A recent report looked at two of the most common requirements for choosing a place to live — safety and affordability — to highlight some U.S. cities that hit both marks. The analysis from MoneyGeek used data from the Census Bureau’s one-year American Community Survey and MIT’s Living Wage Calculator to come up with three lists: small cities, mid-large cities, and safe cities with particularly low food costs. Read the results here.
Marjane Satrapi could hardly believe it when she was commissioned to design a tapestry for the 2024 Paris Olympics. “When I got the call, I thought it was a hoax, but it wasn’t. I was delighted,” Satrapi told Reuters. The French-Iranian artist, who earned an Academy Award nomination in 2008 for the film adaptation of her graphic novel Persepolis, noted that alongside her delight, she was “stressed” about the weight of the project. But after three years of weaving, her work has finally come to fruition: The organizers of the upcoming Summer Games unveiled her nearly 30-foot tapestry last week. In addition to its massive breadth, the wool piece weighs over 130 pounds. It features brightly colored athletes competing against the backdrop of the Paris skyline. The tapestry will go on display at a museum, the Hotel de la Marine, in late June, and then will be moved to Nice — where the 2030 Winter Games are being held — in September. It was woven at the Gobelins Manufactory, which first opened in the mid-1600s and at one point manufactured textiles for King Louis XIV. See the full tapestry.
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Why You Should Consider Getting Pet Insurance
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We’ve all heard of tiny homes, but what about tiny forests? The concept, developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the 1970s, will soon be coming to Manhattan for the first time, with a “mini forest” planned for the city’s Roosevelt Island. The green space, which will be planted this spring by the nonprofit SUGi, will feature more than 1,000 native plants on a 2,700-square-foot plot. It will be called the Manhattan Healing Forest, and you can check out some of the renderings here. “Today our cities are concrete on concrete,” SUGi founder Elise Van Middelem told The Guardian. “When floods come or it rains really hard, there’s no more permeable surfaces. So one of the benefits [of mini forests] is that they act as sponges.” In addition to flood prevention, Miyawaki-style forests can help cool cities, provide shade, absorb carbon from the atmosphere, and boost local ecosystems by providing a home for native wildlife. “Biodiversity is completely linked with the climate crisis,” Van Middelem said. “The array of beauty that comes back where there was nothing is just remarkable.”
Health
Child Deaths Drop to Historic Low Around the World, UN Report Finds
New data from the United Nations shows that global child deaths, meaning the number of children who died before their 5th birthday, reached a historic low in 2022. Overall, the global under-5 mortality rate has decreased by 51% since 2000, the U.N. report said. But some lower income countries with previously high rates have far outpaced that average — Cambodia, Malawi, Mongolia, and Rwanda all reduced their under-5 mortality by over 75%. “Behind these numbers lie the stories of midwives and skilled health personnel helping mothers safely deliver their newborns, health workers vaccinating and protecting children against deadly diseases, and community health workers who make home visits to support families to ensure the right health and nutrition support for children,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement. She continued: “Through decades of commitment by individuals, communities, and nations to reach children with low-cost, quality, and effective health services, we’ve shown that we have the knowledge and tools to save lives.”
In Other News
Pitch proposal: Josh Cavallo, the first top-tier male professional soccer player to come out as gay, proposed to his partner on his stadium’s field. Check out the sweet photo.
New Mexico is expanding a foster care support program that helps young people who are aging out of the system.
Tommy John surgery, commonly performed on pro baseball pitchers, is becoming more effective, getting injured athletes back on the mound faster.
Composer Hans Zimmer will tour across North America for the first time in seven years. See which cities he’ll hit.
The Cincinnati Zoo capturedsome adorable footage of Mokonzi, a nearly 3-month-old okapi calf, getting his first taste of his outdoor yard.
Something We Love
The Qi Shangri-La Rose Tea We all need a little luxury in our lives sometimes, and this tea provides just that. Handpicked from the gardens of Shangri-la at 10,000 feet above sea level, the unique rose tea will bloom before your eyes when you brew it. Each order comes with nine individual whole rose flower packets, and each flower is good for three cups.
Recommendations are independently selected by our team but may result in a commission to Nice News which helps keep our content free.
Inspiring Story
Reaching new heights
Anna Wells is the first woman — and fourth person — to complete the Winter Munro Round, a climbing challenge that involves summiting all 282 of Scotland’s Munros (mountains more than 3,000 feet tall) before the spring equinox.
Following a seven-month restoration, the British Airways Concorde made its way up the Hudson River and back to its home at New York’s Intrepid Museum. The aircraft, a mainstay of the museum since 2003, remains the only supersonic commercial jet that ever flew.
Give Back to Animals in Need With Lemonade Pet
With every Lemonade Pet policy, you’re contributing to the brand’s Giveback program, which donates to charities policyholders care about, including animal rights organizations. Join the Lemonade Pet community and give your furry friend the gifts of health and happiness, while also making a difference in the lives of other animals.
“Tenderness is the most modest form of love. … It appears wherever we take a close and careful look at another being, at something that is not our ‘self.’”
