This German Shepherd Was Just Named the Honorary Mayor of Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls has a new mayor and he's a German Shepherd named Pal! Pal was made honorary mayor of the city in a ceremony on Friday by the actual Mayor Jim Diodati, who deputized him in his office. Pal has nearly 700,000 followers across his social media platforms and is using his celebrity status to support a local fundraising effort to purchase a $25,000 portable ultrasound machine for the Niagara Falls Kidney Clinic. Although Pal's reign is only temporary, he's already making some changes like building more dog parks and banning cats for the weekend!

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Abandoned At Birth, She's Now Leading Care On A Hospital Ship

For Becky Chaplin, the road from a bag on a roadside in Kenya to a hospital ship in Sierra Leone has come full circle. Chaplin, 30, was found abandoned in a bag on the side of the road as a newborn in Kenya in 1995. She was so young that her umbilical cord was still attached. A missionary was out jogging when they spotted the bag and looked inside to find the baby girl. She was taken to an orphanage, and seven weeks later she was adopted by two British missionary workers stationed in Kenya. Becky said: "Mom said when she picked me up that she felt that God was saying 'this is your daughter'." She was raised in Kenya by her British parents until the age of 10, when the family moved back to East Grinstead, London. Chaplin said her early years in Kenya shaped what came next. She said: "Living in Kenya, I was exposed to extreme poverty and the opportunities you can have with education. "I was fortunate to be adopted into a family that gave me that opportunity." She said she had wanted to work with disabled children and adults since she was young. Becky said: "I've known since I was little that I wanted to help children and adults with disabilities." She went on to pursue a career in healthcare and became an occupational therapist. After completing her degree, she also pursued a master's degree focusing on hand therapy, burns and working in low-income countries. Chaplin then worked in the UK for four-and-a-half years. She specialised in hand therapy and gained experience on the burns unit in East Grinstead. Later, she heard about Mercy Ships, a hospital charity, and decided to leave her job in the UK to volunteer. Becky said: "I left my work in the UK to volunteer with Mercy Ships because I've always had a heart to come back to an African country. "I wanted to do it once I had the skill or experience to be able to help." She joined the Global Mercy in Sierra Leone as a rehabilitation team leader. In that role, she worked with burns patients recovering from free surgery on the hospital ship. Her work then shifted when the Global Mercy moved to the port of Freetown in Sierra Leone. In 2018, Sierra Leone established its first university-level physiotherapist course at the Tonkolili District College of Health Sciences. Chaplin said that before the degree programme began, people who wanted to train as physiotherapists had to leave the country. She said: "Before the degree programme was started, anyone wishing to become a physiotherapist would have to fly to Ghana, Cuba, Kenya, or further afield for training." With an estimated population of around nine million people, Sierra Leone had six fully trained physiotherapists, according to the source text. That began to change in 2023, when 15 new graduates emerged from the bachelor's programme and another 15 from the diploma programme. Chaplin said she had the privilege of working alongside them. Over time, she said, the mentorship programme grew. She now works in a local hospital close to where the Global Mercy is docked in Freetown, assisting with mentoring and upskilling physiotherapists around burn patients. Her focus is on helping local staff build their methods of treating patients, especially young children. Becky said: "The high proportion of burn patients are under five years old. "You see many accidents from boiling water or soup spilling onto small children. "I work alongside the physios to build their methods of treating patients. "As Sierra Leone develops their resources, we hope we'll begin to see less contractures come to the ship when we next visit Sierra Leone." Mercy Ships is an international health charity that deploys hospital ships to some of the poorest countries, delivering free healthcare. Chaplin now serves as a mentor to trainee physiotherapists in Sierra Leone, after first volunteering there as rehabilitation team leader on board the Global Mercy.

