Extra! Extra! 9/11 🍦
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
A lot of good stuff happened this week. SO MUCH, in fact! 🎊
Enjoy reading all about it, and then please share this list. Times are tough, but good things are happening, and it’s important that everyone know it.
Thanks for all you do.
Jess
P.S. — If you were ever thinking of upgrading to a paid subscription—and you can—now would be a great time to do so. You can also “leave a tip” using various methods here. If you can’t no worries—I’m just glad you’re here. 🙏🏼
Read This 📖
A school principal turned U.S. legislator has a message for students. Beautiful. 😭❤️
Celebrate This! 🎉
A Florida a state judge ruled that the redistricting plan pushed by Ron DeSantis violates the state constitution and is prohibited from being used for any future U.S. congressional elections.
Texas is the latest state to eliminate its sales tax on menstrual products and baby items like diapers, bottles, and wipes.
A panel of three federal judges rejected Alabama’s latest version of its congressional map, saying the state’s Republican-led legislature did not follow a court order to comply with the Voting Rights Act when it last redrew districts in July. A court-appointed special master will draw new districts for 2024.
The United States is rapidly approaching a milestone in the electricity sector’s energy transition: By the end of 2026, it will have closed half of its coal generation capacity.
Following several recent departures from ERIC, the Georgia secretary of state announced that the state will remain in the interstate compact because it has helped Georgia keep its voter rolls accurate.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it had updated its Policy Manual to include provisions directing agency employees to provide access to voter registration services during naturalization ceremonies.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc downgraded the chances that the US will slide into recession from 20% to 15% as cooling inflation and a still-resilient labor market suggest the Federal Reserve may not need to raise interest rates any further.
A recent paper by economists from Harvard, the Treasury Department, and the University of Sydney finds that for every $1 the IRS spends auditing members of the top 0.1%, it brings back more than $6.
Naloxone, which reverses opioid overdose, is now available over-the-counter in the United States.
Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the central role he played in organizing a gang of his pro-Trump followers to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021
Emergency contraceptives will now be easier to access for NYU students, thanks to five vending machines stocked with the medication installed prior to the start of the semester.
President Biden awarded the Medal of Honor to Captain Larry L. Taylor, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry. He deserved it!
NYC Health + Hospitals, the country’s largest municipal health system, has made plant-based food the default for inpatient meals. A year after it made those sweeping changes, the hospital system has reduced its food-related carbon emissions by 36 percent, according to the mayor’s office.
A conservation group will release 2,000 southern white rhinos into the wild after buying the world's largest private captive rhino breeding operation in South Africa.
Women in the Illinois trades will be getting a boost from the federal government after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced more than $1 million in funding for job assistance.
Nebraska has been awarded nearly $11 million of federal funding in efforts to modernize the nation’s electric grid and fight the climate crisis.
Senator Maria Cantwell has finally cosponsored S. 25, the Assault Weapons Ban of 2023. This took a LOT of coalition work, y’all. We now have only six Dem/Ind holdouts left in the Senate!
CREW filed a lawsuit on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters to block Donald Trump from being placed on the Presidential ballot in Colorado.
The Biden administration canceled the seven remaining oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, overturning sales held in the Trump administration’s waning days, and proposed stronger protections against development on vast swaths of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The Biden Administration announced the extension and re-designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for South Sudan for 18 months.
A Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that Chino Valley Unified School District temporarily can’t enforce its new policy that requires staff to alert parents when their student’s gender is different from what they were assigned at birth.
The US dollar extended its gains, sending the currency toward its longest rally in years.
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Texas to reposition floating barriers the state placed in the middle of the Rio Grande, rebuking one of the more contentious elements of Gov. Greg Abbott’s effort to deter illegal border crossings.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on a visit to Kyiv that Washington was transferring to Ukraine $5.4 million in "assets seized from sanctioned Russian oligarchs, which will now be used to support Ukrainian military veterans."
The Toledo Public Library has launched a “Civic Engagement” page on their website where Toledo residents can register to vote, contact their local elected officials, learn how to run for office, and more!
