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Good news from my corner of the world
Oregon governor forgives uncollected traffic fines and fees, allowing people to get their driver’s license
This ensures that everyone is covered by Oregon’s 2020 law prohibiting license suspensions for nonpayment of traffic fines.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
Gov. Tina Kotek issued an executive order Tuesday that forgives unpaid traffic fees and court fines for about 10,000 people so they can get their driver’s licenses reinstated.
Kotek said in a statement that “debt-based license suspensions” disproportionately harm rural and low-income Oregonians by creating financial hurdles that are hard to overcome. “For families who are already struggling to make ends meet, these orders seek to remove one more barrier to financial stability,” she wrote.
The state Legislature passed House Bill 4210 in 2020, which prohibited license suspensions for nonpayment of traffic fines. The measure was not retroactive, however, and did not help those who currently had their license suspended.
Kotek’s predecessor, Gov. Kate Brown, later forgave unpaid court fines and fees for about 7,000 people who weren’t helped by the new law. The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles discovered that not everyone who was eligible was helped under Brown’s order, so Kotek’s executive order captures those who were unintentionally left out the first time around.
The remission for the fines and fees do not apply to people who have fees related to traffic crimes or owe compensatory fines to victims. They only apply to traffic fines.
Oregon ‘community navigator’ program aims to ease transition out of state psychiatric hospital
Lack of follow-up support for those leaving Oregon’s state mental hospital has caused immeasurable harm, so it’s very good news that former patients will now have helpers assigned to them.
From The Oregonian:
[Washington County’s] “Polaris” program [is] a peer-support service that helps connect patients released from the Oregon State Hospital to some of their most urgent needs: food, medical appointments, warm clothing and housing.
The Oregon Health Authority will soon test a program that could provide many of the same services to former state hospital patients around the state, assigning them peer supporters and social workers after they leave the psychiatric hospital in Salem and return to their home communities. The “community navigator” program aims to lower the chances that patients will fall into homelessness or be re-arrested and return to the state hospital.
It would at least initially focus on so-called “aid-and-assist” patients — those...charged with a crime but found unable to defend themselves in court. ✂️
“When someone is leaving OSH and entering the community, there’s a gap,” said Samantha Byers, Oregon Health Authority’s director of adult behavioral health. “Everything is coordinated, but there’s no one to help them navigate the communication and all the systems we have to go through.”
Washington County converts quarantine beds into recuperative care haven for homeless population
This is a smart repurposing of accommodations formerly used to quarantine Covid patients.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
With COVID-19 cases in decline, Washington County has repurposed 10 private rooms in an Econo Lodge in Hillsboro, Oregon, that had been used to quarantine people during the pandemic.
The rooms will now be a clean and safe place for people who are homeless to recover from an injury or illness with help from a visiting nurse. It’s a model known as recuperative care.The Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center, a safety-net provider, will coordinate medical care for participants.
The two-year demonstration pilot is small by design. Alongside Virginia Garcia, Washington County’s Department of Housing Services and shelter provider Greater Good Northwest have partnered on the project.
They are hoping to show that the combination of transitional housing and some medical care will end up being cheaper for hospitals in the area — and the coordinated care organizations that oversee Oregon’s Medicaid program — than the status quo, where people who are homeless often use the emergency department to access primary care.
[Portland technology nonprofit] Free Geek wins $2 million grant to boost technology access in east Portland
Free Geek is one of the best nonprofits in Portland. My husband and I have used their services several times, and it’s always a pleasure to think that the old tech that we donate is being refurbished and given to people who need it. Now they’ll have the resources to expand their work significantly.
From The Oregonian:
Portland technology nonprofit Free Geek has landed a $2 million grant from Portland’s cable regulatory commission, a big one-time infusion that will boost the tech organization’s outreach mission in the Portland area.
The money comes from a fund created years ago from TV franchise fees paid by cable companies. They’re intended to pay for high-speed internet to public institutions, including libraries, fire stations and the like. It turned out there was little need for money to pay for those hookups, and $4 million from a prior franchise agreement with Comcast has sat unused in the cable TV company’s accounts since 2011.
The Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission and Comcast have agreed to repurpose the money to boost digital access, beginning with the Free Geek grant announced Thursday.✂️
Free Geek became nationally known in the early 2000s for rehabilitating old computers and giving them away to people who volunteered to help with the organization’s work, teaching them technology skills in the process. [Their] focus has expanded in recent years to including digital education...teaching more people how to use computers and directing them to resources to help them afford devices and pay for internet access.
