Danny Clifford/WENN

Friends, family and supporters of Nelson Mandela are surely breathing a sigh of relief.

The former South African president has been discharged from the hospital after a bout with pneumonia. He had been in a hospital in Pretoria since March 27th.  The Telegraph posted a video of Mandela being returned to his Johannesburg home in an ambulance.

A spokesperson for the 94 year old Mandela said that he will now have home based high care after the doctors confirmed his condition had improved.

His spokesperson also thanked the hospital and team for taking care of Mandela while he was being treated.

This is the third time since December that Mandela has been in the hospital in Pretoria for health issues.  His last visit included surgery and recovery from a lung infection.

As we know Mandela is beloved around the world so hopefully, he will continue to get better and fully recover from pneumonia.  We’d love it if he didn’t return to Pretoria again – at least not for a hospital stay – but we know this must all be taken one day at a time.

Our prayers and well wishes go out to Nelson Mandela!

If you’ve been missing Robin Roberts’ beautiful face on Good Morning America, you’re not alone. You’ve probably read about the bone marrow transplant Roberts had to have five months ago for myelodysplastic syndrome, a major battle for Roberts, a cancer survivor. She sat down with People magazine to talk about the hard recovery process and her health now. She covers the magazine looking absolutely gorgeous, smiling with her close-shaven hair cut and looking more and more like the lovable lady we’re used to seeing every morning next to George Stephanopoulos.

But it wasn’t an easy road to get back to the old Robin. She went through so many ups and downs physically and personally over the last few months. On top of having to worry about having the operation, Roberts had to deal with the death of her mother, who passed when Roberts took her medical leave. As her sister gave her the bone marrow necessary for her operation in September, things became more difficult after the fact, and the 52-year-old GMA anchor said for a time she felt like she was dying after slipping in and out of consciousness repeatedly. “I couldn’t eat or drink. I couldn’t even get out of bed. I was in a coma-like state. I truly felt I was slipping away … then I kept hearing my name.”

But luckily, with time and rest, Roberts tells the magazine that she is feeling much better. Hence her decision to come back to GMA to see if she has the energy and ability to do her thing again on February 20. “It’s an amazing feeling, each day feeling stronger.” In reality, she’s not even the old Robin, she’s new and improved, and we can’t wait to see her back next week!

Pick up the newest issue of People to check out her full interview.

The whole nation has practically been rooting for Robin Roberts’ recovery. And this morning we saw that she’s looking like she’s well on her way. With glowing skin, a beautiful baldy and her signature smile, Robin announced that it won’t be long before she heads back to the job she loves. In a “Good Morning America” segment this morning, Robin expressed her gratitude for her coworkers, her doctors, her family; including the sister who donated her bone marrow, and all the fans who sent well wishes and words of encouragement while she was out.

Check out the Robin’s update on her health and the good news she had for all of her fans in the video below.

This is excellent news. Robin’s certainly been blessed and we’ll be happy when she’s healthy enough to return. Such a strong woman!

A Far Rockaway resident in front of her home in November. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Selvena Brooks, a communications specialist for the Service Employees International Union, is running for a vacant seat in the New York City Council’s 31st District. The district covers the city’s Far Rockaway area, which was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. In fact, Brooks is submitting paperwork to run as a “Rebuild Now” candidate, representing a party that’s focused on the Sandy recovery effort.

The New York Observer‘s Politicker blog quotes a statement from Brooks: “I am asking for people’s support on the Rebuild Now line, because we need strong leadership in not only rebuilding from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, but also rebuilding our education system, local economy and neighborhoods.”

Brooks at a gun violence rally. Via Twitter

Brooks is one of a number of candidates running for the position, which became vacant when the previous official, James Sanders, left for the State Senate. A special election is set for February 19.

