Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network.

Ask most people around the country about the number of bookstores in their town over the last twenty years, and the answer will almost inevitably be that it’s gone down. However, the new Barnes & Noble in Papillion, Nebraska, is no anomaly—corporate bookstores are returning.

The new Nebraska location is part of a slate of openings envisioned to reach as high as 50 to 60 this year alone. These openings will follow up on the 31 openings from last year and match the booming book sales born during the pandemic and carried on into the post-pandemic world.

But the great news is that economic reports suggest that more than just corporate bookstores are flourishing; as the US book sales market continues to grow and diversify, the majority of the retail book market is controlled by small stores.

Yet further, this trend isn’t limited to the US but continues around the world, with 50% of all retail book sales, whether in Germany, India, or Nebraska, coming from the proverbial Shop Around the Corner.

“It’s so exciting,” said Janine Flanigan, Senior Director of Store Planning and Design with Barnes & Noble, when interviewed about the Papillion store opening. “We came to a screeching halt in terms of opening stores. We hadn’t opened stores in a very long period of time.”

Flanigan says the same thing about bookstores as Grand View Research, whose data were quoted above—that communities use bookstores as a gathering place to talk, meet, interact, and hold events.

“We opened 31 stores which is actually more stores than we opened in the past 10 years combined,” Flanigan told WOWT News 6, Omaha. “This year we’re looking to open somewhere between 50-60 new stores.”

While digital and technological forms of media such as eBooks, audiobooks, and long-form podcasts continue to grow at the highest paces, the physical book, bought in a physical store, has never lost its luster and continues to represent the largest chunk of book purchases nationwide.

The good news in this article is that we who write books should be glad to hear about the expansion of bookstores and that independent stores still hold the majority of book sales. Today’s JohnKu discusses readers. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Readers by John W. Howell © 2024

Chain stores expanding,

Is excellent news for us . . .

It means more readers.

Today’s good news story is from the Good News Network.

Full Recovery for Coral Reef Within 4 Years–The Speed of Restoration They Saw was ‘Incredible’

In a truly monumental discovery, scientists studying coral restoration in Indonesia found that artificially restored coral reefs can regrow as fast as naturally occurring reefs just 4 years after the initial transplantation.

With many reefs around the world believed to be threatened by stronger storms and acidic seas, the finding shows that as long as corals can survive in the water, humans can quickly rebuild reefs that are damaged.

The study was conducted at the Mars Coral Reef Restoration Program in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, one of the largest restoration projects in the world, and included an international team of marine biologists. The site was turned from a colorful reef to rubble 30 to 40 years ago from dynamite fishing.

At the project site, “reef stars” are first affixed to the seafloor. These small, recycled metal scaffolds provide a foundation for the coral larvae to glom onto and begin building their hard bodies.

“Corals constantly add calcium carbonate to the reef framework while some fishes and sea urchins erode it away, so calculating the overall carbonate budget basically tells you if the reef as a whole is growing or shrinking,” says Ines Lange of the University of Exeter, UK.

“Positive reef growth is important to keep up with sea-level rise, protect coastlines from storms and erosion, and provide habitat for reef animals.”

Four years after coral transplantation onto the metal reef stars, net carbonate budgets have tripled and are indistinguishable from healthy control sites. The only drawback is that because branching coral is preferred for reef restoration, the overall species diversity is lower in restored reefs than in natural ones.

“The speed of recovery that we saw was incredible,” said Lange. “We did not expect a full recovery of reef framework production after only four years.”

The carbonate budget method of calculating reef restoration has never been used before, and the team believes it offers a simple, surefire way to assess whether a reef is growing, static, or in decline.

Tim Lamont, a study co-author at the Lancaster University Environment Center, UK, said that while a longer-term assessment of restored reefs is needed to fully understand its capability, the success at Mars shows that if humanity can stabilize the climate, we have the tools to undo some of the damage that climate change has wrought on coral reefs.

The good news in Today’s story is that even fully destroyed coral reefs can be regrown. Today’s JohnKu talks about humankind’s responsibility to repair damage caused by human behavior. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Step Up by John W. Howell © 2024

Humans devastate,

Fixing the devastation . . .

Is human duty.

Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network.

