👶 Heroes Save Baby from Lake Michigan

Good morning. We’re starting this morning off with a wild one…in Chicago, strangers teamed up to save a baby from Lake Michigan, acting before anyone had time to hesitate.

At a Las Vegas airport, a stray dog found a new home with the officer who rescued him. The dog was affectionately renamed JetBlue, and 10 days after the hold, Officer Black, who had confronted JetBlue’s former owner, arrived with his family to complete the adoption paperwork.

And in Australia, ancient Egyptian artifacts stolen from a museum were recovered just a day later. Each story stands out for the way people responded in the moment, sometimes changing a life or saving a piece of history.

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—Stephanie S

On a windy afternoon at Belmont Harbor in Chicago, 30-year-old Lio Cundiff was on the phone with his aunt when a fierce gust of wind was followed by a woman’s scream. In an instant, he realized what had happened: the wind had caught a stroller’s bassinet and blown it straight into Lake Michigan, baby and all. With the caregiver frozen in panic, Cundiff didn’t hesitate. “I guess I’m going in,” he recalled thinking before jumping into the cold water without any real plan.

Reaching the stroller, he found he couldn’t immediately free the infant. Instead, he focused on keeping it from sinking, lifting the top half out of the water while treading with more than 30 pounds of soaking wet stroller in his arms. That’s when a second rescuer, American Airlines pilot Luis Kapost, arrived and quickly assessed the situation.

Seeing Cundiff struggling to stay afloat, Kapost tossed him the sleeve of his Chicago Cubs jacket and anchored him from shore, helping stabilize both man and stroller. With that support, and help from the baby’s nanny, the stroller was lifted from the lake. First responders soon arrived and transported both Cundiff and the infant to the hospital.

Thankfully, the baby was safe. Cundiff, who later learned he had elevated heart enzymes from the ordeal and stayed overnight for monitoring, brushed off the praise. Kapost called him “the epitome of a hero,” but Cundiff described himself simply as a server and stand-up comedian in the right place at the right time, a reminder that sometimes heroism is just the courage to act.

A goldendoodle named JetBlue was abandoned at the Las Vegas airport after his owner tried to board a flight without proper paperwork. When the owner left him tied to a baggage rack, police stepped in, and animal services took over.

Officer Skeeter Black, who helped with the case, couldn’t stop thinking about the pup. After the required hold, he and his family adopted JetBlue.

It’s a sweet reminder that sometimes the best travel stories don’t involve a plane ticket. Read the full story for a smile.

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China’s Yangtze River is making a comeback. After years of pollution and overfishing, a 10-year fishing ban and a $2.7 billion investment to help 200,000 fishermen find new work are paying off.

Fish populations have tripled, and even the rare Yangtze finless porpoise is bouncing back. It’s a rare win for river restoration on a massive scale.

Curious how a river can recover so quickly? Dive into the full story for a hopeful look at what’s possible.

A wild museum heist in Australia had a happy twist: four ancient Egyptian artifacts, including a 2,600-year-old cat figurine and a funerary mask, were stolen but recovered just one day later. Police tracked down the suspect and found the treasure safe in his camper van.

The Abbey Museum’s collection is back where it belongs, ready to keep telling stories from a million years of human history.

Curious how the chase unfolded? It’s a quick, satisfying read.

🏐 Texas: High school volleyball players and seniors at a Belton community have formed a heartwarming friendship through regular chair volleyball games.

🤗 Spain: Defying Europe’s crackdowns, Spain will grant legal status to around 500,000 undocumented migrants.

🔻 UK: Homicides in England and Wales fell to 499 in the last year, the lowest level in almost half a century.

🌏 China/India: For the first time since the 1970s, both China and India cut their coal power use as booming solar and wind energy met demand.

🏞️ Virginia: Lawmakers are creating a new state park at Oak Hill to preserve its natural beauty and history as a public treasure.

298 years ago today, John Wood the Younger was born, the architect who helped shape Bath into one of the most romantic and harmonious cityscapes in Britain. Building on the ambitious legacy of his father, John Wood the Elder, he completed the Circus and linked it to Queen Square via Gay Street, creating a sweeping Georgian vision in stone. Together, these works form the architectural heart of Bath, a city already steeped in Roman history.

His masterpiece, however, is the Royal Crescent, a 500-foot arc of 30 terraced houses laid out in Palladian splendor. With 114 Ionic columns along its façade, the Crescent appears uniform from the front, yet reveals a patchwork of individualized homes at the rear, an approach often described as “Queen Anne fronts and Mary Anne backs.” Designed as “rus in urbe,” or countryside within the city, it overlooks parkland separated by a cleverly hidden ha-ha ditch that preserves uninterrupted views. The Royal Crescent remains one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture outside London.

Other notable February 25 events:

1870: Hiram Rhodes Revels became the first Black member of the U.S. Congress.

1925: President Calvin Coolidge protected Glacier Bay under the Antiquities Act, which later became Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

1941: Citizens of Amsterdam staged mass protests against Nazi anti-Jewish laws.

1956: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced Joseph Stalin’s brutality in a historic speech.

— Joseph Joubert

Every day brings amazing advances and uplifting moments that remind us just how wonderful the world can be. Here are five reasons why today is the best time ever to be alive:

🌍 Student Exchange: International student exchange programs are promoting cultural understanding and global cooperation.

🌾 Seed Bombs: Seed bomb initiatives are greening barren lands by dispersing native plant seeds via drones.

🌞 Solar Irrigation: Solar-powered irrigation systems are improving crop yields in regions with unreliable rainfall.

🔬 Lead Reduction: Global campaigns are reducing lead exposure, resulting in healthier children worldwide.

🧬 Pathology Tech: Advanced tools are helping doctors analyze pathology slides faster, accelerating cancer diagnoses.

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