Extra! Extra! 4/7
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
Here’s your list of everything good I could find that happened THIS week! Enjoy! You’ve earned a moment to bask in the wins!
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 📖
This is a week old, but still relevant!
Celebrate This! 🎉
Washington State enacted a “Strippers’ Bill of Rights” to protect dancers from harassment and violence. 🪓
President Biden announced a new rule to protect Americans from junk health insurance. 🪓
The Florida Supreme Court gave the green light for a proposed constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights to appear on the November ballot. 🪓
The Florida Supreme Court also allowed an amendment to legalize recreational marijuana to go before voters in November. 🪓
A health test that previously impeded Black patients from getting kidney transplants when they needed them is finally being fixed.
Ruben Gallego, the Democratic candidate for Senate in AZ, raised 7.5M in the first quarter of 2024. 🪓
U.S. traffic deaths fell 3.6% last year.
The Montana Supreme Court struck down four 2021 laws that collectively eliminated Election Day registration, placed new restrictions on mail voting, and restricted the use of student IDs as voter ID.
An Arizona judge dismissed yet another lawsuit trying to overturn the state's 2022 midterm election results and sanctioned failed Republican attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh, saying the lawsuit was "groundless" and "not brought in good faith."
A Texas woman who was wrongfully charged with murder after self-managing an abortion is suing the state for over $1 million.
America’s honeybee population has rocketed to an all-time high. 🪓
The Sacramento City Council voted unanimously on a resolution to declare the city a “sanctuary city for transgender people.” 🪓
A Massachusetts district court judge ruled that migrants who were trafficked to Martha's Vineyard by Ron DeSantis CAN proceed with a case against the charter flight company involved.
Voters in Enid, Oklahoma ousted a white nationalist from their city council in a recall vote! 🪓
In a move that will benefit sustainability efforts and the economy, Cirba Solutions is expanding a battery recycling plant in Lancaster, Ohio. This is made possible by nearly $75 million in funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 🪓
VP Harris and EPA Administrator Regan announced selections for $20 billion in awards to stand up a national financing network that will fund tens of thousands of climate and clean energy projects across the country, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities. 🪓
No Labels dropped out of the race because they couldn’t find a candidate! Woot!
The FCC announced it will vote to restore Net Neutrality. 🪓
Maine’s legislature passed a bill joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, bringing the total number of electoral votes now held by Compact states to 209. 🪓
Tropical deforestation fell 9% globally from 2022 to 2023, representing the preservation of an area about the size of Rhode Island.
Workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama have officially filed for a National Labor Relations Board election to join the United Auto Workers, the latest plant to do so since the UAW began an unprecedented $40 million drive to organize non-union auto and battery plants. 🪓
Renewables have grown at a staggering rate since 2014 — and now account for 22 percent of electricity in the U.S.
Women in Canada will get free contraception. The Canadian government will cover the cost of the most widely used contraceptive methods for nine million Canadian women of reproductive age.
President Biden signed an Executive Order to strengthen the National Park Service’s recognition of women’s history. 🪓
USDA-FNS has approved Wisconsin’s 2024 plan for the Summer EBT Program. Wisconsin is the first in the nation to have their plan approved.
New York City’s congestion pricing plan will finally kick in this summer. 🪓
Ten Native American tribal nations, forming the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, have received ownership of 532 acres of California’s redwood forest. 🪓
Israel agreed to open a crossing to increase humanitarian aid to northern Gaza. 🪓
U.S. economic growth is far outpacing that of other Western nations, a divergence that is at least partly explained by rising immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border. 🪓
Employers added 303,000 jobs in March, a way-better-than-projected and staggeringly good number. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8% from 3.9% the month before. 🪓
Starting Monday, fast-food workers and others in California will make at least $20/hr. 🪓
Truth Social stock is plummeting in value.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Washington Republicans' emergency request to block the state from adopting new legislative districts that fairly represent Latino voters. The new map will be in place for the 2024 elections.
Walmart announced it would engage in a series of investments and purchase agreements leading to the generation of approximately 1 gigawatt of power, enough to supply about 750,000 homes. [H/T The Waggle]
The Phoenix City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that requires employers to give outdoor workers easy access to rest, water, and shade, to receive training to recognize signs of heat stress, and more to protect them from extreme heat. 🪓
Finland has nearly eliminated homelessness.
A man from Washington state who used a megaphone to orchestrate a mob’s attack on police officers during the 6 January attack on the US Capitol was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.
Nebraska legislators voted down a bill that would have changed the state to a “winner-takes-all” system for allocating its Electoral College votes — a move that, if it had passed, could have thrown the 2024 presidential election into chaos.
New Jersey counties withdrew their appeal of a recent ruling that blocked the controversial “county line” ballot design for the Democratic primary.
