Liberal_in_LA
Liberal_in_LA's Journal61 year old man walks 35 miles one way to work as janitor to support sick wife. $9.07/hr
DAVIS CITY, Ia. – Steve Simoff's daily commute to and from work can be more than a full-time job.
His route stretches 35 miles from this "deader-than-a-doornail" small town near the Missouri border all the way north to Lakeside Casino in Osceola.
And Simoff, 61, often hoofs it to work. That's right, he walks along Interstate Highway 35, the lone figure striding along the shoulder of the road, dwarfed by semitrailer trucks that whoosh by at 70 miles per hour.
He doesn't clock in until 11 p.m. for his overnight shift as a janitor. But to give himself time to get there on foot, he bounds out of the front door of his basement apartment at 3:30 p.m.
On those days, his 2002 Ford Windstar minivan with 105,000 miles on its odometer stays parked in the driveway. The Simoffs haven't always had a car. But even now that they do, gas money is tight
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/kyle-munson/2015/02/28/walking-commuter-steve-simoff-davis-city-osceola-casino/24198793/___
Her disability — Renee's Supplemental Security Income checks add a little cushion to Simoff's $9.07-per-hour job — prodded Simoff to walk to work on a more regular basis.
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Lately, Simoff has been hitching a ride most of the way home with a co-worker who lives in Leon, leaving him a morning jaunt of barely more than eight miles.
students find popular teacher hanged in classroom, lower her to floor
A popular 31-year-old photography teacher was found hanging inside an Orange County high school classroom by students as they arrived to school on Monday,
The woman, identified by police as Jillian Jacobson, was found hanging from the ceiling at El Dorado High School in Placentia.
"The preliminary investigation indicates it was a suicide," said Placentia police Lt. Eric Point.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-teacher-dead-at-el-dorado-high-school-20150302-story.html
The teacher's husband was notified and grief counselors were summoned to the campus. Afternoon classes were canceled.
The students flagged down another teacher who let them in the classroom, where they found the photography instructor. Together they lowered the teacher to the floor, authorities said.
Leonard Nimoy "the full body project" championed body diversity for women _ photographs
Sci-fi hero, acting mentor... and very risque photographer! Leonard Nimoy's passion for photography that championed women with fuller figures celebrated after his death
Nimoy's collection The Full Body Project from 2007 featured obese women photographed in the nude
His subjects are the plus-size burlesque group The Fat-Bottom Revue from San Francisco
Pictures feature the women dancing, laughing and proudly staring straight into the camera
Nimoy said the book was a 'direct response to the pressure women face to conform to a size two'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2974629/Leonard-Nimoy-s-passion-photography-celebrated-death-championed-models-fuller-figures.html
actress tells minorities to stop stealing white super hero roles
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/01/michelle-rodriguez-superhero-movies_n_6778732.htmlWhen TMZ asked Rodriguez on Friday if she was "going to be the Green Lantern," the actress responded, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Because of this whole 'minorities in Hollywood' thing ... It's so stupid. Stop stealing all the white people's superheroes. Make up your own."
The 36-year-old took to Facebook on Saturday to clarify the meaning behind her statements. In the video, Rodriguez first apologizes to those offended.
"I want to clarify about my comment yesterday. I stuck my foot in my mouth once again, and I said that people should stop trying to steal white people superheroes," she said. "I guess it got taken out of context because a lot of people got offended ... but I have a tendency to speak without a filter, so sorry about that."
The "Furious 7" star continued on to say that she wants to see more minority writers and producers create their own original characters for minorities.
What I really meant was, ultimately at the end of the day there's a language. And the language that you speak in Hollywood is successful franchise. And I think that there are many cultures in Hollywood that are not white that can come up with their own mythology ... I'm just saying that instead of trying to turn a girl character into a guy or instead of trying to turn a white character into a black character or Latin character, I think that people should stop being lazy, and that people should actually make an effort in Hollywood to develop their own mythology.
Homeless Man Helps Push Cars Up Hill In Snow Storm, Internet Rewards Him For Kind Act. 16k thru gofu
After snow snarled a Colorado commute, a homeless man's kind acts were caught on camera. Now, he's receiving an outpouring of generosity in return.
Local news station KOAA filmed Shelby Hudgens, a homeless man, helping to push strangers' cars up a hill during a snow storm in Colorado last weekend. The deed moved many viewers and one of them, Sarah Webster, set up a GoFundMe page to help Hudgens out. The fundraiser was created on Monday, and, as of Friday morning, people had donated more than $8,000.
Hudgens said he was shocked.
