Extra! Extra! 7/30 🎁

Poor Merriam Webster! Left out again!

Hi, all, and happy Sunday!

I know it’s been an especially good week when Substack tells me—as it did today— that my “Extra! Extra” draft is close to exceeding the allowable email length limit.

Enjoy this long list; let it lift you up, delight you, and sooth your worried soul.

Then please share it with someone else—or several someones! It’s critical that we amplify the positive things that are happening— so they can be celebrated, so all can learn about the great, quiet work Democrats are doing, and so we can keep our sanity! There’s a lot of bleak news breaking constantly—counterbalancing it with news of our concurrent victories is critically important for morale.

Also? It proves that our work is making a difference!

You’re heroes, every one of you, whether you know it yet or not. Never forget it.

Read This 📖

This is deeply moving: At last, a diploma for Black deaf students who set historic precedent.

Celebrate This! 🎉

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that a ballot initiative that would codify the right to abortion and birth control in the state’s constitution could move forward. 

About 66,300 people cast ballots during the first week of early voting in Ohio, which is more than ten times the amount who cast ballots at this point in the August 2022 primary.

Stanford University scientists have created a new technology to clean water— a powder that kills thousands of waterborne bacteria within seconds.

President Biden has ordered the creation of a working group to study ways to circumvent future brinkmanship over the US debt limit, months after the nation was taken to the edge of default.

A federal judge denied QAnon Shaman Jacob Chansley’s motion to vacate his conviction.

Amazon, the world’s largest retailer, announced that it reduced its single-use plastic consumption by 11.6 percent last year. They also announced they are “phasing out padded bags containing plastics in favor of recyclable alternatives.”

Residents of Port St. Joe, FL have stopped an LNG company, Nopetro, from building a plant on the site of an old paper mill there.

Zillow, Apartments.com, and AffordableHousing.com have answered the President’s call for transparency and will provide consumers with total, upfront cost information on rental properties, which can be hundreds of dollars on top of the advertised rent.

The Department of Agriculture launched a historic enforcement partnership with over two dozen bipartisan State Attorneys General to crack down on price-gouging and other anticompetitive practices in food and agricultural markets.

A new report from the Small Business Administration shows that we’ve made progress leveling the playing field in federal contracts, with a record $163 billion going to small businesses.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, signed copies of four bills that expand access to contraceptives, protect abortion providers against legal action from other states, and safeguard online health data.

The Department of the Interior proposed new rules last week that would significantly raise the cost to drill for oil and gas on public lands

The DOI also announced the availability of $120 million in funding to help Tribal communities plan for the most severe climate-related environmental threats to their homelands.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced funding for states to begin training a new generation of residential energy contractors. The State-Based Home Energy Efficiency Contractor Training Grants Program will provide $150 million in grants for states to reduce the cost of training, testing, and certifying residential energy efficiency and electrification contractors. 

Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the USDA will invest $300 million to improve measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration in climate-smart agriculture and forestry.

The EPA issued a final rule to implement the next phasedown step for hydrofluorocarbons, chemicals used in refrigeration and air conditioning that are vastly more climate-damaging than carbon dioxide. The final rule will facilitate a 40% reduction in HFC production and consumption beginning in 2024.

Defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton has agreed to pay $377 million to settle a long-standing Justice Department lawsuit alleging that they overcharged the U.S. government to help cover losses in other areas of its business.

United Airlines pilots reached agreement with the company on Saturday on a contract valued at $10 billion that would increase pay up to 40 percent over four years.

Federal land managers have formally withdrawn their authorization of a Canadian mining company’s lithium exploration project bordering a national wildlife refuge in southern Nevada after conservationists sought a court order to block it.

A Federal judge struck down a law, passed by Arizona lawmakers, imposing strict limits on filming police there.

Geothermal startup Fervo Energy announced a key technical milestone, paving the way for geothermal energy to play a bigger role in the transition to clean energy.

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ associate strength coach, Kevin Maxen, made history as the first male coach in U.S. pro sports to publicly come out as gay.

President Joe Biden’s economic policies drove an unexpected economic surge that has forced Morgan Stanley to make a “sizable upward revision” in its GDP forecasts.

In Virginia, Arlington Public Schools has announced it will refuse to comply with Glenn Youngkin’s new anti-trans state guidelines.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas to make them remove their barbaric razor wire river blockades.

Paris is in the final phase of a historic clean-up of the Seine river, which will soon see swimmers and divers back in it!

A new California law will require incarcerated parents to be placed in the correctional facility closest to their child’s home.

In the first half of this year, wind and solar generated more power than coal in the U.S.

President Biden announced new actions to improve and strengthen mental health parity requirements and ensure that more than 150 million Americans with private health insurance can better access mental health benefits under their insurance plan.

President Biden signed a proclamation to establish the Emmett Till & Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument. (Watch the short ceremony. So powerful. Biden at his absolute best. Harris, too.)

Rudy Giuliani has conceded that he lied in asserting that two Georgia election workers mishandled ballots while counting votes in Atlanta during the 2020 election.

