Extra! Extra! 6/18 🥳

Jun 18, 2023

Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

Also a wonderful Father’s Day to everyone who observes it. And, since there will be no newsletter tomorrow, I bid you a happy Juneteenth in advance! So many things to celebrate!

Speaking of which: we had a ton of wins last week. So let’s give them their due by savoring every one, before we get back to the business of creating more next week.

Enjoy your long weekend and this long list of goodness. You deserve both.

Jess

Read This 📖

You don’t have to be a sports fan to love this piece about the Nuggets’ recent win.

Celebrate This! 🎉

EMILY’s List, the political action committee whose aim is to elect female candidates supportive of abortion rights, says it will be spending “tens of millions of dollars” to defend and prop up Vice President Harris during the 2024 election.

A remarkable coalition of environmentalists, industry organizations and business groups just stopped very real efforts to shut down the renewable energy industry in Texas. (The linked article is really worth a read.)

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden hosted a Juneteenth Concert on the South Lawn.

The U.S. is investing billions to expand high-speed internet access to rural areas.

The Biden administration announced it would impose inflation penalties on 43 drugs for the third quarter of 2023, having fined 27 earlier this year, in a move it said would lower costs for older Americans by as much as $449 per dose.

Spurred by incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, a whole new Battery Belt is emerging in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, down through Kentucky, and out across Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas.

In Colorado a new law caps the cost of a two pack of EpiPens in the state to $60.

The New York City Council approved a bill that will require New Yorkers to separate their food waste from regular trash, much as they already do with recyclable items. The goal is to reduce the amount of organic waste the city sends to landfills, where it produces a particularly potent greenhouse gas called methane.

After 27 years, the British Museum just ended its sponsorship deal with British Petroleum. The museum confirmed that no current or future exhibitions or other activities will be sponsored by BP, and environmental activists are celebrating the “massive victory.”

JP Morgan will pay $290 million in a settlement with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. The proposed deal would settle a suit on behalf of victims who were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, over claims the bank ignored warnings about him.

Colorado this week became just the seventh U.S. state to prohibit local government agreements to detain immigrants in their jails on behalf of ICE.

The Ohio supreme court this week ruled that the Ohio Ballot Board must revise the language it was planning to use on the Aug. 8 ballot that will decide whether to change the rules of direct democracy in the state. The language will make it more clear what’s at stake.

New York will become the first city in the United States to institute a specific minimum wage for app-based food delivery workers, a major win for the more than 60,000 such employees across the five boroughs.

The Biden Administration announced plans to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for current TPS holders from El Salvador, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua for 18 months.

In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis signed S.B. 276, which facilitates registration and voting for both Native American voters and eligible incarcerated voters.

In Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo signed S.B. 216 into law, which enables people living on Indigenous land to register and vote using the remote access system formerly reserved for disabled and UOCAVA voters.

Philadelphia-based bottler Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages has unveiled a fiber-based paper packaging that will replace plastic rings on multipacks cans of soda, the company said Tuesday. It’s estimated that the new packaging will remove 75,000 pounds of plastic packaging a year from the supply chain for about 3.1 million cases of Coca-Cola across the Northeast.

The Rhode Island Legislature passed a bill permitting 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they'll be 18 before the corresponding general election. The legislation now goes to Gov. Dan McKee (D) for signing.

US producer prices declined in May, restrained by a drop in the cost of gasoline and underscoring a continued easing in supply-side inflation.

Inflation is down to its lowest point in two years.

In another surprise ruling, SCOTUS upheld protections for Native American children! Huge!

The Federal Reserve announced an interest rate pause after an unprecedented 10 increases in a row since March 2022.

A federal judge ruled that E. Jean Carroll can amend a pending defamation lawsuit against Trump to include new comments Trump made after losing the civil sexual abuse case Carroll brought against him.

The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 to confirm civil and voting rights attorney Dale Ho to a lifetime appointment to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. ALSO HUGE!

