Extra! Extra! 7/21 🍾🎉
WOWOWOWOW!
Hey, all, and happy Sunday.
I’m right at the email length limit so I have to keep this top part quick.
Here are SOME of the amazing things that happened this week—and I know there were more. It’s an incredible list.
Shall we add to it the fact that we now have a young(ish) Black, AAPI WOMAN running for president? A progressive? With a Jewish husband? OMGGGGG! Heaven!
Anyway, I’ve popped an 🪓 next to every item that everyday activists like you helped make happen, and a 🪣 next to every one that got done by lawmakers or administrations that we helped elect.
We’re going to be OK, folks. More than that. We’re going to work our butts off, and we’re going to win, and we’re going to thrive. Tell a friend.
Read This 📖
Absolutely spot on—and not just because she quoted me at the end. 😊
Celebrate This! 🎉
Senator Jeff Merkley’s bipartisan legislation to address America’s stillbirth crisis has been signed into law. 🪣
Solar panels, paid for by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, are helping Arizona farmers shade crops, save water and generate power. 🪣
Every country in the world has now banned the use of leaded gasoline in cars.
Washoe County, Nevada voted to certify the recount for its June 9 primary election after facing legal action for refusing to do so last week.
In a victory for voters, a federal court rejected a lawsuit from the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee that tried to throw out mail-in ballots in Nevada that were cast by Election Day and received shortly after.
A Montana judge blocked a directive from Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen (R) to disqualify thousands of petition signatures, ruling in favor of organizers seeking to place abortion rights and democracy reforms on the ballot this November. 🪓
Tennessee said it won't purge its voter rolls after state officials sent letters last month demanding proof of citizenship from 14,000 voters. The clarification comes after a coalition of civil rights groups threatened legal action.1 🪓
A whopping 85% of new electricity built in 2023 came from renewables.
India has decided to sign and ratify the UN High Seas Treaty making it the 92nd country to sign and agree to protect the two thirds of the ocean that lies outside of a country’s borders.
In Tennessee the I-55 bridge project just received $394M federal funding for a rebuild over the Mississippi River. The grant came from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 🪣
Nearly $90 million in federal funding has been secured to replace the Market Street Bridge, which connects Ohio and West Virginia. The funding is being made available through the federal Bridge Investment Program, established through a portion of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. 🪣
On the gulf coast of Florida, Anna Maria Island celebrated a huge milestone for sea turtle conservation when Turtle Watch volunteers counted 546 nests on the island, breaking a 42-year record for the island. And it’s thanks to conservation efforts that happened 25 years ago. 🪓
And that’s not the only conservation win for Anna Maria Island this summer. 2024 marked the first time that least terns — a tiny, threatened bird species — successfully nested on the island in 15 years.
A federal district court instructed Mississippi's GOP-controlled legislature to enact new state legislative maps that comply with the Voting Rights Act and set dates for special elections to be held before the end of the 2025 legislative session.
Starting this month, student borrowers’ undergraduate loan payments will be capped at 5% of their income because of the SAVE Plan. 🪣
Ten Northeast states on Tuesday announced a first-of-its-kind memorandum of understanding to work jointly on the planning and development of “robust interregional transmission infrastructure.” 🪣
President Biden took action to propose building more affordable housing in communities across the country and called on Congress to cap annual rent increases for tenants of corporate landlords. 🪣
California became the first state in the nation to ban schools from requiring employees to inform parents of students’ sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), aims to stop schools from outing students to their parents without their consent. 🪣
Alabama secured a $550M federal grant for the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway Project. It was funded by President Joe Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, (against which all of Alabama’s Republican Members of Congress voted.) 🪣
Farmers will soon be eligible for cash payments for temporarily shutting off their water and harvesting less hay to ease strains on the Colorado River.
Protesters held a funeral mourning climate dead outside Citibank's front doors in New York City. There were eulogies and several musical performances. 🪓
The federal government announced a $241.5 million settlement with Marathon Oil for alleged air quality violations at the company’s oil and gas operations on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. 🪣
Americans who think global warming is happening now outnumber those who think it is not happening by a ratio of about 5 to 1 (70% versus 13%).
Washington State implemented legislation to keep nursing staffing levels safe. 🪣🪓
A coal plant that operated for 100 years in Michigan is now being turned into a giant battery. Once it’s built, the new battery storage system will be the largest stand-alone energy storage site in the Great Lakes region.
