Other localities can learn something from the second most populous city in the United States.
Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa made a commitment in 2005 to increase the portion of his city’s renewable energy use from 5 to 20 percent by 2010. He announced this week the achievement of that goal after the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power calculated its 2010 renewable energy portfolio.
Three years ago, a stroke left Angie paralyzed on her right side and without the ability to speak. She has undergone speech therapy over the years, but it is her daily reading lessons from her 7-year-old daughter that is really making the difference.
Before the stroke, Mackenzie and her mom would regularly read together. Afterward, the young girl automatically jumped in, turning their sessions into lessons, with herself as teacher.
She went back to basics first, teaching her mother the alphabet and numbers.
(READ the story in the Austin Statesman)
Since last Saturday’s shooting in Tucson, Ariz., Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ district office has become a mecca for mourners and well-wishers, and today there was a welcome surprise as Pam Simon — one of the staffers injured in the shooting — returned to the office for the first time.
The office has hosted a stream of constituents, friends and volunteers offering condolences and long hugs.
Staffers decided that opening the office on Monday morning as usual would send an important message.
“No act of depravity would be enough to close down this small little outpost of our government,” he says. “The office is open, our government is open, our democracy is open and that hasn’t changed.”
(LISTEN to the inspiring story or read it at NPR’s All Things Considered)
Panera Bread will open its third nonprofit restaurant Monday in Portland where customers pay what they want for food — using donation boxes, instead of cash registers.
Panera opened community cafes last year in Clayton, Mo., and Dearborn, Mich., owned and operated by the nonprofit arm of the national restaurant chain.
The question was, “Will people step up and help each other or will they take advantage?”
So far, people have stepped up. Panera said about 20% of the visitors to the cafes leave more than the suggested amount, 20% leave less and 60% pay what is suggested.
(READ the AP story at USA Today)
The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday issued its first-ever retroactive denial of a mining permit, rejecting plans for the largest-ever mountaintop-removal coal mine in Appalachia. The agency vetoed the crucial Clean Water Act permit for the Spruce Mine in Logan County, W.V., which had earlier been approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The EPA had warned the company to revise its plan to be more protective of water quality and affected ecosystems. It reviewed more than 50,000 public comments on the proposed mine before issuing the denial.
One year after a devastating earthquake rocked the island nation of Haiti, thousands of families remain sheltered due in large part to efforts supported by fashion designer, Donna Karan.
Deeply moved by the earthquake’s impact on the Haitian people, Karan’s Urban Zen Foundation partnered with ShelterBox, an international disaster relief organization to provide emergency shelter and life-saving equipment to disaster survivors.
A wave of anonymous donations in the name of a 1960s comic superhero, a character who began as an orphan, is spreading across Japan, benefiting homes for underprivileged children and other charities.
The donations are giving average Japanese citizens something to find hope in, becoming part of “a heartwarming story in a time of social anxiety,” said national broadcaster NHK, who has made this a top news story this week.
(READ the stories at CNN.com and Reuters)
Since Barack Obama moved to the White House, he has tried to confront the enormous challenges facing America with a super-serious — some say, professorial — tone. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t finding fun, playing practical jokes, and celebrating the seasons with family and special guests.
Here are 18 moments from the lighter side of the Obama presidency. Tell us which ones are your favorites:
Haiti could use some good news, and so on the anniversary of the nation’s ruinous earthquake, read about business and government leaders signing a deal for a big factory, and the reopening of a historic market.
In a cavernous hall filled with idle sewing machines, the chairman of the South Korean apparel giant Sae-A Trading Company inked a deal to bring 20,000 jobs to Haiti.
A year after the devastating Haiti earthquake, there has been “encouraging” progress in public health in the island nation.
One high spot has been the almost complete recovery of HIV/AIDS programs in the country, according to an article online in the New England Journal of Medicine. The network of clinics already in place has helped address other health concerns, like cholera as well.
Although obstacles remain, the authors said the country’s public health infrastructure has made some steps forward.
(READ the article in MedPage Today)
Since Barack Obama moved to the White House, he has tried to confront the enormous challenges facing America with a super-serious — some say, professorial — tone. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t finding fun, playing practical jokes, and celebrating the seasons with family and special guests.
Here are 18 moments from the lighter side of the Obama presidency:
On New Year’s Day, a devastating terrorist bombing at a Coptic Christian church in Egypt killed 21 people and injured 79 others. It was assumed the culprits were Muslim extremists, intent on targeting those they saw as heretics.
The following week, as Egyptian Copts attended mass at churches across the country to celebrate their Christmas, “thousands” of Muslims, including “the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak,” joined them, acting as “human shields” to protect them from possible terrorist attack.
The Muslims organized under the slogan “We either live together, or we die together.”
(READ the story at Think Progress)
On New Year’s Day, a devastating terrorist bombing at a Coptic Christian church in Egypt killed 21 people and injured 79 others. It was assumed the culprits were Muslim extremists, intent on targeting those they saw as heretics.
The following week, as Egyptian Copts attended mass at churches across the country to celebrate their Christmas, “thousands” of Muslims, including “the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak,” joined them, acting as “human shields” to protect them from possible terrorist attack.
The Muslims organized under the slogan “We either live together, or we die together.”
(READ the story at Think Progress)
In the US economy, the good news is finally starting to outweigh the bad. The private sector — especially small and medium sized businesses — has been adding jobs for several months in a row now.
Everybody wants to know where the jobs are. Here are 20 fields where jobs are starting to return…
(READ the story in US News)
After years of wishing and hoping, and recent rumors of a new agreement, Verizon is expected to announce this morning that it will break the AT&T monopoly on iPhone service — and the Apple device could be available in a few weeks, according to published reports.
iPhone owners for years have complained about the network quality of AT&T service.
(READ more at NPR’s All Tech Considered)
Southern California Edison has signed contracts with two companies for the construction and operation of seven solar power plants in the state, including one that the utility said would be among the largest single solar photovoltaic installations in the U.S.
(READ the story in the LA Times)
Tens of thousands of people across Southern Sudan went to the polls Sunday to vote in a historic referendum on a whether to allow Southern Sudan to become a new independent nation.
President Obama wrote in an Op-Ed Sunday, “Today — after 50 years of civil wars that have killed two million people and turned millions more into refugees — this is the opportunity before the people of southern Sudan.”
To my viewers who regularly search the front page: You may have noticed no new stories over the weekend due to a slight but weird problem that happened Friday.
I was actually adding stories, but they were not showing up on the homepage. You would have found them only on the inside News Sections, like Civics and Great Kids or Inspired.
Not to worry, I have a Joomla technician (my open-source software) working on it now, and it should be fixed by day’s end, if we have any luck at all.
Cheers, and happy Monday! (I have to go this morning to get an MRI on my knee, so I won’t have much time for adding current stories anyway until med-afternoon.
In the past seven years, the income of poor Brazilians has surged as the number of those in poverty has fallen from 22 percent of the population to 7 percent.
Several factors contribute to Brazil’s astounding feat. But a major part of Brazil’s achievement is due to a single social program that is now transforming how countries all over the world help their poor.
(READ the Fixes column in the New York Times)
At age ten, Jai Mehra took a tour of the local homeless shelter with his parents and was told that because of budget cuts, their homework program was being cut.
This preyed on his mind. And the way he figured it, a quiet place to study with help from a tutor was even more important to kids living in a homeless shelter. They’ve got all kinds of stress that kids who have their own homes don’t have to worry about.
“I asked my mom if it was OK if I tried to help,” said Jai, who finally decided to become a fundraiser.
(READ the Mike Cassidy column in the Mercury News)
