Extra! Extra! 12/10

Delilah, a Sumatran rhino, gave birth to this ADORABLE male calf on Nov. 28 in Indonesia's Way Kambas National Park. He is one of only 50 of his kind remaining. (Video: Storyful)

Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

You’ve worked hard all week helping to bend the arc of democracy, as it were, in the right direction. You’ve earned a reward!

So here it is: all the good news I could find from the previous seven days. (At least as much as Substack would let me squeeze in). Enjoy!

As usual, I’ve put an 🪓 next to all the items that came about either through the hard work of people like you or through the hard work of of lawmakers we helped get elected!

Get ready for a lot of axes!

Have a great Sunday, and thanks so much for doing more than just talking about saving the country. You walk the walk, and it’s the reason we’re going to win.

Jess

Read This 📖

Whenever an article makes me cry I’m driven to share it with you guys. This one did. What an incredibly brave young woman. (The article should open for anyone. 🎁)

Celebrate This! 🎉

First of all, our North Carolina fundraiser on Tuesday raised 191K and checks are still coming in! We may even break 200K! THANK YOU ALL!! 🪓

President Joe Biden and EPA Administrator Michael Regan have announced the finalization of strong protections that will cut methane and other hazardous pollutants from new and existing oil and gas operations. 🪓

Many of the world’s biggest oil companies announced Saturday that they would slash methane emissions from their wells and drilling by more than 80 percent by 2030, an ambitious plan that could help curb runaway global warming. 🪓

Hundreds of workers at a tomato farm in California’s Central Valley are now unionized — the first farmworkers to organize under a new law that came into effect this year that makes it easier for agricultural workers across the state to join a union. 🪓

A top US consumer watchdog is preparing to make it much harder for banks to charge clients overdraft fees. 🪓

The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Texas to remove its border buoys from the Rio Grande, in another victory for the Biden administration in its ongoing battle over border policy with Gov. Greg Abbott. 🪓

Prices for long-lasting items, known as durable goods, have fallen on a year-over-year basis for five straight months. In October, they were down 2.6% from their peak in September 2022, according to data released Thursday by the Commerce Department. 

The UN finally condemned the use of rape by Hamas as a tool of war against civilians during the attack on October 7. Good job, all of you who wrote your Congressmembers about this! 🪓

117 countries, including the U.S., pledged at COP28 to triple the world’s renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030. 🪓

Also, the United States has pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund. 🪓

John Kerry announced that the U.S. is joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance, working with partners including France from around the world to phase out unabated coal. 🪓

The UAE will put $30 billion into a new climate finance fund aimed at improving the flow of money into projects to reduce emissions, especially in the Global South. It aims to mobilize $250 billion by the end of the decade.¹

The Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on the use of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, as an ingredient in hair straightening or smoothing products. 🪓

Funding from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is speeding toxic waste cleanups around the country, while restoration of the “polluter pays” taxes has put the Superfund program on a sound financial footing for the future.  🪓

Voters aged 65 and older are second only to those between the ages of 18 and 34 in naming climate and the environment their highest political priorities, according to a new 18-state study by the Environmental Voter Project.

Virginia’s State Board of Elections voted unanimously to certify the 2023 legislative elections and other electoral contests during a meeting Monday in Richmond.

Also in Virginia, when the 2024 General Assembly convenes in January, it will have the most racially diverse membership on record. Nice work, y’all! 🪓

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan was elected chair of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association on Tuesday, making history as the first Native American woman to lead a national political party committee.

Senator Tommy Tuberville dropped the bulk of his months-long blockade of military promotions he had launched in opposition to the Pentagon's abortion policy. More than 400 promotions were swiftly approved. 🪓

Kevin McCarthy announced he will leave the House at the end of the year. Buh-bye!

A newly released study has found that Postcards to Swing States’ total postcard program added 22,500 votes in the midterm elections in 2022! See? Those social pressure scripts are 🔥🔥🔥. 🪓

In a legal settlement Wednesday, the 10 Republicans who signed official-looking paperwork falsely purporting Donald Trump won Wisconsin in 2020 have agreed to withdraw their inaccurate filings, acknowledge Joe Biden won the presidency and not serve as presidential electors in 2024 or in any election where Trump is on the ballot.

President Biden announced a set of historic executive orders to help Native Americans. They promote Nation-to-Nation partnerships; strengthen the understanding and respect for Tribal sovereignty and Native history; protect the health, safety, and welfare of Native women, children and families; and make it easier for Tribal Nations to access federal funding. 🪓

A Nevada grand jury on Wednesday charged six Republicans who claimed to be presidential electors in 2020 and submitted certificates to Congress falsely asserting that former president Donald Trump had won the election in their state.

Electric vehicle sales in the U.S. topped 1 million in November, the first full month ever they reached that milestone. Sales of battery EVs rose 50.7% last month compared to the same period in 2022. 🪓

Starting January 1, people buying a qualified EV will get their tax credit worth up to $7,500 that day — either as cash in hand or as a down payment — instead of having to wait for a tax refund. 🪓

Google announced that it's adding two extra years of automatic updates for Chromebooks, giving owners a couple more years before they need a replacement.

A blind mole thought since 1936 to be extinct was rediscovered in South African sand dunes.

