With US Attorney-General Eric Holder announcing plans to curb mass incarceration, could restorative justice transform America’s prison-industrial complex?
On a dare, six young men, ages 10-13, broke into a giant chemical processing plant in Colorado. What occurred that night transformed one policeman who previously sought to deliver the maximum punishment for every crime.
Every year during “Welcome Week” at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, students get a chance to win free tuition by making a half-court basketball shot.
For the first time, a student sank the difficult shot as the gymnasium erupted in cheers.
Freshman Markus Burden, from Frankfort, Illinois will get his Spring semester tuition for free, a prize worth $11,000.
Every day on his way to work Patrick McConlogue passes a young man who lives on the streets — a guy whose eyes still shine with the light of determination and intelligence.
Last week, McConlogue, a New York City entrepreneur, programmer and designer, decided to offer the man a choice: Either he could accept $100 in cash, or he could learn how to code and be given three books on JavaScript, a used laptop and free lessons for one hour each day.
Leo accepted the offer of programming lessons.
Patrick promised to write updates on his blog (Medium.com), letting his readers know how the experiment was progressing.
In the first August 25 update, McConlogue wrote that Leo really is a genius: “As I sat there becoming increasing stunned, he rattled off import/export prices on food, the importance of solar and green energy, and his approval for ‘efficient public transportation initiatives [referring to NY’s new Citibike]’.”
“He is smart, logical, and articulate. Most importantly, he is serious.”
Follow the unfolding story on Leo’s Facebook Community, Journeyman.
Fertilizer runoff has led to a global decline in seagrass meadows, which provide crucial habitat for fish. But thanks to the return of sea otters, these meadows are flourishing in a major estuary in California, scientists say.
Fertilizer from farms in Salinas flows into Monterey Bay, carrying phosphates and other nutrients that fuel the growth of algae to the detriment of seagrass leaves.
Citywide transit options in Detroit in 2012 were bleak. Bus service was limited by severe budgetary cutbacks. The light rail project was abandoned.
25 year-old entrepreneur Andy Didorosi was disgusted, so he bought a bus and started the Detroit Bus Company. His transit innovations include a high tech app that lets riders know exactly where the buses are at any moment.
“In other cities… the city runs without you,” he explains in the video below. “But here in Detroit you have a chance to make a real difference. You can create a transit system, or you can create a new way to educate kids. It’s unlike anywhere else in the world.”
A research pilot plant in Newcastle will trial world-first technology that turns carbon emissions into bricks and pavers for the construction industry.
The mineral carbonation technology copies and accelerates the earth’s own way of sinking carbon.
The University of Newcastle, chemical giant Orica and carbon innovation company GreenMag Group have spent six years researching how to permanently and safely dispose of carbon dioxide.
“This homeless man found a bunch of my wife’s stolen property strewn all over downtown Tulsa,” wrote a user called anitasanger on Reddit.
“He took the time to gather it all up in the rain and call us for retrieval. I just want to recognize him as an awesome human being.”
Reddit fans recognized the man as a frequent visitor to the Tulsa Day Center, which serves the homeless. The story so inspired readers that donations began flowing in to the Day Center.
(READ the comments at Reddit)
Many of the grocery items we buy, it turns out, come equipped with clever packaging designs that most consumers don’t even know about.
For example:
A 96-Year-old man, heartbroken by the loss of his wife, wrote down some song lyrics for his “Sweet Lorraine,” and sent them to a singer-songwriter contest he saw in his Illinois newspaper.
Green Shoe Studios in East Peoria was so touched by Fred Stobaugh’s letter, that they decided to record the song for him as a testament to his long lost love.
In a tangle of forgotten, overgrown brush in the heart of India’s capital, a quiet plan has been hatched to change the landscape of one of the world’s most populous cities.
An intricate Mughal garden is being created. Crumbling sandstone tombs nearly lost to history are being rebuilt. An artificial lake is being carved out. The renovation of Sunder Nursery is intended to serve as the catalyst for an even more ambitious project: the creation of a mammoth, iconic park that would rival New York’s Central Park as a refuge from urban chaos.
Some tiny beings may have set up residence along a forest trail in Overland Park, Kansas, or at least that’s what city workers think.
The city doesn’t know who is building the intricate “gnome homes” that feature miniature hand-crafted doors at the bottom of trees, little tables and place settings, and tiny welcome mats.
There is a good reason that the motto at one primary school in Perth, Australia extols the sentiment, “I got your back”.
