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UPS DRIVER’S GESTURE PAYS OFF UNEXPECTEDLY “I had a child at around the same time you guys did, and I just hope everything is going good. God bless and happy holidays.” As it turns out the gesture had unintended consequences, all of them good. Homeowner Jessica Kitchel, mother of a newborn son, was moved by the message and posted it on social media. “ e moment that he said that was a time I needed to hear that encouragement at the most important time,” she says. ”I was blown away.” e feel-good story spread quickly, catching the attention of UPS, which helped arrange a phone call between the two. Kitchel and her husband also le baby gi s for Harrell, and she posted his baby registry accounts online. He and his ancee have since been deluged with gi s—and UPS o ered him a full-time job. (He was originally hired only for the holiday rush.) “I can’t believe it all unfolded this way,” he says. “When I le the comment at the doorbell, I didn’t even expect to hear from them, and so many blessings have followed behind.”

MCDONALD’S DRIVE-THRU WORKER, 15,

SAVES CUSTOMERS LIFE It was a normal day at work for Sydney Raley, 15, at a McDonald’s near Minneapolis, Minnesota until it wasn’t. A er the teen handed a female drive-thru customer part of her order Saturday, she turned back to the car to tell her the rest of her order was coming up and saw the woman in distress. “She was coughing like crazy, and I noticed she was gagging,” the teen said. Realizing the woman had choked on a chicken McNugget, Raley quickly told both her manager and the customer’s daughter, who was in the passenger seat, to call 911. enshe leaped through the drive-thru window and got the woman out of the car, KARE 11 reports. Raley, who learned the Heimlich

Doorbell cams sometimes catch delivery drivers at their worst. In this case, it’s the opposite. WRBL explains: A 24-year-old UPS driver named Dallen Harrell dropped o a package at a home in Roswell, Georgia, and paused to speak into the doorbell cam because he’d recalled seeing a celebratory stork lawn sign. “If this is the ‘It’s a Boy’ house I hope all is going well with your newborn,” he said. 6 ShopInRI maneuver as part of a Red Cross class when she was a babysitter at age 11, started doing it on the woman and eventually managed to dislodge the nugget with the help of a bystander she called over when she realized she needed assistance. When police arrived, they gave Raleya$100 reward from a community fund for good Samaritans. “I always tell her she has a gi , because she’s autistic,” says her dad. “She can remember anything—do anything.” Adds the owner-operator of the Eden Prairie McDonald’s, “We ... will continue to celebrate her courageous e orts of literally jumping out of the drive-thru window to provide aid to a customer in need.”

Minor League Baseball Spacecraft Lands on Mars - 300 million mile journey

Team’s Logo Goes Viral A NASA spacecraft designed to burrow beneath the surface of Mars landed on Minor league the red planet Monday after a six-month, baseball teams 300 million-mile journey and a perilous, occasionally get a six-minute descent through the roselittlecheeky,but hued atmosphere. Flight controllers ata new Alabama NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in team is seeing Pasadena, California, leaped out of their merchandise seats and erupted in screams, applause, y out the door after it decided to talk and laughter as the news came in. a little trash. Meet the Madison-based “Touchdown con rmed!” a ight controller announced. e three-legged InSightRocket City Trash Pandas, which spacecraft reached the surface after being slowed by a parachute and braking unveiledtheirlogo on Saturday—a engines, the space agency said. Updates were coming in via radio signals that take raccoon lifting o in a trash-can like more than eight minutes to cross the nearly 100 million miles between Mars androcket." enamehas gone viral," Earth. What you need to know, per the AP: managing partner Ralph Nelson said. "We eclipsed over $100,000 worth of e plan called for the spacecraft to go from 12,300mph to zero in six minutes at merchandise in the rst couple of days. as it pierced the Martian atmosphere and settled on the surface. Everybody and their brother is writing thattheywantmerchandise."O cial “Landing on Mars is one of the hardest single jobs that people have to do inteam colors are "Space Black, Rocket planetary exploration,” said InSight’s lead scientist, Bruce Banerdt. “It’s such a Red, Sky Blue and Trashcan Gray." di cult thing, it’s such a dangerous thing that there’s always a fairly uncomfortably large chance that something could go wrong.”