Parts of New York and the surrounding area are still coping with Sandy’s aftermath, months after the storm hit in October. It was only last week that Congress approved a government flood insurance program that would pay out $9.7 billion to 120,000 victims of the storm. The measure passed overwhelmingly in the House and unanimously in the Senate. One of those who voted against the measure, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the former Republican Vice Presidential candidate, who said the flood insurance program is “insolvent,” according to Bloomberg.

That vote followed a thorough blasting from fellow politicians, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

A vote for a larger relief package was cancelled on the 1st after fiscal cliff talks were finally resolved. The governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut had originally asked for tens of billions of dollars in aid.

There will be another vote on January 15, which would bring the aid total to $60 billion.

Every October during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, there are tons of stories about products whose proceeds are donated to breast cancer research and celebratory photos showing women and men who’ve successfully completed another run for charity. What we don’t hear about are the companies who are on the ground directly impacting the lives of breast cancer patients and survivors.

The BFFL company, founded by oncologist Dr. Elizabeth Chabner Thompson, was created to improve a breast cancer patient’s post-op experience and to help them prepare for the recovery process. BFFL’s signature product is the Breast BFFLBag, which Dr. Thompson launched after years of contemplation and six months of work. She describes it as the “ultimate insider’s guide to what a patient would need, but might forget to pack when going to the hospital for breast cancer treatment.”

The average Madame Noire reader, or any African-American woman under the age of 45, has a higher risk of developing and dying from breast cancer than any other cultural demographic. On this final day of October — Breast Cancer Awareness Month — we talked with Dr. Thompson for insight into why risk factors for African-American women are so high and to find out more about the inspiration behind the Breast BFFLBag.

Madame Noire: Both you and your mother were diagnosed with breast cancer. How did you mother’s struggle with breast cancer change the course of your career and inspire you to launch the BFFL Co?

Elizabeth Thompson: I had prophylactic mastectomies, a risk reduction surgery because of my serious family history of breast cancer.  My great grandmother had bilateral breast cancer, my grandmother, and my mother all developed breast cancer. I was truly petrified of being next.  As a doctor, I understood my risk and had been under intense surveillance.  After a biopsy in 2002, I had enough. I wanted to have a fourth child and then I resolved to take action to reduce my own risk.

My mother developed breast cancer during my last year of medical school.  She waited until after I had submitted my “match” list before telling me of her diagnosis because she did not want to influence my decision as to where I would train. Her struggle with breast cancer truly drove me to become a radiation oncologist and help others in their battle against cancer.

MN: Did you launch BFFL after your risk reduction surgery?

ET: I underwent a relatively new procedure when I had my risk reduction surgery. It was a direct to implant procedure whereby, I could preserve my nipples and emerge from surgery with reconstructed breasts. After my surgery, my reconstructive surgeon asked me to work for him part-time and take care of women after they underwent the same procedure.  I was patient #50, by the time I left the practice we had published a landmark paper on the procedure and I had helped with almost 500 patients.  That’s where I created the “tip sheet” and made the first BFFLBags.

When women would come to the office, their family and friends would ask me, “What can I do for her?” At first I would hand them a typed list, then the patients and family would ask me to “make it for them.” So, I would buy all of the contents and put it together in my basement. My husband had enough with that and encouraged me to make the BFFLBags for all women facing breast cancer.

MN: Is there a reason that African-American women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than their white counterparts?

ET: No. It’s not more likely to be diagnosed, but rather more likely to be detected and diagnosed at a later stage. We know that survival rates are better when cancers are diagnosed at an early stage.

MN: Why are African-American women at risk of being diagnosed with a more aggressive form of breast cancer?

ET: Biologics and access to care. We are still looking for a clear biologic explanation for the fact that a small number of African-American women are presenting with “triple negative” very aggressive breast cancer. Secondly, the issues of lack of access to care and delayed diagnosis are issues that must be addressed. We know that diagnosis at a later stage of disease (bigger tumors which may have spread) will lead to higher mortality.

