Extra! Extra! 12/4

Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

Here’s your weekly list of excellent happenings from the week before! Also, zoo advent calendars 👆🏼 and Patti LaBelle 👇🏼, just because.

Remember, almost none of the below would have been possible without the patient, persistent, diligent work of good-hearted folks just like yourselves. THIS is why we never give up!

Small, hopeful, consistent actions today lead to more things for which to be grateful tomorrow! A beautiful and endless cycle.

Enjoy. And thank you for being such a bright spot in my life.

Jess

Read This 📖

This article about how grassroots groups in Georgia got around the ban on giving food and water to voters in line is quite uplifting.

And here’s why being kind is just a good idea.

Celebrate This! 🎉

The capacity of the world’s planned floating offshore wind projects has more than doubled over the past year.

The Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was found guilty of seditious conspiracy! So was Kelly Meggs!

US oil prices have fallen to their lowest level since December 2021.

Sixteen municipalities in Puerto Rico have filed a lawsuit against Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and other fossil fuel giants, accusing them of colluding to conceal their products’ contribution to climate change.

President Biden pledged Wednesday to put hundreds of thousands of acres off limits to development in southern Nevada around Spirit Mountain, a sacred tribal site.

As part of an ongoing effort to clean up London’s automobile-related air pollution, Mayor Sadiq Khan announced last week that the city’s “Ultra Low Emission Zone,” known as the ULEZ, will grow to cover all 600 square miles of the Greater London area.

The United Kingdom announced plans to invest over one-billion pounds in home insulation projects across the country next year as part of an effort to reduce energy consumption.

The Senate on Tuesday passed the Respect for Marriage Act, which would enshrine marriage equality into federal law, granting protections to same-sex and interracial couples.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election are not covered by presidential immunity as his lawyers argued.

The South Carolina Supreme Court unanimously ordered Mark Meadows to testify before the Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

The federal government announced yesterday that it will spend $250 million over the next four years on environmental cleanup and restoration work around the Salton Sea, a Southern California lake that is fed by the depleted Colorado River.

Six years of former president Trump’s tax returns are now in the hands of the House Ways and Means Committee after a protracted court battle that ended when the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s last appeal. 

The Biden administration announced that it will give Native American tribes more say in managing federal and tribal lands as part of a larger plan that includes boosting spending for tribes whose land has been harmed by climate change. 

The 11th circuit has ruled that Judge Aileen Cannon's order appointing a special master and blocking the government from using classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago in their investigations was incorrect. The order has been vacated with instructions to dismiss the entire case. Two of the three judges issuing the order, furthermore, were Trump appointees.

The US economy grew at a 2.9% annual rate from July through September.

A key gauge of U.S. inflation rose a modest 0.3% in October, adding another piece of evidence that points to slowly easing price pressures.

Job growth reflected stronger-than-expected hiring momentum in November.

In a historic first, European legislators have agreed to regulate emissions from the shipping industry as part of the European Union’s emission trading system, one of the world’s largest carbon markets.

For the first time in U.S. history, the top House leaders of one party will include no white men. House Democrats voted Hakeem Jeffries as House Democratic leader, Katherine Clark as whip, and Pete Aguilar as caucus chair.

Despite dozens of restrictive voting laws in 20 states, the 2022 general election featured the second-highest rate of voter turnout in U.S. history.

A Federal court ordered Amazon to stop firing their own workers in retaliation for organizing a labor union.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-0 to approve an ordinance that will prohibit new oil and gas extraction activities and phase out existing oil drilling citywide, a victory driven by a decade of advocacy by and for frontline communities.

After being taken to court by Secretary of State (and Governor-elect) Katie Hobbs, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted to certify the election results in their county.

U.S. Senator-elect John Fetterman tapped the author of a book calling for the abolishment of the arcane Senate filibuster to be his next chief of staff.

A judge sanctioned Kari Lake’s legal team, which includes Alan Dershowitz, for ‘recklessly’ filing ‘false, misleading, and unsupported’ claims in election lawsuit.

Alex Jones filed for personal bankruptcy in Texas, citing debts of $1.5 billion he has been ordered to pay Sandy Hook families for harassing them. 

Over 900,000 immigrants became legal United States citizens via naturalization this year, the highest number since 2008.

Watch This! 👀

Aaaaahhhh the 70’s. Also aaahhhh Patti LaBelle. 🤯