NASA’s Crew-8 spacecraft recently docked with the International Space Station on its mission to deposit three US astronauts for a sixth-month stay. Their arrival was recorded with a video of a pile-on group hug in microgravity.

Yet there was another passenger on board—Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.

It isn’t editorializing to say that US-Russia relations are the worst they’ve been since the worst days of the Cold War. Yet despite their differences, there’s one long and grand tradition they have always shared: peaceful cooperation and coexistence in space.

In the video, thrilled that their colleagues made it to the ISS safely, and thrilled, one would imagine, with the mere presence of new faces, Crew-8 mission commander Matthew Dominic is mobbed by NASA Crew-7 mission commander Jasmin Moghbeli and Soyuz-24 mission flight engineer Marina Vasilevskaya.

The three astronauts’ group hug begins to float toward the ceiling when Dominic realizes just in time that they will all get a nasty bump on their heads if he doesn’t stop them.

Dominic then moves to greet Soyuz-24 mission commander Oleg Kononenko while the rest of his crew follow behind, hugging those wearing the red, white, and blue and the white, blue, and red.

NASA astronauts Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps arrived in the Crew capsule Endeavor with Grebenkin for a six-month stay to relieve the Crew-7 mission team that arrived in the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance. 

The mission was the fifth flight for the Endurance, and is the first SpaceX Crew Dragon to reach that milestone. Currently, the craft is rated for a maximum of five flights, but Space News reports that the company has sat down with NASA to study extending that certification to as many as 15 flights based on performance.

Astronauts have a unique way of seeing the world, figuratively and literally. Looking down on our home from low-Earth orbit day after day, they realize (and they all say they do) that space is an incredibly harsh environment, and everything we humans have and need is concentrated on this single planet with no alternative.

The video shows what they think of the current tensions in US-Russia relations, and perhaps we should all take a leaf out of their book.©

The good news in this article is that humans with a common goal can accomplish much, regardless of their differences.  Today’s John Ku talks about cooperation. I hope you have a beautiful weekend.

Together by John W. Howell © 2024

Separately, work’s hard,

But together makes a job . . .

Easier to do.

WATCH the micrograv group hug below… 

Dispersed around the UK, hundreds of heroic volunteers soak themselves to the skin on early spring nights in order to save toads, frogs, and newts from being squished under the tires of passing cars.

This network of volunteer societies is literally transforming England by slowly walking across dark asphalt with a high-beam flashlight and a high-visibility jacket, picking up amphibians and dropping them into a bucket for safe transport across the road.

They are reducing the toll of roadkill on local amphibian populations by enormous amounts and ensuring they can keep up their valuable ecosystem services like keeping insect populations in check and filling the spring air with their soft croaking songs.

If you don’t live in a wet or rain-prone area, and you’ve never been on the road during frog/toad mating season, you might think, “How hard is it to just avoid running them over?” But it’s not that simple, for starters, because they can gather in such numbers that swerving to avoid one puts your tires on another, and small frogs and newts look just like leaves and twigs on the dark tarmac through a rain-splattered windshield.

Last year, England’s 203 amphibian rescue groups saved at least 115,000 animals from roads.

The Guardian’s Adrian Sherratt went out one night with Charlcombe Toad Rescue near the ancient city of Bath to photograph and participate in a rainy night’s rescue operations.

This group has brought the number of amphibian deaths from road crossings down to 3% from 60%. When you think that in March, hundreds of mama toads and frogs cross the street with bellies full of eggs, that equates to the survival of thousands of animals.

Bath is renowned for wet areas and hot springs, and frogs and toads need to reach these bodies of water to mate or lay eggs. But being a well-developed area, it involves crossing a lot of roads.

“I find it very emotional, actually,” said Angela, a Charlcombe volunteer. “And it becomes more emotional as you do it. You see a creature that’s so vulnerable just sitting there, and you can see it’s pregnant and bulging with babies. You want them to have a fighting chance of making it to their breeding grounds.”

Charlcombe has been active during the breeding seasons since 2003 and has saved over 40,000 animals from roads. There is a waiting list to join the 50 or so volunteers needed for the operation, which also crowdfunds a £1,500 sum to pay for the main road to be closed during the breeding season.

Froglife is a charity that coordinates the mass data collection that these efforts generate. They also help connect those desiring to volunteer with toad patrols in their area.