The planned GOP censure of Adam Schiff was blocked by 20 republicans in the House.

Ron DeSantis’ net favorability has declined nationally by nearly 20 points

Louisiana’s Fort Polk is now named Fort Johnson after WWI soldier Henry Johnson, who served in the all-Black 369th U.S. Infantry Regiment and was one of the first Americans to earn France’s highest valor award.

Global oil demand is likely to drop sharply over the next five years because of a shift to electric vehicles and other cleaner technologies.

A grand jury in New York City indicted former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny on a second-degree manslaughter charge in connection with the death of Jordan Neely aboard a subway train earlier this year.

Garth Brooks said that Bud Light will be served and trans people will be safe at his new bar in Nashville. Responding to backlash in a Facebook Live, Brooks said, “Everybody’s got their opinions. But inclusiveness is always going to be me.”

After waiting 21 months, the Senate finally confirmed Judge Hernán D. Vera, the son of Argentine immigrants who was recommended by Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein of California.

The Washington Supreme Court upheld the Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA).

President Joe Biden on Wednesday vetoed a measure approved by Congress that would overturn his administration's sharp new limits on emissions from heavy-duty trucks responsible for significant soot and smog.

Abortion in Iowa will remain legal until roughly 20 weeks of pregnancy after a deadlock on the state’s Supreme Court over whether to grant a request by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) to reinstate a 2018 law that would have banned the procedure in most cases after six weeks.

Thanks to a growing buildout of renewable power, fossil fuels now account for less than half of China’s total installed power capacity, state media said Monday.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday narrowly confirmed civil rights lawyer Nusrat Choudhury to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, making her the first Bangladeshi-American and female Muslim federal judge in the United States.

Thanks to Biden’s relentless push against surprise fees (and Taylor Swift), Ticketmaster, Live Nation and other companies have agreed to offer consumers upfront, all-in pricing.

On Monday the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a partial stay pending appeal in Braidwood Management v. Becerra, protecting free preventive care for 150 million Americans as the case moves through the courts.

The Biden administration announced a new plan to address rising rates of sexually transmitted infections.

Nevada joined the more than 30 states to extend Medicaid coverage for new mothers for up to 12 months.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced $192 million to advance battery recycling technology.

A new report released by Patients For Affordable Drugs revealed that three different provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act will have a massive impact on bringing lower costs, and increased certainty to millions of cancer patients on Medicare in the coming years. The report showed that on average, Inflation Reduction Act provisions will save Medicare enrollees $7,590 annually, with some saving as much as $19,296. 1

Jack Teixeira, the Air National Guardsman who shared U.S. intelligence in an online chatroom, was indicted on charges of mishandling secrets.

Tennessee Reps. Justin Jones (D) of Nashville and Justin Pearson (D) of Memphis won their respective primaries for Aug. 3 special elections to the state House.

A new Gallup poll shows support for abortion rights at an all-time high.

The Iowa Supreme Court declined to reinstate a six-week abortion ban Friday, which means abortion remains legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The man who killed 11 and wounded 6 in the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting was found guilty on all charges, including hate crime charges.

As part of a new labor agreement, UPS drivers are finally getting air conditioning in their trucks!

A recent report from the International Energy Agency found that last year, residential heat pump sales in the U.S. exceeded gas furnaces for the first time ever, totaling 53 percent of all heating system sales.

Voters in Portland, Maine, voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday night to save a crucial rent control measure, protecting tenants from significant rent hikes.2

In South Dakota a judge blocked portions of a new policy that prevented abortion rights advocates from gathering signatures in key areas.

A Trump-appointed judge blocked an Indiana law banning gender affirming care for transgender youth. The judge ruled that such a ban is likely unconstitutional and harms trans kids.

More than 1.3 million people currently enrolled in New York State’s Child Health Plus plan are about to see an expansion of coverage. The move will add 26,000 residents to coverage and will also allow enrollment regardless of immigration status or circumstances of pregnancy.