An Idaho jury has awarded damages against far-right provocateur Ammon Bundy in a defamation suit against him and various other defendants by a local hospital.

The Biden Education Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Harvard’s admissions policy.

The Teamsters and UPS have reached an agreement on a new contract ahead of an Aug. 1 threatened strike.

Google Maps’ fuel-efficient driving routes have helped prevent an estimated 1.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Google released the feature in 2021 and said the emissions prevented would be like taking 250,000 cars off the road for a year.

The eight South American nations that make up the Amazon rainforest will adopt Brazil’s pledge to end illegal deforestation by 2030. It’s the most ambitious government effort yet to protect the world’s largest rainforest.

America's gender pay gap has shrunk to an all-time low.

The International Monetary Fund upgraded its global economic forecasts. 

Ghana became the 29th African country and the 124th worldwide to abolish capital punishment.

The Council of the EU has adopted new rules intended to make it much easier for EV owners to travel across Europe, while simultaneously helping to reduce the output of harmful greenhouse gases.

After a SURJ chapter turned out over 100 people in support, the Jefferson County Public Schools board, which represents the largest school district in Kentucky, passed a resolution that affirms trans youth and the district’s commitment to their education.

In a win for voters with disabilities, a federal court temporarily blocked a Mississippi law that restricted who could help voters complete mail-in ballots. 

The Arizona Supreme Court denied failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's motion to transfer the appeal of her dismissed election contest directly to the state's highest court — again.

The first white-tailed eagle in 240 years was born in the south of England.

Amsterdam announced it will ban cruise ships to control tourism and pollution.

Incandescent lightbulbs are finally coming off U.S. shelves.

President Joe Biden has chosen Adm. Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy, an unprecedented choice that, if she is confirmed, will make her the first woman to be a Pentagon service chief and the first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Biden administration is taking new steps to address extreme heat in the U.S., including using $7 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to improve weather forecasts and over $150 million from the infrastructure law to improve water storage in drought-prone states like California.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation to ban so-called “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ minors, calling it a “horrific practice.”

The U.S. economy grew by annual rate of 2.4 percent in second quarter. Huge!

China’s largest battery maker for electric vehicles has launched an aviation division in preparation to begin mass production of electric planes.

A key suspect in an alleged plot to illegally access Michigan voting machines following the 2020 presidential election says she has been indicted in the long-running probe and expects to be arraigned next week.

Consumer confidence is up!

The nation's top Democratic leaders have reached an agreement with labor organizations to ensure the city of Chicago will only use union workers for projects related to the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

Sandhill crane populations are booming.

Meyer Burger, a company based in Switzerland, has said it plans to build a new solar power component plant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which will employ about 350 people.

The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into allegations that the Memphis Police Department systematically used excessive force and discriminated against Black residents, dramatically escalating federal scrutiny seven months after the police beating death of Tyre Nichols.

A town clerk in Michigan will be barred from running any elections after being charged last week by the state attorney general for acting as a fake elector in 2020 for then-President Donald Trump.

In Illinois, a federal judge tossed out a lawsuit brought by three Republicans — including U.S. Rep. Michael Bost— alleging that Illinois’ mail-in ballot receipt deadline violates federal law. The dismissal upholds Illinois' ballot receipt rules.

Prosecutors announced additional charges against Donald Trump, and they’re damning.

The nation’s largest solar panel manufacturer, First Solar, announced that it will build a fifth factory in the U.S. This commitment brings to more than $2.8 billion the amount First Solar has invested in the U.S. to ramp up production. 

A Hong Kong judge declined to ban the unofficial anthem of the pro-democracy movement, citing ‘chilling effects’ on freedom of expression.

The Senate got around Rand Paul and confirmed a slate of high-profile State Department nominees late Thursday night. These included ambassadors to Italy, Jordan, Georgia, the United Arab Emirates, Niger, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

Brazil plans to launch a massive green transition package worth hundreds of billions of dollars in public and private investments.

In a rare move, a Japanese pop star has comes out publicly as gay, to tremendous support from his fans.

Some of the world’s largest automakers, including BMW, General Motors, and Honda, are teaming up to create a nationwide network of at least 30,000 electric vehicle charging stations.

In California, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s laws permitting universal mail-in voting, online voter registration, community ballot collection and  more.

The U.S. Department of Energy proposed energy efficiency standards on water heaters it said would save consumers $11.4 billion on energy and water bills annually.

President Biden ordered a historic change to the Uniform Code of Military Justice by transferring key decision-making authorities outside the military chain of command in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, murder and other serious crimes.

The Biden administration announced the first cancer-focused initiative under its advanced health research agency, aiming to help doctors more easily distinguish between cancerous cells and healthy tissue during surgery and improve outcomes for patients.

Watch This! 👀

These 200 South African firefighters, who were deployed to help combat Canada's wildfires, performed a song and dance, literally, at Edmonton's airport before they got to work. It’s beautiful. [H/T News Not Noise ]