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Clooney, DiCaprio and Kardashian Bring in $5 million at Sean Penn Haiti Benefit

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Jan 17, 2012

Sean Penn in Haiti - charity photo

Hollywood’s biggest stars marked the two-year anniversary of the massive Haiti earthquake last week, gathering on Saturday to raise five million dollars for Sean Penn’s J/P Haitian Relief Organization, which was set up to support thousands of displaced people living in a settlement camp there.

At the event, which featured an auction of celebrity items, Penn was also named “ambassador at large to Haiti” by Haiti’s foreign affairs minister.

Kim Kardashian was a surprise guest, having just visited Haiti in December on a humanitarian trip.

At Last, a Year for State Budgets When the Sky is Not Falling

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Jan 17, 2012

State revenues rise chart-Stateline

After a four-year run during which states had to close budget gaps of historic proportions, the term “surplus” is finally making a modest comeback in capitals.

According to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, at least 45 states saw their revenues increase over the past year.

Enough economic vital signs are headed in the right direction that the mood in most states is encouraging, and some legislatures will start reversing the most painful of their recent cuts as soon as this year.

In its most recent survey of legislative fiscal directors, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported that more states were “cautiously optimistic” or “positive” about the fiscal outlook for the rest of 2012. The number of fiscal directors who said they were “pessimistic” was zero.

At SC Coffee Shop, Random Acts of Kindness Pay Forward Drinks for Two Years

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Jan 17, 2012

latte art

If you’re measuring the kindness at the Corner Perk in Bluffton, South Carolina, it’s safe to say their cup runneth over. It’s a cycle of generosity that started two years ago when an anonymous customer gave the barista $100 to pay the bills for the next customers in line.

The owner says the lady who started the pay-it-forward tradition kept it going for a few months now and then — but in the past few weeks, the phenomenon has really taken off, with other strangers hearing about the kindness and following suit.

(READ the story from TODAY or WATCH the video below)

New Miss America Heals Family Pain of Prison

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Jan 17, 2012

Miss Wisconsin Laura Kaeppeler -pageant photo

The nation’s newest Miss America is a 23-year-old Wisconsin brunette who had long conversations with her family mulling whether or not to make her father’s jail time for mail fraud the heart of her campaign in the beauty pageant.

Laura Kaeppeler said she wants children of incarcerated adults to feel less alone, to have mentoring and as much of a relationship with their parents as possible.

The brainy contestant estimates there are more than two million children with parents in jail.

(READ the AP story in HoumaToday)

English Teenager is Hero on Stricken Costa Concordia Cruise Ship

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Jan 16, 2012

Cruise ship hero w Costa Concordia ship

A teenager from the West Midlands today told how he led a dramatic rescue of terrified passengers as chaos gripped the stricken Costa Concordia cruise liner.

Dancer James Thomas acted as a human climbing frame to help 16 passengers into lifeboats after the luxury liner ran aground off the Italian coast, before toppling on to its side in shallow waters.

The 19-year-old hero also led dozens to the lifeboat decks, only abandoning ship when a passenger forced him to leave with them.

(READ the story in the Express and Star)

A Homeless Teen Named National Science Prize Finalist is Given Housing and Help

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Jan 16, 2012

Homeless student Samantha Garvey science prize finalist

A dedicated marine biology student at a Long Island High School learned she was named one of 61 finalists for the $100,000 Intel Science prize just days after her family was forced to move into a homeless shelter.

Now, thanks to news reports on TV and print, the 17-year-old student and her family have been flooded with offers of help, including a 3 bedroom home available soon from Suffolk County Social Services and money from a kind stranger to retrieve the beloved family pets from an animal shelter.

Samantha Garvey’s intensive 6-years of research on mussel ecosystems led to her invitation to the prestigious national science competition and the worldwide attention on the fact that she and her family of five moved into a homeless shelter after their eviction on New Year’s Eve.

She said she never thought her biggest worries would be eliminated in a day. The family pets, including a dog, cat and turtles were also invited to move into the Long Island rental home, once repairs are completed in ten days..

Her mother told her: “Sammy, this is all because of you.”