Life expectancy has fallen for a 3rd year Mars has been the graveyard for a multitude of space missions. Up to now, the in a row in US success rate at the red planet has been only 40%, counting every attempted yby, orbital ight and landing by the US, Russia, and other countries since 1960. e In 1918, the double whammy of World US, however, has pulled o seven successful Mars landings in the past four deWar I and the worldwide u pandemic cades, not counting InSight, with only one failed touchdown. No other country drove down American life expectancy has managed to set and operate a spacecraft on the dusty red surface. for a third year in a row. A century later, another triple-year decline has InSight was shooting for Elysium Planitia, a plain near the Martian equator that been recorded—and this time, suicide the InSight team hopes is as at as a parking lot in Kansas with few, if any, rocks. and drug overdoses are major causes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's annual report, US life expectancy dropped to 78 years is is no rock-collecting expedition. Instead, the stationary 800-pound lander will use its 6-foot robotic arm to place a mechanical mole and seismometer on the ground. e self-hammering mole will burrow 16 feet down to measure the planet’s internal heat, while the seismometer listens for possible quakes.and 7 months in 2017, down around a month from the year before, the AP Nothing like this has been attempted before on Mars, where no lander has dug reports. Men could expect to live 76.1 deeper than several inches, and no seismometer has ever worked. By examining years, and women 81.1. Public health the interior of Mars, scientists hope to understand how our solar system’s rocky experts called the statistics alarming, planets formed 4.5 billion years ago and why they turned out so di erent—Mars noting that early deaths among middle- cold and dry, Venus and Mercury burning hot, and Earth hospitable to life. aged people did the most to bring life expectancy down After 22 consecutivew InSight has no life-detecting capability, however. at will be left to future rovers. years of steady rises. NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, for instance, will collect rocks that will eventually be brought back to Earth and analyzed for evidence of ancient life.

As the second anniversary of Prince’s death passed his heirs have yet to collect a dollar of his estimated $200 million estate. Bankers, lawyers, and consultants have earned millions from it. The long saga to se le the estate provides a cautionary tale about dying withThe survivor of a Hawaii shark a ack has had run-ins with some of nature’s fiercestpredatorsbefore.Specificalout a will, as Prince did when he died of an accidental overdose at his suburban Minneapolis studio ly, DylanMcWilliams has previously suffered bites from both a bear and a venomous snake, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The 20-yearold was reportedly bi en by a 6- to 8-foot tiger shark in the waters off Kauai while treating himself to some much-deserved boogie boarding a er days of helping out the island’s victims of recent historic flooding. Just monthsearlier,McWilliams had to get nine staples in his neck a er he was woken up by an angry 280-pound black bear while sleeping outdoors at a Colorado summer camp. That shocking encounter alone was enough to land McWilliams in national news—he told People he had to fight off the bear as it dragged him some 12 feet. McWilliams said he used a similar tactic with the shark, which he gave a swi kick before swimming for his life back to shore. However, it’s probably for the best that McWilliams didn’t try that with the pygmy faded ra lesnake that bit him three years ago while on a hike in Utah. McWilliams walked away from what was luckily just a “dry bite,” with only enough venom to make him sick for a couple days. So what’s this guy’s deal with run-ins and terrifying animals? “I’m either really lucky or really unlucky,” he told the Star-Advertiser.

Athletes are usually known for their strength and speed,but three big names can also add “politeness” to their CVs. e National League ShopInRI 5

