Putty in their paws: Why we do what cats want

Tamara Fox goes to extremes for her cats that she wouldn't dream of for even her best friend.

Dena Harris of Madison, N.C., endures a daily slapping around by her 8-year-old cat, Olivia, who taps her on the shoulder early each morning until she gets up and feeds her.

And Cecile Moore put up with acts of extortion from her cat Henry who regularly sat on the top of the bureau of her Athens, Ga., home and scooted a bottle of perfume toward the edge until she got out of bed.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Communication key for couples hit by downturn

"For many couples, the financial crisis has come down to a test. How good are they at tackling tough money issues? The question for Lorne Epstein is this: business or pleasure? His wife, Alicia Korten, planned to take about a month off to recharge after more than a year of 80-hour workweeks at the consulting firm ReNual while writing a book called 'Change Philanthropy.' Joining her on the trip would cost him about $2,000."

Click here for more on how communication can make the difference.

Many offer charity gardener help after produce taken again

"Wednesday's story about the pillaging of 72-year-old Joe McCorvey's charity garden struck a real community nerve and inspired readers to send in a small cavalry."


Read more here.

Incredible pictures of 30,000 soldiers recreating Statue of Liberty and other icons of US history

These are the extraordinary pictures of the Statue of Liberty and icons of US history captured on camera by an ingenious Brit photographer - using up to 30,000 soldiers.

Englishman Arthur S. Mole took the pictures of soldiers returning to America after World War I.

Now the unique collection of the remarkable pictures has been brought together for the first time at the Carl Hammer Gallery, in Chicago, USA.

Click here to read the rest of this story and to view the pictures.

Save the Children and T.J. Maxx Launch Back-to-School Initiative

"Starting Aug. 3, sales of T.J. Maxx limited edition, reusable shopping bags will benefit children in need in the United States. For each reusable bag sold, T.J. Maxx will donate one basic item—like socks, underwear or backpacks—to Save the Children's U.S. Programs.

The reusable bags will be sold for $0.99 and are designed with Save the Children original children's artwork. This initiative marks 25 years of partnership for T.J. Maxx and Save the Children."

For more on this humanitarian partnership, click here.

Discovery May Help Treat Obesity

"A new approach to treating obesity has been opened up by a discovery about how the body creates brown fat, the cells that burn white fat and turn it into body heat."


Continue reading here.

Blinded by Nazis, guided by a dog

Max Edelman, a sprightly gentleman with a potent laugh, huge social network and vast array of interests, surges through life. At 86, he figures he's got too much to do to slow down. Blind for decades, he receives a little help from Tobin, a placid black Lab.

Like each of the thousands of service dogs, Tobin has been bred and trained to help keep his owner safe and independent. And like the thousands of people who are paired without charge with a dog, Edelman has undergone training to make the most of the union.

Click here to read more about this story.

Holy Name Cathedral reopens Friday

"Holy Name Cathedral will reopen its doors on Friday for confessions, weddings and worship after a fire erupted Feb. 4 in the cathedral's attic, forcing the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago to close for repairs.

Parishioners who attend the first mass on Saturday will have a hard time knowing which parts of the church sustained damage, said the Rev. Dan Mayall, pastor of Holy Name. In fact, he believes the cathedral looks better than before."

Click here for more on the parish celebration.

Details on Cash for Clunkers

"Driving around in a clunker and ready to move up? Doing so could help the environment and save you up to $4500. Sounds too good to be true? Nope. While there are some caveats and other qualifying restrictions, Congress has rolled out the Cash for Clunkers programs with $1 billion in funding for new car purchases when you trade in your gas guzzling clunker."

Read more details here.

Be Their Guest

Laura's place in New York's Little Italy has a dingy blue bathmat, and she wears a Santa hat. Don's pad in Hell's Kitchen is all white, a cloud with four walls that could be perilous for those with muddy feet and a taste for red wine. Cristina's NoLita studio is flooded with natural light and includes laundry facilities, but the bed is a box spring on the floor. Ricky describes himself as "very talkative" and says, "I LOVE MY WIFE!!," a red flag in a shared-apartment situation. Marissa invites guests to crash on her green pullout sofa in the East Village. It looks cushy, yet I worry that my sleep would be dogged by dreams of swimming in a giant bowl of split pea soup.