In Sheboygan County, WI, four family-owned companies are coming together to help new hires afford to buy homes. 🪓
FEMA will now consider climate change when it rebuilds after floods. The new rule will result in higher-elevated and better-fortified buildings. 🪣
Amsterdam is phasing out cruise ships.
The White House announced that more than 50 new state, local, non-profit, and business organizations have committed to advancing the America the Beautiful Freshwater Challenge, which sets goals to protect, restore, and reconnect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of our nation’s river and streams by 2030. 🪣
The Biden-Harris Administration announced $1.7 billion to support the conversion of 11 shuttered or at-risk auto manufacturing and assembly facilities across eight states—Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Virginia—to manufacture electric vehicles and their supply chain. 🪣
Close to three-quarters of the countries in the world have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice. 🪓
San Francisco launched the world’s first commercial hydrogen ferry.
Nevada just received a $156M grant to jump-start solar energy in Las Vegas. It is one of 60 entities — states, nonprofits and Native American tribes — that will benefit from a pool of $7 billion for solar energy from the Inflation Reduction Act. 🪣
The governor of Hawaii signed a new law directing the state to join ERIC, the interstate compact to keep voter rolls accurate. 🪣
New Hampshire enacted a law guaranteeing access to accessible voting machines in all elections.
Two Wisconsin court decisions will improve access to mail voting. 2 🪓
Gov. Josh Shapiro announced that his administration will not defend in court the commonwealth’s 1985 ban on abortions covered by Medicaid insurance. 🪣
North Carolina Democrats outraised Republicans in key races across the ballot, according to new campaign finance reports. 🪓
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced that his administration will be joining an ongoing lawsuit arguing that the Wisconsin Constitution protects access to abortion in the state. 🪣
The Biden-Harris Administration announced a series of new actions to expand opportunities for Latino communities and ensure equitable access to the American dream. 🪣
President Biden announced the exoneration of 258 Black Sailors who were unjustly tried and convicted of mutiny and disobeying orders following the tragic explosion at Port Chicago, California nearly 80 years ago. 🪣
President Biden issued an Executive Order on advancing educational equity, excellence, and economic opportunity through Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) to enhance the support and resources available to HSIs. 🪣
China’s carbon dioxide emissions are on track for a first annual decline since 2016.
Your local Staples might become a battery recycling center, thanks to a $14 million Department of Energy initiative that aims to turn more than 1,000 retail locations into collection sites. 🪣
The federal government just approved a $267 million plan from Maryland officials to increase access to high-speed internet. 3 🪣
This year, the fewest people were shot on Independence Day weekend—the time of year, says The Trace, when gun violence is at its highest—since 2019. 🪣
The Biden-Harris Administration released the first comprehensive, government-wide strategy to target plastic pollution at production, processing, use, and disposal. 🪣
Relatedly, the Biden administration announced it will phase out all single use plastic products from all federal operations within a decade and will halt all federal purchases of them for food service operations, events and packaging by 2027. 🪣
The Democratic National Committee announced that it would pour $15 million into the party’s ground game in seven battleground states. It’s also launching billboards in 10 cities in battlegrounds linking former President Trump to Project 2025.
The FCC voted unanimously to lower rates for phone and video calls from prisons and jails, helping incarcerated people and their families to stay connected. As a result, "the cost of a 15-minute phone call will drop to $0.90 from as much as $11.35 in large jails and, in small jails, to $1.35 from $12.10." 🪓
A secret group in Kelowna, B.C. is stealing people’s garden gnomes, restoring and cleaning them, and bringing them back.
Cavers found a hungry, injured dog stuck in a cavern 50 feet underground, fed her salami, and rescued her. ❤️ 🐕
Watch This! 👀
Watch the below, from this person. Amazing, weird, and perfect for this moment.
This and the two above from the Voting Rights Markup.
This and the two above from The Lever’s You Love to See It!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS EMAIL TODAY! Honestly I was in despair when I heard Biden's news - but reading this list of accomplishments and just hearing your excitement about our new presidential election possibilities I am feeling better, more hopeful, and not at all like giving up so thank you from the bottom of my heart. And, as always, thank you so much for what you do tell your son who said you lecture too much that so many of us rely on you and appreciate you immensely!
I hope that younger people can see themselves in Kamala and see how she could be a great leader for those next generations. I also hope that the Democratic leadership stops any infighting and immediately begins to shout from the roof tops their support of Vice President Harris while also telling as many Americans as possible about Project 2025.