On that note, there are dozens and dozens of toad patrol groups that need new members, particularly in Cheshire, Lancashire, and the Isle of Wight.

Today’s JohnKu applauds there volunteers. I hope you have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

Frogs,toads, and newts by John W. Howell © 2012

Frogs, toads, newts, oh my,

Such lowly creatures and yet . . .

There are folks who care.

Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network

After Mojave Fires, Camels Help Restore Iconic Joshua Tree Groves in the Cherished California Desert

The Mojave National Preserve is having its iconic Joshua trees restored thanks to a crack team of a dozen volunteers, 3 beasts, and 6 humps.

Following wildfires in 2020 and 2023, the National Parks Service undertook a massive project to breed Joshua trees in nurseries and pack them into the high desert country, and a team of volunteers are using camels to do it.

Camels (two humps), not to be confused with dromedaries (1 hump), would have been present on the North American continent during the last Ice Age thanks to the Bearing Land Bridge, so their presence isn’t a total disturbance.

Indeed, the volunteers working with the camels on behalf of the National Park Service argue they cause less disturbance than mules or horses.

Speaking of the Ice Age, the Mojave Desert’s Joshua tree forests are the most expansive in the country, but they were only able to number in the millions because of the Giant Ground Sloth.

These huge furry mammals fed on the Joshua trees and would have been like double-decker buses for their seeds, carting them around to all corners of the desert. Since the extinction of the Giant Ground Sloth, the plant has had to rely on wind and rodents, with decidedly less success.

The germination rate is now extremely low, so the NPS knew the only way to ensure the Joshua tree forests remained as robust as possible was to start a reforestation program for them—setting up a nursery in the Mojave Wilderness Area right on top of the burnt scar from the fires in 2020.

Being that the Mojave is a National Wilderness, there are no roads, no tracks, and no ICE vehicles are permitted inside, so volunteers with the NPS were reduced to hiking hours to the Cima Dome reforestation site with a few seedlings, the cages to protect them, and water to nourish their growth, before having to walk back to the nursery.

Nance Fite, a longtime volunteer at the Mojave National Preserve, realized she had the perfect solution to the arduous task and called up her friend Jennifer Lagusker.

“The job was to pack them and have them carry these things into wherever the park service had us go,” Lagusker told LAist. “When Nance told me about this, I thought, ‘Well, what better way to advocate for the camel than to show the world, hey, they can pack, they really like it, and honestly, they need that kind of a job.’”

Camels are desert specialists, obviously, but their advantages go beyond helping them survive. Their wide and soft feet allow them to pass across the desert wilderness without disturbing the sandy soil and vegetation.

Since 2021, Lagusker and her three camels, Herbie, Sully, and Chico, have been doing most of the restoration work at Cima Dome, a remote area scorched by the wildfires, but after a second round of fires in 2023, the Cima Dome project was considered finished after 3,500 seedlings were successfully planted—carried out into the remote desert on Herbie, Sully, and Chico.

This year,, the caravan is off to another area, where reforestation work on the Joshua trees will continue for a long while.

The good news in this article is that a person thought of a perfect solution to make the project successful. Today’s JohnKu talks about great ideas. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Solution by John W. Howell © 2024

Einstein defined that,

Wanting different results…

From same plan, insane.

Today’s good news story comes from the good news network.

Picture a very unhappy situation: you have leukemia; what are your options? Everyone knows about the side effects of chemo, and most people will have some idea about the Nobel Prize-winning CAR-T cell therapy—but there’s also a third option.

It seems startling to be so overlooked because it’s so straightforward. Blinatumomab cured the young fellow above of his B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The BBC reports that 20 medical centers in the UK are already using off-brand stocks of blinatumomab to treat this cancer, and the country has already approved the drug for adult use.

‘Blina,’ as it’s referred to for short, is also an immunotherapy drug; it seeks out and kills cancer cells that typically disguise themselves from the body’s innate immune system. However, unlike chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T cell), blina is cheaper.

Blina is a kind of targeted therapy drug called a bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE). It’s administered via a pump and plastic bag through a tube inserted into the patient’s arm.

The bag is carried around in a slim backpack, and the supply lasts a few days. CAR-T cell therapy requires a patient’s cells to be taken out and modified to fight off whichever cancer is present—which takes time.