Now, Rad's House I could do: The private room in a two-bedroom apartment near Tompkins Square Park comes with fresh towels, kitchen privileges and a pair of brothers who play drums, eat bagels on Sunday and charge less than $100 a night.

I discovered these assorted sleeping arrangements -- and voyeuristic snapshots of New York apartments -- not on a "Roommate Wanted" corkboard at a local market but on Airbnb, a nearly year-old Web site that opens doors previously closed to outsiders. The site works like Match.com for travelers, pairing those who need a bed with those who have one to spare.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

As We Forgive: The Mirror of Christ's Love

"This April marked the 15th anniversary of the horrific genocide in Rwanda. But what is happening there now is nothing short of a miracle.

'Can a country known for radical brutality become a country known for an even more radical forgiveness?' That’s the question BreakPoint’s own Catherine Claire Larson asks in her new book, As We Forgive."

Click here to read more about Larson's book.

Highland Park homeowner installs wind turbine on his roof

"Doug Snower's neighbors in Highland Park stared hard when the silver and blue wind turbine first appeared on his garage roof.

While it could pass for a kinetic sculpture, the shiny, spinning device he installed a few weeks ago has generated low-voltage electricity and a steady hum of conversation."

For more on Snower's device, click here.

A survivor's journey

The story of Anne Frank has resonated around the world. A teenager in Holland during World War II, Frank, her family and another family hid from the Germans in the attic of an office building until their hiding place was betrayed and the eight people in hiding were sent to concentration camps, where most of them — including Anne — died. During their time in hiding, Frank kept a diary that has since become world-famous.

But few people know her family's story also has roots in Tuscaloosa.

Years before the Jewish population in Germany was attacked in the Holocaust, Rabbi Davin Schoenberger married Anne Frank's parents at his synagogue in Aachen, Germany.

Click here to find out more about Rabbi Davin Schoenberger.

Zion National Park to Mark 100th Birthday This Friday

"If you've already made plans to be in Zion National Park this coming Friday you'll be able to join in celebrating the park's 100th birthday. And if you haven't made plans, think about altering your schedule."

Click here for more details.

Astronaut John Grunsfeld followed his dream to space

"Like a lot of boys growing up during the space race, John Grunsfeld was fascinated by astronauts. But even then, as a 7-year-old back in 1965, the lengths to which Grunsfeld pursued his dream of space travel set him apart.

There was the canister vacuum cleaner strapped to his back for an air tank. The old ice cream container, tweaked with an innovator's eye to serve as a space helmet. The times spent sitting alone in dark closets, practicing for the isolation of space. And at one point, there was the ill-advised test flight off the kitchen counter of his Hyde Park home in the belief that flapping his arms would keep him aloft, a giant leap born of faith and focus that left the boy dazed but hardly deterred."

Click here to read more about how Grunsfeld's dream came true.

Sowing seeds of change

"Will Allen believes healthful food grows healthy communities.

Allen is an urban gardening crusader, an advocate for food programs that bring fresh produce and other nutritious options to people in inner cities and other underserved areas."

To read more of this story, click here.

News10 Tools for Schools School Supply Drive

"Kids are going to school without the supplies they need. Often it's the teachers themselves that spend the money to make sure their students have what they need. But we all can be heroes!

News10 has teamed up with Office Depot, Schools Financial Credit Union and the California Highway Patrol for News10's Tools for Schools. Be a hero and visit any of our participating sponsors and drop off school supplies."

Click here to learn more about how a television station is working to make a difference for children.

Chemistry in a Cone

In June, the Cold Stone Creamery chain introduced a new ice cream that doesn’t melt. The dripless ice cream comes in two flavors, Butterscotch Velvet and Chocolate-y Goodness. It takes a second to process this. Melting ice cream is an immutable truth of summer, a symbol of the fleeting nature of the season itself. How did they do away with one of the frozen treat’s most fundamental properties? Welcome to the weird science of ice cream.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Kmart brings back blue-light specials

"Attention Kmart shoppers: Blue-light specials are back. Again.