When a roomful of young teens, grade 6 and 7, heard their teacher read a story about the youngest Australian soldier to be killed in Afghanistan, and how his mother was grieving, they wanted to reach out with love and support.
Each of the 32 students wrote a letter or designed a card reminding Suzanne Thomas that her eldest son James didn’t die in vain and offering their love and support in any way needed.
“Dear Ms Thomas. When you’re feeling down about this tragedy, just remember all the hugs he gave you (and) that no matter what, he loves you,” wrote Jade Hancock.
They all offered Suzanne advice, telling her to stay strong and be proud.
After hearing their teacher read the story, it made them want to go home and hug their own mothers.
Among the red eyes and sniffles the kids said they wanted to let Suzanne know they “had her back”.
Suzanne was so moved that she arranged to make the long drive out to the foothills of Perth’s Darling Range to visit the class, where 32 classmates waiting excitedly to meet her.
(WATCH the story below, or READ the story – and see the letters – in the Herald Sun / PerthNow.com)
The International Interior Design Association recently selected the McAllen Public Library as the winner of their 2012 Library Interior Design Competition.
The city inherited the former Wal-Mart after the retailer closed the store and abandoned it. The decision was made to reuse the structure and create a new main library within.
A centrally located area painted bright orange contains all the service amenities.
Though the city just filed the biggest municipal bankruptcy in history, its decline is opening up opportunities. Jason Zogg is currently refurbishing a big art deco building, re-purposing a parking lot into a park, and conceiving a master-plan for the neighborhood where he works as an urban planner. He’s only 28.
A 27-year-old Japanese shop-assistant dons a superhero disguise in his spare time in order to help strangers maneuvering the dimly lit stairs of a Tokyo subway station which has no escalators or lifts.
For three months, Tadahiro Kanemasu has used his green suit, with silver trim, to protect his identity as he helps the elderly and people lugging heavy bags or stollers.
“Japanese people find it hard to offer or accept help because they feel indebted to the person,” he explained.
Fifty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. offered a transcendent vision of racial harmony for America’s future with his “I Have a Dream” speech, tens of thousands gathered where he spoke Saturday to hear leaders tell them that while much has been attained, much remains unfinished.
“Dreams are for those who won’t accept reality as it is, so they dream of what is not there and make it possible,” the Rev. Al Sharpton, an event organizer, told the throngs that pulsated with enthusiasm — laughing, cheering, nodding and clapping.
Three years ago, a Chinese farmer packed his worldly possessions into a rusty rickshaw, and, after pedaling 37,500 miles (60,000 km) through 16 countries and more than 1,700 cities, arrived in London.
Chen Guanming, a 58-year-old from Jiangsu Province in eastern China, is a huge fan of all things Olympics, so he decided to pedal his rickshaw all the way from China to “promote the Olympic spirit” and see the London 2012 opening ceremony.
The ever-smiling Chen decided one global trek to an Olympic venue was not enough. A friend found a shipping company willing to transport his rickshaw to Canada, so he can begin pedaling across the Americas to Brazil in time for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro games.
Even though he only speaks Mandarin, and just a few words of English, the man told the BBC he will keep going. “This is my job now, to tell the people of the world about the Olympics and about peace.”
(READ the story w/ many photos, from the BBC)
Photo credits: (top) xpgomes11 via Flickr – CC
(bottom) R. Schofield via Flickr – CC
A boy who lost his mother to cancer has had a life-size statue built in his image out of Lego, after the toymaker hailed him as a hero for his charity work.
Jack Covill-Lowndes was honored for raising thousands of pounds for the hospice that cared for mother Steph.
The ten-year-old from Wainfleet, Lincolnshire gets to take home the statue – made of 35,000 bricks.
A smartphone app is now diagnosing cataracts and other eye-related problems for people in developing countries.
The Portable Eye Examination Kit (Peek) includes an app-based diagnosis tool and clip-on hardware to examine cataracts and retina problems.
Peek Vision can be used to examine the retina at the back of the eye and the images can be transmitted to experts anywhere in the world.
(WATCH the video or READ the story in the CBC)
The British Heart Foundation has released figures that reveal a huge 83 per cent drop in the number of children dying from congenital heart disease – birth defects of the heart – over the last three decades.
Progress in diagnosis, intricate surgery and post-op care has created the first generation to enjoy high survival rates for major heart defects. There are so many survivors that a new speciality – adult congenital heart monitoring – has emerged to treat them in later life.