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Melbourne Zoo Snow Leopard Cubs Get Vaccinations Before Habitat Debut

Four snow leopard cubs at Melbourne Zoo have had their vaccinations before stepping out confidently into their habitat. The cubs, the only snow leopard cubs in Australia, were born in January to 9-year-old mother Miska and 10-year-old father Kang Ju. The two girls and two boys are named Maya, Kira, Lumi and Sabu. Laura Weiner, manager of carnivores and ungulates, said: "The names were inspired by the range countries where snow leopards are found, a wide variety of locations around the Himalayas. "We didn’t know what their personalities would be like and it was obvious very quickly, three of them were really quite calm and curious and the other one was very feisty and quite a handful!” The cubs weigh 3 kilograms and have been playful with their mother. Laura Weiner said: "As the cubs grow they start to practice some of those hunting behaviors and they’ve started to practice them on Miska, they’re pouncing on her, they’re chewing on her tail, they’re grabbing her. "As you can imagine, four cubs are a lot to handle! So, she does take some time on her own away from them." Snow leopards are classed as vulnerable, and Zoos Victoria is contributing to a global breeding program for their conservation. 📸 Talker News

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Virunga National Park Sees Elephant Return and Rare Gorilla Twins Born

After years of empty flights over part of Virunga, the view has changed. Elephants are crossing back into the park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and mountain gorillas have recorded a run of healthy births, including rare twins. Things are looking up in the Virunga Mountains, where scores of elephants have been returning across the border following a reduction in militia violence. This spring, 9 healthy births have also been recorded among the mountain gorillas, including twins that a ranger officer called “a very encouraging sign.” There were once thousands of African bush elephants roaming freely between Virunga National Park in Congo and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. But mountains, jungles and borderlands are among the areas most commonly used by violent rebel groups around the world, and Virunga includes all three. The park has suffered from decades of violent insurgency in DR Congo, with elephants poached by rebels to sustain themselves. In recent years, however, 480 elephants from the Ugandan side have been documented travelling back into Virunga. “For years I haven’t seen any animals when I flew over this area, just rebels,” said Anthony Caere, a Belgian anti-poaching helicopter pilot at Virunga National Park. “Now not only are we seeing the elephants, which is an unbelievable sight from above, but we’re noticing the impact of such a big herd on the park. They’re restoring everything back to what it was 50 years ago and doing so much faster than we could have imagined. If the elephants continue to stay here in these numbers, this place will look totally different in just a few years.” The returning elephants are also changing the park itself. Their size and appetites are cutting trails through the forest, scything back invasive shrubs and expanding clearings. The area is beginning to look like a “forested savannah” again. There have also been sightings of buffalo, Ugandan kob, warthogs, topi and even a pair of lions. Virunga is the oldest national park on the continent and is home to extraordinary biodiversity. It has received millions in aid money from Re:Wild, Global Wildlife Conservation, the European Union and other organisations, including from a fund established by Leonardo DiCaprio. That backing has helped the park scale back poaching and put development programs in place to try to steer impoverished locals away from illegal agriculture, poaching or militia life. The recent stability has also benefited the park’s mountain gorillas. A female in the Bageni family, the park’s largest gorilla family group with 59 members, was recently observed to have given birth to twins. The babies are now 2 months old. Jacques Katutu, head of gorilla monitoring, said the twins are developing well and that their mother is managing the demands of two babies, which is uncommon among gorillas. “The five births recorded since the start of 2026, including twins in the Bageni family, are a very encouraging sign,” Mr. Katutu said in a statement. “Behind every confirmed birth is the patient and dedicated work of our community trackers. Present in the field every day, often under challenging conditions, they are the first to witness these extraordinary moments.” The births add to the signs of recovery in a park that has long been shaped by conflict. Alongside the gorilla births, the return of 480 elephants from Uganda has brought back the ecosystem engineering associated with the largest land animal on Earth. According to the account from Virunga, the elephants are helping restore the park to what it was decades ago. Caere said the change is already visible from the air. “They’re restoring everything back to what it was 50 years ago and doing so much faster than we could have imagined,” he said. 📸 credit: Virunga National Park

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A Young Fan Lost a Souvenir — So, An Officer Made It Right