Mar-a-Lago IT worker Yuscil Taveras has struck a cooperation agreement with the special counsel’s office in the federal case over former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents.
Maine’s puffins are rebounding despite warmer water, thanks to a fish called the sand lance.
The UK government eased a de facto ban on onshore wind in England, after growing pressure from environmental campaigners and some ruling Conservative lawmakers.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse filed an ethics complaint against Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
The Senate confirmed Philip Jefferson as vice chair of the Federal Reserve and Lisa Cook to a full 14-year term at the central bank.
Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion, making it legally accessible nationwide.
Peter Navarro, a former Trump economic adviser, on Thursday was found guilty of contempt of Congress.
Civil and voting rights attorney Dale Ho was sworn in as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York.
The Senate confirmed Anna Gomez to the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday, filling the fifth and final seat for the first time since the election of President Joe Biden. Democrats now have a one-seat majority on the FCC panel! Net neutrality here we come!
Bangladesh, one of the most densely-populated countries on Earth, has committed to fully transition to electric vehicles. The government plans to set up its own manufacturing facilities for both EVs and batteries.
The next generation of high-end electric vehicles is promising a major range upgrade. Mercedes revealed a concept of its upcoming sedan with a 466-mile single-charge range, while BMW similarly says its latest prototype should manage 497 miles. 1
The CA State Senate voted to pass a bill to establish a Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Fund to provide resources to life-saving programs, including the California Violence Intervention and Prevention grant program. This will be paid for by a modest industry tax on businesses selling firearms and ammunition. 🙌🏼 (Remember when I wrote about lobbying for this bill? Go Moms Demand Action!)
Kroger, one of the nation’s largest supermarket chains, has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle lawsuits alleging it failed to monitor suspicious orders of addictive pain pills that fueled the nation’s opioid crisis.
A federal court ruled that certain individuals formerly held in immigration detention may pursue a forced labor lawsuit against private prison company CoreCivic.
Deforestation alerts fell by 66% in the Amazon in August.
A federal judge has found that a Trump-era rule change that allowed for the logging of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest violates several laws.
The California legislature passed a law that would provide legal protections for California health care practitioners that provide or dispense medication or other services for abortion, contraception or gender-affirming care, regardless of their patient’s geographic location.
More California news! Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law the most significant changes to California’s referendum system in decades. In doing so, he delivered a victory to unions and environmental groups.
New York has banned captive audience meetings, a popular union-busting tactic used by companies during organizing periods to disseminate anti-union information.
A day after Oklahoma’s Education Department announced a partnership with conservative propaganda outfit PragerU to develop educational curriculum, the state’s largest school district preemptively opted out of the lesson plans.2
A judge rejected an effort by Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, to move his case from state court to federal court.
A nonprofit aligned with House Democrats announced the start of a $20 million voter registration drive ahead of the 2024 elections, prioritizing outreach to communities targeted by suppressive voting policies.
Two years after Republican-led states approved waves of new voting restrictions, more states in 2023 have improved access to voting than have limited it.
A coalition representing nearly every former president from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama issued a collective call to protect the foundations of American democracy and maintain civility in the nation’s politics.
A Philadelphia police officer was charged with murder after he fatally shot a 27-year-old man who was in his car at near point-blank range.
The U.S. Open semifinal match on Thursday night was delayed for 49 minutes by four environmental protesters who were calling for an end to fossil fuels.
The term “pro-life” is now so toxic that Republicans want to get rid of it.
Watch This! 👀
If you haven’t yet seen Randy Rainbow’s latest, it’s pretty fun.
That was a long and wonderful read. Thank you for the incredible time and effort you put forth into sharing all the good news you’ve accumulated. ✌️
Thanks, Jessica.
I am wondering why Mark Kelly in Arizona ( whose wife works tirelessly, despite her gunshot injuries, and with his support, for gun safety) does not sign on to the Ban on Assault Weapons bill. Would support of the bill so jeopardize his chance for reelection?