USA Presidency: Sen. Bernie Sanders To Run As A Democrat

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Promising to fight what he deems "obscene levels" of income disparity and a campaign finance system that is a "real disgrace," independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday he will run for president as a Democrat.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Sanders confirmed his plans to formally join the race Thursday.

The self-described "democratic socialist" enters the race as a robust liberal alternative to Hillary Rodham Clinton, and he pledged to do more than simply raise progressive issues or nudge the former secretary of state to the left in a campaign in which she is heavily favored.

"People should not underestimate me," Sanders said. "I've run outside of the two-party system, defeating Democrats and Republicans, taking on big-money candidates and, you know, I think the message that has resonated in Vermont is a message that can resonate all over this country."

As he has for months in prospective campaign stops in the early voting states, and throughout his political career, the former mayor of Burlington, Vermont, on Wednesday assailed an economic system that he said has devolved over the past 40 years and eradicated the nation's middle class.

"What we have seen is that while the average person is working longer hours for lower wages, we have seen a huge increase in income and wealth inequality, which is now reaching obscene levels," Sanders told the AP.

"This is a rigged economy, which works for the rich and the powerful, and is not working for ordinary Americans. ... You know, this country just does not belong to a handful of billionaires."

The son of an immigrant from Poland who sold paint for a living in Brooklyn, Sanders has for decades championed working-class Americans. He lost several statewide races in the 1970s before he was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981, and went on to represent Vermont in the U.S. House for 16 years before his election to the Senate in 2006.

An independent in the Senate, he caucuses with Democrats in Washington and he is likely to attract some interest from voters who have unsuccessfully sought to draft Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to join the race.

But Sanders rejected the idea his appeal is limited to voters on the left, boldly predicting Wednesday that his message would appeal to both fellow independents and Republicans.

Sanders said he would release "very specific proposals" to raise taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations, as well as offer tuition-free education at all public colleges and universities. He touched on his past opposition to free-trade agreements, his support for heavier regulations of Wall Street and the nation's banking industry, and his vote against the Keystone XL oil pipeline as a preview of his campaign.

"So to me, the question is whose views come closer to representing the vast majority of working people in this country," Sanders said. "And you know what? I think my views do."

The 73-year-old Sanders starts his campaign as an undisputed underdog against Clinton. Sanders said he has known the former first lady, senator from New York and secretary of state for more than two decades. "I respect her and like her," he said.

He noted he has "never run a negative ad in my life," but still drew a distinction with Clinton in the interview, promising to talk "very strongly about the need not to get involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East."

"I voted against the war in Iraq," he said. "Secretary Clinton voted for it when she was in the Senate."

Clinton is hosting a series of fundraisers this week, starting what could be an effort that raises more than $1 billion. Sanders said he will make money and politics a central theme of his campaign, including a call for a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, which he blames for unleashing a torrent of money from wealthy donors into politics.

"What you're looking at here is a real disgrace," he said. "It is an undermining of American democracy.

"But can we raise the hundreds of millions of dollars that we need, primarily through small campaign contributions to run a strong campaign? And I have concluded that I think there is a real chance that we can do that."

Sanders is the first major challenger to enter the race against Clinton, who earlier this month became the first Democrat to formally declare her intention to run for president. He is likely to be joined in the coming months by former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and ex-Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee.

http://news.yahoo.com/vermont-sen-bernie-sanders-am-running-president-000144179--election.html

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Out With The Dangerous Mob, Boy's Mum Smacks Him In The Open

Baltimore Mom Toya Graham's Son-Smacking During Riot a ‘Teachable Moment’

When Baltimore mother-of-six Toya Graham went into the heart of the city’s violence Monday and pulled her teen son from the street – hitting him and yelling at him along the way – she grabbed the attention of not just her son but the entire nation.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts praised Graham, saying on Monday, “I wish I had more parents who took charge of their kids tonight.”

Graham, a single mother, told CBS News people took to her son’s

Facebook page to voice support for her actions.

"Friends and everybody making comments and saying you know, you shouldn't be mad at your mother, you should give her a hug," Graham said of son Michael, 16.

While the intent of Graham’s actions – saving her son from the violence and scolding him for taking part – was universally praised, some questioned her tactics: yelling, cursing at and hitting her son.

