Wins from past Checklists!
- Last month, you and 537 of our subscribers spoke up for Robert Robertson who was facing the death sentence in Texas, despite a strong likelihood of innocence. On October 9, the Criminal Court of Appeals granted a stay of execution, sparing his life, and sending the case to the district court to determine whether his case is eligible for relief. Thank you for speaking up in solidarity with the Innocence Project and for Robert.
- So far this year, our subscribers have taken 48,087 actions, getting us even closer to our goal of 50,000 actions in 2025! Thank you for taking action and clicking the “check” in our Checklist!
You’re invited to our new nine-part class, Living Justice.
You’re truly concerned about how nothing seems to be changing for the better, despite national outcry. The truth is, most Americans have learned about movements in history class, but we don’t understand how social change happens. In this newest class, we take a deep dive into the mechanisms that create lasting social change and how you play a part. Registration for Living Justice opens today. Classes start on November 2. I hope you’ll join!
Reserve your place in Living Justice.
More good news
- A U.S. district court rules that ICE agents violated a previously agreed-upon consent decree regarding warrantless immigration arrests in the Chicago area when they unlawfully detained more than two dozen people in early 2025.
- A federal court in Florida upholds freedom of the press and dismisses the president’s $15B defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.
- Following a SCOTUS ruling, transgender and nonbinary students in South Carolina can continue to use the bathrooms that best align with their gender identity.
- SCOTUS determines that Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook will keep her job until it hears a case in January 2026 over the president’s attempts to remove her despite a lack of sufficient cause.
- A new standalone National Indigenous Domestic Violence Hotline will be funded by a $15M Health and Human Services grant.
- A federal appeals court blocks the Bureau of Land Management’s plans to remove thousands of wild horses from more than two million acres of public land
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will conserve 21,737 acres of waterfowl habitat and increase public access on four national wildlife refuges through $54M in funding from the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund.
- IL: Gov. JB Pritzker signs Sonya Massey’s Bill, a law requiring police departments to investigate applicants’ history of disciplinary records and misconduct before hiring them.
- NE’s Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, which requires paid sick leave for the majority of workers, goes into effect.
- New York’s City Council expands the number of hours and conditions under which workers can take sick leave.
- Madison, WI’s first new public library in a quarter century will address a “resource desert” in the Reindahl Park neighborhood.
- In a step toward addressing the youth mental health crisis, Atlanta Public Schools students in middle and high school can access a free and confidential therapy text line.
- Chevron must pay $744.6M in damages after a jury found the company responsible for decades of environmental damage to Louisiana’s wetlands.
- Inspired by the Save Our Signs effort in National Parks, historians and citizens document how the Smithsonian Institution’s museums look today before the administration’s censorship is implemented.
- Paine College students and Richmond County, GA community members reach out to area residents to ensure they are registered and ready to vote.
- Following the efforts of his family and community, DACA recipient Paulo Cesar Gamez Lira is freed after 42 days of wrongful ICE detention.
- Finally substantially clear of toxic pollution, the Chicago River welcomes hundreds of swimmers for the first official swim in nearly 100 years.
- Experts predict that usage of solar energy in the U.S. will continue to expand.
- In a landmark ruling, a Hong Kong court rules that the government must officially recognize a lesbian couple’s parentage of their son born through reciprocal in vitro fertilization.
- The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers unanimously adopts a comprehensive framework for the equal rights of intersex people living in member states.
Have good news to share?
If something good, great, or awesome is happening in the US or your community, please reply to this email so we can include it in the next Checklist.
I’m so proud of you and us, showing up for our nation and neighbors at this difficult time. Let’s keep carrying on together!
Gratefully,
— Jen Hofmann and the AoCC team
P.S. You’re invited: If you’re curious about how to advance social change over the long haul, come take a deep dive into Bobbie Harro’s Cycles of Socialization and Liberation with Jen Hofmann and a motivated learning community starting November 2. Sign up here.