Tuesday, October 20, 2026
America's Good News: Tuesday, October 20, 2026
From American history
In 1735, a Philadelphia printer wrote an anonymous letter to his own newspaper about fire. Posing as an old man too lame to fight fires himself, Benjamin Franklin scolded neighbors for carrying hot coals around the house on open shovels and tossed off a line people still quote: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Then he did something better than complain. On December 7, 1736, he and a group of fellow citizens signed the articles of the Union Fire Company. Each man promised to keep two leather buckets and four sturdy linen bags marked with his initials, and to come running whenever a member's house caught fire. Skip the monthly meeting and you paid a fine. In America, being a good neighbor started with owning a bucket.
1. No radio, no crew, just training: an off-duty Jacksonville firefighter swims out and brings three capsized boaters home
On a birthday walk at Big Talbot Island on Oct. 17, off-duty Jacksonville firefighter Otto Scherick heard screams, swam to three boaters clinging to a capsized boat and used its gas tank as a float to guide them to shore. No one was hurt.
Original title: “Off-duty JFRD firefighter rescues 3 capsized boaters off Big Talbot Island”
Source: Read the full story: Off-duty JFRD firefighter rescues 3 capsized boaters off Big Talbot Island →
2. Far above and beyond: Desmond Doss's Medal of Honor display comes home to the Lynchburg house where he was born
Desmond Doss Jr. has donated a display of his father's Medal of Honor to the Lynchburg, Va., home where the unarmed WWII Army medic was born. The house now serves as a counseling center and safe haven for veterans.
Original title: “Desmond Doss Medal of Honor display returns to childhood home”
Source: Read the full story: Desmond Doss Medal of Honor display returns to childhood home →
3. Guardian Angels and good neighbors: Alaska rescuers save two avalanche victims, then volunteers find their dog alive
After an Oct. 10 avalanche near Eklutna Lake, Alaska Air Guard rescuers flew two injured hikers to a hospital. Dozens of volunteers then searched for their dog, and an AirTag ping led a helicopter team to her, alive, about 50 hours later.
Original title: “Dog survives avalanche near Eklutna Lake, found safe days later”
Source: Read the full story: Dog survives avalanche near Eklutna Lake, found safe days later →
4. Powering the grid from Conover: a North Carolina substation builder adds 105 jobs and a new panel factory
Utili-Serve, a Conover, N.C., company that builds and services power substations, will add 105 jobs and a 25,000-square-foot facility making protective relay and control panels for East Coast grid projects. Average pay: $62,400.
Original title: “Governor Stein Announces 105 New Jobs as Utility Manufacturer Expands Catawba County Operations to a Regional Hub”
5. All in for the next generation: a former basketball captain gives Albion College the biggest outright gift in its history
Albion alumnus Joe Serra and his wife Julie, a retired kindergarten teacher, committed $10 million, unrestricted, to the Michigan college, its largest outright gift ever, for scholarships, hands-on learning and a new core curriculum.
Original title: “Albion College receives $10 million gift from Joe ‘82 and Julie Serra, largest outright gift in school history”