Extra! Extra! 12/17 🎉
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
We hit the Substack length limit again this week! Isn’t it crazy? A lot of awful stuff is happening, but we are also seeing a ton of progress. The long list below is proof.
So take a moment away from doom-scrolling and enjoy all the ways that the needle moved the right way this week. Per my custom, I’m putting an 🪓 next to every win that came about through the work of people like you or because of lawmakers people like you helped elect!
Enjoy, my wonderful democracy warriors. And for every 🪓 , an extra thank you.
Jess
P.S. Happy holidays to one and all!
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Great news in TX, NC and AR!
Celebrate This! 🎉
Microsoft and the AFL-CIO union federation said Monday they had struck a deal whereby the U.S. software giant will remain neutral in efforts by unions to encourage workers to become members. 🪓
The Biden administration announced the first of many coming federal investments in computer chip production, saying that it would provide $35 million for BAE Systems to increase production at a New Hampshire factory making chips for military aircraft, including F-15 and F-35 jets. 🪓
Virginia will receive $729 million in federal funding to finance the Long Bridge project, making possible a long-awaited two-track passenger rail bridge over the Potomac River between Arlington and D.C. 🪓
Registered nurses at University Medical Center in New Orleans, LA, have voted in favor of joining National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the United States. This victory happened after almost a year of hard work, and despite a “disgusting” union-busting effort. (One of my subscriber’s sons helped make this win happen! Congrats!) 🪓
The U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will not be hearing an appeal over Washington’s ban on conversion therapy for minors, a decision that means the law will remain in effect.
Inflation slowed to a 3.1% annual rate in November. 🪓
A jury ruled against Google in an antitrust case brought by Epic Games, which argued that the company's app store and billing practices constitute a monopoly.
President Joe Biden has picked up another union endorsement, from the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, which adds to his haul of well over a dozen union backers.
Investment in clean technologies is continuing at record levels in the United States, as demonstrated by new data from the third quarter of 2023. 🪓
The first electric vehicle charging station funded by a $7.5 billion U.S. government program has begun operating in Ohio. 🪓
The EU has approved a ban on the destruction of unsold clothing as part of a broader initiative to address the environmental impact of "fast fashion" and reduce waste.
After a years-long neighborhood battle against an oil drilling site in South Los Angeles, a local nonprofit has purchased the now-demolished facility and plans to transform it into a park, community center and affordable housing. 🪓
The New York State Court of Appeals granted Democrats who control the state legislature a chance to approve a new set of congressional district lines for the state, effectively throwing out a map that led to several Republican victories in 2022 House races. We may pick up as many as 6 seats because of it!
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the final piece of the state’s Reproductive Health Act into law, which repealed a requirement for a separate insurance rider for abortion coverage. 🪓
Transgender author and queer rights activists Jennifer Finney Boylan has been elected the new president of PEN America, an organization that has been vocal against book bans in schools and libraries across the country. 🪓
Vice President Harris is launching the Biden-Harris Administration’s Safer States Initiative to provide states with additional tools and the support they need to reduce gun violence and save lives. 🪓
Pennsylvania Democrats have introduced a bill that would protect reproductive rights in the state constitution, pending voter approval. 🪓
Electricity generated from US solar and wind systems will surpass power produced by burning coal for the first time next year, driven by surging panel installations. 🪓
The median U.S. asking rent declined 2.1% year over year in November to $1,967—the biggest annual drop since February 2020.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it has screened 5 million veterans for potential toxic exposures since Congress passed and President Biden signed the PACT Act in 2022. 🪓
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced that the Biden-Harris Administration has awarded $645.3 million from the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program to help communities around the United States complete transportation projects that will increase mobility, improve safety, and generate regional economic growth in rural areas. 🪓
Nearly 200 countries struck a breakthrough climate agreement Wednesday, calling for a transition away from fossil fuels in an unprecedented deal that targets the greatest contributors to the planet’s warming. It’s not everything we needed, but it’s a start! 🪓
President Biden announced that dozens of pharmaceutical companies will be required to pay rebates to Medicare for outrageous price hikes on prescription drugs that over 750,000 seniors take per year. 🪓
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced $817 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for 385 Safe Streets and Roads for All grants to help prevent roadway deaths. 🪓
European Union leaders agreed to officially open accession negotiations for Ukraine to join the bloc, an important breakthrough for Kyiv as it tries to bolster support from its allies.
