Feel Good Friday

“Rob Kramer grew up in Pittsburgh, the son of an entrepreneur who ran a couple of furniture stores in the city’s Black and brown neighborhoods. What struck him most as a boy wasn’t the furniture itself, but the way his father treated people. ‘I’ve never met a man who treated every human being, no matter how wealthy or poor they were, exactly the same way — with humor and a huge heart,’ Kramer recalls. That lesson in dignity and hustle would stay with him for life. Decades later, it became part of the inspiration behind his newest venture: Justice Served Coffee, a for-profit platform designed to help formerly incarcerated people build pathways to business ownership.” (This is just one of the many ways Rob Kramer is a great guy.) How Justice Served Coffee Brews Second Chances Into Ownership.

+ For years, men controlled one village’s coffee industry — but one woman changed that.

+ “For months, his campaign faced only sporadic resistance. But over the last week, Brown University, M.I.T., the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California have all rebuffed the White House’s push to give preferential funding treatment to schools that show fealty to Mr. Trump’s agenda.” Universities Are Standing Up to Trump.

+ A book vending machine provides an outlet for D.C.-area authors after funding cuts.

+ “A California engineer and gardening enthusiast won the top prize at an annual pumpkin-weighing contest in Northern California after growing a giant jack-o’-lantern gourd weighing 2,346 pounds.”

+ I Test Drove a Flying Car. Get Ready, They’re Here.