Pizza truck customers defend gay couple, and more

Pizza truck customers defend gay couple

A homophobe’s hateful rant at a gay couple was silenced by customers and servers at a pizza truck in Columbus, Ohio, last week. Joel Diaz and Ethan White were holding hands as they waited in line for pizza at Mikey’s Late Night Slice, when another customer told them to cut out the “gay s---.” One by one, the other customers turned on the man, and when he continued undeterred, the pizza truck’s servers told him forcefully to leave with no slice. Diaz said the experience left him hopeful that such bigotry would soon be a “thing of the past.”

Paintings by orangutan to profit local zoo

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A zoo in Wahpeton, N.D., is set to receive an injection of funds, thanks to the sale of colorful artworks painted by one of its own residents. Tal, a 275-pound orangutan, has painted a series of artworks that are on display and for sale at a local community center, with all proceeds going to the zoo’s conservation efforts. The primate painter-in-residence has produced several vibrant canvases, despite developing a taste for his nontoxic materials. He is particularly fond of eating yellow paint, said the zoo’s curator, Tom Schmaltz. “Could be because it looks like a banana.”

Cancer recovery leaves doctors dumbfounded

A woman who was diagnosed with one of the deadliest cancers in her mid-20s now has no trace of the disease left, a recovery that has left doctors dumbfounded. Heather Knies of Phoenix was diagnosed with two brain tumors by the age of 26, and told that one—an aggressive stage 4 glioblastoma—would likely kill her within months. But Knies was recently given the all-clear after six years of intense treatment. “Her survival is remarkable,” said surgeon Dr. Robert Spetlzer. Knies even gave birth to a baby daughter last year, despite undergoing radiotherapy that often leaves women infertile.