"Cardi B - Openair Frauenfeld 2019 02 (cropped)" by Frank Schwichtenberg is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

USA Today

Hip-hop is heading to the classroom at Howard University, this time with Cardi B at the centre of the syllabus.

The Washington, DC-based historically black college and university is offering a new course called “The Cardi B: Am I The Drama? The Art, Production, Marketing, and Cultural Impact of Hip-Hop.” The class will examine the Grammy-winning rapper’s rollout for her sophomore album, released seven years after her debut.

The course comes through the Warner Music/Blavatnik Music Business Center at Howard, led by director Jasmine Young. Young, known as the Hip-Hop Professor, has worked with major acts during her career in the music business, including DMX and Jay Z.

Now, she says, that experience is helping connect students with the industry.

“This center came about because of the passion and community that we have at Howard University for the music industry and as a way to support students to be a pathway,” Young told USA TODAY.

The class carries three credits and has 24 slots for the fall. Young said it has already drawn strong interest from underclassmen since it was announced.

She said she and her co-teachers will be able to “speak to the students on their level and about what they're excited for."

“Cardi B is a household name at this point, a phenomenon. And we're going to talk about her rise, and what makes her this amazing, global, iconic person in the music business," she added.

In a LinkedIn post, Young said the course treats hip-hop as an academic subject and a business at the same time.

“This course is groundbreaking because it validates hip-hop as both a scholarly discipline and a living, breathing global economy, while giving students real-time access to the strategies, storytelling, and brand architecture behind a superstar like Cardi B. Students are excited because this isn’t theory alone, it’s access, it's proximity, it’s the REAL playbook."

Young is teaching the class with Dr. Msia Kibona Clark, associate professor in the Department of African Studies and director of Howard’s hip-hop studies minor, and Professor Pat Parks, assistant professor and area coordinator in the Department of Theatre Arts.

The curriculum will look at Cardi B, along with the team behind “Am I The Drama?” and its success. According to the source text, the course will focus on the people who helped the album become a platinum-level success.

Young said students will hear from people working in different parts of the business.

“In addition to textbook research and case studies, Howard students will ‘be talking to production, and they'll be talking to marketing,’” Young said. “Then also learning about gender and culture and the representation of Black women and minority women in the music business.”

The class is built around an era in Cardi B’s career that has kept public attention. The source text says that during this period, she has been in the spotlight through her court trial, rap feuds, fashion and a sold-out headlining tour.

It also says Cardi B has built her star power on vulnerability and relatability, interacting with fans online and in person at shows across the country.

That public-facing approach has also carried into her business work. Last month, she held a pop-up event in her hometown of the Bronx, New York, for her new haircare line, Grow Good Beauty.

Howard is not the only university to build a class around a major music star. The source text says Yale University and Cornell University have recently examined Beyoncé’s cultural impact and influence. Earlier this year, Tina Knowles appeared as a guest for Vanderbilt University’s “Beyoncé: Epic Artist, Feminist Icon” course.

For Young, there is still one more step she would like to take with the class.

“My dream workshop would be Cardi B and her team, for them to just teach... and talk to the students in real time about the success," Young said.

"Cardi B - Openair Frauenfeld 2019 02 (cropped)" by Frank Schwichtenberg is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Howard University Launches New Course on Cardi B’s Cultural Impact Amid High Anticipation

Goodable

For one University of Toronto Scarborough English class, the syllabus comes with body slams, heel turns and a trip to the wrestling ring.

Professor Daniel Tysdal is teaching a course that asks students to treat professional wrestling as a serious storytelling form, combining literary analysis with hands-on experience in and around the ring.

The course, ENGD54 “Extremely Revealing Bullshit” - The Art of Professional Wrestling, looks at wrestling through character, narrative structure and audience response. Tysdal says the class grew out of his own return to wrestling in the early days of the pandemic, when he started watching All Elite Wrestling, or AEW, at home with his wife.

A fan as a child, Tysdal said his casual viewing turned into something deeper and eventually fed into his own writing.

“I just started to see it as an art form,” says Tysdal, an award-winning poet and short fiction writer. “Like fiction or film, when it comes down to it, pro wrestling is all about storytelling.”

Tysdal wanted to understand that storytelling more closely, so he signed up for classes at Superkick’d, a Toronto wrestling gym near his home. That was where he first stepped into the ring.

