Chicago’s annual Ducky Derby fundraiser happened Wednesday.  You pay $10 to sponsor a rubber duck.  Then they drop them all into the Chicago River, and you win money if your duck makes it to shore first. According to their website, over 75,000 ducks were sponsored this year.  They raised around $400,000 for the Special Olympics.  (Here’s a video.)…………..  Maui’s famous 151-year-old banyan tree is bouncing back.  Half its branches were destroyed by the terrible wildfire in Lahaina last year and had to be removed.  But the ones that survived are thriving again…………And finally…………. 

Hattie Pruitt, the oldest living woman from the “Rosie the Riveter” days just turned 109 on Monday. She’s originally from Mississippi, but she’s lived in Berkeley, California since the 1930s. She was a shipyard welder during World War Two, and her son says they liked her because “her welding was meticulous.”  And she was small, so she could fit into tight spaces. She says her secret to living so long is eating fruits and vegetables every day, and also kindness.  Quote, “You don’t get nowhere being nasty to people.”