Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
It’s been, as usual, a chaotic, frustrating, and occasionally painful week. Fortunately we’ve also seen Americans fighting back, courts holding MAGA to account, and other signs of progress brought about by determined fighters everywhere who are refusing to back down. So take a pause from doomscrolling and check out this long list of what went right this week. It’ll shore you up, I promise!
My one ask? Share this list with someone you know who’s in despair. It’s so important to remind our friends and family that wins are still happening—they just require tenacity and elbow grease to bring about! The more of us who join this work, the longer these weekly lists will be!
And thanks to all of you for supporting me. It never ceases to amaze me that you do. I’m so grateful for it.
Celebrate This! 🎉
In both May and June, solar was the top source of electricity in the European Union, providing a record-high 25% of its power in June alone.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino is abandoning his divisive plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity after receiving pushback from all corners of the soccer world.
A district court dismissed, with prejudice, the DOJ’s lawsuit against the executive director of the Illinois State Board of Elections, who refused to turn over Illinois’ complete, unredacted statewide voter registration list.
Federal prosecutors dropped the high-profile criminal case against former U.S. Olympian David Hearn over supposed damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. They also publicly acknowledged that the pool liner’s damage resulted from a “botched installation” rather than deliberate acts of criminal destruction.
Two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Graham Nash and singer/songwriter Jesse Welles both canceled concerts scheduled this week at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Virginia, citing an ongoing labor dispute at the garden.
Harrisonburg, VA ended its contract with Flock.
Gov. Tina Kotek has ordered Oregon to withdraw its land sale for a controversial data center near Salem.
New York sued Kalshi — alleging it’s an illegal gambling operation.
Over the last few months, people have cut down surveillance cameras owned by the company Flock Safety with an electric saw in upstate New York, thrown paint on them in Oakland, California, and rammed a truck into them in Idaho.
A new analysis of Black voters in the south indicates that Republican attempts to dilute their political power is driving them to the polls in larger numbers and shifting their counties further left.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Trump administration cannot detain illegal immigrants inside the U.S. without bond hearings, rejecting its expansion of mandatory detention rules.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz banned state workers from betting with private government info on prediction markets.
California's Scholarshare College Savings Fund Board decided to change a low performing mutual fund in their college savings investment options with a higher preforming fund that excludes fossil fuel companies.
California just became the first major grid system on the planet to generate more than 50% of its electricity from solar across an entire month.
A federal judge has tossed Kash Patel's $10 million lawsuit against a blogger who called him a "googly-eyed Kremlin bitch" and a "blatantly incompetent chud."
A ghost gun company was ordered to pay $100M in the death of a Kentucky teen in a historic verdict.
An 11-year-old in Florida was recognized for reading over 100 hours to animals in shelters.
A group of women called the “Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage” are cleaning up ponds in Cape Cod, one by one. Amazing.
The Senate unanimously agreed that Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex offender and collaborator of Jeffrey Epstein, should not be allowed a presidential pardon or clemency of any kind.
86 senators voted to move forward with a Russia and Iran sanctions bill.
A new Fox News poll in North Carolina finds Roy Cooper (D) leads Michael Whatley (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 53% to 44%.
Barack Obama will hold a fund-raiser for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a fresh sign that Democrats intend to continue their aggressive push to gerrymander congressional districts ahead of the 2028 election.
Trump’s net approval rating has fallen to a record-low 25 points underwater, with just 35% approving of his job performance and 60% disapproving.
New data from the World Health Organization shows the global rate of road traffic deaths fell by 21% between 2011 and 2025. That decrease happened even with the addition of more than one billion motor vehicles to roadways globally.
So far in 2026, seven states have restricted the use of AI in health insurance companies’ medical authorization decisions.
After more than 21 years without local access, a Planned Parenthood clinic in southwest Missouri began providing abortion care, along with expanding pain management for IUD placements and biopsies.
GOP fundraising groups have as of yet refused to spend any money on Ken Paxton’s senate campaign. Meanwhile, James Talarico entered July holding about nine times as much cash in his principal campaign account as Paxton has in his.