The discount chain is reviving the gimmick that became famous for creating bargain-hunting mayhem. But this time blue balloons instead of an oscillating blue bulb will alert shoppers to the aisle where a few products are on sale for an hour."


Click here for more on the return of the Blue Light Specials.

Make Your Child Thirsty... for God

"Children are spiritual beings. That means they, like us, seek to know their Creator. They will ask naive questions or give confused answers in their quest to know Him. Their questions, misunderstandings, and doubts are not stumbling blocks, but invitations to spiritual growth."

Read the rest of the article here.

The Evils of Twitter and Facebook

Interacting online is bad, bad, bad. It is impersonal, and you only do it because you are shallow and like to avoid real life-to-life interaction.
In fact, in the past two months I’ve heard this at least a dozen times from conference speakers and pastors, or I’ve read it in books, magazines or blog posts. It seems to be a belief people are increasingly adopting.

Great article in Collide Magazine.

Little Is Left Today of the Cold War's Most Famous Monument

As the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall looms, some locals wonder if they could have taken better care of one of the world's best-known monuments. Less than a quarter of the Wall is under historical protection and you can find more pieces of it overseas than in Germany.

On their first visit to Berlin a group of young Irish tourists decide to check out the East Side Gallery. They travel to where tourist maps tell them the gallery is and spend the next hour wandering along what appears to be a busy highway flanked by a graffiti-covered wall. "Where's this so-called gallery?" they curse, before giving up and heading back into the center of Berlin for more productive sightseeing.

There's some embarrassment later on when they find out that the big concrete wall they were walking alongside is actually one of the most important monuments of the 20th century, symbol of the Cold War and global shorthand for, firstly, political oppression and then, peaceful revolution. Yes, the Berlin Wall.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

ChildFund Board Member Presents 'Kids Over There – Why Should I Care'

"A 19-year-old woman attending the University of Virginia is taking a year to do volunteer work at the U.N. before starting medical school with a plan to devote her live to global health. A young woman in Afghanistan had to flee her country for safety reasons and is one of 3 million displaced Afghans.

What do they have in common?"

To learn the answer, click here.

Active Kids Fall Asleep Faster

"As parents watch their children swimming or playing tag, they often comment happily to each other about how well their kids will sleep that night. Now there's scientific data to back up that playground chatter.

A new study shows that active kids fall asleep faster. The study also shows that the longer it takes to fall asleep, the shorter the total sleep time. This is important because bad sleep patterns in children have been associated with poorer school performance and an increased risk of being obese or overweight."

Click here to read more about this study.

Target Can Make Sleepy Titles Into Best Sellers

When “Sarah’s Key,” a novel about an American journalist investigating the 1942 roundup of Jews in Paris, was published in hardcover two years ago, it dropped with a thud. According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70 percent of sales, the book sold just 2,000 copies.

Indeed, the book, by the first-time novelist Tatiana de Rosnay, was well on its way to sinking out of sight last fall when Target, the discount retailer, chose the paperback version of “Sarah’s Key” as its Bookmarked Club Pick: a choice for a program that designates titles for prominent display throughout the chain’s stores. Suddenly sales exploded.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Verse for Verse; Poetry Paired with Scripture

"Urging poetry lovers toward a deeper relationship with God is Laurita McKerchers's gift. In her new devotional book, 'A Tugging of the Heartstrings,' Mrs. McKercher's original poems lend additional illumination to well-known Bible passages. Poetic verse is matched with biblical verse and the result is renewed intimacy with God."


To learn, click here.

What Grew Amid the Ashes

When the Jesusita wildfire roared through Mission Canyon back in May, it showed little respect for the area’s only tourist attraction—the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Over 60 of its 78 acres were either damaged or destroyed, along with 8,800 specimen plants. And the only thing remaining of the Gane House, a 100-year-old Craftsman-style residence that housed all the gardening tools, were three brick chimneys.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

State of Our Unions: Why Marriage Matters

"Marriage is a hot topic these days. And a recent article in Time magazine makes a great contribution to the debate. Find out why."