Parenting psychiatrist Dr. Janet Taylor calls Graham a “power mom” who was “saving her son.”

“So often as parents it’s all about discipline, which is teaching, and not punishment and she taught him a lesson he will never forget,” Taylor said today on “Good Morning America.” “She was taking control. She was desperate to show her son and save her son.

“Teens crave limits and they crave boundaries,” Taylor said. “I’m sure there are a lot of kids who wish that their mother had the guts and love to come and extend a hand to save them.”

Graham told CBS News she left a doctor's appointment with her daughter when she heard the news of rioting at the same location she says her son had told her about previously.

"To see my son come across the street with a rock in his hand, I think at that point I just lost it," she said.

The riots began Monday afternoon shortly after the funeral for Freddie Gray, the Baltimore man who died with an unexplained spinal injury he suffered after police took him into custody.

More than 250 arrests and injuries to at least 20 police officers occurred Monday night into Tuesday.

“It’s one of those things where you need to make a big impact,” Lindsay Powers, editorial director of Yahoo Parenting, said of Graham’s actions.

“It’s a really high-powered moment. It’s not like you can just say, ‘Oh, sorry honey, let’s stop and talk about this.’”

Both Powers and Taylor agreed that the violence in Baltimore – and earlier protests seen in towns like Ferguson, Missouri, and Charleston, South Carolina – can be powerful teachable moments for kids.

“I think it’s important to talk about race and injustice and inequality in this world to shine a light on it,” Powers said. “It’s the first step we can make in changing and making a difference.”

Taylor said she uses the moments to teach her four daughters about what to put out into the world.

“I really try to teach them, no matter what, it’s about extending love and kindness and just showing love because there are situations that happen but we really need to inject more love into this world,” Taylor said.

https://gma.yahoo.com/baltimore-mom-toya-grahams-son-smacking-during-riot-163345551--abc-news-topstories.html

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Given Up For Adoption 47 Years Ago, Today Reunites With Mum

 Daughter Given Up for Adoption Reunites With Mom After Decades of Searching

Teresa Stinson said she had spent her whole life wondering who her birth mother was and why she was given up for adoption 47 years ago.

But what she didn’t know until recently was that her birth mother had been searching for her for decades.

Christine “Chris” Shirley, now 66 years old, had often wondered what had happened to her baby girl.

“I gave up hope as the years went on, because I thought, ‘well, when she was in her 30s surely she would want to know ... who her birth parents were,’” Shirley told ABC News' “Nightline.” “And in her 40s ... I was giving up hope.”

But it was her daughter, Teresa, who found her first.

In December 2013, a bill was passed in Ohio that opened adoption records between 1964 and 1995, allowing 400,000 adoptees born in the state a chance to request their birth certificate for the first time ever.

The new bill made Ohio the newest state to allow adoptees to have access to their original birth certificates.

Birth parents were given a one year period to request that their name be redacted from the birth certificate. Once the period expired, adoptees could request their birth certificates. Currently, only 12 states have open adoption records laws.

Betsie Norris of the Adoption Network Cleveland fought for over two decades to unseal the adoption records in Ohio.

“It’s been surreal,” Norris told “Nightline.” “When the bill finally passed after it having so many times that it went down in flames ... it finally sunk in that this is actually really, really, really happening.”

Two of those adoptees were Teresa Stinson, 47, and her sister Vanessa Navis, 44, who were both adopted by the same couple and grew up in Middlebranch, Ohio.

Both came from different birth parents and said they had a happy childhood, but always knew they were adopted and had questions.

“Just millions of questions,” Teresa said. “Where did I come from? Did my birth mother ever think about me?”

When her adopted mother told Teresa that her birth mother loved her but couldn’t take care of her, Teresa said it was difficult for her to take in.

“Even as a young child ... I so internalized that and it became a point that I had a really bad self-image, and I was never good enough,” she said.

But it wasn’t until last month after the new law in Ohio went into effect that she had the first opportunity to find her birth mother because the records were sealed before.

Teresa, now married with two kids, also never thought that her birth mother would be looking for her all these years.

“It was easier for me to believe that I wasn’t good enough,” she said. “It would almost be too painful for me to hope, to have that hope that, ‘gosh, she might be out there looking for me.’”

