Reading news stories can be incredibly overwhelming. Sometimes it feels like only bad things are happening around the world. Bad news stories are important because they keep everyone informed and address topics that may be uncomfortable. Maya and Brie decided to start a series in the Corral with a few pieces of good and bad news to keep everyone on their toes. If you hear about any (good or bad) news stories that you think we should put in the paper, feel free to message @pchpublications on Instagram or leave a comment on the online version of this story on pchcorral.com. We will give you a shoutout in the paper for the story idea!

Elementary School Garden: 

Students at Summit Elementary School in Butler, Pennsylvania have created a garden dedicated to providing a nearby elementary school fresh produce. Teachers use the garden as a learning opportunity as well. They teach math lessons about probability and science lessons about effects on the foods they grow. The students have been growing the produce for nearly two years now and the teachers say they are doing an excellent job. They even got a $70,000 grant from Remake Learning/Grable Foundation to build a farmstand at Broad Street Elementary, which will help further bring the fresh produce into that neighborhood. 

Monkey War in Japan:

Over the summer in Yamaguchi, Japan, a gang of macaque monkeys injured nearly 50 people, attacking adults, children, and the elderly. The leader monkey, who was four years old and only half a meter tall, was captured and tranquilized when he was found on the grounds of a high school by specially commissioned hunters. This didn’t matter, however, because the gang appointed a new leader shortly thereafter. Specific incidents include a four-year-old girl scratched after a monkey broke into her apartment, and one monkey entering a kindergarten classroom.

A House Full of Doodles: 

Sam Cox, an artist from the United Kingdom, fulfilled his childhood dream of filling his entire house with self-drawn doodles. His professional name is “Mr. Doodle” and he covered every inch of his house in his artwork; from toilets, to bedding, to floorboards. He spent nearly three years working on the house with his wife, Alena, who is also an artist. Cox’s Instagram post about the project claims that he used 900 liters of white paint, 401 cans of black spray paint, 286 bottles of black drawing paint and 2296 pens. 

An Old Man in Arby’s:

Doug Parker, a 97-year-old man in Chandler, Arizona, goes to lunch at Arby’s every single day for nearly three years, and orders the exact same meal each time. Known to the Arby’s employees as “Mr. Doug,” he quickly got to know them and explained that he was a decorated World War II veteran without any family, living in the retirement home down the street. Mr. Doug’s order was eventually memorized by every employee who worked during his lunchtime: “a roast beef slider with the Swiss melted and a Coke with no ice.” Although it’s normal to have a favorite food you feel like you could eat for the rest of your life, this usually isn’t something people actually follow through with. However with this Arby’s sandwich being among the few things he can eat without getting a stomach ache, and without family to care for him, Doug had to get it himself every single day. 

Newlyweds Save Babies: 

An American couple, Doran Smith and David Squillante, had a delayed honeymoon due to the pandemic. They finally arrived in Barcelona, Spain for their belated trip, when things took quite the turn. The couple noticed women running through the streets claiming that a building was on fire. Squillante and Smith without a second thought ran towards the danger and discovered that the building on fire was a nursery full of babies. The couple, along with a few other good samaritans came to the rescue and carefully got all of the children out of the building. 

Strikes in Greece:

Workers walked off the job in Greece and Belgium on Wednesday, Nov. 9 during nationwide strikes against increasing consumer prices, forcing flight cancellations and shutting down public services in protests over the rising cost of living. In Greece, where workers were holding a 24-hour general strike, thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki. Clashes broke out at the end of demonstrations in both cities, with small groups of protesters breaking off from the main march to throw Molotov cocktails and rocks at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades. The strike disrupted services around the country, with ferries tied up in port, severing connections to Greece’s islands, state-run schools shut, and public hospitals running with reduced staff and most public transportation grinding to a standstill. 

Rocket Delay (Again):

NASA is again postponing the launch of its new moon rocket due to a storm threatening the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket was originally set to launch on Tuesday, Sept. 27, but was then postponed due to Hurricane Ian. The delay was supposed to end on Tuesday, Nov. 8, but the upcoming Tropical Storm Nicole pushed that date even further. The storm is expected to hit Florida’s Atlantic coastline as a Category 1 hurricane in the next few days. The $4.1 billion mission will send an empty crew capsule around the moon and back as a test before 2025, when astronauts will embark on NASA’s first moon landing since Apollo 17 in Dec. 1972. Although this is a big breakthrough in the space community, who knows if the rocket will ever get the chance to shoot for the moon?  

Patagonia Switches From Capitalism to Climate:

The founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, became a billionaire through his company. Chouinard decided it was time to step back from his company this previous September. Instead of selling it or taking it public, Chouinard transferred his ownership of Patagonia to a nonprofit organization and a trust. The company is valued at about $3 billion. Chouinard wants to ensure that his company is independent and all of its profits are used to fight climate change and protect the environment as a whole. Yvon Chouinard is setting an example for wealthy people across the globe to give back to the planet rather than taking from it. 

World Cup Injustices in Qatar:

Qatar FIFA World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman has stated that “homosexuality is damage in the mind.” Because being gay in “haram,” meaning forbidden according to Islamic law, it is illegal in the country of Qatar, which is causing an uproar amongst the 32 soccer teams planning to travel there for the World Cup starting on November 20. Salman went on to say that they will accept everyone who comes, “but they will have to accept our rules.” The awarding of the tournament to Qatar has been strongly criticized due to the human rights situation in the Gulf state and the treatment of foreign workers. FIFA President Gianni Infantino urges the participating nations in the 2022 World Cup to just “focus on football” when the tournament kicks off, to which Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice Steve Cockburn responded, “If Infantino wants the world to ‘focus on football,’ there is a simple solution: FIFA could finally start tackling the serious human rights issues rather than brushing them under the carpet.”