What you may know: U2’s new album, Songs of Experience, came out in early December. What you may not know: Bono apparently almost died while making it. at’s per a new interview with Rolling Stoneco-founderJannWenner in which the U2 frontman doesn’t reveal exactly what happened, but notes he considers it an “extinction event.” He explains that such a happening for people “could be psychological or it could be physical,” and for him it was physical. He says it was in sync with the “political apocalypse” going on in the US and abroad and that “you get warning signs, and then you realize that you are not a tank.” Bono also talks about how this neardeath experience shaped the album. But what has raised more than a few eyebrows is his assessment in the interview of the current state of the industry for male musicians and the “rage” that should be at the

ationalN ewsN

10 Most Polite Stars of 2017 center of rock music. “I think music has gotten very girly,” Bono notes. “And there are some good things about that, but hip-hop is the only place for young male anger at the moment—andthat’snotgood.” at remark has spurred online eyerolling,with RebeccaFishbein noting at Jezebel that white of Junior Cotillions, a group that trains kids male musicians are “relegated only in ballroom dancing (as well as to “act and to releasing their rage at being the learn to treat others with honor, dignity, least oppressed members of sociand respect for better relationships,” per its ety via mediums like lm, televiwebsite), has released its annual list of the sion, national lawmaking, company “best-mannered” celebrities in 2017. e CEOing, and Twitter-threading.” person who would most earn Miss Manners’ And for the Independent, Roisin nod of approval: pro golfer Rickie Fowler, O’Connor says Bono’sremarks who showed “consistently well-mannered “reduce hip-hop to the laziest posconduct both on and o the golf course,” the sible stereotype of ‘aggressive’ black NLJC said in a statement to USA Today. masculinity,” while his “pejorative” “We believe this year’s student nominations use of the word “girly” seems to ig(and our ultimate winners) are a reminder nore that some of U2’s biggest hits that, whether you are a celebrity, athlete, mu- have been romantic ballads. “Rock sician, or politician, America’s young people music never was, and never should are watching and they do value character.” be, simply a place to channel male Last year’s top spot went to gymnast Sim- anger,” O’Connor writes. one Biles. Rounding out the top 10 this year, in addition to Fowler: Game of rones fans are going to Aly Raisman, Gymnast have to wait a while for the nal season—and it’s only going to be six epiDeshaun Watson, Houston Texans QB sodes long. HBO has con rmed that the nal instalment of its biggest-ever Joanna Gaines, Fixer Upper star and soon-to-be mom of ve hit won’t be released until some time in 2019. It will be shorter than previous series, though some episodes may Sadie Robertson, Duck Dynasty star be extra-long. Production of Season 8 began in October and is expected to David Beckham, Former pro soccer player wrap up in mid-2018. Producers say multiple endings will be lmed to Selena Gomez, Singer avoid leaks e move gives George RR Martin more time to nish the next omas Rhett, Country music performer book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, though the HBO series is still Matt Kuchar, Pro Golfer expected to reveal the end of the saga before his nal book is released. MarMeghan Markle, actress and soon-towife of Prince Harry be tin is also involved with ve Game of rones prequels now in development, reports Entertainment Weekly.

Bono Says He Almost Died While Making U2 AlbumNationalNews Hawaii Shark Attack Victim Also Had Bear, Rattlesnake Run-Ins

“Game of rones” Won’t Return Until 2019... Final Season Will Only Have Six Episodes

Prince's $200M Estate

Remains Untouched on April 21, 2016, and the heirs can’t quit squabbling. Here’s a look at where things stand: Even though it’s been nearly two years since Prince died, the executor of the estate, Comerica Bank and Trust, can’t split the money among Prince’s six surviving siblings until the Internal Revenue Service and executor agree on the estate’s value when Prince died. It’s not clear when that might happen. The IRS and state of Minnesota are entitled to collect about half, though the estate can stretch out the payments over time. Court filings several months a er Prince’s death suggested that it was worth around $200 million before taxes. The actual value remains one of the biggest secrets in the case, hidden in sealed and redacted documents. The actual valuation could have gone up or down since then. That’s because the various a orneys, accountants, and industry experts at that point had not yet finished appraisals and deals for the use of his music, videos, and assets including his Paisley Park studio. An eastern Minnesota teen who asked her celebrity crush Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to prom got a huge surprise when he actually responded, per the AP. Stillwater Area High School senior Katie Kelzenberg asked the actor to "Rock" it with her at the school's May 5 prom in a Twi er video posted last week, the Pioneer Press reports. The self-proclaimed fan was dressed like The Rock in the video, sporting a black turtleneck, jeans, a gold necklace, and fanny pack. She also showed off her collection of Johnson-related merchandise, including a pillow, T-shirts, and an action figure. Johnson's recorded response was played over the school intercom Friday. A Warner Bros. repre-