What started as a letdown at a hockey game in Hartford ended with a police officer turning the night around for one young fan. Earlier this month, a family was at a Hartford Wolf Pack game when the team mascot pointed to a girl and her brother and tossed a T-shirt toward them. For a moment, it looked like the children had their big souvenir. Instead, the shirt bounced off the wall and ended up with another child, and the excitement quickly gave way to disappointment. Officer Christopher Vanwey, who was working the game, saw what happened and decided to step in. He surprised the little girl with a hockey toy and a soccer ball, changing the course of her night with what the family later described as a simple act of kindness. The moment stayed with the family, who said it gave them a chance to teach their children about compassion and the positive role police officers play in the community. In a letter later shared with the Hartford Police Department, the girl’s mother thanked Vanwey for what he did. She wrote that the gesture “made my daughter’s day.” She also wrote: “I hope this card can get to the police officer. Thanks for all you do each and every day to protect us all. Thanks for teaching my children about kindness. A very appreciative mom, Leah.” The girl, Bella, wrote her own thank-you note to the officer. “You are very thoughtful. Thank you for the hockey toy and the soccer ball. I hope you have a good day. – Bella.” The Hartford Police Department later shared the story on Facebook and said the moment reflected the kind of work that matters most to officers. “This is what policing is about, showing up, paying attention, and making a difference when it matters most.” 📸Credit: Hartford Police CT

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Exercise In Midlife Cuts Premature Death Risk For Women in Half, Study Finds

For women in midlife, keeping moving appears to matter a lot. New research found women who stayed active throughout middle age cut their risk of premature death by half. The study tracked more than 11,000 women and found that meeting exercise guidelines during midlife had “strong” benefits in terms of living longer. The findings showed that women who consistently met physical activity guidelines throughout middle age had half the chance of dying from any cause compared to women who remained inactive. Researchers used data from 11,169 women born between 1946 and 1951 who enrolled in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Participants were surveyed nine times between 1996 and 2019, about once every three years. The study collected data on how often the women met the World Health Organization recommendation of at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week. The results were published in the journal PLOS Medicine. Physical activity is already known to provide multiple well-being benefits and to reduce the risk of chronic diseases and premature death. But the researchers said most previous studies measured physical activity at only a single point in time, which failed to capture how activity levels changed over time. In this study, consistently meeting moderate-to-vigorous physical activity recommendations throughout midlife was linked to a relative risk of death from any cause that was half that of women who consistently did not meet the recommendations. The incidence of death was 5.3 percent among women who consistently met the guidelines. That compared with 10.4 percent among women who consistently did not meet them. The researchers said the apparent effect was similar, or even stronger, for deaths linked to cardiovascular disease and cancer. But they said those estimates came with greater uncertainty, making the findings less conclusive. They said that may be because fewer deaths from those causes were observed in the study. The study also looked at the benefits of starting to meet physical activity recommendations later in midlife, at age 55, 60 or 65, instead of throughout all of midlife. The researchers said the evidence for benefits in those cases was uncertain and inconclusive. Study author Dr. Binh Nguyen, of the University of Sydney, Australia, said: “This study supports the growing evidence that maintaining an active lifestyle in midlife provides health benefits. “Women should be encouraged to meet physical activity recommendations throughout middle age to derive these benefits.” Dr. Nguyen added: "Staying active throughout midlife can make a real difference for women’s long-term health. "Our study shows that maintaining recommended levels of physical activity over multiple years helps protect against early death.” The study followed women over more than two decades, with surveys carried out from 1996 to 2019. It focused on a group born between 1946 and 1951 and measured how often they reached the World Health Organization target of at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week. The central finding was clear. Women who kept meeting that target across middle age had a much lower risk of dying from any cause than women who stayed inactive. The death rate in the active group was 5.3 percent, compared with 10.4 percent in the inactive group. The researchers said the findings add to evidence in support of regular physical activity in midlife, while also showing the value of tracking activity over time instead of relying on a single snapshot. Dr. Nguyen said: “Women should be encouraged to meet physical activity recommendations throughout middle age to derive these benefits.”

