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Willie O'Ree's Number Was Retired By The Bruins In A Beautiful Ceremony
Willie O'Ree became the first Black hockey player to play in the NHL in 1958. His number 22 was retired by the Boston Bruins on Tuesday evening. The 86-year-old attended the ceremony virtually from his home in San Diego because of the pandemic. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
Score (97)
A Fourth-Grade ‘Kindness Squad’ Turned One Low Moment Into a Viral Lesson in Empathy
It started with a wobble in confidence and ended with a desk covered in love notes. Not the romantic kind — the kind only a group of fourth-graders could dream up. At DeBary Elementary School, teacher Joanne Miller had been working on something she calls the Kindness Squad, a gentle nudge for students to notice when someone needs support. But even she didn’t expect what happened next. A girl in her class was having a tough day. Before Miller could step in, her students quietly took over. When the girl stepped out of the room, her classmates rushed into action, covering her desk and chair with handwritten Post-it notes — encouragement, reminders of her strengths, and tiny declarations of how much she mattered. Miller later shared the moment on her Facebook page, Head Over Heels for Teaching, where she highlights small classroom victories. This one wasn’t small for long. The video has now been seen by more than 17 million people, earning over 250,000 likes and catching the attention of celebrities Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Love Hewitt. In a statement, Volusia County Schools called the moment “a beautiful, student-led” example of the kind of culture schools strive to build — one where social-emotional learning isn’t a buzzword but something that happens naturally between kids who look out for one another. Miller made sure everyone knew the idea was entirely theirs. “100% their idea,” she wrote, adding that the students filled the girl’s workspace with “sticky notes full of truth, kindness and reminders of who she is.” After 27 years in the classroom, she called it one of her favorite teaching moments. And she didn’t mince words about why. “When students learn to champion each other, that’s the real win,” she wrote. “No state test can measure this, it’s empathy in action. This is what building classroom community is all about.” The girl returned to find her desk transformed. Her classmates didn’t say much — they didn’t need to. The notes spoke for them. The moment lasted a few minutes in the classroom, but online it’s become something bigger: a reminder that empathy isn’t taught in a lesson plan. It’s modeled, shared, and passed around the room, one sticky note at a time.
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A New Orleans Couple Just Found a Roman Tombstone in Their Garden — and It’s the Real Deal
Most people digging through an overgrown garden expect old bricks, lost tools or maybe a gnome that’s seen better days. Daniella Santoro and her husband, Aaron Lopez, found a 2,000-year-old Roman tombstone. It started as one of those head-tilting moments. Half-buried in the vines behind their historic Carrollton home in New Orleans sat a marble slab etched in Latin. At first glance, it looked like the kind of decorative replica you’d find in a quirky garden shop. But Santoro, an anthropologist, couldn’t shake the feeling that this one was different. “The fact that it was in Latin really just gave us pause, right?” she told the Associated Press. “I mean, you see something like that and you say, ‘Okay, this is not an ordinary thing.’” Instead of brushing it off, she called in experts. Archaeologist Susann Lusnia of Tulane University and anthropologist D. Ryan Gray of the University of New Orleans examined the inscription. It didn’t take long for them to recognize the opening phrase: Dis Manibus — “to the spirits of the dead,” a standard dedication on ancient Roman tombstones. Further translation revealed the man it honored: Sextus Congenius Verus, a Thracian-born Roman soldier who died at 42 after 22 years of service. The stone was commissioned by his heirs, Atilius Carus and Vettius Longinus. Nearly 1,900 years later, his memorial had resurfaced in a backyard in Louisiana. And remarkably, it wasn’t an unknown artifact. Records showed that the tablet once belonged to the National Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia, a coastal Italian museum. It had stood in a small cemetery there before the museum was heavily damaged in Allied bombing during World War II. Dozens of artifacts were lost or displaced in the chaos that followed. The soldier’s grave marker was among those listed as missing. Even the measurements recorded by the museum exactly matched the stone found in Santoro’s garden. How it crossed the Atlantic turned out to be another story, one wrapped in wartime movement and fading family memory. Erin Scott O’Brien, a former owner of the Carrollton house, said the stone once sat in a display cabinet at her grandfather’s home in Gentilly. He was Charles Paddock Jr., an American soldier stationed in Italy during WWII. When O’Brien moved into the home decades later, her mother gave her the slab. “We planted a tree and said this is the start of our new house. Let’s put it outside in our garden,” she told Preservation in Print. “I just thought it was a piece of art. I had no idea it was a 2,000-year-old relic.” The full truth of how Paddock obtained the tablet may never be known. The war scattered countless artifacts across Europe, and many paths were never documented. But what matters now is where the stone is headed next. After more than 80 years away from Italy, the tablet is finally going home. The FBI’s Art Crime Team is coordinating its repatriation to the museum it vanished from so long ago. A forgotten relic in the weeds turned out to be a missing piece of ancient history — and soon, Sextus Congenius Verus will rest again where his story began.