Iowa Democrat Josh Turek got an assist from Barack Obama, who endorsed his bid to flip a Republican-held U.S. Senate seat in a video of the two shooting hoops.
The teleprompter operator accused of unlawfully gambling on Trump’s speeches via a prediction marketplace is no longer employed by the White House.
Nearly 80,000 acres of land and water will now be protected in western Maine, thanks to one of the largest collaborative conservation projects in Maine history.
Johnson & Johnson will pay $5.5B in settlement money over talc cancer lawsuits.
The DOJ has moved to dismiss charges against David Huerta, a prominent California union leader who was arrested while protesting against an ICE raid in Los Angeles last year.
A Canadian Solar subsidiary opened its $1 billion flagship solar cell manufacturing facility in southern Indiana, which is expected to create 1,200 jobs.
Electric vehicle sales and charging stations are booming in states you might not expect, like Florida and Texas. Last month in Georgia, there were 29% more charging ports than a year earlier.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that new city-owned grocery stores will cut prices by 30% on basic items.
California has just switched on its first canal solar project. Supporters of this pilot program believe this approach could one day help California save more than 60 billion gallons of water every year.
About 71% of the clean electricity generation and 67% of the power sector emissions reductions projected to arrive thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 are still on track to be realized as of mid-2026.
Electric heat pumps have outsold gas furnaces in the United States since 2022, and they’re now on track to overtake conventional ACs this year as well after a near-tie in 2025!1
For the third year in a row, global hunger has fallen.
Michigan passed a law that requires the state to preserve 50% of foster children’s federal benefits so that they have financial support when they age out.
ICE has informed the Shapiro administration that it will not use two warehouses it purchased in Pennsylvania as detention centers.
Thirteen protesters ranging in age from 20 to 74 blocked the entrances to ICE's National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center, a response to fatal ICE shootings in Maine and Texas earlier this month.
The DOJ lost yet another voter roll lawsuit in New Jersey. For those counting at home, that makes them 0-18. Yikes.
Daniel Boone Regional Library went ahead with its first "rainbow story time" for toddlers after Missouri's secretary of state threatened in writing to strip its state and federal funding. More than 100 residents showed up to support the library, chalking "love is love" messages on the sidewalk outside.
NJ Governor Mikie Sherrill signed a bill banning New Jersey businesses from using personal data to charge shoppers different prices for identical products.
After massive backlash, a school district in New York has paused its plan to deploy an AI-powered teaching assistant in classrooms.
Big cat conservationists in Zambia say leopard numbers are rebounding thanks in part to local communities swapping real furs for synthetic in traditional ceremonies.
Texas surpassed its annual Kemp’s ridley sea turtle nesting record.
Dozens of attorneys, social workers and staff at the Bronx Defenders walked off the job, forgoing pay to demand a fair contract after months of stalled talks.
SpaceX has lost $1 trillion in value since June’s all-time high.
The Michigan Supreme Court halted the Line 5 tunnel project, ordering more review. This will likely delay it for years! Woot!
A collection of former Biden administration officials, academics and policy experts released what they described as a counterweight to the conservative Project 2025, the policy handbook written by many Trump administration officials. Its top focus? Climate action.
Nearly one-quarter of those who voted for Trump in 2024 now say they regret their vote (23%). This is up four points from 19% in late June.
Walmart stores are rapidly building EV chargers even in states where charger construction has otherwise been slow.
Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill to make Illinois the first state to officially recognize gambling disorder as an addiction.
The Arizona Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 211, a ballot measure to require special interests that buy advertisements for state and local elections to disclose their donors.
Watch This! 👀
Ohio’s Burning River Brigade really knocked it out of the park this week! Watch!
This and the above three items are from Climate Change Resources Newsletter.
These posts give me enough hope to keep going. Thank you for all the work that you do Jess, you are are true asset to the resistance.
Thank you, thank you, Jess, for these lists every Sunday. Hope you will have a great vacation with your family and that as much as possible, the firehose of news will be reduced this week so that you can enjoy your vacation and relax. Take care, and stay safe!