What he found, according to the course description, was a form that demanded physical and creative discipline. The first lesson was basic and unforgiving.

“The first thing you learn is how to fall properly,” he says. “Everything you do is built around that.”

Training includes repeated drills on how to land safely, move with a partner and perform sequences that look violent but are carefully controlled. The work is physically exhausting, combining strength training, cardio and choreography.

Tysdal has since developed his own in-ring character, “A+” Mr. Croxtin, described as a reluctant teacher turned unlikely hero. He debuted the persona at the OssFest street festival.

His time in wrestling also shaped how he teaches it. In the ring, he says, matches usually follow a seven-part narrative arc, moving through set-up, rising tension, climax and resolution. Wrestlers use pacing, moves and character work to tell that story, while the crowd helps shape it in real time.

“You’re telling a story with your body, and the crowd plays a big part of that story,” he says.

That idea sits at the centre of the class. Students study wrestling with literary frameworks, looking at how heroes, heels and more complicated characters drive action. They also study “kayfabe,” the convention of presenting staged events as real, and how that relationship between fiction and reality affects audience engagement.

“It’s just like watching a good play,” says Tysdal. “You’re not thinking these are actors, you just get swept up in the story.”

The course mixes analysis with practice. Students read poetry, comics and academic essays, watch weekly wrestling broadcasts, write reflections and complete critical and creative assignments. Some focus on themes such as race or gender in wrestling. Others build original characters or stories.

For fourth-year English and creative writing student Rekha Samlal, the course opened up a form she had never followed before.

“I didn’t have a background in wrestling at all, but I was intrigued,” she says.

Over the semester, Samlal said she became invested in the storylines and the characters she watched each week.

“I was very confused at first, but then you get heavily invested. You want to know what will happen next,” she says.

The course also takes students out of the classroom. As part of the class, they attend a live wrestling event and visit the gym where Tysdal trains. There, they learn basic techniques and get a closer look at the physical demands of the work.

For Samlal, that experience sharpened the line between performance and pain.

“It made me realize, yeah, it might be staged, but what they put their bodies through is still real,” she says. “They’re still hitting the ground; they’re still executing these moves.”

Tysdal says that the mix of intellectual and physical engagement matters. He describes professional wrestling as a way to think about storytelling at the meeting point of sport, theatre and popular culture. He also says it creates room for broader discussion in class.

“Pro wrestling is very political. It’s a great vehicle for talking about class, gender, race, all of these topics,” he says, adding that the industry has also become more progressive and inclusive in recent years.

For Tysdal, the point of the course is to take wrestling seriously as an art form and to show students how stories are built, performed and felt by an audience.

“Once you start looking at it that way, you realize there’s something here for everybody.”

 📸Credit: Don Campbell

A Toronto English Professor is Using Pro-Wrestling to Teach Storytelling in the Classroom

Euro News

A soft glow from a flower sounds like science fiction, but Chinese scientists say they have made it real.

Researchers in China have created genetically engineered plants that glow in the dark by transferring light-producing genes from fireflies and luminous fungi into plant cells. They say the work could change urban lighting, tourism and sustainable design.

The bioluminescent plants emit what researchers described as a soft natural glow. The project was developed using gene-editing technology, and more than 20 species have already been engineered to shine at night, including orchids, sunflowers and chrysanthemums.

Dr Li Renhan, founder of biotechnology company Magicpen Bio and a Ph.D. graduate of China Agricultural University, linked the idea to his childhood.

“I was born in the countryside. Back then, my family didn't have any money, so at night I could do nothing but lie in a hammock in my grandfather's bamboo grove to cool off. Fireflies often landed on my arms,” he recalled.

Li said that years later, while studying genetic editing, he began asking if the same biological mechanisms could be moved into plants.

"We wanted to transfer genes from animals, like those of fireflies, into plants, so they could also glow at night. We're dedicated to bringing this technology to cultural tourism and the nighttime economy. Imagine a valley filled with glowing plants in the dark, it would be like bringing the 'Avatar' world to Earth."

The plants were recently shown in public at the Zhongguancun Forum. Researchers examined experimental specimens there and showcased flowers emitting visible light without external power sources.

Li said the possible uses go beyond appearance. He said bioluminescent plants could light parks and public spaces without electricity, relying only on water and nutrients to function.

