BSA National Pike District

Let the Madness begin. The 2010 NCAA men’s basketball championship bracket will be announced Sunday. Tune in to CBS at 6 p.m. Eastern to find out if your favorite team made the cut.

The tournament’s round of 64 begins Thursday, March 18. The Final Four will be played April 3 and 5 in Indianapolis, Ind.

Electricity shut off in southern Oklahoma this week when a bobcat climbed to the top of an electric pole. An Oklahoma Gas and Electric official said repair crews “found the smoldering body of the bobcat Tuesday at the top of a utility pole in Johnson County.”

The power outage affected 3,100 customers.

One First Class Scout celebrated the BSA’s 100th anniversary by battling malaria. Nathaniel Stafford, 12, put together Trek 4 Nets, a 100-mile hike through five North Carolina counties. Trek 4 Nets benefits Northing But Nets, a global grassroots malaria prevention campaign that provides mosquito nets to families in Africa.

Nathaniel’s hike began on Feb. 22, which is also Scouting founder Lord Baden-Powell’s birthday. He finished the journey March 2 in Fayetteville, N.C.

While Nathaniel has already collected hundreds of dollars, he won’t stop until he’s raised enough to purchase 1,000 nets. Click here to get involved.

Atlanta-area Scouts met a gold medal-winning Eagle Scout this week. Steve Holcomb participated on the United States bobsledding team at the Vancouver Olympics last month. Holcomb—a bobsled driver from Park City, Utah—guided the first U.S.A bobsled team in 62 years to win Olympic gold. Holcomb’s team set a track record by finishing the second heat in 50.86 seconds. Holcomb’s bobsled also posted a top speed of 95 miles per hour.

The Atlanta Scouts met Holcomb at Atlanta Motor Speedway. They were able to talk with the Olympic Eagle Scout and pose with his gold medal.

The second season of BL’s very own television show, Scouting for Adventure, will re-air starting April 1 on the Outdoor Channel. See episodes each Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern and each Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.

Reruns of the second season will lead up to the premiere of Season Three in July.

For most Cub Scouts, the closest thing to experiencing the thrill of NASCAR — short of attending a race — is the chance to build and race their own pinewood derby cars. Before last weekend’s NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, one lucky group of Atlanta-area Cub Scouts had the opportunity to do both.

Last Friday, as part of Atlanta Motor Speedway’s annual “Scout Day at the Races,” eight Cub Scouts from the Flint River Council met, “talked shop” and raced their pinewood derby cars with four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.

Gordon’s meeting with the Cub Scouts aired as part of Fox Sports’ prerace coverage of the Kobalt Tools 500, which was held Sunday.

“It was a lot of fun for me to spend time with the Scouts and see how much energy and creativity they’ve put into building their race cars,” Gordon said. “I appreciate the work that Scouting does to create good citizens and future leaders. I salute the BSA as it begins its next century of service.”

Late last year, sea lions in San Francisco disappeared from their home at the California city’s Pier 39. The population had swelled to around 1,700 before the animals left. This week, much to the delight of tourists, the sea lions began returning.

An expert says the “sea lions’ sudden departure (was) unusual but not worrisome.”

New fossils found in India prove that ancient snakes dined on dinosaurs.

The discovered fossils show that an 11-foot snake slithered up to an unguarded dinosaur nest. The snake than saw a newborn dinosaur hatching from its egg. The snake curled around the hatchling, prepared to attack, but “heavy rains sent mud surging out of a nearby channel—smothering both snake and prey.” The snake and dinosaur were fossilized by the mud until the recent discovery.

NASA scientists say the massive earthquake that shook Chile last week may have tilted our planet’s axis by 3 inches. This new tilt will actually shorten our days by 1.26 microseconds. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.

Natural disasters have tilted Earth before. In 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake that caused a monstrous tsunami in the Indian Ocean shortened the length of our days by 6.8 microseconds.

Peter Parker, Spider-Man’s alter ego, loses his photography job in the newest issue Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man. Parker had been working as the mayor’s official photographer. He previously worked at The Daily Bugle.

“He’s going to struggle with unemployment and trying to save the city while he can barely afford to keep a roof over his head,” said Steve Wacker, Marvel Comics senior editor.

