Uplifting News

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SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Sea Turtle Inc. helped 190 sea turtles affected by the recent cold stun. The organization announced that with improving weather conditions and the affected sea turtle's health, they hope for a quick recovery and potential release.

According to the National Park Service, a cold-stunned sea turtle is one that has become hypothermic due to severe cold water or weather. If water temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit a sea turtle can become lethargic and are unable to swim.

A rock hit a car in a Walmart parking lot in Lehighton, PA in 2023, busting the window and landing in a half gallon of ice cream. A group of open-minded scientists agreed to take the case and identified the rock as a genuine meteorite. Source is Pennsylvania Geology Winter 2024.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/36793071

Good! Keep those patients safe!

The CFPB’s new rule amends Regulation V, which implements the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), to end this exception and establish guardrails for credit reporting companies, prohibiting them from including medical bills on credit reports sent to lenders, who are banned from considering them. The final rule:

Prohibits lenders from considering medical information: The rule ends the special regulatory carveout that previously allowed creditors to use certain medical information in making lending decisions. This means lenders will also be barred from using information about medical devices, such as prosthetic limbs, that could be used to require that the devices serve as collateral for a loan for the purposes of repossession.

Bans medical bills on credit reports: The rule bans consumer reporting agencies from including medical debt information on credit reports and credit scores sent to lenders. This will help end the practice of using the credit reporting system to coerce payment of bills regardless of their accuracy. Lenders will continue to be able to consider medical information to verify medical-based forbearances, verify medical expenses that a consumer needs a loan to pay, consider certain benefits as income when underwriting, and other legitimate uses.

After seeing people sleeping outside in the cold year-after-year, a Toronto man is building tiny mobile homes attached to bicycles to give temporary relief to those who are unhoused.

Summary

The removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, completed in October 2023, is the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. The dams had blocked salmon migration, disrupted ecosystems, and worsened toxic algal blooms for over a century.

Decades of advocacy by tribal groups, environmentalists, and locals led to their removal, marking a significant environmental milestone. Early recovery signs include salmon returning to the upper basin for the first time in 60+ years.

The project also restored sacred lands to the Shasta Indian Nation and opened 400 miles of habitat for native species.

Challenges like sediment-clearing and climate impacts persist, but stakeholders celebrate it as a model for ecological renewal.

Summary

Teen drug, alcohol, and tobacco use in the U.S. continues to decline, with record-low usage levels reported in 2023, according to the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future survey.

Among 12th graders, 66% reported no recent use of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, while 80% of 10th graders and 90% of 8th graders avoided these substances entirely.

Experts attribute the decline partly to reduced peer pressure during the pandemic.

However, nicotine pouch use has doubled among 12th graders, raising concerns.

Despite pop culture's glamorization of smoking, teen cigarette use remains low.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.bestiver.se/post/172650

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Note: No leopards were slain in this article.

European nations are becoming increasingly serious about cracking down on smoking and vaping, especially among young people. Belgium has become the first country in the European Union to outright ban the sale of disposable vapes starting this month. At the same time, Italy's Milan also ushered in the new year by implementing a ban on outdoor smoking in public spaces.

As reported by The Guardian, Belgian health minister Frank Vandenbroucke didn't mince words when announcing the prohibition last year, calling disposable e-cigarettes an "extremely harmful" product designed to hook a new generation on nicotine. He cited the waste from the non-reusable vapes as being packed with "hazardous chemicals" that damage the environment.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23746287

At the Freedom Utopia, once 40,000 sq metres of wasteland, there is access to washing machines, and children can play in a sand park, visit the planetarium and stroke goats, ponies and cows in a petting zoo.

“I come here every day. It’s well worth the wait,” says Guadlupe Hernandez, 68, shielding herself from the sun with an umbrella while queueing at a canteen where cheap healthy meals are sold. “You just cannot find this anywhere else.”

Free facilities include a 400-seat concert hall where classical music classes are held, and the temazcal – a traditional Aztec sauna, which the Spanish colonisers tried to outlaw to prevent men and women from sharing the steam room naked.

In Latin American cities such quality facilities are often unaffordable or reserved for the elites.

The utopia’s most popular attraction is the house for older people. Inside the giant tipi-like structure 15 women are taking a dance class. Exercises focus on improving cognitive stimulation to stave off diseases that affect elderly people such as dementia, while counselling is offered to tackle trauma, depression and grief, says Michelle Rodríguez, a psychologist overseeing the programme. “And as you can see they are like a family now, supporting each other.”

The centre offers free tai chi classes, yoga, aromatherapy and massages to the women, most of whom have lost someone close and say they were mired in grief and loneliness.

After 30 summers of gathering and celebrating children with an HIV-positive status, Camp Heartland in Willow River, Minnesota is up for sale. Childhood HIV in the U.S. is almost non-existent, leading the camp to have less and less families to serve.

NEIL WILLENSON: ...So the year we were founded, 1,630 children were born with HIV ... it's just a medical miracle 30 years later. There might be a handful or less in the US born. They can prevent mother to child transmission. So any founder dreams of the day that their charity can go out of business.