Hi, all, and happy Sunday night!
Here’s your weekly list of things to feel great about from the week just ended. You’ve earned a moment or two of celebration.
Remember, our hard work is NEVER in vain. Everything we do, every call we make, every small action we take, will help lead to more victories like the below in the months and years ahead.
So let’s keep up the good work!
Read This 📖
A deeply hopeful story out of the poorest part of Kenya.
Celebrate This! 🎉
The U.S. Department of Defense announced this week that the military is now offering 12 weeks of paid parental leave to service members.
The U.K. set a new record for wind energy generation late last month, when the country’s onshore and offshore wind turbines produced 20.91 gigawatts of power — enough to boil about 3.7 million electric kettles at once.
The West Point military academy is removing all Confederate symbols from its campus. Yes, they still had some.
The new federal spending bill included funds to improve access to health care for Native Americans. Inadequate funding for Native Americans’ health services has been a longtime problem, so this is a much-need and celebrated addition to the bill.
Good news for bears: The Biden administration is moving to ban doughnut lures and other hunting tactics considered inhumane by conservationists.
Plastic pollution on Australian beaches has decreased by nearly one-third since 2013. The country implemented several different initiatives at the local level to determine which was most effective at reducing pollution.
The U.S. just approved the world’s first vaccine to help protect declining honey bees. Critical for biodiversity and conservation, humans also depend on honey bees to pollinate a large portion of our food supply.
A new bill gives long-sought water and land rights to five Native tribes in Arizona. The tribes have been working to secure these rights for years, allowing them to develop infrastructure to both conserve and transport water, and protect the sacred resource.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed a new rule that would ban employers from establishing non-compete clauses.
The December jobs report showed that unemployment has hit a 50-year low in the United States.
The Pentagon has commenced renaming Fort Bragg and other bases, ships, signs, and roads, as it moves to scrub commemorations of the Confederacy from all installations by 2024.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin was discharged from a Cincinnati hospital after going into cardiac arrest resulting from a tackle during a game against the Bengals.
Katie Porter announced she’s running for the U.S. Senate!
Beginning July 1, senior citizens and other Medicare enrollees will not pay more than $35 per month for insulin, thanks to a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Aaron Rouse won his State Senate Special election in VA, giving the Democrats a 22-18 majority in the State Senate and making passage of new abortion curbs highly unlikely.
Nassau County Republican leaders called on Rep. George Santos to resign for fabricating his biography to win his congressional seat. There are ethical Republicans!
The U.S. Department of Agriculture extended funding to smaller-scale farmers for climate mitigation and emissions reduction. The department is now investing a total of $3 billion in climate-friendly farming, critically supporting small farmers.
A new analysis shows that wind and solar could generate more energy than nuclear and coal this year. Production is already outpacing predictions, though natural gas continues to be a primary source of energy.
Because of our hard work passing the MAT Act, and effective immediately, all health care providers with a DEA registration that includes Schedule III medications can begin to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder. Woot!
Inflation eased again in December.
Australia’s center-left Labor government released a plan on Tuesday to slash greenhouse gas emissions from the country’s largest industrial facilities, responsible for 28 percent of the country’s climate pollution.
A U.S. Navy veteran who had been detained in Russia for nine months was released on Thursday
Illinois passed an assault-weapons ban on Tuesday, six months after a deadly mass shooting at a 4th of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park.
After regaining full control of the state government, Minnesota Democrats introduced a bill that will overhaul many of the state’s election laws, expanding voting access and cracking down on campaign finance violations.
The IRS is giving Californians affected by this week’s devastating storms an extra month to file their tax returns.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday that it will offer $100 million in grants for projects to address environmental inequities, its largest-ever offering of this kind.
New data shows that the cancer death rate in the US has dropped 33% since 1991.
A green tech startup said it successfully pulled carbon dioxide from the open air and stored it underground, in what could be a huge step forward in the fight against climate change.
Michigan’s legislative session has just started, but it’s already legitimately historic. For the first time in 40 years Democrats control the governorship, the state House, and the state Senate. And right out of the gate…
The Michigan House elected its first Black speaker, Rep. Joe Tate.
Rep. Abraham Aiyash was elected as the state’s first Muslim House Majority Leader.
The Senate elected its first woman Majority Leader, Sen. Winnie Banks.
Sen. Jeremy Moss became the first member of the LGBTQ community to be president pro tempore.
Read more here about the great stuff they’ve got planned next!
Watch This! 👀
I can’t help it. These are so good!
Whew! This one deserves lots and lots of ❤️❣️
But, of course, that's what McC and G were talking about! 😈