"Beyond tourism, we could also use them in urban parks without the need for electricity,” he explained, describing the system as highly efficient and low-carbon. "These plants don't need electricity. They only need water and fertiliser. They save energy, reduce emissions, and can light up cities at night."

Researchers also said similar techniques are already helping scientists watch how diseases develop at a cellular level. They said that is speeding up drug discovery and improving treatments for conditions that were previously difficult to treat.

In agriculture, scientists said gene editing is also being used to edit susceptibility genes in rice. They said that work has produced new strains resistant to multiple pests and provides a solid foundation for global food security.

Chinese Scientists Engineer Glowing Plants That Could Illuminate Cities Without Electricity

Photo by Bl∡ke on Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-view-of-purple-portable-toilets-outdoors-35437525/)

The Guardian

Scientists are aiming to grow 4,500 trees at a national park with the help of fertiliser made from festivalgoers’ urine.

The fertiliser was created by Bristol-based startup NPK Recovery, which connected its unit to a block of toilets used by 700 revellers at Boomtown festival in Hampshire in July last year.

The urine was turned into 540 litres of fertiliser product during the 2025 event. It will now be used to grow native trees, including beech, on the edge of Bannau Brycheiniog, also known as the Brecon Beacons, in Wales.

Urine from other sources will also be used during the three-year project, which has been backed by a grant from the Forestry Commission.

On Thursday morning, a Scots pine seed was planted at the site to mark the launch of the initiative.

Lucy Bell-Reeves, the co-founder of NPK Recovery, said trials had shown the company’s fertiliser was as effective as commonly used alternatives.

This project will be the first time it has been trialled on trees.

“Using a waste product to grow trees is a circular solution that can revitalise our struggling native species,” she said to the Guardian.

“We need to stop flushing crop and tree-growing nutrients down the loo and start using them to increase our fertiliser security. After all, we’re not about to run out of urine any time soon,” Bell-Reeves added.

“I love the idea that by the end of this three-year project, revellers will have created a fledgling Welsh forest, which could flourish for hundreds of years.”

The firm uses bacteria to recover nitrogen and other naturally occurring nutrients from the urine, creating an odour-free liquid fertiliser.

NPK Recovery takes a mobile laboratory to events, which allows the urine to be processed into fertiliser at source.

In April last year, the company collected 1,000 litres of urine from women’s urinals at the London Marathon, which was then processed into fertiliser.

As part of the Welsh project, NPK Recovery has partnered with the charity Stump Up For Trees.

The charity was co-founded by author and cyclist Rob Penn. Over the past five years, it has planted more than 500,000 trees in the area, halfway towards its target of 1 million, to deliver landscape restoration.

Penn said: “We are very excited to be involved in this groundbreaking project, which has implications for the future of sustainable forestry. As a small charity, collaboration is essential and we are chuffed to be working with NPK Recovery, who are bringing innovation to an area of industry that needs it.”

Photo by Bl∡ke on Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/photo/aerial-view-of-purple-portable-toilets-outdoors-35437525/)

Urine for a Surprise: Festival Pee is Being Turned Into Fertiliser to Grow 4,500 Native Trees

ESPN

Brandon Bussi’s goalie masks started as a personal project. They have become one of the clearest ways the Carolina Hurricanes netminder talks about his brother Dylan and autism.

Bussi, now 27, said the idea took hold when he was a sophomore at Western Michigan University. He had long liked customizing his gear, but college was when he decided to make a mask in Dylan’s honor.

"I wanted to make that first mask [as a college sophomore] representing autism because it meant something to me personally," Bussi said to ESPN. "In my junior year, I did it again, and there were stories about what I was doing. It was getting some attention. It was clear the biggest thing I could do when it comes to autism awareness is just share my story. The fact that I have the ability to put some symbols on my helmet, something that started out personal has grown into a talked-about thing."

The Sound Beach, New York, native developed his last Western Michigan mask with Allen Schneider of Vice Design. He kept it as a reminder of his three seasons with the Broncos and carried the idea into pro hockey after turning full-time pro in 2022 with the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins.

Bussi said the designs changed as autism’s symbolism changed and as he continued meeting people in the autistic community.

"[Dylan] made me grow as a person," Bussi said to ESPN. "From when I was a kid, it was an unbelievable relationship; different, but great and unique. It forced me to mature at a young age and see the world differently. It's guided me and it's a story I share to try and help people understand what he goes through."

