Extra! Extra! 2/17

Feb 20, 2023

Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

Here’s all the good stuff that happened last week while we were focussed on, well, the bad stuff. It’s a LOT! Let’s celebrate our wins, then get back to working on new ones!

You’re amazing. What you’re doing matters. It really, really does.

See below if you don’t believe me.

Jess

Read This 📖

If you think our work flipping state legislatures isn’t important, read this. Actually, just read it regardless. EVERY ELECTION MATTERS!

Celebrate This! 🎉

The Los Angeles City Council voted to remove gender references from the city’s municipal code. The current code has language that presumes the gender of city officials and members of the public to be masculine, using “he” to describe the mayor and city attorney, for starters. Yet the current Mayor and City Attorney are both women.

Ford is investing $3.5 billion in a electric-car battery factory in Michigan. It will use technology from a leading Chinese company.

The U.S. Senate confirmed President Joe Biden's 100th judicial nominee this week. Biden and Senate Democrats have confirmed 69 district court judges, 30 appellate court judges and one U.S. Supreme Court justice, building a more racially and professionally diverse federal judiciary.

You probably remember Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and his harassment campaign against Dr. Caitlin Bernard, the abortion provider who helped a 10 year-old rape victim. Well, the AG is facing a disciplinary probe by the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission over potential misconduct as a result of his attacks on the doctor.

The Justice Department announced 49 awards to states, territories, and the District of Columbia as part of the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program. This investment of over $231 million will fund state crisis intervention court proceedings, including but not limited to, extreme risk protection order (ERPO) programs that work to keep guns out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves or others. This investment in community safety is authorized by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, historic legislation to address and reduce gun violence that YOU helped pass!

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a new report that shows that the number of Americans with medical debt on their credit reports fell by 8.2 million from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2022

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last week a $1 billion investment toward cleaning up 22 of the country’s neglected Superfund sites — contaminated areas like landfills, factories, and mines that have been left behind by big polluters.

Chef José Andrés and his charity organization World Central Kitchen have set up shop in Turkey to help feed survivors of last week’s enormous earthquakes that killed tens of thousands.

An Arizona judge dismissed a Republican lawsuit brought against the Maricopa County recorder and other election officials.

The Virginia Senate adopted a resolution to amend the state constitution so that a citizen’s voting rights are restored immediately upon release from incarceration.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced his intent to implement automatic voter registration without legislative action and proposed funding and policies to increase voter access.

Utah advanced legislation that would improve mail ballot accessibility for voters with disabilities.

President Biden has fired architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton, an appointee of former president Donald Trump who faced calls to resign from Republicans and Democrats after an inspector general report found ethical and administrative violations.

Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation this week that would increase Social Security benefits by at least $200 per month and fund the program for the next 75 years by increasing the cap on the maximum amount of income subject to the Social Security payroll tax, a change which would only raise taxes on households earning more than $250,000 per year.

This month, the newly Democratic Minnesota legislature passed one of the strongest 100% renewable energy standards in the country – surpassing New York and California.

In just the first month under its new president, deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has fallen. Satellite data shows deforestation was down 61% in January compared to January 2022.

Gas prices in the U.S. have been dropping for two straight weeks, perhaps marking a low point for the season.

A St. Louis Circuit judge vacated Lamar Johnson’s murder conviction, ruling he was wrongly imprisoned nearly 30 years ago. Johnson walked out of the downtown courthouse Tuesday afternoon, a free man for the first time in decades. (You should watch the video of the moment he finds out he’s free.)

The Biden administration announced new standards for building out a national electric vehicle charging network on Wednesday as part of a push to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs).

As part of the above new policy rollout, Tesla, for the first time, will open a portion of its U.S. Supercharger and Destination Charger network to non-Tesla EVs, making at least 7,500 chargers available for all EVs by the end of 2024.

World Bank President (and Trump appointee) David Malpass announced plans to step down Wednesday amid persistent criticism from Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and White House climate adviser John F. Kerry over his lack of commitment to slowing climate change.

President Biden signed a new Executive Order this week, Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, to strengthen the federal government’s ability to address the barriers that underserved communities continue to face.

Members of the European Parliament on Tuesday passed a law requiring automakers to achieve a 100 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from new cars sold in the EU by 2035. Because gasoline- and diesel-powered cars are inherently incompatible with such a target, the law effectively spells the end of the internal combustion engine in the EU’s 27 member states.

In Ohio, two previously competing campaign groups are teaming up and focussing on working together to get an abortion-rights measure on the statewide Ohio ballot in November 2023.

On Thursday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro ended his first month in office by announcing that he would not allow any executions to go forward under his watch and calling for an end to the death penalty in the state.

An FDA panel unanimously recommended allowing the overdose treatment Narcan to be sold over the counter, a move that would expand access to the lifesaving drug.

Experts think electric vehicles could match the price of gas-powered vehicles this year—much sooner than expected. A combination of competition, government incentives, and falling prices of raw materials are contributing to the lowering cost.

For the first time in the U.S., New York City is replacing its largest fossil fuel power plant with offshore wind power. The current 27-acre waterfront site is being converted into a clean energy hub that will power one-fifth of the city with offshore wind power.

Once on the brink of extinction, the wood stork has made a huge recovery that could take it off the endangered species list. Officials say the restoration of the bird’s habitat, especially in the Florida Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve, led to a dramatic increase in breeding pairs.

Breaking a weekslong impasse, the New York State Senate rejected Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (questionable) nominee to lead the state’s highest court. The Governor will have to start over and nominate a more progressive candidate. Woot!

An Arizona appeals court has rejected Republican Kari Lake’s challenge of her defeat in the Arizona governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs, denying her request to throw out election results in the state’s most populous county and hold the election again.

Largely thanks to Bernie Sanders, Moderna Inc. will keep its COVID-19 vaccines available and free of charge for all people in the U.S. after the public-health emergency ends.

A federal judge issued a nationwide order late Friday barring Starbucks from firing union organizers—a ruling that affirmed a long-established law which workers say the coffee chain has violated hundreds of times since unionizing efforts were first launched in Buffalo, New York in 2021.

Shareholders are suing Shell for failing to prepare for a world more reliant on green energy. They say its “flawed” climate strategy puts the company at financial risk as the world transitions to clean energy.

Three days after Michigan State University was terrorized by a mass shooting on campus, Democratic lawmakers in the state filed a host of bills targeting gun safety – legislation they are hopeful can become law since the party last month took control of the legislature and governor’s office for the first time in four decades.

McDonald’s is introducing plant-based McNuggets.

After a massive backlash Rick Scott has changed his tune on cutting SSI and Medicare.