Every other week, we publish a standalone list of good news compiled from headlines and submitted by our team and subscribers. It’s a community effort that provides support—the same throughline you’ll find in this week’s list of good news: people showing up for each other, working together, and holding a vision of a better future. Take a moment to notice what’s going right, so we can keep building it for the future.
- Following a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni (Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument)—encompassing nearly one million acres of sacred Indigenous land—will continue to be protected from new uranium mining.
- Ahead of a federal court’s deadline, the Interior Dept. restores an exhibit on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall highlighting the people enslaved by George Washington, which the administration had attempted to remove.
- Former CBP officials reject unlawful orders to purposefully mislabel government records in order to block their release under the Freedom of Information Act.
- MI: Tens of thousands of acres in a remote stretch of the Upper Peninsula’s Huron Mountains are permanently protected from future development and open for public recreation.
- MO’s Supreme Court blocks provisions limiting the ability of nonprofit and community groups to help people register to vote.
- VA rejoins the Electronic Registration Information Center, a multi-state voter data partnership that helps maintain accurate voter rolls without partisan interference.
- WA passes several bills to address climate change, including a bill to establish a state electrical transmission authority to help green-light clean energy projects.
- Residents of Newport, Oregon organize and successfully block a defense contractor’s plans to locate an ICE facility in their area.
- Taylor Brown is appointed to run New York City’s new Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, becoming the first openly transgender person in history to lead a New York City office or agency.
- The social platform Discord ends its partnership with an identity verification software that has ties to invasive U.S. government surveillance.
- Community organizers prevent an energy company from rezoning 800 acres of Pennsylvania farmland intended for an Amazon data center.
- Thousands of people gather in protest at the Texas capitol to demonstrate bipartisan opposition to construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Berkeley students make 300,000 edits to LGBTQ-related Wikipedia pages to preserve queer history in the face of government censorship.
- Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez reunites with her daughter in the U.S. after her wrongful deportation was determined by a federal court to be in violation of the DACA program.
- American journalist Shelly Kittleson has been released by captors a week after being kidnapped in Iraq.
- An anonymous donor gifts $1M to help erase student loan debt for nurses at Philadelphia’s Bryn Mawr Hospital.
- U.S. solar power generation increases by 15% compared to January 2025.
- Researchers find that sharks can make friends and have social lives.
A New Address and a Way To Help
Since 2016, we’ve consistently been encouraging Americans to get engaged in changing our country for the better. We never accept sponsors. We do not sell ads. We do not charge a subscription fee. However, creating the AoCChecklist is not free. We rely on numerous technology tools and the expertise of five paid team members who are crucial to our success.
We’ve noticed financial support slipping at a time that we need it most. AoCC has a new address if you want to send a check. And by the way, becoming a monthly donor helps us make vital long-term plans. Thank you for supporting us as you are able!
Gratefully,
— Jen Hofmann and the AoCC team