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First Nations Paramedics Just Delivered a Baby Boy on a Georgian Bay Ferry During a Snowstorm
Most overnight calls don’t end with a birth announcement, let alone in the middle of Georgian Bay. But on Feb. 7, a crew of Beausoleil First Nation paramedics found themselves doing exactly that — delivering a baby boy aboard the MV Indian Maiden as the vessel pushed through heavy ice in a snowstorm. “We did deliver a baby in the middle of the night in the middle of Georgian Bay in the ice in a snowstorm,” said primary care paramedic Maggie Monague. “It is the first baby that was born on the MV Indian Maiden. This is one of our older vessels, it just happens to be the first time a baby has been born on this vessel.” Childbirth is part of paramedic training, but everything else about the night was far from routine. The team had already transported the mother from her home on Christian Island to the dock, carrying their equipment by hand because the community’s car ferry wasn’t operating. Winter conditions had forced service down to the smaller passenger vessel, which usually only runs during daylight. That meant a late-night emergency call to the ferry crew just to get across the bay. “In this particular incident, it just so happens that we were on our ferry for much longer to get through the ice that night than we typically are,” Monague said. “We were on the ferry for about two hours… We had a pretty good idea we were likely going to be delivering a baby.” Advanced care paramedic Bensen Carter said firefighters helped first, lifting the mother safely from the house and onto the stretcher. But once aboard the ferry, the crew had no radio signal, no cell connection, and no way to reach a doctor. “We were kind of all on our own so we brought everything that we could,” Carter said. They heated blankets on the ferry’s passenger warmers to prepare for the baby’s arrival, secured the stretcher to the floor, and worked with whatever oxygen supply they could carry. “It was pretty much a standard delivery with all the obstetrical equipment that we had,” he said, though the isolation added pressure. Paramedic superintendent Christos Bamparamos said the team — which also included primary care paramedic Rob Rawson — was operating under harsh conditions. “They were in a boat, it’s very loud, the boat is not warmed up… They did everything they needed to do like putting the blankets on the heaters to make sure they had all the resources there. We are extremely proud of them.” Paramedic Chief Tony Filice said the delivery was a reminder of the unique realities of island life. Travel to a mainland hospital can take an hour in the best conditions — and winter rarely offers the best conditions. “It’s not really a big part of our job, but certainly a very great and impactful thing when it does happen,” Filice said. With labour often moving unpredictably, “an hour is sometimes just way too long.” By the time the ferry reached the mainland, the baby boy had already arrived — warm, healthy, and officially the first child ever born aboard the MV Indian Maiden. The crew carried him and his mother into an ambulance for the final stretch to hospital. A birth in a snowstorm, halfway across a frozen bay, inside a rumbling vessel — not exactly a typical shift. But for the paramedics who answered the call that night, it was a moment of teamwork, improvisation and calm under pressure. And for one family, it was the extraordinary place where their story began.
