NEWS

Doggie Lifeguards Saving Swimmers in Italy
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="doggie lifeguards in action, from NBC video" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/pets/doggie-lifeguards-nbcvid.jpg" height="100" width="100" /> Hundreds of specially trained pooches are deployed each summer bringing aid to swimmers who get into trouble off Italy's popular beaches. These "lifedogs" wear a harness or tow a buoy that victims can grab, or a raft they can sit on to be towed back to shore, and unlike their human counterparts, they can easily jump from helicopters and speeding boats to <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/pets/doggie-lifeguards-save-swimmers.html">Read more...</a>

Teen Use of Tobacco Continues Decline, as Does Smoking by Movie Characters
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="Scarlett Johansson smokes in Black Dahlia, 2007" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/health/smoker-film-scene-Scarlett-Johansson.jpg" height="100" width="123" /> The U.S. Centers for Disease Control analyzed 2000-2009 data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey on tobacco use and found a significant decline over the decade. During 2000--2009, the prevalence of current tobacco use among middle school students declined 6.9 percent (15.1% to 8.2%), and cigarette smoking experimentation declined 14.8 percent (29.8% to 15.0%). <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/great-kids/smoking-declines-teens-and-film.html">Read more...</a>

Top Videos: Dog and Dolphin Swim as Best Friends
From Lexie C. comes this video of a daily friendship between a dog and a dolphin. Every day the dolphin comes calling to the seaside pier and calls the dog, who comes running... <object codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,32,18" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400" width="500"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z5tYeyChFB0?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="400" width="500" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Z5tYeyChFB0?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed> </object> <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/pets/dog-and-dolphin-swim-together-daily.html">Read more...</a>

Students Design Electric Car to Travel 400 Miles Per Gallon
<img class="border" style="float: right;" alt="student w/ electric car, KMBC-TV" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/kids/student-electric-car-MO-KMBC.jpg" height="100" width="104" /> Who said you have to be an engineer or a even a designer to come up with a car that gets 100 mpg? How about a group of US high school students in Missouri who designed and built a car that could get up to 450 mpg, with an electric motor that can be plugged into any regular home AC outlet. Kevin <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/great-kids/hs-students-design-electric-car-at-400mpg.html">Read more...</a>

Teen Hero Gets Break on Medical Bill
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="photo by Sun Star" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/inspiration/sunflower.jpg" height="100" width="102" /> A teenager from Wisconsin who jumped into a Wisconsin lake to save a boy from drowning and then was hit with $2,000 in medical bills after being checked out to make sure he was OK afterward got some good news Thursday. The bills from the Kenosha, Wis., hospital where 17-year-old Trevor Hall was seen and the doctors who examined him there have been <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/great-kids/teen-hero-gets-break-on-medical-bill.html">Read more...</a>

Teens 'Repair the World' and Win Big Awards
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="teen-award-graphic-tikkun-olam-2010" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/kids/teen-award-graphic-tikkun-olam-2010.jpg" height="100" width="178" /> Five honorees took home checks for $36,000 after winning the Teen Tikkun Olam Awards (Hebrew for 'repair the world') for being outstanding teen role models in California. Presented by the Helen Diller Family Foundation, the winners included: <ul> <li>Jason Bade, for making his school district one of the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/58859/dynamic-teens-rewarded-for-extraordinary-work/">greenest in the nation</a>, with solar panels and a recycling program that saves six high schools millions of dollars per <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/great-kids/tikkun-olam-diller-teens-2010.html">Read more...</a>

New Take on Pet Training Without "Dominance"
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="Jennifer Arnold pens book to debunk dominance theory of pet training" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/authors/jennifer-arnold_dog-book.jpg" height="100" width="126" /> There can be no doubt Jennifer Arnold knows her stuff when it comes to training dogs. As the founder and CEO of Canine Assistants, Inc. in Milton, Arnold and her staff have taught thousands of pups to become service, companion and seizure response dogs for the handicapped. Now Arnold has penned a book about her teaching <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/pets/through-a-dogs-eyes-book.html">Read more...</a>