The Portland Airport’s Astonishing New Roof Tells a Local Timber Story
This is a long piece that’s difficult to summarize, but it’s fascinating and very encouraging, so I hope you’ll click the link to read it in full.
From Reasons to Be Cheerful:
When passengers pass through the newly remodeled Portland International Airport in spring 2024, they’ll be able to point up to specific Douglas fir beams around the oval skylights and know that they came from the ancestral lands of the Coquille Indian Tribe in Southwestern Oregon.
This will be the first major US airport to have a mass timber roof, and all the timber for the project came from sustainably managed forests that are located less than 300 miles away. The soaring, nine-acre ceiling — which will have lots of natural sunlight streaming in through the skylights and windows — will feel a bit like a forest. (The renovation will also include the addition of 70 or so living trees that will be growing in recessed and above-ground planters.)
The process of sourcing the wood took six years of planning, research, forest visits and many, many phone calls between the Port of Portland, Portland-based ZGF Architects, regional tribes, family-run forests, mill owners and brokers.
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Good news from around the nation
Federal judge prohibits separating migrant families at US border for 8 years
Judge Sabraw has been steadfast in his efforts to aid the families who were separated during tfg’s maladministration. This is another good decision, but we need to keep pushing for financial compensation for the families.
From AP:
A federal judge on Friday prohibited the separation of families at the border for purposes of deterring immigration for eight years, preemptively blocking resumption of a lightning-rod, Trump-era policy that the former president hasn’t ruled out if voters return him to the White House next year.
The separation of thousands of families “represents one of the most shameful chapters in the history of our country,” U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said moments before approving a settlement between the Justice Department and families represented by the American Civil Liberties Union that ended a legal challenge nearly seven years after it was filed.
Sabraw, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, ordered an end to separations in June 2018, six days after then-President Donald Trump halted them on his own amid intense international backlash. The judge also ordered that the government reunite children with their parents within 30 days, setting off a mad scramble because government databases weren’t linked. Children had been dispersed to shelters across the country that didn’t know who their parents were or how to find them.✂️
Families that were separated may be eligible for other benefits — legal status for up to three years on humanitarian parole; reunification in the United States at government expense; one year of housing; three years of counseling; legal aid in immigration court. But the settlement doesn’t pay families any money. In 2021, the Biden administration considered compensating parents and children hundreds of thousands of dollars each, but talks stalled.
How Philadelphia Disrupted the School-to-Prison Pipeline
The school-to-prison pipeline is one of our most shameful failures as a nation, so it’s good to see that some cities are looking for ways to shut it down.
From Yes!
Across the United States, arrest rates for young people under age 18 have been declining for decades. However, the proportion of youth arrests associated with school incidents has increased. ✂️
School-based arrests are one part of the school-to-prison pipeline, through which students—especially Black and Latine students and those with disabilities—are pushed out of their schools and into the legal system. Getting caught up in the legal system has been linked to negative health, social, and academic outcomes, as well as increased risk for future arrest. Given these negative consequences, public agencies in states like Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania have looked for ways to arrest fewer young people in schools. Philadelphia, in particular, has pioneered a successful effort to divert youth from the legal system.
In Philadelphia, police department leaders recognized that the city’s school district was its largest source of referrals for youth arrests. To address this issue, then–Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel developed and implemented a school-based, pre-arrest diversion initiative in partnership with the school district and the city’s department of human services. The program is called the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program, and it officially launched in May 2014. ✂️
Since the diversion program began, when police are called to schools in the city for offenses like marijuana possession or disorderly conduct, they cannot arrest the student involved if that student has no pending court case or history of adjudication. In juvenile court, an adjudication is similar to a conviction in criminal court.
Instead of being arrested, the diverted student remains in school, and school personnel decide how to respond to their behavior. For example, they might speak with the student, schedule a meeting with a parent, or suspend the student. A social worker from the city also contacts the student’s family to arrange a home visit, where they assess youth and family needs. Then, the social worker makes referrals to no-cost community-based services. The student and their family choose whether to attend.
AP African American studies class revised again ahead of launch
Sanity has returned to the College Board.