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Grieving Daughter Transforms Loss Into Triumph, Wins New Skydiver Award After 100 Jumps
When her father died, Kaye Meadows felt swallowed by grief. A year later, she found herself stepping out of a plane — and discovering something she didn’t expect: peace. Meadows, 43, from Braunstone Town in Leicestershire, says her dad’s death from Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia in 2023 left her struggling to keep going. “My grief was all-consuming,” she said. “All I could see was darkness while still living life, still doing the day job, looking after my daughter.” She needed something that felt like light again. So in September 2024, she signed up for an Alzheimer’s Society charity skydive, a one-off challenge she’d always wanted to try. She raised £1,300, climbed aboard a plane at Skydive Langar in Nottingham, and watched the ground fall away. “I rocked up to Skydive Langar in Nottingham, and we hurled out of a plane,” she said. “The exhilaration was just out of this world. I can't really describe it.” The jump was supposed to be the end of the adventure. Instead, three days later, she started training for more. What began as a bucket-list moment became a full commitment to the sport. Within months, Meadows earned her licence for unsupervised solo jumps, completed night jumps, and even competed in the Indoor Skydiving Championships. Skydive Langar named her Student of the Year in December. Unbeknownst to her, she was also nominated for the Mike Forge New Skydiver of the Year Award, given out at the 2025 British Skydiving AGM. When she learned she’d won, she said she “burst into tears.” “Every now and then I look at the trophy and think ‘is this real?’” she said. But skydiving didn’t come without obstacles. Her very first attempt at a solo jump ended with her panicking and staying in the plane. “They coached me and got me back up,” she said. When she finally stepped off on her own, the fear dissolved into clarity. It became “the most zen moment of my life.” She kept going through setbacks, including an injury during a canopy course, an ACL tear that now requires surgery, and a malfunction on her 99th jump when her main canopy failed and she had to run through emergency procedures. “I could have absolutely walked away,” Meadows said. “The trophy isn't about being brilliant — it's about persistence, it's about keeping going.” She still carries her father with her on every jump. She calls him “the catalyst” for the whole journey. The peace she feels in freefall reminds her of being with him again. A spokesperson for British Skydiving praised her achievement, noting the award’s legacy. Named for Major Michael Lancaster Forge, who died in the Falklands conflict, it recognises new skydivers who make standout progress and contribute to their club community. “Congratulations to Kaye Meadows,” the spokesperson said. “A fantastic achievement and a strong start to what we hope will be a long journey in the sport.” For Meadows, skydiving wasn’t just a thrill. It was a way back to a life with colour in it — one jump at a time.
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Why These Guide Dog Puppies Just Took Their First Trip to the Airport — Without Leaving the Ground
Guide dog puppies are getting a unique training experience at Southampton Airport in Hampshire. The charity Guide Dogs held its first-ever airport training session, aiming to familiarize the puppies with the bustling environment they might encounter later as working guide dogs. The young pups toured various parts of the airport, including the baggage carousel, duty-free shops, and departure lounges. They were accompanied by their puppy raisers, who ensured they remained calm and focused amid potential distractions. Morris Boyle, operations director at Southampton Airport, expressed interest in making these training sessions a regular feature. One of the participants, six-month-old Lee, was among seven puppies attending this session during a quieter time at the airport. The experience offered fresh challenges for the pups. Simon Wallenburg, a puppy raiser, noted that navigating airplane stairs was particularly new for them compared to what they're accustomed to in places like Westquay Shopping Centre in Southampton. "They've never ever come across stairs like this before," Wallenburg said, emphasizing how beneficial it was for their training. Puppy raisers play an essential role in preparing these dogs for their future duties. Volunteers care for puppies from six to eight weeks old until they are ready for formal training with Guide Dog staff. During this period, they help with basic training and socialization while introducing them to new environments and experiences. Sharon Wallenberg, another dedicated puppy raiser, finds this process "very rewarding." She explained that exposing the dogs to different sights and sounds is crucial because "in his future life," a guide dog might accompany its owner on flights. This kind of exposure helps build familiarity and confidence in such environments. Leanne Kelley from Guide Dogs highlighted the importance of this exposure: "It's sometimes nice just to pause and for the dogs just to learn to relax in that environment." She pointed out that achieving relaxation can be challenging when dealing with lively, playful pups. The day concluded as a positive experience for everyone involved—humans and canines alike—with many considering it a valuable step in preparing these puppies for their future roles as guide dogs.
