Inmates Raise Monarch Butterflies for Migration

At Redgranite Correctional Institution in central Wisconsin, 20 inmates care for monarch caterpillars inside an enclosure known as the “Monarch Mansion.” They change leaves, collect data on eggs, and tag the butterflies before releasing them for their migration thousands of miles to Mexico.

The program was started by Carrie Jahnke, a recreation leader at the prison known as “the Butterfly Lady,” who was looking for an activity that less physically active inmates could participate in. It began in a spare room with 12 participants and received 60 larvae in its first year.

This year, the program expanded to 100 larvae. A grant from the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin helped fund construction of the Monarch Mansion. The prison has also added monarch-friendly flowers and pollinator gardens around the grounds. One inmate even painted a monarch mural inside the prison.

Carrie said the ripple effects go beyond conservation. Inmates report monarch sightings around the grounds and share what they’ve learned with family members. “Guys who weren’t even participating in the program would say to me, ‘Ms. Jahnke, I saw 15 monarchs today!‘” she said.

13-Year-Old Headed to NYU after Beating the Odds

Joe Petraro-Hyppolite spent his early school years in special education, misunderstood and struggling to communicate. He was bullied for his verbal and physical tics. Then in third grade, a teacher recommended evaluations, and everything changed. Joe was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, dyslexia, and severe OCD. His IQ tested at 168.

That same year, he was also diagnosed with leukemia. “It was a bad year,” his mother, Anne, said. But Joe transferred to a school where he could work at his own pace, and he took off.

He graduated high school at 11, scored 1,590 on the SAT at 10, and is now finishing his bachelor’s degree at Louisiana State University at 13. Next fall, he’ll begin a master’s program at NYU, making him one of the youngest people ever accepted into a master’s program at the university.

Outside the classroom, Joe founded Joe’s Be Kind Campaign, an initiative that includes an Adopt a Grandparent program and Joe’s Wells for Humanity, which has built more than 127 wells in Africa. He also runs a free, inclusive sports league and volunteers at a local nursing home.

Fat Bear Week Is Back

Sixteen salmon-stuffed brown bears are facing off in Alaska’s most beloved competition. Fat Bear Week, the annual bracket-style tournament celebrating the chubbiest bears of Katmai National Park, is underway, with public voting running through Sept. 29.

This year’s field features 16 competitors, including five mothers with cubs. Defending champion Chunk, who won last year despite a broken jaw, is back to defend his title. Also returning is fan favorite Grazer, the first mother bear to win the crown, who took back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024. Among the contenders is Gully, believed to be one of Grazer’s offspring, who earned his name by charging into flocks of gulls for snacks.

The lighthearted competition highlights the bears’ annual race to build enough fat reserves to survive winter and draws attention to the salmon and ecosystem that sustain them. Bears can lose a third of their body weight during hibernation, and females need sufficient fat reserves to sustain their cubs.

Voters can cast ballots at fatbearweek.org between noon and 9 p.m. ET on voting days and watch the contenders live on Explore.org’s bear cams. Fans can also donate to the Katmai Conservancy’s Otis Fund, with donations from Sept. 22 through Oct. 3 eligible for matching.

The following stories are featured exclusively on The Feel Good Flyover Podcast. Clicking the link will take you directly there:

➤ Nostalgia may be more powerful than it seems, and researchers have found five surprising ways that reflecting on old memories pays off. (Listen Now)

➤ When his hospice team asked a 93-year-old Army veteran what he wanted most, the answer required a pilot. (Hear Story)

➤ One woman’s daily affirmations, rooted in her husband’s cancer battle, are lifting spirits far beyond her front porch. (Hear Details)

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➤ Baby raccoons in Mississippi are attending “boot camp” to learn survival skills their mothers never got to teach them. Woodside Wildlife Rescue teaches orphaned kits to swim, find food and avoid humans, and has raised 76 kits so far this year. (See Photos)

➤ Cancer-free after 3.5 years of leukemia treatment, one Virginia teen celebrated by leading two scout troops to revamp the courtyard at the local Ronald McDonald House, the same place that hosted his family over 100 times in his first year of treatment. (Watch Video)

➤ Staff at a NOAA fisheries office in Florida heard tapping at their door and found an injured pelican waiting on the stoop. Expert handlers removed a fishhook, fishing line, and cactus spines, and the bird flew off healthy. (See Photos)

➤ Quick thinking from a Tennessee college student saved a 3-year-old boy with autism who had wandered from home and was clinging to a tree branch in a fast-moving creek. He lowered himself into the 4-foot-deep water and pulled the child to safety. (Full Story)

➤ Scientists have identified the first brand-new wild cat species in more than a century. The tilcayo, a spotted feline smaller than a house cat, weighs just 3 to 4 pounds and lives in Bolivia’s cloud forests. (See Photos)

➤ One British couple has fostered 59 rescue dogs from Battersea Dogs Home over the past 15 years, hosting everything from Staffies to Siberian Huskies and helping each pup reveal its personality before finding a forever family. (See Photos)

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A 5-year-old is moved to tears as his family continues a birthday tradition of taking turns telling him what they love most about him.

video via alexisvgates – Instagram

How did the tree get a new job? 

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“Here’s to a new day, and a fresh pot of coffee, and a happy heart.”

— Maureen “Mo” Fitzgerald in one of her daily morning affirmation videos