The College Board released an updated version of their AP African American History course. They’ve put back almost all of the critically important things they took out earlier. Blowback works, folks. 🪓

Primatologist and activist extraordinaire Jane Goodall has launched a branch of her successful youth education and empowerment program Roots & Shoots in the Amazon.

A judge has sentenced a customer to work at a fast-food job after she threw a bowl of hot chicken at a Chipotle employee.

The Supreme Court appeared likely to reject a challenge to the constitutionality of a provision of a 2017 corporate tax reform law that taxes the undistributed profits from U.S. shares of foreign corporations that are majority American owned.

The U.S. State Department said it would impose visa restrictions on Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians in the West Bank. 🪓

In 2022 there was an absolute increase of nearly 300,000 unionized workers. 🪓

Actors have voted to approve a new three-year contract with studios. 🪓

The U.S. Senate confirmed Judge Irma Ramirez to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, making her the first Latina to ever serve on the circuit. 🪓

In an effort to end period poverty and improve access to hygiene products, researchers at Stanford University produced a sustainable menstrual pad material made from plants.

Michael Bloomberg’s foundation committed $65 million to help local governments design and carry out clean energy and climate adaptation projects. 

New York City is planning to plant thousands of trees now through 2035, and doing so in a way that will maximize the cooling effects of foliage coverage.

Martinsville Independent School District (ISD), located in the heart of East Texas, has replaced its entire diesel school bus fleet with all-electric buses. 🪓

Over the past 16 months, the Justice Department has aggressively deployed a new law targeting gun traffickers to charge more than 250 people. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 has also led to the seizure of over 1,300 guns, including 190 AR-style rifles that are frequently a weapon of choice in mass shooting attacks. 🪓

Most of Biden’s appointed judges to date are women, racial or ethnic minorities – a first for any president. 🪓

Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell said she's postponing hotlining (fast tracking) the Kids Online Safety Act as she works with bill sponsors to address concerns it could restrict content serving the LGBTQ+ community — potentially posing a hurdle to Senate passage this year. 🪓

U.S. crude declined 4%, closing at the lowest level since late June with retail gasoline prices hitting the lowest point since January just ahead of the holiday shopping and travel season.

The newly appointed president of the de-radicalized Central Bucks school board in Pennsylvania (we helped flip it!) was sworn in on a pile of banned books. 🪓

The Biden-Harris Administration approved another $4.8 billion in student debt cancellation for 80,300 people. Bringing the overall total to $132 billion for 3.6 million Americans. WOW! 🪓

The U.S. Department of Education  today announced $277 million in new grant awards to advance educational equity and innovation through the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant program. 🪓

Bipartisanship has been spotted in the Kentucky legislature!

The Biden administration has determined that it has the authority to seize the patents of certain high-priced medicines, a move that could open the door to a more aggressive federal campaign to slash drug prices. WOW! 🪓

The U.S.’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm began operating. The facility near New York will power the equivalent of around 70,000 homes, and will soon be followed by another one — five times larger — near Massachusetts.

Millions of dollars in new federal infrastructure funding are coming to the Bay Area to help modernize local ferry systems.

Wolverines officially have federal protection under the Endangered Species Act after years of advocacy on their behalf. 🪓

In the last five years, more than 70 Purépecha communities in Central Mexico have reforested their forests with over 2 million pine trees thanks to a pre-Hispanic model called ‘forest rounds,’ which has ensured a 90% survival rate for the planted trees.

The New York City Council on Wednesday passed a historic bill to speed up the installation of bike lanes across the five boroughs by repealing a notorious, decade-plus-old law that imposed lengthy delays before the city could break ground on such projects. 🪓

The Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the U.S. Army have declared that the Army will never bring back its destructive live-fire training at the Mākua Military Reservation. The decision follows 25 years of advocacy and litigation led by the Hawaiian Native group Mālama Mākua, with legal representation from Earthjustice. 🪓

Employers added 199,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported Friday, while the unemployment rate dropped to 3.7 percent, from 3.9 percent. 🪓

Northwestern University chemists have developed a new catalyst that quickly, cleanly, and completely breaks down Nylon-6—a plastic found in many pollutants.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced $8.2 billion in new funding for 10 major passenger rail projects across the country, including the first world-class high-speed rail projects in our country’s history.  🪓

Come June 30, 2025, prisoners in Michigan will be automatically registered to vote when they are released — the first state to make such arrangements. 🪓

In a major advance, the FDA approved two gene therapies that target sickle cell disease. The historic move offers hope for a long-overlooked genetic illness that can cause excruciating pain and cut decades off people’s lives.

Trump’s gag order was reinstated by a federal appeals court.

A federal judge in San Diego approved a settlement that prohibits U.S. officials from separating migrant families for crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally and offers aid to thousands of parents and children forced apart under the Trump administration.

The U.S. joined the UNEP Buildings Breakthrough. Participating countries endorse the statement ‘Near-zero emission and resilient buildings are the new normal by 2030.’ 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced new initiatives to address the challenges posed by the climate crisis and ensure that low- and moderate-income households and communities can benefit from a clean energy transition. 

Watch This! 👀

1. This and the two items above it are from Climate Change Resources.