Extra! Extra! 8/4

A mini version for a vacation week

Hi, everyone!

Welcome to an abbreviated, I’m-on-vacation-so-have-500-emails-I-haven’t-checked version of “Extra! Extra!” Here’s some great stuff that happened this week that I have managed to track down, with much, much more to look forward to in next week’s version once I’ve cleared my inbox!

Hope you’re having a great week, and that this list of our recent wins makes it even better!

As usual, 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.

Celebrate This! 🎉

The National Forest Foundation planted over 8 million trees last year, reforesting over 21,000 acres of land — which is about the same as 198,450 NBA basketball courts. ​​

The USDA announced $163 million to be invested across the country for rural energy solutions, including two $125,000 grants for rural Arizona agencies. Much of the funding comes from the Inflation Reduction Act. 🪣

Following VP Harris’ successful strategy to define Donald Trump and J.D. Vance as weird and creepy, Democratic super PAC Progress Action Fund’s critically acclaimed ad, “Keep Republicans Out Of Your Bedroom,” has gone viral again. 

A record 17 condor chicks hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo during this year’s breeding season.

The State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia received $1.6 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to create a native seed network for restoration projects in Georgia. 🪣

Due to the Biden Administration’s efforts, the number of overdose deaths in the United States has started to decline for the first time in five years. 🪣

President Biden nominated five more justices for lifetime appointments. 🪣

Illinois has become the latest state to adopt legislation aimed at protecting workers from their employers' anti-union messaging. 🪣

The United Auto Workers endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States, citing her long record of standing up for working families.

A New York appeals court upheld the decision to keep Trump’s gag order in place while the former president awaits sentencing.

Three American citizens and one American green-card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza. Amazing win for Joe Biden, and all of us! 🪣

Activists from the youth-led Sunrise Movement descended on Sen. J.D. Vance’s Washington office on Monday, occupying the hallway and chanting “Vance is a liar, our planet is on fire,” while holding signs that read “Billionaires Own Vance.” 🪓

Farmers, ranchers and other landowners who have experienced discrimination have received 2.2B in payments through the Inflation Reduction Act’s Discrimination Financial Assistance Program. 🪣

The Biden administration is putting $575 million toward making coastal and Great Lake communities more resilient to climate change.  🪣

The Biden Administration announced a new proposed rule that would make it illegal for airlines to charge families for adjacent seats on airplanes. 🪣

The U.S. government announced it will invest $240 million in the Pacific Northwest’s salmon and steelhead fish hatcheries. 🪣

Last year,

BIG by Matt Stoller

broke the news that Senator Jeanne Shaheen cut the Antitrust Division’s budget. After blowback, she promised to reverse course. And true to her word, she did.  (We sent letters on this!) 🪓

Polling in Michigan found that Donald Trump now has no support among Black voters in the state. Like, zero.

Delta had a major fiasco, delaying thousands of flights and lying to customers about their rights. The Department of Transportation immediately opened an investigation. You can expect Delta to feel some real pain. [H/T

BIG by Matt Stoller

] 🪣

President Biden announced a significant reduction in violent crime in the first half of 2024, citing preliminary data from two reports. TELL YOUR FRIENDS! 🪣

Virginia will receive nearly $1.5 billion in federal grants under the bipartisan infrastructure law to expand affordable internet access to all Virginia homes and businesses. 🪣

Portland, OR is overhauling its voting system and government structure to be more democratic. 🪓 🪣

Two Montana ballot initiative groups say they’ve met signature requirements. One initiative would enshrine abortion access in the state constitution and prohibit the government from interfering with the right to travel for medical assistance and protect abortion practitioners. 🪓

John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, the third-largest city in Arizona, endorsed Kamala Harris! 

Massachusetts is set to continue offering universal free school meals this fall. 🪣

President Biden announced that over 600,000 Teamster workers and retirees now have their pensions protected from significant cuts, ensuring their retirement security. 🪣

President Biden called for major reform to the Supreme Court. 🪓 🪣

New polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly agree — including majorities across party lines — that no president is above the law.

The tax-credit transfer markets created by the Inflation Reduction Act are boosting clean energy in tough-to-crack markets — like rooftop solar on multifamily housing. 🪣

Kamala Harris is leading Trump by slight margins nationally in four separate new polls.A separate poll also found Harris leading Trump in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania by 4 percentage points. 🪣

Team Harris raised over half a million dollars from AANHPI donors in the week after the vice president became the presumptive Democratic nominee. 🪓

Team Harris raised more than $310 million in July with $200 million of that raise alone coming in during the first week of Vice President Harris’ candidacy. 🪓

Team Harris raised more across grassroots channels in the four days following President Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Harris than Trump’s operation raised in the entire month. 🪓

There is now a group called “Republicans for Harris” and you can sign up to find out when they have their big meetup.

In the last 12 days, Team Harris has seen over 63,000 sign-ups in Georgia and nearly 40,000 in North Carolina. 🪓

In a win for voters, the Kansas Supreme Court temporarily blocked part of a 2021 voter suppression law that criminalized certain voter registration activities. Civil rights groups said the law made it difficult to do outreach and hold voter registration drives.

The Inflation Reduction Act is also helping churches, synagogues, and mosques across the nation go solar—and they’re saving big money as a result. 🪣

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There’s more, but I’m not supposed to be on my computer right now…so more next week! Sending love!