Thursday, October 22, 2026
America's Good News: Thursday, October 22, 2026
From American history
In the winter of 1943, Harry Colmery, a former American Legion national commander from Kansas, holed up in Washington's Mayflower Hotel and wrote a veterans' bill in longhand on hotel stationery: schooling, home loans, job help. By June 1944 it was stuck in a 3-3 tie in a House-Senate conference committee, and the deciding vote, Rep. John Gibson, was home in Georgia, out fox hunting. A telephone operator kept ringing his house, radio stations broadcast appeals and police flagged down cars. Gibson got home after 11 p.m., was rushed through a thunderstorm to Jacksonville, Fla., and flown to Washington. At 10 a.m. he cast his vote. Roosevelt signed the GI Bill on June 22. America keeps its promises, even when it takes a midnight ride.
1. Welcome home, Specialist: an Army combat engineer wounded in Afghanistan gets the keys to a mortgage-free house built for his wheelchair
Army Spc. Seth Wakeling lost his left leg below the knee after an IED blast in Afghanistan in 2013. On Oct. 17, Homes For Our Troops handed him and his family the keys to a mortgage-free Fallbrook, Calif., home built for his wheelchair.
Original title: “Nonprofit Homes for Our Troops gifts disabled Army veteran house in Fallbrook”
Source: Read the full story: Nonprofit Homes for Our Troops gifts disabled Army veteran house in Fallbrook →
2. A shot at ending lifelong medicine: FDA approves a first-of-its-kind hepatitis B treatment developed with California's Ionis
On Oct. 20 the FDA approved Hibsago (bepirovirsen), the first antisense drug for chronic hepatitis B. In trials, 19% of patients had the virus in check 24 weeks after stopping all treatment, vs. none on placebo. It has safety warnings.
Original title: “FDA Approves First-of-Its-Kind Chronic Hepatitis B Treatment”
Source: Read the full story: FDA Approves First-of-Its-Kind Chronic Hepatitis B Treatment →
3. A whistle in the dark: Big Island rescuers find a missing swimmer clinging to his board more than a mile out to sea
When high winds swept a 32-year-old boogie boarder out from Hapuna Beach on Oct. 19, 19 responders searched for hours. At 11:05 p.m., a fire rescue boat crew heard whistling and found him over a mile out. He's in stable condition.
Original title: “Missing swimmer rescued more than a mile off Hapuna Beach”
Source: Read the full story: Missing swimmer rescued more than a mile off Hapuna Beach →
4. “We’re hiring and machines are landing”: a Nevada-born parts maker brings 309 jobs to Pittston, Pa.
Reno-based SendCutSend, which laser-cuts and machines custom parts for makers, small businesses and big companies, will invest $63.2 million in its first Pennsylvania plant, in Pittston Township, creating 309 jobs over three years.
Original title: “From single customer to Fortune500 companies, specialized manufacturer to open in Luzerne County”
5. A church lot becomes a home base: Cincinnati partners raise $3.5 million for a 14-home village for veterans without a place to live
Gaines United Methodist Church is leasing land vacant for 20+ years to Tiny Homes for Humanity, which raised $3.5 million for a 14-home Veterans Village with a garden, dog park and case managers. It awaits a final City Council vote.
Original title: “Church, nonprofit partner to build 14 tiny homes for homeless veterans in Cincinnati”