Home Blog Page 1328

Hess Oil Company Donates $1 Million to North Dakota Flood Relief

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 29, 2011

flooding in North Dakota, courtesy of ND Community Foundation

Hess Corporation announced yesterday that it has donated $1 million to North Dakota flood relief efforts.

“We are deeply concerned about the people who are suffering from the devastation caused by the floods that have occurred in North Dakota,” said John Hess, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the oil company.

The donation will go to the Minot Area Community Foundation and the North Dakota Community Foundation to support relief efforts. The groups are providing immediate aid as well as assisting in long term recovery and rebuilding efforts in the Minot area and across the state.

Hess Oil Company Donates $1 Million to North Dakota Flood Relief

Most Popular

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 29, 2011

flooding in North Dakota, courtesy of ND Community Foundation

Hess Corporation announced yesterday that it has donated $1 million to North Dakota flood relief efforts.

“We are deeply concerned about the people who are suffering from the devastation caused by the floods that have occurred in North Dakota,” said John Hess, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the oil company.

The donation will go to the Minot Area Community Foundation and the North Dakota Community Foundation to support relief efforts. The groups are providing immediate aid as well as assisting in long term recovery and rebuilding efforts in the Minot area and across the state.

After 80 Rejections, Inventor, 84, Produces a Winner

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 29, 2011

Dabble game invented

An 84 year-old tinkerer has invented many useful items that have won rave reviews from friends and family, but were rejected by every company and investor.

“Everywhere I’d go I’d get rejected,” said George Weiss. “I just couldn’t get a foot in the door.”

But all that changed when a small company agreed to invest in a word game Weiss came up with called “Dabble,” which is now sold in 50 stores nationwide and won the 2011 Game of the Year Award from Creative Child Magazine.

(READ the story from Today, at MSNBC)

Amanda Burden’s Urban Revitalization of NYC is a Model for the World

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 29, 2011

Amanda Burden photo by David Shankbone -Creative Commons

Amanda Burden, the daughter of famed socialite Babe Paley, and now, the director of city planning, is spearheading Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s far-reaching effort to rezone nearly a quarter of New York City and reclaim the city’s waterfront.

Her populist achievements include zoning for new affordable housing in East Harlem, Brookyln and the South Bronx, as well as the massively popular High Line, an abandoned railroad track that has been transformed into a popular tourist destination in the once-gritty meatpacking neighborhood, which has seen commerce move in and property values soar in the past decade.

New York Passes Historic Green Jobs Financing Law

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 28, 2011

photo by Daniel Schwen, via Wikimedia Commons

An innovative financing mechanism for achieving the green jobs and carbon cuts mandated in New York was passed last week by the state legislature. The “Power NY Act” funnels energy savings from individual electric bills to the cause of financing energy efficient retrofits on one million buildings and homes.

The win-win-win strategy of “on-bill financing” will create 14,000 living-wage jobs, cut carbon emissions, lower utility bills for working families, and enable moderate-income homeowners to access safe loans for retrofits and use energy savings to repay the loan.

New York Passes Historic Green Jobs Financing Law

Most Popular

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 28, 2011

photo by Daniel Schwen, via Wikimedia Commons

An innovative financing mechanism for achieving the green jobs and carbon cuts mandated in New York was passed last week by the state legislature. The “Power NY Act” funnels energy savings from individual electric bills to the cause of financing energy efficient retrofits on one million buildings and homes.

The win-win-win strategy of “on-bill financing” will create 14,000 living-wage jobs, cut carbon emissions, lower utility bills for working families, and enable moderate-income homeowners to access safe loans for retrofits and use energy savings to repay the loan.

College Football Player Lifts Cadillac to Save Man’s Life

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 28, 2011

Danous Estenor portrait

Lucky for Maria Uribe, a football player heard her scream when she discovered a Cadillac had pinned her husband, who had been working on the car, under its rear tire.

Not just any college player, Danous Estenor is a 6-foot-3, 295-pound offensive lineman.

“I tried to lift the car, and when I first tried, it didn’t budge, said Danous. I backed up. I don’t know. But I felt this energy come, and I lifted it…”

Tobacco Sales to Minors at Record Low

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 28, 2011

Tobacco sales to minors fell to an all-time low in 2010, a new report shows.

Retailers in the US sold tobacco to minors 9.3% of the time — the lowest in the 14-year history of surveys by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The Puerto Rican Parrot Back from Near Extinction

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 27, 2011

Puerto Rican parrot - USFW photo

The outlook is increasingly positive for the Puerto Rican parrot, which has hovered near extinction for decades, with slightly more than a dozen left in the wild at one point.

‘Everything is moving in a positive direction,’ said Tom White, a Fish and Wildlife biologist who helps manage the island’s wild parrot populations.

Solar Energy From Windows

By

-

Jun 27, 2011

solar smart energy glass bldg

A start-up in Northern California is working on creating “solar windows” that could act as solar panels at the same time as blocking sunlight from entering office buildings to reduce their energy needs, according to a story in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle.

The company, Pythagoras Solar, won a $100,000 prize last week in GE’s Ecomagination Challenge, for its idea.

Is Shyness an Evolutionary Tactic?

