It’s the end of the week once again, here are some good news stories we’ve assembled for you.
1. An 11-year-old in California named Nathan Braxton is in the news after his mom posted footage of him singing along to “Naughty” from “Matilda the Musical”. And I mean he REALLY went for it. Now Delta has stepped up, and they’re flying him to New York, so he can see his first musical on Broadway. (Here’s the video. Don’t miss his dad stopping the song at :37 and restarting it at :58. There’s also one of Nathan reacting to the fanfare, and one where he gets emotional after Leslie Odom Jr. from “Hamilton” gives him props.)
2. Speaking of kids: A study found helping animals comes naturally to them. If a dog wants something out of reach, even toddlers will help. They tested it with 100 kids under four. If they saw a dog trying to get a toy or treat, they grabbed it for them 50% of the time. Kids with dogs at home were even more likely to help.
3. A 97-year-old veteran near San Diego is finally being awarded the Navy Cross. It’s the second-highest award for valor you can get, after the Medal of Honor. He was a pilot in Korea, and was in a crazy dogfight in 1952. He took on seven enemy planes on his own, and shot down four of them. When he landed, there were 263 bullet holes in his plane, but he wasn’t hurt. Most of the details were classified, so that’s why he never got a medal until now. He went on to serve another 23 years, and did over 100 flight missions in Vietnam. The medal ceremony is this Friday.
4. A dad in the U.K. wanted to donate a kidney to his 19-year-old daughter last April, but wasn’t a match. Luckily, she got one from a different donor, and she’s doing great now. But once he realized what a big deal it was, he decided to donate a kidney anyway to a complete stranger. The surgery was last month, and he doesn’t know who got it. He just knows they’re doing well. He says it feels like he gave them a really great Christmas gift.
5. Remember the guy who broke into a school near Buffalo last month to shelter 24 people from a blizzard? The Buffalo Bills just thanked him for it by giving him two tickets to the Super Bowl in Arizona next month. Former Bills running back Thurman Thomas showed up with the tickets to surprise him. (Here’s a video.)
6. A guy in North Carolina risked his own safety after he saw a deer with a bucket stuck on its head. He managed to yank it off, and someone’s security cam got it on video. The deer was fine and ran away.
7. A family from Florida just got their dog back four years after they had to give him to a shelter. His name is Cubby. They moved to Japan in 2019 and couldn’t take him along. But a few months ago, he showed up at a vet in Upstate New York, and they scanned his microchip. He’d obviously been living on his own for a while. And he’d been hit by a car, but wasn’t seriously hurt. So the vet got in touch with the original owners . . . found out they were back in the U.S., living in California . . . and Cubby headed home to them last week.
8. A 14-year-old Boy Scout in northern Minnesota recently hit his goal of sleeping outside 1,000 nights in a row. He’s been doing it since April 2020, even in winter. He says the coldest night so far was 38 BELOW, but he’s got all the gear and knows what he’s doing. For his 1,000th night, he built himself an igloo to sleep in. (Or technically, he says it’s a “quinzhee.”)
9. A 67-year-old guy in Michigan is happy about being more forgetful in his old age. Last month, he couldn’t remember if he’d bought a lottery ticket yet. So he bought a second one with the same set of numbers . . . 6,11,12, 23, and 33. Both hit for $110,000, so he won 220 grand.
10. A woman in Alaska says a dead rabbit recently saved her life. She was skating on a frozen lake when she found it dead on the ice. And she’s the resourceful type, so she took it with her to use the fur for something later. But shortly after that, she fell through the ice into the freezing water. There was nothing to grab onto to pull herself out. But she still had the rabbit, which was soaking wet now. So she tossed it on the ice in front of her . . . let it freeze to the ground . . . and used it like an anchor to hoist herself up.
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