always the pleasant stories

wow.
something like this just happened here.
but it was 3 boys if i recall. and they were stealing guns from someone they knew. one was 16or17. and the other two were like 18 19.
the homeowner was gone but he had someone house sitting.
the 17 year old pointed a rifle at the house sitter and the house sitter shot and killed him with a hand gun.
now the two other boys are on trial for murder of the 17 year old.

horatio said:

yeah graycap. stop with all the doom and gloom! we read the news, we know this crap is happening out there.

from NOW on you must post only cheery bits. uplifting pieces. thank you, that is all.

horatio said:

Can you please explain why the boys would be charged with murder?

MoniGram said:

no, but that is what is happening

horatio said:

Do you have a link to this? I am very curious to how this is considered murder.

Americans still giving, despite economic crisis
Aid groups report little change, suggest charitable giving is recession-proof
SEATTLE - As more Americans turn to charity amid worsening economic gloom, operators of food banks and other aid groups are relying on the surprisingly resilient generosity of their neighbors and finding that even when times are tough, people still give.

In Seattle, Boeing Co. employees tripled their cash donations this year to Northwest Harvest, operator of Washington's largest food bank. And every week, Northwest Harvest spokeswoman Claire Acey says, companies call to say their employees have decided to skip their holiday party and buy food for the hungry instead.

"We see things like that and they are little beacons of hope," Acey said.

The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University says that historically, charitable giving has been recession-proof.

Contributions to American charities have increased during 39 of the past 40 years in today's dollars, and a change in the tax laws — not the stock market crash — can be blamed for the drop in 1987, said Melissa Brown, associate director of research for the center. Between 69 and 72 percent of people give routinely, she said.

Other research by the center has shown a connection between a drop in the Standard & Poors 500 stock index and a decrease in charitable giving, but the impact is less than 1 percent for every 100 points the index drops. Inflation and other economic factors can reverse the impact.

Brown said the stock market has a relatively small impact on charitable giving nationally. In 2002, when the stock market was down, 70 percent of the population still gave an average of $2,000, she said.

"It totaled billions of dollars and companies were going bankrupt and people were losing work," Brown said.

Charities in New York, whose fates are tied more directly to the stock market, have been hit harder by a decrease in donations this year, but the national picture is more positive.

Better-than-usual Christmas?
A survey released this week by Federal Way, Wash.-based World Vision indicates that 2008 could actually be a better-than-usual Christmas for the nation's charitable organizations.

The telephone survey, conducted in late October by Harris Interactive, found that seven in 10 adults plan to spend less money on holiday presents this year, but about half say they are more likely to give a charitable gift than a traditional present such as clothing or an electronic toy.

World Vision hopes to take advantage of the giving nature of Americans with a holiday gift catalog where presents such as chickens and goats go to disadvantaged families in Africa and other parts of the world.

"At a time when people have things and they know that other people don't, Americans' generosity wins out," said Justin Greeves, senior vice president of Harris Interactive, which regularly polls Americans about their charitable giving.

The American Heart Association says donations are up this year, despite the economic downturn, and the Dallas-based charity is cautiously optimistic about holiday giving, said Suzie Upton, vice president for development.

Election's role
The American Red Cross is in the middle of a major fundraising campaign to make up for a lack of giving earlier this year — the organization's disaster relief fund was broke before hurricane season.

But Red Cross spokesman Jonathan Aiken doesn't blame the economic downturn for the charity's empty pocketbook. He blames the election.

Aiken says America's focus on the presidential election took its eyes away from disaster relief for such things as hurricane relief in Texas and Louisiana.

The Washington, D.C.-based charity's national campaign to raise $100 million passed the $60-million mark after two months.

"We're pretty pleased with that," said Aiken, who could not compare the results with previous national campaigns because the organization does not regularly have them. Most of its income comes from spontaneous giving during national and international disasters.

United Way of King County, Wash., which is one of the most successful United Ways in the nation, expects to reach this year's fundraising goal of $110 million.

Volunteers say people seem insecure about the future, but they are also concerned about others and want to help, spokesman Jared Erlandson said.

Erlandson credits the presidential campaign for helping to set a tone for this year's campaign. "People are fired up and they want to help right now," he said.

Greeves, of Harris Interactive, said that in a year when people are having trouble meeting basic needs, giving by individuals usually increases food, shelter and health care.

"If it makes them feel good and they feel like it's making a difference, they'll give money," he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27840397/

Broken butterfly gets wing mended, ride south
Couple uses contact cement, cardboard splints; trucker provides the lift

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27828393/

LAKE LUZERNE, N.Y. - A monarch butterfly has a chance at completing its species' famed migration to central Mexico thanks to some tiny cardboard splints, a bit of contact cement and a trucker from Alabama.

The insect's broken wing was painstakingly splinted by an upstate New York couple who then helped it hitch a ride south after the weather in the southern Adirondacks turned cold.

About three weeks ago, Jeannette Brandt was out for a bike ride in rural Hadley when she spied the injured butterfly and took it home in her emptied water bottle.

She and her partner, Mike Parwana, fed it rotting pears and water mixed with honey from bees they keep. The butterfly fattened but the question remained: What about the broken wing?

Back in business
A search of the Internet turned up a nine-minute video demonstration posted by the Live Monarch Foundation, a nonprofit group from Boca Raton, Fla., on how to fix a broken butterfly wing. A little contact cement on the wing, some tiny cardboard splints, and the bruised butterfly was back in business.

"It was still weak. It was another week or so before it would fly," Parwana told the Post-Star newspaper of Glens Falls.

On Sunday, the couple took the healed monarch in a shoebox to Scotty's, a popular and busy truck stop about 35 miles north of Albany. Anybody looking for company on the trip south?

"And all these truckers looked down at their shoes," Parwana told the newspaper. "If you ever want to feel strange, walk into Scotty's and just put it out there that you want them to take a box south."

Eventually, a trucker from Alabama, on his way to Florida, raised his hand.

On Tuesday, the trucker called: The butterfly was loose in Florida with its mended wing.

MoniGram said:

no, just local news when they decide to talk about it

horatio said:

Do you have a link to this? I am very curious to how this is considered murder.

MoniGram said:

might have something to do with the other two being 18 and 19, so they were contributing to the delinquency of a minor..in the commission of a felony(?) crime, and more than one 'defendent' the remaining defendents are charged with his death..and probably would be the same if it was one of the other two...
they are held responsible for the death i suppose because they put his life in danger, even tho he was a willing participant..might be something along those lines..

peb319 said:

Could be....