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Steller Sea Lions Rebound Off Endangered List

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Oct 28, 2013

sea lions eastern Steller-AlaskaDeptFishGame-JamieKing

A five year plan to shore up dwindling populations of eastern Steller sea lions, the threatened species that roams from Alaska to California, has succeeded. NOAA Fisheries announced last week it will be delisting the animal as a threatened species, having exceeded its goal for annual population growth by more than thirty percent.

As marine predators that forage on a variety of fish, squid, and other species, Steller sea lions are a vital component of North Pacific Ocean ecosystems. Their recovery is a testament to the value and success of the Endangered Species Act in ensuring the health of marine ecosystems for future generations.

Kindness Spreads as More Schools Vote for Special Kids at Homecoming

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Oct 28, 2013

Down Syndrom homecoming queen-KGUNvid

In Tucson, Arizona, the idea is spreading to elect special teens into the Homecoming Courts at school dances.

Mountain View High School followed in the footsteps of Canyon Del Oro High School which voted for a senior named Kevin for homecoming king.

In the report below, Lani was only nominated, but on Saturday, Mountain View students watched as Lani Fuentes-Cordova was selected as the Homecoming Queen for 2013.

Grumpy Guy at Gas Pump Starts Singing With Strangers (WATCH)

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Oct 27, 2013

grumpy guy sings-PumpcastNewsVid

All he wanted to do was go home after a long flight and “be grumpy about the price of gas.” But, when asked by an announcer in the gas pump monitor if he wanted to sing Karaoke, he belted out Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing!”

This video joins another great “Pumpcast” video from the Tonight Show with Jay Leno that featured a married couple talked into singing Bon Jovi. In fact, the couple suddenly appears next the grumpy guy’s car as “backup singers,” ready to support his urge to sing.

How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

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Oct 27, 2013

classroom in Mongolia-One Laptop Per Child

The current educational system in the US was constructed almost two centuries ago to meet the needs of the industrial age. Now that our society and economy have evolved beyond that era, our schools must also be reinvented.

We can see what the future looks like in places like Mexico where one teacher fueled his low-income students to rise to the top of the nation by letting go of the reigns of teaching, to allow for child-led natural learning.

Or we can look to Finland, where they adopted this new philosophy nationwide—with outsize results.

Everyone in This Sailor’s Family Surprised by Homecoming

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Oct 27, 2013

military reunion-WSBTvideo

An Indiana member of the military surprised everyone in his family by coming home almost a month early from serving overseas. He also got a surprise of his own, after arriving back to the house he’d left eight months earlier.

Navy Lieutenant, Pete Sharrai, a big fan of Good News Network, submitted this story because it features an officer who worked for him while deployed in Bahrain.

His orders were cut by a month and, instead of telling his family he was coming home early, he opted to surprise them.

Hiker Hero Finds Wounded Pitbull, Carries Him Down the Mountain

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Oct 27, 2013

injured pitbull arizona

No one knows exactly how long the 2-year-old pit bull had been left to die alone in the Arizona mountains.

This photo taken by Andi Davis, the hiker who found him, shows the dog half standing, half collapsed, his head resting on the rocks.

Davis had walked about a half mile uphill last Friday, October 18, along a deserted trail in Phoenix when she found the dog, suffering from bullet wounds.

She hesitated for a moment before approaching the pit bull, Nelson said. But when he lifted his head as she reached for her water bottle, Davis put her apprehension aside, gave him a drink and then lifted the 47-pound dog into her arms. Then, she began walking.

(READ the story, w/ photo of new family, from WHO-TV)

Main Street Comeback: How Independent Stores are Thriving

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Oct 26, 2013

bookstore window sm-CC-MorBCN-Flickr

Despite behemoths like Starbucks and Amazon, the number of independent bookstores, coffeeshops, and other businesses is growing.

