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In the headlines...

📚 This Sunday, May 17, is the first-ever National Little Free Library Day! Celebrate by using Little Free Library’s interactive map to find book-ban hotspots and discover the Little Free Libraries located in those areas.

📰 The DeSantis administration has reportedly told private contractors that the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center will be closing and broken down starting in June.

🖼️ French lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bill to make it easier to return artworks and artifacts stolen during the country’s colonial era.

Education

The University of Chicago is offering free tuition for students from families earning less than $250k annually

In a move affirming its “core belief that costs should not prevent a student from joining UChicago’s community of extraordinary scholars,” the University of Chicago announced a significant expansion of its guaranteed free tuition program.

Not only will the university offer free tuition for students whose families earn less than $250,000 annually, it will also cover housing, meals, and other fees for families earning less than $125,000 annually.

Under the newly expanded threshold, it says that 90% of U.S. households would qualify for free tuition.

Why is this good news? Amid growing income inequality, rising tuition costs, and affordability issues in general, the University of Chicago’s move to dramatically expand access to free tuition to those who may not otherwise be able to afford it is critical to ensuring that education is accessible to everyone — not just the wealthiest.

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More Good News

​Wildlife experts reunited 100 lost leopard cubs with their mothers using “overnight boxes.” While they’re not considered “endangered” on a global scale, several species of leopards are critically endangered, and across South Asia, leopards at large have grown increasingly vulnerable.

​Since the 1950s, a group of Benedictine sisters has painstakingly transformed their monastery’s land into a 170-acre oasis. The Wisconsin sanctuary started with just 40 acres, consisting of farmland cleared in the early 1900s.

​A 12-week contest is challenging eleven Denver restaurateurs to incorporate food waste into their recipes. It’s part of Denver’s “Waste No More” ballot measure, which incentivizes waste diversion across the city.

​Georgia passed the “Sickle Cell Disease Protection Act,” which requires the state to conduct annual reviews of emerging sickle cell treatments. Georgia has one of the highest patient populations in the country for sickle cell disease.

​Scientists developed a hemp-based thermoplastic that could provide a more sustainable alternative to plastic packaging. The material notably has a high “glass transition temperature,” which allows plastics to stay dry and durable when they come into contact with boiling hot water.

​Thanks to successful vaccination campaigns, South Sudan and Sudan officially eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus. Neonatal tetanus is a silent but preventable killer that claims the lives of newborns within their first days of life, particularly in settings with unsafe delivery practices and poor umbilical cord care.

Animals

College students invent interactive ‘enrichment wall’ for zoo elephants that plays music only they can hear

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People doing good

This athlete ran the Boston Marathon to raise money for cancer research in honor of his late brother

On September 17, 2019, at just 30 years old, GJ Gerner passed away from glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer.

Seven years later, Colin Gerner ran the Boston Marathon to honor his late brother and their shared nonprofit: StacheStrong.

As the No. 2 global fundraiser for the race, StacheStrong announced a $1,000,000, five-year grant to accelerate glioblastoma research at the Massachusetts General Hospital, with the hopes of better understanding how the cancer evolves and how to treat it.

Gerner said, “For me, this is one step (or 26.2 miles) closer to flipping the script on brain cancer.”

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More Good bits

🐢 You can adopt a sea turtle nest!

🦥 Taylor and Travis (Baby Sloth Version).

🎓 No notes on this Harrison’s graduation speech. (TikTok)

🗿 A one-of-a-kind museum wants to give away its entire collection.

🦜 Art and science are bringing birds back to lost habitats.

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