U.S. stocks climbed Tuesday, driving the S&P 500 to its best month since October 2002, as investors snapped up top-performing bank and technology shares as the first quarter came to an end.
For Wall Street, March is Best Month Since 2002
Nine Lives: Cats’ Central Nervous System Can Repair Itself And Restore Function
Scientists studying a mysterious neurological affliction in cats have discovered a surprising ability of the central nervous system to repair itself and restore function.
A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison reports that the restoration in cats of myelin — a fatty insulator of nerve fibers that degrades in a host of human central nervous system disorders, the most common of which is multiple sclerosis — can lead to functional recovery.
(Read the full story in Science Daily)
Thanks to Pam Guthrie for the story tip!
Laid Off? Join the Booming Non-Profit World
Thousands of laid-off business leaders can find fulfilling new jobs by seeking careers in the non-profit world, which is gearing up to respond to rapid growth in demand. In the eleven years since Duncan McDougall quit his successful management consulting career to start the Children’s Literacy Foundation he has touched the lives of more than 75,000 rural and at-risk readers across New Hampshire and Vermont.
He reads to kids and gives away children’s books wherever they are needed: homeless shelters, low-income housing developments, mobile home parks, prison family visiting rooms, and to refugee, migrant, and low-income children.
He is a case study of one person who has already made the leap from the corporate world to the rewarding world of nonprofits. His move to the nonprofit sector serves as a model for the way business people can fulfill President Obama’s call to action to help their fellow citizens.
“Moving to the nonprofit world is one of the best decisions I have ever made,” said Duncan. “I get tremendous satisfaction using my business skills to help thousands of kids and families who really need our support, and I feel good knowing I’ve created five new jobs for me and my staff, and work for 55 Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) presenters. Unlike struggling businesses, CLiF continues to grow in this tough economic climate. I look forward to spending the rest of my professional career in the nonprofit world working to inspire more kids.”
After completing an Ivy League MBA, Duncan McDougall spent seven years in Boston working as a management consultant. It was an exhausting, exciting, and heady experience. He worked extremely long hours traveling around the world giving marketing advice and trying to improve corporate bottom lines.
The upside? Generous compensation and the opportunity to work on interesting issues such as high tech, telecommunications, and energy. The downside? Endless hours, airport lounges, client sites, and hotel rooms. And not much of a social life.
Duncan eventually realized he wanted to accomplish more with his life than simply helping big companies make more money. But what? He had grown up in a family of readers. One day, while sitting in his office, he asked himself: “What would my life be like if I were not a strong reader or writer?” In his imagination he saw his job, college education, and savings disappear, and most of his opportunities evaporate.
Duncan quit his job in 1997 and moved to a 220-year-old farmhouse in rural New Hampshire. He spent his days traveling the back roads of New Hampshire and Vermont interviewing almost 200 people and learning more about the literacy challenges faced by rural and low-income children in the Twin States. At night by the wood stove he refined his plans for the organization he wanted to start. Duncan’s office is now above his garage, he doesn’t own a Blackberry, and he doesn’t miss life in the fast lane one little bit.
He plans to spend the rest of his career “opening Books, opening Minds, and opening Doors.”
To make a donation to CLiF, or to find out more about their programs serving rural and at-risk young readers and writers, you can contact: www.clifonline.org
6000 Rare River Dolphins Found Off Bangladesh
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has discovered a huge population of rare dolphins in South Asia. Nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins, which are related to orcas or killer whales, were found living in freshwater regions of Bangladesh’s mangrove forests adjacent to the Bay of Bengal—an area where little marine mammal research has taken place. Prior to this study, the largest known populations of Irrawaddy dolphins numbered in the low hundreds or less.
Each discovery of Irrawaddy dolphins is important because scientists do not know how many remain. In 2008, they were listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List based on population declines in known habitats.
Photo courtesy of Sun Star – Thanks to Maggie G. for submitting the story tip!
Luggage Stores Bring Hope to Foster Kids in April With Your Help
Luggage stores in ten states will spread some hope to foster kids starting today by collecting gently used luggage in their stores throughout the month of April as part of their Bags 4 Kids Trade-in Event.
Every piece that is brought in will be donated to local foster care children near each store. As a thank you gift to customers for donating their luggage, the Colorado Bag’n Baggage stores will award a $20 gift certificate to be used on a future purchase.
Thousands of children are part of the foster care system across the United States. Many of them have nothing more than a garbage bag to put their belongings in as they move to a new home. On average, most foster children move three to four times. The luggage brought in will be distributed to foster care agencies in May which is National Foster Care month.
Easter Egg Hunt for the Blind a Favorite Annual Event (w/ Video)
A host of colorful coats and baskets contrasted against the gray sky Sunday as several dozen children with varying levels of blindness and their families from across the Dallas-Fort Worth area came together to take part in an Easter tradition.
(Read the full story or watch the video at Dallas Morning News)
Thanks to Jessica Z. for the story tip!
Parrot Saves Choking Toddler’s Life
In Denver Colorado, a parrot named Willie saved a toddler from choking on her breakfast, by screeching, “Mama, baby! … Mama, baby!” when there was no one else in the room.
While her sitter, Meagan Howard, was in the bathroom, 2-year-old Hannah Kuusk began to choke. Willie, began shrieking as she’d never heard before and started flapping his wings, until she ran into the room, looked at Hannah and saw that the child’s face was turning blue. Meagan performed abdominal thrusts on Hannah, successfully dislodging the food. The Red Cross honored the parrot with an Animal Lifesaver Award. (Right, Red Cross photo of Willie and Meagan)
Pets have often saved the lives of their owners and families. Here are a few stories from the San Francisco Chronicle, and be sure to read the comments beneath for more tales of pet heroics.