Like CAR-T, the healthy normal cells are not destroyed as in the case of chemotherapy, allowing the patient to continue leading a mostly normal life.

“Chemotherapies are poisons that kill the leukemic cells but also kill and damage normal cells—and that is what causes their side effects,” said chief investigator and consultant pediatric hematologist Professor Ajay Vora to the BBC. “Blinatumomab is a gentler, kinder treatment.”

Gentler on the body—not on the cancer. Arthur, now 11, was one of the first kids to receive the treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. His family got the word that his blood cancer was cured on New Year’s Eve.

Having started chemo years before, which both left him very weak and failed to kill the cancer, the family called Blina a “little ray of sunshine” and said that they celebrated the new year twice as hard.

On March 29th, 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to blinatumomab after successful trial results, though serious side effects were not uncommon. It’s available for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment.

The good news in this article is Cancer is still under attack, and new discoveries are making survival much more frequent. Today’s JohnKu talks about science. I hope you have a great weekend.

Discoveries by John W. Howell © 2024

The disease still kills,

But science still plods along . . .

Miracle life saves.

Today’s good news story comes from the Epoch Times. This story was sent to me by Noelle Granger. Thanks, Noelle. I have edited it slightly for length.

A picture designed by The Epoch Times using imagery from Nancy Feighan and Molly Shannon/Shutterstock.

‘I Don’t Ask for Anything’: Man, 81, Clears Snow From Neighborhood Sidewalks for Over 20 Years

An 81-year-old who has been clearing snowy sidewalks in his neighborhood for over 20 years refuses to accept cash donations, insisting he loves the snow and helping his neighbors.

Jimmie Sinatra grew up in Lakewood, Ohio, and bought a house with his wife in the area in 1995. That same year, he invested in his first snowblower. Soon, he upgraded to a Craftsman snowblower that he can walk behind and has been maintaining the prized apparatus ever since.

“I just like snow,” Mr. Sinatra told The Epoch Times. “I love playing in the snow, walking, and taking my dog for a walk in the snow, and I decided to do a couple of neighbors’ sidewalks. Then, when my wife and I talked about getting a bigger snowblower, I decided to go all the way up the block.”

Currently, Mr. Sinatra clears snow from about 34 sidewalks, and if there happens to be a school at the end of each block, he helps there, too, as he hates seeing kids walking in the snow.

Mr. Sinatra clears the streets when the snow reaches 5 or 6 inches deep. Initially, only his immediate neighbors knew that he was helping clear snow for the neighborhood, and those living further down the street had no idea about it. However, over the years, a couple of people have noticed his handiwork and have asked if he could clear their driveways, too.

“I don’t ask for money, I don’t ask for anything, I just do it to help the neighbors,” Mr. Sinatra said. “It’s something for me to do. I enjoy it, that’s all. I enjoy helping people.”

Before retiring in July 1998, Mr. Sinatra worked in the material handling department of the Ford Motor Company in Burke, Ohio, for 33 years. His beloved wife encouraged his snowblowing hobby until she passed away four years ago from Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“That’s the way she was too, helping our neighbors out,” said Mr. Sinatra, who has become a religious man since his wife fell ill. “I changed my ways and just prayed every day and every night,” he said. “I think I used to take everything for granted, but I don’t anymore because it’s all in God’s hands. … I know my wife’s spirit is in the house with me, and that’s what I live for.”

At the age of 81, Mr. Sinatra has his own health problems. In May 2023, he was diagnosed with stage four chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema in both lungs. He has trouble breathing so he wears a scarf to keep warm and carries an inhaler when he leaves the house to clear snow.

And, when he can no longer continue, he hopes that someone will take over and continue to clear the snow on the sidewalks and driveways of people who can’t do it.

“I have a lot of nice neighbors, and they take care of me and watch out for me, check up on me and make sure I’m okay because I’m by myself now,” said Mr. Sinatra, imploring: “If you see somebody that needs help, no matter what it is, give them a helping hand and don’t be afraid to do it. Just help your neighbors and your fellow man out.”

The good news in this story is one man took it upon himself to help his neighbors for the joy of doing so. Today’s JohnKu talks about joy. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Helping by John W. Howell

No one has to ask,

It is just the absolute . . .

Today’s good news comes from station KDFW, which serves Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.