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Scientists Discover Alien Space Weather Stations That May Reveal Habitable Planets

It turns out some young stars may come with their own built-in monitoring system. Carnegie researcher Luke Bouma is studying a new way to examine how stars shape the planets around them, using naturally occurring "space weather stations" that appear around some young stars. His findings are being presented this week at the American Astronomical Society meeting. The work focuses on M dwarf stars, which are smaller, cooler and dimmer than our Sun. Most of them host at least one rocky planet about the size of Earth. Many of those planets are not seen as friendly to life. The source text says they may be too hot, may lack stable atmospheres, or may be exposed to frequent flares and intense radiation. Even so, they give scientists a chance to study how stars affect the conditions around their planets. "Stars influence their planets. That's obvious. They do so both through light, which we're great at observing, and through particles -- or space weather -- like solar winds and magnetic storms, which are more challenging to study at great distances," Bouma explained. "And that's very frustrating, because we know in our own Solar System that particles can sometimes be more important for what happens to planets." Directly placing instruments around distant stars to measure that space weather is not possible, according to the source text. Bouma, working with Moira Jardine of the University of St Andrews, instead turned to an unusual class of M dwarfs known as complex periodic variables. These young stars spin rapidly and show repeated dips in brightness. Scientists had been unsure if those dips came from dark spots on the star itself or from material orbiting nearby. "For a long time, no one knew quite what to make of these oddball little blips of dimming," Bouma said. "But we were able to demonstrate that they can tell us something about the environment right above the star's surface." To study that further, the team created what the source text describes as "spectroscopic movies" of one of the stars. Their analysis found the dimming comes from large clouds of relatively cool plasma trapped within the star's magnetosphere. Those plasma clumps are carried along by the star's magnetic field and form a doughnut-shaped structure called a torus. "Once we understood this, the blips in dimming stopped being weird little mysteries and became a space weather station," Bouma exclaimed. "The plasma torus gives us a way to know what's happening to the material near these stars, including where it's concentrated, how it's moving, and how strongly it is influenced by the star's magnetic field." Bouma and Jardine estimate that at least 10 percent of M dwarfs may have these plasma structures during their early stages. The source text says that could give astronomers a way to better understand how stellar particles affect planetary environments. Bouma's next goal is to work out where the material in the torus comes from, either the star itself or an external source. "This is a great example of a serendipitous discovery, something we didn't expect to find but that will give us a new window into understanding planet-star relationships," Bouma concluded. "We don't know yet if any planets orbiting M dwarfs are hospitable to life, but I feel confident that space weather is going to be an important part of answering that question." 📸 Credit: Navid Marvi, Carnegie Science

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Epilepsy Drug Cuts Children's Seizures by 80% in Phase 2 Trial

For children with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of treatment-resistant epilepsy, a phase 2 clinical trial in England has delivered striking results. The trial tested a drug called Zorevunersen in 81 children aged 2 to 18 who were having up to 18 seizures a month as a result of the condition. The children were given three doses at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in a trial co-organised by University College London. After one dose, monthly seizures were reduced by 50 percent. After three doses, that reduction reached 80 percent. The drug was well-tolerated by all 81 patients, and no significant side effects were reported. Researchers also reported improvements beyond seizure numbers. The reduction in seizures was linked to better quality of life for the children, including improved development outcomes, especially in motor skills and communication. It also improved their markers for “coping” with Dravet syndrome. Dravet syndrome is believed to affect 3,000 children in England. It is one of hundreds of forms of genetic epilepsy that have no pharmacological options. The trial was led by Helen Cross, director and professor of childhood epilepsy at the UCL Institute of Child Health, and consultant pediatric neurologist at Great Ormond. “I regularly see patients with hard-to-treat genetic epilepsies, who can have multiple seizures a week,” Professor Cross said. “Many are unable to do anything independently for themselves; they require around the clock care and are at high risk of sudden expected death in epilepsy.” Professor Cross said she was hopeful that Zorevunersen “could help children with Dravet syndrome lead much healthier and happier lives”. She is now organising a phase 3 trail that will study the drug over a much longer period of time to control for potentially serious side effects. Scientists not involved in the study said the result could reach beyond one condition. They said the success of Zorevunersen showed pharmaceuticals can improve the lives of patients with these epilepsies, and could help drive work on other treatments and cures. “There are now over 800 genetic epilepsies that need therapeutics similar to Zorevunersen,” Dr Alfredo Gonzalez-Sulser, from the Institute for Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Research at the University of Edinburgh, told the Guardian. “This sets a clear path to achieve effective interventions for these severe life-altering diseases for both patients and carers.” Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/cancer-ribbon-on-white-surface-8385408/)