9-year-old Hero Saves Drowning Brother with CPR
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="Family photo shows hero in the pool" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/kids/cpr-kid-saves-brother.jpg" height="100" width="152" /> Unlikely hero Logan Hearn kept his cool under frightening circumstances when his baby brother Brendan was found by their mother floating face-down in the family's pool on Thursday night. The articulate 9-year-old is being credited with saving the 2-year-old's life after a swimming pool accident in Joliet, Illinois, thanks to a life-saving CPR class. WATCH the video below, or <a <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/great-kids/9-year-old-saves-drowning-brother.html">Read more...</a>

3 Year-old Saves Dad by Walking Two Blocks to Fire Station
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="3yo-walked-to-firehouse-for-help" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/peopleunknown/3yo-walked-to-firehouse-for-help.jpg" height="100" width="127" /> Alesaundra Tafoya's parents have been teaching their daughter about safety, pointing out such safe havens as the local fire stations if she ever finds herself in trouble. Lesson learned, the toddler did exactly what she was taught Friday after her father collapsed in their Manteca, California, home. The three-year-old walked two blocks to reach Fire Station to ask for help because her daddy was "frozen". <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/great-kids/3yo-walks-to-firehouse-saves-dad.html">Read more...</a>

Spotting and Nurturing Your Child's Innate Talent
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="photo courtesy of Sun Star" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/kids/mom-daughter-braids.jpg" height="100" width="101" /> Suzy likes to pirouette from room to room on her tippy toes. Jose spends hours in the yard studying ants and lizards. And little Claire is a neatnik who puts away the groceries in alphabetical order. Every child is born with a gift, an ability to dance or analyze or organize. Parents, however, don't always recognize these talents, especially if the skills don't fit <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/finding-innate-talent-in-kids.html">Read more...</a>

Man's Best Friend Helps Kids Learn to Read
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="ABC news video shows reading to dogs" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/pets/reading-to-dogs-abcnewsvid.jpg" height="100" width="133" /> In a recent study, children who were reading to dogs became more confident and their reading scores increased by 12 percent over kids who didn't read regularly with a canine companion. WATCH the video below, <a target="_blank" href="http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/mans-best-friend-helps-kids-learn-read-11432974">or at ABC News</a>... (Thanks to Cheryl Vukelich for submitting the link!) <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/pets/reading-to-dogs-raised-scores.html">Read more...</a>

13-Year-Old Raises $32,000 for School Art Supplies
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="Tae Tae's art party for homeless, CBS video still" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/kids/art-party-for-homeless-tae-tae-cbsvid.jpg" height="100" width="87" /> Tae Tae got an idea last year after her school cut art supplies from the budget. She worried that kids who could not afford their own supplies would be left out. So she traded the brush for a pen and started writing letters to big companies asking for help. She wrote 50 letters in all, and heard back from <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/great-kids/girl-raises-32000-for-art-supplies.html">Read more...</a>

Out of Grief Sprouts Life-Saving Legacy for Girl After Her Organ Donations
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="photo: Eric Miller, Natl Kidney Foundation" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/inspiration/swimmer-thanks-colbey-eric-miller-natl-kidney-foundation.jpg" height="100" width="73" /> You don’t have to be rich, famous or even an adult to leave a memorable legacy that can change lives. Just ask the mother of a 15-year-old girl whose organ donations left a lasting legacy for her family after she died in a car accident in 2001. Seven people got Colbey’s organs. Her lungs went to Valerie Vandervort, a 29-year-old Oklahoma <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/general/grief-to-legacy-thru-organ-donation.html">Read more...</a>

