Extra! Extra! 7/23 🥰
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
I’m on the road driving back down from Maine to NY—I dropped Mj at camp today—but I had to stop at a roadside coffee place to get out the good news of the week! Yes, things are generally bonkers, and most of what’s dominating the headlines is less than ideal; still and all, there’s quite a bit of positive stuff happening. Go figure!
Enjoy! Let this list replenish and restore you for the week ahead!
Listen to This! 🎧
This interview with Delaware Congressional candidate Sarah McBride is extraordinary and inspiring. It starts at 17 minutes in. I can’t recommend listening highly enough.
Celebrate This! 🎉
A federal judge has ruled Oregon’s voter-approved gun control measure – one of the toughest in the nation – is constitutional.
New research shows that, amid exponential growth in renewable power, the world is on track to reach the International Energy Agency’s net-zero goals for 2030.
The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal.
The Biden-Harris admin announced a $20 billion competition to capitalize a clean energy financing network that will massively expand investment in new projects that reduce pollution across the country.
The FDA approved the first RSV antibody treatment to protect healthy babies from the respiratory disease.
The State Election Board in Oklahoma issued a press release announcing that its new system for online voter registration is live.
Maine is poised to become the seventh state to allow all voters to opt-in to receive a mail ballot for every election.
An Iowa judge on Monday temporarily blocked the state’s new ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, just days after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the measure into law.
The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously shot down Trump’s gambit to stop Atlanta DA Fani Willis from indicting him.
In an effort to cut down on waste and pollution, France is paying people to repair their clothes and shoes. Discounts will vary from $7 to $28 depending on complexity, and tailors, clothing brands, and repair shops can join the initiative for free.
Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) announced charges against 16 Michigan residents for their role in a false electors plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The Illinois Supreme Court issued a ruling this morning that strikes down a lower-court decision and upheld the new law to end cash bail in the state of Illinois.
According to a new nationally representative survey, people across the political spectrum broadly support gun violence prevention policies like red flag, safe storage, and permit-to-purchase laws. The survey from researchers at Johns Hopkins also showed strong support from gun owners.1
After passing gun safety legislation that was signed into law this spring, Democratic state lawmakers in Michigan plan to further address violence by introducing bills that would keep guns out of the hands of abusers and allow people at risk of suicide to place themselves on a registry barring them from purchasing firearms.2
Trump is officially the target of an investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Biden’s gun legislation is working.
In Louisiana, the Community Lighthouse Project is equipping churches, health clinics and other community spaces with solar panels and batteries, so they don’t need to rely on grid power and faulty generators to stay open in emergencies.
President Biden and Bernie Sanders met at the White House with young labor organizers from Starbucks, Minor League Baseball and Sega, among others.
An Arizona judge rejected Republican Abe Hamadeh's request for a second trial in his lawsuit contesting his loss in the 2022 attorney general race.
Indiana is doing great things for healthcare—with a GOP Governor!
Since its launch one year ago, 988 — the country’s reimagined suicide prevention hotline — has fielded nearly 5 million calls, texts, and chats, a number that advocates say represents many lives saved.
An aviation company developing electric planes says it’s on track to start operating carbon-free commercial flights within the next two years.
The Biden-Harris Administration announced a cybersecurity certification and labeling program to help Americans more easily choose smart devices that are safer and less vulnerable to cyberattacks.
The Senate confirmed Rachel Bloomekatz, an accomplished appellate litigator, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She’s a zealous and effective advocate for equal justice under the law, including by defending access to the ballot box, environmental protections, consumer rights, and protections against cruel punishments.
The Biden-Harris administration is investing $660 million to “plug” orphaned oil and gas wells throughout the country. Millions of Americans live within a mile of an orphaned oil and gas well, which pollute backyards, recreation areas, farmland, and public spaces — in addition to contributing to the climate crisis.
Wesleyan University ended legacy admissions.
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump’s request for a new trial on damages after a jury found the former U.S. president liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million.
President Biden announced that his administration has secured voluntary commitments from seven U.S. companies meant to ensure that their AI products are safe before they release them.
With inflation finally cooling, workers’ wages are now rising faster than prices.
President Biden’s video featuring clips from a Marjorie Taylor Greene speech to tout his legislative accomplishments reached more than 30 million views in 12 hours after it was posted Tuesday evening.
The Biden administration proposed new guidelines for corporate mergers, took steps to disclose the junk fees charged by landlords and launched a crackdown on price-gouging in the food industry.
The Environmental Protection Agency is enforcing stricter limits on hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerators and air conditioners that contribute to global warming.
A federal judge denied former President Trump’s request to move his criminal hush money payment case from New York state court to federal court, after he argued the payments were linked to his presidential duties.
A new carbon-negative cement just received third-party certification that it’s just as structurally and chemically the same as regular cement.
A New Jersey Ponzi schemer who was freed from prison by then-President Trump in one of his last official acts in the White House has been charged by federal prosecutors in a new unrelated scheme.
Former President Obama has taken to TikTok to support libraries’ fight against book bans.
DTE Energy, one of Michigan’s largest utilities, pledged to build far more renewable energy as part of a long-term plan finalized Wednesday. The Michigan utility, which serves electricity to 2.3 million customers, is the latest example of how investor-owned utilities are embracing more rapid clean-energy adoption thanks to falling costs and the likelihood of stricter emissions-reduction policies.
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a sweeping U.S. Supreme Court ethics bill.
The whitest paint ever made, certified by the Guinness Book of World Records, is now being used to cool down areas by 8 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and 19 at night, reducing air conditioning needs by up to 40%!
WOW!!! Thanks, as usual, Jessica, for this wonderful breath of fresh. It is always such a pleasure to see the small victories (and sometimes larger ones), all line up!
The $660 million is a nice start, but we'd make real progress if the $10-50 billion in tax subsidies that bil oil gets every year went to mitigation and cleanup instead of stock buybacks and executive bonuses.