Hateful Message Backfires: 5 Brilliant Stories of the Week

One community's grand gesture on behalf of a family and an awesome dog reunion make the list:

• Community Wipes Out Racist Graffiti Before Family Sees It: If the goal of whoever scrawled racist graffiti on the home and truck of Marvin Phillips was to make the Tenino, Wash., family feel unwelcome, it backfired spectacularly: Dozens of community members scrubbed away the graffiti—which included "KKK" and the n-word—and repainted everything before the family got back from a camping trip. An angry Facebook post rallied the neighbors.

• Runner Reunited With Dog From Marathon: Earlier this year, ultramarathon runner Dion Leonard was running a six-day marathon through the Gobi Desert when he was joined by a small dog for the final four days. Leonard decided he'd bring the pooch back home to Scotland, and that will now happen—but not before another crazy turn involving a longshot dog search in a city of 3 million.
• Teacher's Homework Assignment Goes Viral: Texas teacher Brandy Young's note to parents about homework in her second-grade class went viral this week. The reason? There will be no homework. Young says she has better suggestions for the students to spend their time away from school.
• Florida Teen Makes a Rare Recovery: A 16-year-old South Florida boy has made a recovery after becoming infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba. Sebastian DeLeon is only the fourth person in the US to survive an infection by the Naegleria fowleri parasite, which he contracted while swimming. One factor: a stroke of luck involving a drugmaker.
• Toddler Trapped Under Boat Survives: Rescuers scrambling to find a 23-month-old thrown into a river after a boat accident could hear the toddler crying, but they couldn't locate her in the dark. Finally, they realized she was under the overturned boat, and she survived there for about an hour—thanks to her life jacket and a well-placed air pocket. The rest of her family was rescued earlier.

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