One bright note is that community health centers that have nurse navigators—these are nurses that are employed to teach the community about having appropriate screening, looking for “red flags” – will promote earlier access to care and early detection, and if a cancer is diagnosed, higher compliance rates with therapy and women diagnosed with breast cancer have better outcomes.  We should be pushing for these nurse navigators at all health centers.

(New York Times) — Dan Tolleson, a researcher and writer with a Ph.D. in politics, has been out of work since 2009, except for brief stints as a driver. Still, he opposes President Obama’s call for Congress to renew extensions on unemployment benefits.  “They’re going to end up spending more money on unemployment benefits, while less money is coming in on tax returns,” he said, suggesting that the government should focus on measures that might encourage businesses to hire. “Far better to relax some of these outrageous regulations.”  Make no mistake — Mr. Tolleson, 54, has collected unemployment checks, saying he had little choice. But his objection to a policy that would probably benefit him shows just how divisive the question has become of providing a bigger safety net to the long-term jobless, a common strategy in recessions.  President Obama wants to continue offering benefits for an extended period of time, a maximum of 99 weeks, as is now the case. The measure is part of his jobs bill, which he once again called on Congress to pass in a press conference on Thursday.

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(Crain’s) — While the recession hit black men harder than any other group, the economic recovery has shifted that impact to their female counterparts, according to a recent report by the National Women’s Law Center, which shows that black women have lately seen their unemployment rate rise even as other populations—including black men—have finally begun to regain jobs.  Between June 2009 and June 2011, black men gained 127,000 jobs while black women lost more than twice that number, 258,000, the report says. That means that black women have now lost more total jobs than have black men since the recession began in December 2007.

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(USA Today) — Job growth in this recovery has widened the gender gap, partly reversing gains women made in the recession.  Since the end of the recession in June 2009, men have gained 768,000 jobs while women have lost 218,000, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Labor Department data released Wednesday.  That’s the first time men have fared better than women in the first two years of a recovery since the late 1960s, said Pew, which compared six rebounds in that period. Economists at least partly blame a resurgence in manufacturing and other male-oriented industries and layoffs in government and other jobs largely populated by women.

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(New York Times) — Since 1996, Anne R. Elliott has been executive director of Greenhope Services for Women in East Harlem, which serves former inmates who have abused drugs or been battered, and provides an alternative to incarceration. This month, Greenhope opened Kandake House, a residence that has education, therapy and cultural programs. Dr. Elliott, a North Carolina native, is 49 and lives in Mount Vernon, N.Y.

Career path: I went to Davidson for my B.A. in English literature, spent a couple of years teaching in Kenya, came to New York as a Coro fellow in 1986, then went to Union Theological Seminary for a master’s in divinity and a doctorate in systematic theology. I was an associate minister at Bridge Street Church, an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, where I ran a group called Kiamsha, which means “enlightened.” Women talked about what was going on in their lives. It felt to me what church should be about: talking about something that needs healing. I had done a spirituality workshop with women at Greenhope and I decided I would like to do that kind of work.

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(Wall Street Journal) — In the two years since President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, some small-business owners attribute their companies’ survival to the stimulus package—yet many say the provisions in the 1,100-page law have fallen short of their expectations.

Some 83% of small, closely held companies say that publicly traded companies got the bulk of stimulus benefits, according to Pepperdine University’s Private Capital Markets 2011 Economic Forecast Report, released in January. That’s in line with a survey conducted in February 2010 by Discover Financial Services, in which 70% of owners said that the stimulus had no impact on their business.

For many business owners, the stimulus package—which green-lighted credit-access programs, introduced new tax breaks and opened up contracting opportunities—was too unwieldy to understand.  ”When small businesses are faced with a complex menu of options, they don’t have the resources to investigate all the opportunities,” says John K. Paglia, a senior researcher for the Pepperdine report. “Any distraction away from [running a business] puts the business at an increased probability of failure.”

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