8-Year-Old Child Artist Prodigy Sells $250,000 of Paintings
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="8 year old painter in AP video" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/kids/painter-child-prodigy.jpg" height="100" width="89" /> He's Britain's most talked-about young artist. His paintings fetch hefty sums and there's a long waiting list for his eagerly anticipated new works.  Paintbrush prodigy Kieron Williamson of Holt — dubbed "mini Monet" by the British press — is a global sensation. All 33 of the pastels, watercolors and oil paintings in his latest exhibition of mostly landscapes sold, within half an <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/great-kids/8yo-artist-sells-250k-of-paintings.html">Read more...</a>

Encouragement for First-time Home Buyers - It's Not Too Late
I<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="homes in New Orleans src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/homelife/riggio-homes-norleans.jpg" height="100" width="108" /> n spite of a series of unsettling economic reports, a New Jersey non-profit group delivered an encouraging message to prospective low- and moderate-income home buyers Saturday. People willing to make the commitment can still get low-interest mortgages and down-payment assistance to buy their first homes, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.njcitizenaction.org/">New Jersey Citizen Action</a> told women, who are statistically less likely to own their own homes. <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/general/encouraging-nj-first-time-buyers.html">Read more...</a>

Woman Buys Cab Fare for Injured Squirrel
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="squirrel" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/animals/squirrel-stare.jpg" height="82" width="101" /> A woman whose cat caught a squirrel Wednesday was so worried for the animal that she called a cab to deliver it to the nearest wildlife rehabilitation center. The squirrel arrived in a pet carrier with a humorous note attached. (READ the story and click on the photo to<a target="_blank" href="http://www.wral.com/news/local/noteworthy/story/8128582/"> read the note at WRAL.com</a>) <h5>Thanks to Jennifer Shelton for sending the link!</h5> <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/pets/cab-fare-for-squirrel.html">Read more...</a>

New Mineral Make-Up Offers Natural Cosmetics With a Purpose
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="mineral makeup by Glow.com" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/homelife/mineral_makeup.jpg" height="100" width="135" /> A California cosmetic company has introduced a line of makeup formulated with natural, finely ground minerals and powerful peptides, that actually improves the condition of skin over time with its botanically-infused ingredients. Founder of Glow, Christina Marcaccini, who has been featured in Lucky, W, and SELF Magazine, created RAWMinerals to fill a gap in the cosmetics market. She aimed to formulate a line <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/general/mineral-makeup-by-glow.html">Read more...</a>

Online Group Restores Sense of Abundance and Connection
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="Photo by Sun Star" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/inspiration/friends-sun.jpg" height="93" width="200" /> A seeming misfortune (being laid off) turned into an opportunity for one woman to regain the sense of community she had lost after her children grew up and her job had taken her away from regular contact with neighbors. She turned to a Yahoo group SGVC Yahoo Group (San Geronimo Valley Community) as a resource for borrowing a portable crib for her granddaughter’s visit, <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/general/yahoo-group-restores-connectiveness.html">Read more...</a>

Green Living: Off the Grid Families Pioneer Sustainable Energy Lifestyles
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="off grid home photo by earthship.com" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/energy/home-off-the-grid-earthshipcom.jpg" height="100" width="116" /> In the United States, off-the-grid living – without relying on government entities or utility companies to provide electricity, heat, gas, and water – often is associated with gritting it out on the survivalist fringe. But an increasing range of Americans are leading a snug, even smug, lifestyle totally or mostly unhitched from public utilities. Using nature – the sun, wind, water, and the <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/general/off-grid-families-cs-monitor.html">Read more...</a>

Dog Chews off Michigan Man's Toe Saving his Life
<img style="float: right;" class="border" alt="file dog photo by Geri (c) 2006" src="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/images/stories/pets/dog-twist-do.jpg" height="100" width="97" /> A Michigan man credited his dog with saving his life by chewing off his diseased big toe as he lay passed out in a drunken stupor. Douthett's wife, Rosee, rushed him to a hospital where doctors found he was suffering from Type 2 diabetes. His toe was badly infected and surgeons amputated the remainder of the digit. Douthett's wife, a registered <a href="http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/family-life/pets/dog-chews-toe-of-diseased-owner.html">Read more...</a>