'The Rock' Couldn't Make

Teen's Prom But Still sentative contacted school officials ThursCame Up Big day about the surprise message, spokeswoman for the district. says a Johnson said he admires Kelzenberg's courage but that he won't be able to a end prom because he'll be in Hawaii filming Jungle Cruise. Instead, Johnson rented out a nearby movie theater on Saturday for Kelzenberg and more than 230 friends and family to watch his latest movie, Rampage. Johnson even covered the cost of snacks and drinks for the theater. "I couldn't believe it. I was so surprised," Kelzenberg says. "I just kept thinking, 'He saw me! He knows who I am!'" Kelzenberg says she became a fan of Johnson's five years ago. Her favorite movies of his include Central Intelligence and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. 4 Shop In RI

News

Every 20 years, a bottle is secretly removed from the ground at Michigan State University ree Michigan State University scientists have been let in on a secret that has persisted since1879: the location of buried glass bottles that make up an experiment that has gone on for more than a century—and will likely continue until the dawn of a new century. e experiment started in the late 19th century by botanist William on April 21, 2016, and the heirs can’t quit squabbling. Here’s a look at where things stand: Even though it’s been nearly two years since Prince died, the executor of the Beal, who had a question: How long do estate, Comerica Bank and Trust, can’t split the money among Prince’s six surviving seeds stay viable underground? It likely originated from a real-world headache: siblings until the Internal Revenue Service when Prince died. and executor agree on the estate’s value If farmers regularly weeded their plots, It’s not clear when that might happen. The IRS and state of Minnesota are entitled how long would weeds keep popping up due to seeds already present in the dirt? to collect about half, though the estate can stretch out the payments over time. Court filings several months a er Prince’s death suggested that it was worth around $200 million before taxes. The actual value remains one of the biggest secrets in the case, To get at an answer, he buried 20 glass bottles that contained sand and 50 seeds hidden in sealed and redacted documents. The actual valuation could have gone up or down since then. That’s because the various a orneys, accountants, and industry experts at that point had not yet finished appraisals and deals for the use of his music, from each of 21 di erent weed species, videos, and assets including his Paisley Park studio. explains MSU plant biology professor Frank Telewski, the current caretaker of sentative contacted school officials Thursthe experiment. day about the surprise message, spokeswoman for the district. says a Beal returned to the location known only Johnson said he admires Kelzenberg's to him every ve years, dug up a bottle, and determined whether the seeds inside courage but that he won't be able to a end prom because he'll be in Hawaii filming Jungle Cruise. Instead, Johnson rented out would still germinate. He handed o the experiment to a colleague in 1910, and a nearby movie theater on Saturday for Kelzenberg and more than 230 friends and family to watch his latest movie, Rampage. over the years the intervals at which a Johnson even covered the cost of snacks bottle was unearthed were extended to every 10 and then every 20 years. Only and drinks for the theater. "I couldn't believe it. I was so surprised," Kelzenberg says. "I just kept thinking, 'He saw me! He one seed is still reliably germinating: knows who I am!'" Kelzenberg says she Verbascum blattaria. became a fan of Johnson's five years ago. Her favorite movies of his include Central Intelligence and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. About half those seeds in the bottle dug up in 2000 sprouted. is year, Telewski looped three younger colleaguesin on the secret. Marjorie Weber was one of them, and marveled at nding the bottle. “ e last person to touch it was professor Beal, 140 years ago, you know, this person who was writing letters to Darwin,” she says. Once back in the lab, the seeds were scattered onto potting soil, and they’re now just waiting. Four bottles remain buried, meaning the last will likely be put to the test in the year 2100.