The BSA’s National Executive Board has approved a change in the age requirements for joining its Venturing program. Starting May 1, 2010, the minimum age requirement will be changed to 14 years of age, or 13 years of age and completion of eighth grade. The maximum age for participation remains 21.

Until May 1, the eligibility requirement to join Venturing will remain 14 years of age and the completion of eighth grade.

Click here for more information.

The United Kingdom has given Treo, an 8-year-old black Labrador, the highest military honor an animal can receive—the Dicken Medal. Treo earned the recognition for twice detecting improvised explosive devices while serving in Afghanistan.

The founder of an animal health organization established the Dicken Medal in 1943. It has now been awarded to 27 dogs, 32 messenger pigeons, three horses and one cat.

Treo is now retired and living as a family pet. He and his handler served together for five years.

Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur in Eastern Utah. Excavators used explosives to unearth the fossils, which were buried in slabs of sandstone.

The discovered bones belonged to a type of sauropod—a long-necked plant-eater. The fossils have revealed new details about the dinosaurs’ eating habits and how their teeth developed and changed over time.

The 2010 Winter Olympics are more than halfway finished. The United States is leading the way with 25 total medals, seven of them gold, through Tuesday’s afternoon action. Germany has also earned seven gold medals, and the Germans have won 22 total medals. Norway is third with 14 total medals, six of them gold.

Plenty of medals are left to be awarded. Check out the action on NBC’s family of networks through Sunday, Feb. 28.

Click here to see the medal table and get other information.

“Giant George,” a Great Dane living in Tucson, Ariz., has been named the tallest living dog and tallest dog ever by Guinness World Records. George is 7-feet long from head to tail, and he weighs 250 pounds. George stands 3 feet 7 inches from paw to shoulder.

In the wake of the devastation caused by the recent earthquake in Haiti, Youth HandsOn Network and Hasbro have joined together to create a nationwide fundraising initiative for kids—PLAYATHON for Haiti. This effort will help purchase “pop-up” shelters for the orphaned and vulnerable children of Haiti.

PLAYATHONS are group events organized around playing with toys, games or other fun activities—participants either secure a flat pledge for playing or pledges for every 15 minutes they spend playing. The PLAYATHON for Haiti initiative will run through the end of March 2010.

Click here and get involved.

After Jimmy Grey lost his job last year, he started work on building an “extreme” igloo in Aquila, Ohio. Using space in his father’s front yard, Grey built a four-room ice habitat complete with 6-foot ceilings and an entertainment area.

The 25-year-old powers a television using a cord plugged into an outlet in the garage. He played to host to friends for a Super Bowl party held in the igloo.

The Boy Scouts of America is joining forces with the Outdoor Foundation to invite BSA members to join Outdoor Nation, a new movement aimed at inspiring young people to embrace and champion the outdoors.

Whether you’re an artist, athlete, advocate or ambassador, you can connect with other “outsiders” in the Outdoor Nation community. Recruit friends to join, and visit the Outdoor Nation Web site for a chance to earn free gear. Outdoor Nation is for anyone ages 13 to 30. Join today and indicate you were referred by the BSA.

The BSA takes on the game show world this month. Be sure to check out “Jeopardy!” on Thursday, Feb. 25. Host Alex Trebek will ask questions from a Scout category. Also see footage filmed at Scout camps, and watch for a special spotlight on the BSA throughout the show.

Check your local listings for time and channel.

A 19-year-old New Zealander couldn’t bear to see his 5-month-old puppy put down, so he kidnapped his own dog from a clinic to save it from euthanasia.

A car hit Buck, Bronson Stewart’s dog, two weeks ago. Neither Bronson nor his father Kevin could afford the $1,730 needed to pin the puppy’s broken leg back together. They couldn’t even afford the $555 to have the leg amputated. The Stewarts, who live on welfare, offered to pay the clinic $3.50 a week until the debt was paid off. The clinic declined and the veterinarian refused to return the puppy, saying “it was best the dog be euthanized because he was in agony.”

Bronson then went to the clinic and asked to see his dog. He grabbed the puppy and ran home.

Once the story gained publicity, local people began donating money to save Buck’s life. Val Waters, manager of the Wanganui Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, reports that enough cash has been raised to pay for Buck’s surgery.