Auto manufacturing jobs may be drying up in Michigan, but alternative energy industries are starting to hire. By training former auto workers to make batteries and solar panels, Delta College’s Fast Start program is making the transition to a new energy economy a little smoother.
WATCH the video below…
This summer, a Washington DC high school will host a Hip-hop music program that will encourage youth to interpret their surroundings, explore their identities and express themselves in constructive ways. The all-day program called SHARP, Summer Humanities Arts and Readiness Program, is designed to build self-esteem and help students live more successful lives.
WATCH the video below, or at America.gov.
A month ago, Jasmine Mayers got into trouble for calling 911. Today, the 5-year-old is a hero for doing just that.
On Wednesday, she was playing when she heard a noise. She ran upstairs to see what happened and found her pregnant mom, Andrea Preville, unconscious on the floor. She called 911 and stayed on the phone until paramedics arrived. Although the mother is still in the hospital, the premature but healthy twins are doing well.
(READ the story at the Toronto Star)
A Boston terrier found more than 200 miles away from home is finally back with his family.
“Frankie” was reported missing from his family’s farm in Michigan. Five months later, he was found more than 200 miles away in Illinois.
(WATCH the reunion video, or read the story or at WLWT-TV)
To help ease a growing hunger problem in the U.S., Wal-Mart announced yesterday that it will donate $2 billion in food and grants to food banks and hunger relief organizations across America.
As part of the new five-year initiative, “Fighting Hunger Together,” Walmart will donate $1.75 billion worth of food from Walmart stores, warehouses and Sam’s Club outlets. It also plans to give $250 million in grants to support hunger relief organizations, including 10 million for children’s lunch programs during the school year and summer months.
A $6 million grant will purchase 60 refrigerated trucks for Feeding America food banks to help ensure that food banks can safely transport donations, as well as delivering directly to low income neighborhoods that lack access to food pantries. Walmart has previously donated 69 trucks.
Walmart’s logistics team will also lend their expertise to help food banks become more efficient in their operations.
According to a November 2009 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report, hunger rates in the U.S. are the highest since 1995 with nearly 15 percent of households lacking access to an adequate supply of nutritious food. Walmart’s cash and gifts of more than 1.1 billion pounds of fresh produce, meat, and dairy will provide more than 1 billion meals to these needy families.
“Increasingly, we see opportunities to use our scale and reach to solve challenges in our communities. This is one of those times,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, Walmart’s vice chairman. “By working together, we believe we can reach a day where no individual in this country has to go to bed hungry or worry if there will be food to put on the table tomorrow.”
Photo: The Central Virginia Mobile Food Pantry in Richmond, Virginia goes mobile delivering food directly to low income neighborhoods that lack access to food pantries several times each month, using a truck donated by Walmart.
To help ease a growing hunger problem in the U.S., Wal-Mart announced yesterday that it will donate $2 billion in food and grants to food banks and hunger relief organizations across America.
As part of the new five-year initiative, “Fighting Hunger Together,” Walmart will donate $1.75 billion worth of food from Walmart stores, warehouses and Sam’s Club outlets. It also plans to give $250 million in grants to support hunger relief organizations, including 10 million for children’s lunch programs during the school year and summer months.
A $6 million grant will purchase 60 refrigerated trucks for Feeding America food banks to help ensure that food banks can safely transport donations, as well as delivering directly to low income neighborhoods that lack access to food pantries. Walmart has previously donated 69 trucks.
The United States military is experimenting with aromatherapy, acupuncture and other unorthodox methods to treat soldiers traumatised by combat experiences, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Saturday.
He said the experiments showed promise.
Gates touted possible treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder during a meeting with the wives of servicemen at Fort Riley, Kansas, when one woman asked him to explain why chiropractic and acupuncture therapies were not covered under her military health care plan.
(READ the story at Reuters)
Home prices rose in 91 U.S. cities in the first quarter as states hard hit by foreclosures began to recover and a tax credit cut the number of properties for sale.
The median price of a single-family home sold in Saginaw, Michigan, doubled to $60,800. Prices in Akron, Ohio, climbed 90 percent to $95,300 and Grand Rapids, Michigan, recorded a 26 percent increase to $90,700.
Cities that led the nation in foreclosures a year earlier had the biggest price increases.
(READ the Bloomberg story in Business Week)
The US rate of pre-term births has fallen for the second year in a row, US researchers reported on Tuesday. The findings are good news, as babies born too early and too small are sicker and more likely to die than babies born after a full 39 weeks of gestation. ‘This marks the first two-year decline in the pre-term birth rate in nearly three decades, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
(READ the report at Reuters)
Following the highly successful debut of the play about Peter Pan in 1904, the Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie donated the copyright of the works featuring Peter Pan to Britain’s leading children’s hospital in 1929, requesting that the royalties go to supporting the work of the institution.
Honoring this tradition, the cast of the latest major stage production, a 360 degree performance touring internationally, visited a children’s hospital in San Francisco to read the story to patients and sprinkle a little fairy dust on those who need a lift.
(WATCH the video below, or at ABC Local)
Following the highly successful debut of the play about Peter Pan in 1904, the Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie donated the copyright of the works featuring Peter Pan to Britain’s leading children’s hospital in 1929, requesting that the royalties go to supporting the work of the institution.