Experiment Started in 1879 Isn’t Done Yet

Couple Plans Lavish Wedding at Someone Else’s Mansion Without Permission Courtney Wilson and Shenita Jones had an elaborate wedding weekend planned at a luxurious Florida mansion over the weekend. Just one problem: e 16,313-square-foot e Hearst Connecticut Media editorial Southwest Ranches home belongs board asked a pointed question: “Can not to them, as they claimed it did we talk about all these bears in CT?” But in their online wedding invitation, while the board expressed concern about but to Nathan Finkel, son of early the 5,500-plus bear sightings in the state IHOP franchisee Abe Finkel, who inherited his father’s share and grew it this year—more than double the number to 200 locations before selling o most of his portfolio nearly a decade ago. from 10 years ago—it didn’t seem to anticipate the bears’ possible interest in at’s the year Finkel put the 7.5-acre estate on the market for $7.25 million. local Amazon deliveries. It remains unsold, and Wilson came to check it out, claiming to be interested in buying it, the town attorney tells the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. en, Or at least the interest of one black bear, months later, he asked Finkel if he could use the backyard for his wedding. who showed up on a Bristol resident’s Finkel said no and thought that was the end of that. porch this week and swiped one of her newly dropped-o boxes. “You Until, that is, Wilson allegedly showed up at the gate with a friend Saturday think @amazon gives replacements for morning, preparing to set up for the big day. ey apparently believed the bear thieves?” Kristin Levine posted property to be abandoned, not realizing Finkel still lives there, the town on Facebook, including video of the attorney says. Asked to leave by Finkel, Wilson allegedly claimed it was God’s package pilferer sauntering o with the will that he hold his wedding there and refused to. Police nally arrived and box in his mouth. made him skedaddle, and he was not charged with a crime. Levine tells NBC Connecticut she got an alert on her home security’s camera Oldest Survivor of Pearl Harbor Attack Passes Away that Amazon had delivered the package, When Japanese warplanes began attacking Pearl Harbor, Clayton Schenkelbut before she could make it outside to berg volunteered to drive a train packed with torpedoes to safety. en he retrieve it, she received another alert. got a ri e and began shooting back. ”He didn’t think it was anything special,” “I was ... taken aback because I wasn’t his son said. ”He had a job to do and he did it.” e Navy veteran, thought to expecting anyone else in my driveway,” be the oldest survivor of the 1941 attack, died in a senior care home in San she says. at’s when Levine reviewed Diego. He was 103. In his last year, his family said, Schenkelberg caught the her camera’s footage and saw the bear, coronavirus but didn’t become ill. About 50,000 US service members were on casually walking out of the camera’s Oahu on the day of the attack; about 2,400 were killed and 1,200 injured. No frame with her package. o cial count of survivors exists, but Patrick Schenkelberg said he was told by o cials that his father was the oldest. Stuart Hedley, a 99-year-old fellow She notes she later found the box, survivor, said that was his understanding, too. which contained a delivery of Angel So lavender-scented toilet paper, in a When Schenkelberg was honored at events, he de ected. ”We’re still paying neighbor’s yard. “It was hysterical,” she our respects to those who didn’t make it,” he said. Schenkelberg stayed in the tells NBC. “I knew nothing in there was Navy for two decades longer. He and his wife had seven children. ”He was going to be irreplaceable, so it was a fun an outstanding gentleman, very humble, and always ready to lend a hand,” a ernoon for sure.” NBC News notes Hedley said. ”I’m honored to have called him a friend.” In 2019, Schenkelberg that because the bear’s ears were clearly was the only Pearl Harbor survivor to attend the annual commemoration tagged, it means the bear has already had at the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. He received a standing ovation. interactions with state wildlife o cials. First-person accounts are important to understanding such events, a muWhether it’s stolen other Amazon seum o cial said, adding, ”When that history is gone, the story will change.” deliveries in general, and TP deliveries e daughter of a serviceman stationed in Hawaii, who survived the attack in particular, is unclear. herself as a 10-year-old, said, ”It will be sad when everybody’s gone.”

