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!
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.
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.
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. 
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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’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.
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 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…
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)
The lessons learned from the sudden death of Natasha Richardson last week actually saved a little girl in Ohio this week.
The 7-year-old was hit in the temple by a line drive and appeared to be recovering fine. Days later, having seen the reports about Richardson, her father raced her to the doctor after she complained of a head ache. Doctors diagnosed the same injury as Richardson and swept her into surgery.
“Dr. Cohen told us that if we hadn’t brought her in Thursday night, she never would have woken up.”
Read the full article at CNN – including a list of 5 things to do after any head injury – or watch the video below)
Thanks to Sue Massey for the story tip!
From the Acropolis in Greece to the Giza Pyramids to the Empire State Building in New York, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday for Earth Hour, a campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.
Photo: The Empire State Building dims during Earth Hour (c) Jin Lee from WWF
Greg Mortenson has been promoting peace by building schools and purging ignorance in Pakistan and Afghanistan for more than a decade.
“If you fight terrorism, that’s based in fear. But if you promote peace, that’s based in hope,” Mortenson said. “And the real enemy I think is ignorance. It’s ignorance that breeds hatred.”
(Read full story at ABCNews.com)
His Pennies for Peace raises money from American schoolkids by collecting pennies to build his schools. His best-selling book is Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations One School at a Time.
Full story is at the above link – from which all the above intro text was copied.
A prison work crew baby-sat a 2 1/2-year-old boy who was spotted Friday running along the center lines of a rural Maryland highway, with trucks loaded with gravel rumbling by.
The six minimum-security inmates shared their lunches with the toddler, who apparently wandered away from home, and played with him while authorities located the parents and investigated, said Correctional Officer Gary Kershner, who was overseeing the prisoners.
(Read the full AP story via WTOP News in Washington)
Image courtesy of Sun Star
Pre-eminent specialty game retailer GameStop has announced sales of $3.5 billion for the year to Jan 31st 2009, with increased profits, and is expecting 5-10% growth in new U.S. game sales in 2009.
(Read the details at GamaSutra)
