Extra! Extra! 6/9 🎊🎊🎊
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
Here’s your list of everything grand and good that transpired this week. As usual, bad news always gets the most attention, but focusing on the good is how we stay sane, remain inspired, and keep a vision of what we want to accomplish in the future.
So enjoy this rundown of the stuff that went right. Then please share it with a friend. Pretty much everyone needs a lift right now; this recap can give just that!
P.S. — I have, as usual, popped an 🪓 next to every item folks like you helped make happen, or that got done by lawmakers you helped elect.
P.P.S. — I didn’t do an audio version today. I’m sorry—this week has been really eventful and I need to spend a little time with my kid. Back tomorrow!
Read This 📖
A Bad Week For Backers of the Big Lie (gift link)
Celebrate This! 🎉
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on governments to ban fossil fuel advertising and warned creative agencies to stop working for the industry.
llinois is boosting funding for Planned Parenthood. 🪓
Two in three Americans now believe Trump committed a crime after he was convicted of 34 felony counts, and three in five believe he is guilty of the counts on which he’s been convicted.
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones moved to liquidate his personal assets, agreeing to demands from the families of Sandy Hook victims whom he owes more than $1.5 billion in damages over his lies about the 2012 school massacre. 🪓
Climate Cabinet’s slate of New Mexico climate champions SWEPT in their primary elections! They included four challengers ousting fossil fuel-backed incumbents, four key champions holding their seats, and two climate champions advancing to the general election in open seats. 🪓
Thanks to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Wisconsin has been awarded an $8 million grant to expand broadband access to hundreds of people on their reservation as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. 🪓
Due to recent expansions to the state’s Automatic Voter Registration program under Governor Gretchen Whitmer, 62.9% of Michigan’s s 18-year-olds are now registered to vote. WOW! The rate is up by 4.4 percentage points since March 2024. 🪓
Bald eagles are rebounding in New Jersey, prompting the state to propose delisting the national symbol from its endangered species list.
Wisconsin’s attorney general, Democrat Josh Kaul, filed felony charges against three men who played a key role in the effort to appoint fake electors in the state as part of Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the election. 🪓
A male birth control gel had promising results in early trials.
A new study from a group of researchers at Drexel set out to evaluate NJ’s bail reform and its effect on gun violence. The study, published May 22, found that New Jersey’s bail reform didn’t make the state less safe. Proof positive that getting rid of cash bail doesn’t increase crime! 🪓
Governor Jared Polis signed into law a bill that requires every county jail in Colorado to establish an in-person polling place for at least one day during every general election, starting this November. 🪓
A top executive at The Epoch Times, a right-wing media company, has been arrested and charged with laundering at least $67 million in stolen money through company accounts in a multiyear scheme to lift financial returns.
In North Carolina a federal judge has blocked some of the state’s laws restricting access to mifepristone and dictating how it can be dispensed.
65% of Americans say that climate change policy will be an important factor in their vote for president this year.
Employers added 272,000 jobs in May, shooting past expectations in a sign of a booming labor market that continues to defy economists’ predictions of a slowdown. 🪓
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed limits on the use of a solvent found in many arts and crafts supplies and paint removers, that is linked to causing miscarriages, liver and kidney damage, and other serious health effects. 🪓
A judge ordered Steve Bannon to report to prison by July 1. Buh bye!
The NYPD is seeking to revoke former President Donald J. Trump’s license to carry a concealed weapon after his conviction in his New York hush-money case
A legal settlement will ensure that incarcerated voters in Nevada have access to same-day registration and a secret ballot.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the release of a National Strategy to Improve Maternal Mental Health Care. 🪓
The USDA awarded $5 million to the University of North Carolina and its partners to support research into innovative approaches to support maternal health among Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) participants. 🪓
The newly launched American Climate Corps is placing around 20,000 young people in jobs in its first year. They’ll be working on projects like restoring land, improving natural disaster resiliency, deploying clean energy, and more. 🪓
As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the National Park Service was given $700 million to make its land more protected and resilient to inevitable climate change — and conservation and restoration projects are already underway across the country. 🪓
Due to new federal and state regulations, the amount of methane emitted for each barrel of oil (or its gas equivalent) has fallen by more than half in the last several years, according to an analysis of federal data by Clean Air Task Force. 🪓
A new study found that the increase in sustainable energy in the U.S. has resulted in $249 billion of climate and health benefits. From 2019 to 2022, the country’s increasing use of wind and solar power cut emissions by 900 million metric tons — the equivalent of taking 71 million cars off the road every year. 🪓
In NJ, Rep. Andy Kim easily won the Democratic nomination for Senate. 🪓
General Motors had its best-ever month for EV sales in May, selling 9,000 vehicles in the US and Canada even after shelving its best-selling Bolt. 🪓
Several long-range EVs sold in the US are now cheaper than the average fuel-powered car, including options from Tesla, Hyundai, and GM.