At the annual Business Alliance for Local Living Economies conference, where more than 600 high-energy people strategized about the transition to a more localized, Main Street economy, I learned that independent retailers are thriving.

One surprising comeback, even in the age of the behemoth Amazon, is independent bookstores.

(READ the story from Yes Magazine)

Photo credit: Flickr user, MorBCN – CC (cropped)

College Basketball Player Surprised With Full Scholarship (w/ Video)

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Oct 26, 2013

college-ball-player-scholarship-northwestern

Northwestern guard James Montgomery’s reward for making a good impression on his new head coach was more than he ever expected.

Coach Chris Collins announced to the team before practice on Thursday that he was awarding the 6-foot-4 player with a scholarship.

(WATCH the spontaneous video or READ the story from Yahoo Sports)

A Plan to Turn Every Lightbulb Into an Ultra-fast Alternative to Wi-Fi

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Oct 26, 2013

Light trails-Flickr-CC-surfzone

Current wireless networks have a problem: The more popular they become, the slower they are. Researchers at Fudan University in Shanghai have just become the latest to demonstrate a technology that transmits data as light instead of radio waves, which gets around the congestion issue and could be ten times faster than traditional Wi-Fi.

Using Li-Fi, a standard proposed just two years ago, LED bulbs can be altered to transmit data around ten times as fast the fastest Wi-Fi networks.

(READ the full story at Quartz)

Photo credit: Flickr user, surfzone – CC

Nonprofit Retrofits Buses as Mobile Showers for the Homeless

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Oct 25, 2013

For the 3,000 people living homeless on the streets around San Francisco, there are only a total of 16 public shower stalls.

To remedy the problem, a consortium of non-profit groups has transformed a decommissioned city bus into a mobile bathroom to offer toilets and 10-minute showers to those in need.

The project, called Lava Mae, will hook into fire hydrants — and the city is on board with the plan. San Francisco Municipal Transit (MUNI) has already donated one bus for the pilot project, which has been retrofitted to contain three showers. Each shower has a toilet and a private area to dress.

Delivering dignity one shower at a time, Lava Mae is being funded by donations on its website and through an Indiegogo campaign that just ended, in which it raised just over $58,000 of the $75,000 it will need to open.

Help out if you can by donating here. The annual budget to run each bus still needs to be met.

(WATCH the video from May 2013 or READ the current story in TriplePundit)

Paying it Forward, One Drive-through at a Time

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Oct 25, 2013

drive-thru patron pays it forward

Generous patrons at coffee, bagel shops and fast food drive-throughs have been spreading a little kindness to fellow restaurant-goers by becoming the anonymous benefactors of other people’s meals, paying their orders before they even get to the window.

WATCH the video below from NBC’s Making a Difference…

Forgiveness Can Set a Prisoner Free and That Prisoner is You

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Peggy Nelson, CLCC/CPLEC, CLOAC

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Oct 25, 2013

Suffering Flickr-CC-Hani Amir

Many of us go through life carrying a grudge, anger, hurt, or disappointment about things that happened during our childhood or at some point in our adult lives. They are equally painful and can often remain buried in our heart, possibly the cause of disease, for years. As much as we would like to forgive, we sometimes can’t conceive of forgiveness because we think it means condoning the wrong that we believe was done to us.

About four years ago while immersed in study, I learned a different method of forgiveness–a method I refer to as “energetic forgiveness.” It was an amazing concept to me and helped me unload a long-held resentment I held for my father, who left our family when I was a mere 11 years old. I welcomed the open-minded viewpoint and accepting principles that surround this very powerful concept. It was liberating.

Vet’s Dogs Denied on Airline, Wrigley Heiress Sends Private Jet

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Oct 24, 2013

Dogs with Marine piloted by heiress

A Marine family was set to book tickets on a cross-country flight for their move to North Carolina when, at the last minute, their dogs were denied passage because they were too large.

