of micronutrients is strongly associated with improved sperm DNA quality in older men.
In an analysis of 80 healthy male volunteers between 22 and 80 years of age, the scientists found that men older than 44 who consumed the most vitamin C had 20 percent less sperm DNA damage compared to men older than 44 who consumed the least vitamin C. The same was true for vitamin E, zinc, and folate.
“It appears that consuming more micronutrients such as vitamin C, E, folate and zinc helps turn back the clock for older men. We found that men 44 and older who consumed at least the recommended dietary allowance of certain micronutrients had sperm with a similar amount of DNA damage as the sperm of younger men,” says Andy Wyrobek (pictured above), from Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division.“This means that men who are at increased risk of sperm DNA damage because of advancing age can do something about it. They can make sure they get enough vitamins and micronutrients in their diets or through supplements,” adds Wyrobek.
But until now, researchers haven’t understood whether diet can protect against the detrimental effects of aging on the sperm genome.
In younger men, a higher intake of micronutrients did not improve sperm DNA.
Wyrobek conducted the research with a team of researchers that includes Brenda Eskenazi of the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Public Health and scientists from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. They report their findings in the August 27 online issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility.
(Learn more at Berkeley Lab)
John Walkington was standing alongside an Ontario river Monday afternoon, when he heard the screams of what was obviously an animal in distress.
A fawn, estimated to be just one week old, was caught in strong current.
A bystander later said he didn’t think he would have gone into such a dangerous situation with such high water, but Walkington swam to the rescue and returned to shore with the fawn wrapped in his arm — a difficult feat.
Once on dry land the young deer would not leave his side. He later frolicked in the man’s backyard like a dog, and cuddled his rescuer, licking him.
(READ the rest of the story in The Record)
Ricky Forbes was driving through Kootenay National Park in British Columbia, when he spotted a black bear cub sitting dangerously close to the highway.
He stopped to record video of the cub and suddenly the mother popped up from behind the concrete barrier to rescue the baby.
Lisa Klein was a new mom when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. She wanted to do something for the people of New Orleans and even trained with the Red Cross to be deployed to the area.
But with a young child, a home, and a husband who gently suggested it was impractical, Klein instead surfed the Internet to see what she could do to help the people living in emergency shelters. They needed just about everything, and what Klein had most to spare were baby clothes in the attic that she could donate. That was the impetus of the nonprofit organization Klein started called Loved Twice, which has donated nearly 100,000 pounds of baby clothing to struggling parents and guardians across the U.S. since 2005.
For her efforts, the 45-year-old mother of two was given the distinction of being the city of Oakland’s Mother of the Year.
You can donate to Lisa and the babies that she clothes by visiting their website at lovedtwice.org.
(READ the current story from Contra Costa Times – or WATCH a video from 2013)
Engineering school graduate Ruby Robinson got the surprise of a lifetime on a day when she thought her dad would miss one of her proudest moments.
U.S. Army Reserve Captain Keith Robinson wasn’t expected home from Afghanistan yet, but his commanding officer made a last minute effort to get him home to see his daughter graduate from Columbia University.
The Ivy League school recorded a video about the surprise, which is spreading across the internet and mainstream, media.
Robinson gets to keep her dad in the country for two weeks before he has to head back to Afghanistan, where he will stay until this fall.
Enjoy the sweet (and tear-jerking) video above…
After the wildfire outbreak in Southern California last week, an NBC News broadcast shared the story of one family who escaped with their lives. Everything that Stan and Amanda Sekerke owned was destroyed, but their community rewrote the script.
An outpouring of support and love was instant and overwhelming.
A family friend set up a day where people could drop off donations for the couple and their four children.
Strangers brought cars full and even a U-Haul trailer carrying clothes, toys and household items.
(WATCH this inspiring Making A Difference video below, from NBC)
Twice a month Greg Mahle leaves his home in Zanesville, Ohio to drive a semi-trailer through Texas and other southern states picking up dogs set to be euthanized.
He sleeps on a mattress among the dozens of dogs until he reaches states like Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Vermont, where loving families are waiting to adopt them.
In the last decade Mahle has saved an average of 2000 dogs each year. See some of the happy new owners on the Rescue Trips’ Facebook Page.
“I’m not able to change the whole world,” he told the Zanesville Times Recorder. “But for a few dogs, I can change their whole world.”
READ the full story in the Zanesville Times Recorder – Story tip from Steve G.
— UPDATE: Watch a June 2014 video below from NBC
When Parker Mantell stepped to the podium to deliver Indiana University’s commencement speech, he immediately confessed to his fellow graduates that he, as a person who stutters, may not be the obvious choice to deliver the address. But his message is one that needed to be heard.
Mantell, who graduated May 10 with a political science degree, urged his classmates to rise above any doubts they have about their abilities. He cited Beethoven’s deafness, Ray Charles’ blindness and Albert Einstein’s dyslexia as examples of disabilities that failed to get in the way of their success.
— READ the full story from NBC’s TODAY
— WATCH the video below
They lost their dream home in the San Diego fires this week but found something in the rubble that restored their spirits and lifted the community of Carlsbad as well.
The letter, left anonymously and taped to a shovel standing in their charred front yard, encouraged the family not to give up and to rise from the ashes.
The letter, signed GB, contained the following words:
“We cannot escape the tragedies that arise in our lives. We can search for a reason and ask – why? Maybe we could hold others at fault or imagine what life would be had this not happened, but perhaps what defines our character is not our struggles but how well we meet them and rise up after getting knocked down.”
“Losing everything we own is sad, but the things we own do not diminish who we are inside. Sometimes the worst situation brings out the best in us and others.”
“When you put together a jigsaw puzzle made of hundreds of pieces, you put it together one piece at a time. No one can go back and change what has happened, but we can all start today and make a new tomorrow, one shovel at a time, one day at a time.”
GB
— READ the full story from NBC
