1. 8-year-old Boy Becomes Youngest Player to Beat a Chess Grandmaster.
At the tender age of eight years, six months, and 11 days, Singaporean Ashwath Kaushik became the youngest player ever to defeat a grandmaster in classical tournament chess.
He beat out the previous record holder by 4 months after defeating Poland’s Jacek Stopa, 37, in round four of the Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open in Switzerland.
CNN describes his parents seeing the “inevitability” of their son spending more time than they did growing up looking at screens, and explained they tried to get out ahead of the habit by introducing the boy to the ancient board game through ChessKid.com.
Then as the pandemic arrived and Singaporean authorities instituted strict lockdowns, Kaushik had all the time in the world to practice.
“I feel proud of my game and how I played. I felt amazing, just unbelievable,” Ashwath told CNN Sport in the wake of his victory.
2. ‘A Beautiful Idea’: This French Town Is Making its Cemetery a Source of Solar Energy
A community on the Loire in France has come up with a solar-powered idea that will clear two hurdles in a single leap.
The town of Saint-Joachim is located near the Brière marsh, a peat bog that becomes easily inundated with water. The local graveyard rests at 0 feet above sea level and standing water has become a major problem.
The mayor eventually proposed covering the graveyard to divert the rainwater into catch tanks to water the grass around the cemetery and nearby sporting complex in the dry summer months.
Solar panels—clear, see-through ones, were also proposed for the otherwise basic overhead covering, with each resident receiving a letter explaining the proposal and asking for their opinion on the idea.
3. ‘The Largest Environmental Restoration in History’ Continues to Restart the Heart of the Everglades
24 years ago, a fledging Good News Network reported on a vote in Congress to restore the Florida Everglades.
Rep. Clay Shaw, (R – FL) who left office in 2007, and who passed away a decade ago, called the plan “the biggest environmental restoration project in the history of the world” at the time, which aimed to undo the Army Corps of Engineers “Drain the Everglades” project which started in 1949.
Today, that plan is now in full effect, with over 60 infrastructure projects earmarked for $20 billion that will perform ecosystem-wide “heart bypass surgery.” The Florida fiscal year 2024 budget alone included $740 million for this kind of work, which the Everglades Foundation applauded.
As featured in CBS Mornings, the Drain the Everglades project disconnected Lake Okeechobee from feeding the Everglades ecosystem. This large lake gradually fed the 300-mile-wide river of grass that is the Everglades, and when it was removed, the water quality and quantity declined precipitously.
