Good morning, everyone. As promised, our Sunday tradition continues: another weekly good news update. Share one piece of good news from your week in the comments, and pass this along so someone else can join in too.
My good news of the week is that we are rapidly expanding. We have a live show coming out. We are going international. Our next paid subscriber live is this week, Wednesday night. And I just found out we are beating Fox News. Across social platforms over the past 30 days, we have reached peak engagement, surpassing every major media company, and nearly every media company in the entire world. You did this. We did this.
Some ask why I care about these numbers. To me, it is proof that there is still a place for accurate, timely news without spin and fluff. That is what I will keep bringing.
We built this with nothing. No billionaire investment. No platform handed to us. No name recognition to open doors. It has not been easy, but I keep showing up, because this was never just about sharing news. We are building a community, and communities like this one are what will outlast the old media machine.
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Here’s the good news:
Long Island man helps Bronx mother rebuild after fire, after seeing her story on the news: Nina Chambers lost everything when a fire tore through her Bronx apartment on June 28th, leaving her and her three children living in a hotel while her bank account drained from replacing necessities and covering fees, eventually triggering an overdraft notice from TD Bank. Scott Evans, watching from Long Island, saw her interview with CBS News NY reporter Naveen Dhaliwal and decided to help, saying “this was something, one of the things that I could do something about... we have no mortgage, we have no car payments.” After TD Bank told him company policy barred him from depositing directly into her account, he reached out to Dhaliwal, who connected him with Chambers, and he gave her $3,000 to help her get back on her feet. Eight weeks later, Chambers had graduated college with a degree in human services and secured a new apartment, telling reporters “it’s priceless, you don’t meet people that do those type of things for nothing, it’s rare.”
WHO declares Uganda Ebola-free after 42 days without a new case: The World Health Organization declared an end to Uganda’s Ebola outbreak after the country went 42 days without a new case, marking the milestone from the July 16th discharge of the last confirmed patient with no further onward transmission linked to that case. The WHO praised the Ugandan government, health workers, communities, and partners “for the strong measures taken to contain the outbreak and prevent wider spread,” while noting continued vigilance is needed given ongoing transmission across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is battling the worst Ebola outbreak in its history. Uganda’s own outbreak is believed to have stemmed from individuals who traveled across that border, underscoring how closely the two countries’ health situations are linked. In a show of regional solidarity, Uganda’s health service announced it will open two Ebola clinics across the border to help support the DRC’s ongoing response.
12 golden puppies reunite with mom on first birthday: A litter of 12 unexpected golden Labrador puppies were reunited with their parents, Tilly and Lolo, for a first birthday party complete with party hats and dog friendly cake. The pups arrived last August when Rhian was dog sitting her pregnant sister in law’s dog Tilly while her brother Meirion was on holiday, and what vets predicted would be six or seven puppies turned into a 15 hour, 12 puppy delivery involving Rhian, her husband, and their two kids. Rhian ended up adopting the smallest female pup and Meirion adopted one of the boys, while the rest of the litter stayed mostly in Wales with family and friends. The families now run a WhatsApp group and pet sit for each other’s dogs, with Meirion saying “it has turned into a real extended family” and their house is “constantly full of dogs now.” This year’s reunion went off without any surprise deliveries.
Myrtle Beach aquarium welcomes seven African penguin chicks, a critically endangered species: Ripley’s Aquarium of Myrtle Beach announced this week that it welcomed five more African penguin chicks over the summer, bringing its total for the year to seven, with general manager Courtnie Barnett saying “we thought we were lucky with our first two chicks, but welcoming five more has made this an unforgettable year.” African penguins are found only on the coasts of Namibia and South Africa and are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, which has tracked a nearly 80 percent decline in their wild population over three generations, driven by food shortages from commercial fishing, climate change, and habitat destruction. For the first time, the aquarium shared two of the newest chicks’ names, Chip and Boyd, who join Vic and Chelle from May, with all the chicks named after people important to the aquarium and its community. The aquarium said all seven are meeting their developmental milestones, with the oldest having finished swim lessons and joined the colony at its Penguin Playhouse, and described their personalities ranging from Vic the cuddler to Chelle, who has “a keen interest in jewelry,” to Chip and Boyd, “high energy, boisterous brothers.”
Staten Island deli manager’s grades for cash program expands with $500,000 in funding: Wail Alselwi, a deli manager on Staten Island, has spent three years rewarding students with cash and snacks for improved report card grades, and the GoFundMe supporting his effort has grown from $70,000 last summer to more than $500,000 this year. Ahead of this school year, Alselwi asked his more than 1 million TikTok followers to help him give away school supplies to over 3,000 students, saying donations poured in so fast that “one day, I had 65 boxes in one day,” some of which he passed along to local teachers. He plans another school supplies giveaway this Saturday after his first one last Tuesday, and told ABC News of his grading incentive, “if you’re failing, we want to push you to do better... all you gotta do just pass all your classes, improve, and then we’ll give you $100 for improvement.” Alselwi said students from around the country now visit to show off their report cards, and his videos documenting the cash handouts have racked up millions of views on social media.
