Extra! Extra! 10/29 🎊🎊

Barry Blitt for the New Yorker via Jay Kuo

Hi, all.

It’s Sunday after a brutal week. There’s no mitigating the horror of the current moment, but let’s at least take a second to celebrate the positive things that were also happening while tragedy was unfolding elsewhere.

Two things can be true at once: the world is a heartbreaking mess, and improvement is happening in some places. I believe that what we focus on grows, so let’s be sure to focus, if even briefly, on where we saw hope this week.

Remember: progress anywhere reminds us that progress is possible everywhere. Celebrating our wins strengthens us for the fight ahead.

So let’s read this list and take a few grateful breaths before returning to our newsfeeds. And please share this good news wide and far. It can feel like everything is awful, but that’s not strictly true. That fact matters a great deal; we must amplify it.

Sending hugs. Sending love. Sending hope.

Jess

P.S. I’ve placed an 🪓 next to every victory that came about, even in part, because of the efforts of activists like you, or because of lawmakers that folks like you helped to elect.

Read This 📖

YES! Wisconsin Dems’ big wins for the rule of law might be an inflection point. 🪓

Celebrate This! 🎉

Toyota says it’s close to being able to mass-produce solid-state electric-vehicle batteries which would have double the range of existing cutting-edge batteries and could fully charge in 10 minutes.

An Ohio restaurant is temporarily closed after staff quit en masse when the owner put a sign up in opposition to Issue 1.

A breakthrough in producing hydrogen with solar energy could increase efficiency sixfold. 

Native Health of Phoenix, Arizona became the first Indian Health Service facility in the county to be designated a voter registration agency. Indian Health Service facilities provide health services to nearly 2.6 million Native Americans across the country. Nearly one-third of Native Americans nationwide are not registered to vote.

Pennsylvania saw a 54 percent increase in voter registrations in the month since Governor Josh Shapiro established automatic voter registration! Woot! 🪓

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper sued members of the state legislature’s leadership, alleging that S.B. 749, a bill shifting the power to appoint members of state and county boards of elections from the governor to the legislature, that was enacted over his veto earlier this month, violates the state’s constitution.¹

Forty-one states and the District of Columbia are suing Meta alleging the tech giant harms kids by building addictive features into Instagram and Facebook.

Lamb mowers are becoming a thing.

Jenna Ellis copped a plea!

​The IRS is testing a new, free, electronic tax filing program in 13 states. 🪓

​Residents of a New York City condo building are pushing for more bird-friendly glass to prevent deadly collisions. Audubon NYC put Circa Central Park in the top three for bird-killing buildings last year, and residents want to install a bird-deterring window film that could save hundreds, even thousands of birds. 🪓

Beginning Jan. 2024, California workers will be guaranteed five days off after a miscarriage, stillbirth, and other types of “reproductive loss” under legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom signed earlier this month. 🪓

In Montana a white supremacist woman was finally charged in the vehicular death of 22-year-old Mika Westwolf. Thanks to the many of you who made calls on this! 🪓

The Biden administration on Monday designated 31 technology hubs spread across 32 states and Puerto Rico to help spur innovation and create jobs in the industries that are concentrated in these areas. 🪓

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was granted immunity by federal prosecutors before his testimony to a federal grand jury. Seems hopeful!

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul awarded power contracts to renewable power projects capable of supplying 12 percent of the state’s electricity needs, calling it “the largest investment in clean energy in U.S. history.” 🪓

After over a month of outcry from librarians, educators, authors, and other anti-censorship advocates, Scholastic says they will be discontinuing their “Bigot Button” collections at their Book Fairs. 🪓

The Biden administration announced a finalized plan to improve its oversight of higher education institutions and to bolster consumer protections for student loan borrowers. 🪓

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released nearly $3.7 billion in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding to help households with their home energy costs. 🪓

The world’s first rewilding center has opened in the Scottish Highlands, solidifying the U.K. nation as a bastion for the movement.

Former Navajo Nation leader Jonathan Nez, a Democrat, announced a bid to unseat far-right Republican Rep. Eli Crane in an election that could see him become the first Native American to represent Arizona in the House.

The largest school district in Vermont unanimously codified trans rights for students. 🪓

People who received at least one influenza vaccine were 40% less likely than their non-vaccinated peers to develop Alzheimer’s disease over the course of four years, according to a new study from UTHealth Houston.

The United States and Qatar have agreed to revisit the Gulf state’s association with Hamas after resolution of the high-stakes international hostage crisis involving more than 220 people in Gaza, according to four diplomats familiar with the discussions.

The U.S. economy grew by an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the third quarter, the strongest pace since 2021.

A Colorado judge has rejected another attempt by former President Donald Trump to throw out a lawsuit seeking to block him from the 2024 presidential ballot based on the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.”