When the law passed, Teresa applied for her original birth certificate -- she was issued a new one when she was adopted that included her birth date but not who her birth parents were.

Meanwhile, her sister Vanessa started looking online and found the first clue to Teresa’s past in a post on an adoption registry website for birth mothers looking for daughter given up for adoption.

“I came across this adoption registry website and I thought ... ‘I’ll type in Teresa’s birth date,’” Vanessa said. “And then on that registry was her birth mother’s name and that she had registered in 2001. ... I just said, ‘hey, I think I found your birth mother,’ and she’s like, ‘what?’”

The post revealed that Teresa’s birth mother had attended Lake High School more than 40 years ago -- the same school where Teresa’s son was now a student.

So, Teresa and her husband went to Lake High School to look through old yearbooks from 1964 to 1967, hoping to find an old portrait of her birth mother.

“The first thing I wanted to do is look at pictures and see kind of what their lives were like in high school and see if I can glean anything from that, see if I was maybe really ... like her, if we had anything in common,” Teresa said.

But until she had her birth certificate and a name, Teresa couldn’t confirm that the photos she was seeing in the faded black-and-white pages of the old yearbooks showed her birth mother.

When she did finally receive her birth certificate, Teresa chose to wait and open it while attending a support group meeting for adoptees.

Seeing her original birth certificate for the first time, tears started rolling down Teresa’s face.

She learned she had been named Teresa, pronounced "Ter-ESS-a," by her adoptive parents, and her birth mother, then Christina Lewis, whose name she was also learning for the first time, had named her Teresa Lynn, pronounced "Ter-EESE-a," but with the same spelling.

Teresa said her adoptive parents had no idea what name her birth mother had given her.

In seeing her birth name for the first time, Teresa said, “I’m a person of faith and I think this is totally God’s plan, that, I feel like it’s a little wink from him and he’s saying, ‘listen, I have a plan for your life and I’m just going to show you this has been your name all along.’”

And, she added, “It confirmed that I knew my birth mother’s name, which is great. It’s proof that I’m real.”

Knowing her birth mother’s name, Teresa was able to track down her phone number and called her the day after opening her birth certificate. Her birth mother was now Chris Shirley, and she had been waiting for this phone call for 47 years.

“I talked to her for about 15 minutes. She told me that she never wanted to give me up,” Teresa said. “That was really cool to hear that.”

Shortly after that first phone call, Teresa and Chris, who now lived in Orlando, arranged to meet for the first time at Chris’s house. Both were incredibly nervous.

“The last time I saw her, I looked through a glass window and I saw her little fingers and part of her head,” Chris said. “The last thing I said to her was, ‘I love you baby girl,’ and I walked away and that was it. ... I feel a lot of guilt because I wish I had kept her no matter what, no matter how hard it had been, but it didn’t work out that way.”

Upon seeing each other for the first time, Teresa and Chris shared silence more than words at first, hugging for what never seemed like long enough.

Although more than 40 years had passed, for Chris, 1967 has always played strongly in her mind. She said she and Teresa’s birth father were childhood sweethearts. He was her escort on the homecoming court.

She was just 17 years old when she found out she was pregnant.

“[I] wanted to get married. It didn’t work out,” Chris said. “I didn’t want to give her up. I just didn’t want to.”

Back then, it was very shameful for a teenager to be unwed and pregnant, and Chris said she was sent to a home for unwed mothers and stayed there for five months until she gave birth. But she still remembered the day she went into labor on Oct. 17, 1967.

“I was by myself,” Chris said. “I remember waking up at one point and having about 12 nurses at the bottom of my feet watching the delivery for educational purposes, I guess, but I do remember afterwards, my dad came in and kissed me on the forehead, but during actual labor, nobody was with me.”

Afterwards, Chris said she wasn’t allowed to hold her new baby.

“I don’t know why,” she said. “I guess they didn’t want that bonding between the mother and a child.”

Chris went on to later marry and have more children, two sons and a daughter, but she said not a day went by that she didn’t think about Teresa.

Chris has now been married for 45 years and said she told her husband from the beginning that she always wanted to find the daughter she had given up.

