17 Good News Stories With Spacey Twists, Plus ‘Yia Yia’ Turns 100

ACROSS AMERICA — Liz Anjos made history when she took her final steps up the blustery slope of Maine's famed Mt. Katahdin, the scraggly and gnarled terminus of one of the nation's most-storied long-distance trails.

Some 51 days, 16 hours and 30 minutes before, Anjos — raised in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, and now a resident of Portland, Oregon — had embarked on foot on the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia.

Her pace set a new "fastest known time" for women running the trail in the northbound direction, and it was the second-fastest-ever time for a woman behind legendary trail runner Jennifer Pharr Davis.

"My nearly 52 days spent on the Appalachian Trail were like a hyperlapse of rising and falling suns, moons, stars, storms, calm, mountains, valleys ... it wasn't so much a daily endeavor, but more like a singular continuous stretch, moving ever forward," Anjos wrote of her odyssey. By Eric Kiefer for Montgomeryville-Lansdale Patch

Below are 16 more fun, quirky and uplifting news stories from Patch editors across America.

Everybody’s “Yia Yia” Is 100

If there's one thing to know about Diamond Marropodi, it's that she's a grandma to all. The longtime New Jersey resident, who turned 100 years old on Aug. 31, is not only known for her delicious homemade cookies and infamous macaroni and cheese recipe: She's also known to treat everyone she meets like family, affectionately going by "Yia Yia" Diamond to all those around her. By Nicole Rosenthal for Freehold Patch

Christmastime For The Troops

Against the backdrop of the coronavirus and its various effects on life across America, a group of senior citizens in Texas decided Christmas should come early for U.S. military troops. Working with Operation Support Our Troops – America, they sent out 769 stockings and handwritten letters to troops deployed overseas. By Tony Cantu for Austin Patch

Feeding The Hungry

Two young Pennsylvania residents collected more than 100 pounds of food to help their neighbors during the coronavirus pandemic. The girls, Piper and Delanie, organized a food drive in the Raintree neighborhood in late April. The food was delivered to the Emergency Relief Association - Food Pantry of Lower Bucks County. By Kara Seymour for Newton Patch

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Patch has teamed with Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization, to bring awareness to the problems of hunger and food, made worse by the pandemic and potentially affecting 54 million Americans by year’s end. Read more about the initiative.

What’s This Book Club Reading?

About free 10,000 books, ranging from colorful books for preschoolers to more sophisticated fare for adults, have been distributed by the Mayor’s Book Club, an initiative in the city of Newark, New Jersey, to empower residents with a love of reading. By Eric Kiefer for Newark Patch

Roll Tide: “Ripple Effect”

Volunteer opportunities have been scarce around Tuscaloosa because of the coronavirus pandemic. But the University of Alabama is back in session, and a long tradition, “Ripple Effect,” has returned. For 27 years, students have kicked off the fall semester by performing community service projects. By Ryan Phillips for Tuscaloosa Patch

Inaugural Eagle Scout Class For Girls

This year marks the inaugural Eagle Scout class for girls in an all-girl Scout troop formed last year in California. Four Eagle service projects are in the works, and one Scout has already built and donated benches for a patio outside of Lake Forest City Hall. By Ashley Ludwig for Lake Forest Patch

Up, Up And Away

Magician David Blaine (top photo) floated over the mountains of Page, Arizona, in his latest stunt, "Ascension," carried only by 52 helium-filled balloons. He called it his “most ambitious and revolutionary feat yet” in an exclusive YouTube broadcast you can watch on Patch. By Lindsay Walker for Across Arizona Patch

Was That George Jetson?

Many Americans of a certain age are still waiting for the promises of the futuristic 1960s cartoon series “The Jetsons” to come to fruition. Could it have been George Jetson, the cartoon family’s patriarch, seen in a jetpack at 3,000 feet as two airliners planned to land at Los Angeles International Airport? Two pilots said they saw the man in the jetpack. The FBI and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the mystery. By Paige Austin for Marin Del Rey Patch

Martha Stewart To The Moon?

Home decorating guru Martha Stewart isn’t going into space — that we know of — but her spirit may be. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are, in fact, calling themselves “lunar Martha Stewarts” for their work on Dustbuster-like device astronauts can use to rid their space suits, solar panels, helmets and important equipment from lunar dust, which researchers say is both damaging and “very annoying.” By Amber Fisher for Boulder Patch

Back-To-School Rap

Don’t call the principal of a New Jersey middle school and a “house band” of teachers a “one hit wonder.” Their “Back Again” rap video welcoming students back to in-person school after a long absence because of the coronavirus was a big hit — but so was the “Fresh Prince(ipal) of Barnegat video posted last year about remote learning. By Josh Bakan for Barnegat-Manahawkin Patch

Lincoln Lock

It may never have occurred to you that you want it, but if you’ve got enough cash, you can own a lock of President Abraham Lincoln’s hair. Paired with a blood-stained historic telegram received moments after the president's assassination, both items are expected to fetch $75,000 in a Sept. 12 auction by RR Auction. By Lorraine Swanson for Across Illinois Patch

Portrait By A President

An original oil painting by former President Jimmy Carter fetched $340,000 — more than three times the amount that organizers of an auction raising money for the Carter Center expected. The painting, which the former president and first lady used on their 2018 Christmas card, was one of several items that raised more than $2 million for the Carter Center. Signed photos of former presidents, a typewriter from actor Tom Hanks and a signed baseball by Joe DiMaggio were also auctioned. By Jeff Arnold for Atlanta Patch

Stolen Art Recovered

Detectives in Los Angeles have recovered Robert Spencer’s “Canal,” one of four high-value paintings stolen in an art gallery heist in 1995. Work by the artist, born in 1879 in Nebraska, is featured in private collections, as well as at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the James A. Michener Art Museum. By Nicole Charky for Los Angeles Patch

The “Bear” Necessities

A Safeway store in a Lake Tahoe community may have a new spirit animal — a black bear. Or perhaps a pair of them. No one really knows if the same bear visited the store twice in about a week, first to pick up some snack chips and in a few days to grab some yogurt, as video shows. By Beth Dalbey for Across California Patch

Fawns Frolic In The Pool

Whether they enjoyed it is another question entirely, but two fawns in Ohio had nothing to do but keep swimming after they managed to land in an in-ground swimming pool in suburban Cleveland. The homeowner was unable to rescue them, and police had to cowboy up when they got there, as video shows. By Beth Dalbey for Cleveland Patch

A Touching “Godspell” Connection

Finally, we leave you with this touching essay from a daughter who writes of finding her mother in “Godspell” after more than a quarter of a century without her. Here’s an excerpt: “It was a bond I shared with my mother — a show we saw together nine times on Broadway, a bridge during the stormy teen years through which we found our way back to one another. And then, the show was one of the last things we talked about before I lost her, on a hot August day when I was 29 years old.” By Lisa Finn on North Fork Patch