The bad news: awesome Congressman Jeff Jackson got drawn out of his district in North Carolina by the GOP and their awful new maps. The good news: he’s decided to run for State Attorney General. 

A New York judge on Wednesday fined Donald Trump $10,000 for violating a gag order in a business-fraud lawsuit — and warned the former president that the penalties will only get worse if he keeps breaking the rules set for the civil trial, in which he is accused of falsely inflating his property values.

UAW and Ford have reached a tentative agreement that could end a nearly six-week strike at the automaker. 🪓

The National Rifle Association is bleeding money and members, according to a financial audit obtained by CREW.

Vineyard Wind 1, the first major offshore wind farm in the United States, installed the first of 62 huge turbines.  

The Biden-Harris Administration announced new actions to support the conversion of high-vacancy commercial buildings to residential use, including through new financing, technical assistance, and sale of federal properties. 🪓

The NLRB just finalized a new ‘joint-employer’ rule that says corporations are responsible for workers employed by contractors! This is apparently a big deal. 🪓

A federal district court struck down the congressional and legislative maps that Georgia Republicans enacted after the 2020 census, ruling on Thursday that they illegally discriminated against Black voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

A federal judge rejected a Republican lawsuit seeking to block a new Nevada law that protects election officials from intimidation, harassment and interference. The law will continue to safeguard election workers from increasing threats.

The notorious 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 1992 consent decree requiring Louisiana to have a majority-Black district in Orleans Parish for state Supreme Court elections.

The Michigan Legislature passed a bill to overturn an 1891 law that makes it a crime to hire transportation to take voters to the polls in the state. The bill heads to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) for her likely signature. ² 🪓

The largest landfill on the planet is being transformed into a state park in Staten Island, NY, and part of it opened to the public this month.

A conservation group acquired more than 1,500 acres just north of Yellowstone National Park to stop a gold mine that they say would have upset the habitat of bears and other wildlife. 🪓

Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, dropped his opposition to an assault weapons ban following the shootings in his home town. 🪓

A bill to ban corporal punishment in all schools statewide became law this week in New York, making it one of just a handful of states in the nation to bar teachers in all types of schools from hitting students. (?!)

A state board set the title for a potential Colorado ballot question next year that would put the right to an abortion into the state Constitution. 🪓

An Arizona judge rejected a right-wing legal group's request to temporarily ban drop boxes in the state.

Threads is on an upswing and X is on a downswing. (I don’t like Meta, but the enemy of my enemy is, in this case, my friend.)

On Thursday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the bathroom ban for transgender students in Idaho could not proceed, at least for the time being.

Voters in Democratic-stronghold counties in Ohio are showing up in mass to vote early for the November election on abortion and marijuana, exceeding the already unexpectedly large turnout from the August special election. 🪓

The statue of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee that once stood in Charlottesville has been melted down and will be turned into a new piece of public art. 🪓

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services began allowing public and private insurers to pay “street medicine” providers for medical services they deliver anyplace homeless people might be staying. 🪓

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal to ban all uses of trichloroethylene (TCE), an extremely toxic chemical known to cause serious health risks including cancer, neurotoxicity, and reproductive toxicity. 🪓

The Biden-Harris administration announced next steps in the formal process to develop future operating guidelines and strategies to protect the stability and sustainability of the Colorado River system and strengthen water security in the West. 🪓

The EPA announced the selection of 24 recipients across the country that will collectively receive nearly $16 million in pollution prevention grants. 🪓

The Department of the Interior announced the establishment of the Wyoming Toad Conservation Area in Wyoming and the Paint Rock River National Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee as the 569th and 570th units of the National Wildlife Refuge System. 🪓

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate reached a new record low. 

NHL players will be allowed to use Pride tape this season after all with the reversal of a ban that sparked a backlash around hockey and among LGBTQ+ advocates in sports. 🪓

The developers behind the $3.5 billion, 1,300-mile Navigator pipeline project announced that they were canceling the project after years of attempts to secure land easements across the midwest. Grassroots opposition to this project was intense, with farmers, landowners, and environmentalists raising questions about the pipeline’s feasibility and safety. 🪓

Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island will procure future wind energy projects together rather than separately as part of a joint agreement the states’ governors announced Wednesday — the first such multi-state agreement in the nation.

The World Health Organization reported that the first vaccine approved to fight malaria cut deaths among young children by 13% over nearly 4 years.

Mike Pence suspended his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, due to “little appetite for his candidacy.” Ya think?

The United Automobile Workers union reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Jeep and Ram. 🪓

The White House, Google Maps, and Google Arts & Culture have collaborated to create a new virtual tour of the White House using Google Street View technology.

In Franklin, TN incumbent Mayor Ken Moore defeated horrifying MAGA/white supremacist challenger Gabrielle Hanson in Tuesday's city election by large margins.  🪓

1. This and the three above come from the Voting Rights Markup.

2. This and the two above come from Democracy Docket.