We pause every other week to highlight a bit of what’s going right in the world, including the kind of changes we want to see across the country, happening because of the efforts of people like you and me. Join us in celebrating!
- The DOJ sues two organizations and seven individuals for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau takes actions to cut excessive and hidden fees, which will save consumers billions of dollars in excessive or undisclosed fees.
- SCOTUS declines to hear a challenge seeking to end safe, secure mail-in voting in Oregon.
- The EPA allocates $900M for clean-energy school buses.
- Opal Lee receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work toward establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday.
- AZ: A former NYC mayor and 17 other defendants are served indictments for their role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
- CO enacts a law to ensure eligible incarcerated voters have access to in-person early voting.
- CT will cancel medical debt for eligible residents.
- IL: As of July 1, all eligible state residents can apply for drivers licenses regardless of immigration status.
- MD: Income-eligible residents can access health coverage from the state exchange regardless of immigration status.
- NM bans guns near polling places.
- NY: A federal court overturns a state ban on distributing food and water to voters in line at polling places.
- PA takes steps toward more humane treatment of women in prison by passing the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act.
- TX: Molly Cook is elected to the state Senate, becoming the first openly LGBTQ senator in the state.
- VT’s government moves to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for climate change-related damages.
- A court dismisses a lawsuit seeking to block a ranked-choice voting ballot measure from inclusion on Washington, DC ballots.
- Jenny Cavnar is hired as the primary play-by-play commentator for the Oakland A’s, becoming the first woman to be the main voice of an MLB team in the league’s history.
- The abortion rights advocacy group Abortion Forward, formerly known as Pro-Choice Ohio, changes their name to embrace the destigmatization of abortion.
- “Climate grannies” focus their generational wisdom and environmental activism experience on taking action to reverse climate change.
- Musical artist The Weeknd donates $2M towards humanitarian hunger relief for starving Gaza residents.
- Ninth-grader Demi Johnson receives recognition from National Geographic for her plan to save Mississippi’s oyster reef population.
- Megan Rubin makes a hat for the baby seated near her on a plane who was transfixed by her crocheting.
- Holes in the ozone layer have begun to close.
- The National Parks Service provides free wildlife crochet patterns.
Have you found a bit of good news or a hopeful headline you’d like to share? We’d love to see it! Send it to checklist@americansofconscience.com