When Bussi got the chance to develop a specialty NHL mask, he worked with David Gunnarsson, known as DaveArt. Gunnarsson said the project meant something to him personally.

"I love the designs with a lot of details [like this], and with a message behind it," Gunnarsson said. "I also have people close to me with autism, so I extra loved to create this mask. Brandon knew very much how he wanted his mask [to be]."

Bussi’s rise to the NHL has moved almost as quickly as the attention around his masks. He did not reach the league until October, at age 27, after years in the AHL with Providence and a short stop in Florida’s organization. Carolina claimed him off waivers, put him on the opening night roster behind Frederik Andersen while Pyotr Kochetkov was injured, and soon gave him games.

"It wasn't really a special confidence in him, no," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It was out of necessity. We had guys hurt, and we were like, 'All right, let's see what happens.' And it's the old tale about getting [an] opportunity and then making it count, right? And he was ready for it, and he's never really looked back."

On Oct. 14, Bussi made his NHL debut in a 5-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. He earned his 21st victory of the season on Feb. 1 against Los Angeles, setting a record for most wins by a goalie through his first 25 career games. On Feb. 16, when Bussi was 23-3-1 with a .908 save percentage and 2.16 goals-against average, Carolina signed him to a three-year contract worth $5.7 million and made a $10,000 donation to the Autism Society of North Carolina.

"It's means a lot to support those [chapters] of the cause," Bussi said. "I think having groups that are so inclusive, that provide what these kids need, while also being able to put them in the world to do the 'normal' things, maybe with a little bit of assistance, it's great to see."

Bussi has said his outlook comes in part from life with Dylan, who is nonspeaking. They have used tablets to write messages, and Dylan can acknowledge gestures and what is said to him. Bussi said one of the hardest parts is Dylan’s inability to respond the way he wants.

"Growing up, there were a handful of times where people were not as understanding of his situation," Bussi said. "They would look over and stare [at us] and, truthfully, as a kid, I was a little bit embarrassed because I didn't understand it at the time. But as I've gotten older, I've gotten to see so many communities that support [autistic people].

"It's been so nice to see how people with autism have been able to continue their lives, and for me, I love to see them also playing sports as well."

Dylan now lives in a group home about an hour from Bussi’s parents on Long Island. Bussi said he does not visit often because he is playing so frequently, but he saw his brother at Christmas.

"I actually got to see him at Christmas time this year," Bussi said. "He came over to the family house. That's one of those challenges where if he goes into big event environments, it can be overwhelming. We have to keep things intimate and small, but that was huge. Because yes, there are tough times behind the scenes. It doesn't mean I don't love my brother. It means that I had to grow as a person to understand him. That's the truth."

That same theme has shaped Bussi’s hockey career. He starred at Western Michigan, signed with Boston in March 2022 and posted strong AHL numbers, but never got NHL ice time with the Bruins. He lost Providence’s starting job by midseason in 2024-25, then signed a one-year, two-way deal with Florida in July 2025 before Carolina claimed him.

"I've always had confidence in myself," Bussi said. "In my many years in the AHL, I felt like I was a good goalie that could step into the NHL and do well. So I've never had any doubt. It was a unique journey. But I'm here, and I just have to do my job. I don't have to be anything more than myself."

Hurricanes goalie coach Paul Schonfelder said Carolina had tracked Bussi before the waiver claim, but even then his start was beyond what the club expected.

"If you would have told me that he'd be 25-3-1 at this point [in early March], for sure, I'm going to say I'd have been surprised," Schonfelder said. "But very pleased, too. And we didn't know all of his personality before and I think [attitude] 100 percent has made a difference here. His mental outlook just helps him on the ice. He's living in the moment."

Bussi said he would still like to get Dylan to a game one day, even though a regular NHL setting could be overwhelming for him. Several NHL teams now host Autism Awareness nights with sensory spaces, quiet rooms, noise-canceling headphones and fidget toys.

"I'd love for it to work out," Bussi said of Dylan watching him play. "It would be a whole process with some of his limitations, but I'd tell anyone with autism who is going out there, just be you. We want everybody to feel welcome in any community, in sports or at work. I want everyone in everything. And it would be such a goal of mine absolutely in the future to have [my brother] in the building and experience all of this journey with me."