“[The family] all knew about it,” she said. “But I never stopped thinking about her, even though I had three children of my own.”

When Chris was pregnant with one of her sons, she said was due to give birth around the same time that Teresa had been born, so she said she asked the doctor to induce early so that her son’s birthday would be different than Teresa’s.

Jimmy was born on Oct. 15, Chris said. “I didn’t want it [to be] the same date. ... I just felt like I wanted to save that date special for her. ... I wanted it to be her day.”

“I felt guilt all the time, even though I had another daughter,” she continued. “I felt like God blessed me with three children, but I left one behind.”

Hearing Chris’ story was emotional for both women, and their reunion now was bittersweet, joyous to have finally found each other and be together again, but hard to relive the years of pain of leaving Teresa behind. But, Teresa said for the first time, she finally felt “complete.”

“This is really funny because I feel validation for my personality, I see where I got my personality,” Teresa said. “It’s weird, same mannerisms.”

Mother and daughter would also learn that they shared a lot in common. They both like the same foods and blue flowers. They both are claustrophobic and enjoy gardening.

“When we met, it was like she was never gone,” Teresa said.

ABC News reached Teresa's birth father and when asked for comment, he said that he was happy she connected and that his family has been thinking about her for years.

As Teresa and her birth mother start this new chapter, Teresa’s sister Vanessa was inspired to search for her own birth mother and has started researching her past.

https://gma.yahoo.com/daughter-given-adoption-reunites-mom-decades-searching-230224387--abc-news-topstories.html

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A 'Flying Bicycle' - Wonders Shall Never End

 Gyrocopter Was Detected by Radar Before Landing at Capitol, Pilot Deserves Stiffer Penalty, Officials Say

The man who flew what he called a “flying bicycle” through restricted airspace above the nation’s capital and landed near the U.S. Capitol two weeks ago was picked up by government radars, but those radars weren't able to distinguish the small aircraft from birds or even pockets of weather, so no alarms were sounded, U.S. officials told lawmakers today.

In a separate hearing before lawmakers, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson called for tougher penalties in such cases, saying the four years behind bars that gyrocopter pilot Doug Hughes, 61, of Ruskin, Florida, is now facing isn't enough.

Johnson said Hughes' stunt "constitutes a threat to public safety, not just to the intruder but to those on the ground.”

Gyrocopter 'Should Have Been Blown Out of the Air'

Gyrocopter Pilot Wasn't Worried About Getting Shot Down

Gyrocopter Pilot Expected to Be Stopped on Way to Capitol Lawn

After all, as FAA Administrator Michael Huerta acknowledged in written testimony submitted to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, federal officials didn't even realize that Hughes had breached restricted airspace.

"On April 15, Mr. Hughes’ gyrocopter appeared on our radar as one of those small, unidentified elements," Huerta said. "All available information about the slow moving, irregular symbol made it indistinguishable from other non-aircraft radar tracks."

In his testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, DHS chief Johnson said tougher penalties for such breaches would act "as a deterrent," and "we should consider enhancing the penalties for those types of offenses."

Hughes is charged in federal court with one count of knowingly operating an aircraft not properly registered and one count of violating national air defense space. In addition to a total of four years behind bars, Hughes faces substantial fines for his act of civil disobedience, which he hoped would bring attention to the issue of campaign finance reform.

“To me that [penalty] is completely inadequate based on the extent that Mr. Hughes put other lives in jeopardy,” said the chairman of the Senate committee, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., agreeing with the DHS secretary's assessment.

Aircraft that fly around Washington, D.C., airspace are required to be equipped with a transponder.

According to Huerta's testimony, “Anything that doesn’t have a transponder shows up as a symbol resembling a simple small dot on the radar screen -- and there are typically many of them across a controller’s radar screen.”

Many of those dots are filtered out of what FAA controllers see on their screens. These dots “could be things like vehicles on nearby roadways, flocks of birds, weather events, or occasional kites or balloons,” Huerta says.

An unfiltered radar feed is shared with the Department of Defense and other agencies, so those entities can apply their own filters to the data.

After the aircraft landed, the radar data was analyzed.