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Rescuers Just Saved This Wandering Toucan Spotted In Las Vegas
For months, a toucan named Sam turned the Las Vegas desert into his own improbable playground. This week, he finally let someone help him. SouthWest Exotic Avian Rescue confirmed Wednesday that Sam — who had been spotted all over the city since November — is now safe and getting care. “We’ve all just been so worried about him,” said Skye Marsh, the group’s president and co-founder. “It’s a relief.” Sam’s saga began when he escaped from his owners’ cage late last year and somehow managed to survive the Mojave’s temperature swings, from chilly desert nights to dry, scorching days. Bird experts had been increasingly concerned about how long an exotic bird like a toucan could last on his own. In the end, Sam made the decision himself. “(The) little stinker decided it was time for help, and he flew into someone's garage,” Marsh told the Associated Press. The homeowners recognized him immediately and quickly shut the door so he couldn’t slip away again. After a rescue team arrived, Sam was taken to a veterinarian for fluids and bloodwork. He showed some “wear and tear”— dehydrated skin and a small chip in his beak — but overall, he looked better than expected. Marsh noted that Sam’s health had already begun to improve thanks to the specialized food the rescue group had been putting out near a cage in hopes he’d wander in. Even his droppings looked healthier, she said. Sam’s owners, who previously posted about his escape on social media, have not contacted the rescue. For now, Sam will spend 30 to 45 days in quarantine at a staff member’s home to ensure he doesn’t have bird flu, which could spread to other rescued birds. After months of cheering him on from afar, Las Vegas residents can finally stop scanning the sky for a lone toucan beating the odds above the desert.
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Brenda Song Says “Home Alone” Has Become a Parenting Hack at Her House
Brenda Song has found an unexpected partner in teaching her kids about safety: her fiancé’s childhood alter ego, Kevin McCallister. Song, 37, says she and Macaulay Culkin have been showing their sons, Carson, 3, and Dakota, 4, the classic holiday film Home Alone. They’re not watching for nostalgia. They’re using it to teach “stranger danger,” even though the boys mostly tune in for the fun. The two preschoolers “enjoy the movie’s ‘hijinks’ and its elaborate ‘traps,’” Song told E! News, but they “have no real concept” of the danger at the center of the story. Dakota “gets it more,” she added, but they’re both still young enough to focus on the pratfalls, not the burglars. Song laughed remembering how she tried to turn teachable moments into hugs. After the credits rolled, she looked at her sons and said, “‘See, your mama's here right next to you. Don't you want to give me a hug? I didn't leave.’” She admitted, “I'm so terrible, but I feel like your children have to be a little scared. Fear goes a long way.” She’s consistent with the lessons, too. One of her go-to lines: “‘They're a stranger if you don't know their name.’” And she backs that up at home. “It doesn't matter if they're someone's parents. If you don't know their name, or you've never seen them before at our house, they are a stranger.” Beyond safety around people, she’s been guiding them through their environments, teaching them to spot exits and think about how to get home. “Everywhere we go, I’m like, ‘How do we get home?’” she said. “Every building we go in, like, ‘How did we get here? How do we get out?’” Her husband-to-be isn’t always sold on the intensity. Song laughed that Culkin thinks she’s “absolutely crazy about it.” Still, “Home Alone” remains a family favorite. When Culkin celebrated the film’s 35th anniversary in 2025, he admitted they watch it “often.” Yet the boys haven’t connected that Kevin — the 10-year-old outsmarting Wet Bandits — is their dad. Culkin says he’s happy to keep it that way “as long as possible.” Dakota, though, is starting to catch on. He once asked Culkin about his siblings, so Culkin pulled out a family photo of all seven. “[He] immediately looks at me and goes, ‘That kid looks like Kevin.’” Culkin didn’t miss a beat and changed the subject. He also shared that Dakota now believes he was Kevin. “‘Do you remember when you kicked burglars out?’ And he's like, ‘Yep.’ ‘You slide down the stairs?’ ‘I sure do.’ I was like, ‘You liar! That was me.’” For now, the illusion holds. Kevin McCallister remains a mystery, a teacher, and — at least in one household — a very effective parenting tool.
