Today in Squirrel News, a US-accredited university offers online college education and degrees to the world tuition-free, an Atlanta nonprofit offers grants that pay a full year’s rent to income-qualified tenants, and specially trained puppies from Wales are tracking poachers in Africa to save wildlife.
Based in California, the ‘University Of The People’ reaches 150,000 students in 200 countries and territories, including 20,000 in the U.S. It offers accredited certificates, associate and bachelor’s degree programmes, as well as some master’s degree programmes at zero tuition. But students do have to pay some fees.
The University of Utah, Smith College in Massachusetts, Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, and the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, have each announced a free tuition programme for income-qualified students, some with additional residency or academic stipulations.
Nonprofit FreeRent has usually offered a month or two of rent relief, but the grants this time are for all of 2026 to help people avoid homelessness and get on a solid footing for the future. Those who earn less than 80% of median income or pay more than 50% of their income in rent are eligible.
The 2025 elections in the US had a lot of significant firsts for women, people of colour, and transgender candidates. Gender on the Ballot assesses the gender firsts in particular and speculates that, for local elections, 2025 has been the ‘year of the woman’.
Street vendors in Chicago are beloved members of the community, part of the cultural ‘fabric’ of the city, now living in fear of arrest. A group of bikers are making a daily round to buy out their stocks and allow them to go home early, one of a number of initiatives of people helping people in times of increased immigration raids.
The Trump administration ended the federal programme to preserve 30% of land and waters by 2030, but at least nine US states are continuing the programme at the state level. Others may follow suit, and some have reached that goal and are setting more ambitious preservation and restoration goals.
Seen as a victory in seabird restoration, the first puffins on the Isle of Muck were observed in 2024, but conservationists say that signs the birds are breeding this year give the hope they are back to stay. A programme of rat eradication begun in 2017 was key and has led to increases to other seabird populations.
Pippa Lovell’s restaurant ‘Versa’ on the UN biosphere Isle of Man flips the idea of a restaurant on its head. First and foremost an environmental activist, she strives to have as small a footprint as possible, changing the menu daily to not overconsume ingredients and foraging within walking distance for invasive species so the native ones can thrive.
Asking if autonomous aircraft are the future of food delivery and distribution, journalists from BBC’s The Food Chain discover a company that does grocery and fast food delivery in Dublin, Helsinki, and Dallas; order burgers in minutes in Hong Kong; and talk to humanitarian aid agencies about drones delivering vital support to remote, difficult to reach areas.
Started by professional trainers in Wales, Dogs4Wildlife trains their puppy trackers almost from birth to sniff out rhino horn, elephant ivory, and bushmeat. The dogs join anti-poaching teams in areas with fewer resources, and their success has contributed to the last decade’s reduction in poaching.
