A nonprofit group in San Francisco is helping the city’s homeless population with a former public transit bus that’s been outfitted with two bathrooms, complete with toilets and hot showers. “If you’re living on the streets and you’re filthy, you can’t interview for a job and you can’t apply for housing,” explains the group’s founder, Doniece Sandoval. “You get disconnected […]
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A homeless man suffering a medical emergency in Washington state attached a note to his dog and sent it for help. Not long after, a local resident found the dog walking along some railroad tracks, read the note, and dialed 911. The note didn’t give a location, but police had received reports of a homeless man with a dog living […]
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“I hate women because thy always know where things are.” – Voltaire
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The FBI has files on roughly 77.7 million people in the U.S.—the equivalent of one in three American adults. As many as 12,000 new names are added to its master criminal database every day, largely as the result of minor arrests connected to “zero-tolerance” policies at schools.
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Students at a Bolivar,Tenn., high school last week elected a classmate with Down syndrome to be homecoming queen. Kara Marcum, 19, easily beat three other candidates in a victory one teacher chalked up to her considerable personal charm. Kara also has a life-threatening heart defect, but both her family and classmates say she doesn’t let her disabilities get in the […]
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. . . driving with kids, after police got a 911 call about a woman’s screams issuing from a Massachusetts man’s car, and surrounded him. Instead of finding a woman in distress, officers discovered several goats in the back seat, and let him go.
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THE PROBLEM Congestion caused by commuters carries an annual price tag of $121 billion in wasted time and fuel costs. The average American who drives to work wastes 38 hours in traffic each year. THE INNOVATION City planning authorities increasingly prioritize pedestrians and cyclists over cars. A commitment to public transportation also signals the end of the age when cars […]
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City officials in Chengdu, China, have been painting the city’s grass green to make residents think spring is here.The ruse came to light when some residents noticed unpainted patches of yellowish winter grass, and others found the green paint coming off on their shoes. The city was then forced to admit its deception, but an official said the goal was simply […]
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A Paralympic medal winner who spent half her life in a wheelchair has made a miraculous recovery, and now hopes to represent her country in the Olympics. Monique van der Vorst had been paralyzed from the waist down since the age of 13, and won two silver medals as a hand-cyclist in the 2008 Paralympic Games. But the 27-year-old Dutch athlete […]
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In 2011, the poorest 20 percent of Americans gave 3.2 percent of their income to charity. The wealthiest 20 percent were far stingier, donating just 1.3 percent. Researchers say those with less to share may have “higher empathy” because they’re more exposed to need.
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