But luck and good karma was on their side. When an heiress to the Wrigley Gum fortune read on Facebook that the dogs were rescued from abuse in Afghanistan but not allowed to fly commercially, she ordered her private jet from Jettly to take the veteran’s whole family from San Diego to their new home as a gesture of gratitude for his service and kindness.

“He’s fought for our freedom and he’s a hero because he rescued two dogs,” said Helen A. Rosburg.

While deployed in 2011, Andrew Morales rescued the two anatolia shepherd dogs – brothers from the same litter – after their tails and ears had been cut off to prepare them for fighting.

(WATCH the video below or READ the story from ABC)

Calif. Firefighters Shave Heads In Support Of Kids With Cancer

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Oct 24, 2013

shaving-head-firefighter-CBSvid

“Whenever we can help a sick kid, we’re going to do everything we can,” said one Orange City firefighter Tuesday as he and his colleagues shaved their heads to show support for patients at the children’s hospital.

Between 40 and 50 firefighters visited patients at the hospital in a fun hair-shaving ceremony of solidarity.

The fire department was inspired by Orange City firefighter John Voris’ 15-year-old daughter Saylor, who was recently diagnosed with leukemia and is scheduled to undergo a bone marrow transplant.

Some firefighters also donated blood and/or platelets while others passed out honorary badges and hats to children batting cancer and other illnesses and injuries.

(READ the story from CBS Los Angeles)

Purring Monkey Discovered in the Amazon

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Oct 24, 2013

purring Caqueta titi monkey -WWF-Javier Garcia

A purring monkey and a vegetarian piranha are among the new species of animals discovered during scientific expeditions in the Amazon rainforest.

Discovered by researchers between 2010 and 2013 and compiled for the first time by WWF, the new species add up to at an astounding 258 plants, 84 fish, 58 amphibians, 22 reptiles, 18 birds and the “purring” Caqueta titi monkey.

Callicebus caquetensis (pictured here), of the Colombian Amazon, endeared itself to the scientists because, “All of the babies purr like cats.”

As part of its Sky Rainforest Rescue, WWF is helping to save one billion trees in the Brazilian state of Acre. “Working together with local people and the state government, we’re finding alternatives to deforestation that can make the trees worth more standing than cut down,” says WWF in a press release. To date, over 5,000 people have committed to keeping the rainforest standing on their land.

(READ the story with more photos at the WWF)

WWF photo by Javier Garcia

Research Shows Doing Good is Good for You

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Good News Network

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Oct 24, 2013

Doing Good is Good for You-graphic

It is generally accepted that volunteering is a good thing to do for others. But is it true volunteering also benefits the volunteer? UnitedHealth Group wanted to look into this phenomenon further so they decided to conduct a comprehensive survey and analysis on the positive effects employees and employers receive from volunteering.

The 2013 Health and Volunteering Study used a nationwide sample of 3,351 volunteers and non-volunteers. Through this survey they found evidence to support the idea that when employees volunteered they felt less stressed and an overall increase in their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

(Update) Shoplifting Mom Given More Groceries and New Job

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Oct 23, 2013

Donating money for groceries-WSVNvid

A police officer in south Florida was faced Monday with the prospect of arresting a single mother who was caught shoplifting groceries to feed her family. Vicki Thomas was so moved by the plight of the struggling mom of three children that she decided to buy her $100 worth of groceries.

“Arresting her wasn’t going to solve the problem,” said officer Thomas, who also charged her with a misdemeanor.

Since the story went public Monday, the public has also stepped up to help Jessica Robles. She was taken to Walmart to buy $500 in groceries donated from Restoration 1 of Miami and was given another $200 from Good Samaritan, Mayra Lapierre.

Not only that, the owner of PhoneDoctor.com interviewed Robles on Tuesday for a customer service job and hired her on the spot.

“There’s no words,” said Jessica who believes her children will never go hungry again thanks to the kindness of strangers.

(WATCH the video or READ the story from CNN)

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