The city of Framingham, Massachusetts, became the first place in the nation to install neighborhood-scale geothermal heating and cooling through a unique partnership between climate advocates and a utility company. 🪓
Ireland expanded its Free Contraception Scheme to include people up to age 35. 🪓
Global public and private investors are putting about $1.79 into clean energy for every dollar they invest in fossil fuels.
US solar panel manufacturing capacity nearly doubled in the first quarter of 2024, reaching 26.6 gigawatts. And it may get another boost moving forward, as the Biden administration reinstates tariffs on imports of panels from some Southeast Asian countries. 🪓
In the first quarter of 2024, private investment in clean energy and electric vehicles reached $71 billion, a new quarterly record for the country. 🪓
The Biden administration has rolled out a first-of-its-kind ocean conservation plan prioritizing Indigenous knowledge. 🪓
Audio from a plastics industry event revealed that a huge wave of lawsuits are coming against PFAs which attorneys say could surpass the litigation scale of tobacco and asbestos combined.
Thanks to Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, low- and middle-income homeowners in New York are now eligible for up to $14,000 for climate-friendly upgrades like insulation and heat pumps. 🪓
The European Central Bank is set to take the unprecedented step of imposing fines on several lenders for their protracted failure to address the impact of climate change.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit blocked a district court judge’s order that lawyers for Southwest Airlines attend “religious-liberty training” from Alliance Defending Freedom as part of a contempt order, holding that the judge’s sought sanction is likely unconstitutional.
The ethics board of the District of Columbia Bar recommended disbarment for former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
An Arizona judge suspended the law license of Bryan Blehm, the "pro-MAGA" attorney who represented Kari Lake in her failed lawsuits to overturn the 2022 gubernatorial election.
The Biden administration announced new vehicle mileage fuel standards requiring American automakers to increase fuel economy so that passenger cars would average 65 miles per gallon by 2031, up from the 48.7-mile standard used today. 🪓
Walmart announced bonuses for part- and full-time hourly employees, a first for the company.
President Biden nominated four more excellent justices for lifetime appointments. 🪓
Steve Kerr endorsed President Biden and Vice President Harris for reelection.
Two major pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim, began capping out-of-pocket costs for asthma inhalers at $35 a month starting on June 1, with another manufacturer set to follow. 🪓
Pro-ESG shareholder proposals are gaining momentum again!
18 Starbucks stores from all over the country filed to unionize this week! 🪓
Iceland elected an amazing climate leader, Halla Tómasdóttir, as President!
There are now three new polls showing modest movement toward Biden.
After months of organizing, southern Waffle House employees are finally getting a raise! 🪓
In South Dakota, a new poll showed the abortion rights amendment making its way to voters has a near-20 point lead over the opposition. 🪓
Team Biden-Harris announced the hiring of Austin Weatherford, Adam Kinzinger’s former chief of staff, as national Republican engagement director to further the campaign’s outreach to independents and moderate Republicans. 🪓
Watch This! 👀
This Trump conviction song is awesome, although profanity-laced. Skip it if curses offend!
[H/T Albert’s “Best Laughs” newsletter]
I needed to read this extraordinary long list of good news today. Thank you for your hard work. You have boosted my hope gauge tremendously.
There’s an option on Substack to have a robotic voice recite your letter, for days you don’t have time. It is great to see all the positives!