Amazon Delivery Thwarted by Entitled Bear California Could Be The First State to Pay Addicts to Stay Sober

Frustrated by out-of-control increases in drug overdose deaths, California’s leaders are trying something radical: ey want the state to be the rst to pay people to stay sober. e federal government has been doing it for years with military veterans, and research shows it is one of the most e ective ways to get people to stop using drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine, stimulants for which there are no pharmaceutical treatments available. It works like this: People earn small incentives or payments for every negative drug test over a period of time. Most people who complete the treatment without any positive tests can earn a few hundred dollars. It’s called “contingency management,” and Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked the federal government for permission to use tax dollars to pay for it through Medicaid. Meanwhile, a similar proposal has already passed the state Senate with no opposition and is pending in the Assembly, where it has a Republican co-author. “I think there is a lot in this strategy for everyone to like,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, the Democratic author. “Most important of all, it works.” A program covering 1,000 people could cost as much as $286,000, but that’s a pittance in California’s total operating budget of more than $262 billion. California has a law prohibiting people from pro ting from treatment programs, but Wiener’s law would clarify that contingency management is legal under state law. Whether it violates federal law is still a question. “We don’t think it does,” Wiener said. His bill would require California’s Medicaid program to pay for the treatment while Newsom’s plan would let counties choose whether to participate.

Al Capone’s Granddaughters Are Selling His Personal Items

Would you want Al Capone’s favorite gun?Or the dapper gangster’s diamond and pearl stick pin? It’s not just a thought experiment—his granddaughters are selling o some family heirlooms. e items are pretty nice things, with dollar values in ated by the mobster cooties all over them. e gun in question is a Colt .45, and there are family photos, a letter to his son sent from Alcatraz, some china gurines, and a couple of watches, all authenticated and appraised by Timothy Gordon of Antiques Roadshow fame. Figurines that would ordinarily go for $50 are expected to sell for more like $250 because of the connection

MYSTERY DONOR SENDS $180K IN

CASH TO PHYSICS DEPARTMENT

Cardboard box at City College New York wasn’t opened for more than 10 months

A plain cardboard box around the size of a toaster addressed to "Chairman, Physics Department" at City College of New York held a mysterious $180,000 cash donation— but it wasn't opened for more than 10 months. e department's chair, physics professor Vinod Menon, says he didn't nd the box until Sept. 1 this year, a er the college returned to in-person classes. It had been delivered on Nov. 12, 2020, CNN reports. e cash came with an unsigned note that said the sender had had "a long, productive, immensely rewarding" scienti c career a er graduating from CCNY "long ago" with bachelor's and master's degrees in physics. e box, so heavy that postage cost $90, was delivered to CCNY on Nov. 12 last year. "It was a complete shock—I know a lot of academics and I’ve never heard of anything like this," Menon tells the New York Times. "I didn’t know if the college accepted cash, so I didn’t know if they’d keep it." He turned the box over to authorities and university o cials contacted federal agents to see if the cash came from criminal activity, the Times reports. e name on the return address, Kyle Bailey, did not exist in college records and the address, a house in Florida, had to the world’s most famous criminal. no apparent connection to the donation. e online auction is set for Oct. 8 at A er agents determined that the cash had Witherell’s in Sacramento, California. been withdrawn from banks in Maryland in recent years and wasn't connected to crime, e location and timing are not the college's Board of Trustees voted to acoincidence. Capone moved to accept the gi on Dec. 13. Florida a er being releasedfrom prison. When his son, Albert Francis At the board meeting, one member “Sonny” Capone grew up, he dropped suggested that the box be bronzed and put the Capone and went by Albert in a display case. In the note, the mystery Francis Jr., and moved to Northern donor asked for the money to be used to California. at’s where he raised his support students majoring in physics and family, and that’s where his daughtersmath. Menon says the cash will fund two are concerned all of the familyfull scholarships for more than a decade. memorabilia will burn up in a wild re "I'd like them to know that rstly, we are if they don’t sell it o soon. “ is is thankful for the gi . I'm really honored that the second summer we’ve had our he or she decided that this was the right suitcases packed in case we were goingplace to spend that kind of money on," to be evacuated, and we knew there Menon says. "And I'm also proud of the was no way we could save these thingsfact that the person had a wonderful career that belonged to our grandparents,”based on the education that they received at Diane Capone said. City College."