The Arkansas Supreme Court dismissed a fringe lawsuit from a "voter integrity" group seeking to ban voting machines in the state.1
In Jefferson City, MO, all four GOP City Council members lost their seats. 🪓
AZ abortion rights advocates have gathered enough signatures to get their ballot measure on the ballot! 🪓
An insurrectionist lost her race for School Board in St. Joe, MO. 🪓
According to Everytown, in just the first three months of this year, gun-sense activists defeated more than 109 bad gun bills across 15 states. 🪓
The Biden Harris team has a historic $192 million in cash on hand. The $100 million war chest advantage they have over Trump just so happens to be the same amount in legal fees Trump has paid since he left the White House – almost entirely with political contributions from his donors. The money the Biden-Harris team is raising is going to, among other things, opening more than 100 coordinated campaign offices and hiring hundreds more staff across the battleground states. 🪓
Donald Trump has announced zero battleground offices or staff – in fact the RNC has closed offices and is firing staff.
Federal rail regulators announced on April 2 that all freight and passenger trains on the country’s largest railroads will need to have a minimum of two crew members. Railroad companies have 60 days to comply with the new crew size requirement. 🪓
Wisconsin Amazon drivers will now enjoy all the rights and benefits of full-time employees after the online retail giant suffered a major court defeat in…you guessed it: the Wisconsin Supreme Court! Janet Protasiewicz, baby! 🪓
The Biden administration announced it was creating the nation’s first “green bank” network, an historic $20 billion investment aimed at making clean energy affordable to low-income and rural residents. 🪓
In New Jersey, the governor’s wife, Tammy Murphy, dropped out of the U.S. Senate race, ending what everybody thought would be a bitter primary fight and all but guaranteeing the awesome Andy Kim the candidacy!
Judge Merchan rejected Trump’s motion to delay his election interference trial, meaning it’ll start next week! He also expanded the gag order he had imposed on Trump, this time prohibiting Donald from threatening the judge’s daughter.
In Fulton County, Georgia, Judge McAfee denied Trump’s motion to dismiss his RICO indictment on First Amendment grounds.
The White House finalized rules that make it far harder for any incoming Republican administration to fire our civil workforce. 🪓
The Walla Walla School District in Washington has received $4.7M in grants for 15 new electric school buses—thanks, Joe Biden! Starting next spring, half of Walla Walla Public Schools’ bus fleet will be electric. 🪓
Boeing’s Chief executive Dave Calhoun will depart at the end of 2024.
Governor Tony Evers of Wisconsin vetoed bills that would criminalize election officials’ correcting minor errors on voters’ ballot envelopes. 🪓
The Nebraska legislature advanced a bill that would eliminate a waiting period before citizens with past felony convictions are eligible to regain their voting rights. 🪓
New Hampshire voters rejected numerous municipal proposals to require hand counting of ballots.2 🪓
Arts and culture organizations in Oregon will receive a $52 million funding boost, thanks to a plan between the state legislature and two donors.
Pennsylvania’s largest solar farm has been awarded $90 million and will sit on 2,700 acres of former coal mining land in the vicinity of the shuttered Homer City coal plant. 🪓
A new Netflix committee is awarding grants to trans, nonbinary, and female filmmakers.
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from Pennsylvania Republicans that used a debunked legal theory to challenge expansive voter registration efforts supported by President Joe Biden and Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The Biden–Harris Administration announced a $180 million investment in school energy infrastructure as part of its Investing in America Agenda. 🪓
New England will be completely coal-free by 2028. 🪓
Preliminary data from the FBI point to a widespread decline in crime in 2023. That includes a potential double-digit decline in murder, as well as declines in violent and property crime. 🪓
Following a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the U.S. Court of Appeals found legal errors in a rule letting oil and gas companies harm polar bears.
Watch This! 👀
If only it was always this easy! From @adammockler on TikTok. [Thanks to subscriber Barbara M. for sending.]
This and the two above from The Markup.
I’m so here for that video at the end. That 21-year-old knows how to do this. Bravo. I, on the other hand, finally completely cut whatever ties were left (faint, faded threads, if that) with the last trumpet in my life. That means, after his latest shitty comment on that black-and-white photo of Joe and Kamala, which I posted on FB, I completely blocked him—everywhere. I just have no energy to try to win these people over anymore. My last effort was to send him one of HCR’s posts. Along with information about who she is. He says he’s not “well read.” In the email, I invited him to be better read. His response was, “why didn’t she include (insert bullshit about open borders, inflation, Sleepy Joe, etc). I wanted to say, “because those things are lies.” Thank the universe for you, Jess. National that you are. :)
This list is wonderful! I feel encouraged reading it. I'm going to re-read again this week to remind myself of the good things that are happening all over the country.