Three homeless men get a fixer-upper, and more

Three homeless men get a fixer-upper

Three homeless men will soon get a roof over their heads—by building it for themselves. A homeless initiative in Hillsborough County, Fla., has given the trio a dilapidated house to live in, but only if they fix it up themselves with supplies donated by a local Home Depot. Steven Donaldson, the initiative’s founder, says the three men will live for almost nothing for six months, after which they’ll be expected to find jobs and start paying higher rent. “This is a gift from God,” said Albert Swiger, one of the new tenants.

Snowy the white reindeer

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She may not have a red nose, but Snowy the reindeer is still something of a Christmas miracle. The rare white reindeer was born in Whitby, England, in May, but made her first public appearance this week, to the delight of local children. Snowy is completely white due to a genetic mutation, but is not thought to be an albino as her eyes are coal black, not red. Only one in 10,000 reindeer are born in a similar condition. “We have bred reindeer for years,” said owner Mark Noble, “but have never known anything like this to have happened before.”

Saving a copy of the 13th Amendment

A rare copy of the 13th Amendment banning slavery, signed by President Lincoln and the lawmakers who voted for it in 1865, has been saved from ruin by a Chicago paper company. The 146-year-old document had deteriorated so much that its owner, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill., feared it might never be shown in public again. Since no public funds were available, private conservator Russ Maki stepped up on his own dime to restore worn-away sections of the vellum document, which will now be on display at the museum in February.