In October, US consumer confidence hit the highest point since February 2008, and private sector businesses added more jobs than at any time in the last eight months.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the US economy added 171,000 jobs last month, 50,000 more than economists had expected.
No power or water?
New York Sports Club has opened its doors free of charge to anyone who needs to shower, charge their cell phone, or blow off steam with a stress-relieving run on the treadmill.
The clubs will be open to the public (local residents 18 and older with photo ID) through November 14.
Superstar musicians born in the New York-New Jersey area will perform at Rockefeller Plaza Friday, part of a benefit concert for victims of Hurricane Sandy. New Jersey natives Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, along with Billy Joel from Long Island are joining Sting, Christina Aguilera and Jimmy Fallon for the show, to be broadcast on NBC at 8pm.
The thumbnail-sized golden colored Kihansi Spray Toad, only discovered by scientists in 1996, was officially declared Extinct in the Wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2009.
But thanks to a captive breeding program begun in 2000, the amphibian has been reestablished in its only known habitat, beneath a waterfall’s continuous spray in south-central Tanzania. From a collection of 499 toads saved in the wild by the University of Dar Salaam, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Bronx Zoo and Toledo Zoo have multiplied the captive population to more than 6,000. This week, more than two thousand of the tiny toads were reintroduced to their wet native habitat, at the base of the Kihansi Gorge.
The thumbnail-sized golden colored Kihansi Spray Toad, only discovered by scientists in 1996, was officially declared Extinct in the Wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2009.
But thanks to a captive breeding program begun in 2000, the amphibian has been reestablished in its only known habitat, beneath a waterfall’s continuous spray in south-central Tanzania. From a collection of 499 toads saved in the wild by the University of Dar Salaam, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Bronx Zoo and Toledo Zoo have multiplied the captive population to more than 6,000. This week, more than two thousand of the tiny toads were reintroduced to their wet native habitat, at the base of the Kihansi Gorge.
Spencer Service has seen cats in the alley below his Ocean Avenue apartment before. But Monday afternoon was the first time he’d seen one surrounded by newborn kittens—on the precipice of the biggest storm to slam New York City in recent history.
As Sandy was rolling in, Spencer tried sheltering the fledgling feline family under a cardboard box. But he knew it wouldn’t be enough.
So he grabbed a cat carrier and trudged 2 miles to the local animal rescue facility.
Bob Schiro’s Halloween displays are legendary in San Jose. His goal is to foster neighborliness, but, it’s grown bigger than that.
Over the past decade his displays have become increasingly elaborate. Last year’s pirate ship was 50-feet long. This year’s haunted house, a Victorian mansion, is hand-constructed and three stories high.
Hundreds of doctors, firefighters, emergency personnel and volunteers are converging on the East Coast to help devastated areas with recovery efforts.
Trent Smith, from Indiana expects to spend the coming days working long hours with little sleep, but he said the work will have its own rewards.
“The vast majority of people that work for (the) department do this because they have this internal feeling that ‘I want to help,'” said Smith, who normally works as a public information officer for the Indiana state police.
Most people traveling to the East Coast are part of organized groups. But some are heading out on their own, driven by a desire to help in whatever way they can.
(READ the featured story from NBC News)
A new project to record the stories of America’s “Greatest Generation” was launched by a Boy Scout who lost his grandfather at an early age.
Of the 16 million men and women galvanized during World War II, fewer than two million are still alive. Society is losing on average 700 of these seniors daily — like the scout’s grandpa who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Many of this generation have never spoken about what they did during the war.
Greg Merson, an A student who dropped out of the University of Maryland and beat a drug addiction has also now beaten the table to win the World Series of Poker, outlasting eight other players to win $8.5 million.
His parents, who had traveled to Las Vegas from Laurel, Maryland to witness the finals which started on Monday, rushed the table to hug and congratulate him as confetti flowed from above.
Two little girls in Texas gave up their Justin Bieber tickets to let another ‘belieber’ with a rare blood disorder go to the concert instead.
Dawson Beaty and Samantha Brown didn’t even know 7-year old Emma Routh. They read about her on a facebook page.
“I wanted to go to the Justin Bieber concert,” Beaty said, “but she really wanted to go, so I let her have my concert tickets.”
