Extra! Extra! 4/12

What a week!

The Artemis II crew after they looped around the far side of the moon and started for home. ABC news.

Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

I find myself marveling once again, as I finish putting this list together, at how many amazing things keep happening while we’re also suffering through the news cycle from hell. It’s strange how two things can be true at once: Everything is awful AND some great things are still coming to pass.

So let’s take a quick—or long!—break from doomscrolling and bask in this week’s victories. Victories, by the way, that transpired while we were waiting to see if Trump would blow up the world. He didn’t—yet, and that’s a good news item, too, I suppose.

Anyway. Buckle up, because there’s a whole lot to celebrate in this week’s list.

Remember, it’s because of the hard work of people like you that I have new items to put in this newsletter every Sunday. Keep it up! I’m so proud of you!

Celebrate This! 🎉

A Democrat won the mayoral race in Republican-leaning Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Shawn Harris didn’t win his Congressional race in GA-14, but he swung the margins 25 points to the left. That is HUGE!

Democratic-backed Chris Taylor won the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, ensuring a liberal majority on that court through the presidential elections in 2028 and redistricting in 2030. Better yet, Taylor won by 20 points! Massive!

April 7 was a huge day for LGBTQ representation in Wisconsin! The Brown County Board of Supervisors elected the first trans woman ever to hold that seat (in a Trump +7 district). A young trans man unseated a 16-year incumbent for the Menomonie Common Council District 8 race. And a nonbinary candidate ran for Dane County Board of Supervisors District 9 and won overwhemingly.

We flipped a mayoral seat in River Falls, Wisconsin.

All three Moms for Liberty candidates lost their school board races in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

Voters in Festus, MO, voted out four city council members who voted to approve a new data center in their town.

WI passed the nation’s first referendum requiring future large-scale data center building projects that receive tax benefits to secure approval from local voters.

A Democrat flipped a school board seat in Tulsa.

In the election for Salt River Project leadership in Phoenix, AZ, Turning Point Action lost a majority of the board seats to Clean Energy Team candidates. This was an under-the-radar but really important race; TPA put a TON of money into it.

A federal judge refused to block sending abortion pills by mail while the FDA continues its (unnecessary) review of mifepristone’s safety.

Governor Spanberger signed legislation to raise Virginia’s minimum wage to $15 per hour.

A federal judge has blocked the Pentagon’s latest bid to limit press access, tearing into the Department of Defense in a stinging ruling that warned “suppression of political speech is the mark of an autocracy, not a democracy.”

Cook Political Report just shifted the Iowa’s governors’ race rating from “Lean Republican” to “Tossup.”

To cap off his first 100 days in office, Mayor Zohran Mamdani walked the full 6 miles home from New York City Hall — greeting New Yorkers along the way.

Wisconsin GOP State Rep. Jerry O’Connor announced he won’t seek reelection. He is the 6th Wisconsin Republican to do so.

Tulsa, OK voters overwhelmingly approved each of four bond propositions for Tulsa Public Schools. The entire package totals $609 million for the district and was staunchly opposed by Republicans.

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to turn over all their evidence on Renee Good’s murder.

The Cook Political Report upgraded the U.S. House races in FL-27, NJ-09, OH-01, OH-13, and PA-08 in Democrats’ favor.

Massachussetts’ top court ruled that Meta must face a lawsuit by the Massachusetts attorney general alleging that as the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, it deliberately designed social media features to addict young users.

Mexico’s 120 million citizens will begin to enjoy free, universal access to healthcare next year, following a decree by socialist president Claudia Sheinbaum.

HUGE! Over the course of March, the US got more electricity from renewables than it did from natural gas, which is typically the single-largest source of energy on the U.S. grid. It’s the first time renewables have bested fossil fuel in the U.S. across an entire month.

Rep. Jamie Raskin requested the White House physician conduct a “comprehensive cognitive assessment” of President Trump and brief Congress on the results.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Rep. James Comer said that the panel would be holding hearings to give victims of Jeffrey Epstein the chance to speak about his crimes against them.

Minnesota’s largest pediatric health system is restoring gender-affirming care for minors after a federal judge blocked a Trump administration effort to label the treatment unsafe, reversing a suspension that had disrupted care for families across the state.

