After spending the last five weeks out of the public eye, former Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, spoke to a group of campaign donors yesterday. In her speech to a room that donated over $1 billion to her campaign, she revealed the two “unprecedented” events that led to her loss. The first reason was FBI director James Comey’s careless handling of her email scandal. And the second was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intrusion into the election.


In July, FBI director James Comey announced the bureau had concluded its probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server and recommended no criminal charges be filed against the former Secretary of State. However, just eleven days before the election, Comey sent a cryptic message to Congress saying the FBI was analyzing additional emails obtained in an unrelated case. Then just two days before the election, Comey announced the new emails hadn’t changed the FBI’s previous conclusion. “Swing-state voters made their decisions in the final days breaking against me because of the FBI letter from Director Comey,” Clinton explained to donors.

The second event that played a large role in her loss was Russia’s hacking of Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign staff email accounts. The emails revealed that former DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz favored Clinton over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the the Democratic primaries. Recently, both the CIA and the FBI have concluded that Russia was behind the hacks and that its President, Vladimir Putin, help direct the attacks.

In her speech, Clinton said that Russian hackers were enacting vengeance against her for claiming its 2011 parliamentary elections were rigged. “Putin publicly blamed me for the outpouring of outrage by his own people, and that is the direct line between what he said back then and what he did in this election,” Clinton said. But Clinton sees Russia’s tampering with the election as a far greater problem than how it affected her campaign. “This is an attack against our country,” Clinton said. “We are well beyond normal political concerns here. This is about the integrity of our democracy and the security of our nation.”

  • ‘But you already helped me’: Elderly woman floored as landscaper reveals $625K GoFundMe in her name
    Photo credit: Photo credt: SB MowingSpencer mowed her lawn for free and changed her life.

    An elderly woman in Wichita, Kansas who was experiencing hard times has now found hope in the kindness of others. It first started when a local landscaper decided to mow and clean up her overgrown lawn for free. Since then, she’s been given $625,000 in donations (and counting!) to help address her needs and raise her spirits.

    It all started with Spencer B. of SB Mowing, a lawn care and pressure washing company. Spencer (who wishes his last name be omitted) runs his business both as a mower and as a content creator. He often offers his services for free to the elderly and veterans who cannot afford the upkeep of their lawns.

    Spencer visited the elderly woman, Debbie, after Zach, her Uber driver, contacted him. Zach had seen how much she was struggling on her own and wanted to help. As Spencer and his dad cut Debbie’s lawn and cleared debris, they heard her story. 

    Debbie’s grief and relief

    Debbie had been the full-time caregiver for her ailing husband until he died from stage four pancreatic cancer. Since then, her grief and other factors had prevented her from keeping up her home, lawn, and her own health. Struggle upon struggle was placed upon her.

    “While she was grieving, she was also being taken advantage of,” Spencer wrote on Debbie’s GoFundMe. “A contractor took a $2,000 deposit for tree work and never showed up. A neighbor wrecked her car and didn’t pay for it. She fell three months behind on rent, put off dental and health care she genuinely needs, and there were days when she and her dogs went without food because she simply couldn’t afford it.”

    Aside from free lawn care, Spencer decided to help Debbie get back on track. He and his dad bought everything from Debbie’s yard sale and donated it all to Habitat for Humanity to get her some cash in hand. Spencer also paid three months of Debbie’s back rent through his non-profit organization SB Mow It Forward.

    Strangers donated to Debbie

    Spencer then set up a GoFundMe for Debbie and shared her story. Within three days, friends and strangers alike donated over $625,000. Donations continue to roll in as of this writing. All of the money will be put into a trust for Debbie to use for essentials, medical care, dental care, and to help her transition to a senior living community when she is ready.

    Spencer shared a video of him telling Debbie this news. She was floored when she found out that around 40 million people had seen the video of Spencer cleaning up her yard, and she had no idea he had set up a GoFundMe.

    “I thought you already helped me,” Debbie said, welling with emotion. “I can’t believe it. How can people be so generous to help a stranger?”

    With tears in her eyes, Debbie thanked Spencer, Zach, and all the 13,000 people who had donated to help her. Spencer even made a video to highlight Zach, as he was the one who brought Debbie’s troubles to Spencer’s attention.

    SB Mowing’s history of helping neighbors

    This isn’t the only time Spencer’s deeds have made headlines. In 2024, he had raised $242,000 for a pet rescue that treated a cat he found while mowing a lawn. In 2025, he raised $850,000 to help Beth, an elderly woman in need of financial aid and accessibility care.

    A lot of good can happen if we check in on our neighbors (and maybe offer to cut their lawns) every once in a while.

  • Solar-powered boat feasts on trash and could solve the ocean’s plastic waste problem
    Photo credit: Ocean Cleanup on YouTubeThe Interceptor boat-barge could significantly clean our waters.

