Extra! Extra! 4/21 🇺🇦🎉
What a week!
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
And it’s a happy one, indeed. Trump’s been in court all week, the Freedom Caucus has (at least for now) been sidelined, and Ukraine aid passed the House! HUGE! Who knows what’ll happen next, but these are significant wins, and you helped make them happen. You should feel very good about that.
And there was so much more! This week was bursting with excellent news. I had to edit things out to make this newsletter stay within Substack’s length limit. My kind of week!
So enjoy every bit of the below. You work hard. You’ve earned a moment of celebration.
And since I suspect there are others in your life who could use the lift, please make sure you share this email widely!
Remember, what we focus on grows.
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.
Read This 📖
Thanks to
for recommending this great piece. Many of you will have seen it, but if you haven’t, do give it a read. Very uplifting.Celebrate This! 🎉
A federal judge rejected Rudy Giuliani’s request to reverse the massive defamation judgment owed to two Georgia election workers, ordering the former Trump lawyer to pay $148 million to them.
The IMF reported that the US would grow at double the rate of its G7 peers this year. 🪓
Students at Sylmar Charter High School in Los Angeles are growing their own flowers to not only create prom accessories but to have a space for tranquility.
President Biden announced new actions to protect the U.S. steel and shipbuilding industry. 🪓
The FTC got Global Partners to abandon its acquisition of Gulf Oil’s petroleum terminal in South Portland, Maine. [H/T] 🪓
The Interior Department set a goal of 25GW of permitted clean energy on public lands by 2025. They're at nearly 29GW, a year ahead of schedule, with 32GW more in the pipeline. [H/T] 🪓
A court in Peru just ruled that the Marañón River, long affected by oil spills, has the right to exist and be free from pollution.
The Biden administration will give up to $6.4 billion in grants to Samsung, one of the world’s largest chipmakers, the latest in a slew of awards intended to shore up domestic production of cutting-edge semiconductors. 🪓
Arkansas is investing $14.9 million in an electric vehicle charging network with funding from The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 🪓
The Department of Energy released a new roadmap to help the U.S. adopt tech that can give the power grid a much-needed boost in capacity and reliability. 🪓
Montana abortion rights advocates officially launched their ballot measure campaign this week. 🪓
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is set to inject approximately $1.6 billion into the much-needed restoration of the Brent Spence Bridge and the construction of a second bridge linking Ohio and Kentucky. 🪓
Senate Democrats voted to dismiss two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Boom! 🪓
In a win for voters, the Supreme Court declined to take up a Republican legal challenge to Washington’s state-level Voting Rights Act — leaving in place the law’s robust protections for minority voters. 1
Skyscrapers in Texas are “going dark” to protect migrating birds. One in three birds migrating through the U.S. migrate through the state in the spring. 🪓
India just announced a new alliance to fund conservation efforts for seven big cats.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) filed an amendment to name Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s office the “Neville Chamberlain Room.” 🪓
A federal judge ruled that lawsuits by members of Congress and police officers against Donald Trump for his actions on Jan. 6 may advance despite the related criminal case against him in Washington.
The Department of the Interior announced the expansion of four existing national wildlife refuges, which will allow for the voluntary conservation of up to 1.13 million acres of wildlife habitat in New Mexico, North Carolina and Texas. 🪓
The Biden-Harris Administration announced nearly $830 million in grant awards for 80 projects nationwide that will help states and local communities strengthen surface-transportation systems and make them more resilient to extreme weather events. 🪓
Trump continues to drive away grassroots donors and is attracting hundreds of thousands fewer donors now than during his 2020 campaign.
America’s first fully battery-powered tugboat has docked at the Port of San Diego and will start working in a few weeks, part of larger efforts to electrify ports in the US. 🪓
Liberia’s Senate, two decades after the second of two brutal civil wars that routinely utilized child soldiers and resulted in rape, mutilation, and mass death, has voted to establish a war crimes court.
More than a dozen members of the Kennedy family endorsed Biden at a rally in Philadelphia.
Greece became the first European nation to announce a ban on bottom trawling in all of its national marine parks by 2026 and marine protected areas by 2030.
New federal safety rules will help protect coal miners from toxic silica dust exposure with the aim to prevent lung disease. 🪓
A NJ federal appeals panel said it’s keeping in place a lower court’s preliminary injunction doing away with the state’s controversial ballot design, the “county line.” This is a win for Andy Kim, and also for democracy! 🪓
Bennie Thompson has filed legislation that strips Secret Service protection from anybody sentenced to jail for a felony. 🪓
The Interior Department will block oil drilling on over 13 million acres in the Western Arctic, including about 40% of the land of the NPR-A – a remote area that is home to protected animal species including polar bears and caribou. 🪓
Biden is leading in the youth vote.