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UK Film and TV Leaders Roll Out New Mental Health Principles After Stark Survey
The UK’s film and TV sector just took a long, overdue look in the mirror, and the reflection wasn’t pretty. After more than a third of workers surveyed described their mental health as “poor” or “very poor,” the Film and TV charity has released a new set of principles meant to change how the industry treats the people who keep it running. The guidance, announced Thursday, is being described as a defining shift in the sector’s duty of care. It’s the product of a collaboration with more than 45 major organisations, from public broadcasters to streamers, studios, production companies and unions. The push comes after the charity’s Looking Glass survey revealed troubling trends: 35 percent of respondents rated their mental health at the lowest levels, 30 percent had experienced suicidal thoughts in the previous year, and nearly two-thirds felt their work harmed their wellbeing. Another 64 percent had considered leaving the industry altogether. To tackle that, the charity and its partners laid out nine principles that outline what a supportive production environment should look like. They call for a culture that prioritises wellbeing, respectful and inclusive relationships across teams, thoughtful handling of emotionally heavy material, and more sustainable workloads. Marcus Ryder, chief executive of the Film and TV charity, said the guidance represents “the biggest industry initiative to address mental health in film and television in a generation.” Speaking to the Guardian, he pointed to years of data showing that “mental health outcomes for those working in film and TV are consistently worse than national averages.” “Since 2019, our research has found significantly higher levels of stress, burnout, loneliness and poor mental wellbeing across the sector,” he said. And it’s not a matter of personal resilience, he added, but “the systemic impact of working conditions, culture across the industry and the capability of the industry as a whole to deal with these issues.” Ryder said the goal is to treat mental health the same way productions already treat physical safety. That may mean identifying stress risks during planning, preparing for emotionally challenging content or difficult filming environments, and establishing clear processes for reporting bullying or inappropriate behaviour. The principles are not regulations, but they draw from existing legal obligations and best practices. How they’re implemented will depend on the organisation. “Some partners may encourage adoption; others may embed them more formally into commissioning frameworks or production requirements,” Ryder said. He noted that while tools already exist – UK health and safety laws, international standards like ISO 45003, and industry groups such as the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority – the sector has lacked a single, unified framework tailored to the realities of production work. “Film and television production environments are unique; they are freelance, fast-moving, and often high-pressure. Generic workplace guidance doesn’t always map neatly on to those realities.” Sara Putt, Bafta chair and Film and TV charity chair, said concerns about unstable freelance jobs, limited access to training, and tough production conditions come up repeatedly in conversations with talent. These pressures, she said, are contributing to both a talent drain and a workforce struggling to cope. Kate Phillips, chief content officer at the BBC, called the launch a “potential watershed moment for the UK creative sector’s duty of care to its production community.” She urged the BBC’s teams and outside suppliers to prioritise the principles “so that people working right across the industry can benefit – and so the industry itself can be stronger, healthier, and more sustainable as a result.” For an industry that often celebrates resilience, the message is shifting: resilience shouldn’t be something workers have to muster on their own.