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Kung-Fu Master Achieves Highest Honor, Level 10 Grandmaster, at 83 Years Old

For Henry Sue, kung fu started as a way to push back. As a teenager in Brisbane in the 1950s, he learnt martial arts after bikie gangs repeatedly targeted his father's Chinese restaurant. "The bikie gangs would come to the place, eat, and don't want to pay, just go out," he told ABC News Australia. "You'd ask them for money and they'd smash your stuff. "Because of the White Australia policy there was fighting almost every Friday, Saturday, Sunday." Mr Sue said the shop windows were smashed so often that insurers refused to cover them. He said kung fu taught him to stand up for himself at a time when the Chinese community was marginalised in Australia. Now, decades later, the 83-year-old is set to receive the highest rank in the art he turned to in those years. On Saturday, Mr Sue will become a level 10 kung fu grandmaster, the highest possible rank in kung fu. He will receive the honour at his Chinese Kung Fu Academy in East Brisbane, the oldest surviving kung fu school in Australia. Mr Sue teaches Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu, a style known for its aggressive, close quarters techniques. He teaches his own variant, Circular Tong Long, which incorporates the circular movements of Tai Chi. Among his students is Marc Webster, who now teaches Circular Tong Long at his own academy on the Gold Coast. Grandmaster Webster said the tenth level was kung fu's highest honour, with only a few existing in the entire world. He said Mr Sue's role as a sifu went well beyond training students in martial arts. "Sifu is a teacher, [a] father," Mr Webster said. "If we have a problem and want to come see him he'll make time for us. "It's not just about the art, but making sure we're moving ahead with our lives in the right direction." Mr Sue said that approach has shaped the way he has run his school. He said he followed a strict "no thugs" policy and had expelled students in the past for using kung fu to bully others. For him, kung fu was never meant to be used as a tool for violence. He said it was a pathway to living an honourable life. "Kung fu is the last thing you learn," Mr Sue said. "You've got to respect your parents, respect your teacher, respect the teaching, and learn to be kind, forgiving and courageous." 📸 credit: ABC News: Luke Bowden

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'Bikes Not Bombs' Marks 40 Years Promoting Social Justice

