Updates to the Clean Air Act in the early 90’s tightened controls on Midwestern coal-fired power plants, which substantially reduced acid rain. Lakes began to recover…
A crystalline Adirondack lake once held up as an example of a "dead" lake devastated by acid rain has now become a symbol of nature’s ability to heal itself once pollutants are curbed. The surprising thing about the recovery of Brooktrout Lake was how fast it happened. (AP story )
An 80-acre sanctuary near Phoenix is a refuge to more than 400 pigs, casualties of the potbellied pig craze of the 80’s and 90’s. Some were abused, some neglected and many abandoned. Sometimes their owners had been duped by pig marketers promising chic and tiny pets before actually delivering animals that grew rapidly becoming unmanageable. The sanctuary is funded entirely by donations and energized by the concern and caring of Mary Schanz. (read more of this AP story at abc15.com)
A new drug stalls the growth of tumors in women with advanced breast cancer. Testing was stopped after noting the drug’s effectiveness, so that all the women could be given the chance to benefit:
A novel experimental drug (Tykerb) delayed the growth of tumors nearly twice as long as standard chemotherapy did in patients who had stopped responding to Herceptin, doctors reported Saturday. (Boston.com via AP Medical writer )
A Boeing 747 aircraft that has been transformed into a fire fighting prototype is on a mission to win approval from federal aviation authorities.
Evergreen International Aviation is touring five states demonstrating its firefighting 747 Supertanker, which can hold seven times more water or retardant than commonly used planes. Besides the bigger payloads, supertankers could add more range and cut time between drops, company officials say.
The company has invested three years and more than $40 million to develop a whole new generation of firefighting aircraft that can "disperse retardant at high pressure for an overwhelming response, or drop retardant at the speed of falling rain in single or several segmented drops." The capabilities are being weighed against the cost by politicians and officials nationwide.
An innovative campaign by the Japanese government to encourage the nation to use less air-conditioning is called the "Cool Biz" casual clothing campaign. Politicians are ditching their suits and ties at the highest levels.
The prime Minister has pledged to discard his tie throughout the summer campaign, except when meeting foreign dignitaries. "It feels nice not having to wear a tie," he said as he emerged from his Tokyo residence dressed in a loose Okinawan-style white shirt, Kyodo News reported.
And join his Whale Rescue Team!
From the Student Operated Press comes this good news for low-income pregnant women. A U.S. program expands access to prenatal health care in nine states: Arkansas, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Washington, and now Texas:
More low-income pregnant women living in Texas will have access to critical prenatal care the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today. The State of Texas estimates that 66,916 pregnant women will receive prenatal health care under this expansion of its State Children’s Health Insurance Program. (sop newswire)
Horses in Arlington, Va. are helping amputee soldiers in their long struggle to learn to walk again, to regain strength and to believe in their new limbs.
“It gives me the confidence to know that I lost an arm and a leg but not the ability to do certain things,” 1st Lt. Ryan Kules, 25, a Tempe, Ariz., native who was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq in November, said Friday. (AP story, photo )
The US Corps of Engineers has finished repairing the 169 miles (270 km) of battered levees around New Orleans in time for hurricane season. The Corps reported today that their June 1 target has been met, and residents of New Orleans “can be confident in its hurricane protection system because it is better and it is stronger.” (Reuters story)
A spokesman at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, commented on recent behavior by a Scottish German shepherd:
"The fact is, the actions of this dog have saved the lives of these animals, as once they are lost from their mother they would be picked off quite easily by scavengers…The dog is a modern day Rin Tin Tin, and to pick them up in his mouth without harming them is quite something… To then try and wash them is just amazing behaviour." (The Scotsman)
Currently, more than 50 percent of medicines used to treat children in Europe have not been specifically tested on them or authorised for their use.
Thus, doctors in the EU are having to guess the best dosage levels for children. New rules will require that all medicines still in the development stages be researched as to the safety and effectiveness of their products in children. (BBC )
Cytori Therapeutics is testing a breast reconstruction therapy that uses stem cells derived from fat to reconstruct breast tissue in women who have undergone partial mastectomies. (Wired )
The BBC reports Kenya’s president has announced that anti-retroviral drugs will now be free to all people with AIDS within all of its clinics and hospitals.