 📸Credit: NHLPA | Facebook

Brandon Bussi Uses Autism-Themed Masks to Raise Awareness, as His NHL Rise Inspires Inclusive Hockey

Talker News

For decades, Trooper Fred Tingle lay in a war cemetery in Belgium without his name on the headstone. Now, more than 80 years after he was killed in action, two researchers have helped identify his grave and return his name to it.

Tingle was 20 when he was killed on May 19, 1940, while serving with the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guard in Sint-Antelinks in Flanders, Belgium.

Locals in the town initially buried his body. After the war ended in 1945, the British army recovered his remains in 1946. But officials could not reconcile all of his records, and he was buried at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Heverlee War Cemetery in Belgium as an "unknown soldier".

That changed after research by two Belgian nationals, Dirk Van Melkebeke and Willy Roggeman.

The pair found documents showing that the place where the unknown soldier had been recovered was the same as the original burial site of a soldier carrying a disc marked, 321740 F Tingle, 5th D.G.

Further research added more details about the unknown soldier, including a physical description and information about letters and papers he had been carrying that bore addresses in the West Yorkshire area.

The findings led to the identification of Tingle, who was born in Castleford, West Yorkshire, in 1920.

On March 25, the Ministry of Defence's Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre, or JCCC, organized a rededication service for Tingle at the cemetery where he is buried.

Fred had a twin sister, Fern. On Tuesday, her great-granddaughter Linda Robshaw, who lives in California, said she was "so happy" to finally know where Fred is. She added that she knows her grandmother would have been "relieved" after hearing the news.

JCCC Caseworker Alexia Clark said: "I am grateful to the two researchers who put such a lot of effort into searching in local archives for the evidence to identify Tpr Tingle, and who ultimately submitted this case.

"Their work has led us to recognize the final resting place of Tpr Tingle, to restore his name to him and to allow his family to honor his sacrifice.

"It has been a privilege for me to have contributed to this case and to have organized the service for the rededication of this grave today."

The service was supported by serving soldiers from the Royal Dragoon Guards.

The CWGC replaced the headstone.

Richard Hills, Director of the Commemorations at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said: "We are honored to have been involved in the rededication of the grave of a previously unknown soldier of the Second World War, Trooper Fred Tingle.

"Decades after he was laid to rest as an unknown British soldier, his newly engraved named headstone ensures he is appropriately commemorated today, and for generations to come."

Tingle served with the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards. The unit had operated since just before the outbreak of war as part of the newly formed Royal Armoured Corps.

The regiment was part of the British Expeditionary Force, which was deployed to mainland Europe in a reconnaissance role shortly after the war broke out.

When German forces invaded the Low Countries, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, on May 10, 1940, British forces were forced to retreat.

The 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards fought a fierce rearguard action as they made their way back toward Dunkirk. They reached Dunkirk on May 29, 1940.

Tingle was killed during that retreat.

 📸Credit: Talker News

Researchers Just Solved an 85-Year-Old WWII Unknown Soldier Mystery

"Jane Goodall GM" by Floatjon is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

Mongabay

April 3 has always marked Jane Goodall’s birthday. Now it marks something else too, a call to act.

The first Jane Goodall Day is being framed by the Jane Goodall Institute as a day for people to do one real thing that helps people, animals, and the environment, rather than simply remember her life. The idea follows a theme colleagues say ran through Goodall’s work for decades: start small, pay attention, and keep going.

Anna Rathmann, executive director of the Jane Goodall Institute USA, said the goal is to “make good” on Goodall’s long-held belief that each person can make a difference.

“On what would have been her 92nd birthday, April 3rd, we thought that the best way to honor Jane is to literally ‘make good’ on that belief through a collective day of positive action,” Rathmann said, according to Mongabay. “On our first-ever Jane Goodall Day, we are inviting everyone to take one action, big or small, that benefits people, animals, and our shared environment. Our goal is to demonstrate that what Jane started is far from over.”

That approach reflects the way Goodall described her own legacy, Rathmann said.

“Jane’s legacy is not just what she accomplished, but what she set into motion,” she said, according to Mongabay. “She worked tirelessly to inspire hope for our planet, and to compel us to take action. That was intentional. Her legacy is a movement that continues through us all.”

Rathmann said Goodall often said she wanted to be remembered for “changing our understanding of the animal kingdom and our relationship to it, and for her youth program, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots.”