According to Huerta: “A trained radar analyst identified a slow-moving symbol that traveled from Gettysburg [Pennsylvania] toward the Capitol, and vanished from radar at about the time Mr. Hughes landed on the West Lawn. We now believe that unidentified radar element was Mr. Hughes’ gyrocopter. The dot appeared only intermittently throughout the flight.”

Testimony from NORTHCOM/NORAD commander Adm. William Gortney corroborates the new insight into what the government’s network of sensors saw: The aircraft was detected, but it was not sifted out from clutter to distinguish it from other objects.

“Through post-event analysis, what we now understand is that the gyrocopter was detected by several of the integrated sensors as it approached and transited through the SFRA (special flight rules area).

However, the aircraft’s flight parameters fell below the threshold necessary to differentiate aircraft from weather, terrain, birds and other slow-flying objects so as to ensure that the systems and those operating them focus on that which poses the greatest threat,” Adm. Gortney’s testimony states.

Gortney acknowledges that, “Identifying low-altitude and slow-speed aerial vehicles from other objects is a technical and operational challenge.”

Testimony from the U.S. Capitol Police, U.S. Park Police, U.S. Secret Service and Sergeant at Arms largely confirms what was already known publicly about the incident based on ABC News reporting and statements from the Tampa Bay Times. A Tampa Bay Times reporter called the Secret Service and the Capitol Police at around 1 p.m. on April 15 -- approximately 20 minutes before the gyrocopter landed.

The Tampa Bay Times reporter, according to testimony from U.S. Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine, called the Capitol Police and advised them that video of the flight could be seen on a live stream. At 1:07 p.m., the Capitol Police “went to the provided website but did not find the live feed noted by the individual from the Time Bay Times.”

The Capitol Police also attempted to “validate any prohibited airspace overflight information” with the National Capitol Region Coordination Center, where other government agencies like NORAD and the FAA could share information.

The aircraft landed at 1:23 p.m.

The review by authorities is ongoing and agencies are working to develop short and long-term approaches to handling the threat posed by low- and slow-flying aircraft.

https://gma.yahoo.com/florida-mans-gyrocopter-detected-radar-landing-capitol-lawn-024535155--abc-news-topstories.html

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A New Beginning In 'Old Fort'

Remote Island Hotel Breathes New Life Into Old Fort

 The name -– No Man’s Fort -– certainly isn’t welcoming.

But the just-opened hotel on a man-made island in the middle of the Solent is taking guest reservations.

Located on the straight that separates the Isle of Wight from mainland England, the hotel is accessible by boat via Portsmouth.

 It was built in 1867 to protect Portsmouth, according to its owners.

It’s the second in a series of three fort openings planned by AmaZing Venues.

With 23 rooms, the hotel can accommodate not only overnight guests, but day visitors and events.

An overnight stay costs about $690 and includes breakfast.

No Man’s Fort includes two helicopter pads, a nightclub, laser tag, games rooms, snooker room, meeting space, rooftop hot-pool, glass- floored lighthouse, gallery restaurant, wine bar and spa facilities.

https://gma.yahoo.com/remote-island-hotel-breathes-life-old-fort-154034950--abc-news-travel.html

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What's Cyndi Lauper's Latest Outing? - Find Out Here

 Cyndi Lauper Goes to Washington to Help End LGBT Homelessness

 "True Colors” star Cyndi Lauper wants to be “a voice for homeless youth” who have been “disenfranchised from life” because of their sexual identity, she said during a visit to Capitol Hill today.

The "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” singer -- who left home at age 17 after her stepfather allegedly threatened to rape her and her sister -- told lawmakers she was moved by the plight of New York City’s homeless LGBT youth.

“Basically, the kids come out and they get thrown out,” Lauper said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on youth homelessness, chaired by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. “Truth is, they didn’t choose their identity. You know, it’s like you choosing the color of your eyes. You know, you’re born that way.”

"Listening to these stories, it changed me,” she added. “Maybe there’s something I can do besides just being a famous person and singing to them.”

Lauper, 61, founded the “True Colors Fund” in 2008 to end gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender homelessness.

Though LGBT children make up only 7 percent of the youth population, they represent about 40 percent of all homeless youth in America, she said today.

Through research in partnership with various organizations, the Fund has identified these homeless youth need “the same thing that any grownup would need” – housing, education and job training, social/emotional well-being, and “permanent connections that provide stability."