Kenya is one of the few countries to reduce their citizens’ HIV rate, "from 14 percent in 1997 to 4 percent today." The cost for treatment — 100 shilling per dose ($1) — keeps 140,000 of the 200,000 eligible Kenyans from taking the beneficial drugs. (more )
The Olive Co-operative has launched an initiative that offers the public an opportunity to sponsor the planting of olive trees in Palestine.
The new trees will offset the destruction wrought in Palestinian olive groves by years of conflict in the area. According to the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem over 500,000 olive trees have been destroyed since 2000. Each new tree sponsored represents a long-term source of income for Palestinian families, who have been harvesting olive oil, fruit and wood for generations…
Never let the label of autism be associated in your mind with failure.
A high school basketball coach in Rochester, NY, for the last game of the season, let somebody play who’d never even suited up before — the team’s autistic manager. Not only had the boy the ability to churn out team spirit all year while working as the lowly “team manager”, he absolutely caught fire as a player on the court, launching 3-pointers through the net, one after another. Thanks to GNN-i user Jeff who sent this “very inspiring” CBS video. Steve Hartman’s reporting is just right.
I will not be the only one with tears running down my face after some of you read this story.
Katrina’s Piano Fund has delivered hundreds of replacement instruments — including more than 40 pianos — to regional New Orleans musicians who lost everything in the huricane.
Steve Burtchaell, a professional musician, mourned his family’s loss of a Steinway baby grand piano. He, like everybody else, had to put his instrument at the bottom of a mile-long list of priorities and realized it was probably never going to be replaced.
But after hearing of the Fund, Steve became the first applicant to request a piano. On April 21, two tractor trailers pulled up to the meeting hall of Corpus Christi Catholic Church on St. Bernard Avenue and Steve was given first choice of the 41 pianos delivered. “We had just one baby grand, donated by Jennifer Wydra of South Orange, NJ,” recalls one of the founders of the Fund. . .
(Reprint of a GNN story from 2003; in preparation for a followup article soon)
IMAGINE. . . Imagine a machine that can turn almost anything into oil. Imagine that it uses natural processes like heat and pressure, and produces no pollution. Imagine that waste from landfills, refuse from poultry factories, sludge from city sewage, or even infectious medical waste, are used to make the oil. Everybody says it sounds too good to be true. But now we have the science — and two factories — to prove it.
Belu Natural Mineral Water last week launched the UK’s first biodegradable and compostable plastic bottle. The revolutionary plastic bottle is made from corn instead of petroleum oil and can be commercially composted back into soil in 80 days.
“This can dramatically reduce the amount of rubbish going into landfills and gives everyone an easy way to help protect the environment,” said Mai Simonsen, one of the founding members of Belu.
The “Bio-bottle” is the latest good news from London-based Belu, a bottled water maker that contributes 100 percent of its net profits to clean water projects. Working with WaterAid, every bottle of water purchased in the UK provides someone in India or Africa with clean water for one month.
Belu was formed in response to a challenge by the UN’s Global Compact, for the business community to help solve global problems. . .
Last year, Afleet Alex made our hearts skip a beat and then leap for joy when he fell to his knees and then miraculously sprang back into action to win the Preakness. This year, Barbaro has touched our hearts after breaking his leg in the opening furlongs of the same race. And, perhaps because horses, like humans themselves, possess both majesty and fatal frailties, both Alex and Barbaro have made us want to believe in miracles. (It might be remembered that team Afleet Alex gave a percentage of his winnings to Alex’s Lemonade Stand, a charity that raises money to fight children’s cancer, further endearing him to all.)
Food rations that were recently reduced by half for more than 3 million people in Sudan will be increased to 84 per cent of minimum daily requirements from June to September in the war-torn Darfur region thanks to new donations to the United Nations World Food Programme emergency operation, but more aid is still needed.
At the beginning of May, the United States announced it would divert to Sudan food aid shipments valued at $46.2 million. Other donors, including Canada, the European Commission, Australia, Germany and Denmark, have also offered funds and pledges which, together with an announced Sudanese contribution of cereal, will enable WFP to raise the number of kilocalories per person per day in Darfur to 1,770 (the minimum daily requirement is 2,100 kilocalories).