Tennessee governor moves to rename Nashville airport after Dolly Parton: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced on August 28th that his office is partnering with Nashville International Airport to rename it after Dolly Parton, who died August 25th at age 80 following a brief battle with cancer. The push follows a Change.org petition that drew more than 169,000 signatures after her death, and Lee said “at a place where Tennessee welcomes the world, it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter.” Nashville Metro Councilmember Russ Bradford is sponsoring a resolution backing the change, and Parton’s own team has signed on as well, according to the governor’s office. The final decision rests with the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, whose president and CEO Doug Kreulen also voiced support, saying Parton “understood that dignity, kindness and opportunity should never be defined by where you come from,” with the authority set to address the renaming at its September meeting.
Connecticut woman’s daily porch affirmations lift spirits online: Maureen Fitzgerald, a 63-year-old federal government employee near Hartford, Connecticut, began posting daily morning affirmations from her porch on Instagram starting July 16th, telling followers things like “every morning, tell yourself it’s going to be a good day... positivity attracts positivity.” Nicknamed “Mo” by her growing fanbase, she says she does it as much for herself as for others, including one follower who told her he lost his mother young and asked to call her “mom” because she reminded him of her. Fitzgerald says the ritual has helped her cope while caring for her husband of 31 years, a Vietnam veteran diagnosed with Agent Orange-related kidney cancer the day before Thanksgiving in 2024, saying she has stayed strong for their two sons and kept “thinking good things” throughout. She said the experience taught her how many people are missing someone to simply wish them a good day, adding “they’re alone, or they’re with people and yet they’re alone. Now, I understand.”
Man’s viral 100 day litter cleanup transforms a NYC block: A young New Yorker named David felt “powerless” about the litter covering his block in Washington Heights, so he bought bags and a grabber stick and pledged on TikTok to clean one block every day for 100 days. The project went viral and revealed what David called a community “hungry for change,” with neighbors joining him to pick up trash, push city officials for cleaner streets, and build small fenced flower beds around the sidewalk trees. Local businesses began donating plants, lumber, and equipment, and David has spent roughly $2,000 of his own money on fencing and gardening supplies. He said the flowers do double duty, since “litter can kill plants, but plants can also teach people not to litter,” noting people notice when flowers that haven’t been there in decades suddenly die. What started as a solo effort has since pulled David as far as the mountains upstate searching for native plants for the beds.
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Terrier rescued after two days trapped in a UK badger warren: Cello, a six year old parson Russell terrier in Nottinghamshire, got lost for two days after wandering into a network of badger tunnels while off leash with his owner Stephen Smith. Because badgers are a legally protected species in the UK, rescuers from the volunteer group Notts Lost Dog and the local fire department first had to secure a permit from Natural England before they could dig into the warren, a delay that worried volunteer Kim Jefcott given how “protective and aggressive” badgers can be. The permit came through in time, and the team used a camera to locate Cello before digging a two foot shaft down into the tunnels to pull him out, stressed and with sore, dirt filled eyes. After eating, drinking, and sleeping a full 24 hours, Cello was back to his normal self, and Smith said he still enjoys off leash walks but will hopefully now steer clear of the smell of badgers.
Single mom pays off $25,000 in debt in five months by selling 410 items: Ellie Titmus, a 32 year old single mother in the UK, built up roughly £23,000 in debt after taking out short term loans to get by following her divorce in 2022, admitting she also spent on “silly things” like takeout and online shopping. This April, facing the full weight of the debt, she began decluttering her home and sold 410 household items, including toys, clothing, jewelry, and kitchen gadgets, through Vinted, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace. She also cashed in £13,000 in matured stocks and bonds through her banking job, putting the bulk of it toward the debt, and has paid back about £19,733 so far, with £8,700 in interest still remaining. Ellie said she got “brutal” with her belongings, deciding she “needed the money more than a house full of things,” and has been documenting the journey on TikTok, where she said the community response has helped keep her accountable.
Paris gym helps homeless residents improve health without leaving their shelter: Finnish gym equipment company Omnigym installed an outdoor fitness setup at a homeless shelter in Paris to test whether easy access to exercise could improve residents’ physical and mental wellbeing. After collecting anonymous survey data one month in, the company found 80 percent of respondents reported improved physical health and 90 percent said the gym helped them meet or talk to other people. One resident credited the gym with a behavioral change, saying “I smoke less,” while another simply called it “a change” in their life. Omnigym partnered with the French homelessness nonprofit Emmaüs Solidarité on the pilot, which CEO Kirsti Laasio calls “The People’s Gym,” saying the goal is to “democratize physical training and make it accessible to everyone.”
Sweden and Finland reconnect cross-border rail line after 30 years: A twice-daily train service now links the Finnish town of Oulu with the Swedish town of Haparanda, marking the first time in three decades that travelers could cross that border by train. The new route, arranged between Finland’s Transport and Communications Agency, national railway VR, and its Swedish subsidiary, is meant to boost tourism and business in the remote northern regions of both countries. Norrtåg CEO Joakim Berg said the link is “creating new opportunities for people to travel, work, study and visit one another across the border,” and much of the Finnish network is electrified, letting trains run from Helsinki to Haparanda without diesel. Because Sweden and Finland use different rail gauges, a specially divided bridge allows trains from each country’s system to arrive and depart at the shared station, where passengers can transfer to regional lines further into Sweden.