Score (96)
A Scuba Dive Proposal in Fiji Just Took This Couple to New Depths of Romance
A proposal at sea level can be romantic, sure. But go about 30 meters down, near a sunken ship off Fiji, and things get a lot more memorable. That’s where Kim Paterson, 32, found herself blinking through her mask in disbelief as her then-boyfriend, William Paterson, 37, pulled out a ring and dropped to one knee on the ocean floor. The couple, avid divers from Auckland, had been exploring the MV Salamanda on April 10, 2023, when William’s unusual plan surfaced in the most literal way. He had quietly tipped off the dive team before they suited up, asking for help finding the perfect spot. Kim knew something was off when William insisted they stand beside the wreck for a photo. “Good practice in diving is to not touch the substrate, which, as experienced divers, we both know,” she told SWNS. “So, I was confused and a little frustrated when he insisted we stand next to each other.” As another diver lined up the shot, William made his move. He produced a ring, sank to one knee, and waited for her reaction as bubbles drifted between them. “I was in complete shock when he brought out a ring,” she said. “I looked at him and back at the ring a few times to try and process what was happening.” He gave her a reassuring smile and nod, confirming that yes, this was really happening, even if they were 100 feet underwater. William had mounted a GoPro and passed it to a fellow diver, determined to catch the moment on camera. Kim later admitted the excitement practically wiped her memory of the dive itself. “I ended up using a lot more air on that dive with the excitement, and I barely remember the shipwreck, so we will probably have to revisit it one day,” she said. When they resurfaced, the dive crew and fellow divers celebrated with them before the couple returned to their resort for champagne. The Patersons first met in 2021, and they made it official in December 2024. They haven’t slowed down their underwater adventures. They even spent part of their honeymoon in the Maldives, spotting whale sharks and manta rays along the way.
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This Rare, 4-Eared Kitten is Shining a Spotlight On Pets With Disabilities
It’s getting harder to tell what’s AI online, so when a four-eared kitten named Dobby popped up on Reddit, people weren’t sure whether to coo or squint. Stephanie Brown, his foster mom, gets it. “Dobby has continued to win hearts right and left, although we did have to clarify that he’s not AI, amusingly,” she told Newsweek. The jokes came quickly. With two extra ears, commenters said, Dobby can “ignore you twice as much.” Brown loved it. “True to the cat community I’ve come to know and love, Dobby has been welcomed and adored,” she said. Brown, a board member of Kitty Kat Haven & Rescue in Hoover, Alabama, first learned about him through a local Facebook post from an owner trying to rehome him. “They had tried for months, and it wasn't a right match,” she told People Magazine. “Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to foster him.” The 7-month-old kitten has a rare genetic mutation that gave him a pronounced underbite, a curled little tail, and of course, a bonus set of ears. Brown is no stranger to kittens with special needs — she previously adopted Phoebe, a cat with cerebellar hypoplasia, or “Wobbly Cat Syndrome.” She says animals like Dobby are “completely beautiful” and deserving of the same affection as any other pet. “I think it's a matter of embracing all of those differences and understanding, just like people, every creature, every animal, is going to have their own unique personality, presentation, conditions, appearance, everything like that,” she said. While his tail and ears are staying exactly as they are, Dobby’s underbite does need medical help. “Dobby’s double ears are beyond perfect, but his teeth (unfortunately) are not,” Brown wrote on GoFundMe. A dental specialist determined he needs his lower canines shortened so they don’t push into his upper palate. The good news: vets don’t expect “complications from his overbite and narrow lower jaw” once the procedure is done. Brown explained on Instagram that they’ll wait until he’s about 10 months old before surgery. Holding him as he purred and made “air biscuits,” she added that the pause gives them time to raise the roughly 3,000 dollars needed. “If you have any kind of out-of-the-box ideas for fundraisers for Dobby, I'm all ears,” she said, laughing. She floated ideas from Dobby merch to “painting with Dobby.” He’s not adoptable yet, she reminded followers. Once he has surgery on April 20 and recovers, he’ll need a home in the Hoover, Alabama area. But the support is already pouring in. As of Feb. 25, his GoFundMe was 60 percent toward its goal. “Thank you so much for supporting Dobby!” Brown wrote in an update. Donors chimed in: “Donated for sweet Dobby!” one said. Another confessed, “I wanna rub all those ears.” And scrolling through Instagram, one user summed up the mood: “With everything going on in the world, it's Dobby who I want to see!”