City Scraps Transformed into Gold for Area Farmers
San Francisco is leading the way in producing high-quality compost to fertilize regional crops. In one year, 105,000 tons of food scraps and yard trimmings – 404 tons each weekday – get turned into 20,000 tons of compost for 10,000 acres farmed by Bay area growers. About 2,000 restaurants, 2,080 large apartment buildings and 50,000 single-family homes have embraced the city’s environmentally friendly green bins. The scrap is turned into gold, a rich compost that boosts the region’s bounty of food while curbing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Encouraging News for a Vaccine That Stops Breast Cancer
A vaccine that is under clinical study in Greece appears to put a halt to breast cancer metastasis and recurrence, according to the first results of a study completed in the US.
The vaccination is designed to preven cancer from recurring in women who have concluded their classic therapy (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation) and are free of the disease.
The vaccine does not cause any side-effects contrary to classic therapy.
U.S. Consumer Mood Improves Again Says Gallup
Gallup’s Consumer Mood Index increased by 10 points last week, bringing its improvement to 35 points over the past three weeks.
For the first time since consumers’ mood began moving in a positive direction recently, daily consumer spending also increased — by $9 last week.
(Read the full story at Gallup)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
‘Freedom Kites’ Fly Over the Hague (Video)
Over 100 kites took to the skies of the Hague in The Netherlands on Monday to symbolize freedom of Afghanistan from the TalIban. Hoisted with the kites were messages like “We want freedom, with justice.”
“We hope our nation will be free to fly,” said one participant.
Sweden Approves Same-Sex Marriage Legislation
A broad majority in the Swedish parliament Wednesday approved adoption of same-sex marriage legislation after a six-hour debate. Six of the seven parties in parliament had backed the proposal drafted by the Committee on Civil Affairs to introduce a gender- neutral marriage law. The proposal was approved by a 261 to 22 vote, with 16 abstentions.
CEOs Give Away Free Stuff, Get Good Business Karma
Amid headlines of corporate greed many business leaders are giving away their product as a way to gain customers. Dennys offered 2 million free breakfasts, a yoga teacher holds free classes for the unemployed and Salon owners are cutting hair at a discount equal to 401K losses…
Watch the video below, or on the CBS News website:
(View other Good News Network stories that feature CEO’s hungry for good karma, at the links below)
Learn About More CEOs hungry for good karma:
Illinois Doctor Offers Free Treatment in Recession
Salon Announces Hair for Hope – Free Cuts for People Who’ve Lost Jobs
Camping Out in Parking Lot Wins You Free Chicken for a Year
Theater Hosts Free Movie Night for the Recession
Obama Enacts Law Protecting 2 Million Acres of Wilderness
President Obama has signed into law one of the most sweeping conservation and public land management bills in years. The legislation will protect 2 million acres of wilderness across the country, including 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers, by creating a national system to conserve land held by our Bureau of Land Management.
The bill enacts preservation of some of America’s most special places – from Oregon’s Mount Hood to the dinosaur tracks of New Mexico to Virginia’s wild forests.
Jasmine the Greyhound, ‘Mother Theresa’ of Dogs
In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. It had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused.
In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a Greyhound female, to the nearby Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, run by a man named Geoff Grewcock and known as a willing haven for Animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need.
They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.
But Jasmine had other ideas. No one remembers now how it began, but she started welcoming all Animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It wouldn’t matter if it was a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, any other lost or hurting Animal, Jasmine would peer into the box or cage and, where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.
Great Pet Net has the story and more pictures
Thanks to others who also submitted the story, Shanti and Shannon!
Countering Corruption in the Diamond Market
During the 1990s, rebel groups in Africa waged war, funding themselves with diamonds which were often mined by workers held at gunpoint. Such diamonds, known as Conflict Diamonds, or “Blood Diamonds,” once flooded markets around the world. However, changes are happening in the market as honest diamond dealers seek to provide mine-to-market stones for customers seeking higher ethics in diamond trade.
Alex Twersky is the president of Finesse Diamonds, which works on a business model that hires locals in Namibia, Africa and ensures that they are treated fairly. “So the diamonds, instead of being exported to foreign cutting centers as has been the practice for years, are bought and processed locally in Namibia. This has created over 100 jobs, most of them well-paying jobs,” Twersky said.
Venice Seaport Eyes Algae to Fuel Energy Needs
Venice’s seaport plans to become self-sufficient in its energy needs by building a power plant fueled by algae, in what would be the first facility of its kind in Italy, the port authority said. The plant will be operative in two years.
Volunteers Take Over Rural Newspaper After it Folds
They’ll just publish the newspaper themselves! When a rural CO weekly folds, volunteers step up to fill void, forming a non-profit and doing anything they can so they don’t lose their paper.
Missouri Reduces Prison Returns by Treating Juveniles With Lighter Hand
Missouri has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the country, thanks in part to its juvenile justice system, which emphasizes rehabilitation in small groups, constant therapeutic interventions and minimal force. When someone becomes unruly, the other youths are trained to talk him down.
Missouri and other states are using these new approaches to try to stem the flow of adults behind bars, and it is working…
U.S. Home Sales Climb at Fastest Pace in 10 Months
Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose at their fastest pace in nearly six years in February, data showed on Monday, providing some good news for the recession-hit economy.
They rose 5.1 percent for the month: “The buyers are just seeming to come out of nowhere … We’ve had a long dry spell, but it seems to be over.”
(Read more in Reuters)