Stacey Blank remembers the day she first read about an innovative tool for her chronic lung patients. The Coordinator of the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Department at the Western Maryland Health System describes it as “something outside the box.” Blank’s career objective was to help her patients breathe better. “You don’t realize how tough it is to live everyday and be short of breath,” she says. She became instrumental in the nationwide Harmonica for Health Program through the COPD Foundation (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) in conjunction with the Academy of Country Music …

Britain wants to boost trade ties with Africa after it leaves the European Union — a project some have called “Empire 2.0.”  British plans to build on historical links with its former empire could face resistance in many African countries, as exporters face years of uncertainty over future trading relations with the UK. Britain says leaving the EU will allow it to “go global” and throw off the shackles it claims the EU has imposed on its trading ambitions. On a recent visit to Uganda, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said …

Bison once thundered across the North American plains by the millions.  But they were hunted to near extinction in the 19th century for their hides.  Today, their numbers are growing again, thanks in part to the important role they can play in land restoration. The 429-hectare Kankakee Sands Nature Reserve is a sea of tall dried grass, with bits of spring green filling in here and there, but it once was Beaver Lake, the largest body of water in Indiana.  Pioneers drained it for farmland in the 19th century.  While …

Living in large cities has its downsides, and one of them is a lack of fresh organic locally grown produce. But growing vegetables is something everyone can do and it can be done in literally a handful of soil. Two amateur gardeners in the Swedish city of Gothenburg started small, but now see gardening as a way to profitability. VOA’s George Putic reports. … From: MeNeedIt

A tearful Jimmy Kimmel turned his show’s monologue into an emotional recounting of his newborn son’s open-heart surgery — and a plea that all American families get the life-saving medical care they need. “It was a scary story and before I go into it, I want you to know it has a happy ending,” Kimmel assured ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” studio audience Monday as he detailed how his son’s routine birth April 21 suddenly turned frightening. Several hours after his wife, Molly, gave birth to William John, a “very attentive” …