Prosecutor John M. Tran, elected to the Fairfax County Circuit Court on April 4 by the state’s General Assembly, became the first Asian-American to serve as a judge in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Fewer Youth Inmates in Canada and Australia Means Units Closing
The New South Wales Government has been forced to close a youth detention center because of a lack of inmates.
The same positive trend is occurring with teens in Saskatchewan. The number of incarcerated youth in that province has fallen so much that units have been closed at three youth detention centers and one will be repurposed to house adult women.
Changes to policing and court practices in both localities has cut child incarceration by nearly 50 percent.
Paris Employs Sheep to ‘Mow’ Lawn at City’s Gardens
Officials in Paris this week looking for a greener way to keep its lawns mowed, replaced the fleet of noisy gas-guzzling lawnmowers with a small flock of sheep that are grazing the city’s open spaces.
The scheme also cuts down on the need for chemical herbicides.
The four woolly ewes were shipped in from an island off the Brittany coast, says the AP story.
Knowing You’re Being Helpful Can Make You More Productive
Adam Grant helps others chronically and compulsively. And when you hear about his research, you’ll wonder if you should be doing the same. Grant is a leading researcher in the field of organizational psychology, where he studies, among other things, how being helpful, and feeling helpful, can benefit the rest of us.
In one of Grant’s most influential studies, he set out to do the impossible–to motivate call center workers.
How an Ex-con Went from Selling Drugs to Culinary School in Paris
By the time Cesar Gutierrez was 16, he had already gone to jail twice, experimented with gang life, sold drugs and ran away from home.
Today, the 22-year-old works at a popular Manhattan restaurant as a sous chef and has cooked with renown chef Daniel Boulud.
He entered a contest organized by Boulud and the non-profit Careers Through Culinary Arts — and won. The prize was a prestigious scholarship to train at one of the best culinary schools in Paris.
Locals Light up Remote Peruvian Airstrip for Emergency Night-flight
They came on their motor scooters by the hundreds.
The community of Contamana – a remote town in eastern Peru – came out in force on Wednesday when their local airstrip needed lighting for an emergency medical night-flight.
Dogs, Cars and Bedrooms: Person-to-person Sharing Explodes
One of the biggest trends out there is sharing. People like Rob Gonzalez are making a living from renting out cars, formal clothes, rooms to vacationers, and even pets.
It has become the norm: People using online sites to share what they have – in the tangible world – with strangers.
Cabinet Secretaries and Obama Give Back 5% of Salaries to Help Federal Workers
Along with President Obama, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Secretary of State John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano have decided to forgo portions of their salaries in solidarity with federal workers.
Like Obama, they volunteered to give their money to help reduce the deficit, or to foundations that benefit federal workers adversely affected by sequester legislation, which forced automatic government spending cuts.
Teacher Turns Low-income Kids Into Chess Champions
Ted Komada, the music teacher who started a chess club nine years ago at Killip Elementary School, hoped to help the mostly low-income students build confidence.
Now, his chess team heads to the national finals, after having won five consecutive state championships in Arizona.
The club that began with only two kids now attracts one hundred and practices nearly every day.
Hero Dog Saves Pregnant Woman and Her Baby
Janelle Giannetta, 26 weeks pregnant with her first child, was fed up with her dog Louie Friday morning after he playfully jumped on her, scratching her face.
Hours later, the year-old golden doodle was a hero — credited with saving the Long Island woman and her baby.
Responding to incessant barking upstairs, Janelle’s husband found her stricken by a seizure with foam around her mouth.
Waist-deep in Mud, Britain’s PM Cameron Rescues Distressed Mama Sheep
Bogged down by a stagnating economy and sinking poll ratings, British Prime Minister David Cameron ventured into a new swamp when he waded waist-deep into mud to rescue a drowning sheep.
Cameron was on his way back from visiting a farmer near his weekend home in the Oxfordshire countryside last month when he heard bleating and spotted a ewe that had got stuck in the mud after following her two lambs.
Egyptian Superhero Comic Fights Sexual Harassment
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Super Makh! Reappearing this year in the popular Egyptian comic publication Tok-Tok is a superhero comic with a social mission — to help women and girls stop their harassers.
Super Makh, the Egyption version of Superman, tackles the pressing issue of sexual harassment by using popular culture to affect change.
After Losing His Face, Transplant Recipient Weds Fellow Burn Victim
Dallas Wiens lost nearly all of his facial features following a terrible accident with a power line in 2008. After becoming the first American to undergo a full facial transplant, he started leading a burn patient support group, which is where he met the love of his life.
Over the weekend, Dallas married Jamie Nash, 29, in Forth Worth, Texas, at the same church where he had his accident.
A Love Letter to Land Lines on the 40th Anniversary of Cellphones
Sometimes, when I am home alone, the red phone rings downstairs. It’s a rotary phone from eBay. I bid $63.13 for it two years ago because we needed a land line for our alarm system, and so why not get an old rotary phone, because how cool are we, with our disposable income and throwback tastes?
Quest for Good Pick-Up Line Leads Man to Save Abducted Kids
Conor Grennan reunited Anish’s parents with their missing son, whom they had mourned every day for four years.
This was the miracle they had prayed for daily. Their son was alive and they would see him again.
350 such families would be surprised at how Conor got into the business of saving kids with Next Generation Nepal.
(READ the story in Brad Aronson’s blog)
Most Americans Think Teen Pregnancy is Getting Worse; Most Americans are Wrong
Teen births and pregnancies have plummeted over the past two decades, down 42 percent from 1990. Most Americans, it turns out, have no idea that we’re actually in the midst of a big public health success story.
Surprisingly, young adults ages 18-34 are most likely to be misinformed.
Help Us Reach 30,000 Fans on Facebook
Help us get to 30,000 fans on Facebook.
Our page has less than 200 LIKES to go before hitting the 30K milestone.
If you are a member there, and haven’t already hit the LIKE button, please do that to help us reach our goal.
There are some photos and bits shared there that are not on the website, so you might enjoy the extra dose of inspiration.
Visit our page here: Facebook.com/thegoodnewsnetwork
Hero Man and His Dog Rescue Girls From Freezing River
A Fort Saskatchewan oil worker who rescued two young girls from the icy waters of the North Saskatchewan River credits adrenalin and his adventurous dog for saving their lives.
After hearing screams and seeing a girl floating down the river, Adam Shaw sprinted down to the shore with Rocky, his eight-year-old 110-lb Labrador retriever-husky.
Former Gang Member Becomes Star Student With 4.0 GPA
The first time Brayan ever held a gun, he pointed it at a woman stepping out of a gray Lexus and stole her purse — his initiation into an older cousin’s gang.
He was 12 years old at the time.
“I was losing control of my life,” said Brayan, now 17 and a 4.0 student at Scriber Lake High School in Edmonds, Washington.
Pakistani Woman Makes History in Daring Run for Parliament
A Pakistani homemaker from the conservative tribal area will become the first woman to run for a seat in Parliament from that region of the country.
Braving possible attack by Islamist militants, Badam Zari hopes to bring more government focus to the issues important to Pakistani women.