Players from German orchestra mingled with crowds on a Cologne plaza recently and one by one joined in to play the well-known tones from a galaxy far, far away.
The WDR Radio Orchestra cherishes all kinds of good music, including operettas and jazz, rock and pop, film and video game music in its repertoire.
The Coast Guard rescued 14 people adrift in life rafts in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 90 miles off the coast of Hatteras, N.C. on Monday morning, following the sinking of their ship in 40 mile-per-hour winds.
The heroic Coast Guard effort to rescue survivors from the replica tall ship, HMS Bounty, involved helicopters, baskets and swimmers in the midst of some 18-ft swells.
The Coast Guard rescued 14 people adrift in life rafts in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 90 miles off the coast of Hatteras, N.C. on Monday morning, following the sinking of their ship in 40 mile-per-hour winds.
The heroic Coast Guard effort to rescue survivors from the replica tall ship, HMS Bounty, involved helicopters, baskets and swimmers in the midst of some 18-ft swells.
Six-year-old Nico Castro from San Bruno, Calif., isn’t letting his battle with brain cancer affect his spirit of giving this Halloween.
After his doctor gave him the green light to go trick-or-treating thanks to a break in his chemotherapy, he began worrying about the other kids in the cancer ward who remain confined to beds.
“I was sad they wouldn’t have candy (or costumes),” Nico explained.
There is “reason for some optimism” for the UK economy, the Bank of England’s deputy governor Charlie Bean said after last week’s GDP figures showed production expanded by 1%.
He also pointed to “signs of progress” from the eurozone and banking crises and inflation, which is staying down.
In related news, Reuters reports that British retail sales picked up faster than forecasted in October.
Chrysler Group LLC reported a net profit of $381 million for the third quarter of 2012 on Monday, up 80 percent from the $212 million profit the company reported for the same period a year ago.
Monday’s results mark the third consecutive quarter of solid profitability for the company, which means the 26,000 members of the United Auto Workers employed in Chrysler’s factories will next year likely receive their signing bonus of $1,750, as part of the union’s 2011 agreement with the automaker.
An 80-year-old Utah man arrived on the East Coast Monday to help feed evacuees from Hurricane Sandy. Vern Gillmore, who says his hobby is volunteering, joins other Good Samaritans from around the country and Canada leaving their warm homes and heading into the eye of the storm to help neighbors they’ve never met.
“It makes me sad to see some of the devastation that goes on with the hurricanes,” said fellow Utah Red Cross volunteer Tina Spencer, “but it’s just a wonderful thing to see the gratitude on the faces of people that are in the middle of a disaster.”
Red Cross Volunteers will stay on the scene for at least 2-3 weeks or until they are finished providing services.
Meanwhile, utility crews from as far away as Florida and even Canada have sent convoys of trucks streaming into the disaster zone to help restore power and repair dangerous broken power lines expected to impact millions of people in every state from Virginia all the way north to Vermont, according to reports.
– WATCH the Arkansas video below – or READ the story, here.
An 80-year-old Utah man arrived on the East Coast Monday to help feed evacuees from Hurricane Sandy. Vern Gillmore, who says his hobby is volunteering, joins other Good Samaritans from around the country and Canada leaving their warm homes and heading into the eye of the storm to help neighbors they’ve never met.
“It makes me sad to see some of the devastation that goes on with the hurricanes,” said fellow Utah Red Cross volunteer Tina Spencer, “but it’s just a wonderful thing to see the gratitude on the faces of people that are in the middle of a disaster.”
An expanding body of research suggests people’s moral compasses are active far earlier than previously thought.
Young children and even babies demonstrate attributes such as generosity, empathy and a sense of justice, indicating that far from being born as clean slates, humans seem to have innate altruistic tendencies and are able to make moral choices at a remarkably young age.
A new Canadian (CBC) documentary offers a fascinating exploration of this relatively new and growing area of research. “Babies: Born to be Good?” follows the work of researchers in Canada, the U.S. and China as they test children’s inherent abilities to distinguish right from wrong.
– If you are in Canada, you can watch the full show here on CBC.
– READ the article in the Toronto Globe and Mail
– WATCH the preview below