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 27, 2011

shy girl photo by CCMackay

Shyness and introversion — or more precisely, the careful, sensitive temperament from which both often spring — are not just normal. They are valuable. And they may be essential to the survival of our species.

Shy and introverted people have been part of our species for a very long time, often in leadership positions. Charles Darwin, Marcel Proust, Albert Einstein, Google’s Larry Page, and Harry Potter’s creator, J. K. Rowling were all considered timid in social situations.

Royal Wedding Fund Raises $1.7 Million for Charity

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 27, 2011

Prince William and Kate, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Plenty of people this spring wanted to send a wedding gift to Prince William and Kate Middleton, even after the couple asked that donations be made to one of 26 chosen charities instead.

More than $1.7 million (over a million pounds) was raised for the occasion for the Royal Wedding Charitable Gift Fund, according to Buckingham Palace.

Israel Begins Dismantling Section of West Bank Barrier

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 27, 2011

Arab man leans against wall

Israel on Sunday began tearing down a section of its contentious West Bank separation, marking a major victory for the village residents of Bilin, which lost half its land to the barrier.

The dismantling of the section comes four years after Israel’s Supreme Court ordered it torn down, rejecting the military’s argument that the route was necessary for security.

Selling Eye Glasses at Cost While Giving a Pair to the Needy With Every Sale

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 26, 2011

Warby Parker Eyeglasses giveaway helps poor to see

Warby Parker is a new web-based company with a mission that goes far beyond profit.

They want to help people find affordable eyeglasses by cutting out the middleman that normally marks up prices ten to 20 times the manufacturing cost.

They also want to make a difference, by donating one pair of glasses to a person in need for every pair sold.

So far, in one year, the startup has sold 60,000 glasses with prescription lenses.

(WATCH or READ the story from CBS News “Sunday Morning”)

Boeing Rights a Wrong: the Flight Attendant Button Next to Light Button

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 26, 2011

airline cabin photo by Chris Sloan via airchive.com

In the long history of bad industrial design, the flight attendant call button on commercial airlines takes top prize.

Usually located next to the reading light button and often indistinguishable from it, the dreaded button causes flight attendants to make countless pointless trips down the aisles, only to hear embarrassed passengers say they were just trying to switch on the light.

Not for much longer, thanks to a new interior design on Boeing’s 737 passenger jet.

Neighbor Helps Neighbor In Flooding North Dakota Town

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 26, 2011

sand bagging along a river

Stories of people helping each other, often without being asked and demanding nothing in return, were a heartwarming counterpoint to the destruction from unprecedented flooding along the Souris valley in north-central North Dakota. Brought together by word of mouth, church and civic networks, social media and random encounters, those with housing and supplies to spare gave willingly to those without.

“They just showed up on Tuesday and carted stuff off for us,” said one local in the flood zone.

(READ the article from NPR News)

South Korean Pastor Accepts Unwanted Babies in Drop Box

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 26, 2011

photo of Asian baby by Opencage.info -CC

In a country that prizes physical perfection, Korean Pastor Lee Jong-rak, his eyes opened after caring for his own disabled son, has been taking in unwanted infants, who if not for the drop box in the front of his building would be left in the street.

To Pastor Lee Jong-rak, babies with Down syndrome or cerebral palsy are all perfect. And they have found a home here at the ad hoc orphanage he runs with his wife and small staff. It is the only private center for disabled children in South Korea.

(READ the article from the LA Times)

Thanks to Joel Arellano for submitting the story to our Facebook page!

Food Bank Shortages Lead To Innovation

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 25, 2011

Trey Morgan helps at a food bank - courtesy photo

Food banks around the country are trying to keep their shelves stocked as more people in the U.S. struggle to get enough to eat. That means finding new ways to salvage food that would otherwise go to waste.

One innovation is being tested at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Tennessee, where a vacuum packaging machine is being used to test dented food cans for quality.

The machine can show whether a damaged can has any leaks that would jeopardize the quality of the food.

Second Harvest also plans to approach other potential donors, like hospitals, hotels, caterers, and restaurants that could donate prepared food that has not been utilized.

(READ the story at NPR)

Five Economic Lessons from Sweden, the Rock Star of the Recovery

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 25, 2011

Swedish flag by seemann -CC via Morguefile

Almost every developed nation in the world was hit by the financial crisis. Their economies became paralyzed. And then there’s Sweden.

The Scandinavian nation has accomplished what the United States, Britain and Japan can only dream of: Growing rapidly, creating jobs and gaining a competitive edge. The banks are lending, the housing market booming. The budget is balanced.

Tom Hanks Wants to Spread Optimism With his New Movie ‘Larry Crowne’

By

Good News Network

-

Jun 25, 2011

Larry Crowne film features Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts

Optimism is something Hanks has never been shy about bringing to his movies. Whether it is Forrest Gump’s naïve faith in people or the dogged determination to survive and be rescued in “Cast Away,” Hanks identifies with characters he describes as “one of the faithful.”

His new film, “Larry Crowne,” opening Friday, July 1, gives that optimism a real test torn straight from the American zeitgeist.

Like many Americans during the recent recession, Crowne goes back to Community College after losing his job. Searching for something positive, that is what he finds.

1...1,3271,3281,329...1,690 Page 1,328 of 1,690