Roots & Shoots became a way to put responsibility in many hands. The program asks young people, and adults, to look at problems around them and respond locally.

Rathmann said that was also Goodall’s message to younger generations. “Think local, act local,” she would say.

She said Goodall was “never prescriptive” and instead pushed people to “find something small that you can do to make a positive change.”

The same thinking shaped Tacare, the institute’s community-led conservation model. Rathmann said it grew from Goodall’s response to deforestation around Gombe National Park, where local Tanzanians were asked to go into communities, listen to concerns, and work on solutions that helped both people and the local environment.

“It worked, and slowly, the forest started growing back,” Rathmann said. She said Tacare has since expanded to “over 100 villages, and other countries in Africa.”

Lilian Pintea, vice-president of conservation science at the Jane Goodall Institute USA, said he still thinks about the first time he sat with Goodall in her house in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, looking at aerial and satellite images by candlelight.

“I remember Jane saying, ‘This is magic’,” Pintea said.

He said those images helped track how forests, chimpanzee habitats, and human land use had changed over time. Today, he said, geospatial tools including satellite images, GIS, and cloud web mapping technologies are changing how conservationists understand and protect chimpanzee habitat.

“These insights are important to help conservation practitioners select the most cost-effective strategies and actions to address those specific threats,” Pintea said.

He said the tools can also show habitat loss in near-real time and give communities, governments, and other groups a clearer picture of what is happening on the ground.

Still, Pintea said the tools do not replace Goodall’s original method.

“When Jane arrived on July 14, 1960, in what is now Gombe National Park, Tanzania, she had nothing more than a simple pair of old binoculars, a pen, and paper,” he said. “Satellites, AI, mobile apps etc are just tools that enable us to continue to observe and understand nature, just from different perspectives and at different scales.”

For Dr. Deus Mjungu, director of JGI’s Gombe Stream Research Center, the new day carries a clear message.

“To me, this Jane Goodall Day represents hope and passion,” he said. “Everyone has a role to play, and because every small action matters, we can eventually change our world for the better, for animals, people, and the environment.”

Priscilla Shao, veterinary lab manager at JGI’s Gombe Stream Research Center, put it in daily terms.

“I believe we can carry Jane’s legacy forward by choosing every day to protect nature, inspire others, and believe that even small actions can change the world.”

"Jane Goodall GM" by Floatjon is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

'Jane Goodall Day' Debuts With Focus on Taking Just One Action, Big or Small, To Make a Difference

YR - good news paramedic

For Charlotte Stanford, fixing an ambulance is no longer just about getting a vehicle through the workshop. It means putting it back on the road to help someone in London.

The London Ambulance Service's first female mechanic said joining the service has given her a way to give back to her community after leaving a desk job in corporate PR.

Ms Stanford joined LAS as an apprentice more than a year ago. The 38-year-old had never had a manual job before and said she wanted a change.

"I knew I wanted to do something different and I didn't want to be behind a desk any more. And while I had no experience with cars, I have always been good at fixing things," she said to the BBC.

"Now, when I fix a vehicle and get it back on the road, I know it's going out to help someone and could save a life. That's a really nice feeling."

Ms Stanford is based at Fulham Ambulance Station and works in one of LAS's in-house workshops. The team services and MOTs ambulances and response cars, and carries out repairs so crews can respond to patients across the capital.

She said fault-finding on an ambulance can feel similar to the way a paramedic assesses a patient.

"When something is wrong with an ambulance, you are looking at all the symptoms, what it sounds like, what it looks like, even the smell," she said.

"We will start to investigate and try to work out the cause. A bit like a paramedic does with a patient.

"You use your experience, your senses and the diagnostic tools to piece it together and get to the root of the problem. And then we fix it."

Ms Stanford said her focus was always on getting vehicles safely returned to frontline duty as quickly as possible.

"We are always mindful of the responsibility we carry," she said. "We don't just fix the engines, we are responsible for maintaining much of the equipment too, like the stretchers, the chairs, the sirens and the blue lights.

"We take a lot of pride in what we do because we know how important these vehicles are."

Ms Stanford is currently the only woman in the mechanic team, something she said she hopes will change.

Although she is the first woman in the LAS's modern workshop, the service said she is not the only woman to have helped keep London's ambulances running.

During World War Two, women in the Auxiliary Ambulance Service drove the vehicles and treated patients, and many learned to carry out their own mechanical repairs on the fleet.

