Far from the carnage on Wall Street, thousands of banks in the U.S. are still going strong, and still making loans on Main Street. Small banks that are deeply rooted in their communities are foreclosing on far fewer properties than bigger banks, extending loan terms and lowering interest rates to keep customers solvent.
Main Street Community Banks Going Strong
Bionic Eye Helps Blind Man See
Ron, 73, is one of only three patients in the UK to be fitted with a bionic eye and after 30 years of being completely blind he can now see. The operation was carried out at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London seven months ago and Ron’s sight has steadily improved since then. (Read more in the Telegraph)
Also, watch the video at BBC
Good Samaritans Lift Car From Pinned Puppy
‘”I’ve never seen anything like this,” said an official from the animal control unit, who responded to the accident. A young dog named Jenna had been hit by a car and was pinned underneath. Six people came to her aid lifting the car and moving it back to free her from the vehicle. She was then taken to a vet hospital and is expected to recover. A wonderful story of people coming together to help an animal in need. (Read more in Star Gazette)
Matt Damon Visits Refugees Fleeing From Zimbabwe (Video)
Actor Matt Damon visited refugee centres in Musina on the South African border with Zimbabwe as part of his work with the human rights organization he started with a number of other celebrities.
Damon says conditions in the camp are unlivable and wants officials to do something about it.
Twitter Philanthropy: Microbloggers Raise Quarter Million Dollars for Good Cause
Changing the landscape of modern philanthropy, the first annual Twestival, organized on the social network Twitter, captured the imagination and donations of 10,000 Twitterers in 200 cities worldwide to collect more than a quarter of million dollars for clean-water efforts in Africa and India.
(Read more in Christian Science Monitor)
You can follow the Good News Network on Twitter, here.
Wild Baby Deer Cozies up in Michigan Couple’s Home
Baby the wild deer has adopted a family in Michigan, coming and going as she pleases, stepping inside their kitchen to feast on goat milk and other snacks.
The couple found the fawn in the woods, abandoned by her mother and since they were already wildlife rehabilitators, they decided to take her in.
Video below, from WSJV, may take a moment to load:
Wild Baby Deer Cozies up in Michigan Couple’s Home
Baby the wild deer has adopted a family in Michigan, coming and going as she pleases, stepping inside their kitchen to feast on goat milk and other snacks.
The couple found the fawn in the woods, abandoned by her mother and since they were already wildlife rehabilitators, they decided to take her in.
Video below, from WSJV, may take a moment to load:
Obama Surprises Daughters with New Swing Set
First daughters Malia and Sasha Obama “squealed with delight” when presented with a big surprise after school yesterday: a brand-new swing set.
While the girls were at school, the Obamas had the playset installed on the south lawn within sight of the Oval Office. It includes three swings, a tire swing, a slide, rope ladders and a tent. A shiny plaque proclaims it to be “Malia and Sasha’s Castle.”
Ailing Man Finds Kidney Donor on Craigslist (w/ Video)
A California woman who had never visited CraigsList before arrived in search of a volunteer opportunity and found a message that read, “Please Help us, My Dad Needs a Kidney!”
Daniel Flood’s three daughters had posted their plea in the Volunteer section of the online classified site, which offers everything from cars to real estate, piano lessons and pet services.
Facing a waiting list for kidney donors of 2-6 years — and a dire diagnosis that gave him six months to live without one — the family was desperate.
His daughters’ ad was answered by Dawn Verdick (photo above), who had just experienced the death of a loved one. Her rare O-negative blood type was a match to the 68-year old father, so she flew to New York.
Now the three sisters have set up a service to do the same for other people. (FloodSisters.org)
Ethical Journalism
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) launched a new website today (www.ethicaljournalisminitiative.org) to promote its Ethical Journalism Initiative (EJI) Campaign.
Doctor Recycles Prescription Drugs for Canadian Homeless
A prominent Canadian doctor has begun to recycle unused prescription drugs to homeless people in Ottawa because he says they could not afford them otherwise, CBC News has learned.
Dr. Jeff Turnbull, chief of staff at the Ottawa Hospital in Ottawa, acknowledges the practise is controversial but says it is one way to ensure that homeless people get the medication they desperately need.
“We make sure that they are the right medications and the right dose, that they haven’t been opened and are completely new and sealed.”