A coalition of New Mexico private and public entities will receive $3 million from the federal government in an ongoing effort to increase food access in the state. 🪓
Micron has agreed to a preliminary deal that would unlock more than $6 billion in federal funding toward its chip-manufacturing plans in Central New York. 🪓
Thanks to American Rescue Plan Act funds first-time homebuyers in La Crosse, WI, can now turn to the city for help in securing their first home. 🪓
Over half a billion dollars in electric vehicle tax rebates were issued by the U.S. Treasury to car dealers in 2024. Consumers overwhelmingly took advantage of an Inflation Reduction Act rebate that allows buyers to receive a $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles as an immediate discount. 🪓
In the first three months of this year, the official campaign committees for the five Democrats who represent districts that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 are outraising the 17 Republicans from Joe Biden-backing districts by a more than two-to-one margin. 🪓
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of Republican operative Jesse Benton for orchestrating an illegal payment from a Russian national to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee.
President Biden set new Title IX rules to protect transgender students and abuse survivors. 🪓
The House Ethics Committee is investigating whether or not Rep. Matt Gaetz used illicit drugs as a member of Congress.
Judge Aileen Cannon rejected requests from Donald Trump’s two co-defendants to dismiss the charges against them in the classified document case.
The Biden administration moved to force polluters to clean up two of the most pervasive forms of “forever chemicals,” designating them as hazardous substances under the nation’s Superfund law. 🪓
A federal judge struck down part of Tennessee's felony disenfranchisement policy.
A Texas appeals court ruled that Attorney General Ken Paxton can face disciplinary action from the Texas Bar for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, rejecting Paxton's arguments that he has immunity as a state official.
The Biden-Harris Administration launched Conservation.gov, a new website that will help connect people with information, tools, resources, and opportunities to support land and water conservation projects in communities across the country. 🪓
A full jury of 12 people has been seated in the criminal case against Donald Trump.
A top leader of the national conservative group Turning Point Action resigned Thursday after being accused of forging voter signatures on official paperwork so that he could run for reelection in the Arizona House.
The Nevada Supreme Court cleared the way for an abortion rights amendment to the state Constitution to be on the November ballot. 🪓
California has taken a first-in-the-nation step to curb wanton water use.
A campaign to enshrine abortion rights in the Colorado state constitution turned in more than 230,000 signatures on Thursday, likely putting their question on the November ballot. 🪓
A new poll shows that voters recognize plastic pollution as a major problem. An overwhelming, bipartisan majority support the U.S. joining a Global Plastics Treaty.
Scripps News launched a disinformation desk to help viewers separate fact from fiction.
Volkswagen workers in Tennessee won a union, making history! HUGE deal! 🪓
President Biden will deliver an abortion-focused speech in Florida next week. 🪓
Google is adding features to maps and search to promote more sustainable travel.
A Wisconsin tribe just scored a major victory in a lawsuit against the Canadian fossil fuel company Enbridge for allegedly threatening the tribe’s land, public health, and ultimately, the world’s largest freshwater lake. 🪓
ABC News will feature the Environmental Voter Project's work on its Sunday morning show! 🪓
Every Starbucks in Cheyenne, WY is now unionized. 🪓
New campaign finance filings show that Trump’s legal bills are draining huge amounts of cash from his campaign funds.
Rudy Giuliani’s creditors expanded their probe into the former New York mayor’s finances, filing more than a dozen subpoenas in his bankruptcy case on Friday. Giuliani’s son was one of those subpoenaed.
The House approved a $95 billion package of foreign aid bills that would provide funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, among other priorities!!!! Your calls helped, y’all! CONGRATS!! 🪓
Trump’s big weekend rally in NC last night had to be cancelled because of a storm. LOVE IT.
Watch This! 👀
This is just cute. Watch til the end.
Aw, I always loved watching their friendly banter. God, I miss Barack but really happy to see Joe doing so much more than I ever thought possible!
Thanks for the uplifting lists of accomplishments and other positive news concerning our democracy. I love TC in LA's piece"The Wind Has Changed". It is so well written and also inspiring. It does seem like something has changed for the positive for We The People and we must continue to stay informed and do good stuff every day to get us past the trying times we appear to be emerging from. We cannot rest on our laurels by any means though. Thanks again, Jess!