Extra! Extra! 3/26
Hi, all.
I’m sending this a little earlier than normal so you can have some time to soak it in while still enjoying your Sunday.
I know it was another hard week—amidst a long string of them—but many, many things did go well also. So please make sure to not only enjoy this news yourself, but send it along to folks who insist “nothing is going our way.” Quite a bit is—it’s just not as effective at getting our attention.
But get our attention it must.
So enjoy the good news, spread the good news…
Then join me tomorrow to start making more of it. ❤️
Read This 📖
This was something I didn’t know. Ancient Judaism Recognized a Range of Genders. It’s Time We Did, Too.
Celebrate This! 🎉
Four members of the Oath Keepers were convicted of conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol on Monday.
New Mexico's governor signed a bill ending juvenile life sentences without parole. Under the new law, people who commit a crime will be eligible for parole hearings 15 to 25 years into their sentences.
President Biden announced major new actions to conserve and restore lands and waters across the nation, including by establishing Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and Castner Range National Monument in Texas.
More than $500 million has been allocated by the White House for a low-income home energy assistance program, aimed at helping Americans in need pay for their heating and cooling expenses.
President Biden issued his first veto to preserve investment managers’ ability to take account of climate change.
American aid worker Jeff Woodke, who was taken prisoner more than six years ago in Niger and held captive by a terrorist group, has been released.
The Minnesota House of Representatives voted 68-62 on Monday for a bill that would offer legal protections both to patients who travel to Minnesota for an abortion and the providers that treat them.
Maryland advanced legislation to protect against polling place overconsolidation, ensure voters can correct minor errors on their mail ballot envelopes, and increase poll worker compensation.
Idaho advanced a bill that would protect non-citizens who voted based on a reasonable belief that they were citizens.
Maryland passed legislation requiring Medicaid to cover modern gender-affirming care procedures for economically disadvantaged trans residents.
Jesse Mason, the Washington state worker Verizon fired last year after he tried to organize two Seattle-area retail stores, went back to work on Monday, as part of the telecom giant’s recent settlement with federal labor regulators.
A federal judge ruled against Donald Trump on Monday in his efforts to keep key evidence out of his civil rape trial brought by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Citizens of St. James Parish, La., have announced a federal lawsuit against the parish council, claiming acts of environmental racism by local leaders in the heart of the heavily-industrialized stretch of the Mississippi River often referred to as “Cancer Alley.” The lawsuit’s goal is to seek a moratorium on petrochemical plants in the area.
Walt Disney World Resort is hosting a major conference promoting LGBTQ rights in the workplace this year. Its decision to host the conference comes amidst a yearlong dispute with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over, among other things, its opposition to his “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
A federal appeals court ruled that a lawyer for Donald Trump must provide notes, transcripts and other evidence to prosecutors investigating how classified documents remained at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home months after a subpoena to return all sensitive files.
In Hawaii, the governor signed sweeping pro-choice legislation: The law protects abortion providers from out-of-state prosecution; allows minors to obtain abortions without parental consent; repeals an old requirement that abortions be performed at hospitals; and allows physicians assistants to perform surgical abortions during the first trimester.
A Pennsylvania court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee that sought to prohibit counties from implementing mail-in ballot cure procedures.
The Arizona Supreme Court declined to review six of the seven claims in failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s appeal of her previously dismissed election contest.
The Biden Administration introduced the first-ever Ocean Climate Action Plan, a groundbreaking roadmap to harness the power of the ocean to advance immediate, transformational steps to protect ocean health and address the climate crisis.
President Biden also announced that he would expeditiously expand and increase environmental protections for a group of remote atolls and islands in the Central Pacific and the nearly 777,000 square miles of waters around them.
Kansas City implemented a program that prevented hundreds of evictions by simply providing attorneys. Since launching last June, the program has been so successful, the city is now expanding it.
Joe Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign staff will be unionized! Yes!
South Korea’s LG Energy said it would invest about $5.6 billion in a battery-manufacturing complex in Arizona, the latest in a string of new plants by foreign companies as the U.S. transitions toward cleaner fuels.
California state officials announced that they are lifting some drought-related provisions on water use. “Our water supply conditions have improved markedly,” said Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot.
Los Angeles County's Trash Interceptor 007, a solar-powered barge, has swallowed about 5 1/2 tons of garbage since the winter storms began. That brings its total to more than 60 tons of debris collected since October — debris that otherwise would have ended up in the ocean.
A tentative agreement reached Friday between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the union representing support staff won raises of about 30% or more for the lowest-wage workers, retroactive pay of $4000-$8000 depending on job classification, (including a $1000 bonus for all), and fully paid health care benefits, including family coverage, for teacher assistants, community representatives, after school program workers and others.
The U.S. House failed Thursday to override President Joe Biden’s first veto — of a Republican-led bill that would have banned the consideration of environmental, social or governance issues in retirement and other investment decisions.
A federal judge has rejected former President Donald Trump's claims of executive privilege and has ordered Mark Meadows and other former top aides to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the election leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) vetoed a sweeping Republican bill that would ban transgender-youths’ access to gender-affirming care and restrict the bathrooms they can use. He’s up for re-election this year. Send him some love!
The National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel issued a memo that all non-disparagement clauses in severance packages have been retroactively voided after a ruling in February invalidating them.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer officially repealed Michigan’s right-to-work law. Unions and fair wages for all!!
After many years of refusing to do so the North Carolina legislature reversed previous decisions and voted to expand Medicaid. Now 600,000 additional residents will have health insurance.
Watch This! 👀
Watch the moment when Governor Tim Walz signs a law ensuring free breakfast and lunch for all students in MN. 🥲
Brava, Jessica Craven, for aggregating all this good news. Individual victories sometimes are hard to retain. This was WONDERFUL!!!
I love this so much! Thank you!