Incredible recoveries, cat graduation, a Mona Lisa attack: This week's heartwarming, offbeat headlines

From a Phoenix police officer's miraculous story of survival to a Mona Lisa cake attack, there was no shortage of intriguing tales this week. Here are some of our favorite heartwarming and offbeat stories from May 28 - June 3 that have helped make our days a little brighter:

1. Phoenix Police Officer Tyler Moldovan was shot 8 times. Months later, he's returned home: Last December, Phoenix Police Officer Tyler Moldovan ended up on life support in extremely critical condition after being shot eight times, including once in the head. Following months of rehabilitation, he has returned to Phoenix.

2. Cat 'graduates' from UT Austin after attending every Zoom lecture with owner: The University of Texas at Austin had an honorary four-legged furry friend graduate alongside the recent spring 2022 graduating class: a one-and-a-half-year-old cat named Suki.

3. Hip-hop artist Pitbull opens free public charter school in Tempe, classes set to start in August: Through his SLAM! Foundation, Grammy-award-winning artist Pitbull is opening a new, tuition-free public charter school in Tempe.

pitbull slam charter school

Through his SLAM! Foundation, Grammy-award-winning artist Pitbull is opening a new, tuition-free public charter school in Tempe.

4. Dog swims for several miles, finds way home after falling off shrimp boat in Texas: The pup fell off her dad’s boat nearly a week ago in Galveston Bay and had to swim five to six miles to shore. She was eventually found safely days later.

Monster dog

5. Watch: Man leaps into pool to rescue drowning 4-year-old with autism: A father and his 12-year-old son are being hailed as heroes after authorities said they helped rescue a drowning, 4-year-old boy with autism from a pool. 

6. New genetic experiment was found to shrink woman's pancreatic cancer: In a novel experiment, a woman with advanced pancreatic cancer saw her tumors dramatically shrink after researchers in Oregon turbocharged her own immune cells, highlighting a possible new way to someday treat a variety of cancers.

Hospital bed

FILE - Stock image of an empty hospital bed.  (FOX TV Stations)

7. Mona Lisa attacked with cake by man disguised as older woman in wheelchair: The Mona Lisa cake attack left a conspicuous white creamy smear on the glass but the famous work by Leonardo da Vinci wasn't damaged.

Cake was smeared over the protective glass covering the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris on May 29, 2022. The man suspected of being responsible was seen in a separate video (https://twitter.com/lukeXC2002/status/1530940469492035584) (R) telling bystanders, in French,

Cake was smeared over the protective glass covering the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris on May 29, 2022. The man suspected of being responsible was seen in a separate video (R) telling bystanders, in French, "Think of the planet… there are people wh

8. Meet Pebbles, the 22-year-old Toy Fox Terrier who’s the world’s oldest living dog: Bobby and Julie Gregory first realized they might have the oldest living dog when the previous record-holder was announced — a 21-year-old chihuahua named TobyKeith.

Image: Guinness World Record

9. As home-building costs rise, Phoenix area company uses foam to build houses: Homes in the Phoenix area are often built with lumber, but amid rising costs and questions over lumber's environmental impact, one Arizona company is using a different material to build new structures.

10. 329 years later, last Salem 'witch' who wasn't is pardoned: It took more than three centuries, but the last Salem "witch" who wasn’t has been officially pardoned.

Witch trial in Salem, Massachusetts. Lithograph by George H. Walker. Undated