Click here for more on Chuck Colson's commentary.

Don't take your passwords to the grave

"If you're smart about your online life, you've created strong and varied passwords for all your accounts. You change those passwords often. And you never write them down or share them with anyone."

Click here to learn more.

Apollo astronauts look ahead ... to Mars?

The astronauts who first landed on the moon aren't dwelling on their small lunar steps. Instead, two of them on Sunday urged mankind to take a giant leap to Mars.

In one of their few joint public appearances, the crew of Apollo 11 spoke on the eve of the 40th anniversary of man's first landing on the moon, but didn't get soggy with nostalgia. They preferred to talk about the future and the more distant past.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Save the Children Opens 'Idol Gives Back' Preschool Playgrounds in Mozambique

"For the first time, thousands of Mozambican preschoolers will soon experience the thrill of climbing a jungle gym, riding a seesaw and swinging in a tire thanks to Idol Gives Back viewers. The global humanitarian organization Save the Children today announced the opening of Idol Gives Back playgrounds in rural communities of Mozambique."

Click here for more information about this dramatic change in children's lives.

FAQ: Making Sense of Health Care Reform

"Congressional committees are working hard on President Barack Obama's top domestic goal: passing health care reform. It's the most significant effort to enact health reform in many years.

Here's a rundown of some of the issues being discussed and what they may mean to you:"


Read more here.

Entrepreneurial hubs are springing up across the city and spurring economic development

"The old adage about strength in numbers is ringing true for some start-up companies in New Orleans.

Entrepreneurial ventures in New Orleans are increasingly clustering together under the same roof in a bid to share ideas, support each other and spur economic development. Since Hurricane Katrina, three entrepreneurial hubs have been established in the city. A fourth is scheduled to open later this month."

Click here for more on the role of entrepreneurial hubs.

Tourist trap? Joliet takes first steps to rehabilitate prison as a park

"For more than a century, the Joliet Correctional Center was known as one of the nation's toughest prisons, a place where two inmates were squeezed into 4-foot-wide cells, where tuberculosis deaths were not uncommon and where prisoners made do with slop buckets until indoor plumbing arrived in the late 1940s.

Now city officials want the prison to star in an entirely different role. Instead of stockades and back-breaking labor, think iPod-carrying tourists listening to audio tours, former guards leading school outings and 'interactive' exhibits."

For more clues in the story, click here.

IKEA Supports Save the Children's Education Programs in the U.S. with Sales of Bookcases

"Through Monday, Aug. 31, 2009, IKEA U.S. will donate $5 to Save the Children's Early Steps to School Success program for each EXPEDIT bookcase sold, up to a maximum donation of $100,000.

For more than a decade IKEA has partnered with Save the Children to create lasting change for children in need, including the establishment and support of child protection, health and education programs in the United States and developing countries around the world."

Click here to read more about how IKEA and Save the Children are changing lives.

Financial Ministry Provides Free Tools for Fiscal and Career Planning

"Crown Financial Ministries offers several free tools to assist you in financial planning, debt reduction and career planning on their website. You'll also find helpful articles on many topics. Search for an event in your area or churches offering Crown's programs."

Click here to view the Crown Financial Ministries website.

After School Club Grows to Urban Youth Ministry

"Cloud and Fire Ministries reaches out to at-risk inner city children as a direct application of God's love. The organization's vision is to see low-income, urban youth grow up to lead thriving, productive lives and to have the inner transformation that comes from God’s love.

Now celebrating ten years of reaching out to children, Cloud and Fire Ministries is the outgrowth of an after school club started by Melody Rossi."

For more on this ministry and its work, click here.

New Book Reveals DNA Evidence for Intelligent Design

"The digital code in DNA reveals new evidence of intelligent design, Stephen C. Meyer shows in his authoritative new book, Signature in the Cell (HarperOne, June 23, 2009).

