In New Orleans, a Mother's Search for Her Lost Son

Five years ago, Chris Turnbow left home in Marion, Ark., and just disappeared.

His family had reason to believe he was living in New Orleans; a family friend had bumped into him there at Mardi Gras. But that was before Hurricane Katrina. Turnbow's mother, Jean Aaron, tried not to consider whether his long silence meant he was alive or dead.

Earlier this month, 69-year-old Jean heard her son's voice for the first time since he had left home. She heard him on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, in a story about homeless people living in Duncan Plaza, a park in front of City Hall. (NPR)

Christmastime is here...

It's official: the last day of school is over! Posting here will be infrequent until school's back in session in January, but please check Good News Sources in the sidebar to get your fix of hope in the headlines.

Free online materials could save schools billions

Since March, Dixon Deutsch and his students have been quietly experimenting with a little website that could one day rock the foundation of how schools do business.

A K-2 teacher at Achievement First Bushwick Elementary Charter School in Brooklyn, N.Y., Deutsch, 28, has been using Free-Reading.net, a reading instruction program that allows him to download, copy and share lessons with colleagues. (USA Today)

U.S. Cholesterol Levels Dip To Ideal Range

For the first time in nearly 50 years, the average cholesterol level for U.S. adults is in the ideal range, the government reported Wednesday. Results from a national survey, which includes blood tests, found the total cholesterol level dropped to 199. Doctors like patients to have total cholesterol readings of 200 or lower. (CBS)

Giant offshore wind farms to supply half of UK power

Britain is to launch a huge expansion of offshore wind-power with plans for thousands of turbines in the North Sea, Irish Sea and around the coast of Scotland.

John Hutton, the energy secretary, will this week announce plans to build enough turbines to generate nearly half Britain’s current electricity consumption. (Times)

Madagascar: UN rural development fund to back small-scale enterprises

The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development announced today that it will spend more than $30 million to help farmers and other rural residents in Madagascar develop microenterprises to boost their incomes. (UN News)

UPS cuts fuel usage dramatically by reducing left turns

It seems that sitting in the left lane, engine idling, waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so you can make a left-hand turn, is minutely wasteful — of time and peace of mind, for sure, but also of gas and therefore money. Not a ton of gas and money if we’re talking about just you and your Windstar, say, but immensely wasteful if we’re talking about more than 95,000 big square brown trucks delivering packages every day. And this realization — that when you operate a gigantic fleet of vehicles, tiny improvements in the efficiency of each one will translate to huge savings overall — is what led U.P.S. to limit further the number of left-hand turns its drivers make. (NY Times)

Once Volatile German-Polish Crossing Is Dismantled

One of the world's most tense borders, the gates between Poland and Germany, will be opened for good as Poland today joins the passport-free zone of Western Europe. (GNN)

Survey shows more Cook Inlet belugas

The number of beluga whales swimming in Cook Inlet appears to be increasing, but biologist say it's too soon to know whether the winsome white whales are finally making a comeback.

This year's increased estimate is the largest since 2001 when 386 whales were counted. (AP Wire)

Snowbound family's 'Help' sign leads to rescue

Stranded in the snowy California woods for three days after losing their way while searching for a Christmas tree, a father and his three children fashioned a "Help" sign out of twigs on a nearby unpaved road, according to the helicopter pilots who found them. (CNN)

Adopted son finds birth mom at his workplace

For years, Steve Flaig, a delivery truck driver at the Lowe's store on Plainfield Avenue, had searched for his birth mother.

He found her working the cash register at the front of the store. (Chronicle)

Ontario turns over Ipperwash park to First Nation

Ontario turned over Ipperwash Provincial Park to a First Nation on Thursday, settling a long-standing aboriginal grievance in the province. (CBC)

7 year old girl saves family from fire

Vallejo firefighters are calling a 7-year old girl a hero for saving her whole family.

A fire broke out at about 4:00 a.m. Monday morning, in a house where Tamara Groves and her three children were sleeping. The smoke finally woke 7-year-old Kelby Yelder, who was sleeping in her top bunk. She knew what to do, but it sure wasn't easy. (ABC7 News)

A very green year

"There's a clear trend here. Despite setbacks and delays, the world is now giving serious attention and political support to energy use, pollution limits and the 800-pound gorilla of climate change. Just a year ago, none of this was foreseeable." (SFGate)

India starts putting its street children in schools

Eleven-year-old Anurag never went to school because he had to scavenge through Delhi's bins, dumps and gutters in search of sellable trash each day before spending his nights sleeping on the street.

Now, thanks to India's biggest effort yet to educate every last child, he has a smart blue uniform and has started going to a mainstream state school in the Indian capital -- something he had once considered a luxury for destitute children like himself. (Reuters)

'Bubble' baby to return home for the holidays

A New Brunswick baby is coming home for the first time in 15 months after she was treated in American hospitals for a rare genetic immune deficiency syndrome.

Katlyn Demerchant was born with adenosine deaminase severe combined immunodeficiency [ADA SCID], sometimes referred to a "bubble boy" syndrome.

The 18-month-old toddler has spent much of her life in a hospital room at the National Institute of Health in Maryland undergoing gene therapy. (CBC)

U.K. Muslims Support Keeping Christ in Christmas

Muslim leaders join the U.K. Commission for Equality and Human Rights in urging Britons to enjoy Christmas, and not worry about offending non-Christians. The urging comes amid reports of schools cancelling nativity plays in order not to offend Muslims and students of other religions. (NPR)

Plans to Build a Cleaner Coal Plant Advance

Plans to create a new, more environmentally friendly coal plant are moving forward.
A consortium of coal industry players has announced that they'll build a pilot power plant in Illinois that will have zero emissions. The facility will sequester the plant's CO2 emissions deep into the ground rather than release them into the atmosphere. (NPR)

Milwaukee man, 87, completes university studies after 50 years

As the saying goes - you are never too old to learn. Just ask Clarence Garrett.

A 50-year gap in his higher education didn't stop Garrett. (CBC)

North Dakota Bank Giving Workers Money to Donate

A bank is giving its full-time employees $1,000 each and part-time employees $500 each as part of a $502,000 "Pay it Forward" initiative. There's one condition — use it for people in need. (AP)

"Last hope" donor conference raises 7.4 billion dollars

A donors' conference in Paris, which US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called 'the last hope' to avert bankruptcy, has raised 7.4 billion dollars in aid for the cash-starved Palestinians, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday. (Deutsche Press)

Police reward good drivers with coffee

Police are stopping law-abiding motorists and rewarding their good driving with $5 Starbucks gift cards. (AP Wire)

Mobilizing a Kingdom of Women

In a country with a shocking rate of HIV/AIDS, the women of Swaziland live a life with no rights, no say and no hope – until now. Siphiwe Hlophe is on a mission to mobilize the women of her country and give them a future. (CARP)

Internet initiatives make everyone a philanthropist: AOL founder launches two efforts to encourage online giving

The old thinking goes that to change the world, you have to give millions. But young tech-savvy philanthropists are trying to prove otherwise.

Leveraging new technologies and the growth of social-networking websites, several online-giving pioneers are trying to expand the pool of potential donors by democratizing philanthropy and making it more transparent. (CS Monitor)

Hair and mushrooms create a recipe for cleaning up oily beaches

A group of guerrilla volunteers is cleaning oil from San Francisco's beaches using an unorthodox, albeit totally organic, method: human hair and mushrooms.

While the mats may not be the obvious choice among hazardous waste experts, they hit San Francisco's green chord: More than 700 volunteers have tried them in recent days. Organizers hope their success will inspire more ecological responses to toxic waste removal. (SF Gate)