(READ the story in Seattletimes, and WATCH the video about the science prize)

A Homeless Teen Named National Science Prize Finalist is Given Housing and Help

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Jan 16, 2012

Homeless student Samantha Garvey science prize finalist

A dedicated marine biology student at a Long Island High School learned she was named one of 61 finalists for the $100,000 Intel Science prize just days after her family was forced to move into a homeless shelter.

Now, thanks to news reports on TV and print, the 17-year-old student and her family have been flooded with offers of help, including a 3 bedroom home available soon from Suffolk County Social Services and money from a kind stranger to retrieve the beloved family pets from an animal shelter.

Samantha Garvey’s intensive 6-years of research on mussel ecosystems led to her invitation to the prestigious national science competition and the worldwide attention on the fact that she and her family of five moved into a homeless shelter after their eviction on New Year’s Eve.

No Rhinos Poached in Nepal, First Time in 29 Years

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Jan 16, 2012

Rhino in Nepal - WWF photo

Thanks to strong conservation and law enforcement efforts, not a single rhino was killed by poachers in Nepal, the first such year in 29 years.

Conservationists in the Himalayan nation celebrated at Chitwan National Park, where the vast majority of the country’s 534 rhinos reside.

No Rhinos Poached in Nepal, First Time in 29 Years

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Jan 16, 2012

Rhino in Nepal - WWF photo

Thanks to strong conservation and law enforcement efforts, not a single rhino was killed by poachers in Nepal, the first such year in 29 years.

Conservationists in the Himalayan nation celebrated at Chitwan National Park, where the vast majority of the country’s 534 rhinos reside.

At Last, Fuel Delivery Reaches Iced-in Alaska Town

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Jan 16, 2012

Iced-in Nome Alaska tanker arrives-CoastGuard

A Russian fuel tanker has finally reached Nome harbor after a Coast Guard icebreaker cleared a path for it through hundreds of miles of ice in a last-ditch effort to provide heating fuel and gasoline to the Alaska town.

A storm prevented Nome’s 3,500 residents from getting a fuel delivery by barge in November. Without the tanker delivery, supplies of diesel fuel, gasoline and home heating fuel were expected to run out in March…

Tuskegee Airmen Join Obamas for White House‎ Screening of New Lucas Film About the Black Aviators

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Jan 15, 2012

Tuskegee Airman byRaymond M-optikalblitz-Flickr-CC

President Barack Obama and the First Lady invited Star Wars Director George Lucas and a few of the cast members from his new film, Red Tails, to the White House Friday for a movie night. But the guests of honor were a few of the original Tuskegee Airmen, the black WW II aviators whose story — brought to the big screen thanks to Lucas’s own money — is opening in theaters on January 20.

Trent Dudley, the president of the Washington, D.C., Tuskegee Airmen chapter and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, called the White House screening “a tremendous recognition of all the contributions the airmen made not only in World War II but the fight against racism.”

Tuskegee Airmen Join Obamas for White House‎ Screening of New Lucas Film About the Black Aviators

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Jan 15, 2012

Tuskegee Airman byRaymond M-optikalblitz-Flickr-CC

President Barack Obama and the First Lady invited Star Wars Director George Lucas and a few of the cast members from his new film, Red Tails, to the White House Friday for a movie night. But the guests of honor were a few of the original Tuskegee Airmen, the black WW II aviators whose story — brought to the big screen thanks to Lucas’s own money — is opening in theaters on January 20.

Trent Dudley, the president of the Washington, D.C., Tuskegee Airmen chapter and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, called the White House screening “a tremendous recognition of all the contributions the airmen made not only in World War II but the fight against racism.”

Iron Chef in Prison Cooks up a New Future for Filipino Convicts

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Jan 15, 2012

cooking contest in Filipino prison -Reuters vid clip

Convicted murderers and rapists in the Philippines faced off against each other in a prison battle using knives, but also aprons, pots and pans.

Teams of inmates in Manilla, many of whom have worked previously in the food profession, cooked against the clock to concoct a menu of delicious dishes in what was dubbed, “Iron Bar Chef.”