In this anniversary year of Charles Darwin’s birth (200 years ago) and the publication of his Origin of Species (150 years ago), scientists and journalists alike are devoting increased attention to the ultimate evolutionary question: the origin of the first life. Darwin himself never addressed the issue, but in recent days the New York Times, Science, The Daily Telegraph and Wired have all carried reports detailing alleged breakthroughs in understanding how life first came to be."

Click here for more on this important book.

Bicyclist keeps breast cancer cause in high gear in wife's memory

"To residents of China, Russia and a score of smaller countries, it didn't appear that Michael Fahey was riding a bicycle built for two.Yet it's really the only way he ever travels.

The other rider is his wife, Ruth, and her seat is in his soul."


Click here to read more.

Reaching Tranquility: 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar mission

"On July 16, 1969 the crew of Apollo 11 blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the historic quest to put the first men on the moon.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of this achievement, Sun photographer Karl Merton Ferron acquired archive footage from NASA and the John F. Kennedy Library, and interspersed time-lapse images of the moon traveling across the Baltimore skyline during the past eight months. The resulting video is an entrancing convergence of history and art that pays tribute to the Apollo 11 mission."

To view the video, click here.

My Sister's Savior: Should We Take Life to Give Life?

"What does it mean for a society to condone the use of technology for the sole purpose of creating human life just to destroy it? It means we are a culture that has tragically lost its way.

Jodi Picoult’s bestselling 2004 novel, My Sister’s Keeper, recently hit the big screen. Joining other profoundly bioethical films such as Gattaca (1997; addresses genetic engineering of super humans), Million Dollar Baby (2004; tackles assisted dying), and The Island (2005; deals with the creation of human clones to be spare parts for the wealthy sick), My Sister’s Keeper takes on a real-life issue commonly known as 'savior sibling.'”

For more on this topic, click here.

Space shuttle Endeavour blasts off after month's delay on try 6, headed to space station

"After more than a month's delay, space shuttle Endeavour and seven astronauts thundered into orbit Wednesday on a flight to the international space station, hauling up a veranda for Japan's enormous lab and looking to set a crowd record.

Success came on launch try No. 6, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the liftoff of man's first moon landing."

Click here for more on the launch.

Baby cuddlers: Infants benefit -- but so do hospital volunteers

"Holding a baby barely larger than her hand, Barbara Whitfield coos to the infant, his translucent eyelids fluttering slightly before surrendering to sleep.

But in the neonatal intensive care unit at Rush University Medical Center, it would be difficult to tell just who in this duo is more serene."

Click here to snuggle into more of this story!

Toddler Watching

"Every day, I watch my 20 month old son climbing — onto the rocking horse, onto the sofa, or up the stairs. However, when his little fists are filled with toys — a little car or its driver — he can’t climb successfully and sometimes he actually falls because he can’t get a proper grip with his hands full. I’ve seen my husband or my other children try to persuade him to put down his toys or offer to hold them for him until he gets where he’s going, but his response is always the same. He won’t let go. He doesn’t understand that he’ll never get where he’s trying to go, and he actually might get hurt, unless he lets go of his toys."


Read more of the article here.

Spiritual Apnea: The Joy of Sabbath

"I noticed it almost as soon as we were married. My husband and I would get the same amount of sleep, but while I would wake up refreshed, he would wake up groggy.

Extra rest didn’t seem to make much difference for him.On a hunch, I encouraged him to go in for a sleep study."

For more on this subject, click here.

Happy or Hungry? Deciphering Cat Purrs

A cat's purr normally says, "I'm happy." But a new study suggests some purrs send cat owners a much different message: "Feed me!"

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Techno boomers

"Kids these days!

Why can't they download a video, set up a Facebook page, send out a text or communicate with their parents through a simple video phone service such as Skype?

Grandparents are often depicted as hardened technophobes, yet some are asking these very questions as they try to drag their adult children and grandkids into the 21st Century."

Click here for more on these seniors on the cutting edge.

Foods to Fight Inflammation

"To fight the pain and swelling of arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, be sure your weekly diet includes these foods."

Read the list here.

