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Memorial Day weekend is staring us down, which means three things: the grill comes out of hibernation, someone's about to overpay for lake house Airbnb, and someone's about to volunteer to bring the potato salad and immediately regret it. But before you clock out for the long weekend, here's your weekly dose of good news:

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It’s not all doom and gloom out there. Here’s some positive news items from publications around the world.

📉 America's Big Cities Are Getting Dramatically Safer
Violent crime in major US cities just kept plunging in early 2026, with homicides down 17.7% across 67 major police departments – and DC (-64.7%), Philadelphia (-54%), and San Diego (-50%) leading the pack. Robberies fell 20.4%, the decline showed up in every region, and the trend now stretches across two presidencies. Read more 👉 Axios

💝 Teacher Adopts the Student Everyone Calls Her Real-Life Matilda
Lexi McClelland was 24 when 8-year-old Mary burst into her second-grade classroom singing – a book-loving kid who'd already been through six foster homes. When Mary's planned adoption fell through, Lexi and her husband Max stepped in, and the adoption was finalized on April 7, 2022. Mary's now a thriving 12-year-old, and her little brother Murphy is reportedly obsessed with her. Read more 👉 TODAY

🖨️ A 10-Year-Old Built a 3D Printing Business With His Chore Money
Fifth-grader Ernesto Gael Hernandez saved $500 in chores three months ago to buy his first 3D printer. He's now running three printers at once under the name Prestige 3D Labs, has partnered with a local clothing store, and turned a $1,500 profit – all to save up for a house for him and his mom. Read more 👉 KRGV

💵 Man Spent Days Hunting for the Owner of a $30,000 Fanny Pack
Luis Salazar walked into a Wawa bathroom in Riviera Beach and found a fanny pack stuffed with cash – $30,000 of it. He spent days trying to track down the owner before police matched him to security footage, and reunited him with a stranger who burst into tears and hugged him. "It's not my money to take. I was not raised that way," Salazar said. Read more 👉 Good News Network

🦬 One-in-a-Million White Bison Calf Born in Iowa
A rare white bison – the kind the National Park Service estimates appears in roughly one in a million wild births – was born at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Prairie City, Iowa. It's the first white bison ever recorded at the refuge, and white bison calves are considered sacred to many Native American nations, including the Lakota, Cherokee, and Sioux. Read more 👉 Popular Science

🐐 Two Pet Goats Led Rescuers Straight to a Family Trapped Under Tornado Debris
After an EF4 tornado leveled the Sloat family's home, Mary Sloat and her family were trapped in their storm shelter, buried under bricks and debris. Their pet goats Percy and Penny – who the family assumed couldn't have survived – were found standing on top of the rubble pile, showing rescuers exactly where to start digging. Read more 👉 KFOR

Feel good stories from Happilynews.com guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

A New York man got the ultimate birthday present this year – a kidney from his older sister, hand-delivered on the morning of his 49th. Troy Rowe and his sister Kim walked into NYU Langone arm-in-arm. They left two surgeries lighter, and one second chance heavier.

Troy's kidney trouble first surfaced during a routine physical in 2024. He felt fine. The bloodwork didn't. Within months his function had collapsed entirely, and a specialist sent him straight from the office to the ER. The diagnosis: end-stage kidney disease, brought on by hypertension. He started dialysis almost immediately.

Finding a donor was always going to be the hard part. Troy is B positive – one of the rarer blood types in the US – which narrows the donor pool considerably. Then Kim got tested.

She wasn't just compatible. She was a rare and highly compatible match.

"Once I found out that I was a match, there was no hesitation at all," Kim told People. "I'm just so grateful and blessed that I could do this for him."

The transplant team scheduled the surgery for Troy's birthday. The Rowes took the timing as a sign and ran with it.

Both surgeries went off without a hitch. Both siblings have recovered well. A month later, they reunited to celebrate – this time for Kim's birthday.

"I've always looked after my baby brother," she said. "Seeing the life in his face, it means everything."

Troy, for his part, is still trying to work out the math.

"Asking someone to donate an organ to you is not an easy thing," he said. "So for her to agree and be a match was the best feeling in the world. She gave me a second chance at life – how can I ever repay that?"

A unique, sometimes quirky, but always eye-catching photo feature each week.

Two of the rarest signed photographs in American history just sold within minutes of each other – and they belong to two men whose lives ended together one night at Ford's Theatre.

At Swann Galleries' auction earlier this month, an 1863 signed portrait of Abraham Lincoln went for $139,200. An uncommon 1862 signed photo of John Wilkes Booth – the actor who shot him – fetched $107,950. Signed Lincoln photos are exceptionally scarce, partly because his life was cut so short by the man in the next frame. The pair came from the same California family collection, alongside signed shots of Babe Ruth, Mark Twain, Einstein, and a White House handshake between Eisenhower and JFK.

Tees, totes and mugs designed by us, printed on quality kit, and worn by readers who like wearing their optimism on their sleeve. Quite literally. Every order keeps Smileworthy free, ad-free and in your inbox every Friday.

Use code SMILE15 for 15% off — subscribers only. 👉 https://www.thehappilyshop.com/

If a short Slack message from your boss or a delayed text from a friend can send you spiraling, you might be dealing with rejection sensitive dysphoria – a pattern where everyday social moments land like a body blow. It's especially common in people with ADHD, but anyone can feel it.

Try this go-to trick as a simple defense: name it. The next time a small moment knocks the wind out of you, try saying – out loud or in your head – "This might be RSD." Putting language on it creates just enough distance between you and the feeling to stop the spiral before it builds.

The inventor of the matchstick died without ever patenting it. John Walker gave away the idea because he thought it was too simple to own.

1609 William Shakespeare's Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by publisher Thomas Thorpe

1804 Napoléon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of France by the French Senate

1927 At 7:40 AM, Charles Lindbergh takes off from New York to cross the Atlantic for Paris aboard the Spirit of St. Louis in the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight

1990 Hubble Space Telescope sends its first photographs from space

1998 The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with 75% voting yes

Feel-good clips are scientifically linked to better mood - consier this your weekend prescription!

Kamilah lost all feeling below her hips in late 2022 after a rare neurological condition called transverse myelitis flipped her life on its side. She used a wheelchair throughout her pregnancy, throughout the early wedding festivities, and right up until the moment her coordinator slipped her a walker at the top of the aisle. Her groom Jaracus had no idea what was coming.

That’s it for this week. If you liked what you read, why not buy the team a coffee? We’re fuelled by caffeine and a thirst for sharing the most uplifting, positive stories with you, our beloved readers.

And don’t forget to share with your friends and family to brighten their day, too.

Have a great weekend!

~ Team Happily 😊