When the CIA was supporting rebel attacks against the socialist government of Nicaragua, a Boston bike mechanic helped start a movement that became Bikes Not Bombs. Elijah Evans, the CEO of the Jamaica Plain-based nonprofit, said the idea was simple from the start. "Our founders wanted to build a community-wide effort to support the community there in Nicaragua. Instead of sending bombs, we sent bikes," Evans said to WCVB. More than 40 years later, Bikes Not Bombs is still operating from its hub and bike shop on Amory Street in Boston. Today, the nonprofit ships about 3,500 bikes each year to countries in Central America, the Caribbean and Africa. Evans said the group does that with goals of advancing environmental, economic, and social justice. The organization’s work in Boston has also grown over the decades. Evans said Bikes Not Bombs has been running youth programs since the 1990s. "At the time in the '90s, there was a pretty high rise in violence and there were limited opportunities for young people to be engaged after school and during the summer and so our Earn-A-Bike program became our intervention strategy," Evans said. The Earn-A-Bike program lets kids choose a bike, learn how to fix it, learn how to safely navigate the city, and then take the bike home. It is also how Evans first connected with the organization. "I was 14 years old," Evans said. "It was the first time when I really felt embraced by a community that didn't know me but wanted me to feel welcomed and to be a part of the joy that they were experiencing." That sense of connection is something Kelvin Gonzalez and Erwin Gonzalez say they also found at Bikes Not Bombs. The brothers, who are both in high school, said the nonprofit has had a big impact on them. "The people that worked alongside me, I felt very drawn to them," Kelvin said. "I've never really felt like that before, not even in school. I felt like I had like a second family here." Both brothers said they are grateful to Bikes Not Bombs for hiring them as Youth Apprentices. The career development program includes learning repairs and teaching other people. "You could learn how to communicate," Erwin said to WCVB. "How to work with your friends … community, and learn how to bond, teamwork." Alongside its youth programs and international shipments, Bikes Not Bombs also depends on support from the local community. The nonprofit accepts bike donations, sells bikes, and repairs them for the public. It also relies on volunteers. "When we need to pack a container (for a) shipment or if we're teaching a class, often we'll train volunteers in how to do that," Evans said. The organization also holds an annual Bike-A-Thon. This year’s event is in May, and registration is underway. For Evans, the nonprofit’s history and its current work are closely linked. The group started as an effort to support people in Nicaragua by sending bicycles instead of weapons, and it now ships thousands of bikes each year while continuing youth programs in Jamaica Plain. Those programs have introduced generations of young people to bike repair, city riding, and work opportunities. For Evans, that started when he was 14. For Kelvin and Erwin Gonzalez, it includes jobs as Youth Apprentices. Bikes Not Bombs welcomes bike donations from the community and support from volunteers. Evans said volunteers are often trained to help pack shipping containers or assist when the nonprofit is teaching a class.

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Too Late For Football? Not For This 50-Year-Old Dad

Most college football players worry about midterms. Orson Villalobos has a son in middle childhood and a dream he refused to leave behind. At 50, the Compton College player is doing something most people would have talked themselves out of years ago. He is back in school, back in pads and back chasing a goal he first set aside about 30 years ago. “I came back to finish something I started a long time ago... 30 years ago,” Villalobos told ABC7. His return has turned heads for the obvious reason. Junior college football is usually a young man’s game. Villalobos is old enough to be the father of many of the players around him. That reality is not lost on Compton College head football coach David Banuelos. “Well, you’ve got to have great respect for a guy that’s 50 years old and wants to play this game,” Banuelos said to ABC7. But Villalobos is not on the field for a novelty act or a personal stunt. He says this chapter is tied to something bigger than one season. He is taking classes at Compton College and working toward degrees in kinesiology and coaching, while also suiting up for the team. “That’s my real wish. It’s my real dream to be a coach,” he said. For Villalobos, the finish line is already in sight, even if it is still years away. He wants to be ready to coach his son, Orson Villalobos II, by the time the boy reaches 9th grade. That goal gives his comeback an extra layer. This is not only about reclaiming a part of his own life. It is also about being present for his son in a way that is practical, visible and lasting. The push to join the team, Villalobos said, started with one simple comment from that same son. “He said one day, ‘I wish I could have seen you play football.’” That sentence seems to have done what decades could not. It moved the dream from memory into action. Now his son does not have to imagine it. He gets to watch it happen. And from his seat, the older Villalobos does not look out of place. “His friends told me that when people tried to tackle him, they would just bounce off him,” Villalobos II said. It is the kind of line that sounds like playground exaggeration, except it comes with a little awe and a lot of pride. When asked directly how he feels about his dad’s game, the younger Villalobos did not hesitate. “Very much,” he replied. That may be the simplest part of the story, and maybe the biggest. A father went back to finish what he started. A son got to see it with his own eyes. And somewhere between the classes, the practices and the collisions, Villalobos is building the version of himself he still wants to become. His path is hardly typical. Most people do not return to college football at 50. Most do not try to restart a dream while raising a child and working toward a second act. But Villalobos seems to be making the case that dreams do not expire just because life got busy. For now, he is still in school, still in uniform and still working toward the sideline job he wants most. “That’s my real wish. It’s my real dream to be a coach,” he said.

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