But Lauper said her ultimate goal is preventing LGBT youth homelessness entirely.

And today, she urged parents who may be uncomfortable with their children’s sexual identity to practice tolerance.

“If it’s a faith issue, I implore you not to pray to God to change your kid,” she said. “Pray to God to change your heart."

https://gma.yahoo.com/cyndi-lauper-goes-washington-help-end-lgbt-homelessness-181849212--abc-news-music.html

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Tim McGraw - Not Comfortable With His Daughters Bringing Boyfriends Home

Tim McGraw Opens Up About Being a Dad to Three Daughters

As the father of three teenagers, Tim McGraw is beginning to deal with his daughters bringing boyfriends around.

However, he insists he's "not too tough."

"I mean, I have sledgehammer. I want it to be visceral," he joked during an appearance on Rachael Ray's talk show.

"No, I'm not that tough. I mean, I try to act like I am, but I just want them to be happy. I want them to have a good time."

McGraw, 47, and his wife Faith Hill, also 47, have three kids, Gracie, Maggie and Audrey. The girls' male friends have taken a shine to Hill, he said.

"She's pretty sweet. She's sweet to the guys, yeah," he said. "They love her they like her better than they do me, of course."

But he understands the appeal. McGraw, who married Hill shortly after meeting her in 1996, recalled the "coolest" gift his wife ever gave him, noting that yes, it was a sentimental gesture too.

"When we first started dating in 1996, we were touring together and I had this ‘71 Cutlass that I’d bought with some of the first money I’d ever made. So I bought this ‘71 Cutlass And I was pulling it around on a trailer, and I was courting her in this car, and my uncle had told me, 'Look, if you ever make love to a woman playing ‘Samba Pa Ti’ by Carlos Santana and then you’re going to have to marry her,'" he said. "So I had it on loop in my car all the time. Just in case I got lucky. which took a long time, but I married her! But she took that car and she had it redone for me [for my 40th birthday]."

https://gma.yahoo.com/tim-mcgraw-opens-being-dad-three-daughters-181238804--abc-news-celebrities.html

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Sam Got Missing In Louisana, Found In Iowa After 4 Years

Dog Found in Iowa Returned to Louisiana Owner After Missing Nearly 4 Years

A teenage girl in Louisiana cried tears of joy when her dog that went missing nearly four years ago was returned to her today.

An animal control worker handed 14-year old Karisa Lambert her 10-year old Yorkshire terrier named Sam at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

"I was overjoyed for my daughter. It's been four years and my family has been through a lot," her father Thomas Lambert of the New Orleans suburb of Bridge City told ABC News. "I lost my father and she lost some people who were very close. To have something good happen to her, I felt great. She never had something good like this happen to her."

At the airport, United Airlines welcomed the dog and family with balloons and refreshments.

"When he saw her, I swear he recognized her and went straight for her.

When I talked to him, he started licking me in the face," Lambert said.

A birthday gift to Karisa from her uncle when she turned 4, Sam went missing in the summer of 2011 after he went through a hole in their backyard fence into the surrounding woods, Lambert said.

Asked if the dog could have been stolen, Lambert said, "Somebody had to take it to Iowa. It had the microchip in it. We were waiting to hear around here if someone found him. They would have called us. After four years, you kind of give up hope."

On April 14, an animal control officer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, brought what was thought to be a stray to the shelter, according to a city press release issued today.

"The Yorkie was in fair condition, but was straggly and weighed only 5 1/2 pounds," according to the press release from the city of Cedar Rapids. "Despite the dog’s condition, Animal Care and Control staff was able to determine that the Yorkie had a microchip."

The next day, the workers contacted the dog's owners, who had listed it as missing more than three years ago in Louisiana.

Lambert, who is a disabled fireman and out of work, initially started a fundraising page to raise $200 or so to bring Sam to Louisiana. But after the family initially raised $255 through a GoFundMe fundraiser, United Airlines paid for Sam's return home in first class with an animal worker.

"He had the presidential treatment," Lambert said.

Lambert said the five donors agreed that the $255 would be used for Sam's care. Sam now has a clean bill of health thanks to his care in Cedar Rapids, he said.