From The Hill:
The College Board announced Wednesday that it has revised its Advanced Placement (AP) African American studies course ahead of the class’s official launch next school year.
This is the final revision after the College Board changed the course framework twice following political controversy over the class…[Ron] DeSantis...rejected the class for his state in January after the original framework included topics such as queer theory, Black scholars related to critical race theory (CRT) and intersectionality and activism. The College Board made adjustments, which then set off backlash from critics, who say it bowed to DeSantis’s demands.
Now, those topics have been added back to the final update of the course, which is set to move out of the pilot stage and become a widely available offering for students in the 2024-25 school year. “It is a course made possible by hundreds of African American studies scholars, and it takes seriously the longstanding Black intellectual tradition and, importantly, the diversity of thinking within that tradition,” said Jarvis R. Givens, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a faculty affiliate in the department of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. ✂️
The final framework includes mentions of Kimberlé Crenshaw, who has done work in intersectionality and is known for pioneering CRT, though CRT is not directly mentioned in the class. The course includes a unit on “The Black Feminist Movement, Womanism and Intersectionality.” It also added more time for the influence Black individuals had on culture and sports. Optional lessons include topics such as the writings of Malcolm X and the 1919 Red Summer riots. The course also does not require teaching on the Black Lives Matter movement or reparations.
It is unclear how many schools will pick up the new class after it is officially launched.
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Good news from around the world
E.U. reaches deal on landmark AI bill, racing ahead of U.S.
These are first steps, but they look robust and worth emulating.
From The Washington Post (🎁 gift link):
European Union officials reached a landmark deal Friday on the world’s most ambitious law to regulate artificial intelligence, paving the way for what could become a global standard to classify risk, enforce transparency and financially penalize tech companies for noncompliance.
At a time when the sharpest critics of AI are warning of its nearly limitless threat, even as advocates herald its benefits to humanity’s future, Europe’s AI Act seeks to ensure that the technology’s exponential advances are accompanied by monitoring and oversight, and that its highest-risk uses are banned. Tech companies that want to do business in the 27-nation bloc of 450 million consumers — the West’s single largest — would be compelled to disclose data and do rigorous testing, particularly for “high-risk” applications in products like self-driving cars and medical equipment.
Dragos Tudorache, a Romanian lawmaker co-leading the AI Act negotiations, hailed the deal as a template for regulators around the world scrambling to make sense of the economic benefits and societal dangers presented by artificial intelligence, especially since last year’s release of the popular chatbot ChatGPT.
Russian ruble falls as Moscow Exchange opens Tuesday
Eat it, Vlad.
From Meduza:
On the Moscow Exchange, the rates for both the dollar and the euro saw significant increases as trading commenced on December 5. The euro’s exchange rate climbed above the 99-ruble mark for the first time since November 7. As of 9:30 a.m. Moscow time, the dollar had risen by over 50 kopecks, reaching 91.48 rubles.
The ruble’s value has decreased significantly over the past few months amidst Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions imposed against Russia due to the war. The Bank of Russia has implemented several measures to support the national currency, including raising the key interest rate. However, these measures have not significantly slowed the ruble’s decline.
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Good news in medicine
Robots Made from Human Cells Can Move on Their Own and Heal Wounds
Yet another mind-blowing advance in medical science.
From Scientific American:
In 2020 biologist Michael Levin and his colleagues reported that they had made “biological robots” by shaping clusters of cells into tiny artificial forms that could “walk” around on surfaces. Levin’s team argued that these entities, which it dubbed xenobots because they were made from skin and heart muscle cells of the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis, could be considered a new kind of organism. That claim became perhaps more compelling when a year later the researchers showed that xenobots could self-assemble spontaneously from the frogs’ skin cells and exhibit diverse behavior as they swam through liquid. ...now Levin and his colleagues at Tufts University report in Advanced Science that they have made similar “robotlike” entities from human cells. They call them anthrobots.
The key to making anthrobots mobile is that, like xenobots, their surface is covered with hairlike protein appendages called cilia that wave around and propel the structures through a fluid. To actually get anywhere, the cilia all have to beat together in a coordinated fashion.
Not only can anthrobots swim, but they also seem to have distinct shapes and modes of behavior—like strains or groups within the same species of organism. And the Tufts team reports that anthrobots seem able to induce a rudimentary form of wound healing in layers of other human cells, raising the possibility of using them in medicine.