"I'm amazed" he said in a video uploaded to YouTube. "There are no words that can express the gratitude that I really have for all of this."
Hudgens was left homeless after his house burned down in November and has since been living in his car with his dog, Black Jack, according to the fundraising page. After word of his compassion spread, strangers contacted the man with offers to help. According to the KOAA, one viewer paid for a hotel room for the man, and another even offered him a job.
Hudgens says he appreciates all the kindness he's been receiving and hopes that with the fundraising money, he can work toward a new beginning. He plans on finding an apartment he can stay in with his dog and eventually starting school so he can pursue his passion -- a career in the medical field -- the fundraising page indicates.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/27/homeless-man-push-cars_n_6762930.html
mom and newborn
What should we call her?: Unnamed baby gorilla born at the Lincoln Park Zoo
The Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago welcomed a yet to be named baby gorilla this week that will be on view for visitors on Saturday
The baby does not yet have a name but the zoo is taking suggestions from donors
The newborn will join six other gorillas including her 2-year-old half-sisters Nayembi and Patty, born at the zoo in fall 2012
She will also be on view with her dad Kwan, a 25-year-old silverback and her 27-year-old mom Bahati in the zoo's Regenstein Center for African Apes
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2973171/What-call-Unnamed-baby-gorilla-born-Lincoln-Park-Zoo.html#ixzz3T4a9OMwL
Wisconsin suspended 34% of all its enrolled black secondary students in 2011-12
Study finds large racial disparities in how some school districts suspend students
According to the report titled "Are We Closing the School Discipline Gap?," huge racial disparities exist in a relatively small number of school districts across the country. For example, schools in the area in and around St. Louis, Missouri, which erupted in riots following the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman last year, suspend black students more frequently than white students, researchers said.
The state of Missouri now ranks first in the nation for having the largest gap in the way its elementary schools suspend black students compared to white students and fourth in the nation at the secondary level. Statewide, elementary schools in Missouri suspended 14.4 percent of their black students at least once in 2011-12 compared to 1.8 percent of white students. At the secondary level, Wisconsin ranked No. 1 by suspending 34 percent of all enrolled black students in a single year, producing a 30-point gap between blacks and whites.
Also, the report showed that Florida schools suspended students most frequently at both elementary and secondary levels. The Sunshine State suspended 5.1 percent of its elementary students and 19 percent of its secondary students just in 2011-12, the latest data available.
While K-12 data reported by the nation's more than 12,000 school districts was released last year, the U.S. Department of Education has never attempted, according to the researchers, the type of statistical breakout made possible by the UCLA center.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-02-large-racial-disparities-school-districts_1.html#jCp
Oregon first-grader humiliated by school’s punishment after being 1 minute late to class
ttp://kfor.com/2015/02/26/its-our-fault-parents-angry-about-6-year-olds-punishment-for-being-late/
The family of an Oregon first-grader is outraged that his school forced the boy to sit by himself during lunch as punishment for being late.
The boy’s grandmother, Laura Hoover, took to Facebook to protest his retribution with photos of Hunter sulking into a cardboard wall blocking his view of a cafeteria bustling with his peers.
“His momma’s car sometimes doesn’t like to start right up. Sometimes he’s a couple minutes late to school. Yesterday, he was one minute late,” Hoover wrote. “This is what his momma discovered they do to punish him.”
His mother, Nicole Garloff, came to check on little Hunter at Lincoln Elementary in Grants Pass on Tuesday and ended up taking him home. She found him staring at his stark food tray in tears over the whole ordeal.
He had already been upset that morning, she said.
Lincoln Elementary officials issued a statement Thursday regarding the seemingly unusual punishment for a young child after an outpour of phone calls inundated the school district, the Oregonian reported.
Tennessee police buy groceries for elderly woman who lived off a jar of peanut butter for one week
A 78-year-old Tennessee woman called police for help with her food emergency.
Police in Knoxville said they received a call from a "confused or distressed" woman and were shocked when they arrived to discover the only food in her house was a half-eaten jar of peanut butter, the department said on its Facebook page.
The desperate woman finally called police to ask for food Tuesday.
She told the officers that arrived at her home she had been rationing the jar for the past seven days.
The woman, whose identity was not revealed, told police she had not reached out for help before because she didn't want to be a burden, but had become desperate due to her dire situation, police said.
She also said she didn't know where to go for help.
But the two officers immediately went to a local grocery store and bought her groceries.
They also registered her with the Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries so she could receive more food and prepared meals, according to TV Station WATE.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/police-woman-78-living-jar-peanut-butter-article-1.2130643
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