2026-10-14
At a weigh-off in Wargrave, England, Ian Paton's pumpkin Bagheera tipped the scale at about 1,296 kilograms. He tended it for roughly six hours a day and says it drank about 130 gallons of water daily.
Plain old patient gardening can still produce something that makes a whole crowd gasp.
Described as the largest grown by one person at this competition; check the record wording before repeating it.
Jonathan Thai of Alpharetta, Georgia, started the Pedal Forward Foundation after a local bike workshop closed. It has gathered 400 donated bikes and 500 helmets, run free clinics for children, and opened chapters in New York and Tennessee.
A bike can mean getting to school, work or the grocery store, and one teen turned that idea into a growing network.
Pittsburgh Water automatically enrolled households under 200% of the poverty line in a program that wipes out past-due balances. Each month a household stays current, one twenty-fourth of the old debt is forgiven, and up to two missed payments are allowed.
Forgiving old balances in steady steps helps families stay connected to a basic service without a big penalty.
City and community leaders cut the ribbon on a $2.23 million park with a gathering area, inclusive play space, shaded grove, rain garden, more trees and better lighting. Residents helped shape the design to reflect the neighborhood's culture and history.
New green space built with neighbors' input gives a growing area a place to play, rest and gather.
Source is the city's own announcement.
Wildlife staff are spending three to four weeks on remote Albatross Island to give two doses each to about 100 nesting shy albatrosses, a seabird that breeds only around Tasmania. No bird flu has been found in the colonies yet, and the birds will be watched by remote cameras afterward.
Protecting a vulnerable species before a disease arrives is far easier than rescuing it afterward.
A pilot program; whether the vaccine protects wild albatrosses is still being studied.
Stanford researchers found that when a bleached coral fragment rests against a healthy fragment from the same colony, their tissues link up and helpful algae flow across. About a week of contact was enough, and the bleached pieces fully recovered in roughly seven weeks while separated ones died.
Bleaching is one of the biggest threats to reefs, and a fast natural route to recovery gives restoration teams a new idea to build on.
Lab study with small numbers of corals, and it only worked between genetically identical pieces.
Volunteers with the nonprofit Pledge the Pink staked a line of plastic flamingos nearly 3,000 feet long in a North Carolina park, beating the previous Guinness record of 4,280. Each flamingo stood for a $100 donation, and the group has raised more than $7 million for screening, treatment and research.
A silly, cheerful sight turned into real money for people facing cancer.
Image: BBC NewsJ-P Mayhew, owner of 34-35 Maiden Lane for 40 years, has given the National Trust the £11 million freehold of the Covent Garden building that has housed Rules since 1798, along with visitor books, menus and photographs. The restaurant keeps serving as a tenant, and the rent goes toward looking after the building.
A private gift can keep a well-loved room open for people who have not sat down there yet.
Image: The Colorado SunIn the roughly 10 months since a 209-by-200-foot bridge opened between Larkspur and Monument, state officials say drivers have hit two animals, a 91% drop. Five underpasses and fencing guide elk, deer, bears and even frogs across, and a pronghorn was confirmed over the interstate there for the first time in decades.
A busy highway does not have to stay a wall when animals are given a crossing they will use.
Counts come from troopers and highway crews. A wider study of the same corridor had already found a large drop before this 10-month update.
Image: BBC NewsHull City Council has approved a 35-year community asset transfer for Anlaby Park Community Library, which volunteers saved from a 2013 closure and have run since a 2014 lease. Chair Steve Ashton said the longer term lets the trustees plan a refurbishment and treat the building as a hub, not only keep the doors open. Between 60 and 80 volunteers staff it. The council is paying for the exterior work, and the volunteers raised the money for the interior. The job started in September and is due to finish next year. During the works the library is running a reduced service from a temporary building in the park.
A long lease lets a volunteer library borrow, repair, and plan, instead of wondering each year whether it will still be there.
The building is mid-renovation, so the full reopening is still ahead.
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