Following a historic vote, U.K. women who have been convicted, and in some cases jailed, over illegal abortions are set to be pardoned.

The British government barred Ye — the rapper formerly known as Kanye West — from entering the country to play a series of concerts because of his history of antisemitism. The U.S. should take note!

The Artemis II mission officially surpassed the Apollo 13 distance record of 248,655 statute miles from Earth, then returned to earth successfully. A beautiful, uniting mission accomplished!

American freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson was released in Baghdad after being held by the pro-Iran militia Kataib Hezbollah since March 31.

On the fourth anniversary of Amazon Labor Union-IBT 1 becoming the first union to win an election at an Amazon facility, the National Labor Relations Board ruled conclusively that the megacorporation must come to the bargaining table.

A federal judge from Massachusetts has blocked the Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for over 5,000 Ethiopians.

A significant number of Trump’s 2024 voters say they will not support a Republican candidate in the midterms, a new poll has found.

A federal judge dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin that sought to force him to turn over private information about his state’s voters. Judges have also dismissed the cases against California, Michigan, and Oregon.

A federal judge denied the State Department’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit from a Havana Syndrome victim who alleges the government retaliated against him for testifying to Congress, allowing the case to go to trial.

Gov. Janet Mills signed a proposal into law to allow Mainers to install small, portable solar energy systems in their homes. Go balcony solar!!

The Trump administration has quietly declined to appeal rulings that shut down its attempts to halt offshore wind construction. This is a really big deal!

A megachurch in Virginia donated $1M to stop over 300 families from being evicted.

Trump seems to have broken with a bunch of his long-term, hardcore MAGA allies, and it’s ugly.

India is set to quadruple solar power capacity and triple wind power capacity in the next decade.

​Dolly Parton made a “generational and transformational” donation to the hospital named after her. The East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, now the Dolly Parton Children's Hospital, said the money will be a lifeline for years to come.

The U.S. teenage birth rate fell by 7% in 2025, continuing a decades-long decline, according to a report published by the National Center for Health Statistics.

​Florence + The Machine is partnering with Planned Parenthood on tour amid a “life and death” fight for abortion rights. In 2023, Florence Welch received life-saving reproductive health care for an ectopic pregnancy that caused her to miscarry, and the experience informed her latest album.

For the first time in his second term, Donald Trump is underwater with white working class voters

This budget year, Congress quietly saved funding for the government’s popular Energy Star program. Bipartisan majorities also salvaged weather forecasting, fisheries and climate research at the NOAA, and even some international environmental aid. Climate advocates are hoping something similar happens this go-around.

Thanks to bipartisan pushback from lawmakers and the public, the Trump administration abandoned its plans for a physical border wall in Big Bend National Park.

A critically endangered whale species now has a GoFundMe after its research grants cut were cut by the Trump administration.

​Chile’s “near threatened” seals gained protection with a new marine park.

Pope Leo XIV denounced the ‘delusion of omnipotence’ that is fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace.

​Luxembourg became the second country in the world to enshrine abortion rights into its constitution. France was the first to do so in 2024.

The price of lithium-ion batteries has fallen 99% in the last three decades. At the same time, batteries have also gotten better.

Voter turnout hit historic levels as Hungarians cast their ballots today, reaching over 77% participation by the time polls closed. Exit polls are looking promising…FINGERS CROSSED!

​A seabird colony in the U.K. is finally rebounding after a trained detection dog helped eradicate ferrets from their island.

Guerilla style street signs have popped up all over Los Angeles telling ICE they are not welcome.

Janelle Monáe, Spike Lee, Jodie Foster, and a battalion of pediatricians joined the growing coalition calling for Dilley Detention Center’s shutdown

At least 70 House Democrats are now calling for Trump’s impeachment.

The largest ever Global Sumud Flotilla departed for Gaza, aiming to break Israel’s blockade and deliver desperately needed aid to Gazans.

Watch this!

If you haven’t yet seen Bruce Springsteen’s opening for his new tour, do watch. This is him in Los Angeles this week (footage courtesy of Margaret Nagle on Threads)