Some scientists claim that the significance of these human cell clumps, like the original xenobots, is overblown; they question whether these spontaneously forming entities can truly be considered a kind of “robot.” Some saw nothing particularly new or surprising in the idea that frog cells could form little clumps that can move. “By and large, the Xenopus embryo community who know these cells could not really see what the fuss was about,” says Jamie Davies, a developmental biologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, who was not involved in Levin’s 2020 study or his recent one. He is similarly unsurprised that human cell clusters such as these will move around.
But Levin argues that the key here is a change in perspective. Rather than regarding the cell clusters as little bits of tissue that can be used to investigate human biology, they should be seen as organism-like entities in their own right, with particular shapes and behaviors that can be used as a “biorobotics platform” for medical and other applications—for example, by systematically modifying these characteristics to obtain some useful behavior such as repairing damaged tissues in the body.
Mystery Early-Onset Dementia Marker Identified
This discovery has personal meaning for me, because my college roommate, who remained a dear friend, suffered from early-onset dementia which ran in her family. It’s a devastating disease, so I’m hopeful that this breakthrough will lead to a cure.
From Newsweek:
Scientists have made a breakthrough after pinpointing a protein that may be linked to early-onset dementia, offering hope for the development of treatments and diagnostic tests for patients with the condition.
Frontotemporal dementia is a relatively uncommon form of dementia that causes problems in behavior and language. Unlike other types, which tend to develop after the age of 65, frontotemporal dementia often affects people between the ages of 45 and 65 as a result of degradation in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain—the areas that control emotions, personality, behavior, speech and language. In most neurodegenerative diseases, researchers have been able to pinpoint groups of clustered-together proteins in the brain that are associated with the disease. But for one in 10 cases of frontotemporal dementia, scientists had yet to discover this malicious molecule. Until now.
In a recent study, published in the journal Nature, researchers from the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge in the U.K. used cutting edge electron microscopy to analyze the brains of four patients with this type of dementia. Each brain contained protein clumps with the same atomic structure, but they weren't what was expected. The clumps in question were formed from a protein called TAF15, a protein that usually plays a role in the transcription of our DNA.
"Before this study, TAF15 was not known to form amyloid filaments in neurodegenerative diseases and no structures of the protein existed," Stephan Tetter, one of the study's co-authors, said in a statement. "[This new technology] is transforming our understanding of the molecular pathology of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases more broadly by giving us insights that were beyond the capabilities of previous technologies."
Sesame Street Muppets Are Helping Young Children Understand Parental Addiction
Sesame Workshop does so much good for children around the world, including those affected by war and displacement. This new initiative will help American children whose parents are addicted to opiods.
From GoodGoodGood:
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, is taking a proactive approach to address the emotional challenges faced by young children whose parents misuse opioids. With more than 4% of children in the United States living in households where a parent misuses opioids, the need to provide resources for understanding and coping with addiction is crucial. Many of these children experience confusion and anxiety, unsure of how to navigate the complexities of their parents' struggles with addiction.
Sesame Workshop has developed a series of materials specifically tailored for children aged 1 to 6 whose parents may be affected by addiction. These resources include videos, storybooks, and coloring books featuring beloved Muppets such as Elmo and Karli. Karli, a Muppet whose mother is undergoing treatment for addiction, serves as a relatable character for children going through similar experiences. The materials aim to facilitate conversations between parents, caregivers, social workers, and therapists, offering developmentally appropriate tools to guide children through the emotional aspects of addiction. Early intervention is a key focus, recognizing that addressing trauma in early childhood can positively impact cognitive, emotional, and social development.
A recent grant from the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts allows Sesame Workshop to expand these resources further, providing additional videos, stories, and materials centered around addiction, treatment, and healing. The free materials are accessible online, offering a valuable support system for families navigating the complexities of addiction.
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Good news in science
At a WSU Vancouver lab, researchers test a sweet solution to faster, cleaner computers
Fascinating and mind-blowing. Do click the link to read the details.