After the war, those women were encouraged to step aside for returning servicemen.

When a London-wide ambulance service was launched in 1965, women made up 6 percent of the workforce. Today, half of all staff at LAS are women.

Ms Stanford said she was proud of her role in the service and wanted other women to consider the work.

"I'm proud to be part of a team that keeps London moving and safe every day," she said.

"I would love more women to join our team. It's such a rewarding and fulfilling job and women should never doubt that they can do this work too."

📸 credit: LAS

London Ambulance Service’s First Female Mechanic Says Role Helps Her Give Back to the Community

WCCO CBS - John Lauritsen

At Shattuck-St. Mary's School in Faribault, hockey gets a lot of attention. It is not the whole story, but it is a big reason people know the school.

The school opened in 1858, the same year Minnesota became a state. Andrew Garlinski, the school's director of admission, said the campus still carries that history.

"When people drive through that arch and you see this campus, it takes your breath away," Garlinski said. "The history is in the walls. You can see it."

About 400 students currently attend classes at Shattuck-St. Mary's. If the school's history is any guide, some of them could go on to become well known. Former students include actor Marlon Brando and sportscaster Brent Musburger.

"We've got kids who are doctors and K-Pop stars and actors and musicians," Garlinski said.

Still, hockey is a major part of the school's public identity. Shattuck-St. Mary's has banners and big names tied to its hockey program, but one of the clearest signs of that history sits inside a skate sharpening shack at the sports complex.

The shack is known as "Rooster's Coop," and the man who runs it is Steve Erickson, better known as Rooster. He has held the job since 1992. Over those years, he has watched student-athletes grow into professional hockey players.

"Zach Parise, Kyle Okposo, Chris Porter. Phil Esposito, the best. He's the best guy ever, too," Rooster said.

Rooster has not only seen those players come through. He said he got to know some of them personally, and that connection shows up all over the walls of the Coop.

"I've actually got signatures from JP, his other son Jordy and Zach. I've got all three Parises covered," Rooster said, while pointing at an autographed JP Parise jersey.

Over time, Rooster's Coop has turned into a small museum of hockey history. The space is packed with pucks, signatures and skates. Rooster said one friend gave him a 1980 Herb Brooks U.S. Olympic jacket after the team won the gold medal.

"Herb was here all the time. One of my prize possessions I have in here. Herb came here and he did camp," Rooster said. "He hung out with us. Went to the bars with us. Played men's league with us on Sunday nights."

Even with all that on display, Rooster said there is much more at home. He has hundreds of jerseys stored there, far beyond what fits inside the Coop.

"There are jerseys behind jerseys. There's stuff behind stuff," Rooster said.

Some of the names connected to the school are among hockey's biggest. Rooster said players like Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews were still kids when he first knew them. He said they have not forgotten him.

He is not known for goals, power plays or penalty kills. He is known for the role he has played around the rink and for the relationships he has kept over the years. Rooster said that is showing up in a new way now, as former campers return with their own families.

"It's turning around now where those guys are coming back with their kids. So, I had those guys here when they were kids and now their kids are coming to camp, so it's kind of cool," Rooster said.

Rooster also serves as the manager of the Shattuck-St Mary's Sports Complex. He usually works in the evenings, and he said anyone is welcome to stop by the Coop and say "hi."

 📸credit: WCCO

How Rooster’s Coop Became a Hockey Museum and Helped Make a Legendary Minnesota Hockey School

The Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital just released heartwarming footage of 2-year-old Crew Dearth walking down a hospital hallway to claps after his victory over liver cancer.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, Crew was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer in March 2025.

“We just could not believe our baby had cancer. If I was standing up, I would have fell to the ground,” said Crew’s mom, Nicole.

After it was announced that Crew would need a liver transplant, his aunt, Taylor, was found to be a match.

“Often, organs for transplants come from deceased donors, but the liver is the only organ that can regenerate. That means it’s possible for a living donor to safely give a portion of their liver to someone in need,” the clinic wrote.

“I never thought about being a living organ donor for someone until Crew’s diagnosis, but I am so happy I got the chance to do so.” said Crew’s aunt.

Footage here shows the two-year-old walking with his family before ringing the bravery bell, celebrating the end of his cancer treatment.

📸 Cleveland Clinic via Storyful

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