Five adult elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park rushed into action Monday as a powerful earthquake shook the ground to form a protective “alert circle” around two young calves, demonstrating their sharp instincts and strong family structure. (San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance via AP),
People around the world fell in love with elephants all over again after a powerful, 5.2-magnitude earthquake rattled Southern California Monday.
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When the ground began to shake, a herd of five adult African elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park ran from different directions to form a protective circle to shield two 7-month-old calves. The elephants remained huddled until after the rocking stopped.
The “alert circle,” as the behavior is known, provided scientists an unexpected and spontaneous glimpse into elephants’ sharp instincts, their communication skills and strong family connections.
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The elephants “heard” the earthquake with their feet, zoo spokesperson Emily Senninger said, explaining that elephants are known to form alert circles any time young elephants, or the entire herd, are threatened.
Video of the pachyderms’ response to the earthquake “demonstrates the strong family structure in elephants,” Senninger said.
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- Read the full story watch the video: San Diego Zoo Elephants Form ‘Alert Circle’ During Earthquake
‘It Was So New York’
Marilyn Menick, 76, who lives on New York’s Upper East Side, decided two years ago to walk every block in Manhattan.
A fitness instructor whose passion is walking, the mother of two and grandmother of four figures she has walked about 70 percent of the borough.
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Around every street corner she has found a new and sometimes surprising experience. One day, while resting during a long walk around downtown Manhattan, she encountered a woman who lived in a tent.
“I was very tired that day and stopped at a bench downtown when this homeless woman came up to me and asked if I was OK, and I told her I was, and explained what I was doing,” Menick told Patch.
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The woman disappeared into her nearby tent and came out with a banana and handed it to Menick. “She told me, ‘You need potassium,’” Menick said. “I was so touched.”
A a couple of days later, Menick returned to the area, intent on giving the woman some cash. She wasn’t in her usual spot. Menick found her several blocks away.
“When I found her, I said, ‘You moved!’ and she said, ‘Marilyn, you inspired me to start going on walks!’ It really made me feel like I accomplished something. It was so New York.”
- Read the Patch Exclusive: Grandmother Finds Delight On Every Block As She Walks Her Neighborhood
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(Photo courtesy of Ann Marie Rakovic)
Record Stores Were Hallowed Ground
Chicagoans of a certain age — we won’t say what age — probably experienced the joy of camping out in front of a Flip Side Records store waiting for the Ticketron outlet to open so they could buy tickets for The Who.
From 1968 to 1995, brothers Carl and Larry Rosenbaums’ Flip Side ruled Chicago’s record market, with locations tucked away in strip malls and storefronts across the city and suburbs. The concert arm of the brothers’ enterprise was Celebration Flip Side, which produced all the big concerts of the 1970s and 1980s.
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The brothers weren’t necessarily into music, growing up on Chicago’s North Side. They just wanted to be their own boss.
“We were working for an electronics parts distributor in 1968,” Larry, 81, told Patch. “We were interested in going into business ourselves. Our choices were narrowed down to a record store, Vienna hot dog stand and a dry cleaner. Our dad was a CPA and one of his clients owned a lucrative dry cleaning business.”
Both brothers were in their early 20s, married and with babies, because that’s what people did back then.
“We decided on a record store,” Larry said. “Interestingly enough, we weren’t into music. We were just looking for a business to get into.”
The brothers’ legacy continues in a book, but also in the hearts of anyone who ever visited a Flipside.
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“The best way to sum it up, at least for my brother and me, to use the words of the Grateful Dead, ‘what a long, strange trip it’s been,’” Larry said. “It was a great run, the friends we made, the lives we impacted, there just isn’t any words.”
- Read the full Patch Exclusive: Flip Side Founder Recalls Days When Record Stores Were Hallowed Ground
(Photo courtesy of Ann Marie Rakovic)
More Than A Meal, Food ‘Tells A Story’
Siblings reunited after they were separated for 12 years by immigration issues are combining their talents at Masalamex, a Westfield, New Jersey, Indian-Mexican fusion restaurant scheduled to open in mid-April.
Ruthvi Shah was 12 and her brother Dhruv Shah was 17 when they were separated. They were reunited in 2016 at their parents’ restaurant in Edison, where patrons came together over familiar flavors from their homelands.
Their mission at Masalamex, unsurprisingly, is rooted in the power of food to bring people together.
“At the heart of our business lies a deeply personal mission: to unite people through the power of food. Our cuisine is more than just a meal — it tells a story,” Ruthvi Shah told Patch. “A story of immigrants and the enduring spirit of unification.”
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- Read the full Patch Exclusive: Long-Separated Siblings Reunite Over Power Of Food
Keep Your Eyes On Her
Few high schoolers are interested in politics, but 15-year-old Gracyn Green spends her free time pushing eco-friendly legislation in Annapolis, Maryland.
“I see a lot of plastic bottles and trash just come up on our shoreline, and it’s honestly really disgusting,” Green told Patch. “Our community deserves a little more than we have right now.”
Green’s passion for preservation stems from her nautical background. She learned to surf in Puerto Rico, and now you’ll find her catching waves at Assateague Island and teaching stand-up paddleboard in Annapolis.
She founded a local Surfrider Club affiliate for like-minded environmentalists at Annapolis High School in 2023. Nationwide, Surfriders contribute more than 185,000 volunteer hours a year.
Green testified before the Annapolis City Council last year in support of a plastic bag ban that eventually passed. Testifying before legislative bodies “can be very intimidating,” but worthwhile, she said, adding that lawmakers respond well and “like seeing student representation.”
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“We’re the current generation that’s going to be following these bills and learning from them,” she said.
Matt Gove, Surfrider’s Mid-Atlantic policy manager, was impressed with Green’s composure.
“That was my first time seeing her in action, and I was pretty blown away,” Gove he told Patch. “I was not that confident in high school.”
- Read the full Patch Exclusive: A Teen Shows Herself To be A Tenacious Leader At The Statehouse
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(Photo courtesy of Gracyn Green)
Illinois: Home Of Mountaineers
Suburban Chicago could soon be home to not only the youngest American to summit Mount Everest — Naperville’s Lucy Westlake, who was 18 when she reached the peak — and one of the 10 oldest Americans to achieve the adrenalin-rush-inducing feat of climbing to Earth’s highest peak.
Brian O’Malley, 61, planned to join his climbing team at the Everest Base Camp on Friday. If all goes as planned, he’ll reach the summit on May 26, which is Memorial Day back home in the United States.
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O’Malley, who now lives in Virginia, is an unlikely mountaineer. He suffered from back problems for decades, then had a life-changing surgery a year and a half ago.
‘I’ve never felt better in my life,” O’Malley said. “I said, ‘Well, I’m not getting any younger.’ I’d like to do something that would challenge myself and, in the meantime, inspire [others].”
- Read the full Patch Exclusive: Illinois Native Hopes To Set Mt. Everest Climbing Record
(Photo courtesy of Brian O’Malley),Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox.