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
[Honey] has natural chemical properties that make it a promising foundation for a new kind of environmentally friendly computer component — one that could make computing faster and more energy efficient while reducing the impact on the environment. ✂️
In fact, the world produces about 50 million tons of electronic waste per year. Only 20% is recycled, meaning the other 80% ends up in landfills. Using honey instead of materials like silicon in computers would make recycling easier and less toxic, because honey breaks down in water. ✂️
[Researchers Zoe] Templin and [Mehedi Hassan] Tanim have spent a good deal of time in the University’s cleanroom fabricating electronic components called memristors. ...The devices are extremely small so the dust-free space of the cleanroom and head-to-toe protective gear is necessary to create the pristine metal and honey layers that comprise the chips. ✂️
“So we have our neurons and the synapse, they process data and they store data at the same time,” said WSU Vancouver electrical engineering professor and project head Feng Zhao. This dual function is a huge deal and helps make our brains the most efficient computer on the planet.
The team’s memristor works the same way. It builds bridges (microscopic filaments of metal atoms) through the honey when exposed to certain levels of electricity — that’s the data processing. When the electricity stops flowing, the bridge remains intact — that’s the memory. If you reverse the flow of electricity, the memory is wiped clean. “We are building systems of memory that are as efficient as how the brain stores memory,” said Templin.
Google AI and robots join forces to build new materials
I find materials science fascinating. It’s really exciting to think of all the materials that A-Lab will discover, some of which may help us deal with intractable problems like climate change.
From Nature:
An autonomous system that combines robotics with artificial intelligence (AI) to create entirely new materials has released its first trove of discoveries. The system, known as the A-Lab, devises recipes for materials, including some that might find uses in batteries or solar cells. Then, it carries out the synthesis and analyses the products — all without human intervention. Meanwhile, another AI system has predicted the existence of hundreds of thousands of stable materials, giving the A-Lab plenty of candidates to strive for in future.
Together, these advances promise to dramatically accelerate the discovery of materials for clean-energy technologies, next-generation electronics and a host of other applications. “A lot of the technologies around us, including batteries and solar cells, could really improve with better materials,” says Ekin Dogus Cubuk, who leads the materials discovery team at Google DeepMind in London and was involved in both studies, which were published today in Nature. ✂️
...studies suggest that billions of relatively simple inorganic materials are still waiting to be discovered. So where to start looking?
Many projects have tried to cut down on time spent in the lab tinkering with various materials by computationally simulating new inorganic materials and calculating properties such as how their atoms would pack together in a crystal… Google DeepMind has now supersized this approach with an AI system called graph networks for materials exploration (GNoME). After training on data scraped from the Materials Project and similar databases, GNoME tweaked the composition of known materials to come up with 2.2 million potential compounds. After calculating whether these materials would be stable, and predicting their crystal structures, the system produced a final tally of 381,000 new inorganic compounds to add to the Materials Project database.
There’s A Better Way To Grind Coffee, According To Science
I’ll be testing this out this morning!
From CoffeeTalk:
A team of chemists and volcanologists at the University of Oregon have discovered that adding a spritz of water to coffee beans before grinding can reduce static electricity and create a more consistent, stronger-tasting espresso shot. The study, published in the journal Matter, shows how moisture in coffee beans affects the build-up of charge and how it can be manipulated. The researchers found that friction and fractures result in tiny particles that accumulate electric charge in the process of grinding coffee. The study also sheds light on the burgeoning field of coffee science, which draws together experts from various disciplines to conduct drinkable experiments and probe the fundamental science behind a cup of joe. The researchers suggest that adding a small amount of water to whole-bean coffee beans before grinding can make the coffee more accessible during brewing, resulting in more coffee being brewed.
A collaboration between scientists at the University of Oregon and a volcanology lab led to the discovery that moisture modulates the amount of charge on coffee grounds. The team used a custom-built Faraday cup to measure the charge on individual particles and calculate the density of that charge. They found that lighter roast coffees with more internal moisture gained less static charge during grinding and tended to charge positively, while darker roasts gained more charge and tended to accumulate negative charge. The scientists were intrigued by the fact that coffee sometimes charged in one direction and sometimes in the other, and that internal moisture played a key role. They discovered that suppressing charging altogether by adding external moisture, just a squirt of water before grinding, reduced static and avoided clumps in the coffee. This study is a prime example of how many low-hanging scientific fruits remain in the world of coffee, with opportunities to bring rigorous experimental techniques and measurements to something many people do one or more times a day.
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Good news for the environment
Amazon rainforest destruction slows sharply year to date, report says
More evidence of how important it is to elect political leaders who take climate change seriously.
