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Sunday, May 15, 2011 5:30 PM UTC

The week in uppers

Baby seals, charity robots and graduation -- here's the cheerful news you may have missed

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Topics: Viral Video, Uppers,

The week in uppers

While flooding on the Mississippi looms large on the American consciousness this week, the news wasn’t all bad. Check out these heartwarming stories:

  • Year-old northern fur seal PeeWee takes his first steps toward freedom after two months of rehabilitation at the Island Wildlife Natural Care Centre in British Columbia. (CBS News)

  • After 22 years in college — taking one class a semester while raising her family — Carmen Gomez graduated from University of Southern California along with her son Allen on Friday. (KABC-TV)
  • Next month, Dave Wilfsen is set to start a 9,300-mile cross-country trip on a 74-year-old tractor to raise $200,000 for disaster relief and food services. (Huffington Post)
  • Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has introduced new legislation to Congress — the “Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness Act” — intended to help prevent homelessness among young LGBT people. (Center for American Progress)
  • Early last week, “NBC Nightly News” featured a story on Detroit Dog Rescue, a charity organization with only $40 left in its coffers. Within one day of the report, the group raised more than $30,000 in donations. (Huffington Post)

  • The much-discussed hat worn by Princess Beatrice at last month’s royal wedding is hitting the eBay auction block to raise money for two charities, UNICEF and Children and Crisis. (Boston Globe)
  • As Japan continues its recovery in the aftermath of March’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, one lingerie maker is trying to do its part — producing garments with messages of encouragement printed on them. (Reuters)
  • Britney Spears emceed a charity event in Beverly Hills this week that raised $200,000 for New Orleans families. (AOL Music)
  • A Scottish university student has designed a unique new way to solicit donations — using coin-powered robots. (Huffington Post)

More Peter Finocchiaro.

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The week in 10 pics

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  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

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