Honoring this tradition, the cast of the latest major stage production, a 360 degree performance touring internationally, visited a children’s hospital in San Francisco to read the story to patients and sprinkle a little fairy dust on those who need a lift.
(WATCH the video below, or at ABC Local)
South Korean electric car manufacturer CT&T announced plans to build an assembly plant in Hawaii that will eventually produce up to 10,000 vehicles a year and employ as many as 400 people.
The CT&T plant would make small urban two-seaters that reach speeds up to 40 mph with their batteries lasting 30 or 60 miles, depending on the model. Recharging will be easy at electric stations that are planned to begin popping up by the end of this year. (Read the AP story at Mother Nature News)
Hawaii is the ideal place for electric cars to flourish due to the high cost of imported gasoline.
In other electric car news, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and top executives of the country’s main carmakers and energy companies met in Berlin last week to launch a new initiative to develop electric vehicles. Merkel pledged to have one million electric vehicles on the road within the next decade, reports the AP. (Read that story at the Seattle Times)
As American families celebrate high school and college graduations this month, they can also cheer another piece of good news: this week, the Obama Administration issued regulations that will allow young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26.
This provision was scheduled to go into effect in September. But we didn’t want any young person to needlessly go without health insurance this summer. So over the last few weeks, we’ve reached out to insurance companies and asked them to make this change immediately. And to their credit, we’ve gotten a terrific response.
So far, every major insurance company – more than 65 in total – and several major self-insured organizations have said they will provide continuous coverage for young adults this summer. That’s great news for graduating seniors and their families who will get added security in exchange for premiums that are only expected to rise by .7%.
Internet search giant Google Inc has invested $38.8 million in two wind farms in North Dakota that generate enough energy to power more than 55,000 homes.
Google has so far invested in early-stage green start-ups such as solar thermal companies BrightSource Energy and eSolar, in addition to this wind operation developed by NextEra Energy Resources.
“We’re aiming to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in a way that makes good business sense, too,” Rick Needham, Google’s green business operations manager, wrote in a blogpost last week.
(READ more from Reuters)
After jumping out of the airplane, strapped together in tandem, a skydiving instructor and his student feared the worst when their parachutes failed to open properly. Plummeting at 40 mph and 500 feet from the ground, Dave Hartsock showed himself to be a courageous hero when he used the control toggles to rotate their position and place his body under hers to take the brunt of the fall.
Hartsock didn’t die, but his valor cost him dearly. He’s now paralyzed with just a little movement in his right arm.
WATCH the video, and read the story at CBS’s Assignment America.
Now, a fund has been set up by some friends of Katie Couric to pay the medical bills that have all but bankrupt Dave and his mother since the accident. He is currently going without the care he needs to stay healthy and improve. Click to make a Donation to Dave Hartsock
After jumping out of the airplane, strapped together in tandem, a skydiving instructor and his student feared the worst when their parachutes failed to open properly. Plummeting at 40 mph and 500 feet from the ground, Dave Hartsock showed himself to be a courageous hero when he used the control toggles to rotate their position and place his body under hers to take the brunt of the fall.
Hartsock didn’t die, but his valor cost him dearly. He’s now paralyzed with just a little movement in his right arm.
WATCH the video below, or read the story at CBS’s Assignment America.
Now, a fund has been set up by some friends of Katie Couric to pay the medical bills that have all but bankrupt Dave and his mother since the accident. He is currently going without the care he needs to stay healthy and improve. Click to make a Donation to Dave Hartsock
Samsung Electronics, the world’s top maker of computer memory chips and LCD screens, said on Tuesday that it would invest $20.6 billion in new green energy technology and biotech over the next ten years.
The group, which generates around one fifth of South Korea’s total exports, forecasts the new growth businesses would create to be more than $40 billion in revenue every year for the companies including its flagship firm Samsung Electronics before 2020.
(READ the report in Reuters)
President Obama marked the passing of Lena Horne, calling her a great entertainer and a tireless worker for justice and equality.
The American singer, actress and dancer, (1917–2010), enjoyed a six decade career on television, screen, and stage and redefined black roles in entertainment. She died Sunday at age 92 after a breast cancer diagnosis three years ago.
Horne’s one woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
WATCH the video tribute below, or at MSNBC…
Over the years, a lot of hopeful rookies have overcome many hardships to earn a crack at a National Football League roster spot. I’m sure there are a lot of rough stories out there, but probably none any rougher than the story of Bill Noethlich.
A 6 foot 7, 308-pound offensive lineman who just signed a contract with the Minnesota Vikings, Noethlich battled back from tragedy after tragedy heeding his grandfather’s dying advice to become a football player.
(READ the story in Yahoo Sports, via the Star-Tribune)
Worried about his family’s finances, not just his health, after finding out that he would need extended treatment for a rare heart condition, Malkolm Poyer began selling signed manuscripts of an original story he’d written.
He came up with the idea to raise the money online all by himself.
Having watched his mom run an online business, he persuaded her to put an award-winning short story he’d written in a class for gifted kids up for sale on eBay. They would sell signed, limited edition copies of his manuscript for $10 apiece. He raised $12,000.
(READ the story at CBS News)