    Our oceans have a plastic problem. While it’s difficult to put a 100% accurate number on it, scientists estimated about 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste entered the ocean in 2010 alone according to the journal Science. This issue has caused scientists and engineers to create a boat-barge in Los Angeles that skims the oceans to gobble up the plastic we leave behind.

    Devised by the non-profit Ocean Cleanup organization, the garbage-gulping Interceptor boat-barge is actually a smaller platform nestled within a larger boat. A floating barrier moves collected trash into the device onto a conveyor belt. An automatic shuttle then collects the trash from the conveyor to send it to a separate barge where there are six dumpsters to hold it. The solar-powered system can hold up to 20,000 lbs. of garbage. The trash is then separated into different categories (plastics, metal, etc.) so they can be disposed of responsibly.

    Catching ocean trash from the source

    Ocean Cleanup hopes to make a dent cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean. However, they decided to first attack the plastic ocean problem at its source: rivers. When it rains, a lot of trash from the hills and valleys washes down into the nearest river. While there is significant ocean trash taken from beaches, they have found that the lion’s share of garbage that floats into our oceans actually comes from rivers and tributaries that lead into it. Essentially, the plan is to get ocean trash before it even enters the ocean.

    “We have to turn the faucet off before we can scoop the ocean, or else all we’re doing is taking out legacy trash to replace it with new trash,” James Patterson, the operations manager of Ocean Cleanup said to The Guardian. “Before you can clean out the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, you really need to turn off the source.”

    How the Interceptor is helping Los Angeles and beyond

    There is an Interceptor already doing its work at the mouth of Ballona Creek in Culver City, California. Since 2025, the Interceptor has prevented 143,710 lbs. of trash from entering the ocean via the creek. As a bonus, the Interceptor’s trash sweeping has lowered government budgets for beach grooming. Since there is less trash, the beach doesn’t need to be cleaned as often.

    There are two more Interceptors planned to be at the mouths of the San Gabriel River and the Los Angeles River. This can help clean up the rivers for the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics for aquatic events.

    There are currently 21 Interceptor systems throughout the globe. Countries using them include Indonesia, Vietnam, Jamaica, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Malaysia.

    If this is an issue that speaks to you, you can help even if you don’t live near an ocean. There may be a nearby river or creek that could benefit from volunteer cleanups. Do some research to find an organization near you to volunteer. If you can’t locate one, groups like River Cleanup can help you organize your own group. Much like how a small drop contributes to a large ocean, a small pick-up can make a big difference.

  • While exploring trails, two friends rescue missing woman trapped in a mud puddle for 3 days
    Photo credit: KARE11 News on YouTubeAdam Sandbeck and Mike Gravalin found a woman who was missing for three days.

    In Minnesota, 68-year-old Kathryn Woessner got out of her van and fell into a puddle beside it. The pool of mud was so deep that Woessner couldn’t get herself out; she compared it to quicksand. She was almost completely submerged, stuck in it for three days until two men spotted her and saved her life.

    The two men, Adam Sandbeck and Mike Gravalin, were riding their all-terrain vehicles nearby. On a whim, the two friends decided to ride on a trail that they hadn’t explored before that had been flooded. That’s when they spotted Woessner’s van in a clearing. 

    ‘Help me’

    Sandbeck and Gravalin went in to get a closer look. Next to the van, they saw what they thought was a corpse buried in the mud except for part of the face poking upward. That’s when they heard Woessner’s weak voice say, “Help me.” 

    Shocked at first, Sandbeck and Gravalin quickly went into action. It took them less than half an hour to pull Woessner out of mud and check in on her. They then called 911 to get volunteer firefighters, paramedics, and police to the scene for help. The tracking device on one of their vehicles helped provide coordinates to their location. Woessner explained to her saviors that she was stuck on her back, resulting in a serious sunburn on her face as she tried to yell for help for days.

    Woessner was taken to Essentia Health-St. Joseph’s Medical Center where she is expected to make a full recovery. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Woessner’s family were relieved, as she was officially reported missing for three days. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office thanked the other agencies that aided in the search and rescue of Woessner in a Facebook post.

    The two friends were ‘guided’ there

    While they were rightfully praised for their actions, Gravalin and Sandbeck say they were at the right place at the right time. In fact, they almost wouldn’t have found Woessner at all. Had they decided to take their vehicles on their usual routes, Woessner might not have survived.

    “We ain’t heroes,” Sandbeck told KARE 11 News. “We’re just two guys that were out there riding, enjoying the day together, making fun of each other all day long like we always do, like buddies, but I have no doubt the hand of God was there guiding us there. Because that trail that we found her on, we actually drove past it.”

    “We’ve driven past it for the last eight years and never went down,” added Gravalin. “And it was like, let’s go check that out,” Sandbeck added. “So we actually turned around and drove back down it.”

    Regardless of reason, it was good for Woessner that they decided to take a detour.

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