China flooding update from World Vision

"In response to the floods in southern China that have affected 39 million people across 12 provinces and regions, World Vision has sent two assessment teams to Guangxi and Jiangxi provinces where World Vision has a total of nine development program offices in and near the flood zone. The humanitarian organization has so far confirmed that its Du'an development program in Guangxi has been impacted, and is most concerned about the flooding's effect on children."

Click here for more on how World Vision is addressing the situation.

Sisters Face Death With Dignity and Reverence

"Gravely ill with heart disease, tethered to an oxygen tank, her feet swollen and her appetite gone, Sister Dorothy Quinn, 87, readied herself to die in the nursing wing of the Sisters of St. Joseph convent where she has been a member since she was a teenager."


Read more of this article here.

Kansas Girl, 7, Makes Art for Charity, Builds Orphanages With Her Profits

Seven-year-old Isabelle Redford is a long way from grown up, but her art is more than just kid stuff.

"I kind of always drawed because I loved to draw as I grew up," Isabelle said. "And I just was an artist."

Her drawings are good enough to earn some real money but she isn't spending it on toys or candy.

"I like to draw cards because I can raise money< to help the orphans and help them have a home to live in," Isabelle said.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Hackles and Hacks: Religious Freedom and the Media

"When the world’s largest democracy refuses to allow a commission on religious freedom to visit its shores, that should be news. So why haven’t you heard about it?"

To read Chuck Colson's commentary, click here.

Moonscapes from memory

"Almost 40 years have passed since Alan L. Bean walked on the moon as an Apollo astronaut, but he still wrestles with the experience every day, trying to recapture in the medium of paint what he and other astronauts saw and felt."

Click here to read more about Alan Bean the artist.

Savvy Businessman Uses Internet to Entertain as Well as Market

"My name is Arthur S. Beitchman. I've been a regular member of 'the working class' for 28 years. Now, I'm chasing my 'cheese' with Arthur's Red Hot Store.

The Internet is one amazing place, and if you look hard, there are some delightfully entertaining sites to visit. We've saved you the time, by selecting an amazing item and showing to you right here, so you don't have to hunt it down, or wait until someone else sends it to you by email."

Click here to visit Arthur's Amazing Show of the Moment.

Musician Makes Music Out of Feud With United Airlines

United Airlines has learned a valuable lesson: Don't mess with a musician's prized possession.

Canadian folk singer Dave Carroll tried for nearly a year to get United to pay for his $3,500 Taylor guitar that he said baggage handlers broke. When the airline still refused to cough up any money, he did what any songwriter would do: He wrote a song about it.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

Peeps Are Hopping to Their Own Store

Peeps have accomplished the improbable since they were introduced half a century ago. Those pastel marshmallow chicks and bunnies have participated in university science experiments, survived battles with high-powered microwaves and inspired avant-garde art.

So why wouldn't they dare to open their own store, taking on the tough world of retail right in the heart of a recession?

Click here to read more about the Peeps store.

The Pinnacle of Success? The Passing of a Pop Star

"Millions of Michael Jackson fans are mourning his death. As well they might. I’ll explain why."

Click here for the rest of Chuck Colson's insightful commentary.

Retire debt-free

Not so long ago, Americans retired debt-free. Then, somewhere along the way, that changed. Now more and more Americans are retiring with debt, with mortgages, with home-equity lines of credit, with credit-card debt, with auto loans and more.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Save the Children to Reach More Afghan Children with Support from Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nehayan Foundation

"Save the Children today announced it will receive a two-year grant from the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nehayan Foundation to improve the health, nutrition and education of Afghan children living in extreme poverty."

For more on this grant, click here.

Robert McNamara dies at 93

"Robert S. McNamara, the cerebral secretary of defense vilified for his role in escalating the Vietnam War, a disastrous conflict he later denounced as 'terribly wrong,' died Monday. He was 93."

Click here for more on the man who was such a historic part of the Vietnam War era.

Shacking Up In The Mississippi Delta

The Shack Up Inn says it all – if this ain’t your kind of place, don’t bother stopping because there are plenty of others who see the charm in spending the night in a shotgun shack.

More people than you’d think.

