Extra! Extra! 11/6 (sent on 11/7)
Hi, all, and good morning!
It’s Monday before the most consequential election of our lifetimes. Take a breath and read some good news.
Then get back to talking to voters!
Sending love and strength.
Jess
Celebrate This! 🎉
This week the Biden-Harris Administration announced the largest-ever investment in air pollution monitoring, with the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement of funding for 132 air monitoring projects in 37 states. This follows last week’s EPA news of $1 billion to school districts across the nation to purchase electric school buses.
The first openly trans and non-binary artists earned the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ song “Unholy” was number one in the week ending on October 20.
The economy added 261,000 jobs in October, continuing the streak of record job growth under President Biden. The economy has recovered all of the jobs lost during the pandemic—and added jobs on top of that.
A federal judge in Arizona imposed tight restrictions on a group monitoring ballot drop boxes.
After a two year conflict between north Tigray and federal forces, both parties agreed to end the civil war in Ethiopia. Millions have been displaced by the conflict, and the prime minister said the agreement was a “monumental” breakthrough.
Tokyo just started recognizing same-sex partnerships by issuing official certificates. While not full marriage equality, LGBTQ+ rights activists are celebrating the important, hopeful progress.
Singer Harry Styles has registered over 55,000 U.S. voters in the course of his stadium tour through a partnership with HeadCount.
A new initiative from the Biden administration will provide more than $13 billion to blunt spiking energy costs for low- and moderate-income families.
The New York Fire Department, the largest in the country, has a female commissioner for the first time in the organization’s 157-year history.
Another blow to the Mountain Valley Pipeline! On Oct. 21, the company behind the pipeline withdrew plans for its Southgate Extension—a 75-mile offshoot of the main pipeline that would carry gas across Pennsylvania—signaling that activists' continued efforts to fight the pipeline are working.
NASA and the NOAA just confirmed the ozone layer is still shrinking. The ozone hole reached an average area of 8.9 million square miles this year, continuing an overall shrinking trend.
In response to mounting pressure from teachers and activists, the Chicago Public Schools Pension Fund voted to divest their $11.5 billion from fossil fuels by 2027! That's another $383 million out of Big Oil's coffers. Hooray!
Shell lost in a Dutch appeals court this week when the company tried to overturn a verdict banning them from running misleading ads about their "carbon neutral fuel." (They offer consumers an option to pay extra at the pump for carbon offsets. Hardly carbon neutrality!)
The VA announced three grants to help veterans and their families who are experiencing homelessness or facing imminent housing loss.
India announced men and women cricketers will receive equal pay. The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the pay equity policy as a “first step towards tackling discrimination.”
For the first time in history, New Zealand’s Parliament has an equal number of women as men. The country has long been a leader in women’s political representation, becoming the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893.
A federal judge has blocked Penguin Random House’s bid to buy one of its main rivals, Simon & Schuster, in a significant victory for the Biden administration, which aims to revive antitrust enforcement.
Arizona’s Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich went on 60 Minutes with a change of heart and ripped into election deniers like gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake and called the Big Lie “horseshit.”
The amount of charitable giving to organizations that fight climate change rose 25% from 2020 to 2021.
Akron just became the eleventh city in Ohio to ban conversion therapy for children. The new ordinance is effective immediately and comes two weeks after a similar ban in Cleveland.
Xcel Energy announced on Monday that it will close its last coal plant four years ahead of schedule and replace it with renewable energy — a move that will allow the Minneapolis-based utility to finish its transition away from coal by the end of this decade.
The Supreme Court ruled that Lindsey Graham must testify!
European Union negotiators reached a landmark deal last week to phase out the sale of gasoline-powered cars.
Watch This! 👀
This. Is. INCREDIBLE.
Thank you so very much, Jess for all you do everyday to support and motivate us. Today’s letter was particularly spectacular and I do feel a lot of anxiety being allayed by it. The video of Pastor Bryant alone has buoyed me up tremendously and given me hope. I will cling to all of this good news as we head into the rocky unknown. Please know how much you are appreciated by your readers. Your tireless work, energy and endless concern are palpable everyday.
Thank you Jessica!!! I appreciate you!!!