“This just makes all of us feel really, really happy that we can make this miracle come true for this family and their little dog," Cedar Rapids Animal Care and Control program manager Diane Webber said in a statement.

"Sam was found during Animal Control Officer Appreciation Week, and all of us taking care of this dog and finding a way to reunite him with his family really bonded us together in a special way.”

https://gma.yahoo.com/dog-found-iowa-returned-louisiana-owner-missing-nearly-191118294--abc-news-pets.html

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Not Called Man's Best Friend For Nothing

Dog Shows Up at Hospital Where Owner Is Battling Cancer

Call it coincidence or love, but a miniature Schnauzer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, ended up at the hospital where her owner is battling cancer -- even though the dog was originally 20 blocks away at home.

A surveillance camera in the hospital lobby caught the dog entering through the automatic doors and wandering around.

The dog, named Sissy, belongs to Nancy Franck, 64, who has been at Mercy Medical Center for about two weeks following surgery. Her husband, Dale Franck, 66, had been taking care of Sissy and her brother Barney, also a miniature Schnauzer, back home.

“She was on a mission that night to see her mom," Dale Franck told ABC News today, "but she couldn't find the right elevator to take."

He finally got a call at 5:30 a.m. from security officer Samantha Conrad at the hospital, saying she had found his dog, he said.

"She found my number and house address from her tag on her collar," Dale Franck said. "I was so relieved, and I asked my daughter go and pick her up."

The security officer and the hospital did not immediately respond to ABC News' calls for comment.

Dale Franck's daughter got permission to take Sissy up to Nancy Franck for a few minutes, he said.

"She told her mom, 'I got a surprise for you!'" Dale Franck said. "My wife was like, 'How'd you get her in here? Did you sneak her under your coat?"

His daughter said that the "little spoiled brat" ran away from home because she wanted to see her mom, Dale Franck said, though it's unclear how the dog actually got there.

"Nancy and Sissy were able to love each other for a few minutes, and then she went back with me," Dale Franck said. "She's my baby, and though it sounds funny now, it wasn't funny when she was missing. I was worried sick. I'm glad she's OK."

He has one theory about how Sissy might have gotten 20 blocks to his wife.

"The only thing I could think of was that Sissy used to ride with me to pick up my wife from work next door to the hospital," Dale Franck said. "But we've never walked that route before."

Nancy Franck has been battling uterine cancer, and though doctors believe most of the cancer is gone, she is undergoing chemotherapy to make sure, Dale Franck said.

"She has a close relationship with Sissy," he added. "Sissy's 11 now, and we bought her when she was just about 8 weeks old. She came up to me, scratched my leg and fell asleep on my shoulder. I'd say we didn't pick her, she picked us."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/dog-shows-hospital-owner-battling-cancer/story?id=28916913

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Treasure Hunt - Up For Grabs

New Mexico Millionaire Lures Treasure Hunters With Hidden Chest

More than five years ago, art collector and author Forrest Fenn decided to hide a treasure chest in the Rocky Mountains. Since then, he says tens of thousands of people have tried to find it.

The 84-year old millionaire, who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, left clues in his book, “The Thrill of the Chase” -- but so far, no one has been successful.

"I think it's out of control," Fenn told ABC Albuquerque affiliate KOAT, estimating that 30,000 people looked for the treasure last summer and that 50,000 may look for the treasure this 

Fenn has never revealed the value of the treasure chest -- which measures 10 inches by 10 inches -- but the New Mexico Tourism Department estimates the value to be as much as $2 million.

Fenn did reveal that a few have come close to finding it -- some 200 feet away from the hidden spot.

The retired fighter pilot who was shot down twice in Vietnam said in a video produced by the state tourism department that the idea to hide the treasure chest came to him after he was diagnosed in 1988 with terminal cancer.

Fenn told ABC News that the treasure includes 265 gold coins -- "mostly American eagles and double eagles, hundreds of gold nuggets, some as large as chicken eggs, ancient Chinese carved jade figures, Pre-

Columbian gold animal artifacts, lots of rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds and other things."

Fenn said "numerous" people saw the treasure before he hid it, including New York Times best-selling writer Douglas Preston. Fenn told KOAT he is not impatient that people haven't found it.