The cuisine contest is the latest recreational effort at the largest prison in the Philippines — part of a broader program of arts, crafts and sports that officials say has vastly helped the mood of the jail’s inmates.

Police Inspector Slashes Crime by Two-thirds After Telling Officers ‘Stop Hanging Around the Station’

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Jan 15, 2012

cop hat

A police inspector who banned his officers from hanging around their station during shifts was hailed as a ‘bit of a hero’ who proved it was possible ‘to do more with less’ in the face of budget cuts.

Inspector Frank Donnelly operates an ‘exclusion zone’ at the police stations he runs in Bedfordshire, meaning officers are forced to go out on the beat during the dark winter evenings.

The tough approach has led to a 67 percent percent reduction in crime between June and December 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.

Oprah Celebrates First Graduating Class of South African Girls Academy

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Jan 15, 2012

Oprah academy graduates

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which opened in January 2007 in South Africa to provide educational and leadership opportunities for gifted girls from impoverished backgrounds, celebrated its first graduating class Saturday.

72 girls of graduating age filed onto the stage in Johannesburg, all wearing white dresses, to cheers and tears from Oprah herself, who’d invested $40 million to give them a safe haven and opportunities undreamed of before.

All 72 girls of the graduating class are headed to college, some bound for U.S. universities.

I’m one proud momma today,” said Winfrey, who wore a flowing gown in green, a school color.

Winfrey noted the gradates were born in 1994, the year apartheid ended, “into a nation that said: You are free. You are free to rise. You are free to soar.”

(WATCH the video below, or read the story, from The Guardian)

Inner City Black Kids Dominate Rich Man’s Sport, Win Polo Championship

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Jan 14, 2012

Polo team first black champions-snapshot

Polo is expensive, exclusive and played mostly by wealthy white men. But that didn’t matter to Lezlie Hiner. In 1996, she started the first-ever African-American polo team in the country, to keep inner-city kids off the streets and in school.

Her non-profit organization, Work to Ride, teaches 20 boys and girls from the worst neighborhoods in Philadelphia to ride horses for free. In exchange, the students help with barn chores at her Chamounix Stables, a safe haven deep within Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.

After a decade, the team was so good they were running rings around white players from polo families who had been riding their whole lives. When no high school team could beat the young teens, they were invited to play against colleges like Harvard.

Inner City Black Kids Dominate Rich Man’s Sport, Win Polo Championship

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Jan 14, 2012

Polo team first black champions-snapshot

Polo is expensive, exclusive and played mostly by wealthy white men. But that didn’t matter to Lezlie Hiner. In 1996, she started the first-ever African-American polo team in the country, to keep inner-city kids off the streets and in school.

Her non-profit organization, Work to Ride, teaches 20 boys and girls from the worst neighborhoods in Philadelphia to ride horses for free. In exchange, the students help with barn chores at her Chamounix Stables, a safe haven deep within Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.

After a decade, the team was so good they were running rings around white players from polo families who had been riding their whole lives. When no high school team could beat the young teens, they were invited to play against colleges like Harvard.

Battered Women’s Shelter Welcomes Pets After Hero Dog Saves Woman

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Jan 14, 2012

Great Dane

A dog that saved one battered woman’s life may go on to save many more — by changing the role beloved family pets play in the lives of domestic abuse victims.

The heroic Great Dane had thrown himself over the body of a woman who had been nearly beaten to death by her boyfriend who was repeatedly striking her with a hammer.

Realizing how much a difference it makes in the lives of abuse-escapees, the Rose Brooks Center in Kansas City, M.O. is now in the process of adding seven kennels.

Galápagos Tortoise Thought to be Extinct Still Lives

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Jan 14, 2012

galapogos tortoise descended from parents thought to be extinct

Researchers from Yale University say dozens of giant tortoises of a species believed extinct for 150 years may still be living at a remote location in the Galápagos Islands.

After conducting a genetic analysis of 1600 tortoises on Isabela Island, the scientists concluded that at least 38 purebred individuals of Chelonoidis elephantopus are still living 200 miles from their ancestral home of Floreana Island, where the species had disappeared after being hunted by whalers and workers at a heating oil factory that had been established on the island.

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