Screengrab of Eban Barns from FoxNews 4

Royse City Boy Scout builds doghouses for Dallas Animal Services

by Lori Brown

ROYSE CITY, Texas – An eighth-grade Boy Scout from Royse City is working toward the prestigious Eagle rank by helping save the dogs’ lives in Dallas.

He built and delivered 20 dog houses to Dallas Animal Services this week to be given out to families in need.

“I really enjoy being around dogs, and I found out that they can be removed from their homes because they don’t have a shelter,” he said. “So I wanted to do a project for that so that dogs wouldn’t be removed.”

Eben reached out to Det. Michael Bono with the Dallas Police Department’s animal cruelty unit to find out how he could help animals in a city that is struggling with shelter overcrowding.

“One of our biggest challenges we have in the animal cruelty unit is individuals that don’t provide a means of shelter,” Bono said. “Whether it’s they just don’t have the means to do so, or they choose not to. But animals in North Texas are at risk based on not having shelter.”

Eben researched how to build a doghouse, but that had its challenges. His prototype broke after the first try. He contacted businesses to collect donations for the supplies he needed.

Eben’s mom, Brooke Barnes, said she was proud of his perseverance.

“He sets a goal and sticks to it,” she said. “So to see him build the prototype, see him get everything organized, and then to see him oversee the work day and the delivery of the doghouses yesterday, it was really exciting.”

And now it’s 20 dogs that will soon have the excitement of their own.

“We’ve seen animals come in because the families just couldn’t provide,” Bono said. “And I think through Evan’s Eagle Scout project, he’s able to help 20 of those families.”

The hope is others will be inspired to follow Eben’s lead.

“I think Eben really nailed this project. I think the doghouses turned out excellent. I think it’s the tip of the iceberg,” Bono said. “I think a lot of other scouts and individuals could do this, and it could greatly impact the greater Dallas and North Texas area.

Eben has now completed all of the requirements to become an Eagle Scout. The next step is his board of review to verify his work.

The good news here is a young man saw a need and did what was necessary to satisfy that need. Today’s JohnKu talks about action. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Need by John W. Howell © 2023

There’s a difference,

Between just seeing a need . . .

And action to solve.

Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network.

It’s not referring to a tropical disease to say that someone has an EGOT. It means they’ve got a mantlepiece at home where stand an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony—the four major pop culture awards in America.

Only 18 entertainers have achieved this quadruple, and now Elton John stands among them as the 19th, having recently won an Emmy for his concert film, Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium.

John was not able to attend the ceremony because of needed recovery from knee surgery, “which isn’t surprising if you think of the number of pianos he’s jumped off from in platform heels,” said John’s husband, David Furnish.

John has collected two Oscars: one for The Lion King’s Can You Feel The Love Tonight? and another for Rocketman’s (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again. 

For the ‘T’ in EGOT, he won a Tony for scoring the musical version of the opera Aida. 

For the ‘G’—the Grammy, it’s a case of take your pick, with John having collected quite a few over his decades as a musician.

“I am incredibly humbled to be joining the unbelievably talented group of EGOT winners tonight,” said John in a statement. “The journey to this moment has been filled with passion, dedication, and the unwavering support of my fans all around the world. Tonight is a testament to the power of the arts and the joy that it brings to all our lives. Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my career; I am incredibly grateful.”

According to Smithsonian Magazine, the term EGOT was first used on Miami Vice. Its imaginary alumni include Richard Rogers, Hellen Hayes, Rita Moreno, Whoopi Goldberg, Viola Davis, John Legend, Alan Menken, Mell Brooks, Audrey Hepburn, John Gielgud, Marvin Hamlisch, Johnathan Tunic, Mike Nichols, Scott Rudin, Robert Lobez, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Tim Rice, and Jennifer Hudson.

It seems appropriate that the acronym would be finished on Elton’s final show ever on tour in North America, the curtain call of all curtain calls, and a tremendous achievement to mark the end of a long chapter in a tremendous career.

WATCH Tiny Fey and Amy Pohler present the award along with peers…

The good news in this story is that a man who has invested his life and energy into entertainment has been recognized for his achievement and hard work. Today’s JohnKu talks about recognition. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Others by John W. Howell © 2023

When something is great,

And is done by someone else . . .

Do you offer praise?