Sequester Forces Lottery Drawings To Kick Kids Out of Head Start Programs
We already knew that the sequester would cut off 70,000 children nationwide to Head Start access, and subsequently cause the layoff of 14,000 Head Start personnel. (One of whom is my mother, incidentally; she works at Head Start in Trenton, and she is NOT psyched about what's going on.)
The U.S. Postal Service Is Launching a Clothing Line for Some Reason
The U.S. Postal Service has very few fans because it is wildly disorganized and understaffed and slowly dying. So obviously it is launching a new product line of apparel and accessories that it hopes to sell in "premier department and specialty stores," as per a very sad press release.
Your Evening Sob: Sandy Hook Children's Choir Sings ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’
Member of the Sandy Hook choir from Sandy Hook Elementary School are paying tribute to their murdered classmates and teachers with a heartbreaking rendition of the Wizard of Oz classic, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. This song gets me every time, but this version is almost unbearably poignant.
Japan Might Rescind Their 1993 Apology To World War II's 'Comfort Women'
Japan's current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a stern conservative and nationalist who stepped down from his post in 2007 only to re-emerge this year, might be taking back a 1993 apology that the nation issued to World War II "comfort women," thousands of female citizens who were forced into brothels across Asia to…
Turtle Roadkill Experiment Conclusively Proves That Humans are Assholes
I've been saying this for years, and nobody ever listens to me: people, en masse, are shit. Like, actual shit. Believe me, I'd love to be wrong about this, but here's a new experiment that verifies my theory. It takes a turtle seven or eight years to reproduce, and a female turtle who lives 50 years may lay over 100…
Jasmine Benjamin's Parents Hire Detective
As previously discussed, seventeen-year-old Valdosta University freshman Jasmine Benjamin was found dead last week. Now Benjamin's mother, Judith Brogdon, and stepfather, James Jackson, have hired a lawyer and a private investigator. Jasmine's body was found in her dorm's common study area, but police officials claim…
Thousands Show Up at Funeral for Two Little Boys Who Drowned During Hurricane
One of the saddest stories reported in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy was that of Glenda Moore, the mother whose two sons were literally swept away by flood waters and found drowned. Several reports claimed that Moore asked fellow Staten Island residents for help, only to be turned away. Today, there was a funeral…
Newborn Panda Tragically Found Dead at National Zoo
The panda cub born September 16th at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. has sadly passed away this past Sunday. Zookeepers were alerted to something being amiss upon hearing the cub's mother Mei Xiang issuing a "distressed honking noise" early Sunday morning. After an hour spent retrieving the cub, veterinarians…
Doctors Push for Right to Crush Spirits of Dying Kids' Parents
Obvious statement: when faced with the imminent death of a child, most parents urge doctors to try everything, to keep working to turn things around, to try experimental treatments with a low likelihood of success, even when everyone else has given up hope. Less obvious side effect of that manifestation of parental…
Family Planning at Zoos Can Get Really Depressing
This isn't going to be easy, but, um, you know how you go on some random squee site and see really adorable pictures of the new tiger cubs born, let's say, at the Copenhagen Zoo? Yeah, well, some of those cubs were probably euthanized to help control the tiger population and recreate the extremely high cub mortality…
Our Obsession with Longevity is Making our Lives Miserable
You have to force yourself to get through "A Life Worth Ending" by New York's Michael Wolff, and not because it's a bad piece. It's beautifully written and evocative — it's just that it's almost too evocative for anyone who has ever watched a loved one die slowly from illness. But it's a reality check, and it's a…
Here's Some Really Depressing News About Depressed Stay-At-Home Moms
Let's take a break from debating Ann Romney's controversial parenting quote of the week and consider these sad statistics: stay-at-home moms — which, in this case, mean non-employed women with children under 18 — are more likely to spend time feeling sad, angry, and depressed than employed moms, who are about as…
Ohio Widow Set to Reclaim Exotic Animals After Husband's October Suicide
In October of 2011, exotic pet owner Terry Thompson released all of his animals from their enclosures before taking his own life, leading to the tragic killing of over 48 animals by Zanesville, Ohio police. The 5 surviving animals — two leopards, a bear and two primates — have since been held in state-issued…
Woman Reunited With Lost Dog via Today Show, Then Returns Dog to Shelter
How anticlimactic would it have been if Chance, Sassy, and Shadow had trudged all the way back home only for their owners to turn them over to an animal shelter, where Shadow would probably be euthanized because he's old? Pretty anticlimactic is the answer you're groping for, although that sort of ending would teach…
For Lasting Romance, Find Out Why She's Sad
It's no shock that showing empathy for your partner leads to a better relationship. What's a little more interesting, though, is that men and women seem to value different kinds of empathy: in a new study, women cared more about their partner understanding their negative emotions, whereas guys were more concerned with…