Tree Kangaroos Saved as Villagers Sign Rainforest Conservation Deal
Papua New Guinea has created its first conservation area to save a swath of pristine rainforest larger than Singapore and protect rare animals like the adorable tree kangaroo. Conservationists said on Tuesday that the plan includes 35 villages representing 10,000 people who have pledged to create a safe zone for forests and wildlife.
(Read story and see photos at CNN.com)
Additionally, the Seattle Times reports, “Conservation biologists from Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo worked with residents of some 35 native villages to seal the country’s first-ever conservation deal.”
(Photo, right – A juvenile tree kangaroo in newly created conservation area of Papua New Guinea, C/I photo by Russell A. Mittemeier)
Pair Finds ‘Toxic Assets’ a Good Investment
Former hedge fund manager Raj Bhatia and mortgage broker Albert Behin are convinced they can make money buying “toxic assets” — the stuff that’s killing banks’ balance sheets. The two have lined up a couple of investors, and now they’re getting ready to buy some mortgages.
What Bhatia and Behin are doing is a free-market solution to the crisis. But they’re only two guys.
“There are not enough of us out there to absorb what’s out there,” Bhatia says. “You got to remember, there’s trillions of dollars of product right now that has to be worked through.”
Why it’s Foolish to Get Out of the Stock Market Now
A star investor for the Yale endowment, David Swensen, says investors should stay the course and not follow their instinct to sell their stocks. The money that people are investing in the market today is buying stocks at prices that are far more attractive than 18 or 36 months ago. (Morning Edition at NPR – story and audio)
The Front Line of Health Reform: Teaching Parents How to Treat Their Own Kids
The innovative program that provides a dose of hands-on health care training, boosting parents’ ability to care for common childhood ailments at home while saving Medicaid millions annually, has been awarded a $1.1 million grant by the U.S. Office of Head Start to train thousands more families nationwide.
The new grant will expand the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute’s successful model of providing low-literacy healthcare training for Head Start parents. The national rollout will train an additional 8,000 families over three years, further reducing health care costs, ER and doctor/clinic visits and missed school and workdays.
Since 2001, the program, called I Can Help My Child Stay Healthy, has reached nearly 27,000 families nationwide. UCLA researchers have shown that if the training were provided for the nearly one million families served by Head Start, potential savings to Medicaid could reach $554 per family in direct costs – or over half a billion dollars annually. (Photo above, by David Nolan)
Ford To Build Cleaner Engine At Ohio Plant
An auto plant in suburban Cleveland, closed since 2007, was chosen to make Ford’s new EcoBoost engines that will be standard on the Ford Taurus, a more fuel-efficient engine that will help the company deliver 20 percent better fuel economy and 15 percent lower CO2 emissions. (Read more at CBS News)
Kashmir Invests in Saving Endangered Snow Leopards
Authorities in Kashmir have launched a special project to save endangered snow leopards, and plan to spend nearly half a million dollars to train people and buy equipment to curb poaching and habitat loss. (Read more at Reuters)
Snow leopard, by photography winner Steve Winter
Lead Levels Plummet in Young Children
In a stunning improvement in children’s health, far fewer children have high lead levels than 20 years ago, a testament to aggressive efforts to get lead out of paint, water, and soil.
Federal researchers report that 1.4% of children in 2004 had high lead levels in their blood, down from 9% in 1998.
“It has been a remarkable decline… a public health success story,” said the study’s coauthor from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Read AP story at LA Times)
Sales Tax Deduction Encouraging Car Sales
A new federal incentive allows car and truck buyers to deduct the sales tax on vehicles purchased between Feb. 17 and the end of the year — just the encouragement some buyers needed to commit to a purchase.
“It’s the first good news the automotive industry has had in long time,” said James T. Fleming, president of the Connecticut Automotive Retailers Association. “I’ve talked to a number of dealers around the state and they said they’ve actually seen an uptick in traffic.” (Read more in the Norwich Bulletin)
Optimist Opens Retail Business to Fight Recession
“You can’t sit around grumpy, moping and feeling sorry for yourself in this recession,” the retired 76-year-old said. “You’ve got to get off your duff and do something. And what more can you do but open up a retail store to provide quality goods at good prices?
Bill Weisberg opened a discount athletic wear shop called Fabulous Buys in St. Louis Park, Minnesota and hired his grandkids to run it on weekends, convinced that his gamble can help jump-start Minnesota’s limping economy. (Minnesota Star-Tribune)
(Photo courtesy of Sun Star)
Thanks to GraemeThickins on Twitter for the news tip!