At a time when most hotels are struggling to find ways to attract new guests, the Shack Up Inn, which rents out renovated share cropper shacks on a former cotton plantation, has seen its business grow amid the recession.

Click here to read more about the Shack Up Inn.

McCarty: Ex-POW group locked in a battle against time

"Bob West nearly starved to death during his captivity as a prisoner of war during World War II, wasting away from 170 pounds to about 110 — the weight of a skinny teenage girl. He subsisted on virtually no rations while being marched from Poland across Northern Europe to the Western front."

Click here to read more of this story.

Legend and spirit of Blackie Campo lives on at Shell Beach marina

"The summer heat is as tough as it always has been. Shrimp are still hard to keep alive. Anglers are thrilled or disappointed, telling the same lies, offering the same excuses.

Life is pretty much the same as it was a year ago at Campo's Marina in Shell Beach. Except for one major difference: Blackie Campo is still gone."

Click here for more on Blackie Campo's legacy and its importance to the tiny community of Shell Beach, LA.

Lincoln's travels: Retracing his trip to Washington -- and back again

"Maybe it was during the surprise storm in New York City. Or earlier, during the growing light of dawn in Xenia, Ohio. Or on a cold afternoon outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Somewhere along the line, I realized that, in chasing the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, I was engaged in a marathon. It was exhausting."

Click here for more on celebrating the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth.

Disco tune saves man's life

Debra Bader was taking a walk in the woods with her 53-year-old husband one morning when suddenly he collapsed. At first she thought the situation was hopeless.

"I looked at him and said, 'He's dead,' because he wasn't moving or making any sounds at all," Bader remembers. "But I pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and called 911, and then a public service announcement I'd heard on the radio popped into my head."

Click here to read the rest of this story.

The American Creed: 'We Hold These Truths...'

"The great British intellectual G. K. Chesterton wrote that 'America is the only nation in the world that is founded on [a] creed.'

Think about that for a moment. Other nations were founded on the basis of race, or by the power of kings or emperors who accumulated lands and the peasants who inhabited those lands.

But America was—and is to this day—different. It was founded on a shared belief. Or, as Chesterton said, on a creed."

Click here for more of Chuck Colson's commentary.

Visit to grandkids worth every cent, every minute

"There were all sorts of reasons why flying off to visit my twin grandkids in Arlington, Va., didn’t make sense."

Click here to read more.

The Power of an Image: Neda's Legacy

"The unstable political situation in Iran since the presidential election grows worse by the day, as the government has brutalized and arrested thousands of protestors. Could we be witnessing “a new birth of freedom” in Iran—or will the government crackdown ultimately drive the dissenters under cover, as the Chinese government did with the Tiananmen Square protestors?

I pray it signals change, but it’s really too early to tell."

For more of Chuck Colson's commentary, click here.

What is True Freedom?

"We all want freedom: political freedom, intellectual freedom, moral freedom. We want freedom from prejudice, freedom from ignorance, freedom from poverty. And we even search for religious freedom."

Click here to read the rest of Billy Graham's message.

Obama awards WWII-era women pilots congressional medal

President Obama on Wednesday signed a measure awarding the 300 surviving Women Airforce Service Pilots from World War II the Congressional Gold Medal.

The bill passed by both chambers of Congress bestows one of the nation's highest civilian honors on the group known as WASPs more than 60 years after they were the first women to fly U.S. military aircraft.

Click here to read the rest of this story.

WALK4HEARING - Taking steps to raise awareness and resources

"Since 2006, thousands of people nationwide have joined the effort to end the stigma associated with hearing loss and provide support and resources for hearing loss prevention and education programs through the Walk4Hearing™."

Click here for more information.

Cycling tips on safety, comfort to ease the journey

"Biking is a fun 'green' way to get into great shape. In addition to being cost effective and environmentally friendly, cycling on a regular basis helps to keep the heart healthy and is an excellent way to burn extra calories. For a 140-pound person, an hour of light intensity biking (10 to 12 mph) burns about 380 calories, at a moderate speed (12 to 14 mph) about 500 calories, and at a high intensity (14 to 16 mph) about 635 calories."

Click here to read these cycling tips.