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The News You Didn’t Hear This Week

This week the headlines were pretty dim. Fighting in Iran, surging oil prices, and just when you think current events couldn’t get any worse, it’s time for the Oscars.

But then, those were only the headlines you actually heard about. Not all news headlines see the light of day.

Such as the story of Chicago Girl Scout Troop 26286, in Englewood, grappling to sell enough cookies to stay afloat.

A few weeks ago, news of their problem broke. The troop needed to sell at least 2,100 boxes just to cover basic membership fees and keep the troop alive for one more year. The story made the nightly news. All of Chicago got involved. People were ordering cookies all over the nation.

As of this week, the troop has sold 26,000 boxes.

And in North Carolina, Kerwin Pittman, a former inmate who spent upwards of 11 years incarcerated, and one year in solitary, became the first ex-inmate to purchase a prison.

The 400-bed prison, formerly Wayne Correctional Center, is in Goldsboro. The former correctional facility will be transformed into transitional housing and occupational development for former inmates re-entering civilian life.

Kerwin knows firsthand how difficult reintegration is. When he was first released, he said, “I had family support, so I had housing. But a lot of my friends didn’t have any place to go. Or if they did, there was a time limit on how long they could stay.”

In Rio de Janeiro, a new initiative using seed-firing drones has successfully reforested an area the size of 200 football fields in record time.

The drones fly overhead, buzzing above the Amazon, planting approximately 40,000 trees per day. That’s over 1,600 trees planted every hour. In the time it took you to read this, several new trees were planted.

How big of a problem is deforestation in Brazil? Over an 18-year span, foreign and domestic logging companies in the Amazon destroyed an area bigger than Spain.

Meanwhile, in the North Atlantic, researchers spotted a Right Whale and her calf swimming off the coast of Cape Cod this week. The whale is named Millipede. She is 21 years old. She enjoys sunsets, singing, and long swims near the beach.

Millipede was named because of a propeller scar on her back, which resembles the legs of a Millipede. This is Millipede’s third calf.

Moreover, shortly after Millipede and her calf appeared, another Right Whale mother and calf followed behind. Which is a big deal because there are fewer than 384 Right Whales left in the world.

“Each calf represents an important addition to this critically endangered population,” says the director of the Center for Coastal Studies’ Right Whale Ecology Program.

And finally, in South Africa, we meet Sylvester. Sylvester’s best friend, who also happens to be a dog named Snoopy, came down with a severe fever.

The dog’s condition worsened, so Sylvester called a local animal hospital. He realized he couldn’t wait for help to come to him. Sylvester did not own a car, so he put Snoopy on his bicycle and pedaled several miles to reach the Community Led Animal Welfare clinic.

Snoopy was in bad shape. She was suffering from jaundice and unable to eat. But the treatment paid off. A few days ago, Snoopy was reunited with her owner. She has made a full recovery.

So anyway, whenever you start to worry that the world is falling apart, and you don’t know what to do, you can always start by buying some Girl Scout cookies.