Extra! Extra! 3/31 (Coming out on 4/6)

A special late edition of the good news from March 25-March 31

Biden is still demolishing Trump in fundraising!

Hi, all!

Yes, it’s Saturday and you’re getting an email from me! Why? Because you never got an “Extra Extra” from me last Sunday—I was still travelling in Europe. I’ve now had time to go through my oldest emails (I still have 700 to catch up on) and have gotten my list together of everything good that happened the week before last. Because you can’t miss out on a whole week of incredible stuff!

Tomorrow you’ll get this week’s list! (Are you confused yet?)

Hope this “double dose” makes for an extra happy weekend!

I have, as usual, popped an 🪓 next to every item folks like you helped make happen, or that got done by lawmakers we helped elect.

Celebrate This! 🎉

The Biden administration awarded a whopping $6 billion to efforts to decarbonize heavy industrial sectors. 🪓

Democratic candidate Marilyn Lands, who campaigned on ending Alabama’s near-total abortion ban and protecting access to contraception and in vitro fertilization, won a special election for a Huntsville-area state House seat. 🪓

The Oregon Health Authority launched a website to make it easier for women to access an abortion. 🪓

The Sacramento City Council voted unanimously on a resolution to declare the city a “sanctuary city for transgender people.” 🪓

Maria Rodriguez, a 28-year-old Run For Something candidate, won her race for Pembroke Pines City Commission in Florida. She knocked 15,000 doors to win her race by just 50 votes! 🪓

Political candidates in Indiana can now use campaign contributions to pay for child care expenses incurred while campaigning or in office. Indiana’s the 31st state to make that determination. 🪓

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed the strongest electronic right-to-repair law in the country. 🪓

In Florida, Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Kemp announced that she would challenge freshman Republican Rep. Laurel Lee, a move that gives Democrats a credible candidate in a Tampa-area constituency that Donald Trump took by a small 51-48 margin in 2020. 🪓

A federal judge has granted Rep. Andy Kim's request to bar New Jersey election officials from printing primary ballots that give certain candidates favorable placement, a practice known as the "county line." 

In an effort to make the next Census more accurate and equitable, the Office of Management and Budget announced the first changes to how the country categorizes race and ethnicity in nearly 30 years. 🪓

The EPA finalized the strongest ever greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles to protect public health and address the climate crisis while keeping the American economy moving. 🪓

The S&P 500 had its strongest start to the year since 2019. 🪓

Turkey’s main opposition party swept to victory in local elections on Sunday, in an unexpected blow to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule. 🪓

Vice President Harris visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where she announced a new measure to curb gun violence: the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center. This resource center will provide training for local leaders on how to use red flag laws and keep communities safe. 🪓

Vice President Harris also announced new initiatives to strengthen the U.S.-Guatemala relationship and address the root causes of migration from Guatemala. 🪓

Over $2 million is on its way to Delaware from the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program to study covering up a section of I-95 through Wilmington. The program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, seeks to reconnect communities that are "burdened by past transportation infrastructure decisions.” 🪓

The DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations announced that Brimstone, a leader in industrial decarbonization, was selected to negotiate a $189 million federal award to finance the construction of the first commercial-scale plant deploying Brimstone's deeply decarbonized process for producing cement. The Industrial Demonstrations Program was created, expanded, and funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. 🪓

11 new Starbucks stores won their union elections! Also, Starbucks Workers United announced that workers in unionizing stores that had previously had their benefits withheld will finally have access to them. Wins! 🪓

The EPA placed the Lukachukai Mountains Mining District on the Superfund National Priorities List—a huge win for the now-sickened Arizona Navajo who worked in the mines. It opens the door for money from the federal government to pay for cleanup and remediation work at the sites of mines and tailings piles. 🪓

Residents of La Oroya, Peru, known as one of the most polluted cities on Earth, have won a landmark victory from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which ruled that Peru was responsible for the physical and mental harm that a metallurgical facility’s pollution inflicted on 80 people.  🪓

A California bar court judge recommended that John Eastman be disbarred over his efforts to advise Trump, and over his false claims of voter fraud to a federal judge. 

NBC news cut ties with Ronna McDaniel. Bye! 🪓

Worldwide tree cover has grown by 2.24 million square kilometers — the size of Texas and Alaska combined — in the last 35 years.

Anyone living in Colorado can now get an instant $450 credit for buying an e-bike! 🪓

France and Brazil have agreed to launch a $1.1 billion green investment plan for the Amazon rainforest.

Voters in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, just made history by electing Henry Whitehorn for sheriff. He is the first person of color to be elected sheriff of the Parish — a locale with a history of lynching and racial violence dating back to Reconstruction—EVER. 🪓

A record number of voters think abortion should be legal, according to a new Fox News survey. That includes double-digit increases in support from voters 65+, conservatives, and white evangelical Christians. 

Senegal’s election was a major win for democracy. 🪓

The DOE announced $475 million in funding for five projects in Arizona, Kentucky, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia to accelerate clean energy deployment on current and former mine land. 🪓

The EPA announced $206 million to fund local projects and technical assistance to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay over the next four years and advance environmental justice. 🪓

Every anti-LGBTQ+ bill was defeated in Georgia as the legislature adjourned Sine Die. 🪓

In a star-studded fundraiser with Presidents Biden, Obama, and Clinton joining forces in New York City the Biden campaign raised a staggering $25 million. 🪓

A California Circuit Court judge threw out Elon Musk’s lawsuit against a nonprofit that tracks hate on the internet—and apparently the ruling was saucy!

A judge in Minnesota ruled in favor of a warehouse owner who sought to evict MyPillow after it failed to pay more than $200,000 in rent. (Also, Mike Lindell is out of money.)

Kari Lake admitted she defamed Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer and that she acted with actual malice when she claimed he “sabotaged” the 2022 election. 

The FDIC is proposing more scrutiny on bank mergers above $100 billion. 🪓

Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark committed at least one professional ethics violation when he worked to help Trump try to overturn the 2020 election, a D.C. Bar panel found. The panel’s preliminary finding could result in Clark’s law license being revoked.

The DOI announced the approval of the Sunrise Wind offshore wind project – the nation’s seventh approval of a commercial-scale offshore wind project under President Biden’s leadership. 🪓

After many years of advocacy, Congress restored federal benefits eligibility to persons who immigrated to the U.S. under a Compact of Free Association with Palau, the Marshall Islands, or Micronesia. COFA migrants will now have access to essential federal benefits, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, SSI and FEMA assistance for the first time in nearly 30 years. 🪓

Mayor Eric Adams announced that New York City will put 180 new electric school buses on its roads thanks to a $61 million federal grant (thanks, Joe Biden!) 🪓

Yellowstone National Park has received an anonymous $40 million donation. The money is earmarked for improving existing housing and expanding housing for the park’s staff.

Trump lost 110,000 votes to Nikki Haley in Arizona — who isn’t even running anymore.

Crystal Mason, a Black woman who had been sentenced to five years in prison for casting a provisional ballot while on probation, was acquitted after a long legal saga.

The DOI announced $353 million to Gulf States for coastal restoration, conservation and hurricane protection. 🪓

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced a final rule from the Bureau of Land Management that will curb the waste of natural gas during the production of oil and gas on federal and Tribal lands. 🪓