From Reuters:
Destruction across the Amazon rainforest so far this year has slowed dramatically, down 55.8% from the same period a year ago in a major turnaround for the region vital to curbing climate change, according to an analysis provided to Reuters. ...Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia all showed declining forest loss. ✂️
The drop coincides with a shift since last year to pro-conservation governments under leftist presidents in Brazil and Colombia.
Analysts credit most of the decline to stronger environmental law enforcement in Brazil - home to the majority of the forest - under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who assumed office on Jan. 1. His predecessor Jair Bolsonaro had advocated clearing rainforest land for mining, ranching and other uses.
And in a related story:
Brazil launches $204 million drive to restore Amazon rainforest
From Reuters:
Brazil's national development bank (BNDES) on Saturday launched an effort to restore degraded or destroyed woodland amounting to 60,000 square km (23,160 square miles) - an area nearly the size of Latvia - in the Amazon rainforest by 2030.
At the United Nations COP28 climate summit in Dubai, BNDES announced that the Arc of Restoration program, with funding of up to 1 billion reais ($205 million) through 2024, would also seek to capture 1.65 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere by 2030. ✂️
"Avoiding deforestation is no longer the answer to the climate crisis. We need to be more ambitious," BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante said in a press statement.
"Let's reforest, so that the forest regenerates. It's the cheapest and quickest answer to the climate crisis because it captures carbon and stores it," Mercadante said.
Planting Mangrove Forests Is Paying Off in Indonesia
Providing incentives to communities to work on mitigating climate change is a win-win that needs to be more widely used.
From The World Bank:
Mangroves play a critical role in supporting coastal livelihoods, protecting coasts from disasters, and mitigating global climate change. They can contribute to ending poverty and creating a livable planet. They are particularly important in Indonesia, which has the world’s largest and most diverse mangrove forests.
Recognizing the critical value and ecosystem functions of its mangrove ecosystems, the government of Indonesia has incentivized local communities to plant mangroves, and the World Bank Mangroves for Coastal Resilience program will support scaling this effort up. The program aims to create new sources of income from participants, empower women, increase the profits of fisheries, and protect coastal areas from flooding. Conservation of healthy mangroves ecosystems and replanting are critical if Indonesia is to realize its ambitious plans to convert forests and other types of land into carbon sinks by 2030.✂️
Community participation is critical in mangroves' conservation and restoration, and since 2021 the Indonesian government has been paying people to grow mangroves. The program has changed the lives of many locals. ✂️
Mangrove planting has increased fish farm yields and reduced costs, increasing fishers’ profits. ...The planting of mangroves has also empowered many women, some of whom have independent income streams for the very first time.”
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Good news for and about animals
Brought to you by Rosy, Rascal, and the spirit of lovely Nora.
Israeli teen hostage freed by Hamas says her pet dog Bella was a "huge help" during captivity in Gaza tunnels
Rosy says she would have tried to be brave, too, but she’s not sure she would have been as good a dog as Bella.
From CBS News:
Mia Leimberg, 17, one of the hostages freed by Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners during a week-long cease-fire in Israel's war with the Palestinian militant group, emerged from captivity on Nov. 28 holding her small white dog Bella. The Israeli teenager told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday that Bella helped get her through the ordeal.
"Luckily for me, Bella is unlike all the other small dogs that I personally know; She is rather quiet, unless when she's playing or mad, and so they didn't notice her," Leimberg said in the interview back at home with her parents, and Bella.
Leimberg's father said that when his daughter was taken hostage, she grabbed her Shih Tzu and hid her under her pajama shirt. ...[He] said Mia had told him that it was only after Hamas brought her and other hostages into their labyrinth of caves under Gaza and instructed her to climb up a ladder that her captors realized she wasn't carrying a doll, but a living pet. Leimberg said the Hamas militants decided to let her keep Bella in a birdcage.
"She was a huge help to me," Leimberg said. "She kept me busy. She was moral support, even though she didn't want to be." ✂️
Leimberg's father said it was his daughter's determination to protect Bella that ensured she also made it home safely. "One of the expressions that she has now about the dog is that, 'I love you, to Gaza and back,'" he said.
A chicken was missing toes. People sent him over 60 pairs of tiny shoes.
This choice from Rascal immediately became one of my all-time favorite videos. Seeing Nubs stomp around in his tiny boots just warms my heart.