Billion Oyster Project rebuilds NYC’s reefs from restaurant shell waste: A New York City nonprofit called the Billion Oyster Project is turning discarded oyster shells from about 75 partner restaurants into new reefs in the city’s harbor, aiming to eventually restore 100 acres of lost historic reef. Since launching in 2008, with a goal of one billion oysters by 2035, the project has raised roughly 200 million live oysters on 3.2 million pounds of recycled shells and restored 19 acres of reef, filtering an estimated tens of trillions of gallons of harbor water in the process. Shells are cured to remove bacteria and invasive species before being seeded with larvae at a hatchery on Governors Island, then trucked out and placed at reef sites once they mature. Volunteer coordinator Bela Altman called oysters a “keystone species,” and organizers say reaching the billion oyster goal would refresh the entire volume of New York Harbor every three days while helping blunt storm wave energy as climate change intensifies coastal flooding risk.
Blackbirds ranked the most pleasant singers in the bird world: A University of Tübingen study asked people to rate the pleasantness of 123 different bird songs and found the common blackbird topped the list with an average score of 4.52 out of 5, narrowly beating the willow warbler and blackcap for the top three spots. Researchers found that whether someone considered themselves a “bird person” didn’t affect their ratings, and that songs judged most pleasant tended to be varied, higher pitched, not too loud, and outside the frequency range where human hearing is most sensitive. Study author Dr. Nadine Kalb said “we might be wired to prefer more variable sounds with moderate amplitudes and frequencies because they signal a safe, healthy, and restorative environment where we can relax.” The barn owl finished dead last with a pleasantness score of just 1.32, and the research team hopes to expand the study to broader and more diverse samples in the future.
Libya’s rival factions agree to a roadmap toward elections after years of standoff: Libya’s competing political and military factions signed an agreement in Tripoli setting a date for national elections in two years, following more than two years of UN-led negotiations and roughly six years without active fighting since the country’s 2014-2020 civil war. The deal involves representatives from Libya’s four main institutions, including the UN-recognized Government of National Unity and General Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army, and gives the parties one month to resolve outstanding issues like electoral law and candidate eligibility. UN Special Representative Hanna Tetteh called the signing “an important step in overcoming the political and institutional impasse,” and the agreement includes a fallback provision for the UN Security Council to help move the country toward elections via a constitutional document if that one month window lapses without agreement.
Stray cat rises through the ranks to become a Japanese stationmaster: A sick, abandoned tabby found near a railway station in the port town of Choshi, Japan last October was nursed back to health by railway staff, made an “apprentice” in January, and promoted to stationmaster in July, complete with her own cap and medallion. The tradition dates back to 2007, when Tama became Japan’s first cat stationmaster at Wakayama Electric Railway’s Kishi Station and was credited with boosting passenger numbers 17 percent in her debut month and contributing an estimated 1.1 billion yen to the local economy, later succeeded by Nitama and now a fourth cat, Yontama. Choshi Electric Railway, a struggling line, hopes its own cat stationmaster will draw similar attention to the city’s historic temples, lighthouses, and waterfront. The cat’s listed job skills reportedly include “pushing computer mouses off the desks” and “sleeping on paperwork.”
Last minute warning saves over 900 students from deadly Nepal flash flood: More than 900 students and 16 faculty members at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Bidur, Nepal escaped just minutes before a flash flood, caused by a collapsing glacier, destroyed the school and several nearby towns. The school’s accountant got word of the surging water from a friend in the first town hit and ran through the building sounding the alarm, giving the school roughly 14 minutes to evacuate before the flood arrived. Headmaster Rajendra Dawadi organized the escape, calling incoming school buses to turn around and coordinating with parents, teachers, and locals to move students by car, bus, and motorbike across a bridge to higher ground. The waters destroyed the school moments after the last bus crossed, in a flood that killed hundreds across the region.
Stolen Picasso etching found hanging in a vacant Milwaukee apartment after 8 years: Milwaukee landlord Timothy Dertz found a striking print of a man behind a door while cleaning out a former tenant’s apartment, and brought it to an antique dealer after noticing what looked like a genuine Picasso signature in green crayon. The piece turned out to be Torero, a 1949 Picasso etching stolen from a Milwaukee art gallery in 2018, where it had been valued between $35,000 and $50,000. Dertz turned it over to police, and gallery owner Bill DeLind confirmed its authenticity, telling reporters “I never expected to see it again... the fact that it would turn up 8 years later in perfect condition is just jaw-dropping.” The gallery had offered a reward for its return and eventually gave up hope after its insurer compensated the loss, with the FBI’s Art Crimes Unit noting stolen art often resurfaces years later through gallery and auction house due diligence.
See you soon.
— Aaron