The New York City Council approved the “City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality” initiative and an ensuing set of zoning changes. 🪓
Minnesota has seen a surge in installations of heat pumps, fueled by cost savings and technological improvements that enable heat pumps to operate efficiently even in extreme Minnesota winters. 🪓
Massachusetts utility regulators issued a sweeping ruling that sets a framework for reducing the use of gas for heating as part of a larger strategy to address climate change. 🪓
The global fossil fuel divestment movement surpassed a major milestone last week: 1600+ institutions, representing $40.6 trillion in assets, are cutting ties with oil and gas companies. 🪓
A new CNN poll revealed that a large majority of US adults and half of Republicans agree with Biden’s goal to slash climate pollution. Progress!
Japan is closing refineries throughout the country as its oil consumption falls to the lowest level since at least 1980. The country now generates more than a fifth of its electricity from renewable sources.
The U.S. Government announced that they had reached an agreement with the States of Oregon and Washington and four Columbia Basin tribes to set a path to breach the four lower Snake River dams. This marks a turning point in the long-standing effort to protect and restore Snake River salmon, an iconic Pacific Northwest species that could face extinction without action. 🪓
Republicans’ impeachment efforts are paying off — for Joe Biden.
US real wages — wages adjusted for inflation — have risen 0.8% over the last 12 months. 🪓
Sales of electric vehicles in Australia have more than doubled this year—in fact they are 185% of what they were in 2022!
Jerome Powell announced that interest rates won’t be going up, and may even go down next year. Also the Dow Jones hit a new record, while the S&P 500 is getting close. 🪓
The Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act without ANY hard-right provisions on abortion, transgender troops and other hot-button issues and WITH a 5.2% pay raise for service members, additional funding for the World Trade Center Health Program, (which provides essential health services to 9/11 first responders), AND an amendment that requires Congressional approval before the U.S. can pull out of NATO. Boom! 🪓
The DC Circuit Court of Appeals granted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request for an expedited appeal of Trump’s claims of absolute presidential immunity against criminal prosecution.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals handed Donald Trump a loss in a test of presidential immunity arising out one of of E. Jean Carroll’s defamation claims against him.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block Illinois’s ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines during litigation. The move means the law, the Protect Illinois Communities Act, will remain in effect for the indefinite future.
Five months into a massive strike, Unite Here Local 11 has reached tentative contract agreements with 10 more Southern California hotels covering hundreds of housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, servers and front desk workers who have been pushing for higher pay and better benefits. 🪓
The Florida Republican Party has voted to censure Chairman (and accused rapist) Christian Ziegler and strip him of his authority on the board in an effort get him to resign.
Ron DeSantis' super PAC just lost its top strategist.
Federal labor regulators accused Starbucks of illegally closing 23 stores to suppress organizing activity and sought to force the company to reopen them. 🪓
Rudy Giuliani was found liable for defamation against two Georgia poll workers in the amount of $148 million.
According to new data from the FBI, violent crime in 2023 dropped by 8 percent while property crime fell 6.3 percent, the lowest level since 1961.
Floridians Protecting Freedom’s signature drive to place a proposed constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights on the 2024 statewide ballot in Florida has collected over 1.4 million signatures, far surpassing the number of names required. 🪓
The U.S. Army will remove a Confederate memorial from Arlington National Cemetery next week as part of its ongoing work to rid Defense Department property of divisive rebel imagery. 🪓
The White House plans to exercise its authority to lower the price of costly medications that were developed with public funding — a potentially powerful new tool in the battle against sky-high medication prices.1 🪓
Columbia and NYU may lose hundreds of millions in property tax breaks under a new plan put forward by New York lawmakers, and the resulting new tax revenue would instead go towards New York City’s public university system.
More than a thousand auto workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have signed union cards with the United Auto Workers. 🪓
A Minnesota judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging a new state law that restores voting rights to people convicted of a felony upon release from incarceration.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Louisiana's request to reconsider the right of private parties to sue to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Had the Circuit accepted Louisiana's request, it could have severely weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. 2
Google lost a BIG antitrust case. 🪓
Yosemite has eliminated single-use plastics.
Enjoy This! 👀
Unbelievable list of hopeful news ‼️thank you
After reading all the accomplishments of the past week, how could anyone question the Biden administration ability to get things done! If only congress would get in line.