Good News Tuesday for May 2, 2023: Pope Francis Gives Women Voting Power, Music Therapy Helps Man Walk and Talk Again, Single Mom Adopts Teen Mom of Triplets, and a Seventh Grader Steers Bus to Safety

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

Pope Francis to Give Women Voting Power in “Synod of Bishops”

In the October meeting of Catholic bishops from around the world, women will have votes for the first time. Five religious sisters will join five priests as voting representatives. Pope Francis has also decided to appoint 70 non-bishop voting members to the “Synod of Bishops” and has asked that half of them be women. Here’s more from The Guardian.

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Mindful Music Therapy Helps Man Walk and Speak

71-year-old Ian Palmer was unable to walk or speak properly due to Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare condition in which a person’s immune system attacks their motor nerves. Mindful music therapy (including listening to The Carpenters) helped retrained his brain to engage muscles and help him walk and speak again. The Good News Network has more about this fascinating process.

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Single Mother of Five Adopts Teen Mom of Triplets

NICU nurse Katrina Mullen, a single mother of five, adopted Shariya Small, a 14-year-old mother of triplets to keep the young family together. Read their story from the Good News Network which includes a video.

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Seventh Grader Steers Bus to Safety

Dillon Reeves, a 13-year-old in Michigan, noticed his school bus driver was having trouble. When he realized she was becoming unconscious, he put his foot on the brake, steered the bus to a safe stop and told someone to call 911.

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Good News Tuesday for May 31, 2022: An Amazing Recovery, The Rights of Water, Growing Rhino Population, a Bus Driver Helps Family to Safety, and a Baby Sloth is Reunited with Mother

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

Young Girl’s “Incurable” Hydrocephalus Disappears

At just a few months old, Evie-Mae Geurts was blind. With the continued pressure on her brain, Doctors said she would be blind forever and that she’d probably never learn to walk and talk. But her sight returned when she was a toddler. Normally, hydrocephalus cannot be cured and requires shuts to relieve the pressure, but today, seven-year-old Evie Mae is free of shunts, is at the top of her class, and can see perfectly without glasses. Here’s the story from the Good News Network.

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The Rights of Water

In Florida, legal advocates are empowering bodies of water to have rights for self-protection.

“If you can grant (rights) to a corporation, why not the Great Lakes? Why not the Mississippi River? Why not the many waterways across our planet that we all depend on to survive?” Kelsey Leonard

Read more about this revolutionary movement in this article from Good Good Good.

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One-Horned Rhino Population is Growing

At the start of the 20th century, the greater one-horned rhinos were close to extinction with only about 200 existing in the wild. Now, there are 4,014 of these rhinos in India and Nepal. The recent population growth is partly due to a “baby boom” during the pandemic, when protected areas were closed to visitors. Here’s more from CNN.

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Bus Driver Helps Woman and Children Escape Abusive Ex

Kyle Caswell, an 18-year-old bus driver from Swindon, England helped a mother and her three children escape from her abusive ex. Kyle got permission from his supervisor to go “off route” at the end of his shift to take the woman and her children to safety. Here’s more from BBC News.

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Baby Sloth Reunited with Mother

The staff from the Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica saw a baby sloth become separated from its mother. The Good News Network has the story of their reunion. Here’s the video:

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Good News Tuesday for Nov. 2, 2021: Climate Summit, Students Save Bus Driver, Top 10 CNN Heroes, and a Dog Who Saved Koalas

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

World Leaders Meet for Climate Summit and Promise to End Deforestation

Last year’s world climate summit was cancelled due to covid. Now, over 120 leaders have come together in Glasgow, Scotland to reduce the negative impact of humans on planet Earth. BBC reports that over 100 leaders from around the world, including Brazil, have promised to sign a pledge to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. Read more about the two week COP26 Climate Summit and the deforestation pledge here.

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Two Middle School Students Act Quickly to Save Bus Driver

Conner Doss and Kane Daugherty are two Atlanta middle school students whose quick thinking saved their bus driver. Read more about it here.

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Top 10 CNN Heroes

CNN is in its 15th year of celebrating heroes. On December 12, they’ll be recognizing their top 10 picks for 2021 who each receive $10,000 and announcing who received the most votes for hero of the year. Read more about the top 10 heroes from CNN.

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A Dog Named Bear has been Recognized as a Hero for Saving Koalas

A dog named Bear recently won an award from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) for saving 100 koalas from Australia’s bushfires last year. Before being trained to rescue koalas, Bear had been rescued himself from a shelter where his former family gave him up due to behavior issues and his “boundless energy and obsessive enthusiasm for play.” You can read more from the Good News Network and watch the video:

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Good News Tuesday: Banks on Board, Bus Driver Initiative, Tree Top Barbie, and Brain Implant for Blindness

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

130 Banks Commit to Paris Agreement on Climate Change

Banks responsible for one-third of the global banking sector committed to aligning their business with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals. This was part of the “newly-signed Principles for Responsible Banking, which was launched one day ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit in New York.  Here’s the story from the Good News Network.   

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Photo from https://www.facebook.com/CopperasCoveISD/

School Bus Driver Comes Back to Mow the Grass

Jerry Martin drives a school bus in Texas. When he saw students waiting at a bus stop in weeds and tall grass, he took it upon himself to return with a lawn mower.

Thank you, Mr. Martin!

Here’s the the story also from the Good News Network. 

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Meet the Woman who Started Tree Top Barbie

Nalini Nadkarni has a passion for studying the canopy. In the early 2000s Mattel turned down her idea for a tree top Barbie, so she made it on her own. 15 years later, after telling Nalini she was infringing on their brand, Mattel reportedly started to include tree top Barbie in their explorer series. When I did a search for tree top Barbie, I didn’t see her, except on International Canopy Network which said they are no longer producing the doll. So, I’ve sent a message to Mattel asking how I can find Tree Top Barbie to buy  for my granddaughter. We’ll see if I can find her. In the meantime, please watch this video about Nalini Nadkani. I think you’ll enjoy it.

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Brain Implant Restores Vision Perception

Jason Esterhuizen lost his sight in a horrible car accident seven years ago. Now, the native of South Africa is the second person to receive a new brain implant developed at UCLA which helps him see light and movement. He is now able to do things like sort laundry and cross the street more safely. This video explains how the implant works.

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Good News Tuesday: Diversity, Salt Battery, Therapy Dogs, and a Good Catch

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

 

Diversity Growing at West Point

This year, West Point Military Academy graduates it’s largest class of black women ever!

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Salt Battery Offers a New Form of Alternative Energy

This story from Associated Press explains how a special type of salt (quicklime) releases large amounts of heat when exposed to water. “The pilot  project in Berlin can currently store enough energy to heat about 100 large houses.”  One advantage to this type of renewable energy is that it does not depend on weather.

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Parkland Students Honor Therapy Dogs

CNN and others report that the dogs who helped students after the Marjorie Douglas Stoneman high school shooting have been given their own yearbook page. I like that they’re giving these helper dogs the recognition they deserve.

See their pics and read about it here.

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Grabbed In the Nick of Time

This NY bus driver is paying close attention.  We all need to pay close attention to school buses and their lights.

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