"I wanted the monetary value to be a consideration for those who are looking for it, but mostly my motive was to get kids off the couch and away from their texting machines and out in the mountains," Fenn told KOAT.

Fenn left nine clues in a poem that was included in his book, he said.

"Somebody could find it tomorrow and it may not be found for a thousand years. I'm looking at the big picture. A lot of people who are searching for the treasure don't see it the same way I do. I would love if someone found it tomorrow but if nobody found it for a hundred years, that's okay with me too."

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/mexico-millionaire-lures-treasure-hunters-hidden-chest/story?id=30642375

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Oh My Gosh! This Is Outrageously Amazing

Man Leaves 7,000 Percent Tip for Waitress Because of Middle School Teacher's Pay It Forward Movement

  

It’s becoming more and more common to leave at least a 20 percent tip when dining out, but one man left his waitress a pretty unheard of gratuity: nearly 7,000 percent.

Mike from New York City left his server $3,000 on a bill for $43.50 last week.

“This woman had been serving us for almost a year now. She’s a lovely individual, and she talked about how she was served an eviction notice last month,” Mike, who asked to remain anonymous, told ABC News. "I just had also been constantly thinking about for quite some time my teacher’s project and this foundation, and I thought it was an appropriate time.”

The foundation he is referring to is “ReesSpecht Life,” a pay-it-forward movement started by his eighth grade science teacher Rich Specht after Specht’s 22-month-old son died in a tragic drowning accident.

In response to his death, Specht and his wife started a pay-it-forward foundation to thank everyone who helped them after their son Richard Edwin-Ehmer Specht’s (nicknamed Rees) funeral.

"We wanted to pay them back, and no one would take anything in return. We thought, ‘if no one will let us pay it back, we’ll pay it forward,’” Specht told ABC News.

He and his wife printed up business cards that encouraged others to pay it forward, initially ordering 5,000 cards. They’ve since distributed more than 100,000 cards worldwide.

"It keeps growing. People keep doing these things. We made our website and we get people to share their stories of what they’ve done,” he explained. “We unofficially call people who do things ‘Rees’ Pieces,’ and I get excited even when someone buys a coffee for someone else and shares it with us.”

Mike took his act a little further to honor his former teacher.

“I met Mr. Specht in eighth grade -- I was his science student – and he’s an incredible human being. To see something so horrible happen to him ... it doesn’t surprise me that he would start a foundation out of something so horrible that would juts continue to keep good around and to keep wonderful things going,”

Mike said. “It was heartwrenching for me to see it happen. I had been trying to pay it forward and this was just a big opportunity for me to be able to honor someone that’s so wonderful.”

To help the waitress with her rent, Mike settled on $3,000 since Manhattan rents are so high.

“She really needed it and has been so happy since then, so I feel I did the right thing,” he said. “She said she was going to devote herself to the foundation and continue to pay it forward.”

It’s a scenario Specht and his wife never imagined when they started the foundation.

“All we ever want is to make a difference in the world. My son only had 22 months and didn’t really have a chance, and that’s all I wanted for him: to know he inspired someone he never met to do something,”

Specht said. “I don’t know if there is a word that fits it because I can’t describe the feeling. It restores something that was missing."

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/man-leaves-7000-percent-tip-waitress-middle-school/story?id=30622400

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This Is The Greatest Surprise Of The Century

 You Won't Believe What This Guy Found When He Decided To Manually Work On His Car Door

This guy found the greatest surprise of his life when manually fixing his own car door

Yes, it’s always easier to hire someone to fix your stuff when it’s broken.

 But then you’ll be robbed of the sense of accomplishment of doing a job well-done.

 Just take a look at the amazing karma this guy received for trying to fix his own door (along with what we assume was his internal monologue during the ordeal).

Damn, I have to fix this door myself

Gotta tear this whole thing apart

What the heck is that?

That doesn’t belong there…

Let’s take that thing out

It’s a bag, let’s open this thing up

Oh shit, this can’t be good

Let’s cut these babies open

Wait a second, there’s money in here

A whole shitload of money

I’m fucking rich!

Yeah, just wait until he finds out where all that money came from. There’s probably some Tony Montana-types looking for that.

What A Surprise

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