Author: Joyce Grant

Health News

Raising Awareness About Prader-Willi Syndrome

Dante’s dad wants people to know about Prader-Willi Syndrome.

People with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) feel hungry all the time. That’s hard for most of us to imagine. We’re used to eating a meal and then feeling full for about two hours.

But kids with Prader-Willi don’t feel full. After they’ve eaten, they want to eat again. But of course if they do that, they’ll eat too much—not just three meals a day. That can lead to obesity—being overweight—which can lead to health problems.

Dante, who is now seven-and-a-half, was born with PWS. His dad, Keegan Johnson, wants to make people aware of the condition in order to raise money for research and, eventually, a cure.

News Politics

Dramatic PC Win In Alberta Confounds The Pollsters

“They” had predicted that this election would make history in Alberta.

“They” had predicted that the new Wildrose Party would win, and take over from the Progressive Conservatives (PCs), who have held power there since 1971.

“They” were wrong.

“They,” are the pollsters; the people who take polls. They ask people, prior to an election, how they intend to vote and make an educated guess as to who will win an election.

Most of the polls predicted not just a win for the Wildrose Party, but that the Wildrose Party might get a majority as well.

News Politics

Is This The Next President Of The United States?

The Republicans in the United States likely have their next presidential nominee: Mitt Romney.

Romney is the Republican who will most likely become the party’s nominee for president.

That’s because his closest rival, Rick Santorum, stepped down this week.

The Republicans have been going through a long and intense process of selecting their new nominee.

Romney—who will still have to be officially elected by the party’s members—would replace former president George W. Bush.

Unless something major happens to upset the apple cart, Romney will become the new nominee.

Kids News

13-Year-Old Hero Saves School Bus

He didn’t think he was “too young” to do something, and he didn’t wait for someone else to help — he just jumped into action.

Thirteen-year-old Jeremy Wuitschick is being hailed as a hero after he saved the schoolbus he was riding in and its passengers.

Wuitschick and about a dozen other kids were riding in the schoolbus on their way to Surprise Lake Middle School, in Milton, Washington (near Seattle).

All of a sudden, the schoolbus driver had a seizure.

In this case, a seizure is a medical condition that caused the bus driver to uncontrollably twist around in his seat.

He lost control of the bus, which veered off the road, according to the Los Angeles Times news website.

News

Candy, Coins Scattered Across Highway After Truck Accident

Millions of dollars worth of coins, and a load of candy, were scattered along the Trans-Canada Highway and in the bush in northeastern Ontario on Wednesday.

A Brink’s tractor-trailer truck was driving along Highway 11 north of Kirkland Lake, when it hit a rock cut.

In this case, rock cuts are steep, rocky cliffs on either side of the highway created when a highway is carved through a hill.

They are common in northern Ontario.

News Politics

Mulcair Elected As Leader Of NDP, Official Opposition

Thomas Mulcair is the new leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP).

Mulcair was elected, after a gruelling 12 hours of voting, at the NDP’s convention on the weekend.

The NDP is the political party that is Canada’s “official opposition” to the country’s governing party, the Conservatives.

As leader of the federal NDP, Mulcair will also become the leader of the Official Opposition.

The NDP had to elect a new leader after their last leader, Jack Layton, passed away from cancer in August 2011.

Breaking News News Sports

Football Superstar Peyton Manning Signs With Denver

Football fans are pretty excited in Denver, Colorado this week.

That’s because football superstar, Peyton Manning, has decided to join the Denver Broncos.

Manning is considered one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. He is the only player in the NFL to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP) four times.

Because he’s so good, the 35-year-old could choose just about any team to play for. He chose the Broncos because he thinks they can win the Super Bowl. He wants another Super Bowl ring.

Breaking News News Politics

The Robo-Call Scandal Continues

The robo-call scandal is not going away. In fact, it’s getting bigger.

During the last federal election, many Canadian voters said they received automatic voice-mail messages (robo-calls) directing them to the wrong polling station.

CBC News is reporting that they have found voters across Canada who say they got misleading robo-call messages because they were not voting for the Conservative Party.

In other words, according to CBC News, people who weren’t voting Conservative were called and directed to the wrong polling station. (If people can’t find their polling station – the place where they vote – then they may not be able to vote, or they may decide it’s too much of a hassle to find the right polling station.)

This points the finger for the robo-calls at the Conservative Party and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Health Lighter News Science

Chocolate May Be Good For Your Heart

Chocolate – eaten in moderation – may actually be good for you, according to a new study.

The study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, said that people who ate small amounts of dark chocolate instead of other high-fat treats, had slight improvements in the health of their heart.

For some participants, their blood pressure came down slightly. Some people had lower insulin levels.

The researchers, at the Norwich Medical School in the UK, studied more than 1,000 people. They asked people to eat chocolate (or not eat chocolate) and then they monitored them to check for changes in their blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is a type of waxy fat; too much of it can cause damage to the heart.

Sports

Toronto Impresses In Its Biggest Soccer Game Ever

It was arguably the biggest soccer game in Canadian history.

Certainly it was the biggest and most exciting game the Toronto soccer team, Toronto FC, had ever played.

Last night, Toronto FC played LA Galaxy, which has superstar midfielder, David Beckham (#23) on its team.

Beckham is not just one of the world’s best soccer players; he’s also a world-famous celebrity.

The teams met to play a quarter-final match in the CONCACAF Champions League, which is a tournament featuring teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

It was the first time a Canadian team had been in the CONCACAF playoffs.

Image on this page: Ryan Johnson, Toronto FC; Image courtesy of TorontoFC.ca.